As a second home owner renting out your property throughout the year I am pleased to bring you the safest and simplest way to manage your home from miles away without the needs for keys!

It will be of great benefit to you and will make your life so much easier when dealing with your tenants, housekeeper, vendor or maintenance man.

The Oracode lock has been on the market for over 7 years and with over 12 000 locks installed in North America it is a proven and unique product which does not require any software.

It consists of a proprietary web based application that manages your lock from a distance from anywhere in the world once we program it for you prior to shipping.

I will be happy to answer any further inquiries you might have regarding our product,

Regard;

Vanessa Pavillet

Last year on FindVacationRentals.com, we rolled out what we called “vacation themes”, which are special sections of our website focused on vacation rental inventory that was well suited for specific vacation activities or travel themes.  This included special sections for beach rentals, pet friendly rentals, vacation rental deals, cabin rentals, golf vacation rentals, ski rentals, and disney vacation rentals.

Initially, we were targeting search traffic that occurs around those specific vacation themes, but, what we found what that travelers were randomly combining an activity type search phrase, like “beach”, with a destination, like “Destin Florida”, and then adding “vacation rentals” or something like that onto the end.

From our perspective, this type of searching called for a new approach to better match those searches to our owners vacation rentals.  Stay tuned to FindVacationRentals.com, as that release will be published the short term.

As we are making an effort to target these highly desirable traveler activities, vacation rental owners can help themselves a bit as well by making sure that their vacation rental descriptions are specifically mentioning vacation themes like the ones we have targeted.  There are many more that travelers are interested in – scuba diving, surfing, and many more – and owners can sell those travel experiences in their vacation rental descriptions.

When I first started renting and had a hard time keeping my condo booked, I would rent to the 21-25 crowd with a larger deposit.

Would you rent to anybody in this picture?

Maybe it’s my old age and the fact that I don’t want to deal with the hassle anymore, but I do not rent to anyone under 25 and haven’t done so in about 5 years.  I focus on families only and require someone over 25 to pickup the key.  Sometimes that means my condo sits empty a week in March during the college spring break period.

I am curious – Do any of you rent to the “under 25″ crowd?  Does it work for you?  How do you handle the deposits?  Can you keep a housekeeper more than one season?  Is it worth it?

This is an interesting topic with the economy making many owners nervous about maximizing bookings.  Plus, many of us know that after the holidays starts the rush of emails & inquiries and need to decide who we are going to cater to.

Post your comments below.

What I found was pretty interesting.  While vacation rental owners typically do a great job describing the basic features and amenities of their properties, such as whether or not it has a microwave, or how close it is to a beach, there is little information that owners post about what kind of travel experience one could expect by visiting the destination, and there are very few, if any, pictures of those experiences.

The honeymoon concept got me thinking, so I did a search on FindVacationRentals.com, using our Advanced vacation rental search, for they keyphrase “romantic”.  The results I got indicated that about 5.6% of our customers used the word “romantic” in their description text.  This listing is a great example of a well written description that really sells the experience and does not just talk about the # of bedrooms and bathrooms the place has.

Next, I tried a search for “honeymoon”, which speaks to the suggestion by the Boston Glove article to the traveling public.  This time, I only got results representing 1.8% of our inventory.  This listing was a great example of a well written description that sells the romantic and honeymoon experiences very well.

So, a marketing lesson to be learned here.  Clearly, travelers are looking for a certain experience.  Search engines like Google match travelers to content that matches there search criteria.  Travelers are often not looking for just a certain location and number of bedrooms – they are looking for a certain travel experience.

I think, as vacation rental owners, we could do a better job providing descriptions of those types of experiences.  If we do, our interest are all better served!

Jon Ludwig, Owner

http://www.findvacationrentals.com

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.”

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

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

• 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

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.

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.

Panama City-Bay County International Airport

For those of you in Panama City Beach, Laguna Beach, Mexico Beach, Grand Lagoon, and elsewhere in Bay County, FL:

The county commissioners just raised the tourist development tax from 3% to 4% for March 1-31 and 5% for after April 1. Combine this with the state of Florida tax of 6%, we are now collecting 11% from our renters. Yikes!

From what I’ve read, 1% of this is to market the new airport on the west side of Bay county set to open in May of 2010. The other 1% is to lure a low-cost airline to the airport (Air-Tran or Southwest maybe?).

