Tips on creating Vacation Rental Listings and Websites to Market Vacation Rental Homes Online

To successfully market your vacation rental online, you should consider adding your property to one or more Vacation Rentals Directories.  In addition you can build your own website that will feature your vacation home.

If you want to build your own site, and don't know much about designing websites, you can find many free templates to choose from online.  Do a quick search for "Free Website Templates" on Google (or other search engines) and choose one that fits your needs.
Here are some basic tips on how to build a successful vacation rental listing or website to market your property.

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Pictures sell.  Always include quality photos of your property on your website or listing.  Photos should be clear, accurate and up to date. Take some time with your photos, double look to see if everything looks neat and clean.  No one wants to look at a living room photo that has clothes and magazines laying around.
Consider adding photos of the outside view of your Vacation Rental Home taken in different seasons.  For example, if you offer rentals year round, add photos of how your Vacation Rental Home looks not just in the Summer, but also in the Spring, Winter and Fall.  This helps your potential renters envision what to expect when they get there.

- featuring your Vacation Rental Property.
If you have a video featuring your Vacation Rental Home, add it to your website or your listing.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is a worth a million!

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If you do now know how to add keyword or Meta Tags, do a quick search on Google on "How to add Meta Tags to your Website" and read few articles about good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices.
SEO plays a very important part of having a successful Vacation Rental Website, and it's not hard to learn.
When adding keywords, they should relate to your vacation rental home and it's location, such as "Vacation Rental in Orlando" or "Luxury Catskills Cabin" etc.
Titles of your pages (or your Vacation Rental Listing) should include keywords and location.  In general, your title should be a short, few words sentence (or two, if they are very shot).  For Example: "Cozy Vacation Rental in Orlando Florida.  Affordable getaway". 

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When writing about your rental, include keywords that you added to your Meta Tags.  For example "Our Vacation Rental in Orlando Florida offers …" or "If you are looking for a Luxury cabin in the Catskills..." etc.
Always tell the truth about your property. Misrepresenting your Vacation Rental home will only lead to angry guests. You should be very clear as to what your Vacation Rental Home has to offer.  This way the renters are not surprised (in a negative way) when they get there.  Try to cover anything that you can think of to describe your vacation home in details.  Not only will this help you avoid getting unnecessary phone calls, or emails with questions that could have been explained on your website or listing, but it will also help you in case you run into unhappy guests.
We recommend that you have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page on your website.  This page should have typical questions and short answers to them.
Think from the potential guests perspective… what would be useful to add to the description or FAQ page?
With time, as you rent your Vacation Rental Home, you will add more to your FAQ page as visitors will keep asking questions that were not covered.
When creating your Vacation Rental listing or website, let's not forget that you should use standard capitalization. Do not use all capital letters for titles or description. In Internet etiquette, this is the equivalent of shouting.

- Add a link to your Vacation Rental Listing on your website.  Also, if the Vacation Rental Directory site allows it, link to your website from your listing page.  This will help search engines find your Vacation Home on both, your website and your listings.

- Consider changing your description on your listings.
Search engines don't like duplicate content.  Include all that's important about your Vacation Rental Home on your listings, but try to write it again, instead of just simply copy/pasting your description from your website.

- Invite your prior guests to leave a review on your Vacation Rental Listing.
Travelers do read reviews.  Some are more interested in them than others.  In general, reviews from prior guests add trust in a view of potential new renters.  According to TripAdvisor nearly 80% of travelers say they are significantly more likely to book a property if they can read reviews from past guests.

Write even more about your Vacation Home, update on recent changes and news - Blog.
Search engines love Blogs, and potential guests will like more personal and updated information about your Vacation Home.

Last but certainly not least, update your website AND your Vacation Rental listings from time to time.  Updated content leads to better search engine traffic. If you don't update your site, it will slowly get down the list on search results.

Question by robinlovescmt: How can you tell if a vacation rental owner is legitimate?
We are in the process of renting a vacation home and want to be sure that when we get to our destination it's not a scam. You typically have to pay the rental price up front (or a large portion of it). What are your options if you go on vacation and find that the property is not what was advertised? Once they have you rmoney, what can you do? I hate to be so untrusting, but there are so many people out there these days looking for ways to rip others off.

