Rentalo Blog

At Rentalo.com, we want every traveler to find the perfect accommodation. We are also committed to the online lodging industry by providing more effective and targeted marketing tools. As such, over a week ago, we introduced three branded “satellite” web sites: TripLodgings.com for hotel reservations, 1Stop-Rentals.com for short-term rentals and TravelBB.com for B&Bs. If you have a subscription with Rentalo, you will get a complimentary listing in the corresponding branded satellite site; yes, completely free.

The site: http://TripLodgings.com, links travelers with hotel owners and managers. Here, travelers will find specialized ads for hotel reservations, lodges and holiday resorts online. Hotels that have published listings on Rentalo.com will automatically be included in the lodgings directory.

Equally efficient is http://1Stop-Rentals.com, which directly connects travelers with private homeowners in order to find short term rentals, furnished apartments, vacation villas and other vacation properties owned and managed independently.

 Not to forget B&Bs, in http://TravelBB.com travelers may browse or search classified ads for bed and breakfast accommodations, discount inns and private B&B guesthouses. “Rentalo is committed to providing the most comprehensive worldwide network of specialized lodging sites on the Internet,” says president Alfredo Purrinos. “These three satellite sites are attractive and user-friendly, with powerful search capabilities that allow travelers to find the kind of accommodation they prefer, in the location they want, for a price they like.”

If you want to read more about the launch of these satellite sites, please visit our Vacation Rental Press Page or see what Arthur Frommer is saying about this on his travel blog.

Are you tired of losing travelers due to your security deposit requirements? We know that deposits are an essential part of the travel business; but they may stop travelers from booking your property. Thinking in how to make life easier to our property owners and travelers we have teamed up with Travel Guard (one of the nation’s leading providers of travel insurance) and we are the first vacation rental website to offer travelers a specially designed Accidental Rental Damage Insurance Protection Plan that will help reduce property damage concerns.

How Can Property Owners Benefit from the Accidental Rental Damage Insurance?

• You can offer it to your guests as an added value in lieu of requiring a deposit.
• Your guests will no longer need to worry about how much or when their security deposit will be returned, which may result in more bookings.
• You will no longer need to go through the hassle of collecting security deposits, managing the money or spending time and resources refunding these fees.

Insurance Costs and Coverage

There are two Accidental Rental Damage Insurance options for your guests (You may also opt to include this cost as part of the rental agreement):

Base Premium $45USD: Up to $1,500 coverage if the property or its contents are damaged during their stay. To learn more about this Travel Insurance Plan visit: http://rentalo.com/docs/insurance.html.

Base Premium $69USD: Up to $3,000 coverage if the property or its contents are damaged during their stay. For more information about this Travel Insurance Plan visit: http://rentalo.com/docs/insurance.html.

We continue working hard to make your Rentalo experience as rewarding as possible!

Although we already had a similar post in the past, the topic of vacation rental pictures is never off the table. I’ve been looking at our Rentalo vacation homes lately wanting to select high quality pictures to show as examples but unfortunately I ran into hundreds of very low quality photos. It only assured me that I should write about this subject again and try to include more tips this time.

When browsing through our inventory I saw really bad pictures and I’m not only talking about low quality, pixeled and scanned old photographs, but also pictures of a messy kitchen with dirty dishes, pools with towels and guest stuff lying around, dark hallways and many others. Only one question always popped to my mind. How do owners of these properties think they will book their homes?

I have a suspicion that many owners take things for granted. They think that their properties will rent just because they have great attributes, such as oceanfront or mountain views and because they’ve had many guests over the last few years. Well, the times have slightly changed and facing the economic crisis we all have to try a little harder. The competition is fiercer than ever and we have to fight for customers more than before.

I would like to encourage you to take a look at your property listings as if you were a traveler looking for a perfect place. Try to get into their shoes and think what you would like to see if you were the one looking for accommodation. I think everyone will agree with me that pictures are one of the most important elements of a good property listing. High quality and attractive photos represent your property and help travelers picture it. Remember that in Rentalo you can upload unlimited amount of photos. You can also describe them so that travelers know what can be seen on a particular picture.

