Hottest New Trends

According to AOL Money and Finance, Google Maps is Hot! We in the vacation rental industry have known this all along. "Maps" being one of the most searched terms is as relevant to "Location! Location! Location!" as in Real Estate. For example: http://lodging4vacations.com/sunsetbeach/#map

This is a free map from Google showing property location, restaurants, ski or beach areas, museums activities....etc. So if you own a vacation rental, market your location!!!

Send or add your property address in an e-mail to your web advertising representative and be sure to add in the subject line. Please add a Google map to my web ad.

Legitimate Vacation Rentals

There was an article in USA Today by By Gary Stoller about the increase in Vacation Rental Businesses, "The Internet is doing for vacation rentals what eBay (EBAY) and similar online marketplaces have done for merchandise sellers. For not much money, owners can now display via the Web their vacation properties to a worldwide audience of potential renters."

The most interesting point to me was the problem of legitimate rentals. According to the article, many shoppers apparently are not confident in staying at a vacation rental for fear that it doesn't exist. "In some cases, the vacation rental industry is starting to address some practices that have kept it from growing, including rentals that have been listed on the Internet but don't exist. " For http://lodging4vacations.com/ we occasionally receive e-mails, or phone calls asking how long our clients have been with us and if "they are for real." Because we are familiar with all of our properties, we can back them up 100%. If we receive 3 legitimate complaints from different renters we will investigate and discontinue business with the rental owner. Although our site may not be as large as VRBO and Homeaway, we are happy to answer any questions a possible renter may have about a rental property listed on our site. Read the USA Today article "Staying at a real home away from home."

Matching Your Vision of a Perfect Vacation Rental to An Internet Vacation Rental

Are you looking for a home away from home, somewhere you can gather your friends and family to reconnect? Consider a vacation rental. Get Specific! What do the kids really want to do, sled or ski? Do your friends want to shop and relax at the spa? Try to narrow your search down to the most important aspects of your vacation, for example, " Breckenridge Colorado, private home rental, sledding vacations," using Google Lucky search, this page came up directly, http://lodging4vacations.com/fh-breckenridge-co/ And then linked to http://lodging4vacations.com/co/breckenridge/ Where you can find more great homes in Breckenridge!
Start with great expectations, half the fun of going on vacation is exploring the different possibilities. Is being pet friendly important? Affordable housing? Ski in ski out? Have fun with your search! But remember a few key things to keep your search from becoming endless. Start with the maximum amount of people. How many in your group? Queen beds can sleep 2, but if that extra last minute person can't make it, one person in a queen bed is more comfy. What location? What would you like to do while visiting the area? Ski? Surf? Museums? Within the first few minutes of searching for your accommodations, trust your intuition. Do you have a good feeling about this place? Does it seem legitimate? Did this vacation rental owner have to pay advertising costs or was is this a free listing? Is there a phone number? Watch out for phony advertising.
Recently, a scam artist was caught. The scammer had copied images and advertised the home as his own. When called by the prospective renters, the imposter of the vacation rental could not clearly give directions or was unable to repeat the correct address. Call the owner, if it is a scam they may not be able to clearly give directions, or they may be vague. Double check with map quest or another reputable map source to make sure the rental is located where the owner has said it is supposed to be located.
Private by owner vacation rentals are clearly the way to go for more than two people on vacation. Once you find a reliable source, for many renters, it is like owning a second vacation home without the mortgage and upkeep.
Why not spilt the cost with your friends and family and share the memories?

Big Sky Montana

Why Big Sky? With 5500 acres of skiable terrain and 4350 skiable vertical. All skiing levels are are covered at Big Sky ski resort. Intermediate skiers will love Thunder Wolf high speedquad that has nice "Blue Cruisers" adjacent to Black Diamond runs. Get more out of your ski runs, ski into the moguls until you feel you might break a leg and then cruise to the bottom on a "blue" run. Big Sky offers the best, least crowded skiing in North America. On December 26th, the longest we waited for a high-speed quad chair was 3 chairs. This resort is built like Breckenridge years ago, there are runs and lifts across the face of 3 mountains and on the backside of 1, without any of the crowds. Base lifts are a 5 minute shuttle ride from most condos. Big Sky Vacation Rentals

Christmas is just around the corner time to plan for Easter

The best deals for Christmas have come and gone. Now is the time to make travel deals for Spring. What will spring bring? After a cold winter, we'll be ready to warm-up or get in some of the awesome spring skiing. Places I recommend for awesome skiing uncrowded lifts and affordable vacations. Especially if you act now---Big Sky! http://lodging4vacations.com/mt/bigsky/