Offline marketing techniques for holiday rentals

May 2024

Currently, nearly every host opts to advertise their holiday home on the internet. Whether on their own blog or a holiday rental website, but what about traditional marketing? Newspapers, leaflets, or business cards are great tools to promote your rental property. Some of these options are free, and others are low-cost.

Precisely, in this article, we’ll discuss traditional offline advertising strategies that will help you showcase your holiday home. With these, you’ll reach a larger number of guests who typically search for accommodation using traditional methods. Therefore, advertising your property on a website is essential, but making the most of such effective tools is also crucial.

Offline strategies to increase the visibility of your holiday home

Distribute leaflets in your area

Leaflets are excellent allies to enhance the presence of your holiday rental. Within offline marketing for holiday rentals, this is one of the best ways to promote yourself. In these leaflets, you can describe the features of your property, insert high-quality photographs, and mention the nearest tourist attractions.

What should the leaflet be like? Aesthetically, it should be attractive and clear. And, to directly reach potential tenants, Holidu recommends leaving leaflets at points of interest, as well as at local travel-related fairs or tourism sector events. Travellers who see it and wish to revisit the destination may consider your home as accommodation for their next trip.

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Advertise your property in local newspapers

If you’ve wondered where to advertise your holiday rental, a good option would be local newspapers. Nowadays, most hosts focus on technologies, neglecting offline marketing. However, local newspapers remain an ally in advertising strategy. Many people still read or consult them for information.

How to advertise your property in a newspaper? Always opt for large or medium-sized ads, as they are visible and eye-catching. Word ads are not a cost-effective or efficient option in this case. Furthermore, we recommend advertising your property on significant dates like Christmas or Easter, as well as during the summer months.

Collaborate with travel agencies

Travel agencies always need accommodations to offer their clients. If you want to rent out your holiday home, you can approach agencies in your region. The more, the better. Travel agencies not only serve individuals but also business people attending conferences and other events who need accommodation. Sometimes, they charge a small fee for advertising properties, but this is not common. Nevertheless, we advise you to collaborate only with those that don’t charge you anything.

Agencies can recommend your home to anyone interested. So, leave them with leaflets featuring beautiful photos and valuable information for tourists or flyers with a striking image and the most prominent features of your holiday home. It’s better if the information can be assimilated at a glance.

Cooperate with Tourist Offices

People who visit a tourist office generally want information about places of interest, restaurants, and accommodations. Therefore, they represent an opportunity to gain guests for your holiday home. And to reach them, the only way is through tourist offices, rather than the internet, as these guests prefer to consult directly with a tourism manager.

How to place a holiday rental ad in tourist offices? As with travel agencies, we suggest two options. One is the leaflet, brief and concise, and the other is creating a flyer. These organisations may also charge you a commission, so it’s best to choose those that don’t charge you anything. After all, it’s an exchange of interests.

Hand out business cards

Business cards are the introduction to your holiday home, and you even have the option to customise them with photographs. You can get plenty of them at an economical cost. It’s better if they are of quality, both in terms of paper and ink and colours. Similarly, you should choose an attractive design and font. No matter how beautiful your holiday home is in reality, no one will pay attention if the card isn’t visually appealing.

Your business card should include contact information, a picture of the property, and its main features. Don’t overload it with information. The important thing is not to overwhelm the recipient of the card. The more attractive it is, the more interest it will generate in your home, increasing the chances of renting out your holiday flat. Let the business card speak for itself.

How to create an attractive advertisement for your property?

Whether you want to place an ad in a newspaper or distribute a leaflet, the advertisement for your property should be clear and different from the rest. Add beautiful photographs with good lighting; it’s better to have four quality photos than fifteen bad ones. And, whenever possible, avoid zoomed-in images; they will only harm the resolution. Other tips for publishing a holiday rental ad:

• Choose a catchy headline and add one or two features to it. For example, “Beautiful penthouse with views” or “Central and luxurious apartment for couples.”
• Describe the property, where it is, its size, and the services it offers.
• Highlight the advantages of renting that property (location, views, dimensions, etc.). How does it differ from others? Try to convince the guest.
• You can include floor plans of the property to show its layout.
• Of course, you must take care of the spelling and wording of the ad. Grammatical or spelling errors are not allowed.
• Don’t exaggerate about the qualities of the property.

It’s really worth preparing holiday rental ads, as they will serve you for years. And you can even reuse them for the holiday rental portal or share them on social media. In the end, traditional methods can be very useful to apply to online formulas, and vice versa.

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