Whats happening in 2009?

1st Quarter 2009 Feedback

Well, we are almost at the end of the first quarter of the year so now is a good time to take a look at how our customers are currently reserving their holiday property rental.

By all intents and purposes the state of the world economies tells us that we can assume a late booking trend to evolve this year. Although a shift to booking later and later has actually been increasing year on year for the last 3, now is probably the right time to see if economy forces have endorsed this expectation.

So, question to all you lovely property owners out there is - what's happening in your market?

1) Have you noticed a later booking trend?
2) Have rents reduced compared to last year?
3) Are more customers choosing to book using a credit card?

Our Latest Poll needs your help, please vote so we can all get a clearer view of the rental market. I'll be able to analyse and share the results once we have a decent number of votes. Poll displayed in the right hand column->>>

Q's?

Look forward to hearing from you all,

Karl

BargainVillas

karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk

REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!

Bargain Villas versus other Property Websites

Yesterday I spoke with a company that runs a villa website. They raised some important questions about the nature of our service. I thought I'd write a little about what 'exactly' we do and how we can HELP other villa owners / property managers.

How can we work with other villa rental companies without encroaching on their direct business?

Well, this is simpler than you think. BargainVillas is a free service to use for property owners, managers and rental companies - in fact anyone that is responsible for promoting a holiday home. If you are a company that advertises holiday properties for your clients you are more than welcome to use our service. If you create an account using your own contact details instead of your clients contact details then you will receive all of the enquiries from perspective customers. Effectively you will be using us as a medium to generate rentals free of charge.

What do we get out of it?

Its true that we do not charge any fees for adding your property to our site. We don't ask for any commission on the rentals, we don't charge a set up cost or an annual subscription to the service. Its free. Our goal is to create a global online community that supports holiday home owners. There is already advertising spaces sold on the website, we are currently adding affiliate programs and services that will be provided via third party organisations. This is where we will recover and regenerate investment to keep developing the website further.

What's happening right now with BargainVillas?

Right now a new design is being placed over the existing technology on the site. The new design will give the site a more contemporary clean look and feel which we hope will help our current property owners achieve more rents. We are also launching other key word targeted domain names to help drive traffic to the main website and working on strategic partnerships from complimentary services to also generate traffic. The technology behind the website is currently being updated to the latest version of ajax to speed up performance. The search facility and results continues to be refined.

Last word!

By offering the service for free to owners and property managers alike is our assurance that we are not trying to rival your business, we are trying to help grow it. Property owners and managers have nothing to lose in opening an account. There aren't many free places to advertise these days, especially during this credit crunch. BargainVillas is a unique initiative. The concept is designed to help supports property owners and managers.

Questions;

Please let me know if you have any reservations
Any queries about the website
Any advice
Any feedback, good or bad, don't hold back, we can take it :)

Look forward to hearing from you all,

Kind regards

Karl
Bargain Villas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/

The Benefits of Credit Card Processing for Home Owners.

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This year my blogs have had the same reoccurring theme - win more rents! Thinking of ways to keep your properties occupied should always be a priority. Yesterday I listened to an interesting pod cast from HomeAway which highlighted some positive points on processing credit cards.

Having the ability to process credit cards is a simple way of making your holiday home more accessible to more customers.

Unfortunately disposable incomes are not very common these days so offering a credit card facility helps your customers spread the cost of renting. Not only that but it also offers the renter payment protection.

OK, so there is a draw back and that is that to process a credit card you are going to incur a charge of around 3-5%* of the transaction cost. You can do one of two things here, swallow the cost and be happy that you have made a rental or you can pass the charge on to your customer - either way you are making your property available for rental to people that never pay by cheque or bank transfer.

How can you get a credit card facility? Well, an obvious contender is PayPal.com Their service allows you to send invoices, process payments, you can even add the credit card facility to your own website. Here are a couple of links that you might find helpful;

http://www.paypal.com
Paypal Fees
Paypal Features

Of course there are many other payment facilities you can sign up with, Paypal is not the only one. Do a google search, ask other property owners, speak to your bank. There are many options.

Going back to the HomeAway podcast; click here to have a listen.

Questions for your guys...

• Would anyone else like to share who they use for credit card processing?
• Have you noticed rentals increasing because of being able to process credit cards?
• Have you noticed that you have been attracting a different type of customer?

Look forward to hearing from you all,

Karl

BargainVillas

karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk

http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk

REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!

First Impressions Count!

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Better villa images can lead to more bookings!

How can you create a good first impression? Easy, make sure you have killer photos of your holiday home displayed on your advertising. Often taken for granted a little attention to detail in this area can actually help you win more business! Think about it in these terms - The novelty of scrolling through properties online wears pretty thin, pretty quickly so it’s your job to try and capture a customer's attention as quickly as possible. (Preferably before they slip into a boredom induced coma)

On most villa rental websites a small image of the properties is displayed within the search results; this is your first impression. The better the image the more people will click through to your advert. If you aren't the best photographer or like me find most electrical item’s something of an enigma then do yourself a favour - hire someone that knows what they are doing. Get a professional to take some quality snaps. Quality, professionally taken images will pay for them selves in the long run. I like to save money and cut the odd corner or two but this is one I strongly recommend you get right. Without doubt making sure you have quality images of your property will help you win more of those rental opportunities.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone that has improved their rental numbers with better pics or even with the use of a 360 tour as well as any other tips and comments you'd like to pass on regarding this post!

