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Booking trends show that there has never been a better time to be in the luxury vacation rental business.

In the past year, demand has increased dramatically. High-net-worth individuals who were already earning more, spending more and travelling more than the average person before the pandemic have piled up extra savings and are increasingly choosing luxury vacation rentals over 5-star resorts and hotels.

In addition, booking behaviours have changed. With remote work becoming the standard across various countries and professions, wealthy travellers can travel even more freely than before. They bring their families and staff along, travel all year-round and stay longer, overwriting pre-pandemic seasonality and LOS trends.

However, with increased demand comes increased competition. To attract high-value bookings, property managers must optimise their marketing and distribution based on the unique needs of luxury properties—which are very different from your typical short-term rental.

If you’re looking for some concrete, actionable advice on how to market your luxury vacation rentals in 2022, read on. For this deep dive, we interviewed three experts who shared their first hand-insights:

Moriya Rockman, Founder of Smiling House, a niche channel for luxury rentals
Paola Gheis, Founder of Paola Gheis Luxury Rental Consulting, Manager of The Villa Italy and Co-Founder of LUXRE, The Luxury Rentals Event
Chris Pikoulas, Founder of Mykonos.Luxury

The 3 pillars of a successful luxury vacation rental marketing strategy

1. Select your distribution channels strategically

For non-luxury, mass-market vacation rentals, maximising visibility and exposure on sales channels is considered best practice. The more places you advertise your rentals online, the more potential guests will see them and the more bookings you’ll get.

However, for luxury vacation rentals, this is not the goal. The “as-many-eyeballs-on-your-listings-as-possible” approach doesn’t serve a type of product that’s meant to attract a very specific, niche audience. Simply put, luxury rentals are not for everyone. And marketing them to everyone is not going to get you the results you seek.

In fact, listing your luxury rental on too many channels can hurt its positioning and even its revenue potential. By over distributing your property, you risk devaluing it in the eyes of potential guests. And as your property’s perceived value decreases, so do your bookings.

So what should you do instead? Preserve your property’s exclusivity by distributing only on a handful of strategically selected sales channels.

Let’s take a look at what that means.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

villa italy terrace with a viewPhoto: Villa Dimora Bellosguardo, Florence, Italy. Art direction: Paola Gheis Luxury Rental Consulting. Photography: Iuri Niccolai

Luxury vacation rentals and OTAs
If you specialise in luxury rentals, OTAs and vacation rental marketplaces are not the ideal platforms for you. That’s why Airbnb created its specialised collection of luxury homes (Airbnb Luxe, formerly Luxury Retreats).

And that’s why Moriya Rockman and her husband Ira launched Smiling House: they realised that “OTAs are not meant to give the perfect answer for this niche.”

According to Moriya, luxury rentals have specific characteristics that make OTAs a bad match for them.

These include:

A discerning audience. Wealthy travellers don’t shop around on mainstream booking sites. They’re more likely to browse niche websites or join member’s clubs that specialise in high-end rentals. In addition, they often hire travel agents or travel designers to find and book accommodation for them. To cater to the needs of their discerning clientele, these professionals prefer to use specialised channels over OTAs.
Request-to-book. Most mainstream OTAs are based on instant booking, which means that every reservation is instantly confirmed without waiting for the property manager’s feedback. This makes it impossible for you to be selective about the bookings you accept. Since luxury homeowners are more concerned with finding trustworthy guests than maximising revenue, having the option to say ‘no’ is a must.
High-touch customer service. Compared to your typical Airbnb booking, a luxury rental reservation requires a lot more communication with the guest. You need to know as much about the guest as possible to be able to provide them with an exceptional experience. Luxury travellers often have complicated requests and unique preferences that you must cater to—more on that later. In short, mass-market OTAs don’t provide the tools or the concierge-style customer service to fulfil these guest communication needs.
The obstacles we listed above seem like a lot to overcome—but that doesn’t mean you can’t distribute luxury vacation rentals online. On the contrary:

you should list them on niche channels that address the specific distribution needs of luxury properties.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Smiling House

A niche channel specialising in luxury rentals
Smiling House, for example, ticks all the boxes. After managing 120 luxury rentals in the Swiss Alps for many years, Moriya and her team realised that luxury rental operators around the globe were hitting the same walls when trying to list on OTAs. So, they’ve built a niche channel that provides a solution for all luxury vacation rental managers, no matter where they are in the world.

