VacationRentalsIntl.com | Vacation Rental Tips International Vacation Rentals, Vacation Cabin Rentals, Vacation Home Rentals

1) Vacation home listings can be found in magazines, newspapers, online and through rental agencies and Realtors.
2) One of the best ways to find a vacation rental is to ask friends and neighbors. A recommendation from someone who has stayed in a particular home or used a particular rental agency or Realtor can offer great insight.
3) Official area convention and visitor bureau Web sites can be another source of rental listings.
4) Know who you’re dealing with. Some individual rental owners advertise on rental directory sites, so you will deal directly with the unit’s owner. Other rental owners hire a management company to handle rentals and maintenance.
Get the rental agreement in writing. Make sure it specifies dates, check-in and check-out times, specific deposit and payment requirements and clearly spells out your responsibilities.
5) Ask lots of questions.

I found a good quote while reading other Vacation Rental Blogs.

Photos are the window to your property and are usually the deciding factor in a vacationer choosing to rent your home…Are they blurry? Do they reflect the updates that you have made to the property? Is there good lighting? Be sure to include a photo of the view, living room, kitchen, master bath, master bedroom, pool, and exterior.

This is a good point if you are taking pictures of your vacation rental property don’t just quickly take a few shots, take the time to make the pictures of crisp and clear as possible. Try decorating your rooms a little more, have fun with lighting, make your vacation rental look like a dream come true, don’t just settle for second best.

And clean up a little huh? Do we really need to see your mess?

Mancations is yet another fancy marketing catch phrase being thrown around by big hotels looking for all your money. Hotels like the Regent South Beach are offering everything from poker parties to hand-rolled cigars, buckets of beer to sports tickets, all in hopes of tapping a growing market.

Sure that sounds amazing right? Sounds like you’ll have the best time of your life? You and your buddies hanging out in the overpriced penthouse suite spending buckets of money for buckets of beer… beer you can get for less by just going to the beer store with a cooler!

Although we admit that the idea of a Mancation sounds cool, it just isn’t as cool as going out with your buddies, renting a cabin, and bringing your own beer.

Tricks of the trade

Today will be a brief but important lesson. We will go over a few important parts of a website that a lot of people who are building private vacation rental property websites overlook.

First and probably most important is your page title. A website without a page title is like a book without a cover. If you see two books on a shelf which are you most likely to pick up? The one that has the title on the spine and you know has what you want inside, or the blank book that might have what you want inside but could be a complete waste of time.

example:
<title>Untitled Document</title>

Not sure where to change your page title? It is pretty simple actually. Open up your website code in your html or text editor. Near the top of the page you will find something similar to the following:

Simply replace untitled document with the title you want. Preferably something very descriptive that will tell the view where they are and where you are located.

example:
<title>Beautiful Banff Vacation, Banff Alberta Canada - MyWebsiteUrl.com - Home Page</title>

Now the guest knows your rental is in Banff, what your website address is, and which page on your website they are view, whether it is the ‘Home Page’ or the ‘Contact Information’ page.

While having your page title right is important it can also help to make a list of similar keywords on your page. Keep in mind not to go overboard. DO NOT add hundreds of different variations and keywords to your website. This is a popular trend with a lot of shady spam websites out there right now, and it will not reflect well on your site. Some search engines may go as far as completely blacklisting your website. Try a maximum of 10 different keywords that describe your website.

example:
Banff Alberta Vacation Rental, banff national park, banff accommodation, banff springs, ski banff, banff lake louise, banff hot springs, banff lodging

By adding keywords like these to the bottom of your page you may get more visitors who are searching for these terms.

Finally try setting up a related links page or a resource. Find as many reliable links that relate to Banff as you can and post them on your website. I say reliable because you want to link to websites that are official and have reliable information on them. This will make your website seem more reliable and there is a chance your website will be found faster.

If you have done some research into making your own vacation rental website then you will a notice a few things that all good owner-run vacation rentals use to entice guests into booking their property. Can you guess? There are really two answers that go hand in hand – pictures and words. The more detailed you can be without getting too long winded the better.

In this lesson we will look at the most important part of any website - CONTENT!
- Using words to paint a picture.

- Using pictures to paint…a picture.

- Organizing your content to paint a clear picture.

If you have a website full of pictures and a phone number you might get a few phone calls, but more often then not you will be left high and dry. At the same time if you vacation rental website that is all words and has no photos potential guests will have no reference point to what your cabin looks like, and if you are even describing what you have accurately. If you have a jumble of hard to read words and giant pictures that take up more than the whole screen, it could be displeasing to a person’s time - and internet connection - that they will hit the back button faster than you can say Vacations Rule! A good combination of these elements are essential in making your vacation rental website successful.

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Organizing your ideas on paper

If you are a new vacation rental owner you may have ideas of grandeur. Perhaps you see dollar signs dancing in your eyes? Well if you want to be the proud owner of a successful privately run vacation rental home you are going to need to have some goals in mind. Today we are going to talk about some the basics of owning and promoting your vacation home.

- What is your goal to owning a vacation rental?

- Why should people want to rent your vacation home?

- Are there any restrictions?

- What are you charging?

All of these points are important when starting your own vacation rental website. If you do not know why you are charging three times more than other rentals in your area then why is someone going to want to rent your property? Having a well-organized plan of attack is key to being successful in any business, and don’t be fooled – this is a business.