Best answer:

Answer by god knows and sees else Yahoo
credit card only
references from your area who have stayed there

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

Santa Barbara Vacation Rentals' Best Kept Secrets: Top 8 Family Spring Break Vacation Tips

If you've got kids in school, your family spring break vacation has special meaning for you. The kids get a week off and it's probably the only real vacation they (and you) get during those six long months between the winter holidays and summer. Everyone needs a family spring break vacation. You've marked off the family's spring break vacation dates on your calendar months in advance, and everyone is jonesing to hit the road.

How can you make the most of this precious spring break? You want something fun, enriching and affordable. What you need for your family spring break vacation is a Santa Barbara vacation rental home.

The phrase "spring break vacation" conjures up TV news footage of drunken bashes and out of control college students trashing hotels. When you're planning a family spring break vacation, party central is the last place you want to be. The simple way to avoid these rowdy spring break revelers is to go where they aren't. Santa Barbara is a great place to take your family on spring break, and a Santa Barbara vacation rental is the ideal place to base your trip.

For a family, the simple tactical advantages of a Santa Barbara vacation rental are enormous. You get double the square footage for your family spring break vacation dollar. You get a two- to three-bedroom beautifully appointed home, instead of a generic hotel room with paper thin walls that will allow you and your children to hear everything the party animals are doing in the next room. (Aside from the noise level, there are some discussions you don't want to have with your young kids: "Mommy, what's a Jell-o shot?").

By using a Santa Barbara vacation rental home for your family spring break vacation, you control the environment. You share no walls, you have your own porch, your own backyard, your own place to breathe without having to keep an eye on questionable hotel guests.You have your own media center, your own big screen TV, a place where you and your family can have all the loud fun and wholesome games you want without having to worry about someone banging on the wall. You get your choice of Santa Barbara vacation rental home each with its own view, unique style (Greek, Spanish Mission, Modern, Italian, French, etc.). Beyond doubling your family's spring break vacation space for the same money, a Santa Barbara vacation rental home has a unique character so your kids will recall the details of your family spring break vacation for years to come.

A Santa Barbara vacation rental home is more than just gorgeous house to have spring break fun in. What makes a great Santa Barbara family spring break vacation is Santa Barbara itself. Santa Barbara has tons of family-friendly activities and events that come into bloom during spring break. Downtown Santa Barbara has glorious shopping, family-friendly restaurants, historical sites and galleries to explore. There are lots of places that are specifically designed for families. There are so many family friendly activities that many families come back to Santa Barbara year after year for their family spring break vacation.

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Year round Santa Barbara is bursting with festivals, events, shows and activities. On any given weekend during your family spring break vacation you will be able to choose from a wide variety of family friendly events. To get a listing of all events go to http://www.santabarbara.com/calendar/. If you're looking for the latest in family friendly goings-on check out Santa Barbara Family's Calendar of Events: http://www.sbfamilylife.com/coe.htm or Santa Barbara Parent http://www.sbparent.com/.

Santa Barbara has 300 days of sunshine a year, making it the perfect place to plan an outdoor family spring break vacation. Here are some of the most popular outdoor family spring break vacation activities:

Bring your dog. Unlike many hotels, you can bring your dog to enjoy Santa Barbara vacation rentals along with you on your family spring break vacation.
Walk along Santa Barbara's many beaches.
Explore the grounds of the Santa Barbara Mission.
If you want a lovely stroll, go to the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens or the Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens. If you love orchids, the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate is a must-see attraction that draws orchid lovers from around the world.
Find inner peace at Ganna Walska Lotusland
The whole family can rent individual bikes to check out the many available bike trails or you can rent a fun, covered, four-person Surrey bike.
If you love horses visit the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club or spend spring break horseback riding through the wilderness.
Play Frisbee in the backyard of your Santa Barbara vacation rental home or in one of our many parks such as Alameda Park, Chase Palm Park (which has a Merry-Go-Round).
Go camping.
Day trips through the greater Southern California area (Oxnard, Ventura, Los Angeles, Hollywood, etc).
Play tennis year round.
Hike along the Santa Ynez Mountains or along the beach. No matter which Santa Barbara vacation rental home you choose for your family spring break vacation, you're not far from a hiking trail.
If you've got skaters in your family, Skater's Point is Santa Barbara's rocking skateboard park.

