We all know the importance of the visual impact a vacation rental makes on a potential vacationer. With my Costa Rica holiday coming up, I’ve pored over images of beaches, monkeys, toucans, fabulously colourful flowers, as well as having the listing site photographs imprinted on my mind. It was the visual aspect that first attracted us to the property and even when we looked at other options nothing else came close. Given this, and my current obsession with Pinterest I’ve been researching how we can use the massive growth in this visual social network to create more link juice for a listing or vacation rental web site.

Pinterest hit my radar last year and I took a quick look before deciding it was focused more on shoes, style, design, and moms with too much time on their hands. I’m always open to new things but this didn’t seem to be going anywhere in a direction that could impact our business. Since then more articles have appeared citing it as one of the fastest growing social media platforms, and the ability for it to create interest in a variety of brands. So how does it work?

I am too new to Pinterest to try and explain it fully but it’s easy to dive in and try it out. Here’s a few links to articles that helped me understand what it’s about and made me appreciate the value of using it in our business:

What is Pinterest and how to use if for marketing your brand

A useful overview plus 9 specific marketing tactics for Pinterest

“Pinterest is an online pinboard that allows you to collect and display the images you find on the web. You can find boards from other people to discover new things and get inspiration from others. You can use Pinterest to plan a vacation, decorate your home and share your favorite fashion items.”

Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest

This is a great beginners guide

“Anytime someone pins something from your site, it automatically pulls in not just the image from your site, but also a link. There is a chance for that pin to be repinned multiple times (even hundreds of times, in some cases), building up a healthy amount of backlinks.”

The Next Great Place to get Links

An explanation of how Pinterest works with in the social media arena

“To be effective for SEO, it makes the most sense for products that appeal to women as they make up the largest demographic. If your product ties into food, fashion, DIY, travel, home décor or weddings, and can easily fit into giveaways, it’s also a gold mine.”

10 Pinterest Ideas with SEO benefits

For those interested in SEO and how to use Pinterest to achieve results, this list has some helpful ideas

“Signing into Pinterest with Facebook will link your Facebook timeline to your Pinterest posts. This means your Facebook friends will be able to see your Pinning activity and click through to see your Pins. You can (and should) also cross-promote, occasionally, your Pins on other networks like Twitter, Flickr or even your blog”.

If this hasn’t got your interest, consider why Home Away have started using the platform to promote their properties. They are not directly listing properties – simply posting the best images on different topics that of course link back to the listing. For example, the board titled Kitschy Kitchens has the tagline:

“Everyone loves a kitchen fit for the perfect cook! Check out our collection of great kitchen spaces from HomeAway vacation rentals and more.”

Getting onto Pinterest is not as simple as just signing up – you have to request an invitation and may have to wait anything from a few days to a week or more to get a response. However if you comment on this post and ask for an invitation, I will send you one. I’d also love you to post any boards you already have and hear about how you are already using them.

By the way, here is one of my first efforts: Photographing Vacation Rental Interiors

“The people are there, the people are pinning, and the potential for your content to go viral, indexing hundreds of backlinks to your site, is there.”

Following my previous post on the things we learned in the first half of 2011, here’s the second part.  It was a very successful and profitable year and we enjoyed welcoming a wide range of guests from all over the world. However, there are new challenges every year and since I always keep notes of everything that happens, we can correct along the way.  Sometimes, it just takes a little change as in September’s learning point; occasionally there’s more long term action to take.  I’d love to hear what you learned last year – hearing other owners’ experiences adds another element to making your vacation rental business successful.

July

Hot and humid are the words to describe July in Ontario. How many people know we are on the same latitude as Spain and often experience extreme heat in the summer? Garbage can’t be put outside the cottage because it attracts bears so guests have to keep it indoors and take it to the local dump regularly. We added a few suggestions into the cottage guide on how to handle garbage efficiently and provide large bags so guests can freeze organic waste until it can be removed.

