Hi all!

This week represents this official end to spring break! I hope you and your homes all survived, had tons of great renters and no beer-drinking, college spring breakers.

Within the next few weeks, our next wave of inquiries and bookings should come rolling in for the busy summer rental season. If you're already booked-- great! If not, now's the time to start thinking about attracting the next wave of travelers: Change your headlines, alter your descriptions, make sure your rates and calendars are up-to-date and your photos are the best!

I have reassessed my ads and all's well except I'll have to write some new descriptions and get new photos of my cabins.

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about buying new beds? Well this week they are scheduled to arrive. This news sent me frantically shopping for new linens (remember I'm switching my beds from queens to kings, so this means all new bedding too!). The first place I went was Costco. I found that King sheets were between $65 and $100. Wow, that's much more than queen sets.

Next, I let my fingers do the walking on the internet to do some price comparison shopping. The best prices for good quality sheets I found were on SmartBargains.com. For $40 I was able to get 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets w/4 pillow cases (I love the bonus pillow cases, since it seems like I replace pillowcases sooner than sheets.)

The benefit of buying Egyptian cotton is that-- yes, they are very nice sheets-- but now I can advertise my homes as having luxury sheets. I am hoping this will piqué the interest of a couple of renters that would have maybe otherwise glanced passed my property.

After sheets, I needed new blankets, quilts, pillow shams, dust ruffles, and mattress pads. I was able to find all of these items reasonably priced on SmartBargains.com as well. So I purchased everything in one shot and had it shipped to my housekeeper. The total damage to my pocketbook was a mere $280 per bed (including shipping and taxes), which included 2 sets of sheets (one on the bed and one spare), 4 pillows (2 for sleeping and 2 for the shams), a blanket, mattress pad, quilt, shams and dust ruffle. I think I did pretty well! Hopefully they'll make it at the same time as the beds.

Happy Renting by Owner!

Christine

If you're interested in hearing Christine speak at one of her upcoming seminars, visit the Seminar Schedule for more information.

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Vacation Home Amenities: Room by Room    Learn how to outfit each room of your vacation home for maximum renting potential.

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How to Write Your Ads for the Search Engines, too!    When writing your advertisements, use search engine optimization (SEO) to attract more renters.

Sample Directions for Your Vacation Rental Guests    Learn how to make your vacation rental directions clear and thorough.

Top 10 Most Common Cleaning Problems at Vacation Rentals    Avoid some of your renters' biggest complaints.

Post-Peak Season Maintenance Plan for Vacation Rentals    After 12 weeks of continuous use, your property probably deserves a little TLC.

How to Fire Your Vacation Rental Housekeeper    When the cleaning staff is pulling you underwater instead of helping you swim, when should you cut the line?

How To Handle Laundry For Back-to-Back Rentals    With a limited amount of time between back-to-back rentals, cleaning the sheets and towels in a timely manner can be a challenge.

Ten Ways to Sell Your Vacation Home Faster    Tips for selling your vacation rental home in the cooling housing market.

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Traveler's Thoughts...Revealed    A “behind the looking glass” perspective into travelers' likes, fears, and annoyances about renting vacation homes.

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

Obtaining Feedback from Your Vacation Home Renters    Easy ways to encourage your guests to provide constructive criticism

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Christine's Blog: FVRMA and Takeaways from Traveler Focus Groups (5/21/07)    Christine sounds off on why she's attending the Florida Vacation Rental Manager's Association conference and what she learned from focus groups conducted by HomeAway this past week.

Christine's Blog: A Non-Traditional Booking (9/16/08)    Christine is pleased to have landed a 10-week booking at her Panama City Beach condo.

Christine's Blog: Whew! Taxes Done (4/16/07)    Christine is glad to be done with her taxes and checked in at her cabins on the new beds and linens that she recently ordered.

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Should You Provide Extras Like Shampoo and Detergent?    Insight into which extras you should provide for your guests.

The Extras: Which Amenities Will Set Your Vacation Rental Home Apart?    From HDTVs to Air Conditioning, which amenities will help set your vacation rental apart from the competition?

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