The holiday season is almost upon us. And for some owners, the holiday weeks (Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, and New Years) bring in more revenue than the rest of the winter weeks combined. Since your renters are paying you a bit more for these weeks (or at least they should be), you might want to consider giving them a bit more for their money. One easy way to do this and to increase your home's marketing potential by adding a little bit of holiday cheer to your vacation home.

Easy Ways to Decorate Your Vacation Home From Afar •Utilize your housekeepers, ask them to add some decorations for you. But be sure to compensate them for their extra time and effort. •Have your housekeeper add a string of Christmas lights to an existing silk palm tree or plant in your home. •Send a rosemary bush or poinsettias to your home from a local nursery or via mail order like Harry and David's (If your guests will have small children or pets, you may want to opt for silk poinsettias.) •Check with local charities/civic organizations to see if they sell fresh wreaths that you can hang on your front door.

If you live nearby or can manage a trip to your property before the holiday season, here are: A Few Inexpensive Ways to Tinsel Your Home with Holiday Cheer •Leave a bowl of mixed shelled nuts as a centerpiece on your dining room table. Shelled nuts last forever and may make your renters merry. •If you have a wood-burning fireplace, buy packets of holiday scents (pine, cinnamon, peppermint, etc.) for your guests fill your home with yuletide aromas. •If you don't feel like storing pricey Christmas decorations each year, raid your local dollar for items like holly, mistletoe, and Christmas lights.

Add a Dash of Red & Green to Your Advertising • If you're still trying to book the holiday weeks, sell the Yuletide experience to potential guests by featuring photos of your home decorated for the holidays. •Include special rates for the holiday weeks in your rate table. •Mention the upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving, Chanukah/Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's) in your ad to pull in renters searching for accommodations specifically for those holidays. •Send holiday cards to your past renters, inviting them to come back and stay at your home in the New Year. Creating a card with a photo of your home on the outside is easy and relatively inexpensive (less than $1 each) to have printed through a company like Costco or VistaPrint.com.

Give the Gift of Good Tidings •Leave (or send) a gift for each of your guests to open when they arrive. The gift doesn't have to be expensive-- an ornament is fine-- and will be much appreciated. •Send cookies or holiday treats. •Stock your home with holiday movies like It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas and CDs of holiday music. Look for sales on these the week after Christmas. •Do some research on holiday events in your vacation home town and include them in your directions to your guests. Find out who has the best Santa, where they could buy the most coveted holiday cookies, where they can see holiday shows or go ice skating, where they can go for holiday religious services, etc.

Create a Winter Wonderland (Think Griswold's from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) •Buy a Christmas tree and decorate it with lights and ornaments. •Put Christmas lights up on the exterior of your home. •Hang a wreath on the front door. •Put garland on the banisters. •Hang stockings from the mantle. •Set the table with Holiday china. •Change out your towels and other linens with holiday themes

Owner Tips "The easiest, least expensive way and what makes the greatest holiday decorating impact I have found in decorating for the holidays, and not just rental property, is inexpensive holiday table clothes and silk poinsettias scattered/placed in strategic locations throughout the property, from my local Dollar General and Family Dollar stores. Besides the table clothes and silk poinsettias they also offer quite a variety of inexpensive table-top decor useful for side tables, coffee tables and bathrooms. I shop there for my own home during the holidays and get rave reviews and every year someone asks me where I get my holiday decorations. It just goes to show you don't have to shop at the big name department stores to sparkle. One last piece of advice, most any interior decorator will agree with me, using several big items to decorate with is always better than puny little things scattered around. So poinsettias will always do the trick if you don't buy anting else!" -Tammy, Asheville (NC), HomeAway #143858 "Something we are doing for both fall and Christmas are door wreaths. We have a fall one and will be switching out to a winter theme after Thanksgiving. Also, we have found some nice (inexpensive items) to decorate the mantle and table at discount stores such as Ross and Marshalls. For about 10 bucks we have metal Christmas trees with tea lights, stuffed Santa's on skis and similar fun items to put around the house." Wayne, Massanutten (VA), HomeAway #169612 The bottom line: Don't be a Scrooge! Consider decorating your vacation property for the holidays and secure yourself a spot on Santa's “Nice list.” Commentary from Christine: Having grown up in New York surrounded by a diversity of cultures, it's a habit for me to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” While writing this article, I pondered the political correctness of holiday decorations in vacation rental homes. Do you worry about offending Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Atheists? While you should be more cognizant about it if you own in certain parts of the country like the “Borscht Belt” in the Catskills (a popular vacation destination for Jewish families), according to 2000 US Census Data, 80% of Americans identified themselves as Christian and celebrate Christmas. This is a large percentage of potential renters. You know your area and your guests. Do what you feel is appropriate for you and your guests. Do you decorate in a way that you don't see on our list? Please email us and we'll add your suggestions!

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