Although it’s a tough thing to ask owners to constantly keep their calendars updated, or respond to renters when they send an inquiry for a date range that the owner already has booked, it is an unending source of frustration for renters.
Anytime I receive an email inquiry, I make an effort to respond immediately, even if I don’t have availability. A good response, with maybe even some suggestions for other rental units that you know of that might be available can go a long way to securing a booking the next year, or later that same season. I’ve even had renters delay their trip to a date that I had available after I responded courteously and promptly.
Although you do not want to give renters over to your “competition”, it may come back to you in the form of good karma and you’ll get a booking in return. For example, I’ve referred people to our Panama City Beach Vacation Rentals page to find another vacation rental when mine is not available and they can’t change their dates of travel, and I’ve received calls from those other owners thanking me. And, yes, I’ve even gotten some reciprocation. Everyone can win, here.
I think all owners can agree it’s bad for the industry as a whole that renters feel like booking a vacation rental is such a huge hassle. Thoughts, anyone (See feedback text below)?
“>>I could not find ANY that were actually available for the dates of
>>3/13 to 3/20, even though they were listed as available. I contacted
>>over a dozen condo owners and I’m very disappointed that they do not
>>care enough to update their availability calendar.
>>
>>It’s not a problem with your website, I think the site is pretty good.
>> It’s the owners that list their properties. It seems to me that they
>>don’t really care whether or not they are wasting time because they
>>only care about getting their condos booked — not about the
>>vacationer who is trying to find out what is available.”
With more and more people owning GPS units you may want to think about providing pre-built POI files that can be loaded on most modern GPS Units. These can include not only the location of your unit but also nearby amenities and attractions. On a recent trip to Walt Disney World I found it an invaluable resource not only in getting the parks each day but also finding resteraunts, shopping, ATMs and Gas.
If your unit is in a popular tourist area you may be able to find some of these already built with instructions on how to load them. Here is a link to one I used when traveling to WDW http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html
For the technically capable here is a link to a popular POI site that includes directions on building these files. http://www.poi-factory.com/
If anyone can share a great guide on how a novice can build and/or customize their own custom POI files please post!
Andy
The verdict on the true cost of spending your vacation in a hotel versus staying in a vacation rental is in, and I have the proof. For a family on a vacation, a vacation rental provides great accommodations for far less money. I just had a very unique personal experience that allowed me to test this: my own marriage two weeks ago in Maui, Hawaii, with friends and family in attendance.
We had a whole bunch of folks that came in from different parts of the globe to celebrate the event with us. Being the owner of a vacation rentals by owner website, I asked most of them where they were staying so I could compare notes. Our extended family stayed in a nice vacation rental right on the beach, a few stayed at resorts, and a few stayed at local hotels.
Here’s the hard data on the major expense items for the trip, excluding rental car and airfare:
Hotel / Resort (Standard Hotel Room, Queen Bed, 1 Bathroom):
- Maximum Occupants:2
- Per Person, Per Night Rate: $175.00
- Per Day, Per Person Average Food: $125.00
- Per Day “Resort Fee”: $25.00
- Per Day Parking: $20.00
- Total Cost Per Person, Per Day: $322.50
Vacation Rental (2 BR / 2 BA Condominium on the Beach with Queen Sleeper Pull Out):
- Maximum Occupants: 6
- Per Person, Per Night Rate: $28.00
- Per Day, Per Person Average Food: $65.00
- Per Day “Resort Fee”: $0.00
- Per Day Parking: $0.00
- Total Cost Per Person, Per Day: $93.00
The vacation rental was extremely economical for three reasons. 1) It could accommodate a lot more people. A family of 5 could all fit into one place that cost on average $140.00 per night. That averages out to only $28.00 per person, per night. The Hotel and Resorts that others stayed in cost around $350.00 per night, and it could only fit two people in it, so it ran $175.00 per person, per night. That is a huge difference. 2) Most resort hotels charged huge daily fees for parking and resort fees, which were non-negotiable. That added another $50/night in most cases. Most of my wedding guests found out about that as they were checking in (they neglect to tell you stuff like this when you make the reservation). It was too late then to re-book. No such issues with the vacation rental. 3) Having meals in with the family was a very nice break from eating every meal out. It was a heck of a lot more economical as well.
