There was a time when you could bank on an occupancy level of around 30% for a holiday vacation home around Pezenas. But with the market for vacation rentals in Languedoc becoming competitive and customers becoming increasingly choosy, Iain Laverock, Maisons Tournesols' Holiday Rentals Marketing specialist, cautions that now is the time to get serious about marketing your second home for short term holiday rentals.

Holiday rentals marketing

Iain Laverock who runs the Maisons Tournesol's popular holiday rentals website (http://www.golanguedoc.com/)  says that gone are the days when an advert in a magazine or one of the Sunday Newspapers would yield you 10-12 bookings for the summer months. The market for holiday rentals is now very much web-based. It is estimated that around 80% of all rental bookings in the Languedoc region of the South of France are made over the internet. You therefore need to get web-savvy very quickly - or find someone who can help you. As Iain states, there are "a plethora of holiday rentals websites out there all ready and willing to take your money, but who is checking if they're any good? You could easily spend your annual advertising budget on two or three adverts and you get no bookings. I have heard of at least two owners who having spent €250 on paid adverts received not a single booking for the summer".

Competitive market for holiday rentals in Languedoc

The other factor to consider, is that with the Languedoc region becoming increasingly popular with second-home buyers, there is now a lot of properties on the market to rent. There are an estimated 37,000 holiday homes in the Languedoc region. Each year around 350,000 people stay in holiday rental accommodation in the region.  Our research shows that there are approaching 1,500 rental properties advertised on the 10-15 holiday rentals websites that promote villa vacation rentals in Languedoc. This figure has grown by nearly 18% in the last 2 years.

How can Maisons Tournesol help you?

Thankfully, with Iain on board to help you along the way, Maisons Tournesol can give you unrivalled expertise in marketing your holiday home on the internet. There are a number of distinct steps that we will take to marketing your holiday house on the internet:

1. Make your property stand out

"With so much demand" Iain states "you have to get smart about selling the real features and benefits of your property". Every property has its own special feature: it has fabulous views, it is close to the beach, it is near a pretty town or village, it is remote and tranquil, it is located in a vibrant holiday spot, etc. Whatever it is about your property, we will articulate this to the buying public. We think of your target audience and why they would want to come and stay in your property. We then clearly spell out why they should stay with you.

Respond quickly

If you do get a booking enquiry, it is imperative to respond quickly. Never lose a potential booking by being slow off the blocks. With Maisons Tournesol's properties our aim is to respond within 2 hours with confirmation of availability. We have alerts sent to our mobile phones and we can pick up and send emails on our PDA. Once we know a potential customers requirements, we always personalise our response. We provide them with some local knowledge and one or two other options to consider as well. By providing this service straight away, keep the customer looking within our portfolio of rental properties so that they do not need to consider other sites.

Annual marketing plan

Iain Laverock advises property owners that if they are serious about getting rental bookings then they need to develop a marketing plan and invest some money wisely in advertising in the right places. As Iain states "we advise our clients that they should look to spend 10% of anticipated income on advertising".  As well as using the larger sites, Iain places our properties on a number of free to advertise websites. We also keep a bit of a budget back to pay for short term adverts on places like eBay, laterooms.com and lastminute.com.

Maisons Tournesol

Over the last 6 years Maisons Tournesol has developed a wealth of experience in the holiday rentals sector. As well as managing Maisons Tournesol, we also run our own holiday rentals websites.  During this time we have remained focused on earning our clients more rental bookings and ensuring that the visitors are well looked after.  Our aim is to make owning a second home cost neutral for you by earning you more rental bookings. For further information and advice, please read Iain Laverock's Top 10 tips on marketing your second home to short term holiday rentals.

If you would like to discuss the promotion of your property with Iain, please send him an email and he will respond the same day ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).