Learning Point: Some people dispense with common sense on vacation, so creating a comprehensive guide on every aspect of living life in the country can reduce the likelihood of calls and issues

August

A new neighbor moved in across the river early last year. We haven’t met since they are there infrequently and seem a little aloof. Anyway, we’d have to swim across to say hello, or drive 15kms to get around the river to their cottage. They complained by email that our guests had noisy children who collected frogs in buckets which were not permitted as the frogs were there for the Blue Heron. Seriously?!! They also commented that they had bought their cottage for the peace and quiet and this was impacted by our guests ‘enjoying themselves’.

Learning Point: Since 80% of our summer guests come back every year – some now on their 6^th visit – we know how much they respect the place and value their time there. However, it’s always worth reminding them of cottage etiquette occasionally. I’ve also learned that it’s important to speak to neighbours about our rental activity and reassure them that we screen professionally and responsibly.

September

We rent weekly only in July and August but move to a more flexible rental operation in the fall. However we have always stuck to Saturday-Saturday changeovers for weekly rentals. We had two weeks rented in September but it was difficult to book the remaining time without discounting heavily.

Learning Point: If we changed our weekly schedule to Friday – Friday, this would leave some full weekends, so we are now offering this along with Friday – Sunday and Sunday/Monday to Friday. This has worked really well so far this winter and enabled us to squeeze in some additional days. A minor change but a profitable one.

October

Our annual road trip took us to Texas this year and we were away for 6 weeks with the RV. During that time, there were 7 changeovers at the cottage. Although we were in touch with our caretaker there were a couple of incidents that required more immediate action than we’d planned – the hot tub quit working; guests had access issues following a fall storm etc. Although the caretaker was able to manage it wasn’t without challenges.

Learning Point: When remote from a property, it’s important to provide your property manager/caretaker/representative with authority to take action, along with a budget, in case of a breakdown that could affect upcoming bookings or resident guests. Don’t try micro-managing from a distance, particularly if you want to avoid stress.

November

The month of the mice! A new deck was installed and the contractors were using an indoor power outlet, so a door into the cottage was open some of the time. Given some poor weather it took a couple of weeks to finish, so we didn’t realize there was a problem until the unwelcome visitors had reproduced somewhat rapidly. With guests booked in when the deck was done it was a race to the finish to eradicate the problem.

Learning Point: Short and sweet….count the traps, and remove them all before the next guests arrive. I’ll say no more on this one but the outcome involved a lot of apologies, a restaurant voucher and a very red face.

December

Some early snow made the road into the cottage a little challenging but still accessible with good winter tires and a lot of caution. Guests booked in for a weekend called to check the conditions and when told about the snow/ice mix on the road, wanted to cancel as they had not realized there had been snow outside the city, and were concerned about safety. Initially, we didn’t refund because the listing and pre-arrival material made it clear about the nature of the access and the potential for wintry conditions, but we did offer a postponement to another low season spring date. They were not happy and argued the case so much, we realized they had just changed their minds and wanted money back, at which point we decided we did not want them to stay at any time, so refunded less a cancellation fee.

Learning Point: We struggled with this one a bit and I’d love to know what you would have done.

The New Year is always a time for reflection and now that January is just about gone, I’ve already applied a lot of the learning points from 2011 to our marketing and operational plan for the cottage. We kept a log of things that happened during the year as a reminder of the good and not-so-good experiences so here’s the first of my two part article on a year of learning.

January

When a winter storm brought down a dozen trees on our cottage road we had to cancel a booking because we could not be sure the power would be restored in time. In fact it was, but the family who had paid $1000 for their week had found an alternative.

Learning Point: Since power outages are quite common in our area, the investment in an automatic generator will offer a quick return since each year brings it’s share of cancellations and curtailment.

February

We went to Maui and stayed in a rental condo for a week. It was a great experience and when we are rental guests I always come away with a notebook full of ideas to bring back and adopt in my own place.

Learning Point: Other owners can teach us a lot. If you can’t get away and stay in other rentals, read their reviews on other sites.

