Make your holiday home stand out
- Why not add a fun extra to your property – an ice-cream maker, espresso machine, Belgian waffle maker, popcorn popper, smoothie maker, bread maker or even karaoke machine? Guests love playing with gadgets they don’t have at home. Get one of these and watch the booking enquiries roll in!
- Make sure you always have a few decks of cards and a board game for a rainy day or an evening in.
- Stock up on a selection of books – fiction, guide books on the local area and local cookbooks – plus DVDs.
- Consider offering a grocery-stocking service, or providing details of local grocery delivery services. Have your guests email a grocery list for their stay and stock the kitchen before their arrival.
- Grow herbs, vegetables or fruit in the garden outside your property. This will add a nice touch and attract foodies who pride themselves in preparing authentic dishes using local ingredients.
- If you own a luxury or high-end property (or want to reposition your home as one), consider offering in-house spa services to your guests. Look for local masseuse and beauty therapists you could team up with. Or if you own property in a holiday rental market where many travellers go for spa getaways (e.g. Barbados), you may be able to increase your rentals by targeting this segment.
- Offer to teach guests a new skill or suggest they try a new activity at your property – yoga in Marrakech, cookery classes in Tuscany, belly dancing or carpet weaving in Turkey are just some of the options. If you can’t teach them yourself, contact locals with speciality knowledge and skills to do the job.
- Learn about the nearby vineyards and local wines produced in your area market it as a wine destination and publicise that you can help guests organise excursions. Speak to the local suppliers and see if they would be happy to offer your guests a discount in return for you publicising their business.
- Be a tour guide – offer to take guests to nearby museums or galleries and give them a personalised private tour, or find locals who could do this for you.
- Create a games room at your property – kids will love it and parents will get some valuable me-time by the pool. This is especially a good idea if you have plenty of space, I can remember appreciating the games room – including the table tennis table – in the games room of an old farmhouse in The Dordogne we rented in Summer 2007.
- Do you have an exercise bike, treadmill or any other unused sporting equipment stocked up in your garage? If so, consider relocating it to your holiday home. A private mini-gym will appeal to health-conscious holiday-makers – or those of us who always promise ourselves to get fit while on holiday, but never actually get round to it!
- Suggest your home as a wedding venue. Many people marry during the off-peak periods in autumn, winter and spring, and while you may think: “Oh no! Not in my home”, think of the revenue that you might be able to get from a wedding booking. You could potentially make all sorts of extra money or anyway, new friends by putting the wedding planner in touch with local caterers, a photographer etc etc. You never know some of the guests might like your property so much that they make a booking.
