How to Advertise Vacation Rentals on Expedia & Get More Bookings (Especially During Low Seasons!)

Promotions for vacation rental property managers aren’t just a great way to make vacation rental listings stand out—they’re a great way to drive bookings. 

 

VacayHome Connect, the industry’s leading vacation rental channel manager and distribution company, helps property managers implement promotions so you can earn bookings more effectively and improve conversions. Still, one question our team often hears is: “What are promotions for property managers?”

 

To make vacation rentals stand out on the best listing sites, property managers have many tools at their disposal. 

 

You can become a Superhost on Airbnb.  

 

You can become a Premier Host on Vrbo.

 

You can utilize the visibility booster on Booking.com. 

 

The list of tools goes on and on!

 

Ultimately, though, implementing promotions is the most effective way to generate bookings, especially in a very crowded marketplace like Expedia.  

 

That’s why it’s so important for property managers to know how to advertise vacation rentals on Expedia to get more bookings: not only will it help your listings stand out, it will also drive revenue year-round—including off-seasons and shoulder seasons. 

 

How to Advertise Vacation Rentals on Expedia

Expedia Partner Central is Expedia’s primary platform where vacation rental property managers load inventory, modify rates, manage reservations, and more. It’s also where you can create and opt into the channel’s promotions to grow your business in the Expedia Group marketplace. Expedia’s advanced audience fencing rules allow you to target unique traveler audiences while maintaining control over who can see and book your offers. 

 

With all that established, let’s break down a few different types of promotions and advertising strategies on Expedia. 

 

1. Choose Promotions for Your Vacation Rental Business

The number of different vacation rental promotions for property managers can be overwhelming. All major OTAs offer promotional and merchandising opportunities, so keeping track of all that information can certainly be challenging. 

 

On Expedia, though, there are a handful of promotion types and merchandising opportunities that you can implement with confidence: 

• Members Only: Offer your promotion to over 70 million members on Expedia Group sites and a selection of their affiliates.
• Mobile & Tablet Users: Limit your offer to travelers who are using mobile or tablet devices. Mobile devices are being used more than ever to research and book travel on Expedia Group websites.
• Expedia Group Campaigns: Join an upcoming campaign and expand your reach to Expedia Group’s advertising channels.
• Specific Countries: Compete in your defined target markets or open up to new markets by targeting travelers from specific countries.
• Packages and Opaque: Target travelers who typically stay longer, book further in advance, and cancel less often with packages; target price-conscious travelers less concerned about details with opaque offers. (To learn more about Expedia Collect Packages, click here.) 
• Same Day Deal: Attract last-minute travelers by setting up a recurring deal for same-day bookings.

 

2. Customize Expedia Promotions with Restrictions

To ensure the promotions you opt into are ideal for your vacation rental business, you can further customize them with specified restrictions. These include:

• Booking Dates: Set the dates that your offer will display on Expedia Group websites. You can additionally create a last-minute or 24-hour offer window by limiting the dates that are bookable.
• Travel Dates: Set the dates that travelers can stay with you. Remember: the offer will only display if you have rooms and rates available for the travel dates.
• Length of Stay: Target travelers who are willing to stay longer or create different discount levels for each length of stay. For example: stay two nights and save 20%, stay three nights and save 30%.
• Early Booking Requirements: Target specific booking windows and offer a variety of discount levels across different traveler segments.

 

 

3. Maximize Your Listing Visibility with Expedia’s Tools

Millions of travelers visit Expedia Group websites every day to shop for their travel needs. Expedia uses multiple factors, including traveler search criteria and past booking behavior, to deliver optimal property search results that provide travelers with the most relevant properties and deals every time they search. 

 

So how can property managers rank higher on Expedia and make sure their vacation rental listings always land in front of a large audience?

 

There are many factors that influence your visibility on Expedia (including promotions!) 

 

Fortunately, you have the power to sway the most important ones through the Partner Central Platform and maximize your visibility with these tools:

 

Offer Strength

Visit the Offer Strength page to analyze your Offer Strength and address any issues. Improve your score by:

• Providing competitive prices in relation to your competitive set
• Participating in targeted promotions
• Receiving great guest reviews—and addressing poor ones (here’s how to do that)

 

Quality Score

Visit the Quality Score page to analyze your Quality Score and Channel Comparison pages to address any issues. Improve your score by:

• Making competitive offers available to travelers booking on Expedia Group sites
• Providing complete and compelling content in your listing
• Avoiding refunds and relocations

 

Expedia Accelerator

With a strong Quality Score and Offer Strength, you can use an Accelerator to help increase your visibility during the times you need it most.

• Increase the compensation that you pay Expedia Group for select, targeted dates in order to influence your visibility.
• Preview potential impacts based on current market conditions.
• Maintain flexibility and independent control to adjust or delete as your needs change.

 

Promotions for Short-term Rentals on Expedia

To reiterate: promotions are an excellent way to expand your short-term rental audience on Expedia. You can create Package promotions, Members Only deals, or Value Add promotions to enhance your visibility and increase your conversion.

 

• Attract travelers that stay twice as long, book earlier, and have lower cancel rates
• Target 69+ million members on Expedia Group sites and affiliates
• Incentivize travelers to choose your property without discounting your rates

 

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Implementing and managing promotions is a lot of work and can be time-consuming, and many property managers simply don’t have the bandwidth to effectively execute a promotions strategy for their business. 

 

However, if you advertise vacation rentals on Expedia using the tools outlined above, you’ll definitely be on your way to maximizing your visibility and getting more bookings—especially during shoulder seasons. 

 

As the leading vacation rental channel manager and distribution company in the industry, VacayHome Connect can help you manage your promotions and merchandising efforts. In fact, we can do all the work if that’s what you want! If you’re interested in getting more bookings and saving tons of time, reach out today and let us know.