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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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Choosing An Online Payment System For Your Vacation Rental Posted: 19 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST While not every vacation rental owner accepts them yet, online reservations are gaining traction in the vacation rental industry. That means processing payments online is important, but choosing a vendor that fits your specific needs takes time and research.. PayPal has been a trailblazer in e-commerce for more than a decade, and for many businesses it's the easy choice: a proven and familiar name in a space that's new and still rapidly evolving. Despite PayPal's position as a leader, it's a platform created to appeal to many different industries – and it may or may not be the right solution for your business. Over the past couple of years, the e-commerce space has been flooded with new options, and some might fit your needs better. If you're looking at online payment options, here are questions to ask a potential vendor: What are their fees? Fee structures and amounts range from one provider to another. Processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction are common, but you could also charged be a monthly flat fee or a higher percentage – especially for international transactions. These fees could also be rolled in with a bundle of services (i.e. online reservation program). Also ask about refunds and chargebacks (a fraudulent or disputed transaction). What fees are involved in both situations, and what's the process involved? Will this have any impact on your existing vacation rental policies? What forms of payment are accepted? Credit card payments are standard when it comes to ecommerce, but other options are available. PayPal, for example, allows users to link their account directly to their bank account. Other services accepts electronic checks (e-checks). Make sure the vendor's service is Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant – a requirement for businesses of any size that accept credit card payments. The PCI Compliance Guide recommends that you ask the following questions: What is included in their incidence response plans? Have they experienced any data breaches? How many years have they been in service? Are there available client recommendations? Do they run background checks on employees? (This is required for PCI Compliance.) Are there any complaints found through the Better Business Bureau? How do they protect your data? On the heels of the PCI-related questions, confirm that the vendor is actively protecting your data. For example, your data should be: Backed up multiple times a day to ensure any new transactions are captured. In a physically secure location, protected from other people as well as natural disasters. Ask how – and how quickly – you will be alerted if there is a problem. Also, find out what reports you can download or print for your own records. How will it fit your other systems? If you accept reservations online and have other systems in place for things like marketing and customer service, figure out how this new system will fit. Will it integrate with programs, websites or processes you're already using? If yes, how easy is it to set up? If no, how much time will it take for you to manually keep your records in sync? How will you send invoices, receipts, payment confirmations and reminders? How much of the process can be automated? Is there anything you might need to adjust in your terms and conditions (i.e. cancellations or refunds)? How do they reduce your risk of fraud? There is no guarantee against fraud, but there are ways to identify red flags or increase levels of security. While you're unlikely to get a detailed breakdown of the specific, ask: What steps they have in place to reduce the risk to you and your business? What options are available to help your guests feel that their transaction is secure? How easy is it to set up? Some payment solutions require little more than creating an account and following through on some basic setup; others can be more complicated, especially when it comes to integration. How easy will it be to integrate the system with the specific programs you're using? Are there detailed instructions available? Will customer service be easy to contact and available when you need help? What about other features? Depending on your specific needs and the guests you generally attract, you may also want to ask about: Multiple currencies: what currencies are accepted, and are there additional fees? Clearance timelines: how long will it take for fund to reach your bank account? Volume: what will happen if you increase the number of transactions? Other fees: are there any other potential fees you haven't asked about? Accepting payment online is increasingly easy to jump into; some systems are so simple that you can create an account in minutes. That said, taking time to find answers to these questions will help prepare you before problems come up, and save you the time and frustration of trying to make incompatible systems work together. Have you researched online payment systems? What have your learned, and what system did you choose? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.

