Well, let me begin by saying there are many, many things I wish somebody had told me before I went into the Vacation Rental Business, but all in all I can say it has been a pleasant adventure! But it would have been nice if……..

1)  Someone had told me about the value of having a great, “easy to remember” name when marketing my house in the early days. I learned by accident that a great name makes a big difference when trying to capture someone’s attention when they are surfing the many, many listings on each VR sites!

            The VR business has grown tremendously over the past 10 years and with that growth came very long lists of VR properties for just about every destination your imagination can think of.

            Everyday I hear, “I love the name of your house!”, or “I remember the name of your house over all the ones on my list”. Many times they call me with a chuckle and say, “I am calling about your “Chateau Relaxo” in Kauai, Hawaii! The name makes them laugh a little.  

2)  I wish someone had told me about templates! Yes templates. When I started I was a little surprised by the volume of emails & calls that I received and I was not prepared. Therefore, with each call and/or email inquiry, I would start from scratch when responding to each inquiry.

            As time went on, it dawned on me that the questions were pretty much the same and the information I was providing didn’t change either.  

            So, when I discovered the template function in my email program, it allowed me to type a handful of them, save them, and then simply edit each one to fit each inquiry for my return emails. This reduced the time I spent responding to inquiries by 75%! 

3)  Along these same lines, I wish someone had told me about FAQ lists. For those who were late coming into the computer like me, FAQ is simply an acronym for “Frequently Asked Questions”. This idea came to me as a result of surfing the Internet. It dawned on me that just about every web site has a tab to click on for their “FAQ” list. So, I simply sat down and made a list of all the questions that people ask me when inquiring about my VR’s. Questions like …..”How close to the beach is your house, what is the bed configuration in each bedroom, how much is the Cleaning Fee, etc., etc. After I typed the questions, I typed the answers, and then titled it FAQ & I was done! 

            Back to the template idea……my FAQ list is also a template that I can easily send it to anyone with just a click of the mouse and an email address! 

4)  I wish someone had told about the benefits of having my own web site. I began to notice many of my fellow VR owners had their own web site in addition to having their VR’s listed on the usual VR sites. At first, my reaction was, why would I need to do this? Isn’t this a duplication of effort & money? And finally, how would anyone find my site anyway?

            Then I learned what a great marketing tool my own web site could be for me! With my own site I could present the property in much a more detailed and creative way than I ever could on any of the Internet VR listing sites. I could have unlimited pictures and a virtual tour. I had the room to provide much more information. You can even add music. Over time, I found that my web site was my “closer”; meaning that it helped me “close the sale” when referring potential guests to it. Once they see it they usually call me back and confirm quickly.

            There are some great VR web sites out there today. To gather ideas for yourself, just surf any of the VR listing sites, and look for a link that takes you to the owner’s web site. You will learn quite bit just from reviewing your fellow VR owner’s sites.

5)  I wish someone had told me about the VR Owners Chat Group on Yahoo! There may be others but this is the one I stumbled into. I have participated in this group for so long that I can’t even remember how I began. But, I can tell you that I have learned a tremendous amount from my fellow VR owners in this group. Everything from “soup to nuts” has been discussed in this group; and they are very helpful to all the “newbie’s” in the group. To access this chat group, just go to Yahoo and type “Vacation Rental Owners” into the search box. This will take you to where you need to go to join this well informed group of seasoned VR Owners.  

Happy Renting 

The VR Guy!