When browsing through a vacation rental website, different travelers focus on different sections of the listings. Some may peruse headlines, some may glance at the pictures, but others may want to read everything possible about your home, especially when they’re ready to inquire.

Since you may not be able to fit all the selling points of your home into your headline, use your description to provide more details about why someone should choose your home over another. Plus, many owners would agree that answering inquiries and questions from potential renters can be quite time consuming. So if you use your property description to your advantage, you can possibly reduce some of the common questions you receive from potential guests.

What To Include:

• Start with the selling points. Imagine that you had 20 seconds to convince someone to stay at your vacation rental property. What details would they want to know? Just in case the traveler doesn't stop to read your entire description, make sure the best features are listed first. (Ex. Enjoy this spacious and tastefully furnished 2200 sq. ft. home with breathtaking views of Mt. Raineer.)

• Describe the bedrooms. The bedrooms and bed setups are top priorities for many travelers. It could be one of the major factors when selecting a vacation property. For example, if two couples are traveling together, they probably don't want a bedroom with 2 twin beds. Be clear about the number of bedrooms, the bed setups, and the amenities included in each bedroom, like a canopy bed, connecting bathroom, attached balcony, TV, ceiling fan, or even reading lamps. (Ex. The Master Bedroom includes a king size bed with Egyptian cotton sheets, large walk-in closet and ocean views.)

• Highlight your amenities and special features. Paint a picture of the experience that a renter would enjoy while staying at your property. If you have extra space, don't be afraid to include details. For instance: “Even the rocking chairs on the covered deck beckon you to sit for a moment and enjoy the mountain views.” A sentence like this tells the renters 3 things: Your home has a view of the mountains, you have a covered deck to enjoy rain or shine, and the rocking chairs paint a picture of a restful, relaxing vacation.

• Sell your property first, then your area. When perusing vacation properties online, most travelers have probably already settled on an area to stay for their vacation. Your job is to convince them why they should book your property. Also, keep in mind that HomeAway.com and VacationRentals.com listings have a separate section for location information and area attractions, so keep the property description focused on the property itself. For VRBO.com, it's ok (and encouraged) to include a paragraph with location information, but save that info for the end.

• Make it thorough. Although the character maximums (number of letters and spaces allowed) vary across websites, your property description should paint a clear picture of your vacation home and the extras you offer. You should also do your best to answer the most frequently asked questions you receive from guests. On HomeAway.com, you are limited to 1000 characters, and we say go ahead and use them all. And if you can’t fit everything you wanted to say, take advantage of the Further Details sections of your listing. On VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com you have quite a bit more space, but we recommend sticking to about 2000-3000 characters. After all, you don’t want to completely overwhelm your potential guests!

What NOT To Include:

• Poor grammar, lack of punctuation, or spelling errors. Don't undermine your professionalism with silly typing errors. Be sure to have one or two people proofread your description before making changes to your listing on the sites. • Abbreviations. Since you may have limited space, make sure every word is worthwhile. There's no sense in using abbreviations if people won't know what you're saying! Common abbreviations like BR for bedroom are probably fine, but avoid making up your own.

• Misused symbols. While you might think that dollar signs ($), the number symbol (#) or the ‘at’ symbol (@) may draw attention to your description, they could just make it distracting and harder to read.

• Local jargon. Keep in mind that your advertisement will be read by people of all nationalities, with various English-language proficiencies. It’s probably best to avoid expressions that not everyone would understand.

• Clichés. Similarly, phrases like "you won't believe your eyes" don't really tell a traveler too much about your home. And let's be honest - they're a bit overused. Stick to the specifics about your home and let your renters decide if they really can't believe their eyes.

• Passive voice or superfluous words (words whose absence does not alter the meaning of the sentence.) By tightening your prose you can fit a lot more detail into the same amount of space. For example, any sentence that begins with "There is" or "It is" can be written in a more active voice. Instead of "There is a very breezy balcony with a relaxing hammock," write, "Relax on the breezy balcony in our hammock.

How To Stand Out:

• Capitalize important words. Even if it's in the middle of a sentence, go ahead and capitalize your Flat Screen TV, King Size Bed, Private Swimming Pool or other special attributes of your home. This will help make the best features of your home jump out at the reader. Just be careful not to overuse them – it could end up diluting the overall effect.

• Include amenities in your description, as well as the amenities table, another section of your listing. You never know which sections renters will read and which they will skip over, so be sure the important features of your home are listed in multiple places. • Use numerals to draw attention to certain features of your home, like the size of your TV's, the size of your home, or the number of bedrooms. For example, instead of saying fifty five inch TVs, write 55” TVs.

• Take advantage of formatting options. On VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com, for example, you are able to include headers for your paragraphs. It is helpful to separate information about each of your rooms so the traveler can easily find the information he/she is looking for. You can also create bulleted lists using the asterisk (*) symbol in case your description starts to get too wordy and you’d like to simplify some of your text. (Just don’t overwhelm travelers with 100 bullet points.)

• "Use words like "you" and "your." Write as if you're describing your second home to a person in a way that would help them imagine staying in your home. Instead of "The pool is heated year-round," try: "You'll love our pool - we keep it at 76 degrees all year long." The words "you" and "your" are important words that will speak directly to your prospective renters.

It is important to include as much information as possible in your description because this is your opportunity to really sell all that your home has to offer. By including the information that travelers care about most, you’ll be able to answer common questions and convince them why they should choose your property over another.

How do you make your property description stand out?

How to Write Your Ads for the Search Engines, too! When writing your advertisements, use search engine optimization (SEO) to attract more renters.   Example of a Well-Written Vacation Rental Property Description for HomeAway Learn how to better organize the information in your property description for potential renters.   How to Write About Your Property's Location The description of your vacation rental property's location is a vital component of your ad and should not be overlooked.   Descriptive Words to Use in Your Vacation Rental Ad, Part 2 Tips for choosing property type, location, and amenity words to highlight in your vacation rental descriptions and headlines.

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