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Protect Yourself From These Common Vacation Rental Scams Posted: 16 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST There's no question: Trust within the vacation rental industry is a huge issue for owners and travelers alike. With little or no recourse for many of the people who get scammed, the industry may seem practically evergreen to these criminals—but it doesn’t have to be. While the details may change, the main themes of schemes seem to change little from one decade to the next; chances are you've heard from at least one Nigerian prince or heir since the 1990s and do little more than roll your eyes today. Vacation rental scams aren’t so different. There are two main objectives for scammers: to lure people into sending money. to trick people into providing personal information that they can then use to steal their identity. There is no way to isolate yourself from scammers, but learning the warning signs and being aware are big steps towards keeping your income and business more secure. Scams that target travelers There are two primary scams that target your potential guests. While the scams are similar, one could leave you in the middle of a mess you’ve had no hand in. The fake listing A rental property is offered at a great price. The problem is that the property is someone's home, or it's for sale, or it simply doesn’t exist. A guest shows up for check-in, only to find out that nobody knows what they're talking about – despite the hefty deposit they sent months ago. Real listing, fake contact info Sometimes, a listing is 100 percent genuine—almost. The vacation rental photos are accurate, the description is exactly what you wrote, and your property is available. The difference? The person at the receiving end of inquiries and attempted bookings is not you. This is a scam that's commonly used on Craigslist, although it can be used on other – typically unverified – platforms. Luckily, you can create automatic alerts to help monitor sites like Craigslist on your behalf. While still possible, it’s less likely to see these scams on larger listing sites because of verification processes and because they actively monitor for fraudulent listings. Unfortunately, the end of this scam can have visitors literally landing on your doorstep, ready to start a vacation they've paid for and very upset to find out that they have nowhere to stay. Scams that target owners Scams that target owners are so common that most owners have at least some idea when they should be suspicious. Phishing (which targets your personal information) is a always an issue—and monthly phishing attacks increased 40 percent last year—but many vacation rental scammers just want your money. An overpayment on the deposit check This can be a tricky scam to identify immediately because the inquiry can be similar to other—legitimate—inquiries: A business person whose company will be paying for their rental. A young couple whose parents are paying for their trip. Confusion over what fees to pay, and when, to confirm your vacation rental. The common red flag is that you end up receiving payment—often via check—for more money than you’re owed. The problem is that the check you received isn’t real; it’s fake, forged, or stolen. Inevitably, there’s some urgency for the difference to be refunded to your “guest” and, by the time you realize you’ve been ripped off, your real money is long gone. Often, a scammer will send the same message—using the same name—to multiple owners, so turning to Google search to check odd inquiries and connecting with other owners will help keep you up-to-date on the latest variations on this scheme. Protection for owners Your best protection against scams is awareness; from a practical point of view, there is often little that the authorities can do. Check with your bank to see what they recommend, both to protect yourself and if the worst should occur. Some online payment systems may also offer protection in case of fraud. Transactions through HomeAway Payments, for example, are guaranteed against Internet fraud. Protection for travelers Travelers are, in some ways, more readily protected against fraudulent vacation rental listings. HomeAway/VRBO offers a Carefree Rental Guarantee and FlipKey/TripAdvisor has a Vacation Rental Protection Plan available; both plans are sold over-and-above rental fees, and cover a number of scenarios—including fraud. VRBO, for example, has also compiled a list of recommendations to help travelers protect themselves. Have scammers been an issue for your vacation rental business? Share your experience in the comments section below. photo by lamoix

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Many Travelers Prefer Guidebooks! What That Means For Your Marketing Posted: 12 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST There’s no question that online marketing matters when promoting your vacation rental; Google’s report, “The Traveler’s Road to Decision,” found that the vast majority of business and leisure travelers plan their trips online using search engines, websites, online agencies and other channels to get information and make reservations. However, it seems that many travelers still prefer a good printed guidebook. According to the “World Travel Market 2013 Industry Report,” more than half of UK travelers (59%) referenced a printed guidebook during their travels this summer. Personal recommendations and other online resources still rank high. However, in the middle of the move to digital, it’s a good reminder not to forget the folks who prefer paper. Including books in your marketing, customer service Incorporating printed guidebooks into your marketing and customer service takes little more than a bit of research, set up, and perhaps a skim of titles at your favorite bookstore. Know the guidebooks for your area. There may be many options available that highlight the best your region has to offer, or there may be very few books available. Familiarize yourself with what's available. Whittle the list for your book-loving guests. If there's a wide range of books available for people visiting your area, narrow the search with a few recommendations. What are the best guides for the type of visitor most likely to visit your property (i.e. families, business travelers, etc.)? Compile a short list and share it on your website. Get listed. Check the guides you find in your search for instructions on getting listed, or contact the organizations that produce the guides. If they're locally produced (i.e. tourism organization or chamber of commerce), it may be a matter of paying a fee or joining as a member. Tell your guests how to get copies. Some local or state-level organizations will mail travel information for free—or for a small fee—to anyone who requests it. Is this available for your area? If so, make sure to include the contact details in the information you provide to your guests, so they’ll know how to access it if they’re interested. Have guides on-hand at your vacation rental. Once you’ve decided which guidebooks and materials will be helpful to your guests, have copies on-hand for their reference. This can include your local guide, if it's in a printable format! If they're free publications, you can often request multiple copies so you can provide a fresh copy to each guest. What's your go-to reference when it comes to your own travel planning? Share your recommendations in the comments below. photo by Monterey Public Library

