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The Ultimate Playbook to Capturing the Drive Market
BY JA NINE Y U The Marketer
Brynn Flaherty is the Director of Marketing Services at Bluetent, a digital
What does it take to marketing firm for vacation rental professionals. “Markets that were already
convince travelers to get on a drive-to destination definitely fared better when the pandemic first
started,” said Flaherty. “But we did notice that travelers were more willing
the road and drive to your than before to expand the distance they were willing to drive for a vacation.”
property during a pandemic?
We spoke with a digital marketing expert for vacation
rentals; a Vermont hotelier; and an avid road tripper,
for insights on how to capture the drive market.
The Hotelier
John Graham is the Managing Partner of Twin Farms, a luxury resort and
spa in Vermont whose guests mainly drive from New York, New Jersey,
and Boston. “Many of our guests we have known for years,” said Graham,
“and many tell us this is the first time they have been out in many months.”
The Guest
From their base in New York City, Robin Bunevich and her husband have driven
up the Northeast coast multiple times in the last ten months — on two different
trips to Maine, plus stays in Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Vermont. “When the
pandemic began,” said Bunevich, “we decided air travel was not the safest, so
we stuck to places within driving distance where we could do outdoor activities.”
NAVIS Revenge Travel on The Rise 2 3
The Playbook
Tap into your database
Promote bookings with long leadtimes
Now more than ever is the time to lean into
your database of past, repeat, and prospective “With the ability to work from anywhere and not needing
guests. Fuel Travel found that 75% of North to book flights, we booked more last-minute than
American leisure travelers are open to receiving usual,” Bunevich said of their multiple road trips. “Some
communications from hotels — even if they trips were ad hoc, with just a week or two of planning.”
aren’t able to travel yet.
While this was true for many travelers in 2020, Flaherty
Twin Farms harnesses their guests’ loyalty, said that booking behavior is shifting. “For the majority
which makes for repeat bookings. “Our guests of 2020, booking windows were much closer to arrival
trust that we take their wellbeing, as well as date,” she said. “Now, because the demand for vacation
the wellbeing of our team and community very rentals is so high, people are booking further out so that
seriously,” said Graham. they can secure their desired home and time period.”
By leveraging your CRM data, you can create Additionally, places are getting booked out for longer
dedicated campaigns for specific email stretches. According to Flaherty: ”Offseason is almost
broadcasts, digital advertising, and social no longer a concept. We’ve seen a sharp increase in the
media targeting. “We ended up doing a lot of average number of nights booked. Because of flexibility
geo-targeting and segmenting based on location with remote work and school, guests are staying longer
in 2020 so that we were more likely to capture in vacation rentals than they normally would.”
those within driving distance,” said Flaherty.
Dream Now, Drive Later
Segment, Personalize, Automate We all know what’s it like to almost pull the trigger on
According to SmarterHQ, 72% of customers say they a purchase. Make sure you don’t lose these leads by
only engage with personalized messaging. What if using NAVIS Shopping Cart Abandonment, which
you could both personalize and automate emails? allows you to capture valuable contact information that
a prospective guest fills out before changing their mind.
With NAVIS Marketing Suite, you can easily
Since you’re appealing to a drive market, personalized
segment your audience to guests within a
communications on upcoming events or sights to see
certain driving radius. Additionally, you can tailor
on the way to your property may just be the information
emails for personalized messaging on packages
they need to reconsider that booking.
and promotions that may appeal to specific
guests, as well as automate important emails
for everyone, such as announcements on safety
and cleaning protocols.
NAVIS The Ultimate Playbook to Capturing the Drive Market 4 5
Highlight privacy and an abundance of amenities
Understanding their guests value privacy and safety most of all, Twin Farms’ approach was to lower guest
and staff density by expanding stay minimums and promoting their cottages. “We offer 300 plus acres with
Curate Driving Itineraries
a maximum of 20 rooms,” said Graham. “We focus as always on our service, the culinary and wine offerings,
our activities, and of course our setting.” “It’s important to have website content
that supports drive-to guests,” said
For properties with less acreage, vacation rentals are winning over hotels purely based on privacy. Bunevich
Flaherty, “like offering detailed driving
said that pre-pandemic, they would also consider hotels, especially if they could book using credit card
instructions, places to stop along the
points. Since the pandemic began, they have only stayed in rental homes, which they perceived to be safer.
way, as well as what to bring so that
“The pandemic absolutely put vacation rentals in the spotlight as a safer way to travel,” said Flaherty. local grocery stores and markets don’t
“Guests are also looking for different amenities in their properties, so we are working with clients to get overwhelmed.”
showcase wifi and fully-stocked kitchens, as well as homes with unique amenities like movie theaters,
Bunevich relied a lot on her rental hosts
private pools, and other ways to stay occupied without going out and about.”
to provide suggestions on what to do
and see on the way to the property and
once they were there. “They were really
helpful,” she said, “especially in figuring
out things like less busy times to visit
parks for hiking, biking, or swimming.”
Target your Drive Market
Down to The Zip Code
Hot Topics for the Drive-Market: With NAVIS Reservations Suite you
» Packages and specials can intelligently target your drive market
- right down to the zip code. Create
» Onsite amenities
targeted send lists for reservation sales
» Outdoor activities nearby outbounding or personalized email
communications to increase conversion
» Covid-19 safety protocols for guests and staff
and harness this demand.
» Local Covid-19 case counts
NAVIS The Ultimate Playbook to Capturing the Drive Market 6 7
Provide relevant updates to entice travel
“We have found that it’s important to provide vacation
planning info that’s relevant to what’s going on currently,”
said Flaherty, who recommends offering content on the
best takeout dining options, socially distanced activities,
and restaurants with good outdoor patios.
For Twin Farms, reminding guests that they have six
downhill trails, cross-country trails and an ice pond all on
the property is enough to draw winter revelers. Graham
makes the case: “Vermont has low positive case counts in
a small population, and Twin Farms offers lots of space.”
For ski resorts, snow webcams and weather reports can
draw last-minute skiers looking for fresh powder, especially With the right strategies, it’s
if within driving distance. For beach destinations, photos possible to bounce back strong
of sunsets on the beach and warm weather reports could from a year where most travel
do the trick in getting guests to hit the road. establishments bore the brunt of
a pandemic.
“Many of our clients are
already well ahead of booking
pace for 2021,” said Flaherty,
5 Marketing Ideas to Lure in the Drive Market “and they are finding that
demand is so high that they
» Create a custom map with current information on what’s
are able to increase rates and
open and safe to visit
still sell out weeks.”
» Create virtual content like an interactive quiz on the
Above all, speak to guests’
destination
concerns when working to capture
» Send a seasonal packing list to build excitement the drive market. “Guests want to
» Offer safe events like retreats for small groups or families know that it’s going to be all right,”
said Graham. “They want, as they
» Partner with various experts to temporarily transform
always have, the opportunity to
the property into an experience destination
put it down for a bit.”
NAVIS The Ultimate Playbook to Capturing the Drive Market 8 9
One Platform. One Team. More Profit. A Complete Hospitality CRM With A Proven Platform. For hospitality professionals, getting and keeping profitable guests is tougher than ever. NAVIS has created the only complete Hospitality CRM with a proven plan to help Reservations, Revenue Management, and Marketing truly operate as one team, and make more profit. 1 866-712-3439 naviscrm.com
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