March

We used the quieter time in March to schedule some renovations – complete redecoration and some new flooring in the kitchen. We cut it very fine since the road into the property became impassable for several days because of spring thaw issues, and nearly had to cancel a booking.

Learning Point: When scheduling renovations build in time for delays. Trust me, they will happen, and if you end up with the work finished and a few empty days, use them for annual cleaning, or offer a really good deal on a last minute break.

April

April is not a great month weather-wise in our neck of the woods. The snow is still thawing and the ice doesn’t usually come off the lake until mid-month. Roads are often muddy so walking and cycling are not usually an option so getting interest in the property is challenging. We joined forums that cater to groups who spend more time indoors – the successful ones were quilting groups and bridge enthusiasts and got a booking from each.

Learning points: It pays to be creative and to look outside the expected market to find new customers.

May

Another trip – this time to UK and we stayed in two wonderful rental properties, one in the Peak District in Derbyshire and the other near family in Northampton. We could only stay a couple of days in each one but both were wonderfully comfortable and welcoming.

Learning points: Having a comfortable bed with fluffy quilts and white linens can make a huge difference between an ordinary rental and an extraordinary one.

June

Osprey Cottage was fully booked for the summer by the time June came around but the enquiries kept pouring in. It was sad to have to disappoint so many potential guests but it seemed the demand was strong because it was so well booked. The positive Trip Advisor reviews brought in many new clients and I didn’t want to lose them.

Learning Point: Create a page on your site about low season short breaks. If guests are not able to book your place for their summer vacation, they might opt for a weekend later in the year, since the desire to book is already there.

Part 2 – July to December will be published tomorrow and covers learning points on handling garbage in a heat wave, dealing with grumpy neighbours, maximizing low season occupancy, and more.

  If you want your vacation rental to appeal to potential guests, your bedrooms must look inviting and appealing.

I’ve been blown away by the poor standard of bedrooms being offered in some listings and wish I could post the photos I have found online to demonstrate just how bad they are. An example I found today was from a cottage listing that was titled, “Lakefront Luxury”. The ‘comfortable’ bedroom boasted a blank white wall behind a yellowed headboard with unmatched spindly-legged side tables to either side, one of which sported a lamp that should have been left behind at the yard sale it probably came from. The bed had no pillows; simply an outdated shiny bedspread circa 1975 draped over the mattress. To be honest, it was probably one of the worst examples I’ve ever found, compounded by the superlatives used in the listing.

This was extreme I know, and most of those I see are perfectly acceptable, but it would be great if more attention was spent on making bedrooms desirable and attractive. After all, guests will spend a lot of time in the bedrooms, and it is only fair to ensure this part of their vacation is well taken care of.n

Creating beautiful bedrooms isn’t difficult. Alan Egan has addressed the need to get it right in his colourful and beautifully presented Bedroom Makeover Guide. There’s plenty of tips on staging with props, as well as good advice on how to set up for photographs, and get those pictures really spot on. He suggests checking out ‘hotel bedrooms’ on Google Images to get some ideas.

Happily, there are plenty of beautiful bedrooms on listing sites that show how professional owners can create appealing images. Sylvia Guarino is just one of those owners and the bedrooms at Toucan House on Sanibel Island demonstrate her attention to detail and understanding of guest expectations. It’s not surprising there are 16 five star Trip Advisor reviews. Given that Toucan House offers monthly rentals only, that is no small feat.

With guest expectations rising and so much competition, the relatively small investment to create a picture perfect bedroom is worth the time and money. Here’s a few suggestions to help you get started:

· Use quality bedding to create a sumptuous looking sleeping space. Bare beds and flat comforters with old pillows are reminiscent of 3^rd rate motels so avoid this look if you want to attract quality guests.

· Choose matching side tables and lamps and switch them on when you take the photos.

· Use large pieces of artwork and other accent pieces to add colour and texture to the image.

