Having an extra property can help you earn some extra income. Apart from making it a residential or commercial space, you can always make your property a vacation rental, especially if your property is in a good location. It will help you earn additional earnings without working on it too much apart from managing and maintaining it well. Once your property is up for rent and ready to accept some guests, you need to know an efficient way to manage your vacation rental.
1. Hire A Property Manager
One of the best and most stress-free ways to manage your vacation rental is hiring someone to do it instead. It would go perfectly for every busy person as you can focus on your other business venture and allow the property manager to worry about all of your vacation rentals for you.
There are plenty of property managers you can hire for your rental. You can browse online for various businesses, like Teton Valley Property Management, and you should have an idea about what management services they offer and if they’ll help to fit your needs for your business. This way, you can be stress-free and let the income flow in without much work.
2. Get A Property Insurance
Insuring your property is one of the things that you should do before you accept guests. It can cover the property for any perils, such as damage caused by heavy rain and lightning, fire, and even the impact of snow and ice. You can also protect your property from any non-natural damage such as vandalism and any other damage caused by your tenants.
Getting property insurance can protect you against theft as well. It will be extremely helpful, especially since you aren’t on your property to monitor it most of the time. Keeping your property insured will ensure that you’ll be protected against these things and keep your property safe. It can help to reimburse any lost items, avoiding any income loss.
3. Listing Your Property
One effective way to manage your vacation rental is by posting your property on listing sites. Vacation rental websites provide an interactive place where property owners can easily advertise their properties. They have an overview of when people would be renting and when the free dates are. It might also include some rental reminders giving you the chance to prepare your property upon their arrival.
Listing your property can help you attract more potential guests since booking from a listings site can provide more accessibility and visibility. You only need to make sure that you list your property with the correct information. It can also be an effective way to boost your income effortlessly since you’ll be attracting a lot of potential guests.
4. Take Better Photos
The photos of your property will help your potential guests decide if they would want to stay at your rental while in the area. Taking better pictures of your rental property would help them be inclined to choose your rental. You could learn to take better photos or even hire a professional service to take those shots for you.
Your photos will show the property’s current state and what your potential guests can expect with it. Make sure to stage your property well for the images and the actual renting. You don’t want your guests to be disappointed when they see that the pictures are very different from the actual ones. Apart from unhappy guests, you might earn a poor rating review.
5. Promote Your Property
Your property will shine when you promote them, especially if you take better rental photos. You can always opt-in to promoting your rental on different social media channels or even word of mouth. These channels can help you hook in more potential guests since they will be able to have a glimpse of your property and what your property can offer.
Promoting your property is an effective way to manage a vacation rental since this can help you attract potential guests who want to take a look and stay at your property. It will help you earn more income, making your rental property profitable.
6. Maintaining The Property
A critical aspect of managing a vacation rental is maintaining your property well. You need to ensure that maintenance checks are always at par with your property. Some of the things you need to do are check your door locks, check the windows for any damage, or even inspect the roof. To help you maintain your rental, you need to create a maintenance checklist to ensure that you won’t miss anything. It will guide you on what to check whenever you do your maintenance check. Alternatively, you can always hire a maintenance vendor if you have an extra budget to ensure that no stone is left unturned.
Maintaining your property well will always leave a good impression on your guests. It would make them think that the property owner cares for their property well and will try to provide the best service possible. Who knows, maybe your place will always be their go-to rental property whenever they are in the area as you can provide top-quality service and property care.
7. Hire Trustworthy Cleaners
Ensuring that your rental property is always clean should also be your priority when managing a vacation rental. As different people stay at the property most of the time, they can leave various dirt you should immediately address as they could leave stains and damage to your property. That’s why you need to step up your game when cleaning.
If you have enough time on your hands, you can clean your property yourself. However, if you won’t always be available on the property, hiring a trustworthy cleaning service can help you ensure that the rental is clean and well organized. They will be in charge of keeping your rental property dust-free while away, allowing the place to be in its tip-top shape as long as possible.
8. Evict The Pests
Ideally, you should always ensure that your rental property is free from unwelcome critters such as ants, houseflies, cockroaches, and other bugs. Not that these only make your place unappealing, but they also throw off your guests, leaving a bad impression and review of your rental. As soon as they see one of these critters, you can almost be sure they’ll tell someone about it, leaving a bad rep for your property.
