Vacation Rental Owners Blog

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At A Glance: December News For Vacation Rental Owners Posted: 28 Dec 2013 12:00 PM PST Skift || HomeAway Sues Airbnb Over Use of Birdhouse Mark Having long argued that Airbnb isn’t a competitor and operates in a different market, HomeAway is suing Airbnb over their use of a birdhouse in their latest national marketing campaign—something HomeAway says infringes on their trademark.  The battle between the two companies has seemed inevitable to many, and has certainly just increased a notch (or 10) with the news of the lawsuit. Skift || Why Hotel Brands Should Care About Airbnb’s Disruption Airbnb has made a significant dent in the hotel market, building on strengths that every vacation rental has—whether they use the rental site or not. Vikram Singh of Skift says brand loyalty has lost its power; people care most about location, value and good reviews. He also notes that transparency helps build trust and community: “The host is the brand, and you have access to him at every stage of your travel experience.” Skift || U.S. Is on Track to Welcome Nearly 84 Million Foreign Visitors a Year by 2018 If foreign tourists like to visit to your community, 2014 is a great time to consider what you can do to get them to book with your vacation rental. Foreign tourism is expected to increase 26 percent over the next few years: tourists from Canada and Mexico will continue to be the largest groups, but there will be significant growth in visitors from South America, Asia and the Middle East. Vacation Rental Marketing Blog || 2 New Studies Reveal Hotels Are Nervous About Vacation Rentals The vacation rental industry is in hot competition with the hotel industry, both vying for travelers looking for a more intimate and unique travel experience. Citing two recent surveys, Matt Landau highlights three key themes: travelers want authenticity and more family time, and they use the Internet as a key source for inspiration. Cottage Blogger || Making the Vacation Rental Process Effortless “High demand and not a lot of choice created a market that didn’t require a great deal of attention or work,” Heather Bayer remembers of the vacation rental industry 10-15 years ago. Now, she says, the whole concept of customer service has been turned on its head. Citing a book about customer experience, Bayer offers tips to encourage more loyal guests by ensuring that everything you do makes life easier for them. Is there any industry news that we missed? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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Attract Travelers By Pairing Your Blog With Pinterest Posted: 21 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Guest post by Madoline Hatter Connect with MyVR on Pinterest. While sharing interesting content via a blog can support your vacation rental business, adding images—and taking advantage of an image-based social network—can improve the experience exponentially. Like the adage goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Pinterest is a growing social media hub that can help boost your blog; pairing the two creates a powerful way for you to connect with new visitors. Draw in new travelers Even though it's relatively new, Pinterest drives more traffic to websites than several other social networks combined. It's easy to direct people back to your blog: add short snippets of information to each picture and link them back to your main blog or website. Unique and well-developed pictures can spread, generating additional traffic from other sites such as Facebook or Reddit—a strong argument for hiring a professional photographer. The more attention any single image can receive, the better your chances of getting attention from a potential guest. Boost your marketing efficiently It's not just about pointing people back to your website, either. By adding a Pinterest link to your website, it's easy for visitors to find more images from you or others. Use these photos to showcase your rental property and nearby attractions. This could easily entice visitors to explore further and find out more about your property or the location itself. The more you can draw website visitors in with eye-catching photos, the more often those visits will turn into bookings. And Pinterest makes it easy: not only can you integrate it with your blog, it's also free to use. Cross-promote your blog  Pinterest images can be shared across other social media sites; this helps promote your blog without an active effort from you. Pinterest users often share—or "repin"—images they find enticing, posting them to Facebook profiles as well as other social sites. A captivating sunset over your rental property could make its way to other networks, leaving a trail back to your blog. Add Pinterest to a WordPress blog If you use WordPress—one of the most common blog platforms—for your blog, there are various free plugins available that allow you to display your images from Pinterest directly on your website in a gallery-style form. Setup can differ from one plugin to the next but, once you're set up, the corresponding images will be displayed immediately. What makes this such an ideal design? Beyond the added potential for web traffic, using Pinterest saves you the time of placing every image, one by one, onto your website. Plus, any time you add new images or "repin" relevant photos from other people, they will flow through as part of a constantly evolving slideshow. Integrating Pinterest with your website can enhance the experience of your website visitors. Amazing images of your property, put into the hands of the active Pinterest community, could help thrust your blog into a higher caste of popular websites. The primary focus for any site is to attract attention to itself, and visual stimulation can certainly help. Are you using Pinterest to promote your vacation rental? Share your best tips in the comments below! This article has been contributed by Madoline Hatter. Madoline is a freelance writer and blog junkie from ChangeOfAddressForm.com. You can reach her at: m.hatter12(at)gmail.com.