· Egan suggests adding interest to a bed by placing a throw across the bottom third of the bed.

· Photos taking in as much of the bedroom as possible are important for guests to see the ‘whole picture’ however try some close-ups of any special features

For more ideas, Like our Facebook page and download my free Staged to Rent guide along with other resources to help get your images right.

I’ve been doing some research this morning on long tailed keywords and how they impact traffic to vacation rental sites, for an article/ebook I’m writing for Renting For Profit. In the course of checking out material related to this I found a ton of resources on Aaron Wall’s SEO Book (which is a web site – not a book). This is a membership site but if you are not prepared to spend the $300 per month to subscribe to the training modules, the free stuff on the site is enough to get you going on your own search engine optimization.

Sign up for SEO Book and you can download Firefox extensions, and a Rank Checker with associated video tutorials; there’s also a very useful Keyword Suggestion Tool.

You could also check out a long list of SEO tools here

Don’t forget there is a wealth of information on keyword research on Google as well. This will take you to the Google Ads page but you don’t have to sign up to do Ads – just use the tools to help find some hotly searched keywords. Given 70% of searches are long tail rather than more obvious terms, this is worth the effort.

For example, I was using the keyword ‘geocaching’ to drill down and find phrases to use on a new page I am putting on my cottage web site. The suggestion tool came up with ‘what is geocaching’ as a phrase that gets a lot of search demand but has relatively fewer sites delivering relevant information. This means that titling the page, “What is Geocaching?” may attract more targeted visitors.

If you have some time over the holidays to learn some new skills, getting to grips with basic SEO may be a profitable idea. I’m planning on some new pages for my web site and will be making sure they are optimized, and will be found by Google. If you haven’t the faintest idea of what I’m talking about, it may be worthwhile to kick start 2012 with a bit of new learning.

Photo by Beggs on Flickr

We are in a happy position with Osprey Cottage – sort of….because we seem to have reached our maximum occupancy potential. Over the last two years income has been pretty steady with 44 bookings in 2010 and 42 this year. Considering we had closed the place down for renovations for a couple of weeks each year for putting on a new roof, re-decoration and re-carpeting and more recently for building a new deck, it’s still done very well. Looking at our stats though, there are a few tweaks we could make to pull in a few more bookings.

Changing tack and changeover days

For the 10 weeks of high season we rent weekly only, from Saturday to Saturday and occupancy is consistently good – we are usually booked for the summer by February mostly with repeat guests, some of whom will be back in 2012 for their seventh visit. The shoulder and low seasons are usually made up of weekend rentals and shorter breaks, and on closer scrutiny we realized that our standard weekly rental arrival/departure days might be creating an obstacle to maximizing occupancy. By changing the changeover day to Friday we’d be able to rent a Friday-Friday week, then take a weekend booking, leaving Monday – Friday short break available, which we have found to be more desirable.

Specials

We’ll also be offering some specials to fill in the empty spaces and will target emergency service workers with very attractive deals, since this is one work group that has days off mid-week and are not focused on weekend rentals. It’s helpful that my son is a firefighter and his wife is a paramedic as so we have access to their networks, but it should be easy to find someone who is able to point you in the right direction of appropriate intranets.

2012 Challenge

Even if we do these things and get a few more bookings, there will come a point where there is no further income to be made from renting the place. We are at the limit of the rental rate for the area so even adding more features or facilities will not make much of a difference. So we have set a challenge to create additional income this year by using what we know of the area and creating a comprehensive ebook that we will give free to our guests, and also sell on our web site.

