White Rose Villas property management is continually reviewing ways to help us improve occupancy rates for you, our homeowners.

The pandemic has been tough on us all.  The added economic pressures of not being able to rent out your vacation home due to COVID’s impact on the global travel industry has made the crisis all the tougher.

Helping you by helping guests

We know one of the reasons that bookings have been down is because of the uncertainty that characterises so much international travel at the moment.  The switch to local lockdowns is now impacting national travel patterns as well.

For this reason, White Rose Villas has been reviewing options on your behalf to give your guests increased confidence when booking.

After considerable research, we’ve decided to partner up with a company called Master Cancel through our sister vacation marketing company Ellis Exclusive Villas.  This agreement with Master Cancel will give your guests flexible cancellation protection when they book through Ellis Exclusive Villas.

It’s an important step forward to help you protect your rental income.

What does the cover include?

The Master Cancel agreement reimburses property managers for cancellations made for any reason (barring war or terrorism), provided the cancellation is requested between 60 and 2 days before the check-in date.

A deduction is made for 10% of the value of the booking – unless the property rebooks, in which case, there is no deductible.

This means we are able to pass on to you, our homeowners, either 90 percent or 100 percent of the full value of the booking – so you aren’t out of pocket when a guest cancels.

Essentially, the scheme is designed to reassure guests that there is no reason to delay or put off their booking, as they won’t lose out financially – whatever happens.  In this way, we hope that – with this added guest reassurance – we can boost occupancy rates as well as help by protecting your rental income.

How does it work?

There is a five percent surcharge for all bookings covered by the Master Cancel agreement.

To qualify, the booking must meet certain criteria:

• The booking must be made through Ellis Exclusive Villas
• The booking must be agreed in dollar payments
• A 25 percent deposit must be taken upon booking.

We appreciate that you may be taking direct bookings from friends and family but, in order to qualify for the scheme, each booking does need to be made through Ellis Exclusive Villas.

Deciding whether to put family bookings through the scheme

Ellis Exclusive Villas charges merchant account fees of between three to eight percent of the cost of the payment (depending on the payment card used) and this will need to be added to the cost of your family or friends’ holiday in addition to the five percent Master Cancel charge.

This means, in total, your friends and family will be paying a premium of between eight and thirteen percent on the cost of the booking.  This is something you will need to discuss together to decide whether the additional peace of mind is worth this extra fee.

It’s totally up to you, of course.

What about other bookings?

It’s important to note that bookings made through tour operators will not be covered by this scheme.  So if your home is booked out by James Villas, or any of the other tour operators we work with, and then that booking is cancelled, the compensation won’t be paid.

Only those bookings taken via Ellis Exclusive Villas with a 25 percent dollar deposit paid at the time of booking will be covered.  The main idea is that, together, we’ll be able to drive more bookings for your home through the Ellis Exclusive Villas site.  Ultimately, this should help to boost your occupancy rates through these difficult times.

For more information about the scheme, or to talk about extending the cover to bookings you are taking directly, please reach out to our team.

As always, we value your thoughts and feedback.

Are you looking for a property management partner in Central Florida?

Please complete the form below if you would like the White Rose Villas team to contact you about the options for our team to manage your vacation property in the Orlando area.

The devastating spread of the terrible Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for property owners to have in place a clear, concise and fair cancellation policy. An integral part of your Terms and Conditions of booking, this policy should both be competitive and have the ability to attract those essential enquiries, and convert them into bookings. It’s essential to provide a set of T’s and C’s to all of your guests, from wherever their booking comes; you must protect your investment!

First of all. the deposit; the down payment required to reserve your property. You may consider reducing this, temporarily, to offer the opportunity to book now with a much reduced deposit. This may boost bookings without reducing your total income; the risk being that you keep less money should the guest cancel outside your cancellation window.

The cancellation window is the period the guest has to cancel with little or no loss of deposit. You may decide to offer full refund 180, 90 or fewer days prior to arrival, offering guests some peace of mind that they will not lose out when booking. You should avoid dates too close to arrival so you have time to rebook the dates. Your payment schedule may also be adjusted.

