Over the years, Vista Rooms has worked with over 1200 homeowners across three countries (India, Sri Lanka & Maldives) with one basic aim - to grow their monthly revenue whilst easing up operations.Through the course of this piece, I’m going to highlight the growth opportunity in the vacation rentals segment and identify challenges faced by most homeowners while trying to generate a steady income from renting their holiday homes. If you’re a homeowner looking to monetise your property, this is something that you could take cues from.

The Opportunity
India has an estimated 2.35 million hotel rooms, out of which only 1.5 lakh are registered with the government, while a majority of them are roadside lodges and small hotels. According to a report by the Ministry of Tourism, India will fall short of 2.5 million hotel rooms by 2020, owing to the growth in domestic travel and foreign tourist arrivals. Last year, over two million Indians chose alternate stays over hotels for their holiday. Demand facilitates disruption, and this drastic change in travellers looking for alternate, informal experiences in undiscovered locations is the biggest factor for growth of the home stay business. Conventional hotels can’t be opened up in the most remote areas and struggle to cater to the personalised needs of their travellers. Airbnb CEO, Brian Chesky, views India as a key revenue generator for the firm with domestic travel by Indians up by 350 percent and inbound bookings to the country up by 187 percent on the platform vis-à-vis last year.

Where are the customers?
According to global research agency Millward Brown’s report in 2016, about 25 percent Indians book their hotels online, a number which is only set to grow drastically in the next couple of years. With the Indian travel market set to breach the $40 billion dollar mark by 2020, and the government’s thrust towards digital payments, the online booking market is an opportunity that needs to be seized. One of the biggest pain points faced by homeowners is the inability to find potential guests. In a competitive market, there are quite a few things required to receive regular bookings for it to turn into a viable business proposition. Only a structured and consistent approach to managing the property can lead to steady growth. Airbnb has changed the lives of many homeowners but those running their businesses solely on this platform will also tell you that it’s a lot of hard work. A quick search for properties in Lonavala, gave me a total of 306 results. In such a competitive market, how does one stand out?

The answer is, you really can’t unless you collect enough reviews and are consistent with your online strategy.

Only a structured and consistent approach to managing the property can lead to steady growth

Here are four essential pointers that can generate traction for your property listing online:

● Clicking hi-resolution pictures for your property
● Incentivising your customers to write reviews
● Keeping your customer T-A-T to less than an hour
● Listing your properties on more booking platforms

While the above are fairly self explanatory, I’m going to elaborate on the these aspects since they’re essential for any listing to get regular bookings.

Picture Perfect
While offering a service that is experienced offline but bought online, it’s important to showcase it right. Pictures, in this case, do speak a thousand words. A comprehensive line-up of good pictures helps users form a good first impression. Expedia, a leading international OTA, states that just by merely adding extra pictures to your OTA listing you can boost your revenue by 4.5percent. Therefore, the easiest way to get more clicks on your listing is through accurate and high-resolution pictures.

Only a structured and consistent approach to managing the property can lead to steady growth

Reviews: Numbers don’t lie
Another aspect that homeowners struggle with is getting more positive reviews for their properties. An industry which survives on word-of-mouth, reviews for your property and the way you showcase your place are two main factors that help push up your listing on any platform. A number often quoted within the hospitality industry is that 96 percent of dissatisfied customers don’t complain. If you’re a new listing on a booking platform, your first objective should be to get 10 positive reviews on the platform. It not only has a huge impact on the number of bookings, but also on click-throughs. Here’s some data from one of our villas in Lonavala, which shows the impact of better reviews. This listing got over 10 reviews since March 2017 and the growth in number of views and bookings has been phenomenal ever since. Typically, 10 positive reviews is what it takes for a property to start receiving regular bookings.

It pays to be Responsive
Most travellers take less than a week to finalise their itinerary, and on average message two properties regarding additional information. This is where responsiveness plays a huge role to help them make a decision. If you reply to messages within an hour, you not only convert the guest, but also stand a higher chance to make it to the top of search results.

More the Merrier
Listing a property on just one platform like AirBnb or using internal networks to get bookings, might get you some initial traction but in the long run, it’s essential to diversify and list on as many platforms as possible, without letting the turnaround time increase. It’s advisable to have a property listed on more than 6 booking platforms for higher online visibility. Completing your listing’s profile thoroughly really helps in pushing your listing up on a platform. The more information you provide the guest while booking, the less likely there will be conflicts during their stay. An attractive title and description, highlighting the unique aspects of your property can go a long way in converting potential guests faster. Try putting down a couple of keywords like ‘swimming pool, nature, party-friendly’ according to the USPs of your property.