'Dealmakers' - how to tip the balance in your favour

How to communicate with your potential renters - how to turn site visitors into enquiries, and enquiries into bookings.
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paolo
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'Dealmakers' - how to tip the balance in your favour

Post by paolo »

I think that the key to success in a crowded rentals market is differentiation – offering what the competition doesn’t. There are hundreds of ways to stand out, but here are some based on what potential renters ask me most often.

I call them dealmakers – not having them won’t lose you the deal, but having them may just be what makes the deal.

Hairdryers in the bathrooms. Not the tiny travel ones, but the real thing, the bulky ones with strange attachments, that are actually not too expensive. The benefit: guests pack less.

Cheap car hire. Research the cheapest reliable car hire from local airports and stations. This would usually be online through a consolidator, but the car would still be from one of the big international companies, only cheaper.

Free phone. Make your phone free for all incoming and local calls, so they can call restaurants and tourist attractions. Even better, make the phone free for all calls. In some countries you can get a monthly rate that gives unlimited long-distance calls. Or you can meter the phone and they can pay when they leave.

Internet access. Some people have to stay in touch with their work so try to make it easy for them by at least having a metered phone line they can plug into, or better yet broadband/ADSL. If you have an old computer lying around, provide it for email and internet – they won’t need to bring their laptop.

Baby things. Parents with babies have to pack like Elizabeth Taylor. Make it easier on them by providing bulky items like travel cots, high chairs and bottle sterilizers.

Baby sitting. Can you provide on-site baby-sitting for a token fee? Parents of toddlers would love a night off. They wouldn’t be expecting it from a rental property, so it would be a nice surprise option.

Dinner at home. The trouble with self catering is you have to cater for yourself! Sometimes it would be lovely to have dinner cooked for you using local ingredients and featuring regional specialties. This could be cooked on-site or delivered.

English TV. For English-speakers in non-English speaking countries, it’s nice to have CNN or BBC for the news. And a multi-zone DVD player so you can bring your own DVDs.

These are the sort of extras that I would tell potential renters about when they first enquire.

What are your dealmakers?
Paolo
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oskar
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Post by oskar »

I agree with all these, Paolo.

Perhaps though, on a slightly different tack, the key thing is to make your potential customers think that they're being offered something different or special, when in actual fact, they're not!

In other words, it's all down to how you describe your property.

Here's something I made up for one of the properties I advertise.......

"A truly stunning property situated in the exclusive residential area of Faro Park, this 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa stands out from the crowd! Large southfacing terraces, electrically heated swimming pool, beautiful outside dining area for your alfresco meals, large well stocked gardens with surrounding wall to ensure your privacy - yes, this villa has it all. And it has been exquisitely furnished to the highest of standards to ensure the luxurious holiday you deserve. It doesn't end there! Satellite TV, DVD player, Hi Fi system, together with a stylish modern kitchen, mean your time spent indoors will just add to your enjoyment. One of our most popular villas - be sure to book early to avoid disappointment!"

It's not that much different from the others, but it sounded so good, I nearly booked it myself! :wink: :wink:
Lorie Piears
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Deal Makers

Post by Lorie Piears »

We find that most of our clients bring mobile phones to keep in contact with 'home' then get very upset when they find how much it costs! We provide a 'local' mobile phone with 15 euros of free calls on so that they can call home or make local calls without being double charges as they would on their own mobiles
we take a 50 euro returnable deposit but the calls are gratis
Our clients think this is a great 'bonus'!!!
centime
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Post by centime »

Sometimes it takes a bit of lateral thinking to promote what you already have, you must put yourself into the mindset of your visitor, this is more difficult if you happen to live in the area as I have done for the past 20 years. Reading all your comments has made me realize for example, that I can offer a great freebie round the city tour by simply leaving a couple of tickets for the antique tram that stops outside the door of the building – guests gets a great introduction to many of the top tourist sites and it costs me less than 3 euros a couple! I am now looking at our parish with different eyes, male visitors can have a hand made to measure shirt for 100 euros in about 3 days from a shop two blocks up from our apartments. Trawling for ideas this morning I came across a new gourmet food shop that had a speciality wine section with a an explanation (plus little sniffer bottles) of what are the typical bouquet notes to look for in Portuguese wines, something I did not know but do now! This will be included on my new web page. The shop also does from time to time, a tasting and sniffing of new wines that they are going to stock, all for free and great fun. The shop will give me a couple of weeks notice and I can let my guests know in advance plus write a little report on my site.
Look at your rental, in site-specific terms and I am sure you will come up with many great ideas along with the obvious things like cable TV and hairdryers. Let keep the good ideas flowing.
Lisbon the lovely, Lisbon the fair, never to have seen her is to miss something rare!
helene
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Post by helene »

:D Judging by the feedback we have had over the last few days our 'dealmaker' is our website. According to those people looking forward to their holiday it tipped the balance in our favour - so well worth having the professionals do it for us. If anyone wants details I am happy to pass these on.