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Choosing The Best Thumbnail For Your Vacation Rental Listing Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Guest post by Tyann Marcink It was three weeks ago. Well, maybe just two weeks—but it seems like an eternity. No emails. No phone calls. Just a message from “Marie in NY” that was obviously a phishing attempt. Why haven’t the inquiries flooded in? How is it that a scammer found your property, but the legit folk seem to no longer be taking vacations? After checking the number of views on the brand new listing, the realization hits: nobody is even clicking through to look at your property. Take a deep breath. The travelers are there. They really, truly do want to find a vacation rental just like yours. But are you giving them a reason to click? The first photo a traveler will see of your vacation rental is your listing thumbnail. That tiny thumbnail offers a little glimpse of your property—a mere sliver of a peek to convince a guest that your place is worth their time to look at. If they don't like it, they will move on to the next one. How do you make a traveler want to click? 1. Less is more Less is best when it comes to your thumbnail. Inspire a traveler to want to learn more. Take a peek at this cabin in Colorado: Snow, trees, cabin, and a beautiful sky. Simple. Striking. The warm lights at dusk draw you into the photo—and into the listing itself. By reducing the photo to as few elements as possible, a traveler will be able to better register the thumbnail in his brain. Another thumbnail with just a few elements: water, sand, trees, and sky. Additionally, using the compositional element of leading lines, the sand and waves begin in the foreground and lead you into the photo. One weird trick to know if your thumbnail window is overloaded: make the photo blurry by squinting your eyes at it. If your photo is simple enough, the main elements will still stand out. If you have packed your thumbnail with too many elements, it will all blur together. 2. Match the photo to what the traveler wants Are your guests looking to drink hot chocolate in a snow-covered lodge nestled in the woods after a day of skiing? This thumbnail immediately tells you that this is the perfect place to be. 3. Invite guests to join in By angling the perspective of this photo behind the beach chairs and looking towards the ocean, this beach thumbnail encourages a traveler to kick off her shoes and have a seat. 4. Get up close and personal If you have a unique feature—a detail that is very distinctive about your vacation rental—don't be afraid to zoom in on it. This black bear is an exceptional characteristic, the mascot really, for the Black Bear Lodge in Branson, Missouri. And when the competition is fierce, it is the little details like this one that are many times the tipping point in a guest's decision of choosing a property. How these thumbnails could have more impact 1. Too much crammed into one small photo This thumbnail is for a fabulous property in Hawaii: the beach is literally steps away from this bungalow—you can even see the ocean from the front porch. But there is so much going on in such a tiny picture, travelers could easily miss the spacious lanai and beautifully landscaped yard as they scan past. 2. Leave bland for the competition, don't feature it in your photo Don’t mistakenly highlight a cinder block wall or other drab feature of your property. This photo may have been chosen for the bright red umbrella at the top, but because the wall takes up a good portion of the photo, because the light is lackluster, and because there is an overwhelming amount of gray contributing to the lifelessness of the photo overall, it is easily passed over. 3. Highlighting uninteresting standard feature Unless your condo living room is absolutely spectacular, don't use it as the first peek into your vacation rental. As a traveler myself, a fresh coat of ocean blue paint on the wall is not the first thing I am looking for. What I am looking for is the real ocean blue, and this property has it: a gorgeous beach framed by a silhouette of trees arched over the beach. Unfortunately, the beach photo is hidden in the middle of the other listing photos. 4. Move the car Have someone help you out with this one by standing guard if necessary. If the vehicle is a regular, politely ask the owner to give you five minutes of car-free zone. If a car-free zone is still impossible, choose another lead photo. Consider the different reasons guests choose your vacation area. In this case, for example, the Jersey Shore has a lot of eye candy to offer, like waves crashing on the beach and spectacular sunsets. 5. Leave your cell phone in your pocket Out-of-focus and grainy photos are not your friend, and travelers are not fond of them (unless they have taken the photo themselves). There is no reason to cram as much information as possible into the listing thumbnail, the window to your vacation rental property. Show a glimpse and create a desire to see more. Screenshots from HomeAway, VRBO and VacationRentals.com. Photos used with permission from owners. Tyann Marcink is a photographer in the St. Louis area. She and her husband Mike own two vacation rental homes in Branson, Missouri, and have hosted more than 3,000 guests in the past six years. Check out her eBook Create Killer Vacation Rental Property Photos – a How-To for Owners with Key Step-by-Step Instructions today (also available on Amazon, and Smashwords). The book reveals the hidden secrets, the ancient myths, and the rock solid truths about vacation rental photography and how you can achieve the mysterious and elusive photos for yourself.