The Ebook Project

I’ve been playing around with this idea for a while but not given it really serious thought. However, over the past few months, I’ve been researching a lot of stuff for our upcoming trip to Costa Rica and would have loved to find a definitive guide to the small area we are visiting. I want to know where to shop, what type of food we’ll find, where to rent a paddle board, which beaches are the best to swim and snorkel, and information for exploring – and that’s just a few of the resources I have been looking for. Although the villa site is very comprehensive and has a lot of information, there is so much more I would like to know. Given this, I want to produce an ebook for my Osprey Cottage guests that will have everything they need to plan their trip. For those that don’t book but will be staying in the area, I’m going to offer the ebook for sale…..then set up an affiliate programme for others to sell it as well. For those of my readers who are members at Renting For Profit, I hope you have downloaded the book on there to help you get started with something similar, and over the next few weeks, I’ll be documenting how this all comes together.

If this is something you are thinking of doing, why not follow my progress on RFP and create a valuable resource for your guests and to sell. This is a great way of creating a new income stream by just using the knowledge you already have. Let me know so we can share what we are all doing.

In just a few weeks I’ll be flying to Costa Rica for our annual escape from Canadian winter and even though the snow and cold temperatures have yet to arrive here, it will be a welcome break from the dull colours of our seasonal landscape. We booked our stay at Flying Toucans in February and over the past 10 months have visited and revisited the owners’ web site, pored over every photo, used the information page to plan our stay, and have envisioned every part of our vacation. It’s not the most elegant of web sites but the images are so enticing I would challenge anyone to check it out and not want to be there….now.

One of the biggest mistakes owners make is not taking more time over the images used on their listings – I see so many dull and cloudy exterior pictures; kitchens showing dog bowls and empty beer bottles (yes, they are out there); bathrooms with toilet seats up; and bedrooms with bare mattresses. So, when I came across Alan Egan’s, Rent More Weeks and his campaign to persuade owners to upgrade their listing and site images I was intrigued, and downloaded his free Vacation Rental Marketing Guide. It’s a colourful and insightful eBook covering six of the most common errors made when taking vacation rental photos and giving detailed advice on how to fix them.

The free eBook was an eye-opener for me. Part of my work involves viewing over 100 waterfront cottage properties every year, and photographing them for my rental agency site at CottageLINK Rental Management. I generally allow about an hour and a half to take the photos, and am usually fairly pleased with the results but appreciate they are not at a professional level. However, Alan has now convinced me I can do better and improve the staging and lighting to give far more impressive results, as well as taking more time over them. Just a little tweak like having exterior doors open when taking outside shots would make such a difference. There are plenty more tips so download the book and let me know which tip would change the impact of your site or listing photos.

Alan has published several more eBooks and I hope to review them early in the New Year on Renting for Profit

Photo from www.flyingtoucans.com

Winter is a little slow arriving here in Ontario with Christmas fast approaching and no sign of a white Christmas yet. However, that doesn’t stop us from preparing our vacation rentals for the snow and arctic temperatures bound to come before too long. Our guests will arrive wanting to kick back and enjoy their weekend or short break so making them feel welcome is a number one priority.

Some years ago I was talking with an owner about renting his place in winter and he could not understand that it was important to give guests the sort of arrival experience they would find in a hotel – they should be able to come in from the cold into a warm, cosy environment with everything ready for them. Heating costs came high on his priority list and when I suggested he light the propane stove in preparation for his guests, he was horrified at the potential for a high bill. He also expected his ‘renters’ (he didn’t like the word guests since it suggested he ‘wanted them there’) to bring sand for the driveway and to bring their own blankets/comforters for the beds. Needless to say, this is an example of someone who should not be in the rental business and, despite working with him over several weeks to prepare his place for rental, his attitude didn’t change and we parted company.

If you want your calendar to fill for the winter months, it’s important to create the images that will attract guests in the first place, and then back that up with the description of the welcome they will experience.

Photos

· Light the woodstove or open fireplace and photograph the flames

· Take pictures of the hot tub with the lid off and jets open.