The new airport can accommodate larger jets, something I assume the old airport in Panama City could not.

I hope 2% brings in enough tenants in the area to justify this cost (including the cost of the airport relocation) I’m not so sure…

How many of your tenants drive versus fly to the gulf coast? How many more bookings will you get because of this airport? I would guess your answer is similar to mine – not many.

Add your comments below.

Late last week, FindVacationRentals.com released a completely revamped website with new features designed to attract and keep renters attention.  It also offers new ways for owners to market and promote their properties.  And the best part – this comes with no price increase to our owner community.  Some of the highlights of the new site include:

• New “Owner’s Specials” section.  This allows owners to promote short duration discounts on  properties to enhance the utilization of their vacation rental.  Discounts seem to work pretty well with renters in this economy – people are still taking vacations, but they want better deals, and this section of the site speaks to that: http://www.findvacationrentals.com/cheap-vacation-rentals.html
• New “Vacation Themes”, which are linked all over the site using recognizable icons.  This includs disney, golf, beach, pet friendly, cabin, and ski focused vacations. We created custom inventory for these “theme” pages that highlights vacation rental owners that have rentals in those areas to give them more exposure.  We are also using these themes to create custom email programs, so we send renters alerts periodically that generate even more traffic for owners.  Some sites do this to some degree, but I think FindVacationRentals.com is pushing the envelope a little further by having special landing pages and promotion of specific owner properties.
• New search functionality.  Every page on the site displays the “quick search” box on the top left.  The quick search now has “autocomplete”, so if a renter types in “D…Å…Y…”, it will display options in a drop down box like “Daytona Beach” directly underneath the search, kind of like Google does.  FindVacationRentals.com also offers a completely revamped advanced search page: http://www.findvacationrentals.com/vacation-rental-search.html
• All of the pages across the FindVacationRentals.com website, including country pages, state pages, region pages, city index pages, etc, have been polished and updated to a new design that was created to attract and keep a renters attention.  The city and country index pages that display summary listing information are also much improved.  There are now visible icons for “pet friendly”, and “smoking/non-smoking” displayed with the summary data for each vacation rental listing, as well an additional icon to draw attention to those listings with owner’s specials posted so renters are attracted to those.

We would love to get some feedback from both owner’s and renter’s on the new design.

Cheers,

Jon Ludwig, Owner, FindVacationRentals.com

This week I was amazed by how much attention has been paid to the fact that Barack Obama selected a vacation rental to stay in for the Obama family vacation in Kailua, Hawaii.  Initially, the focus seemed to be on how he paid for the vacation rental – you know, what is that campaign money or a kickback from a large contributor or whatever.  But, fortunately, that seemed to lead absolutely nowhere.  As it turns out, after a week of hawking it, all the press could come up with is that Mr. Obama found the vacation rental using an online website, and he paid for it using “personal funds”.

It’s very interesting how these very small things can call attention to a niche industry that we all depend upon to sustain our own vacation rentals by owner.  I have had friends that don’t know that I run a vacation rental website come up to me recently and ask me, “Did you hear that Barack Obama just paid cash for some place he’s never been to before?”, or “What is a vacation home rental?”.  I was puzzled at first, but then it dawned on me that they had never had any travel experience other than staying in a hotel.

Admittedly, HomeAway has the most listings in the vacation rentals industry.  They have bought up VRBO, VacationRentals, CyberRentals, GreatRentals, etc, etc.  It is undetermined as of yet whether or not their roll-up strategy will work financially, but if they are successful in making the term “vacation rental” or “vacation home” something that “most people” consider when they are booking their next vacation, smaller independent sites like mine at www.findvacationrentals.com will also benefit.  All of us as vacation rental owners will benefit.  So, even though they operate websites that are competitive to my websites, I am cheering for them in their quest to build an iconic travel industry where they was once only a small niche within a niche.

The fact that Barack Obama decided to stay at a “risky” vacation rental and that so many people (and the press) are talking about it is also good for all of us.  It’s good for vacation rental listing sites like FindVacationRentals.com, it’s good for all vacation rental owners, and it’s good for the vacation rentals by owner industry.

Incidentally, FindVacationRentals.com has the listing for the beachfront vacation home in Kailua, Hawaii selected by Barack Obama on our site, and we happen to perform better in Kailua related Google searches than any of our competitors.  Small world, I guess.

