Vacation Rental Trends

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In January of 2011 travel services website, TripAdvisor, released results of their second annual vacation rentals survey. As the largest travel site in the world, TripAdvisor assists clients in bringing together travel information on interactive forums. Their survey results showed a significant shift for travelers; for example those who previously frequented hotels, are now choosing to rent a vacation home. Let’s take a closer look.

According to the survey, 40% of travelers plan to stay in a vacation rental in 2011, which is 7% more than 2010. A whopping 51% of those looking for a vacation rental home want a private beach. Living the luxurious and exclusive life of a private beach villa is definitely the trend among summer vacationers. More people are seeking a private home away from home instead of the hotel hopping road trip of days gone by. The emphasis is on family time in one place of luxury rather than hours of traveling.

In shopping for a summer rental home, travelers want lots of room and plenty of amenities. Families are looking for ways to make their dollars stretch further, so a vacation rental with a full kitchen and laundry goes a long way towards enticing travelers. Having all the latest electronic hook-ups is important too. Offer internet access, satellite television and so on. Lots of square footage both inside and out is also important for family activities. Everyone needs their own space at some point, so a vacation rental with reading nooks and play areas will definitely attract attention.

No one purchases anything sight-unseen anymore, and if they do it is with an iron-clad guarantee. No one is going to book a vacation rental without seeing lots of high quality photos. After all, these people are looking for a temporary home. It has to be just right. According to TripAdvisor’s survey, 42% of those who participated said photos of the rental were the biggest influencer of their decision to book. Only 13% said price.

Technology is a key part of everyone’s daily life now. Most people are well acquainted with computers, and still more do their research and travel shopping online. In fact, the aforementioned survey showed 70% found their vacation rentals online. With that kind of statistic it is imperative for a vacation beach rental company to have an online presence, but it is just as important to be on travel sites as well as their own private site. The more exposure there is the better. However, in saying that, there were still 25% of survey respondents who found their rental through word of mouth. More specifically, they read online travel forums like TripAdvisor.

Vacations and travel are synonymous with hotels and airplanes. It has been that way for decades. On the other hand, we have all known someone who goes to the lake every summer and rents a cabin. Combining the two into an exotic beach vacation and renting a cabin is still a blossoming concept in North America. The TripAdvisor survey showed that 22% of vacationers in 2010 didn’t rent a vacation home because they had just never thought of it. Then there is the 36% who said the only time they had used a vacation rental was for a life event such as a wedding or reunion. The most obvious misconception seems to be cost. Since we always seem to hear about celebrities renting their beach villa, it is easy to assume all of them are priced exclusively. Also, with all the marketing by all-inclusive resorts it may be hard for many people to appreciate there are just as good deals to be found in the vacation beach rental market.

Once a vacationer finds a rental they like, they return. The TripAdvisor survey showed 29% of travelers use the same villa each year and book up to six months in advance, just to be sure they get the dates they want. Unlike the hotel and resort industry where a traveler will never know what room they will be assigned, those who use the same vacation rentals repeatedly always know what to expect. There is no guessing game regarding amenities, cleanliness or rental policies. Everything is clear and comfortable, adding to the whole relaxing experience a vacation should be.

If you are a vacation rental home owner, there is definitely a market to tap into. That 22% of the traveler crowd who have not considered a vacation rental as either an option or financially feasible, is just waiting for you to convince them just how easy it is. If you are someone looking for a unique and family oriented vacation idea, consider the beach rental. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think, and it is a great alternative to the pomposity of the resort atmosphere. Explore the options of a home away from home!

Costa Rica Vacation Home Rental Or Property Ownership Made Easy And Reasonably Priced

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With the down turn of the economy many coastal developers and realtors have left the coast for the cheaper interior of Costa Rica. The South Pacific zone of Costa Rica is mountainous and lush with vegetation providing endless opportunity for home builders and vacation renters.

“It is a known fact that many people would like to purchase property in Costa Rica but one of their primary concerns is what happens while the place is empty, the second concern is how do I promote my property so it can generate revenue” – says Tierra Verde land developer Michael Holm.

The private secure development Tierra Verde will provide homeowners with worry free piece of mind. People who purchase a home in Tierra Verde as a future retirement home can have their home marketed free of charge on the Costa Rica vacation home rental market for possible revenue generation. People who buy a home in Tierra Verde to live in can live securely and in privacy.

Michael Holm has been developing North American standard homes in Costa Rica for 15 years. While building homes on the coast near Dominical he purchased land in the mountains outside San Isidro de General with the dream of getting out of the custom home building market to develop his idea of a real Costa Rica vacation/retirement community.

Due to the hilly geography of the area each home is built with what is called a daylight garage, basically the area under the house, which extrudes from the hill and is supported by concrete pillars. Michael was always amazed at how many builders would leave this area of their homes unfinished. Each home has an indoor laundry room, central hot water, and a garberator. All fixtures are to North American standards, the homes are built with an open floor plan concept and completely landscaped with privacy in mind.

