I have a weird pet peeve.
You’re driving down a 4-lane road in the right hand lane. You approach a red light. There’s a car in front of you in the right lane and no cars in sight in the left lane.
Do you stay behind the car in the right lane or do you move over the the left?
I ALWAYS move over to the left and cannot, for the life of me, understand why anyone else wouldn’t.
I’ve actually seen lines of 5 cars piled up in one lane, with not one in the other.
WHY??
To me, this is the perfect illustration of mindlessly following the crowd. An open road in front of you and you choose to stay in line behind the others.
We see this is a lot in business, too.
One restaurant add strawberry milkshakes to their menu and the next thing you know, every restaurant in town is featuring strawberry milkshakes.
This is kind of lazy, don’t you think? Can no one think of something different that customers might like even better?
I see this a lot in the vacation rental business, too.
When I was on the Outer Banks, one vacation rental company came up with the idea of the online “Beach Bag”, i.e., the ability to save favored properties to view later.
Within months, every vacation rental company on the beach had the same feature on their website.
They all lined up behind each other.
It seems to me that if you want to make your mark in the world, you’re not going to do it by doing the same thing as everyone else.
I have the utmost respect for anyone who starts their own business. It takes a kind of grit that’s tough to find. Vacation rental companies, in particular, are brutal.
Believe me, my hat’s off to those who can keep it going season after season, renter after renter, 3 AM emergency after 3 AM emergency.
But with that said, I feel pretty confident that you didn’t open a vacation rental company with the intention of being the same as all the other vacation rental companies in your area.
You had a vision, right?
You were going to be the best vacation rental company in your market because you were going to do (fill in the blank).
So, a couple (or more than a couple) of years in, are you doing (fill in the blank)?
Don't answer that.
No, wait. Do.
I was very privileged to be part of two start-up vacation rental companies. The first one was, (of course), on the Outer Banks.
We were going to have a big barbecue in the parking lot on every check-in day, to give our guests something to do while they were waiting for their properties to be ready. It was to be complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream and games for the kids. It was going to be all about making our guests feel welcome.
I didn’t work every check-in day, so I don’t remember exactly how many times we actually had a barbecue in the parking lot, but I can reasonably guarantee that it wasn’t more than 2.
In the end, we weren’t really any different from any vacation rental company on the Outer Banks. We got so busy looking all around us to be sure we were keeping up, that we stopped looking in front of us for ways to stand out.
Within 5 years, the company was bought out by a larger one.
Now, I’m not saying that’s because we didn’t have barbecues in the parking lot. But I do think it’s partly because we started worrying about what other people were doing to the exclusion of using the owner’s original vision as a guide and finding ways to separate ourselves from the crowd.
I see this in every market I research. The same beauty shots. The same website color schemes. The same area descriptions. The same items on the “Things to Do” list. The same restaurants.
The same promises.
If there are problems with customer loyalty these days, maybe it’s because most vacation rental companies have become indistinguishable.
They’re all in the right lane.
Instead of pastel blues and greens, use forest green and terra cotta like I did on one company website. It got compliments all the time.
On your restaurant list, include the places YOU actually go to, not just the tourist traps. Maybe add a photo of your favorite server or the owner.
Put a bold or funny statement on your main page. “Since you can’t just leave the kids at home, here’s some great stuff to keep ‘em quiet….” or “Need a getaway? Tell everyone you went to the mountains - we’ll keep your secret…” for a beach rental or vice versa for a mountain rental.
One of my favorites - specialize! I love the idea of niches.
I had a girlfriend on the Outer Banks who wanted to start a company to rent only dumpy old beach cottages for $500/wk., with the caveat that there were no complaints allowed.
While I’m not sure that would actually work (well, maybe, who knows??), you could specialize in almost endless ways: kid friendly, pet friendly, mobility friendly, autistic friendly, LGBTQ friendly, only condos, only cottages, only high-end, only low-end, special events, concierge services. Yadda yadda yadda.
Use guest photos on your banner. Give a little background on each photo or better yet, a testimonial from that guest. Change them often.
Have each staff member do a write-up of each of the area activities, by telling a story about a time they went there.
Whatever you do, please promise me this.
You’ll get in the left lane.