Cheers,

Jon Ludwig, Manager, FindVacationRentals.com

But what if you don’t have the time (or inclination) to screen renters, handle inquiries, maintain an availability calendar, send out rental agreements, and collect payments? What if, at this time and place in your life, you just don’t want to do it all yourself?

If you’re not forced to maximize the income your property generates, if your current goal is to simply cover most of your property’s expenses, then going the property-manager route might very well make sense. But here’s the problem: The really good property managers handle dozens (even hundreds) of vacation rentals. They tend to market them all in the identical way, with a listing on their company’s Web site. And their goal is to generate as many bookings as possible for their company, rather than for your specific property.

So, assuming that for reasons of the sort cited above, you want to turn your vacation home over to a property management company. What can you do to make sure your place stands out from the crowd and gets its fair share of the bookings? How can you help your property manager do the best possible job for you?

Here are some suggestions:

• Write your own property description. It’s unlikely that your property manager knows anywhere near as much as you do about the joys and pleasures of your vacation home. But the system requires that they produce some descriptive copy, so you end up with bland, boring sentences that sound essentially the same from one property to the next. You can set yourself apart from the competition by creating your own write-up and providing it to your property manager. Put your personality into it. Explain what you love about the place. And be frank. If there’s an ocean view, but you have to crane your neck out the kitchen window to see it, go ahead and say so. Then make the point that for a full ocean view, the price would be considerably higher.
  
• Take charge of your photos. Unless your property manager is a terrific photographer or has one on retainer, we strongly recommend providing your own photos. Enlist the help of a friend (or hire a professional photographer for about $200-$300) if you’re not comfortable with a digital camera. Be sure to “dress” the set, pay attention to lighting, and use a wide-angle lens for your interior shots.
  
• Augment your management company’s online listings with your own. As noted, most property management companies now have their own Web sites with pictures and descriptions of the properties they manage. But when it comes to getting noticed by the search engines, more is often better. So boost your property’s “search footprint” by listing on several leading sites and directing all phone and email inquiries to your property manager. For suggestions on which sites to use, take a look at the free Vacation Rental Resources Guide available at our FullyBookedRentals Web site (www.fullybookedrentals.com).
  
• Spread the word with business cards for your property. For less than $25 at sites like VistaPrint (www.vistaprint.com) and OvernightPrints (www.overnightprints.com), you can design your own business card, including a picture of your property and the address of one of your online listings. Plan to order a supply of 100-250 cards to keep on hand. Offer them to friends and business acquaintances who ask about your property.

There really are many ways to get what you want and need from a vacation rental. And the Internet is a big help, regardless of the path you choose. Personally, we prefer doing everything ourselves. But we would never suggest that others might not be best off teaming with a property manager. It really is “different strokes for different folks.” The key thing is to take the reins and use the Internet tools at your disposal to help your property manager keep your place fully booked.

About the Authors. Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner are experienced vacation-rental owners and the authors of How to Make Your Vacation Property Work for You! They also own and operate FullyBookedRentals (www.fullybookedrentals.com), a membership Web site devoted to helping other vacation-rental owners advertise, rent, and manage their properties effectively and profitably.

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 a relationship with guests to keep them returning year after year. i personally HATE automated systems and will never have one responding to any of our calls.

Hayley

Florida Deluxe Villas

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 that I have spoken with, I pulled my savings out of the stock market a few months ago (phew…) and have been wondering what to do with my investment capital.

I recently read an article on the RIS Media site at the URL http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-07-16/the-upside-of-a-downturn-buyers-get-more-house-for-their-money/.  This was an interesting read – their main point was that housing prices in many markets have declined significantly in the last several months, making it a good time to consider investing in real estate.  Based on my own experience, this is especially true in real estate markets where one tends to find a lot of vacation rentals.  Those markets seem to be driven by speculation as opposed to serious longer term investors.

Based on that, I did some reasearch of my own to verify that was I suspected was true was actually true.  I looked at some of the inventory on my vacation rentals advertising website, including the markets I am most familiar with. This included Kissimmee FL, Destin Beach, FL, Lake Tahoe, CA, Breckenridge, CO, and Las Vegas, Nevada.  I looked at how many listings we had in each of those markets, and I looked at general real estate data showing foreclosures and overall pricing levels.  What I found was that while our number of active listings in each of those markets either stayed about the same or increased in the past several months, those markets were extremely hard hit with the recent decline in overall real estate prices.

