Today we want to talk about why it is worth having a website for your holiday rental.
For a hotel, or for any other business, a website matters enormously — and an Alojamento Local (AL), Portugal's licensed short-term rental, is no different.
Beyond making the property look more credible, it makes it far easier for guests to find out about it. A website is one of the first places someone looks when they are considering a stay.
The good news is that building one is much simpler than you might think. There are plenty of platforms that will let you put together your own site, with modern features for search engine optimisation and a professional look, so you can attract guests without much difficulty.
A good website means the first impression is a positive one. Something easy to navigate, with strong colours and a current design, makes booking simpler and settles most of the questions a guest might have.
Not every holiday rental business bothers with a website, on the grounds that it is not necessary.
For us it is a genuinely important part of what we do, and it puts us ahead of our competitors. With an up-to-date site carrying everything a guest needs to know, we can take a booking in a matter of minutes.
There is another advantage: if the property a guest wanted is not free, they can pick another of ours on the same site, choosing the area and the dates that suit them.
A website matters for any owner who wants their property to be found beyond the platforms — Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO and the rest. It means you are not tied to platform bookings alone, and the bookings that come through your own site carry no platform fee.