Scheduling a pest control for your rental property can help you avoid this situation. Ensure that all the corners of your rental have been checked and cleaned so no pests can still survive. While it might be a few added costs on your end, it can help to keep your property clean and pest-free.
9. Stock Up On Supplies
Loading up your property with supplies will help your guests and potential guests during their stay. This way, they don’t have to contact you when they need something on hand or ask you where the nearest convenience store is. As you load up your rental with everything they need, all they have to do is locate the stock room, and they should be good to go.
Ideally, you should keep plenty of supplies, such as a box of tissues, an extra set of blankets, and pillows, and you can also provide some additional sheets and pillowcases. You can even provide them with extra water jugs and even complimentary snacks. Having this ready on your property would help the guests be comfortable during their stay.
10. Listing Your Amenities
Aside from listing your property online, you should also create a list of amenities that can tell your guests what to expect once they stay at your rental property. These amenities can also help them consider if your place can be worth renting. You can list if your property has wi-fi, smart home devices, the available appliances they can use, and even the necessities inside the bathroom such as soap, shampoo, and towels.
With this list, your guests will be able to determine the different things your property can offer and see if they’ll proceed with their rent. It can also help them see if there are any extra things they need to carry with them.
11. Provide Guest Communication
To efficiently manage a vacation rental, you should always make yourself available. Communicating with the guests and entertaining them with whatever they will need is a massive plus for your vacation rental. They will see that you’re active and are always willing to guide them throughout their stay on your property.
Being active in communicating with them helps, especially if there’ll be sudden issues they’ll encounter while staying on your property. Problems like faulty electric wire, clogged plumbing, or even a busted light. This way, you can immediately provide the additional help needed for their stay.
12. Offer Self Check-In
Having to check in at a rental property by themselves is a convenient way to make their way into the property without waiting for the housekeeper. To have this option available, ensure to install a smart home lock on your property. With this, your guests won’t need a physical to access your rental; they would need the passcode to your smart home lock.
Offering self-check-in provides convenience to your guests and you as well. You don’t need to hand them a key or anything. You need to make sure that you change the passcode after every guest for maximum security.
13. Clear House Rules
Providing a clear set of house rules will help you and your guests with what to do and what not to do once they stay within your rental walls. House rules such as no parties, no smoking, noise curfew, or any reminders you have such as taking care of the furniture and appliances and even taking care of the trash.
Making your rules clear and concise can be helpful so that they won’t need to contact you every time they have concerns. These house rules can guide them on what’s permitted to do once they stay on your property. Laying out these rules can make your guests accountable for whatever limitations they may break.
14. Create a Welcome Guestbook
Giving your guests a welcome guestbook can be an effective way to manage your rental. Aside from setting the house rules, this guest book can also be their guide for their stay on your property, so it’s necessary to put all the information you think they will need. You can provide some information regarding the property or any special instructions you may have for your appliances or your property.
You can also put your numbers and even the local police or emergency numbers for contact purposes. You can include the numbers of some local food deliveries that they may order. This guestbook will be their go-to information list if they encounter any problems.
15. Provide a Minimum-Stay Requirement
Some guests would opt-in for long-term stays, and some would choose to stay for a short period. Setting up a minimum-stay requirement for your property can help you manage your time and help you do the needed preparations for your property in accommodating another guest compared to those shorter days, such as one-day stays.
It can also help you manage your calendar easily should there be any available dates that your property can be rented. You can constantly adjust your minimum-stay requirement depending on how the volume of guests of the month goes.
16. Include Additional Fees
Listing some extra items that may cost additional fees can satisfy your guests with the options they can choose from. Whether they bring a pet or add some guests, you can charge them an extra fee. You can also set a lower cost for them should they want to extend their stay.
If you have some extra means of transport on your property like bicycles or an electronic bike, you can charge them an additional fee if they want to rent them. This way, they can have a mode of transportation if they leave the property and go somewhere near the area.
17. Create Special Offers
Once your tenants finish their stay, you could always provide special offers for your guests. Offers like a discount on their next visit or even a discount if they would be able to refer a friend to stay at your place. These offers attract new guests and recurring ones since these offers will be both available to them once they’re done staying on your property.
Special offers are an effective way of getting guests to stay at your rental property since you’ll give them perks once they book your rental. These offers can also attract your guests to book another stay.
Takeaway
Managing your vacation rental can be challenging, especially since there are plenty of things that you should look after. But with good maintenance and management, you should be able to attract plenty of guests, allowing your property to reach its full potential.