Doing It For The Kids!

How much do children influence holiday destination choices?

Children are persuasive. They know how to get what they want and they are frequently unwilling to compromise. Anyone booking for a family will know the struggle of finding a destination and accommodation that suits everyone. This means that, more often than not, it’s the kids that have the loudest say when it comes to deciding where to stay. 87% of parents say they give their children a choice in the final booking and up to a third give them the ultimate choice. Making your website appeal to what children want from a holiday is an important part of securing family bookings.

Persuading a 7-year-old of the quiet majesty of Italian museums or getting to grips with the subtle flavors of a Napa valley Pinot Noir is a battle you’re unlikely to win. However, this doesn’t have to resign you to years of summer holidays posing for photos with a work experience kid dressed as a cartoon mouse. Vacation rentals offer enough to captivate both sides of the family. How you reach adults and kids at the same time is dependent on your presentation and your website. It’s a case of understanding when to aim your website towards the parents or the kids.

So, how do you pique the interest of the children whilst still making your properties appealing to the ultimate decision makers, the parents? How do you present your property as somewhere that is perfect for the whole family?

Your website needs to recognise that each visit is a journey and different considerations motivate decisions at different stages. Consider the primary research. This is not going to be done by the children of the family. It’s going to be practical, fact centered. Location, price, the number of bedrooms. These are boxes that need to be ticked before visitors will move on through their booking. You can’t let your child become instantly infatuated with a holiday and then realise it’s not got enough bedrooms for everyone or is 460 miles from the nearest airport. This information needs to be on one of the first pages a researcher will click on. The quicker you can display the key information and then lead the visitor’s eye to something more exciting and less pragmatic the better. You remove a barrier to booking and the guest moves on in their journey through your business.

Towards the end of the booking journey is where this changes. This is where other people are consulted when the kids are brought in to give their stamp of approval. The practicalities are all taken care of by now. This is where impulse and emotional decisions tend to take over. Something unique, slightly unexpected here can be enough to make kids set their hearts on renting your property. As you’ve shown that you also offer everything that the parents need for a relaxing holiday this is where you can differentiate your business from the others and make sure you are the number one choice for parents and kids alike.

A separate page or tab dedicated to activities and things of interest for kids. You give them the idea that they are in control and are picking the destination, when in reality, the major considerations have already be factored in. This is the place to show off the smaller features of your property, little extras that can make the difference between two or three similar sounding properties. You’re catering for shorter attention spans at the point, so bright, lively images are a good option. Your job now is to show the kids that this property is not just another boring house in the middle of nowhere. These can be as simple as having toys and games, bikes or other outdoor entertainment featured in your pictures. These are never going to be the deciding factor for adult guests but allowing the younger family members to start imagining themselves having fun on their trip will be a big help in getting a consensus from the whole family.

A custom website is the perfect way to set your business apart and build pages that speak to, and really connect with your customers. Talk to us today about your options for a fully custom designed website.

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