As homeowners, we try to learn as much as possible about our potential guests to make sure we feel comfortable with them potentially staying in our homes. However, its important to dig deeper and find out if our home is a good fit for them.

How use social media to book more nights by WeNeedaVacation.com

Your pictures are the first impression for your listing and are CRITICAL to the success of your rental business. We spoke with our staff photographer, Becky Fischer, on how to update your photos even in the off season.

One of the difficult choices to make when managing a vacation rental is whether or not to charge a cleaning fee, refundable or not, over and above the rent. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer – but let’s discuss a few options and considerations to help you make a decision that’s right for you.

A general rule of thumb is that fairly high-end homes tend to include the cost of cleaning, although this is not always the case.

Until recently, I have been a strong advocate of requiring that vacationers send rental funds by check rather than by credit card. I was concerned about having to pay extra fees and daunted by having to learn how the PayPal process works. Plus, I had never, in 30 years of renting, lost a booking because I didn’t accept credit cards.

One concern shared by many of our vacation rental homeowners on Cape Cod is that they get cornered into renting to young adults looking for a fun place to party together for a week. (Homes on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are at less risk due to the greater logistical and financial demands of getting there.) In fact, a seemingly responsible vacationer can rent a home on the Cape and then invite hordes of friends from off-Cape to come join them for a cookout or a few nights of partying. What are your legal rights regarding who stays in, or even visits, your home? How do you say no? What can you do as a homeowner to legally protect your home from irresponsible parties?

How and when should you reach back out to your guests from last season?

In our 19 years in business, the vacation rental industry has exploded. In fact, it wasn't really called an "industry" back in 1997. It is fascinating to think about the many ways owning a vacation rental has become more competitive, high-tech, and formalized. In this podcast, we speak with Roselle Levy, a Martha's Vineyard homeowner, who talks about the changes she has seen as a vacation rental homeowner for over 20 years. Hear her personal perspective on how the vacation rental industry has grown and developed.

At this year’s Homeowner Forum, Gaining the Competitive Edge, we examined new as well as tried-and-true ways to distinguish your vacation rental property from your competition. In his recent blog post, Tyler Pyburn described how the first half of the Forum discussed the steps we should take to make our listings stand out and how we can increase our listings’ exposure to vacationers. The second half of the Forum, however, focused on ways we should manage our properties: With a small amount of effort, we can assure the comfort and enjoyment of our guests so that they either return the following year or at least post a glowing review to entice other vacationers.

Here is a podcast that Tyler Pyburn and Elizabeth Weedon recorded about the same topic. To read our blog on this topic, please visit http://blog.weneedavacation.com/2016/11/23/2016-homeowner-forum-manage-rental-marketing-mind/

Every year, we plan for the Homeowner Forum the same way: by asking ourselves two questions. First, how can we best help our homeowners? And second, how can we change it up from last year’s Forum? This year, we decided to break our presentation, “Gaining the Competitive Edge,” into two sections: marketing and managing.

Becky Fischer and Tyler Pyburn took the marketing section and created our “Roadmap for Success.” It’s a step-by-step guide designed to help homeowners separate themselves from their competition. If you prefer to listen, here is a podcast that Becky and Tyler recorded about the same topic. For the full story, read our Homeowner Blog post on Marketing Your Vacation Rental - http://blog.weneedavacation.com/2016/11/15/marketing-vacation-rental-roadmap-success/