It’s often said that “the Internet changes everything.” Certainly it has changed–even disrupted–the traditional relationship between vacation-rental owners and their property managers. At the very least, it has introduced a spectrum of possibilities. For some brave souls, the Internet has made it possible to take on everything: marketing, managing, advertising, maintenance–you name it. But what [...]
From a management prospective, i think it is essential to talk to each guest. I deal with a lot of group bookings, and sometimes the groups try to over-max the property, but we would never know this if we didn’t talk to them and tell them the rules. plus it is a bonus to form [...]
Fellow Vacation Rental Owners: As a vacation home rental owner and operator of a vacation rentals by owner advertising website, I have been following the situation closely with regards to the recent sharp decline in both real estate prices (commercial and single family homes) and the stock market. Like a lot of investors out there [...]
Vacations for Veterans is a nonprofit created to provide recently wounded veterans free lodging donated by a vacation home owner. Regardless of your views on our foreign policy, I think everyone can agree that what our veterans do for our country is incredible honorable and they are not recognized enough for their service. As vacation [...]
When I used to travel for a living, I enjoyed the perks offered by the airlines and the hotels. Upgrade to first class? Sure! Upgrade hotel room? Don’t mind if I do! Everyone likes perks and incentives not available elsewhere. For your vacation home, perks make your rental stand-out. They can make things easier on [...]
Although I realize that we all bought our vacation rental properties to RENT them, sometimes you get stuck looking a week in the eye and realizing that there is no way you are going to get a paying renter in there. Although our 2/2 condo in Blind Pass Condominiums on Sanibel Island has performed very [...]
My mom likes to talk on the phone. A lot. And while she isn’t afraid to browse the web and find what she wants, she still wants to pick up the phone and talk to a human to order. If you want to maximize bookings, make sure to put phone number on your vacation rental [...]
As both vacation rental property owners and vacation rental advertising website operators, we have often had other vacation rental owners as well as online and offline publications ask us what really drives the vacation rentals by owner market. After a lot of thought and a lot of years of experience, we’ve distilled it down to [...]
I’m always looking for ways to show off my unit, recently I learned of a great FREE new 3D photo-stitching service offered by Microsoft. What is 3D photo-stitching? Its sewing together a number of images to form a larger composite image. The technology has been around for a while and is used to create [...]
Most search engines provide a way for business to manually enter their own information on their maps and search results. While just posting won’t ensure you come up at the top, or even the first page. If you list your rental properties address it pick your keywords right, you may come up in a geographic [...]
The amount of information you can post on most vacation rental hosting site is limited to a few photo’s and limited text. Do you have documents, links, photos, videos, virtual tours, or other media and information relating to your rental that you frequently share with your tenants? I do! I recently found a great service [...]
The Herald Net has a short article on the main tax rules with regard to vacation rentals. Let me break down the categories of taxation: Renting out your vacation home less than 15 days a year Renting out your vacation home as much as possible while never using your vacation rental for personal use. Renting [...]
If you’ve been around the internet for any period of time, you’re well aware of the scams arriving by email informing you of the vast sums of money you have won. Or, if you help the Nigerian Princess move money out of her country, you can have a cut of it. These scams have permeated [...]