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Create Facebook Posts That Get A Reaction Posted: 09 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST You diligently post to your vacation rental's Facebook Page on a regular basis, and you know many of your Page's fans are seeing your posts. So why don't they do anything? Facebook Page fans can “like” posts, share them with their friends, or add comments with their own opinions. Getting people to do one of those things is ultimately the goal of every Facebook post: It builds connections, helps keep your vacation rental "top of mind", and helps ensure these interested folks will continue to see what you post (because only a fraction of your fans will). However, getting your fans respond is part of the art of using Facebook to promote your property. There is no magic way to succeed – but it's not as much guesswork as you may think, either. Benefits don't matter, but dreams do In a helpful (and free!) ebook from Marketo, Contagious Content, marketing professional Brian Carter explains why a lot of Facebook marketing gets ignored. “One of the first things we learn in marketing is to talk about benefits rather than features…but on Facebook, benefits aren't enough,” he writes. “Your customers use the benefits of your products and services to achieve their goals and dreams.” This means your Facebook Page really isn’t about you or your spectacular property; it’s about how you can help them get what they want from their vacation time or visit. Give your Facebook fans what they want How does that translate into content for your Facebook Page? You can post different types of information – like photos, links or questions – but Carter recommends that every post do at least one of the following. Give them something, like a special deal or a contest. Getting a discount is one of the top three motivations to like a Facebook page, according to a survey from Syncapse. Offer advice, like travel tips – especially about more common problems that anyone could run into, not just your fans. Warn about dangers that could impact anyone, including your guests. There is a bit of a risk here: A lot of warnings are nothing but hoaxes! Check alerts with sites like snopes.com before sharing this sort of information. Make them laugh with a funny photo, video or quote. Avoid sharing anything that may be offensive or otherwise questionable, though – remember, everything you share represents your business. Inspire your fans through stories and quotes – even local news items that celebrate special actions by everyday people. Amaze people by sharing something remarkable, like an astonishing photo or fact. Unite your fans with a post that makes them feel as if they're members of a special group. You can track how far your messages spread, and how people react, using Facebook's recently-updated Insights tool. Tell people what they should do People are more likely to respond to something you post if you tell them what to do. This may seem weird. After all, there are only three things a person can do with a post – can't they figure it out on their own? Survey results consistently say “No”. We're all busy and consume a ton of content on a daily – even hourly – basis. Even when something excites or interests us, we don't necessarily think to do anything else. Your fans are no different, which is why a small prompt – a "call to action" – can make a measurable difference to the responses you get. Want to learn more about Facebook marketing? Check out Contagious Content, from Marketo Facebook for Business, direct from the social network Other recent Facebook marketing tips from MyVR photos by ninacoco, lilivanili

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Growing Your Website: 5 Things Your Guests Want To Know About Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST You know your website is key to attracting bookings and making money. But how do you keep a website fresh and growing? The more information you provide, the better prepared your visitors will be and the more potential guests you'll attract. However, it has to be useful and relevant. What do your guests want to know? You probably already know a lot of the key questions. However, a survey by CNN Travel this spring also helpfully asked people what mattered most to them when choosing a destination. The top results? security and safety price reputation knowledge and availability of information diversity of things to do, amenities Your website can put this information at their fingertips – not just through an easy-to-share local guide, but also through regular updates. How do you get the right message across? Here are a few ideas. Security and safety The CNN survey looked at international destinations, where situations like civil unrest can factor in. But on a smaller scale, security and safety still matter very much. Use your website to share your experience with your guests and set realistic expectations: Offer your own safety tips. What do you and other locals know that a visitor may not? Profile businesses within walking distance: introduce the owners, link to the business website, and make recommendations about products your guests may want to try. Interview the neighborhood watch leader (or comparable). Not only does this introduce someone who will be recognizable to your guests, it may also help build a positive relationship with your neighbors. Talking about safety and security isn’t about trying to hide flaws; it's about sharing your experience with your guests and setting realistic expectations. In fact, Vacation Rental Marketing Blog's Matt Landau has had a great response to a guide for his property, 5 Crackheads You MUST Meet In Casco Viejo – not what you'd expect in a travel guide, but something he's used "to alleviate traveler's concerns about our neighborhood…and give a face and some names to the individuals they may run into." Price Pricing is one of the top criteria travelers consider when choosing a vacation rental – and finding it is one of their top frustrations. What can you do, beyond listing your rates on your website? Highlight popular attractions that cost little or nothing to enjoy. Offer local recipes for people who want to take advantage of your full kitchen. Share where the locals shop. In some areas, people can buy direct from farmers and other producers – if they know who to ask. This can be a great way to use your local knowledge to highlight lesser-known attractions while making trip planning easy for people who want to stay with you. Reputation One of the top ways to prove your reputation is by sharing the experiences of other people. Choose a selection of noteworthy reviews and request permission to highlight them on your website. Ask former guests to share their vacation photos and (with permission) share them on your website to showcase both your property and the area around it. Do you have repeat