Any modern website uses a CMS (content management system), which helps the owner to build a user-friendly, intuitive site with ease.
Whether you’re building an e-commerce, portfolio, or online booking system, WordPress is almost certainly going to a CMS that web designers are going to be contemplating. In the vacation rental marketplace WordPress is has become one of the most popular CMSs on the market, but are there better options?
WordPress is popular because of its open source, which means it’s free pretty much free and is designed to make webmaster tasks easier for site owners.
It is also the world’s most popular CMS with a reported market share of 59.9% according to Websiteseup’s most popular CMS report. The company gathered data from sites such as builtwith.com, W3tech.com, SimilarTech, and Google Trends in which they estimate that 26,701,222 websites are using WordPress.
The problem with many WordPress sites in this industry is webmasters find it hard to build a WordPress site with all the functionalities needed to run a successful vacation rental business.
However, one of the benefits of WordPress’s CMS is that it makes it incredibly easy to install WordPress vacation rental plugins that enhance the functionality of the website. All these plugins work with vacation orientated WordPress themes
WordPress Plugins
The popularity of WordPress means that there are countless plugins (also known as add-ons) available to help those running a vacation rental website more easily manage their website. Although, it does have to be said that having a lot of plugins isn’t always ideal and has caused some issues for vacation website owners.
WordPress property management plugins are the best way to add extra functions and features to your vacation rental. This is one of the most important plugins because you will need to separate your property information, photos, and other details.
Other plugs in can be used to make the website it more visually engaging, informative, unique, and so on. For vacation rental websites, Plugins are a must if you want your website to stand out among competitors and get more bookings.
However, the downside of plugins is that they do not come without issues at times. Although plugs in are in general very stable on a WordPress CMS, plugins can suddenly break down. Developers don’t update them, so they can become incompatible after a WordPress theme update. Rectifying such issues can become costly as the website suffers lengthy downtimes and you need to pay your web designer to fix the issue.
Some plugins do have the added advantage of coming with their own customer support, so if you have any problems you can easily get help from their dedicated team. Plus, there also the option of a maintenance contract with your web developer.
As for the plug-ins themselves, you can add social media widgets, improve SEO, incorporate visual or audio media, add booking engines and payment systems, and synchronize multiple property calendars with other websites to avoid double bookings. Some programs will require plugins to function correctly, such as embedded media players like Flash or PDF readers like Adobe Acrobat – for those that really want to make their vacation rental website more interactive.
When weighing up the negatives versus the positives of WordPress plugins, plugins can add the functionalities you need to make a successful vacation website. WordPress property management plugins are a must have plug giving you the ability to manage all your properties.
Despite this, be aware that on the rare occasion there are plugins that can become tricky or disruptive if they are not updated by the developer and therefore can become incompatible, which costs time and money.
A Decent Collection of Templates and Themes
WordPress offers a broad selection of vacation rental WordPress themes, available in both free and premium versions.
Users can choose their themes and customize as much or as little as they want in order to create a website like no other. Each theme helps with content management as it includes the coding you need to easily manoeuvre around the site.
You don’t need to know anything about coding to be able to build a slick and professional website for managing your property. For a site to operate properly, you need to have HTML, PHP and CSS in place: WordPress does this for you. Bored with the theme of your site? With WordPress, it’s quick and easy to choose a new one without having to do any coding.
Booking Engine Available on Mobile Devices
WordPress offers responsive templates that are fully operable on mobile. This means that customers can browse and make reservations from their mobile, tablet, PC or Mac. These days, more and more people are choosing to use their Smartphone to book accommodation, so it’s important to choose a platform that has a responsive booking system.
WordPress makes it super easy for your guests to book. By using a social media widget that works with WordPress, customers are directed straight to your reservation system, making it quick and simple for them to book and pay.
Calendar Booking System
Keeping track of your bookings is essential to keep your business running smoothly. Choosing a booking system provided by WordPress helps you to create a calendar for organizing all your info in one place.
With all these features and benefits, it’s clear that WordPress is a cost-effective and flexible CMS and an excellent choice of software for managing reservations. Start using WordPress and watch the bookings come flooding in today.
Are WordPress Sites the Best Option for Vacation Rentals?
Now that you know you can use WordPress as a vacation rental booking engine it is time to look at whether or not it is worth using WordPress or to start looking for an alternative for those looking to start a vacation rental website.
If you are going to use a WordPress theme and someone says to you that they will give you a theme that takes no maintenance and you will have no troubles, then that person is a charlatan. WordPress sites do require some maintenance such as updating plug-ins and fixing bugs.
One of the most common bugs is when a developer does not update plugins. Faulty plugins often need replacing; a process that disrupts your website’s day-to-day tasks and interaction with visitors. It can also be expensive to hire a web developer to fix plugin issues if you are not a WordPress expert.
That is not to say you should avoid WordPress because of the fear of faulty plugin. As long as you use a reputable WordPress vacation rental plugin with a company that you can be confident will update their plugins and offer support, then WordPress can make an ideal CMS for vacation rental property owners.
Vacation rental WordPress themes are available all over the World Wide Web; however, you should take your time when choosing your theme. Firstly, make sure the theme you choose is responsive. Secondly, check to see if the developer provides stats from Google Page Speed Insights. This free tool gives web developers a good indicator as to how well the website is optimized for desktop and mobile performance.