How to Effectively Handle Guest Feedback

In vacation rental hosting, guest reviews and feedback have significant power. They can literally make or break a property’s reputation, influence a prospective guest’s booking decision, and shape the overall guest experience. Understanding how to tactfully handle all reviews and feedback effectively is critical for vacation rental hosts and property managers looking to shine in […]

7 Reasons to Niche Down as a STR Host

Choosing the Perfect Vacation Rental

Nearly every vacation rental host or property manager is looking to boost their bookings and create brand recognition. And while it may seem counterintuitive, sometimes the best way to do that is by narrowing the scope of demographics you market to. Sounds crazy, right? Read on to discover why niching down may just be the […]

Why A Direct Booking Website is the Best Way to Grow Your STR Business

How can property hosts and managers get more bookings? Here’s the short answer: A direct booking website. Ever since Covid, the vacation rental industry has been through some big, important changes. When we were all still in Covid panic mode, STRs sales exploded. And that was great, because everyone was looking for a safe place […]

The Key 3 of Vacation Rental Branding: Making Your Brand Work for You

brand strategy

In our branding series, The Key 3: Building Your Brand From What You’ve Got, we’re taking a look at the three cornerstones of vacation rental brands—your approach to guests, your location, and your property’s signature vibe—and showing you how to leverage these to create a recognizable, relatable brand that calls to your ideal guests. In the past month, we’ve asked […]

Does Social Media Drive Direct Bookings For Your Vacation Rental?

Does Social Media Drive Direct Bookings For Your Vacation Rental? Social Media and Direct Bookings: The Real Scoop  For vacation rentalists trying to get more direct bookings—i.e. reservations made on their own biz website, rather than a third-party booking platform like Airbnb or Vrbo—there are some obvious first steps to take.  Create a great, intuitive, […]

What’s In a Name? Choosing a Name for Your Vacation Rental

Picking a name is key for branding your property. Bonus listening: check out our podcast episode on naming your vacation rental property featuring “Hello, My Name Is Awesome” takeaways below. We spend hours pouring over names for our kids, and even our pets, because we know that a name is important. Names can tell about […]

Making Your Vacation Rental Business #BookDirect Ready

It’s the inaugural Guest Education Day, a day for property managers to band together and educate travelers about the perks of booking direct on a property manager’s website. At Guest Hook, we’re excited to watch PMs and other VR pros find new ways to diversify away from listing sites and take greater control of their business […]

4 Vacation Rental Websites Creating Killer Content

Guest Hook just returned from the “conference circuit”—the VRMA in New Orleans and the last HomeAway Summit of the year, in Austin. Along with finally meeting good friends in person, we’re feeling super-energized and pensive (in a good way). At these events, we listened to many owners and property managers explain their struggles with creating good vacation […]

How Guest Personas Solve VR Content Marketing Woes

guest personas

If you’re reading this post, your vacation rental content marketing strategy may not be going as planned. Maybe nobody’s reading. Or maybe you have some readers, but not the ones you hoped for. Or maybe you have plenty of eyes on your content, but they’re not converting into bookings. The concept behind content marketing is […]

The Key 3 of Vacation Rental Branding

Branding

In our branding series, The Key 3: Building Your Brand From What You’ve Got, we’re taking a look at the three cornerstones of vacation rental brands—your approach to guests, your location, and your property’s signature vibe—and showing you how to leverage these to create a recognizable, relatable brand that calls to your ideal guests. So, let’s talk branding for vacation rentals. […]

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