Attention Airbnb and Vrbo hosts: Do you have your short term rental property listed on Houfy? If not, you should!
Before we get into the details about Houfy, I want to ask you a few questions:
If you had a great guest who asked to complete a direct booking, do you have the ability to do so?
Why not? Are you losing out on direct bookings because your listing is not branded? As a host, it's YOUR investment of time and energy that goes into the guest experience and you should get the credit for it. Don't be lumped into the "Airbnb hosts" category!
Do you think Airbnb & Vrbo will have your back in the event of guest damage?
Think again!
Did you know Airbnb will not pay for the time your space is down for repairs?
Short term rental business insurance covers that.
Did you know Airbnb will not pay for the time is takes you to follow up with their teams to get paid out under the host guarantee?
On average annually, a host will spend more than 40 hours in order to get resolution on a high dollar damage claim. I don't know about you but I'd rather be spending that 40 hours GROWING my business than dealing with past guest issues. I know you might be saying..."I don't have time."
It really only takes a few minutes to convert your listing over from Airbnb/Vrbo to Houfy.
"It's true that simply listing on Houfy is not going to magically bring guests to your door but let me mention that if you are always looking to fill vacancies for the current time period, you're not actively growing your business for the long haul and you are not likely getting the occupancy rates or profits that you need!
Don't get caught up in the NOW without keeping sight of your long term goals to GROW your short term rental business.
"What is Houfy?" It's a revolution! A revolution of short term rental business owners who have decided to take their hosting power back into their own 🤲 hands. It's a Super Powerful Team of Wonderful Houfies.
When you list on Houfy you are getting so much more than just a NO FEE place to conduct transactions with your guests. With Houfy you also get access to the network of hosts across the world who want to save their guests money by avoiding all those service fees the online travel agencies charge!
You can require your guests to purchase trip cancellation and damage insurance and collect a security deposit. With Houfy, it's 100%...YOUR BUSINESS!
On Houfy, you set your own guest screening, cancellation, and booking policies. You are in complete control of your listing! Ok, so you might be asking, "if Houfy is so great, why won't it bring me guest inquiries like Airbnb does?" Well that's because Houfy doesn't do marketing! Houfy is leaving it you as the host to decide how best to reach your target market without charging anyone a fortune in unnecessary fees!
"Stacey, that's all fine and dandy but I don't have time to do all that marketing stuff on top of everything else."
I know! It's so time consuming! That's why I developed the #houfyhosts initiative. When you sign up with me, you get access to a personable business & process improvement coach AND you get FREE MARKETING of your Houfy blog stories on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest and if I'm going to spend my time marketing my listing, I'm going to just concentrate on marketing my listing. It's MY time I'm spending after all. I don't want my guests to be distracted by my competitors listings."
I agree it is YOUR time and if you want to have a successful long term business growth strategy, you will want to get your message out there in front of your ideal guests on a regular basis so that you will be able to fill your calendar.
That's just how it works! Now, I have to ask, why not ALSO market Houfy at the same time? Your marketing efforts will still draw guests to your listing but it will also educate the guest about houfy so that next time they think about taking a vacation, they think of direct booking on houfy instead of those other platforms!
It does not cost you anything additional to also mention Houfy in your ads. The more guests hear it, the more familiar it will become to them, the more likely they will use it next time to book! Here are my 10 steps to Success in the Short-Term Rental Business!
Create your listing on HOUse For You (houfy.com) from day one!
Get your property set up! - Brand it, make it unique and price it correctly from the start!
Get your property listing out there for your family/friends to direct book with you to get those first reviews going on Google!
Join the AIRBNB | VRBO | HOUFY Short Term Rental Host Community group to participate in new host topics and get the latest host news as it develops.
Post creative photos and other things of interest to your guest on Instagram.
Using your photos from Instagram, write a short blog story about your listing, attractions around it.
SEO BOOSTER! - Post your completed stories in the host only group: Houfy Hospitality Hub.
Post it on your Facebook page
Share, Share, Share your Houfy blog stories across Facebook groups where you target audience is.
Get bookings from great guests who are likely to return year after year! See, there. You've got this!
✳️✳️✳️ Host Special ✳️✳️✳️
I have a special for hosts who decide to work along side me. I'll have my marketing team take your listing and share it to the Houfy target audience across Facebook, Instagram, & Pinterest. 🙂 Reach out directly to me at: stacey@improvemyvr.com if you're interested in learning more.
I'm here to help! Guys, this is a #nobrainer. Get on it!! We can do this, together!
More Time for Weekend
Check out my newest podcast episode and learn how to have more weekend time for you while hosting!
~STACEY LYNN
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