Over the past year, the Rentals United blog has gone through a branding transformation. We no longer think of it as a blog but more of an editorial providing high-quality content, forward-thinking ideas, informative articles and data on the industry that many vacation rental professionals turn to for information.
In light of that, we decided to rebrand the blog and turn it into the “Squiggle Mag”. While we post two articles a week, we wanted to produce our first published magazine. And we thought: what better way to go than with what we do best… Channels.
In this Squiggle Mag, we will be covering all the OTA and niche channel connections that Rentals United provides.
What’s in the Squiggle Mag?
To help property managers find the right channels that fit their inventory, we’ve compiled all the channels that Rentals United works with into a single ebook and broken them down into four different categories. These are:
1. OTAs
Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are the most general listing sites for travellers. These sites aggregate the most traveller impressions, offering you a large pool of potential guests from around the world.
2. The Top Local category
These listing sites are hyper-local. They’re true experts in their area. They either offer an informed selection of places to stay in a particular destination or focus on attracting travellers of specific nationalities.
3. The Curated List category
These listing sites select, organise and present rentals based on their own expertise and criteria. Here are some examples of curated lists:
4. The Travel Trend category
These websites address specific travel trends and target traveller segments by asking the question: “Why do people travel?”
Read more about niche websites that address travel trends:
- Last-minute bookings
- Blockchain and vacation rentals
- Responsible travel and vacation rentals
- Sports tourism and vacation rentals
- Digital nomads and extended stays
Why we created the Squiggle Mag
This magazine was created to help property managers make an informed decision when choosing channels.
We’ve been talking about if for a while now, but if the past two years have taught us anything, it’s that diversifying your distribution is key to success. Ensuring you have a wide range of booking sources can be the difference between a sustainable business and one that fails to weather the storm.
For most property managers, a good combination of booking channels includes their own website, the big OTAs, and a handful of niche channels that work well for their business.
From our own internal stats, we know that the most successful managers are connected to on average 11 channels, including the big 5 (Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia and Vrbo). Leaving six other channels that are helping them to generate more bookings, boost occupancy and increase visibility, helping to cover as much ground as they can to increase their bookings.
As a channel manager, Rentals United knows when you find a good match between your business and an OTA or niche channel. These websites can tremendously increase your bookings by allowing you to tap into new markets and target specific niches.
We wanted to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision on what channels best fit your business.
We hope that you find this magazine useful and gives you the latest information about niche listing sites that drive bookings. Enjoy the read, and here’s to growing your business!
