And we're off! The pre-busy vacation rental inquiry season has officially hit. Every year, once Thanksgiving passes I start getting inquiries for my vacation rental homes from the early-bird travelers looking to rent the following year. This year, I made 3 bookings for one property on Thanksgiving weekend alone!

Of course this always prompts me to start looking at my vacation rental property listings, raising the rental rates, and sprucing up the ads.

I went to my VRBO ads and it was really pretty quick and easy to raise my rates for 2007. With a simple click into the member's area and wah-la I was done.

Then I went to my ad in the Owner's Area of the HomeAway Network. First of all I realized that all my rates were gone! What? Where did they go? I didn't realize that they drop off once the date has passed. So I had to go to my VRBO rental ad and toggle back and forth with two internet windows open. But with a little patience, I got this task accomplished. Rates for 2007 done!

The next thing I did was look at my descriptive text. I had made some improvements to my vacation rental properties last year. Do the photos and the text reflect these improvements?

And finally I had to do my once a year sizing up of the competition. How does my vacation home compare to the others? I noted that many more cabins in my area are now advertising “Free high-speed internet.” I guess it's time to call the cable company and get internet if I want to compete!

Happy Renting,

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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