I also gathered some tips on what to do and what to avoid when taking pictures of your property. It’s never a bad time to change your listing photos. Even though it’s cold and snowy where some of you have their properties, seasonal pictures appeal even better to travelers. You should always try to change your pictures when the season changes and emphasize different property attributes. For example hot tub and fireplace in the winter and pool or a large deck in the summer.

Here is what you SHOULD do:

-    Take photographs of all parts of your property, not only bedrooms

-    Turn on all the lights in your vacation property. It gives your house a special warm atmosphere

-    Wait for a sunny weather or a nice sunset to take pictures of your property from the outside

-    Put flowers, candles, nice sheets and fresh fruit in your house. Those look lovely on pictures!

-    Try to use a tripod to avoid blurry pictures

Here is what you should NOT do:

-    Do not use scanned and low resolution (pixeled) photographs

-    Try not to include people in your pictures

-    Clean your property before taking pictures not to capture a messy kitchen or swimming pool with guest stuff by it

-    Do not take pictures of dark rooms against the light

-    Avoid uploading pictures of hallways, narrow spaces and nothing specific

-    Try not to include badly cropped or zoomed photographs

-    Do not place pictures of nearby activities as your main photo. Travelers want to see your property first

Happy editing,

Marta

As we have previously posted here, travelers need information in order to make an informed decision about what vacation rental to book.  Not providing important data upfront may discourage travelers from even contacting you.

One very important tool that many vacation property owners overlook is their availability calendar.

Travelers in Rentalo have the option to enter their travel dates right from the home page.  Properties that don’t have this information updated wont benefit from being displayed as one of the first options for the traveler.  Travelers NEED to know if you are available or not, otherwise, many won’t even take the time to contact you.

Over the years I have spoken to many property owners that have given me similar reasons for not updating their calendar.  Here are the top ones, and my thoughts on them.

1. I don’t have time to update my calendar every time someone books my property.  I understand we are all busy, but owners should create a habit of updating their calendar online immediately after a booking has occurred.  In Rentalo this takes no more than 2 minutes, and will help you get better inquiries and avoid inquiries for booked dates.
2.  I don’t want to show travelers that my property has very little bookings.  Again, I understand the reasoning behind this; however, travelers value information more than ambiguity.  Leaving your calendar open with no booked dates, looks worst, than having at least a few days booked.
3. I don’t want thieves to know when my property is empty.  I have heard this from more than one property owner in the past.  If you don’t have homeowners insurance, you shouldn’t be renting your house in the first place!

Owners that have their information up to date have higher chances of booking their vacation rental, bed and breakfast or hotel.

Update your calendar today and make a habit of keeping it updated.

Frank

Easily accessible economic cameras and video phones have recently replaced camcorders and film roles from the last century. With these new products, entertainment and businesses stepped into the new multimedia dimension. What’s the impact? If the picture says more than a thousand words, video without doubt says more than a thousand pictures.

From movie trailers and interviews to “home-made” cooking tutorials, all this and everything else imaginable can be found on YouTube. During the past three years this powerful broadcasting website created a community of 200 million unique users and has the 6th largest audience on the Internet. With the audience that closely mirrors the demographic of the US online population and with monthly unique visitors of 71 million on YouTube, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out that opportunities for advertisers are just enormous.

The best of all is that YouTube makes room for everybody, from amateurs to video gurus. You don’t need a professional footage to draw visitors to your YouTube profile. For you - property owners, it can be a pretty useful channel to target travelers. From our internal research we know that the majority of travelers that visit Rentalo are between 25 and 34 years old and over 55. Main YouTube’s audience belongs to the similar age groups as well.

Uploading a video to YouTube is simple and doesn’t require any special skills. The most important thing to remember is to assign as many tags as possible to your video (tags are keywords people use in their search). You should also include keywords in the description of your video. When writing a compelling description, you can refer to my previous post about how to create a copy that sells.