Smiling House works exclusively on a request-to-book basis (“The final ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is always the property manager’s,” says Moriya). They operate similarly to a travel concierge, taking the time to learn about the entire guest journey, as well as the guest’s specific needs and habits.

“Last week we had a guest who was travelling with seven dogs. He didn’t mind paying the $30,000 security deposit for a luxury property—and in the end, there was very little damage. Without high-touch, real assistance from my team, this booking would never have happened,” Moriya says.

In addition, Smiling House optimises the guest experience by offering a variety of payment options (luxury guests often prefer bank transfers over credit card payments for high-value bookings) and personalising the stay down to the last detail.

Currently, Smiling House offers 4,500 listings in 125 destinations worldwide—and growing by the day—plus many more exclusive, “on-demand” rentals that can only be booked off the OTAs.

For property managers, Smiling House promises a higher ADR, longer stays and increased occupancy rates. By listing on Smiling House, you don’t just get exposure to high-net-worth B2C customers. The platform also has a B2B layer, which means you can capture demand from professionals, such as travel designers and clubs like American Express or ThirdHome.

“Our mission is to make a good property management team into an excellent one,” Moriya says.

Smiling House is coming soon to Rentals United! Stay tuned.

Automating your channel distribution

Chris Pikoulas and his team at Mykonos.Luxury manage 50 luxury villas on the Greek island. Out of those, only 15 smaller villas are listed on Airbnb and Booking.com. The rest of their portfolio—comprising larger, ultra-luxury villas—is distributed exclusively through travel agents and niche channels.

Chris and his team recently started connecting to niche channels through the Rentals United channel manager. So far, they’ve listed their villas on Homes & Villas by Marriott International and are soon to go live on Top Villas.

According to Chris, this has been a crucial step for them because they still get 80% of their bookings from travel agents. Chris believes that relying too much on travel agents is a risky strategy because “the world is changing. We’re building the metaverse. Soon, everything will be online.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mykonos luxury villa with curved poolPhoto: Mykonos.Luxury

Having identified this shift in the market, Chris is aiming to “get more bookings from niche channels and less from travel agents”. Then, it’s just a matter of finding the balance between being available online but preserving the value and exclusivity of the villas by choosing the right mix of distribution channels. And a channel manager is a great partner in streamlining that process.

“Rentals United has a big variety of channels and it’s very easy to upload properties. Everything is automated. This is the innovation we need in 2022,” says Chris.

Rentals United currently connects to four niche channels specialising in luxury rentals and more are coming soon. Talk to us if you want to learn more about expanding your distribution.

2. Curate tailored experiences

All three experts we spoke with agree that curating tailored experiences is the only way to live up to—and perhaps exceed—the expectations of luxury guests.

Moriya and her team at Smiling House put a lot of emphasis on understanding the entirety of the guest journey. “The accommodation is just one part of the guest’s wider plans,” she says.

Chris echoes this thought, estimating that “The total experience is 30% the villa and 70% how you manage the guest’s total vacation.” Guests can find villas anywhere—the personalised service you provide is what sets your property management company apart.

how to market luxury vacation rentals – Mykonos Luxury

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Mykonos.Luxury

So how can you provide an elevated luxury experience?

First, you can go out of your way to grant special requests. “Some people say ‘I’m vegan and I want all my shampoos to be eco-friendly’,” says Moriya. To that particular guest, having these needs met is an essential part of the luxury experience. As a result, it’s essential to learn everything about the guest’s preferences prior to the stay.

According to Paola Gheis, who manages a family-owned villa collection in Italy, large groups staying at luxury villas usually celebrate some special occasion. She considers services like a private chef or live music standard requests.

“High-net-worth travellers are becoming more demanding, pushing the role of the host or property manager into an evolving role of travel consultant,” Paola says.

“The guests’ requests can reach a level where they want to discover the territory by staying inside their villa. And we need to be prepared to bring the best experiences by promoting the excellence of the territory,” she adds.

Using your local expertise is a great way to provide tailored experiences. For example, Chris and his team advise guests on which side of the island to stay on depending on whether they want to experience a windy or sunny Mykonos. They source foods from local producers and artisans, tailoring everything to their guests’ sophisticated tastes.

Smiling House represents luxury rentals in 125 destinations around the world and their guests travel 6-14 times a year. As a result, they take personalisation beyond a single stay by advising guests on their next trip. “One guest just checked out of a ski chalet in Switzerland and has already booked their summer holiday with us,” Moriya says.

3. Sell an aspiration

As a luxury rentals consultant, property manager and event host, Paola Gheis has a multi-faceted perspective. In her years working as a professional in the industry, she has discovered the key to branding and marketing luxury rentals.

