{"id":6097,"date":"2025-10-09T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T10:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.spfr.co\/?p=6097"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:05:15","slug":"vacation-rental-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/blog\/vacation-rental-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use vacation rental reviews to increase occupancy in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All property managers know that <\/span><b>vacation rental reviews and ratings are absolutely crucial<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A good review is very often the difference between a guest deciding to book a rental listing, or moving on to look at the next option.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reviews are a <\/span><b>major ranking factor<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for OTAs like Airbnb and Booking.com, which means that they play a significant part in determining whether a guest comes across your listing in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yet, for some reason, <\/span><b>reviews often get left out of the conversation when talking about distribution and revenue management<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Property managers tend to focus on other optimization techniques, like setting up discounts and adjusting prices. While these may be of high importance, they\u2019re not the only ways to increase bookings, occupancy and revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Rentals United, we want to help property managers get the most out of their listings. And we believe that <\/span><b>ignoring reviews and failing to do basic review management is a mistake<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve created a tool that will help you stay on top of your Airbnb and Booking.com reviews and manage them in a quick and efficient way, without having to log in to the channels\u2019 extranet.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we\u2019ll tell you all about it \u2013 but first, we\u2019ll talk about why you should care about reviews in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-vacation-rental-reviews-are-more-important-than-you-think\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why vacation rental reviews are more important than you think<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><b>Reviews help you build trust.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Since reviews act as social proof, they\u2019re the most powerful tool you have to build trust with potential guests. When a guest has had no prior experience with your company, there\u2019s nothing like an authentic review written by another guest to reassure them and help validate their choices. Simply put, reviews turn browsers into bookers.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Reviews give you more visibility. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OTAs prioritize listings with lots of good reviews because they\u2019re more likely to be booked by new guests. As a result, 5-star reviews help you <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/blog\/rank-higher-vrbo\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rank higher on Vrbo<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and are crucial for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/blog\/airbnb-seo\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Airbnb SEO<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The more good reviews you have, the more likely that guests will see your listings on OTAs and the more conversions you\u2019ll get.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Responding to reviews allows you to show off your customer service skills.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> By responding to a negative review in an attentive, cordial way, you can show potential guests that you provide impeccable customer service. If there is a problem, you come up with a solution instead of trying to hide or ignore it.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In summary, reviews make your listings <\/span><b>more easily discoverable<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and once discovered, <\/span><b>more appealing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to guests. This has tangible results, for example, an increase in occupancy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to vacation rental data provider <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mylighthouse.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lighthouse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, there is a correlation between higher review count and occupancy, as well as higher rating and occupancy.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think about the last time you bought a product online, or used a booking service. Did you check previous customer reviews? Did the reviews give you confidence to book, or perhaps enough doubt to keep searching for other options?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Reviews are an important decision-making factor for guests<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and are therefore an important aspect of your rental strategy that is worth investing time to optimize.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/info.rentalsunited.com\/thesquiggle\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"134\" src=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner_signature-the-squiggle-mag_02.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-22795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner_signature-the-squiggle-mag_02.png 1400w, https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner_signature-the-squiggle-mag_02-300x29.png 300w, https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner_signature-the-squiggle-mag_02-1024x98.png 1024w, https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/banner_signature-the-squiggle-mag_02-768x74.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-use-vacation-rental-reviews-to-your-advantage\"><strong>How to use vacation rental reviews to your advantage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re a property manager who likes to stay on top of their guest communication, you\u2019re probably already sending guests automated review requests on the day they check out. Maybe you even send a follow-up email a few days later if the first one didn\u2019t achieve the intended result.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, you also periodically log into all your channel extranets to see if there are any new reviews that require a response. But, if you\u2019re like most property managers we talk to, your review management efforts end there.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we teased at the beginning of the article, we think that this approach to vacation rental reviews leaves a lot of revenue opportunities on the table.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>You could be missing out on huge possibilities to boost your bookings, occupancy and revenue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, are you checking if all your listings have <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recent<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reviews?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s a good chance that if your properties haven\u2019t been reviewed in months, new prospects are going to notice that \u2013 and may decide not to book.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think about it this way: You are a potential guest, and are looking at two very similar properties. The first one has several positive reviews from the past month, and although the second listing also has glowing feedback, it hasn\u2019t been reviewed for half a year. Which do you feel more confident about booking?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Your listings need recent reviews at the time when guests want to book \u2013 not when they want to stay. