A “shout-out” to our friends at Blogcatalog.  The Furnished Homes vacation rental blog is in the Spotlight!  Our visitors are searching the Furnished Homes Maps to find vacation rentals -will they find you?  Add unlimited vacation rentals today for 6 months free - no obligation!  There’s no disputing the fact that many travelers and vacationers are choosing private vacation homes, apartments, villas, beach houses and other vacation rentals for more space, more privacy and better amenities.  Help visitors searching the internet find your vacation rentals at Furnishedhomes.com - The Place to Find Furnished Rentals.

We are as skeptical as the next guy when it comes to FREE offers.  Nothing is free right?

Most of the free offers that we receive in the mail or on the internet are bogus or have a catch.  Many require you to give a ton of personal information, credit card numbers and more just to take advantage of the “Free” offer.  I avoid the offers that force me to remember to call in to cancel or the darn thing just keeps renewing!

#1 Received email question comment - Thanks for the free listing but how do you guys make money?

Answer -  We don’t.  Probably not for a while. 

We welcome your skepticism, questions and concerns!  We will be here for a long time and want to make you feel comfortable listing your beautiful vacation homes!  List today for 6 months free - not kidding, no hidden agenda, no strings, just high quality vacation rental advertising.  We will connect you with new visitors and inquiries.  When your listing renews in 6 months you will let us know how we did.

Great News!  Furnishedhomes.com shows up 3 times in top 10 on first page of GOOGLE!  Just some quick screen shots to show you that we are diligently at work to “put eyes” on your listings.

Furnished Homes search in GOOGLE shows the Furnishedhomes.com Blog as #1 with Blog Catalog, #8 with Furnishedhomes.com main website and #9 with GoFurnished.com - The Furnished Homes Blog.  

MSN search for Furnished Homes puts us at  #1, #2 and #5 for first page results.

Yahoo! search for Furnished Homes for Rent puts us at #1 on first page results.  Note that some are paying top dollar to be found in sponsored results for these key words.

We come up under a myriad of other key words and long tail searches but these are the most important thus far.  With the ever changing algorythms and symantecs it is hard to predict future results but we think we’re on the right track.  Yes, in case you are wondering we have not forgotten the most popular search on the internet - vacation rentals.  We’re working on it now.

Furnished Homes page rank for Google has jumped up too - great for such a short time frame!

Free 6 months trial to list Vacation Rentals with Furnished Homes - no limit!

Furnished Homes offers featured listings at $5 monthly or about the cost of a latte.  This option allows owners and managers to feature any listing for a period of 1 to 12 months and for only $5 monthly.  A featured listing will give you more exposure than a standard free listing and it is less expensive than nearly all vacation rental websites standard listing fees.  Just log in to the owner panel and click on “Upgrade” listing.  Select the number of months you would like your listing featured and make a secure Paypal payment.  The upgrade is processed immediately.  You might miss your latte jolt for a day but you will have a whole month of inquiry potential!  Perhaps you can gain more inquiries, more renters and thus more lattes?  Our standard 12 large images, calendar and website link listings are free for 6 months - unlimited properties.

List or feature a vacation rental here - Furnishedhomes.com

Does anyone really care about the beds anyway? Yes!  Have you ever slept in a crummy bed?  Chances are we all have had a bad night sleep or rolled out of bed with a back ache from sleeping on a BAD mattress.  One summer I found a great vacation rental on Coronado (Island), California near San Diego.  The location was fantastic near the bay and you could take the ferry across to Sea Port Village or over to Petco Stadium where the San Diego Padres play.  The price was right and we would stay for a whole month!

After a few nights sleeping on the full size mattress we were not sure that our backs would survive the whole month!  The mattress appeared to be brand new, however, it must have been a really inexpensive mattress because it had absolutely no support.  It was too small and when one would turn over during the night the other person would nearly be shot out of the other side.  Not quite, but pretty close to a cheap sofa sleeper quality.  We would be return visitors to this beautiful location if not for the crummy beds. 

King beds are truly KING!  One factor that fuels the growth of vacation home rentals by owner is better furnishings.  Most hotel and motel beds (although some better chains are recognizing the importance of GOOD beds) put the least expensive bulk buy beds in their rooms.  Most vacation homeowners are spending time at their own rental and will put much better and bigger beds.  Travelers now know that they can be the benefactor of these better furnishings! In our vacation rentals we normally put pillow top king beds from top manufacturers.  They last longer, offer a superior nights rest and travelers are making it known that they want a king bed and a good mattress. 

