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

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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I came across an interesting concept in the ever-popular vacation theme trends that consistently sweep across North America.

Based on the popular “babymoon” travel packages, where newly pregnant couples are coddled and pampered and made to feel everything was going to be alright as they started down the road to family life, “the procreation vacation” has been born in Jackson Hole.

The Procreation Ski Vacation not only rhymes but it is suppose to get young couples who are thinking about starting a family ‘in the mood’. According to the article some “earnest OBGYN’s” believe time and place can aid in conception and are sending more fertility-challenged couples on vacations in hopes of increasing their chances.

One of these Procreation Ski Vacations can cost up to and beyond $950 per person for a four night stay depending on where you go. So what do we have to say about that?

Why not rent a nice private cabin for a week for half the price? You could use the extra money you have left over and buy a nice bottle of red wine, white wine, sparkling wine…you get the drift…and head out for your own romantic creation.

I think that taking the time to plan a romantic trip - as a guy - not only gets you some major brownie points, it will make the trip that much more special. Don’t rely on someone else to plan the romance, be a man, rent a cabin and buy some flowers.

She will love you even more for it.

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!

A lot of people like the keep diaries and scrapbooks about their vacations and how much fun they had with a vacation rental or just on a road trip. Two college grads recently took that to the next level and are recording a hitchhiking trip through all 50 states on their website http://hitch50.com/. It is really pretty amazing. They are hoping the kindness of strangers and a little bit of luck will take them to all 50 state capitals in 50 days or less.

You can view their progress at http://hitch50.com/. There is a giant Google map at the top of the page that tracks their movement via GPS! On top of being able to track them, you can always check out the daily blog posts, watch video clips and look at he photos they take along the way.

It is realy quite amazing.

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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Summer is typically the season that everyone thinks of when planning their vacations. But why not dare to be different and take a winter vacation getaway instead? If you are a skier, snowboarder, or just someone who enjoys the winter months, a winter vacation may be just what you have been looking for. There are plenty of spots around the world that make spectacular winter getaways.

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Renting a vacation home in hawaii can be a lot more cost effective than staying at a hotel in Hawaii, it can also put you closer to what you want to do on your vacation. Just be careful you are renting a legal vacation home.

In Oahu alone there are only 1,000 homeowners who are certified to rent rooms for less than 30 days. However, you can find more than 2,000 online ads for rentals all over the island. Most of the Bed & Breakfast’s in Hawaii are not run through all legal channels, be careful.

We’ve spoken in length about how challenging owning a vacation rental can be and the best ways for you to promote your vacation rental home. Today I read a short but sweet article about how important word of mouth is to the Vacation Rental industry. It really can apply to all sorts of businesses of course, but we like to focus of the vacation rental aspect.

Basically if you leave a good impression on your customers, they will tell one person, that person will tell a person, etc. At the same time, if you leave your vacation rental home in shambles and do not treat your customers with respect they will let everyone know that your rental is not recommendedJust remember every little bit counts.

Read the full Word of Mouth Article