Festive Season Best Wishes To You And Your Guests
Well 'tis the season to be jolly and so if you manage to find yourself a few spare moments (bahahaha), over this absolutely frantic holiday season, then you should jolly well consider sending a little message to your previous guests with Christmas good wishes or at least a Happy Holidays wish (appealing to all including those with non-religious beliefs) .Are other advertising portals offering to do this on your behalf? While this might be nice and convenient for you I would advise you to go out on your own for this promotional activity for the following reasons;
Which brand do you want them to remember when they book your holiday rental accommodation next time? Yours or a global corporations logo?
You can easily forward a short communication to your database (if you have been clever enough to seek out email and other contact details of your guest before, during or after they stay).TIP: Try a quick email with a short message and Christmas/ Happy Holidays graphic, a group text or an actual hand written card by post. I recommend to try building an e-communication in Mail Chimp or similar program. The templates are very professional looking. (this is something I can help you with if you are interested?).
Remember that you must always be looking for opportunities to capture your guests contact information. This contact information should ideally be entered into a contact database for you to communicate direct with your previous guests. Your goal, as a professional holiday rental accommodation manager, is to capture this information so you can encourage any future business to come direct through your own marketing channels.Remember when you draft your communication that while you want to thank your guests for staying in your holiday rental you also want to subtly encourage them to think about booking again and so you'll need a call to action for them to visit your website in some shape or form. Ideally you have a business logo hyperlinked to your website, Facebook and other social media pages, subscription link and most importantly consistent professional looking branding in the signature or footer of your email communication.You do not need to write a novel. A quick note with best wishes and a subtle call to action to prompt a direct booking is what you should aim for. Ie please don't send an email to your previous guests inviting them to book again as your opening statement.And don't forget to include your existing and future guests in your greeting as well.Oh yes, and by the way, wishing you all a safe and fun festive season with all the special people and experiences that complete us as human beings. I am lucky enough to be spending Christmas on the shady and grassy banks of the Mandurah Estuary/ Inlet (Western Australia) on a 35 degree day.We're having an early champagne (adults), pancakes, bacon and maple syrup brunch and then a lazy picnic lunch and paddle in the beautiful waterways that are often frequented by our friendly dolphins. These are my two sons (one standing up, the other with yellow floaties, and their friends having a go on the SUP board in the same spot this time last year).If you have enjoyed this article maybe you'd like to subscribe (free) to the Welcome In e-news. I try to publish these every few months to a community of holiday rental managers in Australia. I encourage you to make contact with me if you have any queries about any aspect of your holiday rental management journey. If I cannot assist you I can certainly point you in the right direction. I am well connected with niche industry holiday rental stakeholders in Australia.