· Use images of the exterior guests should expect to see – eg snow covered trees

· Bedroom photos need to demonstrate warmth and comfort

Descriptive text

Listing text for winter rentals should paint a picture to help guests to imagine their idyllic winter break. Think about the types of people you want to attract then write for them. Some examples:

· Take a romantic moonlit walk across a frozen lake under a starlit sky

· Curl up with a hot chocolate and a good book and enjoy the warmth of the wood stove

· After an exhilarating day on the slopes, relax in the bubbling hot tub

First Impressions

After creating the expectation, it’s important to meet it. Here’s a few ideas to delight your arriving guests:

· Light the woodstove or fire before guests arrive so it’s warm and welcoming

· Put soft music on the stereo so they are greeted with gentle classical sound

· Ensure lighting is on inside and outside the property for night arrivals

Welcome Gift

Be creative with your winter gift – make it memorable and you may be rewarded with a great testimonial. This article from Holiday Lettings in UK has some excellent ideas for making your guests feel welcome.

Let me know what you do to welcome your winter guests

I’m often asked which listing sites are the best to use to attract a particular target market and my answer is usually the same – if you have invested in a couple of major sites that get a ton of traffic, and one or two free sites that may be rising in popularity, the next step is to work on your own site and associated social media activities. It’s just not enough to post a listing and expect to get people flocking to book. The competition is just too big in many areas.

I was recently researching a Disney holiday and started looking for an Orlando villa that would suit my family. I know nothing about the Orlando area so just seeing a bunch of cloned properties with the same kidney shaped screened pools and Mickey Mouse themed bedrooms didn’t help the search at all. The closest most got to telling me something about the location was giving the distance to Disney, which really offers absolutely nothing in terms of useful information. I wanted to know other stuff – are there areas to walk, what the shopping is like, is there any local produce available nearby (this is my #1 requirement), and any other supplementary information that could help me make a decision. Along with all this, since I’ve never been to Disney before, I wanted to know how best to organize the trip so we didn’t have to wait to get there before planning. I know there‘s lots of sites out there that offer this info, but these listings didn’t even have any links to help me out.

So, what would have helped more? A link to a comprehensive web site that described the property in relation to the local attraction would have worked really well and given me the opportunity to stay on the site. I’m guessing that such a resource would have been so welcome, I might have booked the property too, or at the very least I’d have bookmarked it and gone back to it later.

It really is interesting how the travel search has evolved but disappointing in part that those seeking to promote to travelers are not keeping up with the demand for more information. However, for the owners who have ‘got it’ and know how to capture the attention of the fickle market, the rewards –and bookings – are there.

 
I’ve been following Vanessa Warwick’s blogs and posts recently. Vanessa is co-founder of Property Tribes – a UK based landlord and property investment community and owns several holiday lets in the UK and Cyprus. This post caught my eye this morning as it mirrors my philosophy on marketing vacation rentals and references a great bit of research that supports it.

A little known fact about me is that I was once employed by Boots the Chemist in England, as a Happiness Consultant. Inspired by Robert Holden’s original Happiness Project the Boots programme offered a series of courses and seminars, but it didn’t last long….it seemed that motivating unhappy people to take a course in how to be happier was a harder job than they had envisaged. However the training programme I had to take was fascinating and I got to learn a lot about the concept of happiness and how it affects our health and well being. So this research that suggests “the happiest people were the ones in the weeks leading up to a vacation” was appealing since it tells us we should be targeting our potential guests anticipatory nature and this is something that can be done with a good marketing strategy.

What does this mean? It’s important to note that “the most up to date information is always the most relevant” – therefore there is no point in your website or marketing never changing to reflect the seasons. Vanessa really hits the nail on the head with her concept of developing a ‘marketing matrix’. She describes a layered mix of events, property attributes, and ‘packages’ to deliver a focused strategy for using blog posts and marketing materials to promote what is going on in the property locations. The key issue is working well in advance, knowing what events are coming up and matching them up with features of the home, then creating an appealing and attractive package to draw in the interest. Knowing a little about SEO and social media works well too, but once the foundation of fresh content is there, the rest becomes a little easier.

This is what is so vital in keeping traffic coming to your web site or blog – ring the changes and create the anticipation – after all, creating happiness is one of the best parts of doing this business.