The holiday rentals website says respond promptly to enquiries, I'd say, phone them up, don't just send an e-mail. Phoning an enquiry gives you a much better chance of converting an enquiry into a booking.
It gives you the opportunity to tell them all about the property and surrounding attractions, give them advice on how to get cheap air fares and car hire or whether they can manage with the local buses!
If they have children you can ask their ages and then suggest local attractions that will appeal to their age group. If they have young children or people with disabilities they may need to know about where they can hire things like cots, wheelchairs or mountain bikes. I can direct my renters to the websites of local firms that can provide these items for them, making their holidays less hassle.
I also e-mail my potential renters access to my on-line web-album (I use PIcasa Web Albums). This has 41 photos of my apartment, the local beaches, the go kart tracks, local beauty spots, flamenco at the nearby restaurants to give them a better idea of what they could be looking forward to,
In addition to the photos, I have also prepared a folder in the apartment with suggestions of what to do and where to go on a seven day holiday staying at our property. As this is a Word document I can offer to send it via e-mail to prospective renters. Some of the suggestions of things to do are very basic, e.g "buy the Costa Blanca News it will give you an idea of what's on and where to go." Others suggest a restaurant to go to and what day of the week to go if you want to see a Flamenco Show. -Alternatively, I can tell them about the local water-park and the go-karts with links to their web-sites, I bet their kids really want them to go to our apartment after seeing what is available for them to do.
I have a smattering of Spanish and have let my property to Spaniards on the basis that we can communicate via the web using web translation pages. They pay their rent directly into my Spanish bank account or directly to our keyholder ( and he pays it into my Spanish bank account!) Don't be afraid of enquiries from people who don't speak English otherwise you are limiting your rental potential.
For some people it will be the first time that they have tried putting their own holiday together and booking their own flights, car hire and accommodation and my advice is to make it as easy as possible for them. Tell them that you can hold the booking for them whilst they book their flights and that you will e-mail them idiot-proof directions to their apartment so they won't get lost.
Remember that you want people to have a good time at your property and want them to come again. Be honest when describing your property in your advertisement and when speaking to potential renters.
I have a large number of very positive reviews for my property on my holiday rentals website and personally I believe that this makes a large number of my enquiries pre-sold. In other words, when they enquire about my property they are not comparing it with others and seeing whether they can get a reduction on the rental, they genuinely want to rent my property. I recommend that you phone people after they've stayed at your property and ask them how it went. Then, if they've had a good experience ask them could they do you the little favour of writing a review on the website and then e-mail them the link,
Next time I'll give you a few hints about how to make life easier for yourselves and keep costs down when it comes to administering your rental empire!