Assuming vacation rentals owners are rational, they will not continue to pay to advertise their vacation rentals if there is no demand for their vacation rentals by renters.  In my own vacation rentals in Florida and Tennessee, I have seen farily steady demand.  I have had to offer some discounts, but that is mostly because everyone that is traveling seems to think that it should be at a greatly reduced price due to the overall economy being where it is.

So, all that said, I have concluded the following:

• I am still very nervous about re-investing in the stock market; real estate is looking pretty much like it is at a bottom right now.
• The demand from renters for vacation rentals is still pretty strong.
• By picking up vacation rentals investment properties for up to 40% less than what they sold for a year ago, my mortgage payment will be lower, which will increase my potential cashflow from the vacation rental.
• I am going to look for some really good deals on properties in markets that have been hit pretty hard by sharp price declines due to the speculators getting flushed out of the market.
• I am going to get creative on the discounting of my vacation rentals so if I do happen to pick one up in this buyer’s market, I’ll be sure to keep it as utilized as I can so I can cover my costs.

Best of luck to the rest of the owner community out there,

Jon Ludwig, Owner, http://www.findvacationrentals.com

Vacations for Veterans

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 rental owners, we are in a unique position to offer our homes up and to give our wounded veterans a brief respite when they need it most.  If you do offer your vacation rental, you have the final say on what dates your unit will be available.

On a personal note, I had the opportunity to offer one of my beach condos to a veteran a few months ago.  VFV does the work to verify the Purple Heart status of the veteran and, if you wish, will put you in contact with the veteran directly.  It was immenesly gratifying to not only offer my condo up to this veteran and his family, but to receive the thank you note from him and his wife after their trip.

This holiday season, please think about giving back to this outstanding organization.  FindVacationRentals.com, FindBnB.com, and VacationSpaces.com are proud corporate sponsors.

Please visit VacationsForVeterans.org for more information on this organization and to learn how you can help.  And while VFV needs inventory, they also are in need of financial donations which go directly to support the travel expenses of those veterans in need of financial aid.

Submitted by Jon M, http://www.FindVacationRentals.com

Perks - They're Grreat!

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 your renters so they enjoy their stay more.

You can provide perks for your guests and increasing bookings at the same time.  Here’s some ideas:

Upgraded bedding

Have you noticed that hotels now all have their exclusive one-of-a-kind bedding system?  They might be on to something.  If you go the extra distance with a nice pillow-top bed and nice sheets/comforter/duvet, let everyone know!  Putting this information on your vacation rental listing and telling prospective renters might just close more bookings.

Free Internet Wi-Fi

Get DSL or a cable modem for your rental.  When you sign-up, ask for a wireless modem so renters don’t have to plug-into your network.  If you live in a condo or other dense housing, see if your association will vote for wi-fi access for everyone (so you don’t have to maintain it).

Exercise room access or complimentary gym visitor membership

I don’t go on vacation to exercise.  But, some folks don’t want to miss their workouts – and this is a great perk for those people.  If they can have access to run off those extra calories, they may book your place rather than the unit across the street without gym access.

If your resort / community does not have an exercise room, call around to local gyms and ask them how you can get your renters access during their stay.

Tickets to shows/parks

If you are near a theme destination such as Disney World, Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg, or Branson, you might want to offer free or discounted tickets to your guests.  Chances are, they are booking a rental in your area for a reason.

Beach Chair Rental

If your beach condo has access to beach chair rental, talk to the company that does the rental.  They will often cut you a deal for the entire summer for some chairs.  Your renters will love it!

Gift basket

Okay, maybe this isn’t something that will close a sale.  But, I have learned that first impressions for renters make all the difference.  When your guests walk into the condo, they will probably smile if there is a nice little gift basket waiting for them.

The basket can be pretty simple (some snacks, etc) or can be above & beyond (some beers or champagne might be a nice touch).

Gift Card (Gas, Groceries, etc)

If competition is tough, you might score with some small perks such as these.  Everybody complains about the gas prices!

Free nights

Maybe not a perk exactly, but offering a free night if someone books a minimum stay with you might just help increase your bookings.  This is especially helpful during the off-season.

