Tax guide for non-resident property owners in Spain
June 2026
Not everyone can be William Shakespeare, but even if you’re not blessed with amazing writing talent, you can still conjure up a decent holiday rental description. Landlords who need help crafting the perfect blurb for their website and online listings should take a look at these essential tips.
Think about your target audience
Before you start writing your holiday rental description, think about who is going to read it. You already know all about your property. What will your guests want to ask? Put yourself in your guests’ shoes. What is important to them? What will make them rent your holiday flat rather than others nearby?
One of the best ways to get an idea of what guests are looking for is by reading reviews of other properties. Look for properties in your area with the same target audience. If you are aiming at couples on honeymoon, family-friendly holiday rentals won’t be much use. See what guests rave about in their reviews. That tells you what’s important to them and what you should highlight in the description for your rental.
Use the right keywords
How are guests going to find your holiday rental advert in the first place? Many will be searching on Google, so to ensure your property is at the top of the listings, you’ll need to include the right keywords.
There’s a delicate balance to strike when it comes to including keywords in your holiday rental website blurb. Your text should contain all the relevant keywords to help your search engine rankings, but they must be natural. If they are stuffed into the text, you can actually damage your position. The more precise the keywords, the better. A generic term like “holiday rental Cornwall” will have thousands of hits, but “dog-friendly holiday rental Cornwall” will help you find that niche market you’re looking for.
Write in your brand’s voice
What atmosphere does your holiday rental have? Is it one of understated luxury or playful cheer? How do you want guests to feel when they’re inside? You should start to create this ambience when you write your description. Essentially, the atmosphere begins right from the moment you advertise your holiday home. You’re selling an experience to your guests, and that experience starts now. You want them to feel excited about your property and to have a clear idea of what to expect.
Think about the language that you use. Before you start, you could make a list of atmospheric adjectives to include. Those will be different depending on whether you’re advertising a family-friendly rental, one for romantic couples, one for large groups of friends, one for digital nomads, and so on.
Use evocative language
Which of these appeals to you more?
- “Rent out my holiday home for a great winter holiday. It has a fireplace, fully-equipped kitchen and a hot tub, plus it’s close to major ski slopes.”
- “After hitting the slopes, there’s nothing better than curling up in front of a roaring fire. Make yourself a mug of hot chocolate in your fully-equipped kitchen, or treat yourself to a soothing jacuzzi session. Welcome to the world of winter relaxation.”
Remember, when you advertise your holiday rental, you’re trying to paint a picture in your guests’ minds. You want them to clearly imagine what it will be like to stay in your home, as this will make them more likely to book.
To make particular words stand out, use bold text. This will catch the reader’s eye as they scan your page, so you can make sure they don’t miss your property’s main selling points.
Make a list of amenities
Of course, you can get carried away with your prose. It’s also worth remembering that some guests don’t speak English as a first language or may just be in a hurry. A good description needs to appeal to them, too.
To achieve this, finish your description with a clear checklist of amenities and services available at your property. To avoid confusion, you might want to specify what’s included as standard (such as a hot tub or swimming pool) and which requires an extra charge (for example, late check-out or a breakfast service).
Using AI to write a holiday rental advert
More and more people are turning to artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to do their writing for them. Of course, AI can be a powerful ally, but only if you know how to use it.
Guests who detect that your ad is AI-written may see that as a red flag and decide not to book with you. To avoid this, here are some tips for using AI well:
- Be very specific with your prompt. A generic prompt will give you a generic description. Tailoring it to your target audience and mentioning the specific features of your property can get better results.
- Refine your results. Remember, ChatGPT allows you to continue the conversation if you’re not happy with its output. Liven it up with language that appeals to families with young kids” to improve your initial results.
- Use it for inspiration, not as a replacement for human input. Take your ChatGPT results as a starting point, then tweak them until they sound more natural. Run your words through an AI checker online to see if they come across as written by a human or a robot.
A picture is worth a thousand words
Finally, here’s an important reminder. Even after following our tips for holiday rental descriptions, you may still feel that your text is flat and uninspiring. If you’re not a great wordsmith, don’t panic. Most potential guests will look at your pictures before they read your blurb, so make sure you’ve got some killer photos, and the bookings should still come rolling in.
On the other hand, the best blurb in the world can’t really make up for disappointing photos. The simple fact is that if guests don’t like your pictures, they’ll probably never even get as far as reading the text.
Stage your pictures carefully, making sure your property is immaculately clean and completely decluttered. Choose the right time of day for the best natural light, and look for angles that show the features of your holiday rental at its best. Add as many photos (and videos, if allowed) as your holiday rental portal will permit. Now, your listing is ready to go. All you have to do is make sure that the reality lives up to your description.