“You want to tackle your client’s aspirations and work to sell the dream,” she says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Villa Prenzano, Chianti, Tuscany. Art direction: Paola Gheis Luxury Rental Consulting. Photography: Iuri Niccolai

When purchasing a product or service, consumers aspire to achieve some kind of elevated status. They dream of how the product will transform their lives—even make them into a better version of themselves. This is the value that effective marketing messages must communicate.

In the case of luxury rentals, the marketer’s job is to capture this aspiration. Once you understand who your target audience is (a good way to find out is by building a marketing persona, says Paola), you can define your positioning and create a clear statement about the uniqueness of your offer.

Paola uses neuromarketing techniques to craft a narrative that has an emotional impact on the audience. “The goal of our communication is to generate empathy—that’s how you steal the heart of someone,” says Paola.

According to Paola, the luxury rental strategy has four pillars: uniqueness, craftsmanship, excellence and emotion.

Luxury rentals must have impeccable design (affluent guests have a keen eye for detail) and reject mass-produced items in favour of unique and hand-made ones. The listings must be presented using high-quality photos and videos and flawless copy. And last but not least, you must go above and beyond with your guest communication.

Part of the guest’s aspiration may be tied to developing an understanding of the local area, its history and culture. “It’s part of my vision of luxury to be very tied to the territorial experience,” says Paola.

“The idea is that the guest leaves the vacation with a deeper understanding of the destination. It’s our duty as hosts to provide opportunities for learning,” she adds.

Conclusion: Marketing your luxury rentals in 2022

Luxury rentals are arguably the oldest type of short-term rental property; yet, their online distribution has taken longer to evolve than that of non-luxury rentals.

Today, property managers have more and more opportunities to market their luxury rentals online. But in order to preserve the perceived value and exclusivity of their rentals, they must strategically select a limited number of distribution channels.

A channel manager like Rentals United—with connections to niche channels specialising in luxury rentals such as Smiling House—can help you build the right distribution mix and drive high-value bookings.

Besides strategic distribution, it’s equally important to market your properties in a way that captures your guests’ aspirations and provide tailored experiences. These are the key elements of successfully marketing your luxury rentals in 2022

US / Switzerland: Vacation home exchange club THIRDHOME and global property network Smiling House Luxury have announced a relaunch of their partnership to invite luxury property owners and adventure seekers to a “new way of travel”.

Through the initiative, the two companies – which operate in the high-end travel and real estate market – are promising to bring added value to homeowners, investors and guests as demand for getaways, luxury ‘workations’ and monetary return on second homes increases.

Based in North America and Europe, THIRDHOME cultivates an exclusive community of trusted second homeowners, renters and adventurers alike, who are “passionate about remarkable destinations and experiences”.

Its premier club invites members to make use of their second home [by offering a few weeks of unused time], opening doors to a range of other luxury properties for experience-led guests.

Founded on the principles of “exceptional hospitality and high standards”, Smiling House Luxury operates a network of luxury private properties around the world.

Smiling House’s network has been specifically created to connect affluent travellers with unique vacation rental experiences and accommodations, including chalets, villas, mansions and castles, around the world, in locations such as Greece and the Swiss Alps.

The company is seeking to redefine luxury through the alliance [made up of global hosts and homeowners who rent out their properties all year round], including building a ‘real estate division’ and offering a portfolio of luxury properties on sale for its high-end clients, while supporting them throughout the process.

Niki Christian Nutsch, vice president for the EMEA region at THIRDHOME, said: “We thought it was the ideal time to relaunch our rentals platform and prepare for the increasing rise and interest in travel. It’s important to ensure that all homes across THIRDHOME Rentals meet the same quality standards as THIRDHOME Exchange, which is why we are collaborating exclusively with trusted partners such as Smiling House Luxury.

“The rentals division further enhances our exchange program, giving our members and partners more ways to leverage their real estate assets,” he added.

Moriya Rockman, co-founder of Smiling House Luxury, said: “The relaunch of this exciting partnership ticks all the boxes for Smiling House Luxury, THIRDHOME and most importantly, our valued clientele. THIRDHOME’s premier club members are exactly the type of people we look to serve at Smiling House Luxury.

“They’re homeowners with a notable taste for outstanding accommodation [be it chalets, villas or castles], seekers of a ‘high quality’ lifestyle, and they desire to travel frequently. With this in mind, the partnership between THIRDHOME and Smiling House Luxury is the perfect fit.

