The short term rental market is hot right now. And competitive. The sheer number of options on the market can be intimidating for property owners and managers, and overwhelming for would-be guests! From apps with minimal details to not knowing how to search for the perfect spot, finding a short-term rental is often one of the most stressful parts of planning a trip.
As digital entrepreneurs, we’ve done some traveling over the years, and we’ve had our fair share of short-term rental-related headaches. Sometimes, you really need a great short-term rental website that showcases those hidden gems capable of taking a vacation from mid to amazing! That’s why we set out to make it easier for property owners and managers to showcase their vacation rental properties and maximize bookings.
Slam Media Lab is a Webflow Expert Agency Partner, and we’ve seen first-hand the importance of a beautifully-designed website that performs well and drives conversions.
And thanks to our 10+ years of experience creating digital products for businesses of all sizes, we understand that not everyone has the time to build a website from the ground up.
We work primarily with Webflow because it’s a cloud-based web design and development platform that lets you create visually stunning websites without advanced tech skills. We love its user-friendly interface featuring highly customizable and responsive pages that give a professional impression without all that hard-to-learn code.
Fortunately, it’s 2024, and you don’t need complicated platforms or coding knowledge to build a short-term vacation rental website that slams. All you need is a short term rental template, fully optimized for searchability, and designed by the best in the business.
In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits and must-have features of a short term rental website for property owners and managers looking to connect with potential guests and keep their calendars fully booked. We’ll also introduce our new short term rental template and connect you with some great Slam tools and resources that will help your business thrive.
Why You Need a Short Term Rental Website
The short-term vacation rental market is booming. As the travel industry recovers from the global pandemic, people's preferences have shifted from large hotel complexes to smaller, more personalized accommodations.
Thanks to the popularity of online booking platforms for short-term rentals, travelers can access tons of unique lodging options, from cozy apartments in the city center to secluded cottages in the peaceful wilderness.
The short-term rental market is great for property owners, too. These days, you don't need to become a hot-shot hotelier to make it in the tourism industry! Now, you can turn your condo unit, family home, or even your boat into a source of reliable income.
The epic prospects in the short-term rental market haven't been lost on entrepreneurs who've quickly taken advantage of the opportunity to earn some extra income by renting out their properties. The increased competition and innovation are ultimately great for travelers–but if you're hoping to see decent returns on your property investment, you'll need a solid marketing plan. That's why a short term rental website is critical for success, even if you're already advertising on platforms like Airbnb.
So, why do you need a short-term rental website if you're already advertising on booking platforms? In our experience, a website is essential for property owners and managers because it acts as a centralized hub for your property alone. It's a place where potential future guests can find up-to-date photos and information about:
- Amenities
- Pricing
- Availability
- Booking procedures
Better yet, returning guests can use your website as a reference point for future visits without needing to rely on an external platform.
Another benefit of a short-term rental website is that it lends your vacation rental business credibility. Trust and transparency are critical for today's travelers when choosing accommodations–especially when booking outside the traditional tourism industry!
Reading this article, you may think, "I don't have time to build a website!" We get it. If you wanted to spend your days building websites, you'd probably be working in tech–not tourism. The short-term rental market is booming, but that doesn't mean it's easy money. Property owners and managers manage several moving parts and logistics, leaving little time for complex digital marketing and branding projects.
That's where Slam comes in. With our short term rental template, you’ll experience all the benefits of a custom website without overwhelming your calendar and cognitive bandwidth.
Benefits of Using a Short Term Rental Website Template
Short-term rental website templates are great for property owners and managers because they provide a quick and cost-effective way to establish your online presence–no coding required!
We designed our template to be as user-friendly as possible. Our goal is for you to establish your Internet presence quickly and get back to working on your amazing property.
In this section, we’ll break down some of the many benefits of using a short-term rental website template to reach more potential clients and keep your calendar reliably booked.
Pre-Made Pages
Here are five advantages to using pre-made pages for your short term rental website:
- Save time and effort with ready-to-use designs and content layouts.
- No extensive coding or design experience is needed.
- Your website will be easy and intuitive to navigate.
- You can customize pages to suit your brand, property type, or specific needs.
- Pre-made pages are more affordable than building a website from scratch.
Time is money, right? Our short term rental template saves you time and money thanks to its pre-made pages, crafted by our award-winning designers.
