Happy Halloween! In October, we conducted 12 seminars in 5 different cities. When we're on the road, we stay in vacation rentals—of course! During our travels, we noticed one common denominator that many homeowners do, or should I say don't do—advertise everything that's in their home. When asked why, some owners said they like to surprise their guests, and others just never thought about “putting that in my ad.” Read the How to Make Your Listing as Good as Your Vacation Home article to learn more.

Another thing we noticed while on the road is just how smart and savvy vacation rental owners are. At each seminar, we learn something new from you guys. So this month's top ten list is dedicated to sharing the things that we learned from owners this fall. And to encourage the sharing of expertise within the Owner Community, you can now add an "Owner Tip" to many of the articles on the site. Please submit your tips, tricks, and comments, so that other owners can benefit from your experience and insight. Happy Renting! Christine Karpinski PS: I'm only doing seminars in 2 more cities in 2008.  Join us in Tampa or Orlando to learn how to get started in our Beginner workshops or to get new ideas about how to increase your bookings in our Current Owner seminars.  Hope to see you there!

12 Things That Every Vacation Rental Should Have Don't forget to stock these necessities next time you visit your vacation home.

How to Market Your Vacation Home to 30-Day Renters Market to this niche group to satisfy local minimum stay regulations or to simply your increase bookings.

Easing Your Renters' Minds During an Economic Downturn Before you and your guests start to panic, learn how to work with your renters' financial concerns and keep your bookings strong.

How to Make Your Listing as Good as Your Vacation Home Don't let your special touches go unnoticed – be sure to advertise everything you offer.

How to Keep Your Home Booked in an Uncertain Economy Tips for marketing your vacation home during these tough financial times.

Advanced SEO for Your Listing: The Importance of Building Links Once you';ve optimized the text and photos in your listing for the search engines, you can take it one step further.

How to Make the Most of Your Marketing Budget 5 ways to analyze your current advertising spending to get the most for your marketing dollars.

How to Choose Between Cable TV and Satellite for Your Vacation Rental Answering these questions will help you decide between cable and satellite for your vacation rental home.

When Do Your Guests Form Their First Impressions?: Part 1 Hint: It's not when they first arrive at your home.

This month's question: What is the most useful piece of advice that you've gotten from another homeowner? Last month we asked, "What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of maintaining your vacation home from a distance?"

Here's what you had to say: Challenges of Managing a Vacation Rental from Afar.

October 28: Saving Money on Cable Christine provides some money-saving tips for your cable bill.

October 15: First Impressions with Your Directions Christine gives some useful advice on providing clear directions to your renters and solidifying that best first impression!

October 1: Observations about Vacation Homes and Owners Christine shares some valuable insight on her recent conversations with owners and vacation rental stays.

Ask Christine #22: Beachfront or Not? Christine addresses the question of how to advertise your condo if your complex is beachfront but your unit doesn't face the beach. 10/27/08

Ask Christine #21: How the Economy is Affecting the Vacation Rental Industry Christine addresses how an uncertain economy and gas prices could affect your vacation home rentals. 10/24/08 Buying an Investment Property in Taos, NM Christine talks about the real estate and vacation rental market in Taos, NM with real estate agent Peter Lora. 10/13/08 One-on-One with La Jolla, CA Vacation Rental Owner Mireya Schmidt Christine talks with Mireya Schmidt about her background as both a real estate agent and vacation rental owner of multiple properties. 10/9/2008

Have a question for Christine? Leave a message at (512) 493-4340 and get an answer on the air.

Join us in Tampa or Orlando for our last 2008 seminars.  We're holding 3 sessions in each city: 1 for beginners and 2 for current owners.

Nov. 17th & 18th: Tampa, FL Nov. 19th & 20th: Orlando, FL Look for 2009 events in Houston, Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Panama City Beach.

We've been hard at work developing new Pre-Recorded webinar topics for you to download at your convenience. Visit the Vacation Rental Webinars Page for more information.