“THIRDHOME shares our philosophies of exceptional hospitality, unforgettable travel experiences and the real meaning of ‘luxury’ – so we are delighted to be announcing this news, at last!

“Contributing to the ongoing evolution of the travel landscape is certainly a proud moment for us at Smiling House. We’d like to thank THIRDHOME for all they’ve done for the industry so far, and look forward to working with them. Here’s to a new world of luxury travel,” she added.

Smiling House is a unique prospect for property managers because of the company’s policy to only accept vacation homes that are not listed on common OTA sites, which often limits the ability of luxury property managers to receive high-quality guest bookings. The inventory selection process on Smiling House is very discerning in that it serves a distinct niche of properties that fall into a very opulent category of luxury. With an instant connection to Smiling House through BookingPal, property managers have the opportunity for increased exposure to guest clientele who book such vacation homes.

Another strong differentiator that will attract property management companies to list with Smiling House is the firm’s commitment to service. The site is an entirely request-to-book platform, with no automated booking option. The Smiling House property review team and the property’s manager each have an opportunity to review a booking request to determine if the property is a good match to the guest.

“At Smiling House, we offer a superior hospitality product with strong communication and expectations with both guests and property managers that each booking is an ideal fit for each party,” says Moriya Brockman, founder of Smiling House. “Our customer service team considers themselves an extension of the property manager’s business and treats each booking with stellar care.”

Each Smiling House team member is intimately familiar with each of the 3,400 luxury properties and 90 destinations available. This information is invaluable to a guest who has specific requests and expectations, and who is potentially unfamiliar with the destination’s unique offerings, or perhaps restrictions.

“We are pleased to add Smiling House to our luxury offerings, enabling property managers to be considered for joining their elite inventory with one click through our Channel Connector,” says Alex Aydin, CEO, and founder of BookingPal. “The team at Smiling House embodies a return to high-touch customer service and quality representation of the homes of their property management companies. We are proud to aid in their efforts.”

Smiling House intends to seek out and research new potential properties through BookingPal’s Channel Connector API with the intention to expand their collection, as well as accept submissions from property management companies to be added to Smiling House.

More information on BookingPal’s Channel Connector API can be found at www.BookingPal.com.

About BookingPal

​BookingPal ​is the leading provider of distribution technology and Channel Management solutions for the vacation rental industry. BookingPal helps property management companies increase revenue, occupancy, and efficiency through a fully managed distribution platform. The platform provides smooth, continuous, and real-time connectivity between the world’s leading property management software systems and consumer travel websites such as Homes & Villas – By Marriott International, ​Airbnb, ​Booking.com, ​Expedia,​VRBO, Google, and ​TripAdvisor.

About Smiling House

Smiling House is a network of luxury vacation rentals, stylish and exclusive. Its goal is to connect prestigious travelers with unique chalets, villas, mansions, and castles. It is a Swiss-based booking platform specializing in rentals and sales of unique vacation homes in some 100 destinations worldwide. Hundreds of professional property managers & homeowners have joined the Smiling House group, creating a global offering of outstanding hospitality combined with unforgettable experiences.

 

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/bookingpal-enlists-smiling-house-to-its-channel-connector-api-to-enhance-exposure-for-property-management-companies-to-luxury-seeking-guests#ixzz7D7pWrAqD

Solitude in the Swiss Alps
Speaking of views, we’ve got to direct you to well – just about any of the stunning locations on Smiling House’s expansive portfolio, starting with a Gstaad-adjacent chalet that’ll make you wonder how you ever worked in a boring, old office. Close enough to the city for quick access, but far enough away to provide solitude, this property is surrounded by stunning sights ready to inspire.

BookingPal announces partnership with Smiling House Luxury

US / Switzerland: Cloud-based travel technology company BookingPal has announced a partnership with Swiss property management company Smiling House Luxury to expand the selection of ultra-luxury channels available to property managers through the former’s channel connector API.

Policies to only accept vacation homes that are not listed on common OTA sites can limit the ability of luxury property managers to receive high-quality guest bookings. Smiling House’s discerning inventory selection process means that it serves a distinct niche of properties that fall into a very opulent category of luxury.

With an instant connection between both companies through the partnership, property managers will have the opportunity to gain increased exposure to guest clientele who book such vacation homes.

Smiling House’s site is an entirely request-to-book platform, with no automated booking option. Its property review team and the property manager him/herself each have an opportunity to review a booking request to determine if the property is a good match to the guest.