Buy Slam’s Short-Term Rental Website Template for $79 – Limited Offer
Professional Branding
As experts in digital marketing, we know professional branding is critical for business success in the 21st century. There's a lot of competition out there, and clients look to your brand image for signs of credibility. By crafting a visually attractive and consistent brand image, your rental will appeal more to potential guests and stand out as memorable for repeat customers.
Professional branding is also a fantastic way to showcase your property's unique vibes through art and design. For example, a fresh tropical brand image is great for connecting with prospective guests if your property is designed with beachgoers in mind. We recommend having fun with your branding–that's what tourism and travel are all about!
Time and Cost-Effectiveness
One of the best things about using a short-term rental website template is all the time and money you'll save. A ready-made platform significantly reduces the time and financial investment needed to get your vacation rental property on the Web and in front of travelers' eyes. No need to learn HTML, CSS, or graphic design. Just grab a coffee or beverage, find a nice spot to work, and spend a few hours setting up your site!
Our short term rental template provides everything you need to showcase your property and manage short term rental direct bookings without technical expertise. In other words, we make it easy for you to maximize your returns without too much stress. Which is kinda the reason you got into this market in the first place, right?
Responsive Design
Have you ever tried to load a webpage on your phone, only to be immediately turned off by the user experience? If so, you intuitively understand that a mobile-responsive website is often the difference between a website that converts and a waste of time.
According to research, most Internet users in the United States spend at least half their online time on mobile devices. Your short term rental website must be responsive if you want online visitors to convert to rental property customers–no exceptions. Responsive design ensures your website will look amazing on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers alike. It also improves your chances of ranking on Google since search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites. In other words, it's a must-have no-brainer.
Built to Scale
The short-term vacation rental market is dynamic and diverse. From single condo units and rooms in family homes to extensive property portfolios, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the industry.
If you're just starting out with your website, you'll need something scalable to accommodate future growth and expansion. It doesn't make a lot of sense to re-do your entire web presence down the line when you increase your number of property listings!
That's why we built our short-term rental website template to accommodate long-term flexibility and adaptability.
Prioritized SEO and Conversion
If we say the word 'competitive' a lot, it's because we know all about the Internet. Sure, digital marketing opens up a world of possibilities for reaching new audiences. But you won't get very far if you can't compete with everyone else. That's where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) shows up and saves the day. Effective SEO helps your short-term rental website through:
- Improved searchability
- Enhanced visibility
- Increased organic traffic
Once a prospective client finds your site, you need to turn them into an actual, real-life guest. Conversion optimization accomplishes this by focusing on:
- A streamlined user experience
- Simple booking processes
- Persuasive content
Combining well-planned SEO with expert conversion strategies will ensure a steady stream of quality traffic and increase the likelihood of turning visitors into paying clients.
Full Customization Control
While online booking platforms are great for streamlining reservation processes, they give you limited control over your brand image and identity. That's why customization control is essential for a next-level short-term rental website template.
We know from experience that business owners don't have to choose between easy-to-use or highly customizable. Thanks to fully integrated customization tools, our template lets you incorporate specific themes, colors, and branding elements into your short-term rental website. Your Internet home should be as unique and beautiful as your rental properties, and we do the heavy lifting so you can make it happen.
Features of a Great Short Term Rental Website Template
When Slam decided to design a short term rental website template, we knew it needed to be an invaluable resource that delivers big results in a simple format. So, we spent hours analyzing the needs of short-term rental property owners and managers.
These are the five must-have features we identified based on our research and experience:
- Easy to edit
- ADA compliance
- Built-in SEO
- Video tutorials
- Email support
In this section, we’ll take a closer look at each of these features and discuss why you need them for your short term rental website.
And remember: if you need features not listed here, you can contact us to make it happen. We offer a free 30-min website consultation to prospective clients interested in learning more about our award-winning services.
Easy to Edit
As every entrepreneur knows, businesses are dynamic. Circumstances change, market trends evolve, and prices shift constantly to keep up with the economy. While it's a good idea to develop as much evergreen content as possible, sooner or later you'll need to edit your short term rental website. Otherwise, how will you keep it current and engaging for potential guests?
