The concept of having limits on the number of properties we will list in any particular area is one I came up with fairly early on in the process of starting our listing websites.
The idea is pretty simple.
Basically we limit the number of property listings we accept in any one area.
We want our customers (holiday home owners) to have the best chance possible of getting their property seen by potential guests.
There are a few aspects that help with this but one of them is limiting the amount of onsite competition between properties listed in your area.
Why Regional Property Limits Are Good For You
Let's imagine you have a villa in a popular town such as Albufeira on the Algarve in Portugal.
If you advertise this on somewhere like AirBnb they currently list over 1,000 properties in Albufeira, that's a lot of competition for you to stand out against.
VRBO simply state that they have 300+ properties however if you keep scrolling down and then clicking on the next page I got to over 500 before the search area widened to encompass some other nearby towns.
Getting your property seen amongst that number of rival properties is going to be difficult, especially when you take into account the unfair ranking policies of some of these big listings sites.
By putting a hard limit on the number of properties we list in an area we are dramatically improving the chances of your home being seen and considered by potential guests.
Good For Potential Guests As Well?
I personally think this concept is also good for people looking for holiday rental properties.
You might at first think that more properties to browse through would be better however there is a phenomenon called 'Choice Overload'.
This happens when someone is presented with too many choices and ends up being overwhelmed, it often results in them abandoning the search altogether.
How many choices are too many? It's hard to say and I suspect it changes based on exactly what someone is looking for.
What I do think though is having to scroll through 1,000 properties all in the same town is too many.
How can you really consider 1,000 different options simultaneously?
I don't think you can so you end up skipping over a large percentage of them, which may be perfect for your needs, without even giving them a chance.
Having a smaller selection of genuinely good options will help focus the search down and lead to better and easier decisions which should result in more enquiries and bookings for you.
What Specifically Are The Limits?
For the bigger towns and resorts we are capping the number of properties at 250.
We think this is enough properties to give visitors a good selection to consider without overloading them and also gives home owners a great chance of being seen.
Remember, as soon as a web visitor starts applying filters such as the number of bedrooms, or other facilities the number of listings meeting their criteria will reduce even further.
Smaller towns or resorts will naturally end up with fewer properties than this which further increases your chances of attracting an enquiry or booking.
How Will This Be Enforced?
Once an area starts getting close to it's limit we will indicate this to all current advertisers in that area and also to anyone reading through our marketing before deciding to create a new property listing.
When that limit is hit we will remove the option to add a property listing to that area, anyone attempting to will be informed of the limit (and the reasons behind it) and will be given the opportunity to go on a 'wait list' for a space to become available.
Spaces will only become available if an existing home owner in that area decides not to renew their advert for some reason.