Investing in holiday luxury villas is popular in Koh Samui, with many foreigners owning properties that they rent out for most of the year when they are away from the island. However, sometimes the results are not what the owner has hoped for, and the high-end property doesn’t receive as many luxury villa bookings as planned.
Do you have a high-quality villa in terms of design and construction? also, the villa has great facilities, such as a sea view or even a beachfront location, spacious rooms, and easy access, in addition, you have a hard-working team to maintain the property.
Despite all of this, reservations have been slow.
Let’s find out the possible reasons for your bad luck, and how we can help you to fix it.
No1
The Managing Company
Problem: You work with a managing company that does not prioritize your villa because they have many other villas that bring them profit. Unfortunately, this is often the issue – despite paying high commissions – your property becomes just one of many. Your villa becomes just a space with facilities, like many others. You may have thought your villa was special, but it is just one of the 20, 50, or even 100 other properties of the agency.
Solution: Create your own brand and manage your villa with your own team and a marketing agency like FAMEsolutely. At FAMEsolutely, we work with each villa individually to create a unique brand for each of our clients.
With a Villa brand, you will receive direct bookings, as well as bookings from agencies, and OTAs (like Booking, Agoda…)
Learn more about it:
- Branded Property VS Managing company
- How to know if your luxury holiday property needs a brand?
- How to launch a luxury holiday villa brand the right way?
- Property Marketing: What is really a Luxury Villa Brand?
No2
Poor online presence
Problem: Just simply – Your social media and digital marketing are not looking professional, and have no engagement and decent reach.
In a digital world where all tourists carry a mobile phone connected to the internet with them everywhere, a poor online presence is a problem for your business. The premium market is about the experience, status, stories and feelings, social media is the best way to share about it.
Difficult to disagree, that any respectful brand should have a high-quality social media presence in today’s world. If your Social Media doesn’t look like at least a 5-star international hotel chain and has no or low aesthetics and structure, then why should your guests pay for luxury villa bookings at the same rates as for a 5-star international hotel chain?
Solution: Get a professional SMM with experience in property & hospitality marketing, like FAMEsolutely
Learn more about it:
- our special social media monthly package for organic growth for luxury villas: Luxury Villa Success Formula
- Social media tips: Stop making these 5 common Instagram mistakes!
- How long does it take to (re)launch social media?
No3
Limited marketing efforts
Problem: You don’t have a marketing strategy, or a brand, with a clear message.
Even the most stunning and luxurious villa won’t get many luxury villa bookings if people aren’t aware of its existence and services (see No1 & See No2).
A simple test, if you can’t answer these 4 questions, then you probably need to review your marketing efforts:
- Does the villa have a clear message across all digital platforms and inside the villa? (if not you need to create and follow Brand Identity and Guidelines)
- Does your property have a brand or just a logo? (see our post about: Do you have a brand or just a logo?)
- How will your guests remember your villa? What kind of experience will they remember? (For the luxury segment, experience is much more important than the facilities)
- Which elements of the branding will guests remember after the stay? Do you use a special colour palette or can the guests take photos with accidentally your logo on them?
Hospitality marketing is not only about finding new bookings, but to make the guests come back and tell all their friends about your property. Luxury brand marketing is to make the brand famous and make people talk about it as some experience only accessible to a selected group of people.
Solution: Get proper branding with a professional Marketing Agency like FAMEsolutely
Learn more about properties we launched as brands:
Click on the logo to see more info and case studies
No4
High pricing
Problem: Your rates do not reflect the quality of your marketing, service and amenities.
Before setting rates, it is important to analyze the market and understand that guests are not naive. They will compare your villa/hotel to others before deciding unless you have a trendy brand that speaks for itself (see No 2 and No 3).
Another issue with high pricing could be due to a lack of communication about your offerings. It is possible that your rates accurately reflect what you offer, but that potential guests are not aware of the value you provide (See No2)
Solution: Get a professional agency to do market research (like FAMEsolutely), find your main competitors, and create the best offer for your potential guests. Or use the power of Social Media, to make guests know your brand and dream about staying at your Luxury Property.
Learn more about it:
No5
The use of free services, like Canva for designs, and a Phone instead of the services of a professional photographer
Problem: While Canva can produce visually appealing designs, it cannot be used for the Premium or Luxury Segments. The same goes for photos, even if you have the last well-advertised iPhone model, you still need to hire a professional photographer.
Something done for the luxury segment, cannot be done on a free app downloaded by thousands of people with no design background. You can’t be considered Luxury if you use the same design or photo quality as the Backery and the cheap Barbershop down the street. People are visual creatures, they understand much more by association.
If you position your property in the luxury or premium segment, then you should have professionally done and unique graphic designs and high-quality photos.
Solution: Hire a professional designer with experience working with the luxury segment, professional software like Adobe, and a professional Photographer. Or work with an agency like FAMEsolutely to outsource this prosses.
Learn more about it:
Summary
The top five reasons why you may not be getting enough luxury villa bookings, include working with a managing company that doesn’t prioritize your property, poor online presence, limited marketing efforts, high pricing, and using free design services.
We have solutions to each of these issues, such as creating a brand and managing the property independently, investing in professional social media and marketing, and hiring a professional designer for unique and high-quality branding.
At FAMEsolutely we offer the full cycle of marketing services for Luxury Villas, contact us today! Let’s talk about how we can make your Property Absolutely Famous!