Parkmerced

The Challenge

Parkmerced is a single-owner neighborhood of 3,300 rental units in San Francisco, built in the 1950s and 1960s. Overall occupancy was 74%, and hadn’t been above 78% in the previous three years.  Management planned to dedicate ten percent of the long-term lease apartments and townhomes (300 units) to short-term rental units, including 30 recently renovated ultra-premium townhomes with views of the Pacific Ocean, Lake Merced, and an 18-hole PGA Championship golf course. The core challenges were creating the new brands, launching demand generation campaigns, and ongoing management of all marketing activities.

Marketing Initiatives

* A new sub-brand was created for the short-term rental units, and a new brand identity was crafted for the ultra-premium ocean-view units, including logo, colors, fonts, and more

* A stand-alone guest booking website was built to manage the 300 units, with a second website dedicated to the premium units, and ongoing management was provided

* Engaging property descriptions were authored for websites, dozens of OTAs, and rental ILS channels, and posted with striking stock photography to convey the lifestyle and create emotional resonance with prospects

* Ongoing marketing research was conducted for pricing management and competitive analysis

* Integrated digital marketing campaigns were developed and deployed, including search engine marketing (SEM), Google Display Ads, responsive digital display and text ads, retargeting. Monthly budgets typically exceeded $15,000 / month

* Social media advertising was engaged on META and YouTube, LinkedIn, and more

* New social media pages were built for both sets of short-term rental property groups, and Vacaygency created all content and managed the pages

* Email campaigns for demand generation were initiated with rented double-opt-in lists

* Call center scripts, battlecards, talking points, and sales playbooks were created for the sales teams

Results

* In the first month, the new direct booking websites garnered over 6,000 visitors combined, with a 2.4% conversion rate

* Over the first year, property websites averaged 4,200 unique monthly visitors, with a conversion rate of 3.1%

* Average nightly occupancy reached 50% by the end of month three, and consistently ranged between 65% and 78% in the following months

* Short-term rentals contributed 14% to gross platform revenue in the first year, and 16% in the second year