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How To Turn Hollywood Hits Into Reservations Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Having your city or neighborhood featured in a movie, TV series or book can bring a sense of pride—even some residual acclaim—to the people who live there. A new report from Skift confirms that status can also draw tourists, bringing a direct boost to the local travel industry. Whether it's the spectacular backdrops or a connection to their favorite stories, people are drawn to follow in the footsteps of their favorite characters. New Zealand has developed a booming business around first the "Lord of the Rings" franchise and now "The Hobbit", as evidenced by painted airplanes and the recently-launched "Book of New Zealand". But your efforts don't need to be quite so epic. In their report, "The Rise of Destination Marketing Through Movies and TV", Skift cites a number of examples from the past few decades–including some you might not expect. "The Hunger Games" was partly filmed in Dupont State Recreational Forest in North Carolina, a big-screen promo that drew a 31% year-over-year increase in visitors in 2012. 9,500 people visited Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland, in 2003—the year the book "The Da Vinci Code", which includes the chapel as part of the adventure, was published. When the related movie was released in 2006, visits skyrocketed to nearly 139,000. The popularity of "Miami Vice" among Germans alone drew 150% more German travelers each year to Miami between 1985 and 1988. "In 2012, Tourism Competitive Intelligence found that 40 million international tourists chose their destination primarily because they saw a film shot in that country," the report observes. "Up to 10 percent of tourists in the survey cite movies as a factor in deciding on their destination." Linking your marketing to pop culture You don't need to put yourself in the middle of fan-fueled pandemonium to take advantage of a Hollywood connection. For many people, just having context can create a clear impression—the "Oh, I remember that movie!" effect. But it's also an opportunity to tap into someone else's marketing efforts to promote your area to a particular niche group of travelers—and position your vacation rental as the place to stay while they do their exploring. Connect people to information that's already available. Locations for particularly popular stories may already have a lot of information available, so there's no need to create your own. For example: Forks, Washington (location of the "Twilight" trilogy, written by Stephenie Meyer) and Prince Edward Island (home to "Anne of Green Gables", by L.M. Montgomery) have both created websites, maps and other materials for flocking fans. Echoes some of the advice we've previously shared about growing your website, you can add information about local hotspots—with your own local insights—to a section in your local guide your blog, through one or more blog posts your directory of local links your collection of promotional photos Consider using it as a promotional hook. Be careful about using protected titles and images too liberally; taking your own photos of public locations is OK, for example, but grabbing screenshots from a movie (even if you find them on Google) is not. However, with some creativity you can tap into someone else's marketing machines. Does a local business offer location tours? Team up with them and put together a special "fan package" promotion. Target your Facebook marketing. Facebook's advertising program allows you to be very specific with your targeting—right down to people who like specific movies, shows or books. If your vacation rental is located in Scranton, PA, for example, you could target an ad to fans of "The Office"—3,500 of whom have already visited the city because of the show. Has pop culture ever taken your community by storm? Tell us what happened–and what you learned from it—in the comments below.