Repeat Customer Discount

I offer my past renters some sort of discount.  Past renters are less likely to cancel on you and they are easier to manage since they’ve stayed with you before.  Any way you can increase bookings from past guests should be in your vacation rental advertising arsenal.  You can make the security deposit smaller, offer free nights, or simply discount their stay.

I’m sure there are plenty of others I’m missing.  What kind of perks do you offer your guests to increase your bookings?

Posted by Jon M of http://www.FindVacationRentals.com

Although  our 2/2 condo in Blind Pass Condominiums on Sanibel Island has performed very well in the ten years we have owned it, we have had an empty week here or there.

And our  3/2 vacation rental home on Sanibel, Toucan House, always has empty months as it is a 28 day minimum rental (mandated as such), not so easy to keep occupied off season at any reasonable rate.

I market both properties extensively, but sometimes not even all my exposure, good customer service and well kept condo or home prevails.  It becomes abundantly clear that I am going to have an empty week or empty month.  I then go into a home exchange mode in many instances.

We have swapped both properties for non simultaneous exchanges in Europe (Italy, France, Croatia, Spain) as well as in the USA (California, South and North Carolina, Arizona) and feel we are much ahead for the trade.  If you have not checked out the prices of modest hotels in European capitals, you will find that they run $300 and more (sometimes much more) a night.  The same holds true for nice resort areas in the USA.

And, quite honestly, having a whole house or large apartment—-if you research, ask questions and negotiate successfully—-is considerably more comfortable than a hotel room.  Our own renters in the condo and house would certainly agree with that statement.

So if the inevitable is about to come crashing down on you, a “dark house” can still be bartered for something of great worth.  You just need to get creative.

Right now, and atypical for us, our condo on Sanibel  is open for Christmas week, December 20.  So I am doing my last minute dance to find a non-simultaneous  exchange on the several home exchange sites we belong to.

Of course, if a renter comes along, I will rent the unit even at a discounted price, but seeking an exchange is a good way to hedge your bets and come out a winner!

www.sanibel-rentals.net

If you want to maximize bookings, make sure to put phone number on your vacation rental listings and do your best to answer the phone.  Face it, some folks want to talk to a person before they commit to loading up the family truckster and taking the family on vacation:

You have a few options when it comes to your bookings over the phone.

1. Your Home Phone
This is usually the first setup for new vacation home owners.  Not bad, but not the best option.

Pros:

• Easy, Cheap, Already Setup

Cons:

• You’re probably not home all the time.
• Late-night calls (people will call at all hours).  Heck, I even post hours next to my number to call between 8am and 9pm Eastern and receive calls very late at night on occasion (but I don’t use my home phone number).

2. Second-Line / Distinctive Ring
This is an excellent option, especially if you are home often (telecommuting, etc).  Distinctive ring is a feature from the phone company that assigns another phone number with a different ring to your existing phone line.  When the phone rings, you know by it’s ring if it’s a renter or a personal call

Pros:

• Distinctive Ring is usually cheaper than a second phone line.
• A second line allows you to put the phone in the “office” of your house.  This is a little more helpful if you want to ignore it during dinner and when you are asleep.
• A second line allows you to have an outgoing message directed toward renters.

Cons:

• Same as above: you have to be home to get the call, and renters might call you at all hours.
• Second line requires your house to be wired with the second line, which is not a given for older homes.

Camera Phone

3. Your Cell Phone
This is a good option.  In this day and age, you typically carry your phone with you everywhere.  If you are at work and can take calls, you can close more bookings.  A mobile phone makes it easy to check your voice mail during lunch and call back those inquiries.

Pros:

• Always with you
• You can turn it off at night

Cons:

• Renters know your cell phone number.  To keep things separate, you might want a “vacation rental” cell phone and a separate personal cell phone.

4. Internet Phone

This relatively new technology is my current choice.  Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) is a fancy term meaning you can talk using your Internet connection.

If you go with a provider such as Vonage or ViaTalk, they give you a phone adapter that you plug into your cable modem or DSL modem, then you can plug a phone into the adapter.  They assign you a local phone number and you use it like any other phone.

4 A. GrandCentral

GrandCentral, by Google, is a great option if you’ve been lucky enough to get a phone number from them. They can forward calls to your cell, home, or work based on who is calling.  Unfortunately, this is in beta from Google and they aren’t setting up new accounts at the moment.

