Where do you get most of your rental inquiries?

[Mermaid]

Interesting takes on the subject of winter monthly rentals. My thoughts were that you would want to attract a renter who would stay for at least a month, because the longer the renter stays, the more they consider the place "theirs" and consequently they'd care for it better.

Which is the opposite of Shutter's experience with a winter renter! Shutters, do think that was just a fluke or have you heard other negative experiences with winter people?

Also, would you think that one set of renters staying for a month would generate less wear and tear than, we'll say, four sets of weekly renters? On the one hand, a weekly turnover means a thorough weekly cleaning. On the other hand, people are gentler on things if they know they'll be using them for an entire month.

Just idle thoughts on a rainy fall day! :funn:

 

[Shutters]

Interesting rainy day thoughts Ms. Mermaid.

In the past we've not rented in the winter for two reasons. First the bad experience I mentioned earlier in this thread, and second, we're down at least once a month from November to March. However, this year my wife, and hence I, are giving in to my whining kids saying;

"Dad, why do we always have to go to Florida? Can't we go skiing or to Italy, or rafting down the Salmon River or something different for once in a while?" If it were just me I'd say "NO, we're going to the beach, that's it, and stop whining you spoiled little ingrates."

But I have only one vote in this family, and it's barely one. So we're going skiing this winter and not to Shutters which leaves us open for at least a Christmas rental, if not a long term for January. That's the reason I asked initially. I can see your logic toward the long-term renter wanting to keep the place nice because they will be there for a month, as compared to the weekly rental. I don't think we're really a Snowbird place in that we have a 3 bedroom main house, and a 1 bedroom/living room/morning kitchen guest house. We're better set up for a multi-generational family, or two families, which make up 90% of our summer rentals.

So now thanks to you and others on this
board I?m open to a Holiday rental, or even the month of January. Time to adjust my web site.

 

[ktschris]

"Dad, why do we always have to go to Florida? Can't we go skiing or to Italy, or rafting down the Salmon River or something different for once in a while?" If it were just me I'd say "NO, we're going to the beach, that's it, and stop whining you spoiled little ingrates."

But I have only one vote in this family, and it's barely one.

This cracked me up!

 

[Shutters]

Shutters, do think that was just a fluke or have you heard other negative experiences with winter people?

Also, would you think that one set of renters staying for a month would generate less wear and tear than, we'll say, four sets of weekly renters?

Sorry, I don't think I really answered your questions.

It probably was a fluke. That was when we first started renting and the guests came to us from BRSW. I'm now of the opinion that 98% of the people we rent to are good, honest and really nice poeple. Its' very very rare that we have a problem especially since we handle the bulk of sales ourselves.

I would like to have housekeeping come at least once every two weeks for a month long rental. I'd prefer once a week but I'm not sure I could work that into the price as our cleaning is VERY expensive. One rental with two cleans vs. 4 rentals with four cleans really depends on who your guests are.

 

[STL Don]

Interesting rainy day thoughts Ms. Mermaid.


But I have only one vote in this family, and it's barely one. .

If it is like my family, your one vote does not count very much.
I agree that it can be a real "penny flipper" to decide if the winter monthly rental is worth it.
It's great that you can get down to SOWAL from Chicago so often. Do you find any good air fares--they are hard to find from St. Louis.

 

[Shutters]

It's great that you can get down to SOWAL from Chicago so often. Do you find any good air fares--they are hard to find from St. Louis.

The rates change daily. It's usually best to buy on Wednesday or Thursday. I check every week. I just got an email from Delta today. $128 round trip for Sat - Tues! If we didn't have plans we would be on the beach this weekend. Generally it's a thousand bucks for our family to come down, unless we let our 13 year old (the one who want to go to Italy) bring a friend. Then it's 5 seats, but so far that's only happened once.

The airlines rake you over the coals at the holidays so we book FAR in advance and use miles during the holidays. Sept, Oct. and Feb are the cheapest times.

STL has to be tough. You're going from a no hub city to another no hub. At least you can drive in one day.

 

[seacrestkristi]

I've had a few rentals from A1 Vacations, VRBO, and Vacatiion Rentals.com probably in that order. :roll:

 

[Unplugged]

Grreat thread - very helpful. I just signed up at vacationrentals.com based on feedback from everyone, and barefootguy's stats. For what it's worth, we used VRBO successfully for 2 years, then tried findvacationrentals.com and received such such a high volume of inquiries that I let VRBO's subscription lapse. Their GUI seems out-dated to me and the other 2 sites are much easier to navigate and edit/ revise.

 

[Sheila]

Grreat thread - very helpful. I just signed up at vacationrentals.com based on feedback from everyone, and barefootguy's stats. For what it's worth, we used VRBO successfully for 2 years, then tried findvacationrentals.com and received such such a high volume of inquiries that I let VRBO's subscription lapse. Their GUI seems out-dated to me and the other 2 sites are much easier to navigate and edit/ revise.

We had the same experience with VRBO. We like greatrentals.com. We've had really good results. We also have one of Kurt's awesome VT's and we also have our own website.