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Establishing Communication
by Robin Fowler

Establishing a line of friendly communication with potential renters is vital to the success of your vacation rental business.

With a technology like the Internet, it has never been easier to locate, send, and receive information. Sometimes, the human element is completely removed from interactions. This isn’t always bad, but in the vacation rental business, it can be detrimental.

When a potential customer sends you a message or requests information about your vacation rental property, the first step for you, as the vacation rental owner, should be to open a line of communication with that person. This goes far beyond just sending a form letter containing basic information about your property.

When you reply to an inquiry, whether by snail mail, email, or telephone, you should not only send the information that is requested, but you should also begin to establish a friendly relationship with your potential renter. You don’t need to get personal with the customer, but you should ask some questions, in order to get a better idea of what type of vacation they are looking for, and whether your property will be a good fit for them.

Ask them things like:
• What days are you looking to visit?
• How many will be in your party?
• Do you have pets that you want to bring?
• Do you smoke?
• What are you looking for in a vacation rental?
• From where are you traveling?

This will not only establish you as a friendly and trustworthy person to do business with, but it can also help you weed through any potential scams or fraudulent renters.

Simply sending the basic information will undoubtedly leave a bad taste in most potential customers’ mouths. Even if you simply say “Thank you for your interest in my property!” or “I hope this will be the beginning of a great business relationship!”, you will be adding a personal touch that will make renters feel welcome and comfortable. This will earn you a positive reputation, and can lead to more business for your property by word of mouth.

When you send information via email, there is always the possibility that your message will get lost in cyberspace. To make sure that your intended message is received, you might want to attach a request for a red receipt to your email (most email platforms have this capability). That way, if you do not receive a receipt in a matter of days, you will know that your message was likely not received.

Also, when you send information via email, make sure you include in the subject heading the name of the referral service that you are using (such as VLBO.com) and something brief like “information on the vacation rental that you requested”. This will also help emails to get to the recipient, without being labeled as SPAM. In every case, in order to avoid communication problems, it is best to require a contact phone number, so that if your email does not go through, you have a means of backup communication.

In order to obtain business for your vacation rental property, proper communication is essential. You need to be willing to go beyond just the basic information in order to secure renters. If you do, you will find that you will not only get more business than you ever expected, but you will get responsible and friendly tenants as well!