Travel Advisors Talk How to Be Successful Selling Villas

With group and multi-generational travel on the rise, one product that’s high in demand is villas – a lucrative niche for travel advisors to keep in mind when growing their business. 

Renting a villa is much more unpredictable than a standard hotel stay, so travelers often seek out a travel advisor when booking one. This makes villa travel a great opportunity for travel advisors who are looking to expand their range of expertise.  

There’s a lot to learn, but the payoff is worth it. As Caroline Goodrich, founder and travel advisor at Brine Travel Co., puts it: “there’s nothing better than placing someone in a property and knowing they’re going to be blown away by it.” 

We spoke with three travel advisors who sell villas about how they create a home away from home in paradise for their clients. From asking qualifying questions to delivering top-notch experiences, here’s what they had to say about how to sell villas.

Finding the Right Clients for Villas 

The obvious clientele for villas is large groups – multigenerational families, bachelor/bachelorette parties, corporate retreats, etc. – because it’s easier to book one property than to deal with multiple hotel room bookings. 

“I often joke that villas are perfect for families and friends who want to wake up together wearing their bunny slippers and sharing conversations,” said Andrea Malis, director of strategic partnerships at Chad Clark Travel Ventures. “In all seriousness, villas also afford ultimate flexibility, in terms of who we can invite up to the very last minute without having to worry about strict cancellation policies for extra rooms.” 

However, it’s important to remember that large groups are not the only villa candidates. These properties range vastly in size, from two-person to more than 50-person capacity – and the two-person villas exist for a reason.  

Villas can be great for couples, pairs of friends, or small groups, too, so long as they are seeking privacy, a common gathering space for them and their loved ones, and/or a certain level of luxury. 

“There is a connotation or association that in order to have a villa, I have to have this big group, and that’s just not the case,” said Jade Williams, chief experience officer of Travel with Gem LLC. “I have clients – two sisters – who are accustomed to suite-like accommodations so that they can have their private space. But oftentimes [in a hotel], that makes a price point jump. So, in their case, I’m looking at a villa, and the price point is significantly more affordable.” 

Williams would not have known that the sisters valued that private space – and therefore, thought of finding them a villa – if she hadn’t asked about their accommodation preferences.  

Even if a client doesn’t come to the advisor asking for a villa, there can be an opportunity to present it as an option in a proposal, Williams said, if you ask the right qualifying questions. These questions also determine whether a certain villa will be a good fit for a client. Some basic things to ask are:  

• Have you traveled together before?  

• Is everyone committed to the trip? 

• Have you stayed in a villa before? What did/didn’t you love?  

• What types of experiences are you envisioning for this vacation? Are you comfortable leaving the villa for activities or having them brought to you? 

• Do you want a more modern or historic structure? 

When seeking these types of clients, marketing can also be key. 

“Get clear on who you want to attract and then make sure everything you put out reflects that,” Goodrich said. “If you want luxury villa clients, your content and your marketing need to speak to that traveler. Show the properties, show the experience, show the level of service you provide and the right clients will find you.” 

Overall, villas are great for celebratory trips of friends and family who want to gather without the hassle of going back and forth from a hotel room. They are for clients who want their whole group under one roof with a private pool, a full kitchen, outdoor living space, and ultimate personalized service.

Travel Advisors Are the Front Desk

Villa travel allows advisors to have a more hands-on role in their client’s trip. Whereas at an all-inclusive resort or a hotel, many activity and amenity arrangements are already made, in a villa, travel advisors handle more requests. 

“A hotel has a front desk, a concierge, room service, but with a villa, I step into that role,” Goodrich said. “I’m already curating their itinerary, but with a villa stay I’m also asking the right questions to take it further — do they want the fridge stocked before arrival? Do they need transportation coordinated? Would a private chef one evening elevate the trip? 

“These are typically larger groups or higher-end travelers, so they often have specific preferences, and the villa format gives me more room to tailor every detail of the experience around them,” she added. 

Many villa companies make itinerary-building and logistics simple with pre-approved, select experiences that can be brought to the property – from yoga and massages to photoshoots, cocktail making classes, and everything in between. 

“They will be catered to exactly what you want or need, and you’ll have the flexibility to choose when and where you want to have it,” Williams said. “So it’s having a little bit more control, a little bit more personalization when it comes to the things that the client really wants to do.” 

Most Common Selling Challenges 

There are several sticking points when selling villas, but for a travel advisor, knowing how to navigate them adds to the value of their booking service. 

First thing to watch out for is the minimum room night requirements. Always check this and communicate with the guest – nothing too complicated there, but something to be on top of, nonetheless.  

