What to Look for in Your Vacation Rentals Software Package

by Alex Adams Freelance Writer / Blogger

Until recently, if you wanted to use the internet to promote your holiday rentals it was all rather a slog.

First you needed to design the website. No problem at all if you happened to have high level web design skills, but if not, the choice lay between rather generic templates not designed with your business in mind, or expensive professional website designers.

Next you had to promote the site. Getting your site noticed amongst thousands of similar offerings involves certain tricks of the trade. Like so many things, it's much easier when you know how.

Assuming you did indeed manage to get your site seen by potential guests, the next stage of responding promptly to enquiries, keeping track of reservations and deposits and managing that all important calendar needed to be done separately.

Thankfully, this lack in provision was noticed and there are now packages of vacation rentals software on the market that do all of these things and many more too. These sorts of software have the potential to make your life much easier, so what should you look for when you're deciding to purchase?

Website design: Your software should have templates which you can customise easily. Designed specifically for short term property rental, these should incorporate the ability to upload lots of high quality photos, display your calendar and have an easy system to allow visitors to follow through on their browsing to making an enquiry or even an online booking. Other features should include automated email responses to that your enquirer knows that their query has been received.

Hosting and promotion of the site. Once you have the site, you need to know what to do with it. The better vacation rentals software packages are designed to be hosted on sites such as Flipkey, AirBnB and other places where people look when they're serious about booking a holiday. If your site has also been designed with search engine optimisation in mind, this will naturally give you a more powerful presence on the internet than would otherwise be the case.

With the right package you should be able to manage your customers right from the point where you're still trying to locate them, through the booking process and even beyond. For example, can you display positive review on your site and analyse traffic to make sure that you're getting viewings, and that they're from the target group that you've identified as your most likely customers?

Finally, a really good rental package will also include tools to make it easier to manage your guests and property during the stay. This means things like housekeeping schedules and check in procedures.

Any company that has confidence in their product should be willing to give you a demonstration of how it works and to spend time helping you understand how their product can be adapted to your needs. Specialised holiday rentals software will make your life easier and your business more efficient. Ultimately they should generate more income than they cost you, and save you time too.