And, last, the other major expense item was the amount spent on food per day. My extended family took a short trip to the grocery store and had breakfast, lunch and a couple of dinners in over the course of the week that we were there. They went out for nice dinners a couple of times, but in a place like Maui where a basic entree can often cost $50.00 or more, eating some meals in for a family of five really starts to make some sense.
As my fellow vacation rental owners are speaking with prospective renters that are having trouble deciding between your rental or a hotel, make sure you remind them about ALL of the costs associated with your typical resort hotel. Advising your renters as to the true cost of staying in a hotel may keep them with you at your vacation rental. Not to mention the many other benefits that we all know about!
Cheers to All,
Jon Ludwig, Owner, FindVacationRentals.com
Tags: vacation rentals, vacation rentals by owner, vacation rentals cheaper than hotels, vacation rentals versus hotels
Every vacation rental property owner gets questions from prospective renters like:
- How far away from the beach is your unit?
- How do I get to your property?
- Where is the nearest grocery store?
- Do you have a map of the area?
Community Walk (www.communitywalk.com) provides a great utility to build custom maps that showcase
Sample Community Walk Custom Map
your property, easily allow guests to generate driving directions, and highlight local point of interest. These custom maps even let you filter the points of interest and let visitors make comments. I’m confident anyone who owns a vacation rental property, would find this tool very as a marketing tool to add to your web sites or listings but also in communicating with booked tenants. It is very easy to set up! You can add points of interest by doing searches, entering street address or using longitude and latitude. For each POI can you can catagorize, add a photo, inster links to web sites and modify many other details of the POI or customize how it is displayed.
There are ads but they are very discrete! You can purchase the maps if you would like to not have ads.
Enjoy,
Andrew M. Seward
Tags: google maps, vacation rental advertising by owner, vacation rentals, vacation rentals by owner
by Alfred & Emily Glossbrenner of FullyBookedRentals
Here’s a sad scenario: The day before your next guests are due to check in, they call with bad news. One of them is too sick to travel. Or there’s been a death in the family. Or a major ice storm has brought down power lines and closed the airport. They’re going to have to cancel their travel plans.
If only they had heeded the advice in a recent Wall Street Journal article (February 14, 2009) about the importance of buying travel insurance with trip-cancellation coverage (“Road Hazards: Buying Travel Insurance is More Imporant—and More Complicated—Than Ever”). With the right policy, they’d be entitled to reimbursement from the insurance company for their nonrefundable expenses.
But as the article explains, choosing the right policy can be complicated. So even though it’s not all that expensive, adding about 4% to 8% to the cost of the trip, most travelers just skip it.
So what do you do, as the vacation-rental owner, when a guest calls to cancel at the last minute? You’re sympathetic, of course. But should you feel obligated to refund their money? In our opinion, absolutely not. Unless you’re able to rebook your property for the dates these guests have cancelled. You’re not a big hotel, after all, and you shouldn’t be expected to take a financial hit because of your guests’ misfortune. That’s what travel insurance is for.
If you’ve established a clear cancellation and refund policy, communicated it to your guests in writing in your rental agreement, and encouraged them to consider buying a travel insurance policy with trip-cancellation coverage, you’ve done everything right in our view. The rest is up to your guests.
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For More Information About Travel Insurance These companies cited in the Wall Street Journal article help travelers compare prices and features of travel-insurance policies. What’s in it for them? The companies generally receive commissions when a policy is purchased.
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About the Authors: Alfred & Emily Glossbrenner are the authors of the highly acclaimed book/CD package How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You! and co-founders of FullyBookedRentals, a new membership website dedicated to helping other VR owners advertise, rent, and manage their properties effectively, professionally, and profitably. Take advantage of their special introductory offer of $29.95 for a full-year membership by entering the promotion code FVR40 during the sign-up process. For more on FullyBookedRentals member benefits and to sign up, click here.