Next is pricing, which will be one lump sum fee and will typically not include add-ons and activities. There is a deposit first, unless a client is booking close-in. Advisors should make sure that the client is able to pay the full price, regardless of if the group size fluctuates. 

“The reality of villas is you’re paying for a structure that, no matter how many people you have, that is the financial responsibility and/or commitment,” Williams said, “so it’s important that the lead passenger of the group understands, should someone need to drop out, they will cover the difference. Is the group prepared to do that?  

“Sometimes I will have folks interested in doing a villa, and the presumption is, you know, X number of people are interested and are coming. Life happens. Things happen. And then sometimes we’re having to go back to the drawing board to find a smaller villa,” she added. “So that’s why it’s important to have a clear understanding with your client about the makeup of the group and the budget, so that everyone is clear from the beginning.” 

For these reasons, it’s also important to add trip insurance to villas bookings – “It is a very minimal cost and can protect you in many ways,” Wiliams said. 

Another challenge is knowing the villa layout, so there are no surprises. Villas can be unpredictable because every property is unique. It may be a three-bedroom, but what are the layout, room configurations and sizes, and location of the rooms? The key is to work closely with a villa partner who has boots on the ground and can give the inside scoop on a property and its idiosyncrasies. 

Malis, who also has personal experience staying at villas, said there have been some instances where, unbeknownst to her until she arrived, certain rooms were less accessible from the rest of the home, or there was an interior room without a view. 

“I experimented plenty with my own travels while identifying trusted partners. There were times when we showed up and realized that our kids’ rooms were in a different wing only accessed from outside, which made me uncomfortable,” Malis said. “You need to dig deep to understand the floor plan, difference in room sizes, views, location of rooms, as often there are multiple floors, and pre-assign rooms while also setting expectations prior to arrival. There is nothing worse than when friends and family traveling with you go to their room and you know they are disappointed. 

“I only book villas through a trusted partner with on-site experience,” she added. “Even if she doesn’t, an onsite team member can go get videos and send them back so you can get really clear information about the property.” 

Best Villa Destinations 

When Malis first started taking villa trips with her family, one experience blew her away: Maison de Cortes in Cabo San Lucas, Pedregal. 

“It’s right off of downtown Cabo and is a nice escape,” she said. “You can go into Cabo, but then you can retreat to Pedregal and get your time together. The service was over the top in terms of the full-time staff.” 

Exceptional villa experiences like this can be found in destinations worldwide. There are many options in Europe, such as luxury destinations like Taormina, Italy. The travel advisors we spoke to especially touted tropical locales domestically and in the Caribbean. 

Goodrich sells villas in the Florida Keys, including Lunara Bay, a new 26-home complex in Key West with properties ranging from four to eight bedrooms for a 10- to 20-guest capacity. Lunara Bay has many amenities – from smokeless fire pits to chef kitchens to boutique gym access – and can accommodate multi-home buyouts, weddings, and corporate events. 

For Williams, St. Maarten is one of the best islands for villas – there are plenty of options with great quality of service and experience. Many of her clients enjoy this destination because of its flexibility and proximity to Anguilla and St. Barts for day trips before returning to homebase at their villa. 

“The island is very vast, so inventory, typically, is not an issue,” she said. “It’s just a very convenient destination to get to and a convenient destination that, perhaps, people haven’t had that three-country-in-one experience.” 

Williams also mentioned that sometimes, you can find villas that are part of a larger resort, which can be a good steppingstone for travelers who are accustomed to an all-inclusive experience. In Grenada, there are Silversands Resort and Calabash Hotel, both of which offer villa experiences through Rental Escapes. 

Working with Reliable Partners 

Many of the best villa experiences are made possible by a travel advisor and trusted villa supplier working together. Linking up with a reliable partner – such as Rental Escapes, Nocturne Luxury Villas, or Villas of Distinction – helps travel advisors ensure that they have all the accurate information and can deliver personalized service to their clients. 

“Find a trusted partner whose team visits the properties and does site inspections so they can help give you firsthand knowledge to maximize the space and minimize possible disappointment,” Malis said, adding that “often your expert partners will have contacts to have rental cars delivered to the villa should you want to drive here and there without the hassle of the airport-based rental car agency.”   

Rental Escapes, Nocturne Luxury Villas, and Villas of Distinction each have dedicated sales support for travel advisors, competitive commission structures, and easy-to-use booking dashboards. Their teams also have destination specialists and concierge teams that help travel advisors with every component of their booking. 

Villa partners not only work with travel advisors to put all the bells and whistles on their clients’ trips, but they reward advisors, as well. Rental Escapes, for example, just celebrated the third anniversary of its travel advisor REwards program, which allows advisors to earn points for every dollar booked and then redeem them for their own villa stays.