I was spending nearly $5,000 a year listing properties on vacation rental listing sites such as VRBO, HomeAway, Vacation Rentals, Find Rentals, Always on Vacation and others. Should I invest even more in my own vacation rental site? How could I compete with these major sites? After years in the vacation rental business, I realized the point wasn’t to compete with the “big boys,” but to supplement and expand on what they do. And addition to guests expecting it, you own website creates credibility.

With the influx of first-time renters looking to rent vacation homes instead of a hotel, “rookie guests” may be lacking in wisdom and often have unreasonable expectations. The “rookie mindset” sometimes expect owners to cater to every whim. It is up to us to educate them about the differences between Vacation Rental Homes and hotels.

Using music to enhance the mood of the home will set the first impression as positive. With all these tips and tricks added together; if a spider happens to build a web in the corner of the living room right before your guests arrival, you won’t get that dreaded phone call saying that “this house is defective”!