If you’re reading this post, you have probably taken the first important step in starting your vacation rental business.

And why not? Unlike traditional real estate businesses, a short rental startup fetches you good ROI (return on investment) much faster.

Short Rental Start-up and 3 Top Software to Be Successful

The best part? If you already have a property, you could start just right now with the least investment required for creating a fully operational business. Even if you don’t own one, you could rent it yourself to give it a nice spin for adapting to your rental service business.

But here’s the thing. Although much simpler and faster than many business models, your startup, like every other business, can go wrong.

From misunderstanding your target market to not optimizing growth areas, you might fall into different potholes while taking the growth ride.

In this blog post, we walk you through the complete process of creating a successful rental start-up business – the top tools that can automate many of the things you are doing manually and reveal profit-improving secrets. Let dive in.

Top 3 Tools For Your Rental Startup In 2021

While deciding on the tools for your rental startup, ensure that opt-in for tools that can automate and boost efficient planning above all. But, you have to integrate a tool at each critical stage of your startup development.

From market research to audience analysis to marketing and onboarding and financial management, you need to manage everything. But, with the market flooded with software tools, it’s overwhelming to choose which ones are critical and which ones are vanity.

To make your decision-making easier, we have researched the market to get you the top three tools that can form the foundation of your rental startup.

1.  Piktochart

If there is one thing that can make you move fast in your startup, it is proper planning. This makes data and infographics a crucial part of your planning scenario.

When it comes to data visualization, Piktochart is unbeatable. From dynamic infographics about your market to creating presentations of your future steps towards reaching business goals, you can do tonnes with this app.

2.  Lodgify

Vacation rental property management software makes the heart of any rental business. This not only boosts the proper management and scheduling of your clients but makes sure they have the best onboarding experience with you. But, this tool doesn’t stop there. Lodgify delivers way more value to its customer base than any other tool out there.

This SaaS tool provides an end-to-end solution to any property manager and marketer. An integrated website builder, channel manager, automated booking system, marketing and SEO tools, and a management dashboard, it has it all. Further, you can automate functionalities like calendar sync, guest communication, reputation management, and payment processing.

3.  Freshbooks

Accounting software is a must for keeping your finance on point. This makes its integration in your system-critical from day one. If you are to use one tool for all your financial management, Freshbooks should be your choice any day. Beating every ledger and excel sheet, it is the ultimate accounting software.

Boasting a dirt-simple UI (user interface), this powerful tool has an income and expenditure tracker integrated with reporting feature that makes accounting look easy.

So now, when you know the tools that can grow hack your rental service, let’s look at the other side of your startup growth, profit optimization.

Key elements that can improve your rental service profits

A lot of factors affect your profit margins. But each of them is tied to your audience, directly or indirectly. This filters your focus to a handful of elements that truly matters to your audience.

Remember, there is no right or wrong here. You need to be aware of your audience’s behavior to understand which factors they are most sensitive about. Which elements do they value the most? What makes a rental space appealing? Answering this single question in the context of your target audience solves the problem.

Prioritizing them would give you results from day one.

a. Prioritize plumbing: Leaky pipes can turn off anyone interested in a short stay. Iron pipes, when old, are vulnerable to rusty that can pollute water, making it iron ingested. This makes fixing plumping and fixture issues your top priority. But this task doesn’t have to be an ordeal. Modern plumbing is fast, cheap, yet comfortable. Not like the old days, when your complete walls wear torn down.

PEX (polyethylene cross-linked plastic tubing) is the modern solution of re-piping. The extension cord pattern makes setting up through the wall easy.

Pro tip: People’s perception of plumbing upgrades are expensive. Thus you can leverage this for a premium price.

b. Keep your kitchen clutter-free: If you focus on a ‘staycation’ audience, a kitchen plays a dominant role in your clients’ conversion. A messy kitchen is a big no-no. There are high chances that your customer will rent your property for a couple of weeks. This usually gets them interested in cooking their meals themselves.

This makes the kitchen design so critical. Ensure that your layout has the least possible friction. Consider a  free-flowing triangle layout that integrates each section of the kitchen into one. The chopping area, cooking space, and washing sink all coincide to create a smooth workflow.

Also, it is essential that you leave enough room for unrestricted movement. Make sure there are the least tripping possibilities. Your kitchen needs to be interactive. This makes functionality and fun two essential prerequisites for a stunning design.

c. Your bathroom makeover will pay off: Having a pleasing and calming bathing experience is an essential aspect of a pleasant stay. No wonder there are so many spas and sauna baths integrated into the hotel plans from the initial days of building. But the question is, how do you ensure the same feeling triggers in your on boarders when you do not have the budget of a hotel?

It is simpler and inexpensive as opposed to your thoughts.

Installing fixtures, shower grouting, and crown molding is a good starting point. Then throw in some color to brighten up the wall. The best way to do this is by using matted pastel colors that soothe the eyes. If you have a little budget, textured wallpapers are a great choice. You can even take a middle road. Engage wallpapers and paint both to get the desired look and feel.  Mirrors and light can uplift the mood of your bathroom in no time.

These minor improvements can drastically shift the feel of your bathroom. Suddenly, your undesirable bathroom starts to look renewed and fresh.

d. Maintain the look of your property: It’s common for borders to go by your overall appearance. This makes maintaining your property image so essential. But where do you start?

• Declutter your rooms before your potential customers abandon you. Keep plastics, boxes, and trash cans out of sight. Cleaning clutter can make your room look tidy and fuller.
• Curb appeal is also a considerable important criterion while you improve your looks. If there is no consistency in what you claim and deliver, it can break your business even before you have properly begun. Mowing lawns, using good lighting and furniture can add a great deal of value here. Also, if you would like, adding a stone pave the way on your integrated garden, if any.
• Another great way to add distinguishable value is your flooring. However, this doesn’t need to be expensive. The first dramatic feel that you want to make is by using rugs. Instead of renovating, just rug-novate. However, this might not be the best solution for you if your floors have cracks and crevices in places that a rug cannot cover.

You can opt for wooden floors, but the cheaper alternatives. Choose engineered wood tiles instead of solid wood floor tiles. This way, you do not compromise on anything, neither feel nor budget. Oak wooden floors are one inexpensive yet desirable variations you might want to test.

Conclusion

Post pandemic, the future of global rental startups is full of opportunities. While the world got disrupted from its usual flow, revenge tourism is predicted to be one critical activity that the world will witness in the coming days. This makes your startup launch time perfect. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about competition. It only validates the market need. The real job is still performed by you.

Developing a customer-centric brand and understanding your target audience is what is going to take you towards success. While renovating your property, never forget to integrate a tourist’s lens to look at things. What key elements would you have valued the most if you were onboarding? What kind of stay do you prefer, cozy or heritage? Answering these vital questions can make you more appealing than your competition.

While the above tools and software cannot guarantee your startup success, they can give you leverage over others. Integrating these tools can boost your productivity and business immediately. But at the end of the day, the power to write your success story belongs to you.

Author bio:

Atreyee Chowdhury works full-time as a Learning Experience Designer and a part-time writer. She has helped many small and medium-scale businesses achieve their content marketing goals with her carefully crafted content that is both informative and engaging. She lives in Bangalore, India with her husband. In her free time, she loves to read, experiment with different cuisines, travel, and explore the latest content marketing and L&D trends. You can reach her on Linkedin or write to her at atreyee.c@gmail.com to discuss your content marketing plans and requirements.

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