Boost Airbnb Profitability

Grow Your Airbnb With Vacation Rental Branding

Branding is more than just a recognizable name or logo — it is also the message, services, and connection you intend to provide to your guests. Building your vacation rental brand helps make your guests’ decisions to book with you a lot easier. Discover why it is essential to create a brand for your rental business and how to do so.

by The Turno Team

Why Create a Brand for Your Vacation Rental Business?

Simply put, your short-term rental brand is how your guests perceive the experience they will or did receive when staying at your property. That said, branding involves various elements, including a memorable name, logo, color scheme, and more. 

There are many reasons why you should establish a brand for your vacation rental business. Below, learn about three top reasons and help your property stand out from millions of other rentals. 

1. Brands Create Awareness and Recognition

The popularity of vacation rentals continues to skyrocket. This means that chances are, your property isn’t the only short-term rental in your city, and it may not even be the only one on your street. 

Branding helps you distinguish your vacation rental property from competitors — to the extent that they book with you instead of someone else. 

If you are consistent with your branding on booking platforms, social media, and your own website, you’ll develop an unforgettable identity for potential guests. This will, in turn, make them want to experience a stay at your property over other listings. 

2. A Brand Is a Vital Ingredient of Your Marketing 

Branding your property will play a huge role in your vacation rental marketing strategy. As stated above, branding is more than just establishing a name and a logo. It also involves systematic messaging and style choices across your whole vacation rental business. 

Whether you stick to a signature color palette in your Instagram feed or design a custom banner to use as your Facebook cover photo, make sure to provide a consistent look and feel wherever you have an online or physical presence. 

If you have a direct booking website, keep branding front of mind. “A good website — a good feeling brand — is important on the owner’s side of things. If you sign up to do a nice looking website, that makes you look more professional than you might be,” explains Beyondbnb CEO Ryland Nelson.

3. Brands Can Build Value

Branding can increase vacation rental value by evoking emotion among past and future guests. 

Once you have established an emotional connection with your audience, it’s more likely that they’ll have increased interest in staying at your property. They’ll also become more engaged, helping to create more buzz for other travelers. 

How to Brand Your Airbnb Listings

You have a property with unique features and services. Now, you just need to share it with the rest of the world. Below are creative and effective ways to define your brand for your Airbnb listing. By following these tips, you can segment the types of travelers you want and increase your bookings.

1. Create a Branded Experience 

The first thing to consider when branding your vacation rental property is to change guests’ perception of what your service is. You’re not just offering a room — you are offering guests an experience. 

Formulating a guest experience starts with decorating. By designing a space with a cohesive look, you create an ambiance that guests will feel throughout their stay. It is also important to highlight key features of your property. These may include indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces, a swimming pool, or a yard with a lake view. 

2. Choose a Catchy Name 

The name of your property is the first thing that potential guests see upon searching, and it can be a great tool for describing your listing’s brand experience. For example, if your target audience is business travelers, the name “Convenient Penthouse” may not get much attention. On the other hand, “Modern Penthouse With High-Tech Amenities” will likely get more clicks. 

By creating a name that resonates well with your target audience, you’ll be sure to draw more attention. This will make your listing top of mind anytime they’re looking to book their next stay. 

3. Set Up Your Social Media Channels

Social media is the ultimate source to capture new guests. Amplifying your social media presence will reinforce your brand, build trust, and forge relationships with potential guests through stories and shared values. 

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media platforms are the new world for word-of-mouth marketing. Make sure you’re taking full advantage of them. 

You may also want to consider hiring a professional to take high-quality photos of your property. Stunning photos with great lighting and composition are sure to stop social media users as they’re mindlessly scrolling through their feeds.

4. Stick to the Same Colors and Fonts Online                    

Most marketers and top-performing vacation rental hosts know the importance of color theory. This is the art and science of colors that designers use to communicate with clients and evoke certain emotions or responses. 

According to a study conducted by the University of Winnipeg, up to 90% of first impressions of a product are based on color alone. Make sure the color palette you choose across your marketing channels is constant and relates well to your brand and style. 

The same concept applies to fonts. To create consistency in your home and online, stick to the same colors and written fonts to help foster brand recognition among guests. 

5. Join Vacation Rental Host Forums 

A vacation rental owner forum is a source of support for hosts to share experiences and discuss solutions for any problems they face on the job. You can find forums on channels such as Quora, Reddit, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other short-term rental community sites. 