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Look forward to hearing from you,

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Karl

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BargainVillas

karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk

http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/

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REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commission...Ever!

10 Questions You MUST Ask Before Hiring Any Orlando Property Management Company - Part 2

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10 Questions You MUST Ask Before Hiring Any Orlando Property Management Company By Erica Muller - Part 2

Ever wondered what you should be asking before hiring a management company? Well I recently ran into a blog by Erica Muller - Her blog contains some extremely useful Q & A's that would not only help you establish if a management company was right for you but could also help you save and increase value for money.

If you missed Part 1 you can catch up by clicking here But for those of you who have been waiting for Part 2...relax...here it is...

Questions:
6. How many of your bookings come from tour suppliers vs. retail?
7. Do you have a 24-hour emergency line?
8. Are you located within 15 minutes of my home?
9. Do you charge a cancellation fee?
10. Do you have a quality assurance department?

For a full explanation on these essential questions please visit Erica's blog by clicking here!

Many thanks to Erica Muller of http://www.thepinkflamingo.info

Does anyone else have any questions that they feel are essential to put to any management company before signing a contract?

Look forward to hearing from you all,

Karl
BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk

REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!

Turn your quotes into bookings!

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Dont let your quotes die!

Just thought I'd pass on a conversation I had with a villa owner earlier today.We were just chatting in general about rental levels when I happened to ask 'so what happens after you give a potential customer a quote?' The owner told me casually that they didn't really do anything....they basically would wait and see what happened.

Yikes! I thought. If there is one thing that bugs me in this market at this time its 'wait and see' Right now I'd advise any property owner to chase any rental enquiry until the customer finally gets so sick of you that they file a restraining order. OK, I'm exaggerating...but we should all be following up quotes. All of us! I understand that a lot of people are not comfortable with this sort of thing and have never had to do it but trust me, after you've done it a couple of times you'll wonder what you were ever scared of.

Here are a couple of good tips;

When you give out a quote casually mention that you'll follow it up with a courtesy call or email to see what they think. When calling back make it seem like you are doing them a favour because you have limited availability.

When you give out a quote (only if you are prepared to offer this) tell the customer that if they find a cheaper rate for a similar villa call you back and you'll see if there is anything you can do.

If you don't win the rental don't be afraid to ask the customer 'how come?' Finding out why will help you improve things that you might have over looked. Don't be afraid to ask questions like 'who did you end up booking with?' and 'How much did you end up paying?'

ABOVE ALL: ALWAYS ASK FOR THE BOOKING!

If you are already doing these things then sorry for boring you, you've just wasted 6 minutes of your life :-P But if you're not then it wont hurt to employ a couple of the techniques above. The more you speak to your customers the more you can understand what they are looking for which, theoretically, will help you win more of those bookings floating around in the travel stratosphere.

If any of you have any other little tips or suggestions please send them in and ill blog about them.

Look forward to hearing from you,

Karl

BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/


REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commissions....Ever!

Credit Crunch Tips

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Stay Ahead of The Crunch!!

In these financially sketchy time's its really important that owners take stock of where they are and ensure that they are making the most of all the rental opportunities that come their way. So with that in mind here are 3 great tips you might find useful.

Families save money when doubling up!
One of the main benefits to renting a holiday home is that a large percentage of homes are capable of sleeping 2 medium size families. If you are an owner that has a reasonably large property now is the time to start promoting the fact that holidaying with another family is a great way for your customers to keep down the cost of their accommodation by splitting the price with another family. Even offer a discount on full occupancy?

Make sure you are still priced competitively
Its easy to fall into a routine of pricing. Once you set up your property adverts you set a price and leave it at that. Its so important to remain competitive in today's market. Set yourself 1 day a week or 1 day a month to do a quick scan of other properties for rental in your area. Being active and making sure you are still competitively priced is key to ensuring you win those rental out there!
look around at other properties in your area to see if you are priced within the market.

Minimise your losses
If you are struggling to rent out your property try adding a sweetener to the deal. (I am assuming that you have a mortgage to pay) Try offering something like a Free theme park ticket, a free welcome meal at the local restaurant, $50.00 in fuel, free travel insurance etc. The object is to spend a little cash in order to minimise your losses. If you have a mortgage of $1000.00 per month and no one rents your property you have already lost $1000.00 - If you had an offer that cost you $200.00 in order to rent your property at $1000.00 for a month you would have minimised your loss by $800.00.

The point is if you have to lose money at any time because of a down turn - why not make it as little as possible - in the long run you will come out on top because you have turned something with a negative outcome into a positive.

Now would be an ideal time to re-evaluate your marking material to incorporate any of the tips that you find useful.

- Change your brochures or add an insert.
- Update your website and make any special offers MORE prominent.
- Update any online villa adverts you have.
- Check your prices!

I'd like to hear any other useful tips you might have - How is everyone getting the best from their holiday property?

Look forward to hearing from you,

Karl

BargainVillas
karlh@bargainvillas.co.uk
http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/

REMEMBER: Home owners sign up for FREE at http://www.bargainvillas.co.uk/. Pay NO Advertising fee's or commission...Ever!