Your Santa Barbara vacation rental home is never far away from something the natives like to call the Pacific Ocean. While the rest of the country may still be shivering in the cold, your family spring break vacation is the perfect time to enjoy seaside fun such as:

Santa Barbara has many of California's best beaches: Arroyo Burro Beach, Goleta Beach, East Beach, Leadbetter Beach. Butterfly Beach (a little hard to find) is where the locals go to have a great beach experience.
Cruise Santa Barbara's beautiful waterfront on the Santa Barbara Water Taxi.
Boat lovers can go to the Yacht Club, charter a boat or do some sport fishing.
If you'd love to see what spring looks like under the sea, you can get supervised scuba diving and snorkeling lessons.
Grab your wet suit and go surfing.
Fishing is popular at the many lakes and ocean fishing is also available to give your family an unforgettable adventure.
For those of you with older children looking for spring break adventure, Santa Barbara is great for kayaking where your kid can get up close with dolphins, sea lions and more.
There is no better place on the coast for whale watching than the Santa Barbara Channel.

The deep dark secret of a Santa Barbara family spring break vacation is that you can turn off your brain, but you don't have to. There are plenty of cultural and educational opportunities you can enjoy on your family spring break vacation:

Take the trolley tour, which will teach you the history of Santa Barbara in 90 fun-filled minutes.
The Ty Warner Sea Center is a great place for hands-on science.
Visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Santa Barbara's Zoological Gardens is one of the best small zoos in the country.
For the museum minded, explore the Contemporary Arts Forum, El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park, Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, The Museum of Art, South Coast Railroad Museum, the UCSB Art Museum.
For evening fun you have your choice of theaters playing comedies, musicals and dramas.
In addition to Santa Barbara's thriving music scene you can listen to the symphony, chamber orchestra, choral society and more.

Finally, if you want to take a spring break from your own children, the concierge of your Santa Barbara vacation rental home can arrange to have your kids entertained by experienced (and vetted) professional babysitters. While your kids are having fun with one of the baby sitters, you can explore the other side of Santa Barbara, one of the most romantic destinations on the planet.

Your Santa Barbara family spring break vacation will be the highlights of your year, a cherished memory that will last a lifetime. Families fall in love with their Santa Barbara vacation rental home and keep coming back year after year, sometimes stretching into the third generation. That's the best kind of family spring break vacation, the one that keeps giving long after you leave.

Santa Barbara Vacation Rentals Best Kept Secrets: Top 7 Romantic Santa Barbara Getaway Tips

As fairy-tale destinations for lovers go, a romantic Santa Barbara getaway tops the list. From scenic Stearns Wharf and the beautiful Santa Barbara Mission to the tree-lined State Street shopping district and glorious sandy beaches, renowned wineries, spas and art galleries, a romantic Santa Barbara getaway is just what the doctor ordered. And Santa Barbara vacation rentals can help you create the special retreat for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, honeymoons or that dreamy romantic tryst you’ll remember for the rest of your lives.

Travel writers have waxed rhapsodic about many romantic Santa Barbara activities but instead of a simple list of romantic tourist attractions (I’ve included those at the end), these tips will help you create the ultimate romantic Santa Barbara getaway.

Planning the ultimate romantic Santa Barbara getaway is easy. Romantic Santa Barbara offers a full orchestra of locales and activities at your disposal. All you have to do is compose the most romantic Santa Barbara getaway for your beloved. As with any great piece of music, the secret to a romantic Santa Barbara getaway is varying the pacing.

Mix slow leisurely beach walks (or art gallery walks, if you prefer) with high-energy activities like dancing. Start with lyrical passages like getting a massage at a local spa. Up the tempo with an invigorating horseback ride. Build to a romantic crescendo with a candlelit dinner at a fine restaurant. Then segue over to a passionate evening of poetry reading (or whatever else comes to mind).

One of the best ways to pull off a memorable romantic Santa Barbara getaway is to get a Santa Barbara vacation rental home. A musical masterpiece should be played in a venue worthy of it. But beyond a great showplace, picking the right Santa Barbara vacation rental home can inspire romantic activities based just on the location. A Santa Barbara vacation home gives you so much more opportunity to create great romantic moments than an anonymous hotel room.

Imagine your Santa Barbara vacation rental home just steps away from Shoreline Park and the sand, with easy access to Ledbetter Beach.  When you stay at a Santa Barbara vacation rental you can enjoy a morning stroll through the park. There is also a children’s playground and seating areas for afternoon BBQs in the sun. Watch the surfers at the beach, take a walk through the harbor area, and enjoy the oceanfront atmosphere of beautiful downtown Santa Barbara.

The physical layout of a Santa Barbra vacation rental home is also important. For example, imagine the relaxing you can do on your own private rooftop patio with incredible views of Shoreline Park and the Pacific ocean in both directions. Each individual feature of a Santa Barbra vacation rental home is a piece of music waiting to happen.

