Make Information Readily Available And Booking Easy For Prospective Guests

I'm guessing each guest that enquires about your property has already visited a number of sites to reach you. You may have a property manager acting on your behalf or you may be owner managing your Australian short term accommodation property. Either way, make sure you reduce the number of steps it takes for the prospective guest to actually book and secure your accommodation.

We are so time poor these days. I become increasingly frustrated with a site I visited the other day to purchase a bag for my son. I clicked and clicked and finally came to a registration page and they requested so much information off me. I was distracted by my son asking for something to eat, and then he dropped it on the floor and before you knew it I gave up. I ended up buying that bag in my local shopping centre a few days later.

If you will not allow email then ask them to provide their email and a brief question on what they are after. Make it easy for propsective guests to get an answer from you. If you make them wait longer than a day you are likely to lose their business. Personally a phone call is appreciated by so many so consider a free call number or just take the risk and provide your name and mobile number....and answer it. Leaving a message is another link in the chain for prospective guests.

Provide as much information as you can with some lovely images of your short term accommodation. A picture tells the story. Don't hide information or be dishonest. It will only threaten your reputation. Focus on the best features and sell your town/city and all it has to offer. 

If you are really confident about automatic bookings, ie - you don't want to screen your guests, then build in an automatic bookings system. You will have to outlay some $$$ to buy it but it will save you time and grab that prospective guest right when they are feeling great about booking their holiday and staying in your house. You can even set up the booking system but still have the option to screen your guests before all is confirmed. 

Consider Genkan, a Welcome In partner. "GENKAN is a total, "end to end" online holiday rental, villa property management solution for Real Estate agents specialising in holiday property management and reservations. This style of software solution is often referred to as CRM or Customer Relationship Management. With integrated trust accounting, GENKAN features email and SMS marketing, back office, housekeeping, client booking manager and property owner management functionality plus much more."

Of course this only works if you have your own website, which we encourage by the way. For a small outlay you can build a profile of your short term accommodation property in Australia online so prospective guests can reach you direct.

If you choose not to have your own short term accommodation website and rely on booking sites then be prepared to manage multiple calendars and enquiries and pay out commissions and booking fees. 

If you employ a property manager to do this on your behalf, ask if they have bookings available from their site and ensure they have a lovely profile of your property on their website and offer to provide images and information to ensure they are presenting your short term accommodation property to it's full potential!

Visit our Manage page for more tips and to search for industry suppliers.