How to Get Repeat Bookings
06/30/2020
Why Vacation Rental SELLERS Need to Encourage Future Bookings
04/20/2020
Being that we don't do any real estate sales ourselves, and instead look for partnerships with real estate agents, we often get great feedback from the agents that we work with during the vacation rental buying and selling process. There's a debate in the real estate community as too whether or not you should block the vacation rental calendars to allow for quick and seamless showings, or if you should allow future bookings that convey with the sale of the property. In summary, our opinion, although we are admittedly biased, is to keep the calendar open and to book the property as much as possible. This is not an intention to continue to generate revenue for our company, as we've truly witnessed the benefit of future bookings for the buyers personal gain.
There is certainly a logical argument to the side of not keeping future bookings in a property. Sellers agents are focused on getting as many showings at the property as possible, and many vacation rental buyers are only in town for a short period of time. This leaves a very short window for sellers agents to capitalize on, and not being able to show a property will ruin your chance at selling a property, we understand and agree. This can be avoided however. Keep reading to see how iTrip gets the best of both worlds. Sellers agents may also encourage sellers to block the calendar, as they don't want to deal with the hassle of checking the calendar for showings. Needless to say this is quite selfish, and as long as there's open communication or updated resources to check, there shouldn't be an issue of checking the calendar before showings.
There may be some challenges for a sellers agent when keeping future bookings in place and continuing to market the property during the selling process. The benefits of these bookings far outweigh the negatives for the seller themselves. The first of these benefits is obviously cash flow. Sellers still have bills to pay while they're trying to sell their home, and the property is still an investment for them. Cutting bookings simply slashes all revenue and can make the selling process quite painful for the seller. Next, is the allure of future bookings to a buyer. The majority of vacation rental buyers that we work with prefer to buy a property with bookings in place. They 1). Know the property is attractive to renters and can be rented while they own it, increasing their confidence in the purchase and 2). Buyers love the fact that they will walk right into a property with revenue secured. With this in mind, we're confident that future bookings in a property will help sell it, not vice versa.
As with almost everything in the real estate industry, communication solves the issue. iTrip Vacation Orlando encourages the clients that we work with to keep the future bookings in their property, and we also allow showings while guests are in the property. We're very clear in both the description of the property before the guest books, as well as the welcome information that the guests receive, that the property is for sale and there may be showings while they're staying in the property. Sure this probably turns away a number of guests from renting the property, but we still get bookings with guests knowing this is the case. Many guests are very understanding and willing to accommodate quick showings of the property while they're there. We're also very communicative with buyers and sellers agents when it comes to check in and check outs, property rental revenue information, and other aspects that help the real estate transaction.
If you have a client looking to purchase a vacation rental home and they're looking to understand the booking or management process, vacation rental revenues and expenses, or the best areas in Orlando to purchase, contact us!
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