Your payment schedule is the timeframe in which your guests have to settle the balance, following their initial deposit. Obviously, reservations made at the last minute must be paid in full at booking. Allowing some leeway on these dates may make guests feel more comfortable in booking during these times of great uncertainty; you should judge this based on season, length of stay and your property’s average lead time and cancellation fee.

A property’s cancellation fee is the amount charged in the event of cancellation; it can be done in time increments, increasing the closer it gets to arrival date, or a set amounts across the board. Flexibility and fairness is the key: your guests should always feel you’re doing right by them.

Attracting new guests in this challenging time for business is vitally important; your cancellation policy, and how you adapt and manage it to your guests’ requirements can be a vital tool in overcoming any concerns/objections they may have.

We at White Rose Villas are committed to offering our owners, new and old, a bespoke service to enable you to enhance your online presence and maximise bookings. To that end, we will provide a template set of Terms and Conditions, fully customisable, to each of our owners, on demand. These T’s and C’s can be uploaded to each online platform you use, and can be altered/tweaked to stay on top of your demand curve.

Please get in touch to use this unique service, we are available online or over the telephone to talk to each of you through what is required, and answer any questions you may have.

These are tough times for us all.  But tough times also present new opportunities and this blog is written to help you seize these opportunities.

 

Until just a few weeks ago, it was business as normal.  Somehow, in those few short weeks, everything has changed for everyone in the travel industry, including vacation homeowners.  We’re all grappling with how to keep each other safe, while adjusting to the new normal.  

 

Renting out your Orlando vacation home

 

As the short-term rental industry navigates the impact of COVID-19 global pandemic, new strategies for overcoming the challenges of this period need to be developed.  To help you, we’ve identified the main areas that you need to review in order to maintain business stability and longevity.

At a glance – the important actions you should take now:

• Diversify marketing channels
• Adjust listings to attract new audiences and emphasise key changes
• Discount long stays
• Change cancellation policy
• Improve communication – stay alert

 

Diversify your marketing channels

We might as well make most of the lull and make it work for us.  Use this time to research and advertise on other listing sites.  You could even use this time to make a start on becoming listing-site free!

This quiet period is a great time to concentrate on creating a website for your vacation home – or revamp your existing website, if you already have one. 

You could design a newsletter to keep in touch with previous guests.  Or advertise your home on social media.  Test out different channels to see what works for your home.

Another option is to introduce a Groupon-style voucher for future bookings.  Perhaps you could offer your guests the option to purchase $1,000 of future holiday credit for $500 (or whatever ratio you choose).  This way, you can generate cash flow during these fallow months.

 

Update your listing to emphasise key changes

Take this downtime to update your listings and emphasise key changes.  Don’t just update the content, but look at adding the key changes you’ve made in response to Coronavirus.  Make sure these changes are reflected in your listing profile photos.

These changes will include: new rules for sanitising the property, plenty of toilet paper, masks provided, grocery shopping deliveries, fast WiFi, self-check-in, PlayStation and games provided.  These aspects let guests know at a glance that they’ll be comfy for a long stay.

WRV vacation home owners: to help our vacation home owners we are offering to update the profile photo with the above labels.  This is provided free of charge.  Just email your main profile photo to admin@whiterosevillas.com 

Highlight the features you already have in place for example self-check-in, thereby eliminating the need for unnecessary person-to-person contact.

 

Attract new Orlando vacation home guests

New traveller demographics will emerge out of this mayhem and, as a host, you need to be able to pivot from your usual target audiences and appeal to these new types of travellers. 

Four of the most common new guest types are listed here.  Get a head start on these groups: they are your future guests.

• Stranded guests
• Work from homers
• Staycationers
  With cancelled international travel plans, domestic tourists are booking more staycations.
• Medical staff / Self-quarantiners
  Local service providers and medical staff often require a place to stay while working so they can avoid cross-contamination with other family members.