Updating Your Availability Calendar - Tips, Tricks & Benefits Guide to using the HomeAway Connect calendar for VRBO subscribers. Simplify your booking process by making the most of your availability calendar. Watch This Webinar (8 min, 42 sec)

Vacation Renting 101: Tips for Getting Started Own a vacation home, but have no idea how to start renting? This class will take you through the steps to get your vacation home on the short-term rental market. Watch This Webinar (10 min, 39 sec)

The 15 Most Frequent Photo Mistakes Learn the most frequent mistakes that vacation rental owners make when taking photos of their vacation rental properties. Watch This Webinar (9 min, 6 sec)

Visit the Owner Community for more October Vacation Rental News and 100s of articles in the Vacation Rental News archive.

Miami Beach commission shelves debate over short-term rentals "There's one hot-button issue Miami Beach leaders had hoped to tackle next week: short-term rentals. But the controversial topic won't come up at the Nov. 5 city commission meeting since lawyers for property owners asked for an extension earlier this month, First Assistant City Attorney Gary Held said. The issue is expected to be heard at a December meeting." MiamiHerald.com 10/28/08

Study finds vacation rental market is a $24 billion industry "Travelers looking for alternatives to hotels have helped grow the vacation rental market to a $24.3 billion industry, according to a new study." BizJournals.com 10/21/08

Calaveras County to legalize single-family vacation rentals "Calaveras County officials reassured property managers Tuesday that they intend to legalize the use of single-family homes as vacation rentals, although they may toughen the county's noise ordinance to make it easier for sheriff's deputies to restore quiet when things spin out of control at parties." Recordnet.com 10/22/08

Getting a mortgage is more difficult but not impossible in Tahoe "With South Shore housing prices dipping, people looking to take advantage of the greater affordability should be happy to hear it's still possible to get mortgages." TahoeDailyTribune.com 10/16/08

1) Target traveling nurses if you own somewhat near a hospital or medical facility, especially if your area has 30 day minimums. 2) Provide local products or small tokens for your guests to increase your chances of landing a future booking. 3) Hire a professional photographer and see your inquiries soar. We spoke with one owner who saw his rental revenue double after getting professional photos taken of his home.

4) Advertise on international websites. Owners that are looking for longer stays or live in markets with 30-day minimums have seen success by advertising on the international websites.

5) Print postcards with a picture of your house and leave them for your guests to send back to friends and family. It's an easy way to spread word-of-mouth about your home. 6) Spell-check your listings by copying and pasting your text into Microsoft Word before posting your ad. That will help to catch any typos or spelling errors.

7) Try rolling your cleaning fee into your rental rates to increase perceived value. If everyone in your market charges a cleaning fee, this promotion could end up increasing the appeal of your rental. 8) Consider purchasing two listings if your home is located halfway between two well-known areas. Creating one listing for each market might capture renters traveling to each area. Just be sure to portray an accurate depiction of your home's location. 9) Be flexible with your check-in dates if you own in a fly-to market. Given the slow economy, many travelers are now booking flights before accommodations. Try to work with their arrival and departure dates instead of requiring only Saturday or Sunday check-in.

10) Create a slideshow. If you don't currently have a video of your home but would like to upload a YouTube video on your VRBO listing, use a slide show to feature additional pictures until you are able to post an actual video.

If you are already a member of VRBO, you may have noticed an email announcing a new feature for listings with 16 photos: You can now upload a free YouTube video to be displayed on your property listing page.
The Benefits: • Appeal to renters that prefer video tours, a top request from VRBO travelers. • Differentiate your listing with a video icon displayed on your location's search results page. • Receive more qualified inquiries from potential guests that could be more inclined to book after viewing your video tour.
How It Works: • Create a video of your vacation home. You might choose to narrate the video or simply include background music. • Visit www.YouTube.com for instructions on uploading your video. Be sure to include a link back to your VRBO listing in order for your video to be approved. • Log on to your account on VRBO.com. In the New Embedded Video Request section, enter the link for your video provided by YouTube. • Once approved, your YouTube video will be embedded within your listing page for travelers to view. If you've been thinking about joining VRBO or considering adding more photos, it might be a good time to take advantage of this bonus feature. Video can be a great marketing tool, so even if you don't have a listing on VRBO, it's still a good idea to take a video of your vacation rental next time you're visiting.

Have a question or comment? Email us.