HouseTrip Blog – Holiday apartment news, travel and rental tips

Today, we are proud to have Claude Bénard, a famous travel blogger who edits HotelITour, as a guest blogger. Claude has given us great advices and encouraged us since the very beginning of the HouseTrip adventure. He is also a regular contributor to TourismInternetMarketing and the T-List. In this article, Claude writes to vacation rentals owners about the latest trends in the travel industry and how they can cope with them.

Enjoy his post below.

We are in a severe downturn, impacting both consumer behaviour and the travel industry.
As a result the general consumer’s primary objective is to seek better value at a lower spend.
And for you, owners, in this current climate, any additional source of income generated from renting out what you already have, is a welcome boost and a good way to manage your Real Assets.
In this post, I will explore the consumers’ needs that are changing, things to do to be prepared to meet those needs and ways to make money from your Real Assets while differentiating yourselves.

1 ) What are the main trends and travel consumer’s need?

Short holidays, a worldwide trend

People are taking shorter holidays and do so more frequently.

Impulsive and last booking

Holidays remains an impulsive buy, and last minute booking is a strong trend for years. We see people booking just one or two weeks before travelling.
The vacationers are still coming; they are just waiting until the very last minute to book their travels and vacation rentals.

Do-it-Yourself holidays

The majority of holidaymakers are educated, informed and confident enough to make their own travel arrangements. Do-it-Yourself holidays is a strong behaviour for flights and accommodations products. 
In Europe, with all these low cost airlines selling cheap fares over the internet, it is becoming easy to make your choice and to build your own short vacation package.

People are in the mood to bargain

Consequence of the global crisis, 2009 is the “Year of the Travel Deal”.
 Travelers want to find the best deals and know the travel industry has vacancies.

Flexible travel schedules

Vacationers’ travel schedules are flexible enough to capitalize on higher than normal supply. The crisis economy has created new flexibility and new behaviours.

Booking Online, a global and strong trend

Booking engines are well used in the airline and hotel industry for decade and at a very large scale.
Millions of consumers are well educated about the use of these tools and want this real time booking service in the vacation rentals industry.

Yield management is becoming to enter and to work for the rental industry

Like the airline and hotel industry, the vacation rentals industry has:

• Fixed resources
• Perishable inventory
• Customers willing to pay different rates at different times

They also have the same global challenge: to sell the right resources to the right customer at the right time for the right price.
Yield Management can help rentals’ owners optimize their sales and rates.
With the HouseTrip team and their advisors who come from the hotel industry, rental owners are in good hand and will have a very professional assistance from the team.

2 ) Things to do to be prepared to meet those trends and needs

The economic climate has most definitely changed the landscape of travel recently, so being able to offer discounts and deals to take advantage of last minute bookings is key. As always, flexibility is the key to snagging a great deal. So, I suggest you become more flexible on the following:

• You are selling TIME, a vacation rental time! Why not propose 2 or 3 days rentals to suit short breaks and week-ends. People want other solutions than the normal 7 days from Saturday to Saturday.
• Be flexible with your cancellation policy
• Change your reservation & cancellation policy to make it easier to book (ex : decrease the nightly minimum from 7 nights to 3 to generate more bookings)
• Be creative with your offer and try to add value to your products and services.
• Propose do-it-yourself amenities and have everything your guests need so they can make themselves at home
• On the premises, sell extra services “a la carte” around your key products and around the tourism area.
• Develop A-la-Carte pricing

There is a general recognition that any new business proposition would be based upon a “travel experience” perhaps linked to an event or activity. Throughout the World, there are Festival, tourism attractions, sporting and leisure-based events occurring on a regular basis.. Accommodations near such events are always in high demand. If are you close to this kind of event, use the Housetrip special auction system, you will optimize your sales and rates.
Feel free to comments and give use your tips or requests. The HouseTrip platform is a work in progress and all the HouseTrip team is looking forward to your feedbacks.