Every section of your vacation home/ homestay listing has its own benefits and should be given equal importance. These sections have been added taking into consideration an average traveler’s behavior – the information he ideally look for in a particular listing. For instance if we look at TripVillas’ property listing page we will see that apart from the six components – the images, property description, amenities, availability calendar, map and reviews – which ideally catch the eye of the traveler, there are other sections which the owner needs to work upon so that the traveler gets a complete overview of the property.

One such section is the “Things To Do” in the location, which can actually influence the decision of a traveler to book your property.

Why this section is important? Here are the reasons:

First of all the traveler in most cases will not be familiar with the location where your property is situated. So this will give him an overview of location. It goes without saying that more information you provide, better are you chances of attracting the traveler and subsequently compelling him to book your home.

Second, because you will not be disclosing you exact property address till the traveler has made his payment, giving him some vital hints like ‘beach nearby’ or ‘scuba-diving’ will give him a fair idea of the locality and what he can expect.

Third, you can easily recommend certain things to do when travelers stay in your holiday home/ homestay. This is a very good way to tell the traveler what he can do when he is there. Ideally guests would love to go out and explore the places nearby, so mentioning them in the ‘Things To Do’ section will actually increase the chances of travelers booking your property, because they know what they can do there.

Fourth, you can help travelers to come prepared. For instance, if there are angling or rafting opportunities in the locality, and you add these in your list of things to do, the traveler can come prepared with the gear and equipment and you will not have to hear from them that “I wish you had told me earlier, I could have brought my angling line!”

Fifth, because when you add things to do near your locality you would also be adding more keywords to your property listing page, which eventually would mean that you will be ranked higher in the search results too.

Sixth, it also gives a good impression of you and the way how you run your vacation rental business. Recommending what to do gives the traveler a feeling that you know the area inside-out, thus enabling him to decide on booking the property based on these recommendations. No traveler would like to see blank fields on the property listing page!

However despite these advantages an owner can have, many do not actually give importance to this section. While many do, they are not doing it the right way. For instance if you look at the image below you will notice that many have added their amenities and meal plans here, which actually is wrong.

The section is to give the traveler some recommendations on what he can do at the locality and not about repeating what you are offering.

ADDING THINGS TO DO AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF WHAT TO DO IN YOUR LOCALITY:

For new property registration, on Step 2 when you are adding the details of your property, just below the area where you had added the description of your property is a section ‘Mention any tourist attractions close to your property’ (see area marked with the arrow on the image below). Here add the major tourist spots that guests can go to. Adding these give them a fair idea of where the property is located.

Now as you go down, you will see a list of ‘Activities’ which you can select. Select them according to what is available in your surrounding area.

Once you are done you can hit the ‘Save and Proceed’ button and go to the next step of the property listing process. You can also read the step-by-step property listing process by clicking here.