How to Write a Standout Listing Description for Holiday Rentals and Hotels
The sharing economy puts you in charge of your own content, giving you free rein on how to market your accommodation.
Pictures do indeed tell the most of the story, but with travellers tipped to be looking for more genuine and personal holiday experiences in 2018 and beyond it’s now more important than ever to have a well-written property description to entice travellers to book with your accommodation.
In this blog, we will take you through 4 key steps on how to write an attractive description that’s going to help convert more customers into bookings on the Gomingo platform (and indeed, everywhere else).
First things first, accuracy is key. Making sure that what you have posted online is as close to what the guests will actually experience is paramount. Not only to drive conversions but for repeat business and those all-important reviews. Get this right and it will help you retain business in the future, guaranteed.
1. Customer Mindset
In order to attract a guest to convert you need to think like a guest. What would YOU want to know if you’re going to be travelling to somewhere you’ve never been before?
It’s important to keep up to date on travel trends, find one that reflects your accommodation/ hotels attributes and exploit it in your description. Authentic experiences to be had, say so. Eco-friendly hotel/ area, say so. A safe and secure neighbourhood, say so.
To give you a head start, find out what we have tipped as the main travel trends and destinations here Everybody’s Travel Predictions 2018.
Right, now we’re in the right mindset and all brushed up on industry trends and tips. The next step.
2. Overview
Title! This isn’t just an explanation of your accommodation type or hotel. You should think of it as a headline for a news story, direct and intriguing. Capture the guest’s attention and you’ve got a better chance of converting.
For example, which one are you more likely to click on?
Family Home in Cape Town.
OR
Stunning, Traditional Family Home In Beautiful Cape Town
For Hotels…
Boutique Hotel in Nottingham Near City
OR
Family Run Boutique Hotel Near City Centre With Incredible Decor & Facilities
Use descriptive words that correspond to your units/ hotel room such as loft, penthouse or an entire home.
Also, use words that describe why people would stay there such as romantic, child-friendly, pet-friendly or traditional etc. We suggest testing a few headlines to see if they work better than others, mix it up and see what works best for your unit/ accommodation.
3. Summary/ Description
Now you’ve got a super-attention-grabbing headline, you need to continue the good form with an equally impressive SUMMARY.
You don’t want to make this too long, it needs to be short, punchy and straight to the point. As we become more digitally dependent our attention spans are almost diminishing entirely. Consumers want information quickly and succinctly.
At the same time, consumers are looking for personality, put as much of yourself as you can into this so your guests have an idea of you and or service before deciding to book.
With this in mind, make sure to cover the areas below so that you are confident that you have a complete, palatable and engaging accommodation description.
Your Unique Space
Hand the guest a detailed description of your accommodation/ hotel room. Make sure to let them know why yours is unique as quick as you can, to capture attention and urge the customer to read on.
Guest Access
Make sure to let your guests know what they will have access to when they stay at your hotel or apartment (easier for hotels for obvious reasons). For example, if you have a private area where guests are not permitted then let them know so you aren’t accidentally overpromising. Include any unique amenities that you may provide which will help set you apart from the crowd.
Another thing to note is your House Rules, make sure to specify the does and donts.
Contact With Guests
Every guest wants to know what level of contact they will have with their host. If you’re going to be around all through the day, let the guest know you are there most of the time to help with anything they may need. As well as the best ways to contact you if you’re not going to be etc.
For Hotels its slightly different, as you’re expected to and will be on hand 24/7, in this instance, we recommend personalising. Instead of saying “24hr support from the front desk”, try “Andrea, our helpful secretary will be on hand for any information or help you may need during your stay.”
As stated earlier guests are looking for more personal experiences when choosing to book accommodation. So hotels aren’t lost in the sea of holiday rentals, you should take extra care to make your description and indeed profile as personal as possible to take advantage of the changing travel sphere.
Neighbourhood
This is where you will explain all of the lovely and enjoyable things to do in the local area of your hotel and/or rental.
This will be easy for you as who knows your area better than you, right?
The one thing to take into consideration is the metrics you use to describe the travel time to a guest. For example, if you’re in the city then a 20-minute walk/ 5 min uber is more than acceptable.
If your rental or hotel is in a suburb or secluded area then describe journeys as a short 5-minute drive. Sounds simple but its necessary information that guests will take into consideration when deciding where to book.
Following on from this, it’s always good to let guests know about public transport. Not everyone is a fan of uber or taxis, so make sure you have suggestions for guests who would prefer to go public with transport.
4. Final Touches
For apartment owners, make sure to let your guests know about any pets and/or roommates you have staying at your property. If you have a guest who is scared of dogs (which you won’t know until arrival) and you forgot to mention the three pitbull’s you have roaming the house this could lead to some complications and even worse, negative reviews.
For hotels, make sure to make yourself stand out from other hotels or rentals in your area with any unique or fine details. This could be as simple as an Uber code for guests to get a discount, a vegan menu served in your restaurant/ breakfast options or the alcoholic-wonders of your resident barmen and his weekly cocktail menu. Try to think outside the box, setting yourself apart from other hotels is a major advantage of sharing economy sites like ours.
One thing to really keep in mind is spelling and grammar.
Bad spelling and grammar can be off-putting and make it difficult for you to tell your rental/ hotels story effectively. An easy-to-read description will help you convert and attract customers.
Try using a free tool such as Grammarly, this works with the Gomingo website and is more advanced at spotting grammatical errors that Microsoft Word.
Here is a good example from one of our users!
There you go!
All clued up, we hope we’ve helped you improve your property listing and happy hosting with Gomingo.