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The 2013 Traveler: A Wake-Up Call For Passive Marketers Posted: 30 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST As a group, the preferences of travelers don’t change much from year to year. But they way they do their research and bookings—and the opportunities you have to connect with them—does. Following up on a survey conducted last year, Google recently released “The 2013 Traveler“, a report that doesn’t offer shocking revelations but emphasizes that if you’ve held off on taking control of your vacation rental marketing, now is the time to do it. A survey by the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog last year found that 1 in 2 rental owners relies on listing sites as their sole form of marketing. Listing sites help attract bookings, but if you don’t have your own vacation rental website it’s increasingly clear that you're leaving business on the table for your competitors to snatch up. Travelers want local information Price, location and past experience with an establishment are still key decision-making factors for both business and leisure travelers, but when traveling on their own time people want to know what they can do once they arrive. “Activities specific to my interests” ranked second only to price when leisure travelers were asked to rank the most important features the look for; also making the top six was access to a variety of activities. Having a local experience is a major draw for the vacation rental agency, so why not take advantage of it? Define a niche market (a group of people with a specific interest) that's appropriate for your property, and provide the information they will need to see that your rental is the perfect location for their next trip. From “The 2013 Traveler”, a survey by Google [November 2013]. Click for larger version. Create a local guide that doesn’t just highlight local attractions but which puts you in the role of tour guide: Your best recommendations, favorite spots, activities to do year-round—even places to avoid. People value local insights: it’s one of the reasons why travelers rely on friends, family and review sites to learn the highs and lows that a destination has to offer. Link to other local information like travel organizations, review sites, news and local blogs. Online search is the #1 source for travel information (#3 for business travelers), but why make your guests keep looking? Gathering relevant information in one spot on your website makes it easy for people to do their own research—and has the added bonus of giving you some solid content for search engines to take note of. Beyond what you provide online, travelers want information offline, too. Echoing a UK survey that found many travelers still like published guidebooks, “The 2013 Traveler” found that once they’ve arrived and are deciding what to do, brochures and books in the room or house are key to decision making—followed closely by a destination website or app. Mobile matters—a lot From “The 2013 Traveler”, a survey by Google [November 2013]. Click for larger version. If you follow marketing trends, or are a regular reader of this blog, you’ve probably heard the noise around mobile websites getting louder. Computers are still the most common way for people to access information online—but only by a hair. Travelers are use their tablets and smartphones constantly: at home and at work for research and planning, on the road for in-the-moment directions, advice and recommendations. What Google's latest survey confirms is that your guests aren’t using one or the other: they use devices interchangeably—and sometimes, a bad mobile experience actually stands in the way of follow-through. How? Google's 2012 survey identified the top problems with mobile travel websites: The websites are hard to see/read/navigate on a mobile device It takes too long to book on a mobile device/the pages load too slow Too cumbersome I don’t trust the security on mobile devices The mobile version of the site did not allow me to book It's getting easier to create a mobile website; some providers (like MyVR!) do it automatically. However you bring your mobile presence into existence, here are seven things your mobile site should have. Does feedback you receive from your guests match general trends, or are they telling you something different? Share your observations in the comments section below.

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Photo Staging Tips for Vacation Rentals Posted: 26 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST Whether you’ve hired a professional photographer—one of our top tips!—or prefer to take your own photos, staging your property can have a positive impact on your booking results. Staging your vacation rental for photos is like staging it for the arrival of your guests: You want your home to make a great first impression. The description you write and photos you use sell your vacation rental for you. If a traveler isn’t drawn in, you'll never know—you won't hear from them. Some photographers will do some arranging, while others will stage your home for a fee. If you do the prep work yourself, what can you do to set the stage for images that earn inquiries? Here are five DIY tips. Keep your staging realistic Some arranging is OK; complete room makeovers are not. In real estate, homes are often staged with furniture, artwork and accessories liberally added or removed to get the right look for a quick, high-priced sale. For your vacation rental, however, that approach is only destined to earn scowls—if not outright angry guests. With the exception of perishables like flowers or fruit, don't stage your home with anything your guests won't find when they arrive. Bedding, artwork, appliances, even the dishes and cutlery should all be the same, as should the arrangement of your furniture. Clear the clutter Before snapping any photos, make sure your rooms