Your opportunities with YouTube, however, go far beyond uploading a video of your vacation rental. There is always a larger picture and here it’s about using YouTube as a great tool to build your own community. There are countless videos of users who share their own tutorials, travel guides or hidden talents. Some of them have built huge communities just by catering to the right audience with the right product. They encourage comments, invite subscribers, belong to certain circles and what’s the bottom line, they link to their private websites where they usually sell their products or services. Great example of a successful “you-tuber” is your fellow property owner from Amsterdam ” PhilDutch.

As YouTube says, “Online Video isn’t the future, it’s the present”. The fact that 75% of Americans watched a video online last month is enough information for you to act! At Rentalo we decided to go with this fast-growing trend last year when we introduced a video inclusion option. Since that time property owners can link a property video to their Rentalo listing for free.

We also prepared a mini tutorial for owners providing technical tips, giving advice on what to capture and finally teaching how to upload a video to YouTube and then include a link in Rentalo. If you have a video of your vacation rental, it’s about time you shared it with Rentalo’s audience. If you don’t have one yet, you definitely should think of making one. Video can be as simple as a slideshow of your finest pictures put together by a Windows Movie Maker (a program that every computer has). You can also add music and put subtitles.

Just one last thought. Remember that today consumers have turned into Trysumers, people who enjoy full access to information and reviews and who like unconventional ways of “trying” new services. They want to taste and “touch” a product before they purchase it. Do you think video will influence their decision about booking your place? I think that chances are pretty high.

Marta

I went on a date once and I made the novice mistake of allowing my date to choose the restaurant.  Everything was going great until I opened the menu and noticed: NO PRICES!!!  I was a rookie at the dating game, but it didn’t take rocket scientist to figure out there was only one reason why the prices were not in the menu.  You guess it, the food was very expensive.

Turning a corner and thinking about the vacation rental market, I often find many property owners that do not post their prices.  After working for many years with vacation rental property owners, I have pretty much heard all the flavors of reasons you can think of.  I want to go ahead and look at some of those reasons and hopefully convince some of you out there that posting your prices is the best way to go.

The number one reason I hear from property owners is that their prices are too high and they don’t want to ’scare” possible travelers.  Now let’s think about that for a minute.  Say I”m a traveler looking for a Breckenridge vacation rental.  After taking a few minutes to define my needs I finally have 7 properties to choose from.  They all have attractive pictures and enticing text.  I notice that 2 of the properties don’t have any prices in the ad, while the other 5 have their prices clearly defined.  The chances of that traveler clicking on the properties without prices are lower than the chances he or she may click on the vacation rental ad which has all the information they need.  Besides, think of the restaurant example; the first thing that will go through the travelers mind is “Why don’t they have their prices posted?, they surely must be expensive!”  So in trying to “not scare” the traveler you are doing just the opposite. 

A few things to consider if this is your case.  First of all, the most important thing to take into consideration is VALUE versus PRICE.  If your property offers better value than others in your area, then it is important that you communicate that well right from the beginning.  No one knows your property more than you, so if you have decided upon your prices and you are sure of them, then don’t be afraid to post them.  Travelers will be more enticed and may be willing to pay a bit more if they realize your vacation property offers more value.  In some cases some property owners may need to do a more in depth market analysis to compare their property and what it has to offer, with similar properties in its area.  Maybe your property is over priced and you may need to lower your prices to be more competitive.  What ever the case, post your prices, it will at least show travelers you have nothing to hide.

Some other property owners have expressed that their pricing structure is too complex and they rather not post it online.  If your pricing structure is so complex that you cannot post it online, you may want to consider revising it and making it simpler for travelers to understand.  If you cant explain it online, then its time to make it simpler.  Travelers should be able to see at a glance how much it will cost to stay in your property, without having to make too many calculations in their head.

I know, I know, it takes time to update my information, specially my prices because they change all the time.  It’s a good thing that Rentalo has a very powerful and flexible pricing table for you to use.  You have unlimited ranges that you can ad, even if you have multiple room types.  This is especially helpful to Bed and Breakfast and Hotel owners and managers, who need to display multiple room types during the same time period.