Gone are the days of the mattresses that need to be flipped.  I can remember flipping the mattress and rotating it because the space where someone normally settled in for the night had nearly caved in.  Today’s mattresses are constructed to offer better support and hold up better.  No more roll to the middle of the mattress.  This is not to say that they are indestructible and will need to be replaced at some time. 

Bad beds can make for cranky guests and really put a damper on repeat visitors.  I can pretty much say that even if the Coronado California condo was nearly free and had the same bad beds as our previous visit, I would take a pass.  The chiropractor bills would be high enough!

Owners take heed and put good quality mattresses in your vacation rentals - your guests can tell the difference!  

 We are witnessing a fairly dramatic increase in the market place for vacation rentals by owner.  Just take a peek at some of the “Big Boy” vacation rental by owner sites and you will see a surge in the number of “vacation rentals” that are now coming to market.

Reality check has arrived for many owners - Two common phrases that we hear almost daily - ”this place is not going to sell” or “I’m not selling at that price!”  Many owners have opted to not only rent out their properties, but to rent them out as vacation rentals.  We have seen the number of VRBO listings in our city go from about 50 to over 250!  There will be price pressure to be sure.

All the more reason for vacation rental owners to bring your A game!  Of course some of us will need to slice and dice rental rates or offer bigger incentives to keep vacancies to a minimum.  So what does “bringing your A Game” look like in the world of furnished home rentals? 

Let’s revisit why you even need an ”A Game” anyway.  Just take note of the VRBO vacation rentals by owner website.  It’s big and has done a great job over the years branding itself.  Now take a look at San Diego by itself!  Not including all the outlying areas in San Diego County with nearly 30 more cities, the San Diego vacation rental listings total about 250.  Chances are the owners are paying about $300 on average annually for their listing on VRBO.  You had better bring your A Game or you are going to get lost in the maze!

The A game will get you better results and does not take a huge leap in effort.  #1 Perhaps the most important factor is great photos!  Remember that visitors are searching and if the images are blurry or worse yet not there it is game over.  So no matter where you have your property listed - including your personal website - upload great photos. 

Tip of the day - here is where we see the biggest errors owners make in uploading images.  The image files are TOO SMALL - many times owners are in a mad dash to copy and paste info from their personal site to a vacation rental directory. 

A common rule that you really need to be aware of when it comes to uploading images to websites.  The webmaster can always make a big image smaller and more clear - he or she can’t make a small image bigger and more clear.  Digital images can go from big to small but not small to big.  You control the quality of the images!

Often image files that we see are blurry because they are copies and even 2nd or 3rd generation copies such as thumbnails or small images from a personal website.  If you want great photos - use BIG image files.  It takes a few seconds more to do but it helps separate you from the competition and remember the competition is coming on strong!  At Furnishedhomes.com you can email us bigger files if you do not like the way photos appear.

#2 Update your rates, your availability calendars and descriptions.  With increased competition it may even be a necessary move to expand your “slow-season” rates.  For example, if you are in the desert Southwest it is getting warmer earlier this year and more people are vacation rental landlords this year - you may want to adjust your slow season to include the month of May and September too?  If you are in your peak season and see a slow down in reservations you may need to adjust your price to make it compelling for visitors.  Make rates competitive - “Wow that place looks great and at that price I don’t care how much GAS is - I am going on vacation!”  (a bit of drama for affect)

#3 Respond quickly to your inquiries.  Perhaps the demand is still fantastic in your area, however, with the vacation rental markets getting more crowded it may be that you need to get back to inquiries quickly.  Some of us may have had the luxury of sitting on a lead for a couple of days and now that has changed a bit.  Make it easy for visitors to contact you - phone numbers, contact owner forms and personal website links.

#4 Advertise, advertise and advertise- take advantage of quality sites that will present your property in a professional manner at reasonable rates.  Some very good vacation rentals sites are available for $50 to $99 annual to list and include Vacationrentaldirect.com and Vacationhomerentals.com.  Furnishedhomes.com has a special offer to owners and managers - unlimited listings FREE for 6 months. 

