Community: Message List

Re: How do I embed the home away calendar on my personal website?

sarah@webchalet.com — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:47:58 GMT

Is there a way to embed a HomeAway calendar without having to sign up for HomeAway Connect?

Sarah

Re: Want your own vacation rental website?

sarah@webchalet.com — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:14:20 GMT

Ha - funny coincidence! Videos are definitely important - they not only help you showcase your vacation home but can lead to new leads and new bookings.

I actually just wrote about this on our blog yesterday http://blog.webchalet.com. Over 1 billion people visit YouTube every month!

Re: Want your own vacation rental website?

sarah@webchalet.com — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:08:59 GMT

There are a few schools of thoughts when you decide to create a website for your vacation rental - go with a vacation rental website builder (such as the ones on this list), start from scratch and hire a designer, or go with a generic website builder. Here are some advantages and downsides for all 3 options:

Hiring a Designer:

Advantages:

- You can design your website exactly the way you want it to look.

Downsides: costly because most designers work at an hourly rate, you cannot edit the website yourself, and time-consuming due to the back and forth interaction between the designer and yourself.

Use a Website Builder like WordPress or Wix

Advantages:

- Cost effective as some of these websites are even free

- You are able to edit your own website

Downsides: can be time-consuming because there is a learning curve with these platforms, the free template designs are not built specifically for vacation rentals, do not include the functionality and features like calendars and online booking

Vacation Rental Website Builder:

Advantages:

- Save time with a ready-to-go template specifically designed for a vacation rental

- You are able to edit your own website

- Built-in functionality like availability calendars, online booking and Facebook integration

- Website is optimized for mobile booking

- Tech support is often included

Downsides: you may lose some of the customization

Obviously we are a bit biased being a company dedicated to building websites solely for vacation rentals. That being said, these pros and cons are based on real feedback and experiences from clients. We also understand the desire for more customization because every vacation rental is unique, which is why we work with designers to create custom sites like http://www.29vsl.com.

Feel free to add any more pros and cons.

Sarah

WebChalet, Inc.

www.webchalet.com

Re: 10 Examples Of What To Post On Your Vacation Rental Facebook Page

sarah@webchalet.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:17:12 GMT

Great suggestions by everyone.

I also wanted to share this helpful blog post that I came across "How to Manage your Facebook Marketing in 30 Minutes a Day"

Facebook marketing can be overwhelming and can also become a big time vacuum if you aren't careful. The article features some straightforward, actionable items on how to manage your time when it comes to Facebook. How do you fit in social media when you are answering calls from booked guests and responding to new inquiries (not to mention all the to-do items associated with caring for a vacation rental)? If you create a calendar and do some pre-planning, you can end up saving time in the long-run.

Of course, you should be aware of the return on investment for your efforts and time. If 30 minutes per day is too much and you aren't seeing any results, you can always scale it back.

Hope this helps!

Sarah

WebChalet - Easy Website Templates for Vacation Rentals

Needed: Beta Testers for New Online Booking Software

sarah@webchalet.com — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:32:06 GMT

WebChalet, the leader in vacation rental websites, will soon be releasing a suite of new tools and features, including:

• Ability to accept credit cards

• Calendar where you can view availabilities for all properties at once

• CRM System - manage your guest info in one place

We want your feedback! Sign Up to be a beta user and test out our new features!

4 Surefire Ways to Improve your Vacation Rental Website

sarah@webchalet.com — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:35:09 GMT

Now that you have time to catch your breath after a hectic summer rental season, it is a great time to make improvements to your vacation rental website. The holiday season is right around the corner so use this downtime to give your website some tender loving care that it deserves. To give you a boost, we outlined a few can’t miss steps you can take to making these improvements:

Add Better Photos

Our clients, both vacation rental owners and managers, who feature professional quality photos on their website get more inquiries and more bookings. If professional photos are out of your budget, get creative. Do you know a friend who enjoys photography as a side hobby? Offer a weekend stay at your vacation rental in the offseason in return for his or time taking photos.

Take another look at your website's content

Has your website’s content been growing cobwebs? It is time to freshen it up! For example, take some time to update your “About Us” page and truly connect with your website visitors. Why did you choose to purchase the vacation rental in this particular destination? Tell your story and establish a personal connection with visitors.

Add Reviews to your Website

HomeAway and FlipKey say that properties with higher Reviews get more bookings. There is no reason that your reviews shouldn’t also be on your website. WebChalet actually lets you import your reviews from HomeAway and VRBO with one click. While you are at it, try and get at least one more review from a past guest. If you have a Guestbook, type up the reviews and send it to your guests to see if you could add their review to your website.

Add a Special Offer

This client http://www.whymmsvillas.com offers a complementary evening with a private chef when you book for a week stay. You have unlimited pages with a website so use this space to sell your vacation rental and create a unique offering around it.

What do you think? What are you doing this fall season to spruce up your website?

Re: Having a property website is crucial for a successful marketing plan

sarah@webchalet.com — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 22:29:43 GMT

Thanks for the mention, Three Sisters Rentals!

Here at WebChalet we specialize in website templates built specifically for vacation rentals and have a lot of great tools that tie in with HomeAway and VRBO, including a calendar sync and one click import of reviews.

Here are a few samples:

Single property: http://www.cultuslakehouse.com

Multi Property: http://whymmsvillas.com

As mentioned above, a website can really enhance your current marketing efforts for your vacation rental. A personal website gives you the opportunity to include content and images that don't fit on your HomeAway listing and also helps establish credibility and professionalism.

Other things to think about when you are considering website providers are price and easy-of-use. You don't want to break the bank and be charged every time you need to make a change. Plus, when you need to advertise a last minute vacancy or special, you should be able to change your website yourself, without having to know HTML or have other special computer skills.

If you have any questions about the benefits of a websites, feel free to give me a call at 855-777-2284.

Sarah

www.webchalet.com

Re: Integration of contact form and calendar from homeaway.com into a property site.

sarah@webchalet.com — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:54:42 GMT

Another great tool is Jotform (http://www.jotform.com/). This service is free and allows you to create a custom contact form with uinque fields and then easily embed in your website. The best part is that the forms look very professinal but you don't have to have any knowledge of html. Each of our client has their own needs for the contact page and this tool allows them to create a Contact page that fits their business.

Sarah

WebChalet

The Vacation Rental Website Company

Re: Facebook Marketing?

sarah@webchalet.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:50:47 GMT

If you are looking for a good way to track your website traffic, Google Analytics is free (http://www.google.com/analytics/) and it will give a ton of info including where your traffic is coming from and what keywords users are typing in to Google.com to find your website.

thanks,

Sarah Brubaker, WebChalet, Inc.

WebChalet - Easy and Affordable Vacation Rental Website Templates!

A few of our clients: http://www.grandlakeretreat.com & http://www.grandlakeretreat.com/home

What are your New Year's Resolutions for Marketing Your Vacation Rental in 2012?

sarah@webchalet.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:56:50 GMT

Take better photos of your home? Launch a personal website for your home? Or finally create that Twitter account?

It's a new year! What's your game plan to get more inquiries in 2012?