Whether you have a vacation rental, bed and breakfast, hotel, or any lodging posted on Rentalo or any other service, posting your prices is one of the most important pieces of information you must post.

The beauty of the internet is that it allows its users to gather a large amount of data in a very short period of time.  This is great when you need to make a decision, because you are able to see all your options without having to spend days gathering information.  Do us all travelers a favor, post your prices and make the decision making process smoother for the entire industry.

Frank

In the online industry it is all about content. High quality and relevant content that entices readers and makes them visit our website and buy our product. This simple rule also applies to the vacation rental industry where the more captivating description of your property you provide, the more attention you will get.

As Frank pointed out in the previous post, the first step to get visitors to your property listing is by uploading high quality and professional pictures. We all judge by the cover, so you should make sure your “cover” sells. After viewing your photo gallery, travelers usually want to find out more about your place by reading your description.

How to make them read it all and how to convince them to book your property? It all starts with a powerful title that just cannot be missed. Take some time to look at the competition in your location and make sure your title is original and stands out. Try to avoid generic titles and think of features that distinguish your vacation rental from others (For ex.: Affordable Beachfront Italy Villa Ideal for Family Getaways).

Now comes the toughest part, writing a compelling description. I gathered some tips that might be useful for you during the process. Remember to aim for 400 words or more, it’s the optimal length for a description.

1. Think of unique features of your place and use them as your most powerful weapon. Is your villa waterfront and offers gorgeous sunsets? Is it spacious and sleeps large parties? Write down all the attributes and elaborate on them in separate paragraphs.

2. Use details. Travelers like to picture their future vacation house and plan what to pack and what to leave behind, so be specific and provide a short description of each bedroom, amenities and extras (ex.: beach towels, bikes, linens).

3. Write about nearby attractions as well. Most travelers like to plan their vacation activities and they greatly appreciate such information. Provide them with a mini guide of things to do in the area. How close it is to the beach/hiking trail? What other great attractions can be found nearby? (Ex.: Amusement Parks, nature trails, museums and art galleries).

4. Add a personal touch to your description. Don’t be afraid to show emotion and inject a little feeling to your text. Let travelers know who you are and how long you own the house. Also, relate to the experience of your previous guests, for ex. “Our guests love watching sunsets from our lakefront deck and watching movies from our wide DVD collection”. Emotion sells.

5. Last but definitely not least. Keywords, keywords, keywords! Think of the keywords that travelers use to search for vacation home in your area. What would you put in search box when looking for a vacation rental? You can also use numerous keyword research tools that are available on the internet for free. Make your list and try to insert keywords to every paragraph of your description. This will help travelers find your property better in search engines. Examples of keywords are: Orlando vacation rentals, Orlando condos, Orlando accommodations.

I hope that you found my mini guide useful. Remember that the bottom line is to convince travelers that your place is the one they are looking for. With this in mind, the creativity will follow.

Marta Olszewska

Below you can see our friendly and easy to use Edition Page.

You”ve heard the old proverb “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Simply put, you can communicate in 1 picture what it would take pages to describe. A picture has the power to communicate large amounts of information in a very short period of time through visualization.

According to online research, the average Google user takes about 7 seconds to decide were to click. Google displays mostly text in its search result. Now lets think about a traveler that searches for vacation rentals in lets say Orlando Florida through Rentalo.com. They are going to be presented with a list of properties to choose from. What do you think it’s the first thing that catches their eyes? Your picture of course.

Too often I speak with property owners that complain that their listing is not getting enough attention. In researching most cases, I find that the problem is not traffic to their location, but traffic to their specific property. 9 out 10 times I”m able to determine the culprit by simply going to their location and comparing their ad to the others they are competing against. Usually the pictures are not too appealing.

Now being married to a professional photographer, I can tell you that not most of us know what it takes to get a great picture taken; however, most of us are sure able to stand in awe when we see a great photograph. Pictures sell. Period!

Great pictures of your property are worth their weight in bookings. Some property owners want to get bookings with scanned pictures taken from a brochure. This is just not going to work for savvy travelers that are accustomed to high resolution images of the products they are about to purchase. This is even more true now that we offer high resolution slide shows to every property owner. The time is now, update your pictures and make sure they are high quality and crisp.

