What is a Workcation and How Can Vacation Rental Property Managers Capitalize?
The leisure and hospitality industry loves a good trend.
Every year, new trends emerge while old ones fade, but since the start of the pandemic, trends have taken on new importance. They’ve kept us informed on what travelers want during COVID-19, and critically, they’ve shed light on the industry’s direction from one season to the next—including strategies hosts and vacation rental property managers can use to maintain production during such uncertain times.
One recent trend that’s emerged and is basically a lock to continue: the workcation.
A workcation (or “workation”) is a vacation that combines work with leisure. These types of trips have been growing in popularity for several years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has truly given them their star turn.
Prior to the pandemic, roughly seven million people in the U.S. already worked remotely. That number spiked 44% in five years, and with the pandemic, remote work became more of a necessity than a luxury.
The hotel industry has certainly bought in: major players such as Hilton Luxury Brands have been catering heavily to workcation travelers by offering extended stay packages and other perks driven by the work-leisure mindset. Popular publications like Travel + Leisure have also jumped on board with workcation-focused content, including lists of the best U.S. cities for a workcation.
All that’s to say: workcations have arrived, and even with business travel bouncing back, they probably aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
With that in mind, we need to ask: how can Property Managers capitalize on this movement? If you want your rentals to appeal to the booming workcation demographic, here are a few things to consider:
- Internet: If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that many, many, MANY jobs can be done online. Look, even vacation-rental owners can manage properties remotely thanks to modern technology. A reliable Internet connection—and ideally, a high-speed WiFi connection—is an absolute necessity for workcation travelers, who spend the work day reading and sending emails, jumping into and out of digital meetings, and trading chat messages with their co-workers.
- Workspace: A dedicated workspace is a huge selling point for workcation travelers. Even though they are staying at your rental to kick back and relax, they are also trying to do their jobs from a distance. If you can carve out a quiet, distraction-free space with a desk, a nice chair, and perhaps a door, you’re providing the proper space for your guests to do their jobs —especially workcationing parents!
- Advertising: Workcation travelers can only know about your commitment to their comfort if you fill them in on what you have to offer. Make sure your listings broadcast your rental’s workcation-friendly amenities loud and clear in the headline, description, and most importantly in the photos, since great visual content is a proven way to drive bookings.
The latest data shows an incoming travel boom: people are ready to travel, they’re just going about it a bit differently than they were prior to the pandemic. They also want to be safe and, as the workcation craze demonstrates, they’re willing to cram their professional careers into suitcases and take them with—so long as the destination can accommodate the needs of today’s workcationer.