As to other extras then I think that the list provided by Paulo is an excellent start point and although many people have their own mobile phone it is expensive for international calls and on ocassions they have not worked. So as I am aiming for more weeks occupancy perhaps I should consider this as an extra worth providing.

Helene
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Post by helene »

The city extras that Centine is planning sound great - I am sure they will be used
helene
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Great advice, Centime, that should be mandatory reading for all rental owners. :D
Paolo
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A-two
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Re: Phones, mobiles, cellphones and calling cards

Post by A-two »

Lorie Piears wrote:We find that most of our clients bring mobile phones to keep in contact with 'home' then get very upset when they find how much it costs! We provide a 'local' mobile phone with 15 euros of free calls on so that they can call home or make local calls without being double charges as they would on their own mobiles
we take a 50 euro returnable deposit but the calls are gratis
Our clients think this is a great 'bonus'!!!
We do something similar for our guests, but I'm wondering whether the VOIP internet calling cards might not be even better. I've never used them myself, but apparently that's the cheapest way to make international calls these days. Being the USA, it's not a problem for us to provide free local calls and directory assistance on a land line, but the line is blocked for long distance and international. Does anybody give these cards out to guests, or do you find they bring their own anyway?

Thanks,
Joanna

(post-edited to remove link)
Last edited by A-two on Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Joanna,

Off-topic, but you are no longer Property Angels - good move!

I'm afraid I haven't heard of those cards. In France I know you can buy pre-paid telecom cards that allow you to call from a phone that is incoming only.

Someone in the States asked me about a service he was paying $20 a month for - unlimited free long-distance calls. He wanted to know if this was good value. I certainly thought it was!
Paolo
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Banksie
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Freebies for guests

Post by Banksie »

I've bought a budget set of golf clubs with stand, brolly, balls etc and a contact name that gets discount on course fees. I'll use the clubs myself and next time I'm out (Oh I wish I could get out more often!) then I'll buy another complete set - on offer for 99 euros for a full set of unbranded graphite clubs with bag. Even if it doesn't entice return guests, it'll do my friends and I.

We also leave 4 or five cheap drawing pads and pens sets for kids on the odd wet days. We top this up when we go out ourselves.

We are following other posts on this and have bought kids plates and cutlery and a 'potty'. Bottle steriliser sounds good as well.
Our dilemma is wishing we could spend as much time in our flat as the people who rent it but if we did we wouldn't be able to rent it!
Clexane
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Post by Clexane »

Couple of additional optional services we offer other than those already mentioned include:

French Lessons We just approached our local village English teacher who was more than happy to provide the service. This also encourages longer bookings.

Maid Services Our cleaner comes in each day for a two hour clean up - they get similar to hotel service at bargain basement rates.

Mountain bikes x 2 This is a real hit and cost virtually nothing. Our area is fantastic for riding in the fields and forests so this really is a winner and bikes are something that are very difficult to travel with.

Cooking Classes Everybody seems to love the idea but few have admittedly taken it up ... done by the same person who offers our meal service which is more popular.

We find that the collection of value added services make guests feel even before they arrive that they are looking at a high standard establishement and this helps close our deals.

I also agree that the website is a huge selling point and for first time web users for holiday rental it gives them more certainty that there is something real there and helps sell the property.
So you wanted a holiday home in france ...

www.villaemmanuelle.com
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

We have a hairdryer in the bathroom, and I have just found a 'chef at home' service in the valley, which I have emailed for details. I am going to try and sort out the telephone before next winter too.
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Helen,
The telephone shouldn't be too much of a problem if you are with France Telecom.
You can log on to their website and get an up to the minute breakdown of all calls made, and then you could just deduct the cost from the guests' deposit. That's what we do anyway.

PS - I like the "Chef at Home" idea! Unfortunately rural Normandy is not as sophisticated as the Alps and I doubt very much that there is anything like that where we are. :cry:
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Post by Hells Bells »

I have to get her to reply to my emails though, before I can set it up with her, I was thinking about offering it an an extra cost on the night of arrival, or for special occasions, Valentine's Day, birthdays etc. The link is www.chefathome.eu.com , but is not a brilliant website. I viewed it best in IE rather than my usual Firefox.
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Ju
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Post by Ju »

Thanks for the link.

This is a service that we offer, but it is myself and my husband that do all the cooking. It is interesting to see that our prices are almost half (perhaps I am underselling myself).

It is important to remember that just because people have chosen a self catering holiday does not mean that they want to cook every day. We have had guests here who haven't cooked at all (for 2 weeks). They alternated between our food and restaurants.

Ju
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