In recent years, the serviced accommodation business model has become popular which supports the concept of scaling. With increasingly more travelers going on the short term rentals for leisure, work, or relocation, there is great scope for growth for property managers and owners. However, taking a serviced accommodation business to new heights requires a lot more than just increasing the number of properties in the portfolio. To develop a qualitatively growing business, you will require strategic planning and organized processes as well as solid market insight.
Now, if this is what you have been waiting for, let me share with you some of the essential tips that will ease you through how to go about scaling your serviced accommodation business.
Tips for Scaling Your Serviced Accommodation Business
- Use Automated Solutions to Optimize Processes
The very first target for every accommodation business that wants to grow bigger is improving the current system’s efficiency. When a business expands it gets harder and harder to keep track of the bookings made, the guests that need to be communicated with, the cleaning routines, and the necessary maintenance.
Nevertheless, specific automation tools offer a practical fix for the concerns within the hospitality space. You may appreciate the significance of property management systems (PMS), channel managers, and dynamic pricing solutions in making your operations seamless as you grow the business.
The advantages associated with automating tasks in the serviced accommodation sector in comparison to its manual handling are felt more when the scale of the business increases.
- Build a Strong Team
No business can scale without a reliable team. You may have moved in the rental or serviced accommodation sector as an individual property manager, but, this activity is difficult if not impossible as far as the growth of this accommodation business is concerned.
Once you decide to grow your serviced accommodation business, always look for the right people, if there are none to recruit in-house and some activities have to be outsourced. Make sure that you have the appropriate attraction to allow the apartment to ravage, from cleaning to house managing, so that you concentrate on expanding your portfolio and enhancing the experience of the guest.
3. Invest in Marketing to Drive Direct Bookings
In the effort to build serviced accommodation businesses, you will appreciate that marketing is key to expanding the business brand. This is not to mention that depending upon sites and applications like Airbnb and Booking.com is very convenient but may cut down your reach considering new customers come at a cost of commission fees. Instead, put your efforts towards enhancing your direct booking channels such as a properly navigated website, SEO, and social media growth.
Proper marketing doesn’t just assist in growing your serviced accommodation business, it also gives ways to the customers throughout the year making sure that off season days are less lonely. Chase old customers and potential new ones, including, but not limited to, outstanding guest service, membership benefits with rewards or points, and new member sign up specials/discounts for direct bookings.
4. Streamline Your Property Portfolio
When in the contemplation of growing your serviced accommodation, it does not follow that more properties will lead to better success. It’s simply this understanding that the property portfolio has to be properly aligned by choosing suitable properties within good locations. Study the market needs and tourism patterns at the place and the customers you will be targeting before you go purchasing new properties.
When scaling more properties in serviced accommodation, new ones must be in line with the current business investments, that are valuable and cater to the right kind of guests. Try to go for the property that has a high ROI and strive to keep it occupied all through to avoid making losses.
5. Guest Service Matters
One of the major areas when considering the growth of a serviced accommodation business is the continuity of the brand in all the locations on offer. As the business develops and expands, it shall be vital that the quality of services that sets the business apart from the competition is maintained. Satisfied guests will always make use of the property and will also leave positive comments as well as play an active role in providing you with new business by referring your properties.
With customer satisfaction being the primary goal of scaling up the serviced apartment business, it comes as no surprise that in the expansion of the serviced accommodation, this shall be the focus. Writing SOPs for the team, describing expectations for guests, and using different styles of high-end furniture, electronics, and amenities will create a much more pleasant stay for the guests throughout the properties.
6. Keeping Financial and Cash Management
Effective money management is a fundamental aspect of the growth of your serviced accommodation business. With more properties comes additional expenditures such as furnishing, marketing, maintenance, and employee costs. This means you have to observe cash inflow and outflow to make sure you can pay for these expenses and remain profitable.
Also, as you scale, think about factors that will help you purchase or rent properties. Tapping into loans, investor partnerships, or newly driven strategies, a class act will help you avert and meet the scaling challenges in a serviced accommodation business.
7. Create a Network and Partnerships
Development of partnerships in the industry remains yet another key towards the growth of your serviced accommodation business. Doing some networking with other property owners, real estate agents, and fellow businesses can help lead to collaboration and referrals. These networking relations will assist in getting new properties, sharing information, best practices, and promotion.
Become a member of professional organizations, go to property management events, and meet local suppliers. This network will be very useful as you search for more avenues of growing serviced accommodation businesses while outdoing your competitors.
8. Keep Up with Industry Trends and Regulations
The hospitality and real estate markets do not remain stagnant. While you are devising strategies for growing your serviced accommodation business you should follow the dynamics of the industry like trends, new technology, and new regulations. Countries are consistently changing the caps of short-term rental laws, and it is crucial to follow them in order not to get into any trouble.
Understanding what you are getting into will enable you to seek and even recommend solutions that are both legal and yet capture the market trends and dynamics as appropriate. Safeguarding the smart serviced accommodation decision making processes will also ensure risks are kept at bay and even bring about the business for the long term.
9. Give Importance To Sustainability and Flexibility
In the lodging sector, acquiring sustainability is becoming more and more significant on a global scale. For example, in the case of making an effort to grow your serviced accommodation business, implement such environmentally friendly measures as using energy-saving devices such as appliances, waste minimization measures, and usage of eco-friendly cleaning agents. Such actions do not only win guests who are environmentally friendly but also cut down operational costs.
On service accommodation business expansion sweeping flexibility level comes at hand. Adjust to different children folds business regularly, family type, and digital nomad type. The ability to offer flexible booking and unique experiences to guests also expands the number of those interested.
10. Measure and Analyze Performance
Last, but not the least, always include performance evaluation whenever scaling your serviced accommodation business. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as occupancy rates, revenue per available room (RevPAR), and overall guest satisfaction can be tracked using data analytics tools. If such metrics are analyzed, one can make better decisions and even improve on their growth plans.
Assessing the performance of your properties on a regular basis will allow you to spot whether anything could be improved upon, be it the price, the marketing of the property, or the level of service. There is a need for understanding data even more so if you are considering expanding the scope of serviced accommodation business.
Conclusion
Scaling a serviced accommodation business is fun However, it has its challenges, like any other business. Your business can expand without disregarding its good quality services through good management of operations, proper team building, and active marketing and client satisfaction. Watch your allocated budget, create contacts within the industry, and be aware of changes within the field and its regulations to maintain the attention of your consumers.
The keys to prolonged development of the serviced accommodation business along the external vector are strategic planning, consistency, and availing oneself of changes.
