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Should You Be Offering Discounts?
by Robin Fowler

Should you offer discounts to your repeat renters or to those that send extra business your way? You might find that your business will continue to grow if you do!

Once your vacation rental business starts to grow, you might find yourself with renters who want to return to your property season after season, or you might be looking for ways to motivate previously responsible customers to rent your property again. Should you offer discounts to these repeat customers, or give them the full price each time they rent your property? You might be afraid that by offering discounts, you will lose money from your rentals. But it doesn’t have to mean that at all! Offering discounts for repeat renters and for referrals is an excellent way to build a great reputation and a steady clientele!

When previous tenants want to rent your property again, it means that you provided them with a comfortable and enjoyable place to call home for the duration of their vacation. And as the property owner, you will likely have records of all former renters, so you will know how certain renters have treated your property and followed your policies. If you have good, trustworthy former guests who want to rent your property again, there is no reason not to apply some type of discount to their fees, especially if you know that you won’t have to worry about how your property will be treated.

If you worry that offering discounts to repeat renters all the time will result in your repeat guests coming to always expect them, don’t offer them for just any time of the year. In other words, offer special discounts to repeat renters for off-season dates. This will help keep your property consistently booked throughout the year, and leave room for new renters to use the property during peak seasons, at full price. If you do want to offer year-round discounts to your repeat renters, you can offer something like an automatic 10% off, or even off the total rental costs.

Another way of offering discounts to your repeat renters is by keeping their previous rental rate the same the next time you decide to raise your rental rates across the board. If your previous renters inquire about a discount, you can tell them that while you raised your rates for everyone else, you kept their rate exactly the same. This will give them the idea that they are getting a discount for renting your property again!

Another type of discount that you might want to consider offering is a referral discount. Referrals are an excellent form of word-of-mouth advertising for your property and vacation rental business, and can be highly effective in helping you build a regular roster of responsible renters. You can give referral discounts, or some other type of reward or incentive, to your previous customers who have sent some extra business your way. You can either choose to give them a discounted off-season rate on your property, a sizeable one-time discount on their next rental of your property (during any time of year, based on availability), or you can send them a generous gift card to enjoy. This type of discount or reward is your way of saying thank you to your customers. After all, referrals speak volumes of the quality of your property and your service, and you should definitely show your appreciation in some way!

Offering discounts to your customers is obviously not a necessary thing to do. But, it can be a great way to build up your reputation, and keep the renters you like coming back year after year!