The Costa Rica South Pacific property development and management provided by Tierra Verde begins once a home is purchased. They will, keep a watchful eye on any residence, address gardening needs, maintenance requirements, facilitate meet and greet services to renters when arriving, and provide owners with the comfort of knowing their investment is being cared for.

The development is the dream of a retired Amreican developer who lives on site making the place well secured and very well maintained. The landscaping skills of Mike’s wife is amazing and everyone is very impressed who sees the place.

The city of San Isidro is complete in all North Amreican ways except it still has a small country town atmosphere about it. It is the gateway to the southern region of Costa Rica and is a must see for any traveler visiting the beautiful country of Costa Rica.

The development Tierra Verde is like a gated community without the obstruction of the fence, Michael has surrounded the development with a natural fence of live vegetation which is very hard to get through.

The main mind set of Michael is to return the land to a natural Costa Rica vegetation state so he has spent much time and money reforesting the place, you could say it is an eco community with the natural environment of Costa Rica a primary focus.

The common pool area is simply unbelievable and once again the brain child of Michael, it has a beach type access, water fall and a large rancho for meeting friends and hosting gatherings, a great place for a wedding.

There are many, other eco lodges, B&B, hotels and natural accommodations in the area from Spa’s to camping. The largest national park in Costa Rica is minutes away from San Isidro.

Travel Vacation Business Opportunities Reviews

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Standard Travel Industry practice is to book big blocks of rooms, cruises, resorts, and air travel during the peak travel times throughout the year. This practice makes it virtually impossible for the little guy to get a great deal booking a vacation. Travel Industry exerts leverage in this way to maximize inventory and profits. The individual is hard pressed to find any deals even in areas with excess inventory since availability is controlled by this standard industry operating procedure. Since most people can’t travel whenever they want this Travel Industry’s model is very effective and continues to work well for the industry bottom line.

Now if you have the ability to travel at the drop of a hat you can get a better deal but you are still in the grasp of the travel industry’s business model, the Travel Discounters, you know the names. When a drop dead expiration date approaches for the larger travel sellers then this same excess inventory is released into the next part of the food chain which are your Discount Travel Brokers. These brokers pass on some savings to the consumer; yet still control large travel blocks insuring profit and control for their business model. This cycle is repeated week after week and there is always inventory that is perishing. This perishing inventory is sizable and creates a great opportunity, but this opportunity is not open to John Q Public. Well at least that was the case till now.

Primo Vacations Club is a brand new travel and vacation club with a very unique business opportunity attached to it. It is situated to become a leading player in the travel industry which by the way is a 7 Trillion dollar industry. Primo Vacations Club was founded by Rob Hanley and Dave Garven who are also the co-founders of the hugely successful Your Net Biz business opportunity. The aim for Primo Vacations is to provide more unmatched and unbeatable value and service, than any other travel and vacations club, while giving savings of up to 80% on luxury condos, cruises, villas, resorts, and hotels at the most desirable destinations around the world.
Primo Vacations Club was designed to be of great value and opportunity.

There are many travel business opportunities out there that range in price from $2,995 upwards to $9,995. Some of these businesses are Global Resorts Network, MOR Vacations, Resorts 360, and Cruise To Cash; they really are not in the travel business but rather in the opportunity business. What I mean by that is that none of these opportunities allow you to sell a travel membership to the consumer directly like Primo Vacations Club does. Here are the costs associated with these business opportunities: Global Resorts Network $3,500.00 plus $149 monthly, Resorts 360 $3,995.00 or $399 and $249 monthly lifetime, MOR Vacations $1,998.00 plus $149 annual, and Cruise To Cash $977.

None of the above mentioned businesses are set up to sell travel but rather sell opportunity with a travel product. Therefore none of the above mentioned business models actually allow you to carve out a niche in the 7 trillion dollar travel business. Furthermore, internet data shows that there are about 23 million people globally looking to start a home based online business. Data collected from surveys reveals that those people say they are only willing to spend $1,000 to start business. That means that if you chose an opportunity like; Global Resorts Network, MOR Vacations, and Resorts 360, you would have lost 99% of the global opportunity seekers market. Why market to 1% of the global business opportunity seekers and shut yourself out completely from the 7 trillion dollar travel industry?

Here are the facts to support this statement: With the Primo advantage you get a sensational lifetime travel club membership with personal travel concierge at unheard of travel savings of 40-80% and there are never any dues. Plus you get to save on, condos, hotels, all-inclusive resorts, villas, cruises, and air fare. The second advantage, should you choose to pursue the Primo business opportunity, is a fully integrated marketing system complete with website integration and a back office to track all aspects of your business. The marketing system provides you with Professional Business Assistants at no additional cost to do the telling, explaining, and selling to your prospective customers. The back office also includes interactive coaching and training along with live coaching calls to help you learn at your own pace and achieve your goals. The system is can-am spam act compliant with a fully integrated automatic responder to follow up with your prospects with engaging emails. Your prospective customer base is comprised of business opportunity seekers along with consumers searching for inexpensive quality travel. These are just some of the features and benefits that come standard with the Primo Vacations Club opportunity. Compared to the other travel business out there it is an amazing value and bargain at $697.