Short story - It’s a vacationer and travelers market for accommodations.  Owners present your properties and market them effectively.  Travelers enjoy some great savings on great destinations and vacation rentals!  Down go the sales and up go the rentals!

Destin, Florida has many reasons to make it your next vacation spot, but if fishing is your sport, it has some of the best you’ll find. What kind of fishing, you ask?  How about a 20 pound red snapper?  No?  Spanish mackerel, maybe?  These fish are also very cordial in that they hang around all the way through September and even into October. Another reason for fishing here is the cost.  You won’t have to rent a charter to catch fish, the Emerald Coast waters sport a pier from which to cast your hook.  Pompano arrive in April and starts the good fishing that lasts all the way through October.  Along with Pompano you will find Whiting, Channel Bass and Blue Runners. 

It really doesn’t matter what type of fishing you like the best, it’s bound to be worth a cast to frequent the pier and jetty.  Choctawhatchee  Bay, with some rather good fishing, even its bayous, offers all the fish previously mentioned and adds some Blue Crab.  However, if you can charter a boat, Cobia make it easy. There are so many of them you can sight cast! Charters for deep sea fishing are also available. 

Fishing offshore from Destin, Florida is like being transported to another world.  It is amazing to watch the water change from a turquoise color to a bright deep blue. Destin is known as the billfish capital of the Gulf because of the highly productive trolling areas southwest of Destin. So there you have it. Like Florida? Want to catch fish of all types? Make this destination at least part of your fishing vacation plans this year. You won’t regret it. Find Destin Florida Vacation Rentals Here - Beach Houses, Villas, Condos, Apartments and Bungalows by Map

We thought the Adventure and Sports category needed some attention. We’re figuring that a fish this big would be sure to get your attention - especially if you are the one reeling it in! There isn’t a bad time of the year to go fishing at Boca Grande, Florida. That makes it an excellent vacation spot regardless of the time of year your vacation falls. If you’re a fisherman, or fisherwoman, you won’t want to miss this spot for some of the best fishing you’ll ever get in. Some like to call it The Tarpon Capital of the World, but there are more than just tarpon in those waters. There’s enough flounder and trout to keep you busy all day long.

Even if the weather doesn’t cooperate in the fashion we want it to, we can still defeat the blues by throwing a hook in the water. This nice little fishin’ hole is located between Sarasota and Fort Myers and screams a cordial invitation to vacationers of every sort. Charter a boat or go it alone, you’ll find the fish you’ve been looking for. With there never being a dull moment in one of the United State’s top vacation states, you are sure to be pleased with everything you plan while in Boca Grande.

Charters are within the range of most budgets and other vacation amenities that come free, such as a beautiful water & sky horizon, sun shiny days and water sports other than fishing. But, if fishing is the reason for the vacation, let me share this report from a local, “The cooler waters inside are messin’ up the fish a bit, so snook and reds are being a little difficult. However, kingfish and cobia are showin’ their stuff. But if you want action and food for friends, the spanish mackerel is your best bet” (paraphrased).  Here is a great website for Boca Grande Florida Fishing Guides and Charter Services - Let’s Go Fishin’ Inc.  The photo above is from their site and you can view many awesome photos!

View Boca Grande Vacation Rental maps at Furnishedhomes.com - The Place to Find Furnished Rentals

Put your goggles and sun screen on! Now is the time that vacationers are searching the vacation rental directories in hopes of finding that perfect beach house rental or home with a pool.  Owners and managers be sure to up date all of your vacation rental listings including your availability calendars, spruce up your descriptions and get ready for the summer travelers. 

Perhaps you can attract even more visitors with special summer offers?  Offer your guests a Summer fun basket with sunscreen, aloe vera sun burn relief, a deck of cards, a few bottled waters and some knick knack snacks.  You can include two tickets for area theme parks or a couple of movie tickets to a nearby theatre or a gift card to the area coffee shop!  These little perks may be that little extra that will persuade visitors to choose your vacation rental.

You can never advertise too much!  Especially quality internet ads that are free.  Not listed with Furnishedhomes.com ?  Add your summer vacation cabins, beach houses, villas and more today for free.  Put your Furnished Homes professional listings in front of thousands of travelers currently searching the internet.  Easy sign up - no credit card required - complete your listings with images, calendars and links in less than 10 minutes.  Add my vacation rentals now.