The best way to enjoy a romantic Santa Barbara getaway is to completely control your environment so that you can set the stage for love. Santa Barbara vacation rentals can help with this. A Santa Barbara vacation rental home costs half as much as a luxury hotel for more than twice the square footage, plus you have an outside oasis all your own.

With a romantic Santa Barbara vacation rental home, you can drop a trail of rose petals, light all the candles you want, even light a roaring fire in the fireplace. Almost every romantic Santa Barbara vacation rental home has a multimedia system to play any mood music you like.

One of the best ways to set the scene is to choose a romantic Santa Barbara vacation rental that fits your mood or style. If the sound of waves crashing on the shore causes insomnia, maybe you’d prefer a home on a beautiful tree lined street in Montecito. You’ll still be close enough to enjoy the beach, but you’ll also have easier access to shopping and fine dining. Instead of going out, maybe you’d like to cook on a gas BBQ grill and relax with your honey in a hammock.

Santa Barbara vacation rentals offer concierge service to help you set the scene according to your specifications before you arrive. The dedicated Santa Barbara vacation rental concierge staff will have your favorite wines, food and flowers ready for you and will even arrange for your personally selected mood music to be playing when you arrive. This perfect "Wow!" moment is priceless. Prepare to pick your beloved's jaw up off the floor.

With a Santa Barbara vacation rental home, you won't have to worry about hotel conventioneers making lots of noise or crowding out all your romantic moments. You control the environment. Instead of a noisy hotel, imagine your own private villa with outside decks, including a "living roof" terrace, a fireplace, a fountain and 360-degree views of the ocean, mountains, Santa Barbara Harbor, Mission and Riviera. It is like having all of the beauty and amenities of a luxury hotel, but all the privacy of a private home.

The San Ysidro Ranch has often been called Santa Barbara's most romantic hotel. Take your significant other to the Ranch to walk the grounds and eat at their delicious and headily romantic Stonehouse restaurant. You can enjoy the ambiance of the hotel, but enjoy a beautiful nearby Santa Barbara vacation rental home for half the price.

Once you arrive at a Santa Barbara vacation rental home for your romantic Santa Barbara getaway, you don't have to leave it. You can have the best of romantic Santa Barbara come to you. Many of Santa Barbara's finest restaurants will cater your romantic dinner in your very own Santa Barbara vacation rental home. Santa Barbara vacation rentals also offer in-home massage and spa treatment services.

Let a Santa Barbara vacation rentals concierge team arrange to bring the very best of Santa Barbara to your door. Although Santa Barbara has a lot of outside activities to enjoy, sometimes it is the inside activities that visitors remember best from a romantic Santa Barbara getaway.

If your honey is a foodie, you don't have to book a worldwide cruise. Santa Barbara has cuisine from all over the world. You can sample an English breakfast, then an Asian lunch and finally a seven-course French dinner. While some of the area's finer restaurants (such as the Four Seasons Biltmore) may require reservations well in advance for your romantic Santa Barbara dinner, you can often get an equally romantic lunch reservation the same day.

To make sure your gourmet trek is flawless, engage the Santa Barbara vacation rentals concierge to make all the arrangements. Not only will the concierge know all the best places, but they might be able to get you a deal or an elusive reservation at the impossible-to-get-into restaurant your beloved would love to try.

One of my favorite romantic Santa Barbara getaway stories is about a husband who secretly booked a Santa Barbara vacation rental home as a surprise for his wife. The husband asked one of her friends who lived in Santa Barbara take her out to lunch, while he secretly checked into the romantic Santa Barbara vacation rental home. After lunch the friend followed the husband’s instructions and asked the wife to look at a Santa Barbara vacation rental home the friend said she was interested in buying. When they walked in to inspect the property, her husband was there and announced to his shocked wife that he was surprising her with a romantic vacation.

Don't feel you have to cram every activity into one romantic Santa Barbara getaway. There's one thing better than your first romantic Santa Barbara getaway, and that’s returning to your Santa Barbara vacation rental home for your second romantic Santa Barbara getaway.