sparkle! Clean all surfaces, including your floors, so everything looks its best. “Completely clear the space of any unnecessary ‘noise’ that might put people off, especially in the bathroom and kitchen,” advise the photographers from Rental Tonic. Ideally, clutter should be dealt with permanently and not just pushed “out of frame”. If not, take time to Move everything off kitchen and bathroom counter tops, ideally into cupboards if you have room. Hide garbage cans, and move them into a cupboard or mudroom if possible. Remove family photos or personal items from your property, if you haven’t done so already. Turn the lights on It's very difficult to capture mood lighting in photos; instead of looking warm and cosy, your beautifully staged room will more likely end up full of dark shadows. Instead, try to take your photos during the day (early morning or late afternoon) and—even when a room is lit—consider turning on other lights in the room, like table lamps. “Cameras are essentially light recorders, but the range of what you can see and what a camera can see (or record) is different,” explained professional photographer David Duncan Livingston on Houzz. “The tonal range of light areas and dark areas needs to be less extreme, balanced and softer than what we can see for the photograph to be properly exposed with today’s cameras. A well-lit space looks bright and inviting. Using the lighting in the room, instead of a camera flash, will also look more natural. Keep everything straight Before taking any photos, check to ensure that everything in the room is straight: no crooked frames on the wall, no bunched up curtains or diagonal bedding. These are small details that may barely be noticed, but they will impact the overall composition of the photo whether people are paying careful attention or not. Capture the seasons Should you have photos of your vacation rental for every season? That probably depends on when and why people book, and how different the seasons are. If you have hikers and bikers all summer long, with skiers defrosting in front of the fireplace through the winter, a little variety will be in your best interests. If the change is noticeable but not necessarily dramatic, a few beautiful scenery shots may be enough to set the tone. What's your experience with staging and photos for your vacation rental? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

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At A Glance: Recent News For Vacation Rental Owners Posted: 23 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST What are vacation rental owners talking about, and is there any news that might impact your vacation rental? Here’s a look some recent highlights. Vacation Rental Marketing Blog || Go Big Or Go Home If you missed this great discussion on the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog last month, it's worth reviewing. Referencing a thread on the HomeAway Community Forum, Matt Landau said: "You either run a business and treat every guest like the most spectacular VIP in the world. Or you participate in a hobby and worry not about your income or revenue." The "hotelization" of vacation rentals is something Tyler Gillespie blogged about in a series of posts for MyVR last month, looking at our need to balance the best of vacation rental travel against increased competition from hotels. The comments on Landau's post provide an interesting look at the lack of consensus among owners—and food for thought when it comes to how you want to manage your own rental. Huffington Post || Five Rules For Choosing A Vacation Rental How prepared are you to meet the expectations of your guests? After years of great experiences, a disappointing rental property in Berlin prompted Martin and her husband to recommend this list of "unbreakable rules" to fellow travelers and vacation home renters. The result: Advice that includes checking reviews, asking specific questions about the neighbourhood, carefully reviewing photos and listed amenities, asking about local transportation, and confirming a good Internet connection. This list is a great checklist to make sure you have these items covered in your marketing materials, or ready to provide when requested. tnooz || Google wades into personal trip planning with Tour Builder If you're looking for interesting ways to share information with your guests, the newly-released Tour Builder from Google is an easy-to-use option. Tapping into Google Maps and its database of locations and landmarks, Tour Builder lets anyone with a Google/Gmail account create their own shareable tour. Create your own tour, adding locations with your own photos, stories and recommendations. The result is an interactive mini movie: With each click, the information you've added is displayed while the earth spins and zooms in on the designated location. Viewers can interact – zooming in or even using Google's street view. One fun example takes a tour of Blue Bottle Coffee locations around the world. This could be a great addition to your vacation rental's local guide, and the link can be easily shared via email. Cottage Blogger || Is a Public Rant Ever Justified? A thoughtful post from Heather Bayer: Are we sometimes too quick to post—publicly—when we have a run-in with guests? "It's easy to jump on the soap box and bang out some frustration in the form of a blog post and hit publish," she wrote. "It gives a little satisfaction to get it out there and share what many of us experience in the course of a long rental season." Bayer notes, however, that many of the places where owners connect are public—and open to Google searches. That doesn't mean you should avoid these platforms; connecting with other owners has a lot of value. But it does mean should be careful about what you publish. Is there any industry news that we missed? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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