Parts of New Zealand and Australia may be under stay-at-home orders once more, but that won’t be the case forever. Now is a great time to upgrade your holiday rental property to increase your future holiday bookings. The ski season may be a bust, but there is a chance that tourism could be restored in time for the upcoming Christmas holiday season.
If so, you need to be ready to take advantage of the boom. There are likely to be many more holidaymakers than usual, and many families are more likely to book a holiday home through Airbnb or a similar service than a hotel. Why are families more likely to book a holiday home?
- Home away from home feel, providing both emotional and physical comfort beyond the abilities of a reasonably priced hotel.
- Usually, a holiday home will have more space, privacy, and amenities to offer than a standard hotel room.
- Creature comforts like kitchens and appliances, sky tv/cable, wi-fi internet access, and laundry facilities without additional costs.
If you want a piece of the tourism industry pie, you’re going to need to be competitive by offering the most popular amenities and features. Here are a few simple and affordable ways to increase your bookings for your Airbnb or holiday rental property.
Reliable Wi-Fi
Unless one of the appeals of your rental property is that it is off-grid, you should include Wi-Fi in the standard amenities of your holiday home. If the property is isolated and phone service is intermittent you should make sure that you have reliable Wi-Fi, including boosters to make sure the whole home can be connected.
Perhaps you want to satisfy a special niche? Consider upgrading the entire holiday home into a smart home. There are only a few rental properties that offer this feature, but a lot of consumers are happy with smart technology throughout the home..
Upgrade home appliances
Providing your guests with a full state of the art kitchen may not be within budget, so we will look at other appliances to give your rental property a leading edge and that home away from home feel.
Coffee station
It’s no secret, Kiwis love their coffee and many of us enjoy the taste of a good, brewed coffee. A coffee station complete with a coffee machine, French press, toaster, and microwave will give your guests plenty of options to start their morning.
Consider your options for coffee machines carefully before buying one for your holiday rental property. A fancier machine that can make hot coffee, cold brews, and espressos may also cost more to maintain. A pod-style coffee maker gives your guests versatility with one machine, but it is best to offer disposable pods at the coffee station. Reusable pods are much more eco-friendly, but if not rinsed correctly can cause the machine to fail.
Other kitchen appliances
It might seem that kitchen upgrades will ruin the ambiance of your rental property, but there are ways to keep the traditional feel of the home while upgrading appliances. The stove, oven, and refrigerator are the most important appliances to upgrade. You should also consider upgrading the sink, adding a dishwasher and/or garbage disposal and other features.
Laundry facilities
If you will be renting your property for durations of 2 weeks or longer, offering your guests the ability and freedom to do their laundry, especially among families. Tourists are always looking for ways to decrease the amount of possessions with which they travel, and offering up-to-date laundry is a simple way to do that.
You can charge your guests more for this convenient amenity, but it isn’t a good idea to put in a coin operated laundry. Many people don’t carry cash anymore, and offering laundry is pointless if your guests have to seek out the appropriate coins for the machines.
Outdoor amenities
A complete outdoor entertainment area is a must for every vacationing Kiwi. Start with a nice patio or deck, then add amenities that make sense for your property. Here are a few of the most popular outdoor amenities.
BBQ grill and outdoor dining area
Kiwis love a good barbeque. To satisfy their appetite, consider including a grill in your outdoor amenities. It’s also a good idea to provide an outdoor dining area if space allows. If not, allow for easy access from the grill to the indoor dining area or kitchen.
Outdoor games and activities
If your holiday home is geared toward families, outdoor games and activities are a must. By installing a moderately sized trampoline, swing set, or other children’s play equipment will be a huge advantage. Otherwise other alternatives to consider is to install a small space for horseshoes, croquet, and other family backyard games.
Activities for beachside holiday properties
If your property is on the beach, give your guests plenty of options for outdoor activities. By providing kayaks, paddle boats, or other water toys big and small makes your property highly desired by families.
Spa pool installation
Kiwi holidaymakers love to be in the water, so having a fully functional spa pool makes your rental property more attractive to potential guests. Your guests will enjoy the fact that they can relax in the water without having to leave the property. Honeymooners especially like to stay in as much as possible, and they will be more attracted to properties packed with amenities to make that possible. What better way to attract bookings than featuring the longest and most luxurious spa brand in New Zealand. Not only does Hot Spring Spas offer the best hot tub soaking experience, their spas are packed with energy saving Energy Smart features that makes these economical to use and install into holiday homes due to their low maintenance. the Absolute Best spa pool Ownership Experience™.
Even if you have a waterfront or beachfront or an apartment rental property, you can still benefit from a spa pool installation with many seating arrangements and spa sizes available. A spa pool offers your guests a place to relax in comfort and privacy after a day on the beach, shopping, or seeing tourist attractions. Visualise how your spa pool would look with our brand new augmented reality app.
Offering a spa pool as an amenity will also allow you to increase the amount you can charge your guests. In addition to being able to raise your per night rate for the additional amenities, you can charge a hot tub activation fee or maintenance fee that will more than offset the costs of operating the hot tub. Analysing the amenities and associated costs among the most popular holiday property rentals revealed that many rental properties offering spa pools charge a $70+ activation fee even though the cost of running the hot tub is less than $10 per week. By contrast, the cost to run a hot tub is typically less than $10* per week. It is generally recommended to not spend more than 45 minutes per session.
Consider other convenient amenities
Attracting tourists to your holiday home requires offering as much convenience as possible. There are a lot of drawbacks to a hotel suite, especially if you have a large group or family. But there are also a lot of conveniences at a hotel: daily housekeeping, room service, television access, and more.
Some of these can also be offered to guests at your rental property. For instance, you could hire a housekeeping service to clean the home once a week or once every few days. You can add the fees for these services to the rental contract amount or itemize the costs on their final bill. You might also partner with other service providers in the area to offer your guests more conveniences like in-home cooking services.
Ultimately, the more convenient, private, and luxurious your rental property, the more attractive you will be to holidaymakers. Explode your business this holiday season by upgrading your rental property with a spa pool and other features today.
Want to learn more about Hot Spring’s range of spas and swim spas? Request a call back from our spa pool expert.