Smiling House founder and head of marketing, Moriya Rockman, said: “At Smiling House, we offer a superior hospitality product with strong communication and expectations with both guests and property managers that each booking is an ideal fit for each party. Our customer service team considers themselves an extension of the property manager’s business and treats each booking with stellar care.”

BookingPal founder and CEO, Alex Aydin, said: “We are pleased to add Smiling House to our luxury offerings, enabling property managers to be considered for joining their elite inventory with one click through our channel connector. The team at Smiling House embodies a return to high-touch customer service and quality representation of the homes of their property management companies.

“We are proud to aid in their efforts,” he added.

With more than 3,400 luxury properties available in 90 destinations, Smiling House intends to utilise BookingPal’s channel connector API to expand its collection and accept submissions from other property management companies.

Moriya Rockman, Founder and CMO, Smiling House Luxury

There is a reason why the vacation rental industry landscape has been a hotbed of acquisition activity all of 2021. As soon as they were able to, people began to travel, and with unmatched enthusiasm, trying to make up for the lost time. Consequently, demand exploded, with booking pace up 700% for some vacation rental managers. What followed was an urgent need for vacation rental managers to step up to meet this demand.

A lot of big players saw themselves consolidating their property management businesses to meet this demand. Perhaps the most talked-about example of this was Vacasa’s acquisition of over 160 property management companies, including Wyndham Turnkey Vacation Rentals, which added 6,000 properties to its gargantuan portfolio.

This demand, however, is not only for the biggest players. Independent vacation rental managers stand to profit from it just the same. Their core challenge is the same, too, although perhaps at a different scale. They must find a way to meet spiking demand head-on by growing their inventory quickly, and efficiently, to keep both revenues and profitability high.

We turned to 8 industry professionals to help answer this question and received responses that make it clear that while the idea of vacation rental inventory growth might seem simple enough, it is crucial to do it with consideration of your unique business to make it work profitably for you. Some highlights from the responses:

Cultivate focus on your niche and create opportunities and tools to attract players within it.

The vacation rental industry based on platforms and technology is existing for more than a decade. But the Luxury segment within the STR space is one of the last to join.

Smiling House Luxury took the mission to gather both homeowners and property managers focusing on hosting luxury homes around the globe. In order to extend our portfolio, we took the following actions :

– Focus: the leisure market is symbolised by expensive homes, longer stays, but with limited seasons (summer and/or winter). Usually around 10 to 20 weeks of rentals a year. These specific criteria led us to approach actively to owners and managers based on regions with different seasonality. Our message to them was that High Net Worth Individuals looking for a luxury ski-in Chalet in winter are the same ones looking for a private beach villa in summer. As Smiling House is a niche channel for luxury, guests can focus on their desired destination and hosts can be sure they are targeting the right crowd. So focusing on luxury and ultra-luxury offers only, is a key to extend the portfolio and create demand rather than marketing.

– Technology: Lately Smiling House Luxury became an official channel. It’s now possible for every property manager to connect to us through their PMS and BookingPal within a click. Since the whole platform is based on requests to book, property managers know that they can accept or decline any booking request. This fact together with the concierge attitude of the platform makes sure that every request is handled at the highest level. This way of working together hand in hand with property managers gives them the trustand comfort they are seeking. Technology is definitely key for extending your portfolio and let other professionals/homeowners join your activity.

– Recognising trends in the market: At Smiling House, we are very busy with new trends that affect the way people travel and consume. The latest trends of workation, staycation, together with the fact that a lot of our clients are independent business owners that traveled throughout the pandemic, made us change and adapt to these trends. This has to do with local marketing for the staycation needs, switching rooms into offices with high-speed internet for workation needs, and adding amenities needed for longer stays.

– Additional distribution channels: One of the last year’s conclusions of many Property Managers was not to put their eggs in one basket. What we recognised was the need for professionals from the travel industry to reach out and find a solution for their clientele. And on the other hand, many guests reached out to get information about vacation homes that are for sale. We didn’t waste time and created 2 platforms to answer these needs. The first one is a B2B platform for travel designers, concierge companies, and others to offer luxury and ultra-luxury homes in our collection. The second one is exposing vacation rental homes for sale within our collection to private investors and family offices. By creating these platforms, we made it possible for more homeowners and property managers to share their properties with us, even if the target is to sell them. Also, working with the B2B professionals is giving property managers and homeowners the possibility to get a high budget booking (70.000.- USD average) and to be exposed to a whole new demand outside of the OTA space.