We have to admit to being a little bit mischievous with the title of this article as it is not only owners of holiday homes that can make a successful business. In fact, anyone that owns property that is either permanently vacant or vacant for prolonged periods of time can do exactly the same.
The holiday rental industry is bigger than it has ever been with more and more people turning their holiday homes or vacant properties into thriving businesses. They have realized that turning their property into a money-making machine when not in use is an easy to run and profitable business.
Circumstances Ideal for a Vacation Rental Business
If you find yourself in any of the following circumstances, you could be making yourself some substantial extra money from renting out your property.
- Regularly Leave Your Holiday Home Unoccupied for Prolonged Periods of Time
A holiday home is exactly that, a property that you use when on holiday. When you are not there however, your home is empty when it could be making you some much needed extra cash. Besides, your property is safer with somebody living inside.
- You Travel Regularly and Your Home is Often Left Vacant
Whether you spend long periods of time traveling due to either work or vacationing, this could be the perfect time to make the most out of the potential earnings your property can bring. In fact, your travel expenses could be offset greatly by doing this.
- You Have Other Homes That You Rarely Use
Perhaps a loved one has left you some property in their will or you have an old property that you do not want to sell but due to work have to live closer to your employment? Whatever the reason for having another home, you can earn some good money by turning this home into a vacation rental.
Make Use of Vacation Rental Websites to List Your Property
If any of those circumstances apply to you, you can get started straight away. Setting up and running a vacation rental business is easier than ever before. This is due to the many dedicated vacation rental websites that you can use to list your properties.
Those websites will allow you to list your property whenever it is available. You have full control over who you rent your property to, can set your own prices and mark it as unavailable whenever you are planning to use it yourself.
The best part is that you do not only have to list it on one of these vacation rental websites. With so many of them around, you can list it in multiple sites so that you have the potential for far more potential guests to see it.
Furthermore, if you use vacation rental software such as Lodgify, you will be able to keep all of these listings in one simple place. Instead of having to manage the listings in each of these sites, you can just do it one in this software which makes managing your properties far more convenient.
What is Needed to Create a Succesful Vacation Rental Business
So, if you are now interested in turning your property into a vacation rental, you will probably want to know exactly what it is that you will need for it to become successful. Aside from listing it on the many vacation rental websites and using innovative vacation rental software such as Lodgify, you will need to get some good reviews from any renters that have used the property.
Doing this is not always easy as not everybody is easy to please. That said, as long as you consider the following, you stand a good chance at your property becoming a popular place to stay for travelers in your area:
Ensure Cleanliness: One sure-fire way to attract bad reviews is to leave the property messy and not very clean. In order to avoid this, either clean the property yourself between occupation or hire a cleaning service.
Regular Maintenance: All properties and the furniture, fixtures, and fittings within will endure wear and tear, which is a given over time. You might find that this occurs quicker than usual due to having many different people staying there. You need to regularly check the condition of the property and provide the necessary maintenance so that your guests never have anything to complain about.
The Pricing: You need to make sure that you are getting your pricing just right. Set it too high and you risk no bookings or unsatisfied guests once they realize what they are getting for their money. On the flip side, if you price your property right, you stand the chance of gaining regular repeat bookings from those that are happy with the value that they are getting.
Of course, there is so much else that you need to consider but those are the three most important when you want to receive good reviews. Once you start to accumulate these positive reviews across each of the vacation rental websites that you have your property listed on, you will never have any problem attracting new guests to your property.
A Final Word
The great thing about a business like this is that you are firmly in control. If you decide that you only want to list your property for a few months of the year, you can. You can make it available whenever you like and then live in it whenever you decide.
The whole point is that your vacated property is something that could be making you extra money but while sitting empty, it is doing nothing except gathering dust.