Pros:

• Allows you to have a separate number for renters.
• You can choose to have it ring your cell/home outside of work hours.

Cons:

• Google seems to have suspended new accounts for now.  No word on when they will resume.

4 B. ViaTalk

I use ViaTalk.  The funny thing is, I don’t actually use it to talk over the Internet.  ViaTalk has an amazing feature that allows you to setup call-follow, call-hunt, and do-not-disturb rules based on schedules.

I have a local phone number provided by ViaTalk.  When a renter calls, ViaTalk hunts me down at home or on my cell depending on my schedule (it can even simultaneously call both my cell & home).  This is a great feature, especially if you move or change cell providers, since you can keep your VOIP phone number for as long as you need and never change the number.

Pros:

• Cheap
• Can forward calls to your home/cell/work based on your schedule
• Maintain a separate voice mailbox for renters

Cons:

• Requires high-speed internet at home (not bad, but not a gimme)
• Must setup the phone adapter on your home router to talk over the Internet

Have I missed an option that you use to communicate with renters?  Let me know in the comments below…

Submitted by Jon M., FindVacationRentals.com

Why “cost”, “comfort”, and “convenience”?  Cost is a pretty simple argument.  A typical family of four planning a vacation is probably going to require two hotel rooms, one for mom and dad, and one for the kids.  A decent hotel room generally costs $150/night, depending on the location.  In the high season in many hot vacation destinations, hotels can cost up to $300 or more a night.  If you multiply that times two for two rooms, you are looking at $300 to $600 or more per night.  In most cases, that same family of four can find a great vacation rental property with far more amenities than a boring hotel room for half of that price.

The other important aspect to the cost argument for vacation rentals versus hotels is the fact that almost 100% of vacation rental properties have kitchens with a complete set of appliances and cutlery.  This gives a family on a vacation the option of cooking meals in, which can save a tremendous amount of money.  A family of four would probably be looking at a budget of at least $150 a day in food if they had to eat every meal out, whereas utilizing the kitchen in an average vacation rental would allow them to save at least half of that figure by cooking a few meals in.

Comfort is a very important draw for a vacation rental versus a hotel.  Since many vacation rentals are individually owned and represent a families second residence, they typically have comfortable furniture, DVD players, music systems, nice kitchens, and comfortable beds in the bedrooms.  A hotel room exists to make money for its owners.  It is a safe bet that these owners have never spent a night in the hotel, and never will.  Typically, any comfort items in a hotel are looked upon by its owners as expenses that need to be minimized, not as items that the owner might themselves use from time to time.  This difference in philosophy creates a more comfortable atmosphere for the renter of a vacation rental; you are truly staying in someone’s home, and that is generally a far more comfortable experience than the clearly temporary surroundings offered by the average hotel room.

The convenience features of a vacation rental are often overlooked by the owners when they advertise their vacation rentals online.  For example, if you owned a vacation rental near the beach in Destin, Florida, it would likely come stocked with rafts, beach towels, children’s beach play equipment, a DVD player, a decent television, and a variety of specialty appliances in the kitchen, including everything from coffee makers to can-openers.  The average hotel has none of these things, so a family would have to go out an buy rafts, beach towels, beach toys, etc, they would have to haul it all along with them, or they would have to go without.  It is much more convenient for the traveling family to have these things available as part of the vacation rental’s standard amenities.

Being in the vacation rentals by owner advertising business, we have looked at a lot of advertisements that owners have posted for vacation rentals.  While many of them are good descriptions of the basic features of the property, it is too easy to lose site of the advantages that your vacation rental provides for the traveling family when you are trying to distill your vacation rental down to a basic set of features.  We suggest that you focus the text of your advertisements on the “Three C’s” advantages your rental has.  If it has a closet full of rafts, snorkeling equipment or beach gear that the renter can use, make sure to state that.  If it has a heated garage space for ski equipment so the renters boots will be warm and dry the next day, that’s important to mention.

It’s important to remember that your primary competition in the vacation rental business is not really other vacation rentals; it is hotels.  Yes, hotels are easier to book than vacation rentals.  Yes, they are less risky than vacation rentals.  But, they cannot compete when it comes to the “three C’s”, and we suggest that you push those advantages of your vacation rental in all your online advertisements.