Vacation Rental Marketing 101- Part II

Every picture is worth a thousands words. This phrase has been echoed for centuries and holds more weight today than ever before. In the vacation rental industry photographs are important for a number of reasons. First, photos show a potential renter an accurate depiction of the home they are about to rent. Secondly, it protects a home owner from unsatisfied customers. Finally, they show the professional standards of the home owner. It's that last one that I feel is the most important.

While almost every vacation rental homeowner understand that it is necessarily to have photographs of their vacation home available to the public, it seems many property owners neglect the quality of the photographs. An image of the front of the home with a trash can on the side of the garage, poor lighting, and out of focus, is not going to entice a renter into sending an inquiry. In all seriousness, this may seem a bit extreme, but I see images like this all the time.

High quality photos will reap great rewards for the homeowner and are worth every penny you invest in having professional photos taken of your property. Consider this website: San Diego Vacation Homes. All the images on this website are professionally taken and edited. When this kind of detail is considered, a potential renter is more likely to inquire about the availability of a home. In addition, a travel enthusiast will be more likely to book, as they will understand the level of dedication.

It's really a matter of simple math when it comes to high quality photos for your vacation home. The more effort you put into making sure the images are crisp, clean, and sharp, the better the chances are going to be to lure the potential renter to stay in your home over the competition. The vacation rental industry is fickle in that renters need to trust the person with the keys to their vacation, so why not put forth the dedication to show the renter you care. Make sure your photos are up to date and at the very least good quality.

Value Proposition Part II

Many people have already purchased that are dated and in need of an upgrade. The internet is always changing and it is extremely important to have a website that looks professional, otherwise your potential guests will not trust the website and "bounce back" to the google search results page.

The bottom line is that the Vacation Rental Property Network will help you build a professional website that will create an outstanding user experience for your potential guests. The result will be an increased conversion ratio. This means more revenue to your vacation rental business. Here is our typical time line for developing a website:

1. You will be asked to complete a quick profile because we want to make sure we are on the same page in regards to the production of your new website.
   
2. You will have a scheduled meeting with a website developer to confirm your requirements.
3. We will gather all the information about your area and your properties.
4. We will build your site navigation.
5. We will structure your database of properties.
6. We will rework your content to conform to our best SEO practices.
7. We will optimize every page on your website to increase the visibility of your site in the search engines.
8. We may add a real time booking system to your website if appropriate and for an additional fee.
9. We will train you on how to add and remove properties from your website.
10. We will point your domain name to our servers and your site will be live.
11. We will provide ongoing basic support of your website.
12. We will follow up with you to make sure that your site is current and utilizing any new enhancements added to your website.
13. We will list all of your properties on our listing service known as www.showvacationrentals.com.
14. We will provide you with a log in to your Google Analytics account, so you can track the performance of your site.

Once your site is complete, you will have an attractive site that will allow your clients to electronically book properties right from your website. You will be able to efficiently manage your inquiries and past guests. You will be able to manage the content on your website for each listing. You will be able to add and remove these listing at your leisure. Finally, you will be able to use Google applications that will help you quantify the performance of your website. In the end, this means you will be able evaluate the performance of all your listing services as well as the performance of your Adwords campaigns.

Visit VRPN for more details

Value Proposition Part I

A successful marketing strategy for your vacation rental business starts with ownership of your brand, website, content, and client relations. It is extremely important that you view each inquiry as a sales opportunity. Most home owners don't have the time required to service an inquiry with anything more than a followup phone call or email, and an overwhelming amount majority of vacation property owners believe that losing an inquiry doesn't matter because listing services have always provided enough leads to the property manager or home owner. The reality is that vacation home owners, in most destinations, can look forward to an increased inventory/choice for a potential guest. Property managers and home owners can also expect the number of potential guests to decline because of a smaller national disposable income. Consequently, guests will be more likely to haggle over the rates you offer. As the economy readjusts, these rental inquiries become more valuable, and wasting money on unproductive listing services will no longer suffice; only use the best.

We at the Vacation Rental Property Network understand the value of a listing service, however, they are merely an electronic catalog of vacation rental listings. The actions of these listing services indicate ownership ownership of the guests information, obtained during the visit to their respective listing service. In other words, the rental inquiries from online listing services do not belong to the homeowner. We encourage you to thoroughly read the terms and conditions of your listing services.

Today, many listing services have sales teams making projections and promises to potential advertisers. They will promise traffic, inquiries, and bookings. The fact of the matter is that one does not need more than a couple of the high performing listing services. We feel our alternative is much better then being "sold" a listing on an unproven website.

Owning a website is completely different from buying a listing on a listing service. Here are just a few of the major differences:

• First, the client comes into your website and will only see your properties, rather than going to a listing service that has many properties competing for the same booking. Many listing services have 10's of thousands of properties.
  
• Listing services can be extremely expensive. In fact, the trend of the effective listing services is to increase the cost of the listings over time. Many of the second tier listing services are lowering their prices and offering deals because they no longer produce the results that the advertisers have come to expect. In some cases, advertising is sold at rates where a person can have no reasonable expectation of generating any kind of fair and economic return.
• Listing services are an expense while a website is an asset. For example, you rent a section on a listing service for an annual fee. Every year you will be required to renew your subscription as ling as you want to be included on the respective listing service. Conversely, your website is an asset that you own. Adding your content, photos, media, and properties will reap long term rewards for your vacation rental business.

Visit VRPN for more details.

Vacation Rental Marketing 101- Part I

With the dawning of 2009, and the election of President Barack Obama, many vacation rental home owners are faced with the baffling constriction of a weak United States economy. While vacation rental directories are still a necessity, the days of purchasing a listing with a new vacation rental website have become obsolete. Home owners have drawn lines in the sand and are unwilling to spend money on unproven websites, which is causing most of the fly by night vacation rental directories to vanish overnight, leaving the home owner with many questions on what is truly the best way to rent their one of a kind vacation rental.

The good news is there are many solutions to the online marketing enigma. This will be an ongoing series, so subscribe to our blog to stay informed on vacation rental market trends. Let's start with the basics:

To begin with let's establish that your vacation home is in reality a business. In any industry a successful business starts with a great product or service. Since we are talking about the vacation rental industry our product would be categorized as a private residence, fully furnished, uniquely decorated, conveniently located, and professionally maintained, giving each home an overall appeal. This character will become the properties niche, and, with careful planning, will attract the type of traveler that meets demographic standards.

These standards may vary from one homeowner to the next. For example, one homeowner may be interested in renting his or her home to the spring break crowd, and, in order to minimize the risk of theft and property damages, places a high security deposit with a descriptive contract. None the less, this is not a reason to complicate things. Most home owners simply require a brief interview of the interested traveler, and much can be told by the age and quantity of visitors; a large group of renters between the ages of 18-21 will likely be a liability.

The key to marketing a vacation home as a rental property starts with knowing your audience. Once you have identified the niche market that your property attracts you can start taking steps to focus on your target audience. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

1. Who is my target audience?

2. What type of renter do I want in my vacation home?

3. Does my geographic location and interior decoration appeal to my intended target audience?