If you are looking to improve hospitality bookings, it is important to make sure that you are upgrading your property regularly. By paying attention to the state of your property, you will be able to improve reviews and attract more guests. You can also encourage repeat customers. Here are just some of the benefits of performing property upgrades on a regular basis.
Upgrading your property will improve reviews
If you’ve been seeing disappointing reviews a lot recently, then you should be paying attention to what they are saying. Chances are, you will find a recurring problem with each of the guests.
Once you have spotted the problem, make the necessary upgrade. This ensures similar reviews won’t happen again. Property owners often fail to notice basic maintenance items if they are dealing with the let on a daily basis, but new visitors will definitely notice.
It’s like Evolve Vacation Rental Network says on its blog: even the most basic discomforts, such as old mattresses or lighting issues, will show up on customer reviews. Try not to take these personally. Once you have resolved the issue, your reviews will get a lot better.
Upgrade online content
According to Schofields, updating photography and written copy is a great way to boost bookings. Upgrading your property also gives you the opportunity to upgrade the content about your property online. Update copy with descriptions of new features, and show them off in photos.
Since most people fix smaller property issues and perform upgrades during the low season, this also gives you the opportunity to target seasonal audiences with new photography. You can make your property seem cosier during the winter and cooler during the summer. Keep the benefits of this in mind when photographing your new upgraded property.
Increase the capacity of your property
If you constantly find yourself with full bookings, or tend to lose bookings due to not having enough space, taking the opportunity to increase the capacity of your holiday rental is a great upgrade to make and will give you the added benefit of attracting more customers.
There are many simple ways to do this. House Beautiful suggests replacing a double bed with a bed that can be converted from a double to two twins. This will make the property more appealing to families with young children, who often need the extra beds more than they need bigger beds. Likewise, if you have a single bed in a large room, you can add a second single bed to up the capacity.
These are minor ways of upgrading your property, but they increase your earning potential. You should, however, proceed with some caution. Rooms should still be somewhat spacious and any additions should not look out of place. You don’t want people to feel crammed in.
Encourage previous guests to rebook
Promote My Place recommends email remarketing as one of the best ways to ensure repeat customers. Once you have upgraded your property and online content, send an email newsletter out to your previous guests. This lets them know you pay attention to their feedback. It also makes them aware of improvements and may lead to them deciding to pay another visit.
Try not to make it seem too spammy, but if you send out regular newsletters anyway your hotel upgrades should be mentioned in the headline. Also be sure to include plenty of those gorgeous new photographs you invested in!
These are all just some of the ways that upgrading your property can improve your bookings. Word of mouth factor will also increase if you keep your property in top condition. Make sure you are regularly maintaining your property and updating your marketing materials. This will improve your reviews and increase your chances of direct bookings.
Need some advice on marketing your newly upgraded holiday property? Check out some of our training videos to learn more about marketing specifically for hospitality businesses.