guests? Ask them to share their own recommendations of things to do and see. Regular updates to your website and other online outreach help prove that you're a real person, running a real business – something that can help build confidence in your potential guests. Knowledge and availability of information You don't have to generate all the information you share from scratch; think about other information providers who would be of interest. This might include: local news and weather local community organizations, like the theater and library service providers, especially if people rent your home for events like weddings and reunions maps and travel schedules, especially if reaching your property includes time-sensitive transportation, like a ferry nearby attractions Some of this can be included in your local guide, but providing easily-accessible links on your website makes the information easy to find (for your guests and search engines). Diversity of things to do, amenities Regular updates about events and activities helps keep your guests informed and your website a source for up-to-date information. Highlighting activities to do on a budget, top things to do, places to eat and events that locals never miss are just a few ways to showcase your community and convince people that your vacation rental is the perfect place to use as a home away from home. How have you grown your website to attract travelers and keep your guests in the know? Share your ideas in the comments section below. photos by Derek Bridges, Jeff Pioquinto

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Checks And Your Vacation Rental: Good Idea Or Risky Business? Posted: 02 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PDT They’re familiar, easily available, require little-if-any overhead, and are almost as good as cash when it comes to the hands-on satisfaction of having money in your pocket. But if your vacation rental is still dealing with checks, are you leaving yourself exposed? Beyond the fact that travelers strongly prefer to use credit cards, many vacation rental owners have run their businesses using checks for years with no problem. But as the more unfortunate will tell you, it only takes once. Beyond the misrepresentation of using a lost or stolen checkbook, checks are vulnerable to counterfeiting, alteration and forgery. There’s also the risk of a bounced check – a potentially costly situation, even when it’s not maliciously done. No payment method is "fraud free", but checks are the worst Checks are also not the only way you can fall victim to fraud; there is no form of payment that's guaranteed to be “fraud free”. However, fraud experts and victims have tagged checks as a common target. “One of the simplest and most prevalent ways to commit financial crime, to steal money, is to commit some form of check fraud,” said lawyer James Freis Jr., then-director of the government's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, at a conference in 2010. In business-to-business transactions last year, checks were involved in 87 percent of reported instances of fraud. Whether it’s as high in the vacation rental industry is unknown, but the underlying message is clear: If you’re still dealing with checks, you need to protect yourself. The overpayment scam: common flags to watch for Whether you accept checks exclusively or as one of several payment options, you should know the warning signs, like poor grammar and punctuation, claiming the trip is a surprise for someone else, or insisting that payment will come via a third party. On their own, these flags may mean nothing; your guests may be visiting from another country, planning a special occasion, or traveling with financial support from their family. But if an inquiry seems suspicious you should proceed with caution; a phone call is a good place to start. (One easy tip: Copy a somewhat unique line of text from the email and Google the phrase; scam emails are often repeated, and may show up in search results.) One of the more common schemes is for a scammer to pay significantly more than the amount due, then ask for a refund of the difference; by the time the fraudulent transaction is caught, the person has disappeared – and so has your legitimately hard-earned money. How to protect your rental business Developing detailed payment and check acceptance policies, and applying them equally to all your guests, can help protect you. Allow a lot of time for checks to clear. Most owners require full payment at least 30 days in advance. Even when the funds are deposited in your bank account, it can take at least one month for a fraudulent check to be discovered – at which time, you would need to pay it back. As a result, some owners suggest allowing even more time for funds to clear. Balance your business needs against security recommendations. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers advice for accepting checks, advising that you only accepting checks from local or in-state banks and verify ID with other documentation. This is solid advice, but with so many guests from other states or countries, it isn’t always practical. An owner on this HomeAway thread asks for a copy of a guests' passport information, but keep in mind that some state laws dictate what ID you can require. There’s no easy way to deal with checks internationally. As noted above, checks aren’t ideal when it comes to long-distance transactions – for you or your guests. Advice from Frommers to wary travelers lists credit cards as the best option and online solutions, like PayPal, as a close second. Checks leave both parties open to fraud and, in an industry already fighting issues of trust, it’s hard to to dissuade any sense of insecurity. Know what to look for. The SBA also explains what to watch for on checks you receive, like appropriate personalization, the correct date, valid bank ID numbers, and the customer’s signature – ideally backed by supporting photo ID. Call the issuing bank. Depending on the bank, you may be able to verify a check with a quick phone call. Financial professional Justin Pritchard recommends getting the phone number from the bank's website – rather than the check itself – then calling to see what happens. “Some banks make it difficult to verify funds,” he wrote in a post for About.com. “At the least, they should eventually tell you if the account exists. From there, you'll have to take your chances.” Another option to consider is to subscribe to a check verification or check guarantee service (often these are bundled together). These services can at least confirm whether checks have bounced from the provided account, and may offer a guarantee for the amount of the check in case of fraud. Please note: This advice is meant to be a starting point, not a replacement for expert counsel. Confirm your own banks' policies and protections for deposited checks; review the laws in your state around check fraud. Understand how check fraud could impact you and develop policies for your vacation rental that will help protect your interests. What lessons have you learned about dealing with checks? Share your tips in the comments section below.

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