Santa Barbara's Top 10 Places To Swoon Over: http://www.lovetripper.com/issues/issue-44/santa-barbara-top-10.html

Amour Along the American Riviera:
http://www.lovetripper.com/issues/issue-44/santa-barbara-romantics.html

Santa Barbara Romantic Attractions and Things To Do for Couples:
http://attractions.uptake.com/california/santa_barbara/romantic/182341388.html

101 Free Things To Do In Santa Barbara:
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/101-free-things-to-d-351/

Santa Barbara Nude Beaches:
http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/clothingoptional/l/bl_nb_ctysb.htm

Fun Things For Couples To Do In Santa Barbara:
http://www.essortment.com/travel/funthingscoupl_tuil.htm

Santa Barbara Romantic Things to Do:
http://www.eromance.com/travel/things-to-do-in-santa-barbara.html

Safety Tips When Looking for an All-Inclusive Vacation Package

The most important and hardest part of going out on a vacation is the planning phase. This is the part that will determine the outcome of your vacation, and most of the time, this is the part where most people are having problems. If you want to be saved from the troubles of planning a great vacation, then why don't you try to contact a travel agency and look for an all-inclusive vacation package?

There are a lot of all-inclusive vacation packages that you can get, especially if you are communicating with a travel agency regularly. Generally, all-inclusive vacations are the cheapest way to relax and unwind. These packages will take you to some of the most popular places for the whole family. However, it'll be a lot better if you conduct a thorough research about the package or the travel agency before going out for a vacation.

Staying at home is the most boring and dull way to spend a holiday, but you can keep your family entertained if you get an all-inclusive vacation package. This will help you prepare everything that you need for the vacation including transportation, accommodation, and activities. All-inclusive vacation packages will help you save a lot of money because you won't have to pay for these services individually.

If you search the Internet, you will be able to find some of the best travel agencies that can prepare an all-inclusive vacation for you. These packages are specially made for you and will surely fit your budget, so you won't have to worry about overspending while on the trip.

Just make sure that you are dealing with a reputable company before closing the deal. Conduct a research to ensure that the company is capable of delivering the best vacation for you and your family. You can use the Internet to look for testimonials from the agency's previous clients. This will help you determine whether the company is reputable enough and has the capability to give you the best service possible.

Keep in mind that you are going out on a vacation to relax and unwind, not to have problems simply because you have purchased the deal from a fake travel agency. The Internet offers you almost everything, and you can start your search for a reputable travel agency by using this huge network. Vacation should be fun and memorable for you and your family, not disastrous and unforgettable due to a wrong choice of travel agency.

Affordable Family Vacation - 3 Simple Tips to Enjoy Now

With more and more parents taking time from their busy schedules to plan for a summer holiday for the whole family. Sometimes, planning for an affordable family vacation can really give you a hassle and headache.

Everyone wants a nice getaway with their family in the summertime. However, with the increasing price of oil, gas and airplane tickets, as well as the high price of some hotel rooms, many people can no longer afford to go on vacation with their families.

How to look for cheap stuff?

If adventure is your family cup of tea, and would love love to discover the beauty of nature with your family, one of the most exciting and affordable family vacation is definitely camping.

What about camping?

A camping trip is a great first step for some quality time with your family. RV parks, RV resorts and campgrounds make great destinations for an affordable family vacation.

There are 3 simple tips to look out for.

1) A place to stay.

Even though, going for a complete camping trip involves getting away from all the technological gadgets of modern life, this doesn't mean you will have no decent conditions at all.

What other facilities are available?

Most RV parks include a barbecue facilities, as well as shower and general bathroom facilities. Others provide extensive facilities, such as heated pools, and wireless Internet access. Therefore, for those who are looking budget kind of family vacation, camping is surely a good way for the entire family.

2) What activities are available?

It is more appealing for the kids as they have tons of enjoyable activities specially cater to their needs. Adults too will have an enjoyable time.

What other activities you can enjoy during a camping trip?

You can bring along your computer games too. On a camping vacation you will have plenty of time to play with the kids, then enjoy a beautiful time together.

3) It is not pricey at all.

Going camping is not only fun and exciting, but also probably the most affordable family vacation you can plan. It is usually cost more than 0 for the entire family of 4, which includes tent, sleeping bags, cooler, camp stove.

Why more and more are choosing camping?

This family activity are getting more affordable among families. There are some studies that shown that about more than 50 percent all the active campers went on a camping vacation with their family at least once and 30 percent went with the extended family, including their children.

The increasing popularity of camping proves that it is not only the most affordable family vacation you can imagine, but also fun and exciting for both children and adults.

By having the appropriate research, you should be able to enjoy cheap and affordable family vacation. With that kind of savings, I believe you should have a great time with your family. Having a good time with your family is as important as having 3 meals a day. The bonding is important that money cannot buy.

Therefore, Eddy has started a information guide on how to help people save big on their family vacations and also recommend some of the holiday destination suitable for the entire family.