To recap you can become a Primo Vacations Club lifetime member for a onetime payment of $697 and never pay any dues and enjoy travel savings of 40-80% off forever. If you choose to pursue the business opportunity, you become a club member for a onetime payment of $697 and pay $49 a monthly to maintain your Primo Vacations back office. If you decide not to market the business you can stop anytime but you will always enjoy the travel savings as a lifetime member with no additional costs. Many club members say that they joined for the savings and recouped the cost of their membership with the first vacation they booked and were delighted at how simple it was to make money with the marketing system. If you want to know more about this opportunity you will find a helpful link that will take you to the company tour in my resource box titled Go Primo Vacations.

Tips For Tipping The Staff Of Home Vacation Rentals

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Whether you are a newbie or you already have any experienced in Vacation home rentals, you will surely be confused when it comes to the money that you need to give to the staff. The amount of money that you are going to give to different staff o the home rental is a tip. In a luxury vacation rental there are lots of staffs that can provide y with personalized services. This is the reason why you need to give some tip. This article will help you to know the right amount f tip that you need to gave in each staff according to their job. The money or the amount of tip shat you can give to a staff may depend upon the quantity and the quality of the job they did. The length of your stay and the size of your group may also dictate the amount of tip that you need to give in each staff. The following are helpful tips for you in order to know the right amount of money that you need to give in each staff.

Concierge- this is the person who will book your entire tour, the activities that you will do and the services that you need for your whole. It means that this person will be with you since the first day of your vacation plan. They will guide you and give you some hints and recommendations that are suited according to your needs. You can save a lot of time by hiring their services. The booking that they will handle will cost the same as you do your own bookings. They can book and arrange your entire vacation without any hassle. A concierge can take care of all luxury vacation homes issues and questions. They will make sure that they can deal with all your personal concerns about your vacation. The good thing is that they are available 24 hours a day.

Chef- if you want to feel the comfort and the luxury that you want for a vacation, then it is better if you will hire a personal chef that will cook all your meals within the day. You need to decide for the number of meals that you want them to prepare. If you want them to prepare just for special dinner, then they can do so. You must be aware that chef will not clean the kitchen right after cooking. But if they do that is a big plus on their tip. You need to add at least 10% to 20% tip. If you want luxury vacation rentals, then good food is important.

Housekeeping- the tip that you need to give to the housekeeper will depend upon the work that they need to do. If the housekeeper will just do basic housekeeping, then you can give them regular tip. Some of them can do special task like creating a creative table setting for a special dinner. If that is the case, then the tip may range from $20 up to $50.

Maintenance- There is an emergency case when it comes to maintenance. If you need a 24 hour emergency maintenance service, you need to pay for $10 to $20 tip. Holiday home rentals are not your home that us why you need to have maintenance service in case something went wrong with your facilities within the house.

Gardener- there are vacation rental homes with beautiful garden. Some you are renting the place, it is your main responsibility to keep the place clean and neat. This is the reason why hiring a gardener that can help you take good care of the garden is important. The price range is $20 to $30.Vacation and rental properties have lots of staff that you need. If you want a home for your vacation, then you need to get ready for this kind of expenses. This is the cost of a luxury stay in a vacation home.

Top 10 Reasons To Vacation At A Nudist Resort This Summer

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Sound far fetched? Not really! Nude recreation is one of the fastest growing segments of the travel industry. It is a booming niche market with over $400 million in annual revenues. In a recent Roper poll, 25% of Americans have gone skinny dipping.

Historically, Americans had to travel to Europe or the Caribbean to find upscale nudist resorts and hotels. However, in the last 10 years, nude recreation in America has taken off. Now, the finest nudist and clothing optional resorts in the world are found in the United States. The meccas for nude sunbathing are Palm Springs, California and Florida. Palm Springs by far is the most popular as they have 350 days of sunshine per year, beautiful, warm weather, and no mosquitos (a big plus when you aren’t wearing any clothes). Palm Springs http://palmsprings.com has world championship golf, casinos, shopping, theater, art galleries, museums, Joshua Tree National Park, hiking, and a host of other fun activities. Or, you just relax by the pool all day long sipping cool drinks, wonder why it took you so many years to work up the courage to consider vacationing at a clothing optional resort and get a great all over sun tan.

If you are tired of the same old boring vacations that you have been taking at chain hotels, now is the time to try something different and fun. Go ahead and call a clothing optional resort. The only thing you have to lose is your tan lines.

The top ten reasons are:

10) No funny tan lines
9) No need to take a vitamin D supplement
8) No Laundry when you return from vacation
7) Waves don’t knock off swim suit top
6) The natural look takes on a whole new meaning
5) No luggage to check at airport
4) No shoes, no shirt, no problem
3) No sand in swimsuit
2) Everyday is really casual Friday
1) Clothing optional resorts are just plain fun!