Success with niche sites? (Insurance, Traveling Nurse, CHBO)

[Erin Spradlin]

I am curious if anyone has had success getting midterm renters off of niche sites that cater specifically to a demographic. This would be if you've reached out to Corporate Housing by Owner, AYA, Vivian, anyone that caters to insurance claims? Do you think it is worth it to be on these niche sites? 

[James Carlson]

@Erin Spradlin

Not exactly the same, but your question reminds me of the debate in the STR world about spending time on a direct booking site.

I'm interested in what others have to say.

[Allen Duan]

We've tried a few, like CHBO and Homads, and didn't get any inquiries or bookings from them. So my current opinion is they aren't worth it. I'd love to have my mind changed and find one that's worth listing on. It just seems hard for these sites to get enough travelers using them, unless you have a property targeting a very niche tenant type that uses a specific website to find housing. 

It's totally worth having a direct booking site though!

[Ron Brady]

Over the past 3 years, we have listed across 15+ sites. Only Airbnb and Zillow have yielded residents, though a few other sites have generated inquiries. We are in a very suburban location, so that may be a factor why we are seeing this. 

[Jamie Banks]

I believe the more visibility the better especially in a few of the larger markets that I operate in. I'm listed on all of the insurance sites and have a few relationships with insurance relocation specialist who send leads my way. We're also listed on Airbnb, Zillow, Furnished Finder, Homads, Kopa, and I'm sure I am forgetting a few. We haven't tried CHBO because of the cost per property but my VAs have a list of about 15+ sites they list all of our properties on. We haven't gotten any bookings from some of the smaller sites like Homads and Kopa but we have gotten inquiries. 

[Travis Timmons]

The only "alternative" site - if you could even call it that - that has yielded a tenant for us was apartments.com. I understand that it is pretty mainstream, but it's not FF, airbnb, or zillow. Everything else has been a waste of time.

[Christine Gordon]

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

I believe the more visibility the better especially in a few of the larger markets that I operate in. I'm listed on all of the insurance sites and have a few relationships with insurance relocation specialist who send leads my way. We're also listed on Airbnb, Zillow, Furnished Finder, Homads, Kopa, and I'm sure I am forgetting a few. We haven't tried CHBO because of the cost per property but my VAs have a list of about 15+ sites they list all of our properties on. We haven't gotten any bookings from some of the smaller sites like Homads and Kopa but we have gotten inquiries. 

 Curious to know what insurance sites have been effective for you & what statr are you located in?  In NYC and Houston, we haven't had much success with securing prepaid bookings from insurance companies.  Thanks.

[Jamie Banks]

ALE Solutions is the one we've used the most. Most of my business is from networking directly with the insurance relocation specialists to be first in mind when a claim matching our property is received. I'm in Virginia, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania 

[Christine Gordon]

Quote from @Jamie Banks:

ALE Solutions is the one we've used the most. Most of my business is from networking directly with the insurance relocation specialists to be first in mind when a claim matching our property is received. I'm in Virginia, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania 

 Thanks Jamie :-)

[Wyatt Wolff]

I'm sure that some of the sites work and will drive some results, but I would be very curious to see a breakdown of a personal reach out system to large hospital networks, local companies HR, etc. 

I would probably do the sites, and then try and drive my own traffic as well. Grow your demand, then acquire more. People still travel for business, if you can capture that, you'd have more demand than you know what to do with.