Owner's Blog

First, lets start with some interesting industry facts and predictions:

Arthur Frommer’s #1 travel prediction for 2011 was that “A Greatly Increased Use of Apartments and Vacation Homes in Place of Standard Hotels”. (ref. Arthur Frommer’s Blog, Dec 2010)

New York Times foresees vacation rentals piling up on luxuries and advertising as “hotels” (ref. New York Times - Travel, Dec 2010).

So, how can vacation rental businesses take advantage of this magnificent moment in the history of vacation rentals and convert their business into luxury boutique hotels?  Please read below to find some tips and recommendations from Rentalo.com; the leading site for travelers to find short term accommodations. Ideally, the goal of every vacation rental business owner who wants to have their rental booked 52 weeks is to make their guests feel like they are staying in a luxurious hotel rather than a rental place where they have to bring their own pillows and toothbrushes.

“Going beyond the ordinary and paying attention to the small details is what makes the difference”says Natalia Richards, co-owner of Casa Castellana, a luxurious bed and breakfast in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “Travelers like to be pampered, and feel like they are totally taken care of”.

In practical terms, here are some affordable tips and ideas to help you go the extra mile and make your guests feel special:

#1 - Make yourself available to your guests 24×7.  From the time they pay the deposit, throughout their  stay, and until their departure, be available.  You may not be able to afford paying your staff to provide 24×7 concierge services to your guests, but consider this as a “cost of being in the hospitality business”.

#2 - Think about perks you can offer that would be meaningful to your guests.  Sometimes it takes a $5 dollar bottle of wine to create a life-lasting impression on your guests.  Maybe you can afford more elaborate perks such as a red phone line to a concierge service desk.

#3 - Expand on amenities - Some businesses go around and team up with local restaurants and gyms to facilitate discounts and special services to their guests.  Remember, you are not limited to what your specific property has to offer, you can think out-of-the-box.

#4 - Suggest places to visit and eat - Build a list of your favorite things to do in the area where your rental property is located, print a few copies, and leave them in your unit(s).   You may also offer special tips e.g. If you go to x restaurant, ask for “x” dish, it’s my favorite!

#5 - Build a list of local businesses & discounts — For example, in ski destinations, guests need to rent ski equipment, so  why not go around some shops and get some special deals and  discounts for your guests?  You can do the same with local restaurants, museums, parks, etc. .

The key to providing first-class service in the hospitality business lies in applying a very old yet important principle:  to serve your guests as you would like to be served.  Some business owners excel at this and their guests reviews show it.   Others may need to make some changes to take advantage of 2011’s predictions and consumer’s expectations.  At Rentalo, we hope that our listing owners can apply these helpful tips to their businesses and contribute to this great year for the hospitality business.  As a service provider in this industry, Rentalo is looking forward to see its clients take their business to a higher level of service and make them successful.

There are many different kinds of associations out there for vacation rental owners. They usually organize meetings, events, conferences and trade shows for the vacation rental industry as well as promote tourism in their particular location. Not many associations, however, have been able to create an easy accessible community for property owners, an online place where home owners could share ideas and experiences.

That’s why I find Vacation Rentals Community so unique. This social network site targets not only property owners, but also travelers and business managers, in other words everybody who is interested in vacation rentals. All members can interact between each other using forums, blogs, wikis and more. And most importantly – it’s all free.

When I first joined this friendly community I was warmly greeted by its founder John, who guided me through the site explaining all the tools and functions. He also answered my every question about the site’s functionality I had while setting up my profile, excellent assistance indeed.

There are numerous frequent visitors who contribute to discussions and update their blogs quite often. Those are usually successful property owners or managers who have their personal websites and like to share their experience with others. But the community also welcomes new vacation home owners who are just entering the market and are looking for tips and advice. On the discussion forums they can find answers to every question they post, from what kind of linens to use in their vacation rental to quick ways to boost bookings for their rental. On the other hand, travelers can search for vacation homes and find information about destinations they wish to visit.

Besides useful forums categorized by subjects and audiences, the community also offers blogs. Every member can create his own blog which is pretty simple to customize and manage.  Community blogs include insightful posts for both travelers and property owners with destination guides and trends in travel industry. Every time a member publishes a blog posts, it appears on the community blog page giving an author the homepage exposure.

Members of the community can also post and share videos, pictures or files through advanced media galleries. This way vacation home owners can showcase their properties to potential renters and travelers can share experience from their recent vacation.

Every community member has his avatar with a picture and signature which can include a link to his personal website. Just like on other social network sites, you can send friend invitations, instant messages and see your friends’ activity displayed on the “mini feed” in your profile.

The community not only creates a free channel for property owners to interact and exchange ideas, but also educates travelers and potential renters about benefits of staying at a vacation rental, which can create a positive impact on the whole industry.

Feel free to visit our community profile and post comments

Marta

On behalf of the Rentalo team we would like to express our condolences to the family of the victims involved in this tragic accident which has claimed so many innocent lives.

Surely this is a sad moment for the entire travel industry.

I find Capt Tom Bunn’s reflections and thoughts on his blog during these difficult tragedies always assertive and helpful.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Rentalo Team

I wanted to personally thank all the property owners that have emailed and called to thank us and praise us for the new Rentalo 3.0 release.  Thank you.

In making such powerful changes to Rentalo we took into account many factors that have emerged in the past few years in the behavior of online users.  Content is King.  Today’s online travelers are not the travelers of 10 or even 5 years ago.  Travelers are demanding more relevant content.

Relevant content is not just text or description.  Online users are becoming accustomed to watching videos and high resolution images of the products they are going to purchase.  With this in mind we wanted to give the property owners the power to display more content and include new technologies like videos, high resolution picture galleries and maps in their property listing.  That is what is at the heart of all these changes, empowering property owners and travelers and make the lodging market a better place for everyone.

I use every opportunity when I talk to property owners to encourage them to update their information right away.  Have you updated yours yet?

Stay tuned for even more changes to come!

Frank Suarez

It’s Time to Rent a House for a Family Christmas GetawayRentalo’s Prices Make Vacation Rentals Possible in Any Destination

Paris House $257 per night  What could be more perfect than Christmas Week in Paris, where shops and hotels glow with holiday decorations, the Champs Elysées and the Eiffel Tower sparkle with lights, and ice skaters twirl in front of the city hall.  Oriane de Vallée is a beautiful four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath loft house set on its own little private street right in the center of

Discounts on Fall Getaways to

With the little ones that is.  Thats right, parents that have little ones that are not old enough for school can save time and money by traveling in the fall season. 

This is a great time to offer special offers for travelers looking to travel with small children.  If your property is children friendly, try to ad a few inexpensive perks that may make the live of a traveling parent easier.

 The Morning Call recently recommended Rentalo.com as a source for families to find great value on accomodations read article here

Travel to Europe is becoming more and more expensive everyday as the euro gains ground on the dollar.  Travelers have to find creative ways to save money and still afford a great European vacation.  Rencently the Miami Herald posted an article about this topic, and in the explames of how travelers can save money they used a property found on Rentalo.com!

Rentalo is proud of offering great accomodations at great prices for all our travelers worldwide.

 To read the entire article click here