 

Offer guests a flexible refund policy

It’s also worth considering making a change to a more flexible refund policy during these times of uncertainty.  It’s a simple way to help guests feel happier and more confident when placing a booking.  Guests want more protection. 

Don’t forget to highlight this new flexibility in your listing profile picture.  Once things go back to normal, you can always revert back to your standard cancellation policy.

 

Pricing your Orlando vacation home

Attracting shorter stays can be very challenging at a time like this.  In Florida, the governor has said that stays must be longer than 30 days.

Be flexible and offer large, monthly discounts to attract monthly stays and keep occupancy up. 

You may also need to look at heavily discounting your daily rates.  For example, you could offer a special price for people on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19, including doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

You may also attract people who need to book a place to stay for a 14-day quarantine by offering a discount.

 

Stay alert to changes in the vacation rental market

Even thought things are quieter, you need to be checking your messages and listing sites regularly.  Stay alert to messages and enquiries and attend to them as fast as you can. 

This will give you an important edge over your competition.  Things are moving fast for affected people and responding quickly may make all the different in securing the booking.

Do you best to remain in regular and frequent communication with guests – this is so important given how quickly things can change. 

 

Don’t write off cancelled bookings!

Don’t forget to nurture your cancelled reservations.  These guests wanted to stay; it is only circumstances keeping them away.  At some point they will rebook – make sure it is with you!

Keep in touch with guests who have cancelled.  The easy way to do this is to schedule an auto-message after reservation cancellations offering discounts for future stays.  This helps to encourage the guest to book with you when they are ready.

Remember, this is a challenging time for everyone.  Yet, during these quiet periods there is no better time to review your marketing strategy.  Do it now and you will be ready for the inevitable upsurge when this is over. 

 

Tips for Active Revenue Management for Orlando Vacation Rental owners in the post-Covid recovery period

 

There is a lot of uncertainty right now and property managers and owners are going to have to evolve their strategy to stay competitive when markets begin to bounce back.

 

More than Just Lowering Prices

Dynamic pricing is only one component of revenue management. It should also include the following:

• Channel management
• Marketing
• Forecasting

Now is a good time to focus on your vacation rental business and look at how and where you advertise your Orlando vacation home. 

Plus, you can use this quiet time before the markets reopen to look at the ways you can make your home more appealing for guests.  Stay ahead of the competition.  Maybe offer a late check out or – for the road tripper – a complimentary early check in. 

Will you welcome pets?  Most road trips involve families taking their beloved pets.  Accepting them could open up a whole new market segment for your home.

 

Forecasting for your Florida vacation home

Anticipating future demands and forecasting trends is another key skill that property owners need to develop. 

A good place to start is looking at publicly available information and statistics from local and international tourism boards.  AirDNA and Transparent provide market insights, historical data and benchmarking tools, so you can forecast low and high demand.

Tip! Record your own vacation home booking data to help you analyse and anticipate future booking behaviour

 

Expand your Distribution

Are you only selling on one channel? There are lots of channels open to homeowners these days: your own website, AirBnB, VRBO, etc.

Now is the time for owners to look to expand your presence and attract more guests to book your Orlando vacation home.

Rather than depend on low prices to get your occupancy levels up, you can use these new channels to find completely new audiences for you to sell to. 

Have you thought about business travellers?  Contacting conference centres to see what events may be running in the future when things are back to normal?  Reach out to large companies, airlines, tour operators as they may have stranded staff that need accommodation.  Get creative and think outside the box!

Increased marketing efforts will drive more traffic to your website or listing.  Expanding your online presence for your Orlando vacation home, whether it be via social media or new listing sites, is an easy way to increase your potential pool of guests.

Tip! Be mindful to review commission and fees on the different distribution channels, as these can vary.  Work out the net rates that you would see after the booking.

Remember that lowering your prices to be more competitive is something that can be easily matched by your competitors.  Worse – ultimately it can lead to a nasty price war!

Yes, be competitive with rates.  But, to be successful, you will need to look for more ways you can widen your home’s appeal to guests.