14 Strategies for Marketing Your Vacation Rental Property to Millennials

The millennial generation was born within the years of 1981 to 1996. This year, in 2021, millennials range from the ages of 24 to 40. Millennials are currently the largest generation, as well as the most travel-obsessed. They travel more than any other generation and are sometimes even referred to as the future of travel. In fact, many millennials prefer to spend their money on traveling versus buying a home. As you can imagine, this is an important group to consider when marketing your vacation rental property!

How Can I Market My Vacation Rental to Millennials?

Millennials love convenience, and they look for experiences and adventures when they travel. Rather than viewing themselves as tourists, they see themselves as explorers. Here are 14 ways to market your vacation rental property to the millennial generation!

1.   Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Nowadays, most people, not just millennials, use their smartphones to find information. For this reason, it’s crucial to optimize both your website and your listing for booking via mobile. Otherwise, you could be missing out on quite a bit of profit just because your website or listing isn’t formatted correctly! For any text within your website or listing, be sure to space it out so that it’s easy to skim over. This is a simple but essential step if you want to market your vacation rental to the millennial generation.

2.   Stick with Your Brand

Branding is another important part of marketing your vacation rental to millennials. It’s not difficult to create a cohesive brand experience. First, come up with a unique name for your vacation rental and create a logo to go with it (or pay someone to create a logo). Then, use that same name and logo across all hosting sites, social media platforms, and your vacation rental property’s website.

A cohesive brand experience makes your business appear more credible and trustworthy to potential guests. Millennials, who often search for information using their phones, will be able to easily find all of the information they need regarding your vacation rental property just by typing its name into the search bar.

3.   List Your Property on Multiple Sites

It’s also best to list your property on more than one website. Millennials will often search for a vacation rental that they’re interested in on multiple sites so that they can compare the rates and find the best deal. Plus, if your vacation rental pops up on every site they check out, they’re more likely to end up booking it simply because of its visibility online, especially if your property has great reviews.

4.   Carefully Craft Your Listing

It’s always important to craft your listing carefully, regardless of your target market. But millennials are especially interested in the minor details of your listing. Your word choice in your description and the quality of your photos can make a significant difference to them. Often, potential guests assume that the effort put into your listing is reflective of the quality of the vacation rental itself, so optimize it the best you can! Check out our articles on improving your vacation rental property description and photos for more information.

5.   Utilize Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is an infinitely valuable tool when it comes to advertising your vacation rental property to millennials. Create and maintain profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest for best results. If you’re particularly tech-savvy, you might even want to venture out and create some fun TikToks to advertise your vacation rental property! The key to having successful social media profiles is consistency, so make sure you’re posting to all of your profiles on a regular basis. You can even hire a social media manager or use a Property Management System to reduce your workload.

6.   Go Virtual

Millennials tend to prefer less face-to-face interaction than older generations. Instead, they favor engagement with online tools and apps. Therefore, you might want to skip the phone call and opt for communicating through a chat box or text conversation instead. Another way to appeal to millennials is to provide a virtual tour of your vacation rental for them to explore online.

7.   Invest in Smart Technology

Smart TVs that connect to streaming services, smart lighting with sensors and dimmers, and smart locks that enable self check-in are sure to appeal to technology-loving millennials. There’re numerous advantages of self check-in; the primary one is it boosts convenience both for property owners as well as for guests. Additionally to ensure your guests’ electronic needs are met, have plenty of outlets, adapters, and chargers available in every room of your vacation rental.

8.   Stock the Kitchen

A fully-equipped kitchen with all the necessary cookware and utensils for preparing a meal is sure to be appreciated by millennials. Many of them choose to cook at the vacation rental, rather than going out to eat, so that they can spend their money on adventurous activities instead. Providing high-quality coffee for your guests to enjoy is also a way to ensure great reviews from millennials. If you can shell out the money for a nice French press or espresso machine, that’ll be sure to impress your millennial guests!

9.   Provide Entertainment

Millennials are used to watching Netflix everywhere they go, so make sure that you have a working account for them to log into. Other streaming services are a nice bonus as well. Depending on your budget, a projector and surround sound system can create an amazing entertainment setup. Books, DVDs, gaming systems, puzzles, and board games are also fun entertainment amenities.

10.   Create Outdoor Experiences

Millennials love to embrace new experiences and adventures, and if you have a backyard or outdoor area at your vacation rental, that opens up all kinds of opportunities. A pool, hot tub, deck or patio, outdoor grill, and seating area are all great additions to your vacation rental property. Try to set up an area that encourages guests to spend time enjoying their surroundings together.

11.    Designate a Workspace

Many millennials currently work remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s easy to cater to them by designating a workspace within your vacation rental property. The ideal workspace is located near a window and plenty of electrical outlets. It features an even, flat surface to write or set a laptop on, paired with a comfortable ergonomic chair with back support. A basket of complimentary office supplies is the cherry on top of the workspace.

12.   Set Up Photo Ops

Since over 90% of millennials document their travels using social media, creating “instagrammable” spots within your vacation rental property is a smart way to appeal to this particular generation. An instagrammable spot is simply an area with a fun background or a beautiful view to take photos in front of. Good interior design naturally creates photo ops, but you can definitely go out of your way to make those photo ops even better–your millennial guests will love it.

13.   Be More Sustainable

Many people in the millennial generation have an increased interest in being environmentally friendly and sustainable. There are many ways to make your vacation rental property more sustainable, from using natural and organic toiletries to installing energy-efficient lighting and appliances. Giving back to the community, providing clear recycling options, and offering sustainable gifts to guests such as branded coffee mugs are also ways to enhance your property’s eco-friendliness.

14.   Welcome Pets

Millennials love their pets and consider them part of the family, so it’s no surprise that they enjoy traveling with their furry friends! Optimizing your vacation rental property for pets isn’t too difficult and can even increase your bookings and overall earnings. Although you might think pet-friendly vacation rentals suffer a lot of property damage, problematic situations that end in damage are actually quite rare. Offering additional amenities like a pet bed, dog waste bags, and pet food and treats is sure to earn you some great reviews as well.

Main Takeaways

Millennials are both the largest and the most travel-obsessed generation. This generation is also picky so you must consider these things when you purchase a vacation rental property. For now, here are our top 14 strategies for marketing your vacation rental property to millennials.

1. Optimize your website for mobile, so it’s easy to access.
2. Stick with your brand for improved SEO and search visibility.
3. List your property on multiple sites so guests can find you in various places online.
4. Carefully craft your listing with a well-worded description and professional-quality vacation rental photos.
5. Utilize social media marketing on as many platforms as possible.
6. Go virtual with texting instead of phone calls.
7. Invest in smart technology like smart locks, smart TVs, and smart lighting.
8. Stock the kitchen with everything your guests need to cook a meal.
9. Provide entertainment such as streaming services, games, and books.
10. Create outdoor experiences with a comfortable seating area and other amenities.
11. Designate a workspace for guests who work remotely.
12. Set up photo ops so your guests can get that perfect photo for Instagram.
13. Be more sustainable to appeal to guests who care about their carbon footprint.
14. Welcome pets to open your vacation rental up to a new market of potential guests.