0 Shares When Guests are Locked Out – Who is Responsible? I’m always disappointed when I see reporting in the media such as this story from our own Canadian based CTV News. It’s about a couple from British Columbia who rented an apartment in Paris from a private listing on Airbnb. On one day of their vacation they inadvertently locked themselves out of the apartment and […]
0 Shares Is An Attitude Adjustment Needed in the Vacation Rental Business? “To the ancient Greeks, hospitality was a divine right. The host was expected to make sure the needs of his guests were seen to. In Greek society a person’s ability to abide the laws to hospitality determined nobility and social standing.” Source: Wikipedia This year clarified a lot for me about the changing nature of […]
0 Shares Dropping the Ball on my own Vacation Rental – A Learning Experience We all love positive reviews don’t we? Most owners I’ve talked with would be unhappy with anything less than five star, and see a lower grade as a severe dent in their stellar record of ‘doing it right’. However much the review sites and experts tell us that it’s always good to get a lower […]
0 Shares 10 Steps to Emergency Preparedness Putting together an emergency plan is one of those things we tend to put off for that day when ‘we’ve got a bit more time’. However, if you are like many people, me included, that day rarely comes, and the next thing you know, a situation arises and we are scrambling around to make it […]
0 Shares Gadgets to Manage Your Rental Remotely This guest post is by Beth Stockwell at the Home Away Community. Though some owners and property managers live reasonably close to their vacation rentals, there are many that live a long drive, or even a flight, away. Rest assured that in today’s technologically advanced world, there are so many gadgets that can help […]
0 Shares Warm up Your Winter Vacation Rental Marketing Christmas is over; 2013 is fast approaching and if you have vacancies for January, February and March, it’s time to get them filled. Unless you are blessed with a property in a year-round holiday spot, encouraging guests in the low season should be high on your priority list. Here’s a few things I am doing […]
0 Shares Going Green Can Create More Business It was interesting to read this article from ABTA discussing sustainability in travel, and the growing number of tourists seeking socially and environmentally responsible travel experiences. The key points I picked up from the article are that creating and maintaining a ‘green’ policy for holiday accommodation not only benefits the environment but also appeals to […]
0 Shares Avoid Negative Trip Advisor Reviews With A Simple Changeover Checklist Every so often I spend an hour or so reading reviews on Flipkey and Trip Advisor and look at what vacation rental clients are griping about. We can learn so much by these reviews if we use them as a research resource to educate and inform on what we could be doing better. Many of […]
0 Shares Just Cheesed Off with the Changeover! I spend a lot of time on this blog, and in my day job as a vacation rental manager, talking about the ‘cost of doing business’, and have referred occasionally to that cost being emotional at times as well as monetary. So….yesterday…I had cause to experience that for myself for the first time this year […]
0 Shares What’s Under the Bed? When was the last time you checked under the beds in your vacation rental home or cottage? Did you check the bathroom cabinet; the dresser drawers and the shelf in the nightstand? I hope it was on the last changeover day. If not, how do you know what your last guests left behind. Dust bunnies […]
