The Holiday Let Success Podcast with Elaine Watt

079: How to Maximise Your Booking.com Income | Jitka Foralova | Booking.com

Have you ever thought about using booking.com to advertise your Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Property?

Is Booking.com even suitable for advertising your property?

If you're already using Booking.com how do you maximise your exposure and bookings?

Jitka Foralova - Jitka works for Booking.com in the UK and in her role as Area Manager, her team focusses on building relationships and supporting Booking.com’s accommodation partners in the South of the UK, including thousands of holiday home and vacation rental owners.

Leave me a voicemail with your feedback and experience with Booking.com at www.holidayletsuccess.com/booking

Follow the HLS Podcast on Twitter
Find the HLS Podcast on Facebook
Find the HLS Podcast on YouTube

Join the HLS Facebook Group here

How to Grow & Scale Your Business with Jason West

How to Grow and Scale Your Serviced Accommodation Business with Jason West from Home Apartments

Holiday Let properties and Serviced Accommodation are very similar - with a few subtle differences which we discuss in this episode.

Jason then tells us how he has gone from a small portfolio to almost 10 and £100,000 worth of bookings received in 2017 alone (we are only in med February!)

Join me on the podcast as I talk to Jason West - who is rapidly growing his property portfolio, having perfected his systems and processes and built a strong foundation on which to grow. Jason is the Managing Director of Home Apartments, a leading provider of Serviced Accommodation, currently operating in the South of England. Jason has accumulated great experience in the marketing of serviced accommodation, with a sharp focus on the guest experience - providing exceptional accommodation in key locations in the UK.

Read the full story and get access to the spreadsheets and channel manager Jason uses here www.holidayletsuccess.com/jason

In today's super fast, instant information society Guests are used to getting everything they need, immediately. From a response to an enquiry, right through to arriving at your Holiday Home and the information they need locally. A subject I touched on in a recent episode Ep 070: 10 Apps to Run Your Holiday Let Business By - where I talk about my own absolute addiction to my smart phone and admit to running my entire life from it through a series of exceptionally good apps! I also share 10 apps I use in my own business which save me time, help me increase bookings and reduce the time I spend doing it, so take a listen!

One of those innovations I mention is more than an app - it's a complete device for guests to use during their stay at your Holiday Home | Vacation Rental. A company I came across very recently and realised the potential for both owners and guests as soon as I found them.

In this episode we delve into YourWelcome and talk about the importance of standing out from the crowd and embracing technology

www.holidayletsuccess.com/yourwelcome

Take one of our online courses for Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Owners at www.holidayletsuccess.com/online-courses

With Floorplans being one of the most requested features by guests during the bookings process in 2016 - Listen to Episode 049: 4 Must Have Elements of Your Holiday Let Website for 2016 - I wanted to share 5 providers so you can get that flooplan organised and shared with potential guests.

You can share the Floorplan on your website, across social media and on the listing sites to make picturing exactly what it's going to be like to stay at your Holiday Home easy to imagine by your guests, and therefore your place easier to book.

If a guest still has unanswered questions when they are on your site, they won't book. You want to answer as many questions as you can with the information your provide, photos, videos and Floorplans are 3 of the most powerful ways to do that, backed up with top notch copy. In Episode 059 I talk to Andy McNulty from GuestHook about the power of copywriting for Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Owners - listen right here.

www.holidayletsuccess.com/floorplan

Katrina Jones is an award winning property investor and mentor from London.

I really want Katrina to share her story of how she has changed her life from being shy and unsure to truly finding her passion and not being afraid to be all that she is and most importantly the mindset it takes to do that. In business, whatever industry you’re in, mindset is the foundation of everything. The next layer is the values your business is built upon and when your business values and ethos are excellence, especially in any service industry, you have the grounds for success.

Katrina's thriving business - Kendall-Bailey is built upon mindset and service excellence and Katrina is here to share her story and what those elements really look like inside a service business.

Head to the full post right here

In today's age of the Smart phone we have everything we could possibly need at our fingertips in the form of apps - there are apps for everything and I have to admit to be entirely addicted to my smart phone and running my entire life from it through a series of exceptionally good apps!

And it's also true that the apps available now can pretty much help you with every area of your life - there are more and more that will help us run different elements of our Holiday Let businesses too. Whether the property is local to you or further afield, help is available and most in the form of a handy and great value, if not free, app!

So it's time to embrace technology and utilise it to make your life easier and reduce the stresses of running your Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Business!

In this episode I walk you through 10 apps that are superb and will help you run your business more smoothly

www.holidayletsuccess.com/10apps

We as Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Owners are always looking for ways to Increase Bookings and there's a huge focus on advertising vacation rentals online. As there should be - the internet is huge and the reach is vast and you can pinpoint your audience with the extremely accurate data available at the touch of a button.

I always feel we should be building as many different ways of creating awareness of our Holiday Let | Vacation Rentals as possible and we shouldn't overlook the fact that there are real people close by who would love to connect with you as a small business owner and by building relationships one on one it's possible to build an entirely new way of bringing in visitors to your holiday home. I say 'new' way, but really it's heading back to the old way - and back to how businesses used to be built, by forming strong, mutually beneficial relationships with other like minded people! Or at least that's the basis of it, with a smattering of up to date technology to help things along!!

In today's episode I talk about reaching out to local businesses and creating a network of like minded individuals and some ideas of how to go about it!

Take a look at the post that accompanies the episode right here - leave me a comment and let me know how you build relationships and what has worked for you in your business!

In this episode shares how his company have risen from humble beginnings back in 2000 in Torquay in Devon, to be a provider of quality Holiday Homes, and great memories, to guests internationally. And a provider of top quality marketing for Holiday Home Owners too, helping them to understand how to provide excellent service to guests and create a solid business that works for them.

With a strong team around him and embracing technology, Richard shares his vast experience of marketing Holiday Homes

We look at the best uses of technology in today's market and highlight the key areas owners must focus on in order to thrive in 2016 as a Holiday Let Owner

Take a look at the full post right here

Breaking Accessible Travel Barriers

How do we as Holiday Let | Vacation Rental Owners offer accessible accommodation, what are the requirements? How do we ensure we are offering a smooth, straightforward and stress free stay for someone who is travelling with disabilities?

In this episode, Srin Madipalli Co-founder of Accommable.com, joins me on the podcast and we talk all things accessible accommodation and hopefully allay the fears that owners have of providing the right type of equipment to fit the needs of someone travelling with a disability and ensure their stay is stress free.

www.holidayletsuccess.com/accommable

5 Steps to Running a Competition in Your Holiday Let Business and Why You Should Do It

In this episode I share the 5 Steps I follow when I'm running a competition in my Holiday Let Business, why I use competitions and the benefits I've seen in building my email list and in pulling in more bookings.

I also run through the way I plan out my email marketing for the year and how to make offers direct to your email subscribers inbox.

www.holidayletsuccess.com/comp

Do you want to learn how to use Facebook adverts in your Holiday Let Business? Make sure you let me know - if enough listeners ask for help in this area I will create a short intro course to get you up and running.

Join the HLS Learning Hub here and access one of our existing free courses