Vacation Rental Trends for 2022

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exterior of vacation rental home

If you haven’t started building your vacation rental marketing strategy for 2022, you’re already way behind. But there’s good news: you can catch up. All you have to do is identify the vacation rental trends 2022 will bring to the table and make a plan to prepare for and capitalize on them.

This post will help you do that. The team at Magnetic Strategy has identified the top trends vacation rental managers (VRMs) need to watch for in the coming year and provided some high-quality vacation rental tips to help you make this your best year yet. Read on to learn more.

Ready to finally get your vacation rental company’s digital marketing into gear? We’re ready to hear from you. Magnetic Strategy can build a comprehensive marketing strategy that will propel your business to new heights. Contact us to learn more.

7 Essential Vacation Rental Tips and Trends for 2022

Below, we dive into the 2022 vacation rental trends that really matter for your business, as well as how you can incorporate them into your marketing and business strategies. Keep reading.

1. Big Travel Will Start Fighting for Guests Again

The COVID-19 pandemic might have put the big travel giants down for a round, but they’re not out for the whole match. Expect the big hotels, resorts, cruise lines and other travel companies to carry out some big recovery and start deploying elite marketing strategies, supported by big budgets.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: Niche down your marketing. Take a hard look at your properties and ask yourself what they offer that the big guys simply can’t. Then, put that difference between you and the bigger players in a central spot in your marketing materials and property descriptions.

2. Google Vacation Rentals May Take More Market Share

Google vacation rental portal
Don’t overlook Google Vacation Rentals. New partners are being added on a regular basis.

Google launched its Vacation Rentals product in 2019, and like most Google products, it’s likely to keep on gaining market share, taking some power away from the other third-party booking sites like Airbnb.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: If you’re not opposed to listing on third-party sites, you can create a listing with Google’s new offering through one of the bigger channel managers or players. The partner group includes Booking.com, VRBO, Rentals United, Futurestay, and a few more. In the worst case, you won’t gain any bookings. But if the platform really takes off in 2022, you only stand to gain if you’re involved with it.

UPDATE: It’s possible to get included in Google Vacation Rentals by using their new Vacation Rental Schema markup.

3. Targeted Content Will Take the Lead

Many VRMs have accepted that they have neither the budget nor the bandwidth to compete with the national short-term rental companies. And many of them have stopped trying to compete on the national level and are going in for some local competition.

More specifically, cutting-edge vacation rental marketers are identifying the ZIP codes that tend to feed their properties the most bookings, and they are creating lots and lots of web content to target those markets. 

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: Create targeted content for your own website. For example, if you find that a Los Angeles ZIP code is where a lot of your guests live, you might create a blog post for your site with a title like, “Top Romantic Getaways Close to Los Angeles,” with your properties in the top spot.

4. Home Offices Will Be an Even Bigger Draw

Modern home office with computer desk
Home office usage grew exponentially during the pandemic

Remote work has become a mainstay of many American workers’ lives, and that has changed the way many people travel. Now, people can travel while they work with relative ease, but they need a place to work at their destination. That’s why home offices are likely to become a more attractive feature of vacation rental properties in 2022.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: Feature your home office spaces — or spaces that could be used as offices — prominently in your marketing materials: on your website, social media and even advertising.

5. Those Who Have Booked Before May Book Again

The pandemic isn’t showing any real signs of going away, and many people have drawn a line in the sand about whether they are willing to travel while the virus is still spreading. Those who have already traveled will likely travel again, and those who have not are not likely to start now, as more COVID-19 variants emerge.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: Double down on repeat bookings. Look at your email lists and craft a nice email series for those who have booked in the past year or so. You might even add a discount to sweeten the pot.

6. No-Contact Bookings Will Be Big Winners

Person locking vacation home with smart phone
Smart locks and keyless entry will continue to be popular during the pandemic.

We are all more accustomed to a deadly virus circulating in the general population than we were two years ago, but that doesn’t mean we want to be put at unnecessary risk. For many travelers in 2022, the choice between two relatively equal short-term rentals may come down to contactless check-in and check-out procedures.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: If you don’t already have a no-contact booking process in place, it’s time to create one. Invest in key-drop devices and automated email instructions, and make sure it’s clear on your website that you offer no-contact check-in and checkout.

7. Seasonal Booking Increases May Be Less Pronounced

VRMs are used to seasonal spikes in bookings, usually around the holidays or weather that’s particularly friendly to outdoor activities. But because so many people are working remotely now, the impact of seasonal bookings may be a little less sharp. People can travel more freely, so they aren’t waiting for the holidays to book their getaways.

How to capitalize on this vacation rental trend: You still need to prepare for a seasonal increase in bookings, but consider diverting some of your marketing budget and time investment away from seasonal preparations and toward year-round bookings.

Turn 2022 Vacation Rental Trends Into Vacation Rental Gold

Trends are often temporary, but when you capitalize on them in a sustainable way, they can provide real and lasting value for your business in the form of increased revenue. That’s the central reason why VRMs need to pay attention to vacation rental trends in 2022 and beyond. And it’s why you need a concrete plan to capitalize on those trends.

With the above vacation rental tips and marketing strategies, you should be off to a great start. But if you find yourself in need of a bit more marketing power, you’re already in the right place to find it. The team at Magnetic Strategy knows the vacation rental industry and has helped countless VRMs build game-changing marketing plans that provide real, measurable results.

Interested? All you have to do is get in touch with us. Give us a call at 623-226-8518 or contact us online today.

Mike Archer
Mike Archer
Co-Founder

Mike has over 17 years of experience in the digital marketing field, beginning his career in-house at one of the nation’s top sporting goods manufacturers, followed by succe...

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