While I’ve been busy in the European and North American vacation rental market, I hadn’t really paid much attention to what was going on in the industry ‘down under’, so it was a delight to welcome Melbourne-based Rex Brown as my guest on the podcast. Rex is a speaker at the upcoming Vacation Rental World Summit talking about getting from new to 80% occupancy in one of his properties in 3 months, so of course I wanted to find out what that is all about.

Rex has three very different properties; one is a Melbourne city house, another is a dog lover’s paradise and the third, a romantic oceanfront hideaway studio. Because they each attract a different demographic, it was interesting to discover the tactics Rex uses to market them and how his philosophy of rapid response impacts conversion rates in all three.

Some very original ideas in this episode of the #vacationrental success podcast with @cottageguru and Rex Brown

In this episode we discuss

• The evolution of AirBnB and Rex’s predictions for its impact on the industry
• The importance of using unique marketing strategies for different properties
• How to target niche markets (pets, romance, city visitors)
• The value of local listing sites
• Why we should continually re-evaluate a marketing strategy
• How a WordPress website creates an additional step for a listing visitor (and converts)
• How a Polaroid camera and a simple noticeboard creates engagement with visitors
• Why making a connection with potential guests can lead to immediate bookings
• The reason that rapid response can really affect conversion rates

Websites mentioned in this episode:

Vacation Rental World Summit

Treetops Wye River – Dogs Welcome at Treetops

Seazen – The Romantic Studio on the Great Ocean Road

Alto Richmond – Melbourne city accommodation

AirBnB

Holiday Rental Mastery