You’ve seen those home design shows where a property in need of a makeover gets completely transformed by an expert and their team, right?
The most anticipated part of the show is always the moment the old images of the property are shown side by side with the new design.
We’re gonna reveal a similar “WOW” moment today. We’re sharing a dramatic vacation rental website transformation.
In those shows, the completed makeover is usually the last clip revealed. We’re gonna do things differently and start out by unveiling the before and after shots first!
This way you can look back on some of the steps taken by the host and the talented team of developers and help you transform your own vacation rental website and marketing plan.
Meet Jerry Gilden
He’s a first-class host – one of the best I’ve ever met! He rents two luxury vacation homes in Sedona Arizona and he’s in the process of expanding his rental inventory. His rental business is thriving but what has caused Jerry’s business to experience such growth and sustainability?
It doesn’t hurt that he’s invested in a world-class destination. If you’re not familiar with Sedona it’s a very special place known for amazing star-gazing, renowned red rock formations, enveloping energy and natural beauty.
So, not only do travelers get amazing accommodations, in a phenomenal destination they get Jerry.
The only problem was, his presentation didn’t fully translate the experience and service travelers get when they book Jerry’s Sedona vacation homes.
He wanted more out of his website and guest experience.
He was using a vacation rental website builder that just couldn’t do that. That’s when he connected with us for some help.
Let’s have a look at the work Jerry, and the team and I did together. Have a peek at the before and after presentation and let me know if you can feel the difference. Ready?
In order to get the full impact of his site’s metamorphosis, you’ll need to visit his Sedona Vacation Villas website. Do you see a huge difference? A site like this cannot be created without putting in the work and it definitely cannot be created using a vacation rental website builder – just not gonna happen.
I believe we all can learn a few things from Jerry. I know that in working with him he has reminded me of what the hospitality business is all about!
Below are some of the steps Jerry has taken to create an exceptional presentation for his vacation rental business.
Videos
As you’ll see from the content of his site, Jerry knows the value of video and you should too.
According to emarketer 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide cite video as the type of content with the best ROI.
But just like everything else we do in this business it shouldn’t be focused on just the money, it should be about helping the guests and it’s easy to see that including videos in his presentation does help his guests!
90% of users say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process (insivia)
His site is jam-packed with video content that makes his vacation rental website highly engaging for guests while providing them with easy to digest information all about the Sedona experience.
Banner Video
When a traveler first visits the Sedona Vacation Villas website they’re immediately greeted with true showmanship. The banner video dazzles travelers and instantly demands their attention and keeps it too!
Viewers spend 100% more time on pages with videos on them. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
The vast majority of vacation rental websites do not include videos in the banner. One reason they don’t is, it can create issues with website speed. Developers need to know how to tackle the challenge. Our team developed the video in the banner and made it so that the video will only show for people with high-speed internet, everyone else will just see a static banner image. Smart huh?
Owner Video
Owners need to sell themselves and make connections with guests. Jerry took this to heart and created an owner page on his website with a video of him greeting his future guests. Click the link below to see how Jerry put together a simple yet effective “Meet The Owner Video.”
Voice Over
A voice over for your video acts as a virtual walkthrough of your property. A voice over is also a very powerful sales tool especially since fewer people like to read these days. You’ll notice he points out very specific benefits of his property to viewers that might have otherwise been overlooked.
A quality voice over instantly captures the audience’s attention, increases their interest and promotes a sense of excitement.
Voice overs help in boosting the authority of your message you want to convey through video marketing. They can directly convince the video viewers to purchase your product or service with a powerful call to action.
Watch the video below for a preview of Jerry’s video presentation.
Property Video / Montage
He’s created a video montage that included his property, hikers, local restaurants and scenic views around his vacation rentals. By adding these shots within his property videos he turns a boring real estate video into a movie trailer about his vacation rentals, with the traveler as the star.
Experience Videos
Jerry recorded video clips of local attractions and things to do in Sedona and baked them within his property video. But we took it a step further by including videos of local wineries, things to do, shopping, art, and excursions. He used 3rd party video content to post on his website.
He curated content from YouTube and embedded them within the experience pages we designed. You can also spice up your vacation rental website with videos, you don’t need to create every piece of video content yourself.
Food
The US Travel Association says that 26% of American domestic travel expenses go towards food services. Food is a big part of the vacation experience! According to Booking.com 35% of travelers take vacations to try local delicacies?
Jerry is exciting a traveler’s senses and enhancing their experiences with a list of his suggestions and food favorites that guests drool over in his website presentation.
Many restaurants will have videos on YouTube that you can “steal” and embed into your own website to help you amplify your presentation. I talk more about food tourism being a 201 Billion dollar travel trend in a video I posted some time ago.
Staged Scenes
Jerry doesn’t only have professional photos of his home, he’s done an excellent job of putting travelers in the picture by creating scenes where travelers can visualize themselves enjoying his properties.
These are just a few highlights I discussed in the video on how we turned a website into a mini-series all about Jerry, his vacation rentals and the experience guests will enjoy.
What do you think of Jerry’s presentation?
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