An easy-to-edit short-term rental template streamlines the process of updating property listings, adding new content, or creating seasonal pricing menus. Quick edits also help you respond to changing market conditions or update your client base about new property features, ultimately making you more competitive.
ADA Compliance
If you're planning a website, then you need to think about ADA compliance. The Americans with Disabilities Act protects people with disabilities, ensuring online and offline accessibility in multiple areas of public life. All businesses open to the public must comply with ADA guidelines, making it a critical consideration for your short-term rental website.
Fortunately, we thought about things like ALT text, readable fonts, and accessibility-focused navigation tools when designing our short term rental template. We're proud that our products make it easier for businesses to comply with their legal obligations while also making the world a more accessible place for everyone.
Built-In SEO
If you want your website to show up in Google search results, you need to optimize for searchability. Of course, figuring out the art of SEO is basically a full-time job! We should know–we made it ours.
SEO tools integrated into your website template are a great way to simplify the process of improving search engine rankings, making it more likely that potential guests will discover your property.
Slam's integrated SEO will help you optimize your content, meta tags, and keywords for maximum reach. You'll be on your way to growing organic traffic in no time.
And, if you're wondering how to quantify the impact of your small business SEO, we've got you covered there, too. Our free SEO ROI calculator helps you measure SEO efforts and outcomes so you'll see how your efforts are paying off.
Video Tutorials
We've talked a lot about how a short-term rental template is supposed to make your life easier. But that doesn't necessarily mean you can just start using the template without any guidance or orientation! That's why one of the most important features of a short-term rental template is guidance on how to use it.
At Slam, we do our best to design streamlined, easy-to-use templates super-charged with comprehensive tutorial videos. So, we've got your back when you need a little extra help getting started.
Email Support
We worked hard to build a simple, straightforward short-term rental template for property owners and managers to use without coding knowledge or stress headaches. Of course, even the most easy-to-use template in the world doesn't totally eliminate the need for some professional help once in a while.
Maybe you need help figuring out how to use the SEO tools, or you want to triple-check your ADA compliance. That's where our top-notch, client-focused email support comes into play. When you use our short term rental website template, you also get access to fast and helpful email support–provided by people, not bots!
Tips & Tools for Your Short Term Rental Website
Imagine this: your website is almost ready to launch. The branding is immaculate, and the content is on point. You're ready to connect your domain and go live, but how do you know for sure that everything is as perfect as possible?
That’s where collaboration with marketing and branding experts comes into play.
We’ve put together tons of great digital products and resources for our clients over the years. In this section, we’ll discuss two free Slam-designed tools to take advantage of for your short term rental website.
Website Launch Checklist
Before launching your short-term rental website, we recommend working through a website launch checklist to ensure everything is error-free and working seamlessly.
Here are three benefits of using a website launch checklist:
- Minimize the risk of critical oversights
- Identify compatibility issues with different browsers
- Ensure your website meets high standards
We've built and redesigned countless websites for clients over the years, so we know what to evaluate when preparing a site for launch. Our website launch checklist is an invaluable resource. Feel free to use it as-is or adapt it to your workflow.
Buy Slam’s Short-Term Rental Website Template for $79 – Limited Offer
Website Audit
If you need additional support or want a professional opinion on your short-term rental website, you can also take advantage of Slam’s free audit.
An audit involves taking a close look at the following four aspects of your website:
- Performance
- Content
- User experience
- Technical aspects
We'll identify any issues and bottlenecks hindering your site's ability to drive traffic and conversions. We'll also take a look at SEO health and pinpoint opportunities for improved visibility. With our website audit service, you’ll walk away with actionable advice to slam your marketing and branding goals.
Let's Slam Your Short Term Rental Website
While our short term rental template is a fantastic option for property owners and managers looking to simplify the website creation process, we recognize that some businesses need high-level collaboration and a professional touch.
Buy Slam’s Short-Term Rental Website Template for $79 – Limited Offer
As a leading web design agency with 10+ years of experience, partnering with mission-driven entrepreneurs is one of our favorite parts of the job. Whether you're just getting started with your website design or your existing website urgently needs a makeover, we're here to help you slam your marketing and branding goals.
Here are a few of the award-winning services we offer:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Webflow Design and Development
- Content Writing and Strategy
- Brand Strategy and Identity
Contact us today to set up a free website consultation. Let's work together to set your short term rental website up for success!