Here are a few tips that we highly recommend:

‘?¢ Hire a professional photographer to take excellent photographs of your property. This may not be the cheapest solution, but you may recuperate the investment in just a few bookings. Look at options before you commit to a photographer. Look at their portfolio and go with the one that has the pictures that impress you the most.

‘?¢ If your budget is restricted at the moment then get a digital camera if you don’t have one already, besides it’s the year 2008! You don’t need to get a fancy and expensive camera. Any camera with a resolution of 3.0 mega pixels or more would be great for the job. With this option you have no time restrictions; you can take as many pictures of the property as you want. Remember Rentalo gives you unlimited space for images and you can upload them yourself.

‘?¢ Look at other properties in your area or in other cities and see which ones catch your eyes first. Try to emulate that in your pictures. Look at the angles from which the pictures were taken, look at the lighting, etc. Small details go a long way.

‘?¢ Use free software to enhance your picture. Nowadays you don’t need to be an expert at Photoshop to retouch your pictures. There is a great free program by Google called Picasa which allows you quickly organize and make simple changes to your images. You can download it at http://picasa.google.com/

‘?¢ Ask other people you trust to tell you what they think of your pictures.

I would recommend to all our property owners to take a few minutes to look at their images and determine if they need to be changed or modified. If you need help with this and are not sure what to do, remember that you can contact us via our help page and we will gladly arrange a time to speak with you and go over the listing with you at no extra cost.

Until next time’?¦ say chee$$e

Frank Suarez

It has been two weeks since our new Rentalo pages were launched. Have you noticed how your property listing has changed? It’s the best time for you to show off with all the wonderful extras of your vacation rental. Why not to upload even more pictures or add a link to your property video? You can also locate your rental on the map which will make it easier for travelers to find you and plan their vacation better.

As you can see after logging on to our Home Page, there are many different tools that we designed to make traveler’s search for accommodations easier and more fun. Some of the most powerful features we added are New Special Offers. Thanks to those offers travelers looking for the hottest deals on vacation rentals can find affordable lodgings right after they log on to our home page.

The best news for you is that you can now be featured on our Home Page by adding Special Offers to your property listing! This will give your property a whole new dimension of exposure and help you draw more visitors to your listing. It’s pretty simple to add a Special Offer as all you have to do is to show a minimum of 10% discount from your regular price. Another benefit of having a Special Offer is the inclusion in our bimonthly newsletter for travelers called “Best Value Accommodations Newsletter”.

Also, once you add a Special Offer it will be highlighted in your property listing as well as the SmartSearch results bringing you high quality leads. It’s definitely worth a try. More exposure never hurts! It’s also a unique chance to appeal to the large group of travelers who look for discounted rates and last minute hot offers. As we are approaching the end of the summer season, the timing couldn’t be more perfect!

If you are not sure how to add Special Offers, visit our Knowledge Base or contact us, we are here to help you get the best performance.

Below you can see where travelers will see your offer:

Marta Olszewska

Yes, the gossip is 100% true! Having your best interest in mind, we changed our home page and many other pages that all underwent a complete overhaul. We hope it will make your experience with us even more positive!

As you will soon see for yourself, new Rentalo’s spirit is present on all our pages including Home Page, SmartSeach, Property Pages and Regional and State Pages that are presented in the wide, 1024-pixel version ” clear and visible. But it is far beyond new look and feel. We launched numerous new tools that you will have the chance to discover very soon.

Now we can only reveal that our Property Pages are completely redesigned making it so easy for travelers to find out all about your gorgeous vacation rental! Eye-catching picture slide show, new attractive skins, useful property map, availability calendar and your contact information will be now displayed on the same page! No extra clicks, no time consuming forms to fill, it is all there. That’s how easy inquiring about your property will be now.

This is the perfect time for you to review your property listing with us and complete all the necessary information. Remember that the more pictures/descriptions/amenities you place, the more competitive your listing will be!

For those curious, enjoy a little sneak preview of our new Property Listing Page below.