HomeAway, a vacation rental platform dependent on Expedia, has introduced a new positioning ranking and developed new tools that allow owners and professional managers to improve their performance in the competitive holiday rental market and to have greater control of their ranking on the platform. The ultimate goal is to improve the experience of travelers so that they find the holiday home that best suits their preferences.
New positioning system
One of the great novelties introduced by HomeAway in its platform is its new positioning system based on measurable aspects such as the response rate, page views, cancellations, rejection rate, reservations or traveler comments.
The information that HomeAway now provides them within the Owner's Space allows them to know and analyze the factors that influence their classification, as well as the performance of their property on the platform and compare it with other properties in their area. In this way, the information provided helps them identify those aspects that are susceptible to improvement in order to optimize their positioning in the search results made by travelers.
New tools
In addition, HomeAway introduces two new tools in the management system of owners that provide them relevant information to improve the performance of their properties in the market.
News Board is the new tool that is the main page of the Owner Space is similar to a news feed: it offers in real time personalized notifications about property performance and useful tips to improve it. The most relevant information of the News Board is the notifications of lost and won reservations. These publications highlight the reserves that the owners have won or lost, thus being able to compare them with the rest of the properties in their environment.
In addition, the board provides data on the factors that generate a reservation such as the photos of the advertisement, the description of the property or the services offered, among others.
MarketMaker is an income management tool that helps owners and managers to define their pricing strategy, as it provides them with information on the market situation in their area and on the behavior of travelers when making reservations and making searches in their environment.
In short, it is a functionality that allows defining market strategies based on the analysis of the competition with data such as demand, occupancy rate, prices, etc. Thus, the owner or manager who uses the improvements and new tools of HomeAway will be able to detect the weaknesses of their property, analyze the competition, understand how the traveler acts and correct their deficiencies to improve their positioning and performance within the platform.
Premium Partner Program
HomeAway launches this program that recognizes the effort made by owners or managers to offer travelers the best experience. A good performance on the platform (having a minimum number of reservations, quickly answering queries from travelers, processing and finalizing all reservations and payments through the platform, among others) is essential to belong to this program.
The benefits of the program are numerous - stand out in the search results, communicate with the traveler before booking, the possibility of participating in marketing programs for travelers, enjoy priority attention or have early access to the new functions of HomeAway before its launch, among others.
You can only access the program by invitation and those properties that belong to the Premium Partner program will be identified on the website with a badge so that travelers know that they will enjoy a great experience.
"Our goal is to guarantee the best traveler experience with the help of our trusted owners and managers," says Juan Carlos Fernández, general manager for Southern Europe at HomeAway. "The Premium Partner Program highlights the owners and managers who have consistently offered an exceptional experience to travelers." On the other hand, "Not only are we bringing more travelers to our platforms through our marketing actions, but we also try to provide information on the factors necessary to succeed on HomeAway," says Juan Carlos. "For this, we are committed to share all the data that we can, and highlight those owners and managers who are providing the best experience to travelers.”
The above article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English. Click here to read the original article.
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