Vacation rental marketing
Vacation rental marketing that builds your own demand
Listing on a platform is distribution, not marketing. Marketing is what brings guests to you. I build the two pieces that matter most: a site that converts and SEO that earns visits. If you want Google Ads to buy visits while the SEO grows, we can talk about it on the call.
WentDirect is an independent third party and is not endorsed by or associated with Airbnb, Inc. or its affiliates, or with Vrbo.
Built by Cole Stark
10 years building, SEO-optimizing and advertising websites
What goes wrong without a plan
One source of bookings
When every guest arrives through one platform, a fee change, a ranking drop or a suspended listing hits all of your income at once.
Tactics with no order
A few social posts, a boosted ad, a half-finished website. Each costs time and none builds on the last.
Advice that risks your listing
Plenty of marketing tips tell hosts to pull platform guests onto their own site. The platforms prohibit that, and it can cost you the listing.
A vacation rental marketing strategy in one sentence
A sound vacation rental marketing strategy is to keep the platforms as one source of bookings and build a second one that you own. That is all of it. The rest is doing the pieces in the right order.
The platforms are good at reach. They are also where your fees, your rules and your ranking are set by someone else.
Your own channel is slower to build, and nobody can reprice it or switch it off.
A simple vacation rental marketing plan
A vacation rental marketing plan does not need forty pages. It needs four lines, in this order.
- Build a site that can take a booking. Start with vacation rental website design.
- Earn search traffic with vacation rental SEO: a keyword map, better pages and area content.
- Buy traffic with vacation rental PPC where a click costs less than the booking is worth.
- Stay in touch with guests who booked direct, by email, with their permission.
Each step makes the next one cheaper. Ads sent to a weak site waste money. SEO written without a keyword map wastes time.
Marketing strategies for vacation rentals that follow the rules
Many marketing strategies for vacation rentals passed around in host groups come down to moving a platform’s guests to your own site. Slip a card in the welcome book with a discount code. Message last year’s guests with a link.
I do not advise any of that. Airbnb’s policies prohibit links that take guests off the platform, discounts to book elsewhere and rebooking a reservation off-platform. Vrbo blocks messages that offer a personal website or another way to pay. The guide to the off-platform policy has the details and the sources.
There is plenty left to do. Every strategy I use reaches people who have not booked through a platform: guests searching Google, guests asking AI tools, guests who see an ad, and guests who booked direct with you before.
Short-term rental marketing for managers and co-hosts
Short-term rental marketing looks different when you manage other people’s properties, because you have two audiences. Guests need to find and book the homes. Owners need to find you and decide you are worth hiring.
One site can do both jobs if it is planned that way. Property pages and area content bring guests. Pages about your services, your process and the homes you manage bring owners. See property management website design for how I build those.
What I do not sell
I do not sell social media management, listing optimization or photography. I will tell you when one of them would help more than anything I offer.
Websites and SEO are the core of what I sell. Google Ads, and possibly Facebook ads, are a maybe: if you want them, we can talk about it on the call.
How it works
The order that works
- 1
Website first
Everything else sends people here. A custom direct booking site gives every visit a place to turn into a booking.
- 2
SEO second
A keyword map and content built on it bring guests who are searching your area. It takes months and keeps paying.
- 3
Ads, if you want them
Google Ads can cover the gap while SEO grows. It is not a packaged service here, so we talk it through on the call.
What is included
Website and SEO, from one person
- A custom direct booking website, from $2,000
- Full SEO from $1,500, a one-time total per website
- One keyword map shared by the site and the content
- Google Ads on request, talked through on a call
- Content AI search tools can read and cite
- Tracking that ties bookings back to their source
- Guidance that keeps you inside platform rules
- You deal with me directly, start to finish
Pricing
Start with the website, add SEO when you are ready
Start with the website. Add SEO when you want more searches. Each has its own price, and neither is a monthly retainer. If you want Google Ads as well, we can talk about it on the call.
Website
Most hosts start hereFrom$2,000
A custom direct booking website for your property or portfolio, connected to your booking software.
- Custom design, built around your property
- Connected to your booking software and calendar
- Built for Google and AI search from the first page
- You can edit your own text and photos
- First draft one week after your assets and access are in
WentDirect is an independent third party and is not endorsed by or associated with Airbnb, Inc. or its affiliates, or with Vrbo.
Full SEO
From$1,500
one-time total per website
Keyword strategy, content and on-page work so guests find your site on Google and in AI search. Not a monthly fee.
- Keyword strategy for your area and property type
- Content written for guests and for search
- Titles, headings and internal links fixed across the site
- Reporting you can read
WentDirect is an independent third party and is not endorsed by or associated with Airbnb, Inc. or its affiliates, or with Vrbo.
Questions
Vacation rental marketing FAQs
What is vacation rental marketing?
Vacation rental marketing is everything you do to bring guests to your rental, on platforms and off them. For direct bookings it comes down to three things: a website that converts, search traffic from SEO and ads, and staying in touch with guests who booked direct with you before.
What should a vacation rental marketing plan include?
A vacation rental marketing plan should include your goal, the channels you will use and the order you will build them in. Mine has four lines: a direct booking website, SEO, Google Ads and email to past direct guests. It also lists what you will not do, such as moving platform guests off-platform.
Do you work as a vacation rental marketing agency?
I do the work a vacation rental marketing agency does, but there is no team behind me. You work with one person who builds the website and does the SEO. That keeps the price lower and means nothing is lost between a strategist, a designer and an account manager.
How do I increase vacation rental bookings without the platforms?
You increase vacation rental bookings off the platforms by building demand they do not control. Rank your own site for searches about your area, run search ads for the dates you need to fill, and email guests who booked direct before. The guide on how to get more direct bookings covers each step.
Is it against platform rules to market my own website?
No, marketing your own website is not against platform rules, as long as you leave platform guests and platform messages out of it. You cannot link to your site from a listing, offer discounts to book elsewhere or market to a platform guest's contact details. Everything I set up reaches new guests through your own channels.
Book a call
Tell me about your rental. Get one flat price back.
No packages to decode and no surprise add-ons. You talk to me from the first message to launch day.
Book a callWentDirect is an independent third party and is not endorsed by or associated with Airbnb, Inc. or its affiliates, or with Vrbo.
Why WentDirect
- Custom design, never a template
- Built for Google and AI search
- Works with your booking software
- One expert, start to finish
- Websites from $2,000, SEO from $1,500