We are going to assume you’ve already put in time and thought into how you are going to maintain your rental. Keeping everything in working order is very important however it is not today’s focus. If you have not thought about who is going to cut the grass, how you are going to deal with cleaning up after guests, and who is going to come down to fix your A/C unit for a guest you may want to take a few minutes right now to think about that.

Okay?

Alright let’s get started.

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A guide for Vacation Rental By Owner Advertising

There are two ways to go about advertising your vacation rental cabin, cottage, or house online. You can take the obvious route and sign up online for one or more of the hundreds of vacation rental websites. This may be the easiest way to go, although each site can cost from $60.00 a year to $60.00 a month. Paying out $60.00 a month can leave you with far less money in your pocket, which is important especially if you are on a tight budget.

The other way you can advertise your vacation rental is by setting up your own website. We think this can be a very efficient way to promote a new vacation cabin. Our ‘by owner promotion guide’ will discuss the best and the worst ways to go about setting up a successful owner-run vacation rental website. We will go over everything from how to decide what to call your website, to organizing your content, and how to go about promoting your vacation rental website once it is up and running.

Planning your own website is hard enough for most people without the added stresses of making sure your property is successful as a vacation rental. That is why this guide will be split into three sections:

1. Getting Started - Organizing ideas, your vacation home, and making a plan.

2. Building a Foundation - Creating a well thought out vacation rental by owner website.

3. Promote! Promote! Promote! - Getting your website out there.

Please keep coming back to VacationRentalsIntl.com for regular updates on this guide. Please leave us a comment if you have any questions or comments.

Here are a few tips for cutting down the price of your next vacation and vacation rental.

1. Travel during the off-season. A lot of the best tourist destinations hike their prices during peak seasons. You can save a lot of money by researching when the peak seasons and holidays are and avoiding them.
2. Plan your vacation ahead of time. Look for early-bird discounts on flights and car rentals.
3. Purchase travel insurance from a third party for better coverage and/or a lower rate than through a travel agent.
4. Slip an easily compressed duffel bag into your suitcase. If you learn your luggage is too heavy when you check-in with your airline, you can quickly repack and avoid airline fines and hassles.
5. Fly on small, low-cost air carriers. You may not get luxurious leather seats but the price is often worth it.
6. If making flight connections in Europe, bypass major airport hubs such as Heathrow in London and Charles De Gaulle in Paris. Switch planes in less trafficked Dublin instead.
7. Shop around for the lowest airline fares and also check the airline’s own website before booking. Some offer special discounts available on their website only.
8. Stay overnight on a Saturday for a lower weekend airline fare.
9. Head off the beaten path to find small neighbourhood dining options. They are often less expensive and provide a more authentic dining experience.
10. Consider hopping on a shuttle or subway from the airport to the city center and then catch a cab from there. Many taxis are often required by their organization or local government to charge higher rates within airport boundaries.
11. Shop around before booking a car rental. Get an estimate from one company and then see if a competitor will beat it.
12. Hop on a bike for a fun and affordable way to tour a new area.
13. Purchase a prepaid cell phone before hitting the road to avoid roaming charges or purchase an international calling card for affordable calls via a pay phone.
14. Book your adventures after arriving at your vacation destination, not before you leave. Often local tour operators will offer better rates.
15. Buy theater tickets the day of the performance for substantial savings.
16. Purchase a multi-day subway pass if you plan on making several stops. It is well worth it.
17. Don’t wait until the last minute to get or renew your passport. The longer you wait, the more it costs. Routine applications generally take up to six weeks to process whereas an urgent rush on getting your application can cost you double.
18. Many art museums offer free times to visit. Investigate beforehand to find the savings.
19. Consider purchasing a yearly park pass instead of a daily one. Depending on how long you plan to stay in a park, it may lead to some great savings.
20. Visit small neighbourhood markets instead of big, flashy shopping venues. Shop where the locals shop.
21. Convert money at a local bank for the best exchange rates.
22. Pay with a credit card whenever possible. Most credit card companies offer the lowest possible exchange rate and you will have the added protection from unauthorized charges.
23. Instead of staying in a hotel, rent a condo or villa directly from owners through Owner Direct Vacation Rentals. All the comforts of home and savings galore!
24. If the food budget is tight, consider finding a hotel room that has a kitchen to cut costs.
25. Consider flying from an alternate airport. Often cities are near multiple airports and fares can vary dramatically from one to the next based on location and air carrier service.

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Here at Vacation Rentals Intl we are always looking for making booking vacation rentals easier. Whether you are a first time vacation home renter, or if you have been renting the same cabin in Lake Tahoe for 10 years you can always learn something.

Here are a few links to some vacation rental tip articles that can come in handy.

- 5 Tips: Booking vacation rentals

- Vacation Rental 101

- The Independent Traveler Travel Resource

If you have an great vacation rental tips leave us a comment and share your vacation tips with the world!

When winter’s cold hand grips my face and freezes my nose the first thing I think of is that it’stime to head south to warmer climates. Every winter people like to migrate to these warm climates to wait for spring’s warm glow. Maybe you are thinking about being one of those people, maybe you are already an avid winter vacationer, but do you know how to ensure that you’re home is safe while you are away for more than a few days?

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