Not only are these platforms helpful when seeking advice on how to manage your rental more effectively. But you can also benefit from showcasing your brand and producing a bit of word of mouth. 

Branding Your Short-Term Rentals on OTAs

Sites like Airbnb and Vrbo allow a host to add their brand’s name and logo to their listing. Consumers like to comparison shop on the web, so don’t be surprised if they Google your vacation rental company name once they see it on an online travel agency (OTA).

Once a potential guest sees your name and finds your vacation rental website, if you have one, make sure you offer them an incentive to engage with your brand. For instance, many brands offer a 5% or 10% discount for signing up for a mailing list on their site. This way you can ensure that you capture this potential guest and that their first booking is direct.

Case Study: Airbnb Branding Expert Daniel Rusteen

There are plenty of great reasons why branding your Airbnb is an essential part of optimizing your hosting strategy. Airbnb branding expert, Daniel Rusteen says the reason is simple: 

“Successfully branding yourself is the best kind of marketing. You become the safe choice. You have a reputation that follows you.” 

Daniel Rusteen started hosting in 2013 in San Francisco. He then went to work in finance at Airbnb’s headquarters for over two years. He left his finance gig to collaborate with a local Airbnb property manager. This allowed him to get a clearer picture of how to manage vacation rental properties. 

With the ambition to take his career further, Daniel created a website, now known as BeloPM. The site offers Airbnb listing optimization and full-service management and started his own property management business with three initial listings. 

In addition to managing multiple successful short-term rental properties, Daniel has also become one of the most sought-after Airbnb experts. He claims his first step to success was automation, “where you can run multiple listings without lowering guest experience.” 

Daniel also shares that, “cleaners are the secret sauce because few hosts understand how valuable they are. A great cleaner becomes an essential employee, helping with related tasks like scheduling maintenance, telling you about issues, and more.” 

Branding The Belmonte Penthouse

Leading by example, Daniel shares helpful branding tips through The Belmonte Penthouse, a unique Colombian apartment he purchased and repurposed as a short-term rental.

To elevate his great vacation rental, Daniel’s Airbnb comes with daily cleaning and breakfast, airport transfer, a local concierge, and personalized travel itineraries. He also showcases his brand throughout the house on shampoo bottles, welcome mats, and more. 

In The Belmonte Penthouse is a stylish picture frame with a QR code. Guests can easily scan the code for instant WIFI access. Of course, the listing’s logo is nestled right below the code to subtly encourage brand recognition. 

When branding, Daniel highly encourages hosts to build a social media presence and website. He notes that “branding your listing can mean something very simple like creating an Instagram account or something very complex like paying for a website and SEO to rank high in relevant searches.” 

Daniel offers more branding tips in his book Optimize YOUR Bnb and on his website OptimizeMyBnb.com.

Airbnb Branding Services for Hosts

Branding your Airbnb can be complex, even for experienced hosts. To ease the process, here are a few Airbnb branding services worth checking out.

Socialite Vault

Socialite Vault is a platform that helps you get connected with professional organizers, interior designers, home stagers, and more. These experts can assist you in crafting and structuring your brand. 

Their services are all about making marketing easier for the home industry. They include optimizing blog content for search engines, email marketing, graphic design, and more. 

ColorMyBnb 

Whether you need a vacation rental logo or a holistic branding strategy, ColorMyBnb is a great resource for hosts seeking to establish a custom-designed Airbnb brand. 

They provide extremely useful guidelines to follow when implementing your vacation rental brand, including a name, logo, color palette, decor list, theme, and style. Their services are supported and provided by marketing consultants who are experts in the industry. 

Guest Hook 

If you want the personality of your property to be represented through your brand, Guest Hook can help you do so. They are another great platform that helps hosts tell the story of their vacation rental and shape a brand that speaks directly to their ideal guests.

They can help you strengthen guest loyalty and trust by guiding you to differentiate your property from competitors. If you have or want to manage multiple listings, Guest Hook provides custom brand development and design for each property.

Build Your Vacation Rental Brand

Vacation rental branding is vital to help your business stand out in a highly saturated market. It can also assist you in building lasting relationships with past and future guests. Whether your property offers historic charm, beachside views, or modern amenities, highlight what makes your rental unique and use it to build your brand. 

Leverage our steps to help you create a stand-out vacation rental brand. Then, you will be able to reach out to your ideal guests and generate more revenue.