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, have a look at your booking windows from the previous year and make sure that by the time your heavy booking season starts, all your properties are equipped with fresh reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is just one example of a review management strategy you can use to optimize your booking potential and occupancy rates, which can help maximize revenue during peak season, and can be a lifesaver during the slower off-season months.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smart tools like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/analytics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rental United\u2019s Analytics platform<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> give you powerful data and performance metrics to support your strategies, and seamless integration with our channel manager and unified inbox makes implementing these strategies far smoother than updating everything manually.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s see how it works.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-airbnb-and-booking-com-reviews\"><b>How to get the most out of your Airbnb and Booking.com reviews<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rentals United is a Preferred Software\/Connectivity Partner of both Airbnb and Booking.com, which means that your ratings and reviews can be integrated directly into the RU Analytics platform.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that <\/span><b>you can examine all your Airbnb and Booking.com review activity directly in the RU Analytics platform<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> without having to log into the Airbnb or Booking.com extranet.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only can you view all your reviews and ratings in one place, you can also use the Analytics tools to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/blog\/property-management-kpis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">identify patterns<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, make predications, and take actionable steps to improve your listings\u2019 reviews, based on historic data and ongoing trends.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are a few things you can do:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><b>See an overview<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of all your Airbnb and Booking.com listings\u2019 reviews and ratings for a specific date range. You can even see the rating per reservation (which is not available in the Airbnb extranet \u2013 you can only see the average rating there).<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Export the data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> so you can create a workflow and delegate review responses to anyone in your team.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the <\/span><b>Airbnb Quality Dashboard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you can see detailed breakdowns of review scores by key categories like Communication, Cleanliness, Check-in, Accuracy, Location, Value in colour-coded form. This helps you spot weak points at a glance, and make adjustments.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>See your top 10<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reviewed properties and bottom 10 reviewed properties at a glance. This allows you to quickly identify which listings need immediate attention.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Main Complaints Summary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a feature that pulls together frequently reported issues from your guest reviews and shows you how many reservations flagged those issues. For example, how many guests complained about late check-in in their reviews, helping you prioritize operational improvements.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.rentalsunited.com\/external\/en-gb\/Content\/Analytics\/RU-Airbnb-QualityDashboard.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Automated Airbnb Reviews<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a feature that allows you to use template responses, and set them to send after guest checkout, but still retain the ability to edit or skip. This makes sure every stay gets targeted feedback, increasing review volume and quality.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Reviews Report<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Analytics platform aggregates guest feedback from multiple OTAs like Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and Vrbo into one place. This lets you compare which channels are giving you what kind of feedback, spot trends across channels, and fix issues that might be channel-specific.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See <\/span><b>how many reviews<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you received on <\/span><b>each day of the week<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This helps you figure out what the best day is for sending review requests or reminders to your guests via email.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-bottom-line-optimize-your-vacation-rental-reviews-to-boost-your-occupancy\"><strong>The bottom line: Optimize your vacation rental reviews to boost your occupancy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finding a way to efficiently manage your vacation rental reviews is key to increasing your occupancy in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re already sending your guest\u2019s emails asking them to leave a review, great. If, on top of that, you also regularly log into your channel accounts to check on your reviews, even better.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But this year, <\/span><b>if you really want to get the most out of your listings, you\u2019re going to have to take things a step further<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintaining a steady stream of positive, recent reviews is absolutely critical to maximizing your occupancy, and automation gives you a significant advantage while saving you time and energy that you could instead spend streamlining operations, or growing your business.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Making use of a dedicated channel manager is a game-changer in staying on top of the game, and tools like RU Analytics help you improve your workflow and make the process of review management so much more efficient.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May 2022 bring you hundreds of stellar reviews and increased occupancy rates!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The winter season brings many high-value vacation rental opportunities, so finish 2025 strong, with a calendar full of bookings and positive guest reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/analytics\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep a steady stream of positive reviews with RU Analytics. Start today.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-very-light-gray-background-color has-background\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-text-color has-background\" style=\"background-color: #ff8700; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/connect-with-our-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get Started<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next booking wave is always around the corner\u2014whether it&#8217;s summer getaways, fall escapes, winter holidays, or spring breaks. For savvy property managers, every season is an opportunity. Positive, recent vacation rental reviews boost your visibility on OTAs and build guest trust when it matters most. Here&#8217;s what you should be doing to stay booked solid, no matter the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37,39,35],"tags":[34],"blog-tag":[57,59,63],"class_list":["post-6097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-branding","category-featured","category-operations-2","category-rentals-united","tag-vivien-magyar","blog-tag-airbnb","blog-tag-booking-com","blog-tag-direct-bookings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45171,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6097\/revisions\/45171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6097"},{"taxonomy":"blog-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentalsunited.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-tag?post=6097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}