Blog - Cape Town Holiday Accommodation - Places to Stay in South Africa

Having trawled through literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of Holiday Accommodation details I’m still bemused to find that owners think that advertising their holiday rental accommodation is similar to advertising a washing machine on Ebay. The recipe goes like this; add a few photos taken with their mobile phone, write a small ’sellers description’ and then post it on as many random (and hopefully free) sites as they can hoping for someone to ‘make them an offer’.

I even encountered a very proud owner who rejoiced in the fact he hadn’t updated his website in 10 years and that guests were ‘amazed’ at how much better the establishment was in real-life. This is the same as buying an old Toyota on Ebay and pitching up to collect it to find you actually bought a New Mercedes Benz. Yes, you’d be surprised too!

The holiday rental marketplace is crowded, particularly in Cape Town, and competition is fierce. The only way you will be successful is by being smart and being ‘better’ than the person next door. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be offering tips and advice for getting you to the top of the tree and in turn increase your enquiries and bookings. It’s not rocket science and we won’t be asking you to learn anything new, we’ll just be pointing you in the right direction to kick-start your business and move it into the 21st Century. Stay tuned or even better sign-up to receive our updates in your inbox, that way you won’t miss a trick.

Did you know that over 80% of travel research is done online prior to a booking being made and that over 393 million (almost 50%) of Europeans are internet users. Compare that with just 5% in Africa and you see how crucial being web savvy and visible online really is to attracting some of the 1.7 million overseas visitors who visit the Western Cape each year.

As a holiday home owner you should consider the internet as your no.1 marketing tool. Rand for Rand it’s the cheapest form of marketing you can do. If your holiday rental accommodation doesn’t already have a website then get one, it’ll be the best few grand (quid) you’ll ever spend on your Cape Town holiday accommodation! If you need help or advice on building or upgrading your website or making it more search engine friendly then contact us and we’ll point you in the right direction.