How To Challenge The Hotels
January 11th, 2011
If we want the vacation rental industry to grow that growth needs to come from somewhere. While lodging continues to have an annual long-term growth rate at 3.5%, obviously the hotel sector is by far the easiest and smartest segment we should be challenging. To do so, we really need to think more like hotels in a number of ways. The first and most important is hotels know their niche. A Motel 6 and a Marriott target very different consumers. In fact Marriott has many brands all within their name to focus on segments of the lodging opportunity from short term business, to long term business to tradeshow to vacation. It has done this to survive in a very competitive market. For vacation rental you must also understand your niche and target that segment. Once they understand their niche, the hotels that fit that niche are an ideal case study of services that need to be offered to compete against them.
For those of you already competing against hotels many of you rely solely on negative marketing “vacation rentals are better than hotels because it is like living in your own house.” In a New York Times article, published on December 28, 2010, the article lists several vacation rental companies that have started looking at hotels they compete against and mimicking their postivies by offering amenities such as flat-screen televisions, surround sound system, spa-style robes, iPod docks, in-room internet access, fitness centers, daily maid service and more. These companies have realized that their best way to beat the hotels in their area and segment is to offer advertising that is both positive and negative, with a slogan that is more like ”lodging that is like home +the best hotel amenities = a better vacation value.”
