March 14, 2013 –Owners now have access to many tools which make renting their own property easier than ever before. Payment processing, travel insurance, housekeeping tools, and keyless locks have been finding their way to VRBOs for the last several years, but did you know the vacation rental website choices have been increasing as well? Alan Eagan of RentMoreWeeks.com recently researched some of the most popular website providers for VRBOs and breaks down their pricing and setup format in is article “Vacation Rental Marketing – A Place Of One’s Own.”
Here are his top 5 picks:
By Alan Eagan
1. Future Stay
- online booking (no merchant account or paypal needed)
- guest management software
- auto publish your property to 100+ listing sites (yahoo travel, lodging.com)
- fully customizable layout and design
- 100+ marketing, management, and booking features
Photos
You can add as many photos as you like and they also display as a slideshow on your home page.
Templates
Check out some sample websites here
Pricing
Futurestay is totally free to setup and use.
You’ll never be charged anything for the website or hosting. When guests book your property through your site they pay the price you want to receive plus Futurestay’s 10% commission.
7 minute challenge
Take the 7 minute website challenge!
They bet you can set up your vacation rental website in 7 minutes or you get your money back. Actually, its free either way!
Disclosure
I should add that I am a partner of Futurestay’s and I will get fantastically rich should you sign up with them.
2. MyVR
Here’s some of their blurb;
MyVR is online software that helps vacation rental owners increase bookings with less time and less hassle. We accomplish that by doing three things:
We better showcase your home
We help you launch your own online and mobile presence for your rental with your own website, Facebook Page, and more.
We expand your marketing
We offer numerous options for you to expand your vacation rental marketing (including social, local, mobile, and more) so that you can get more bookings, but without a ton more work because we know you have limited time.
We simplify the management of it all
We give you a single, centralized dashboard at MYVR where you launch and manage all your vacation rental marketing. Get all your inquiries in one place, and keep your calendar, rates, photos and information up to date and in sync across all your marketing!
Photos
Photos are shown full screen and here at rentmoreweeks we are big fans of full screen photos.
Templates
You can see some existing website examples here
Blog
They also publish a very informative blog that’s well worth following.
Pricing
At present there are two pricing plans the first costing $12 per month, the second costing $25 per month.
Both come with a free 14 day trial so you can dip your toe in the water.
For more info on what you get for your buck visit this page.
3. Promote My Place
Here’s what they say;
PromoteMyPlace.com is specially designed for holiday rental owners like you. It offers everything you need to get a high-performing website for your holiday let, simply and quickly, at minimal cost to you.
- Simple & easy to use – no technical knowledge required
- Great choice of professional designs and colour schemes
- Full ongoing support included – never get stuck again!
- Quick and fuss-free – get online in as little as 1 hour
- Cost-effective – no need to spend a fortune on website designers, developers and hosting companies
- Annual hosting included – no hidden extras
- Unlimited free updates – change your site yourself, at any time
- Promote your site online – we’ll show you how
- Lots of satisfied customers
Here’s a video review by Mike Bayer of renting for profit (.com)
Photos
You can upload as many photos as you like
Show Videos
You can add YouTube videos directly onto to your website quickly and easily.
Templates
You can see their templates here
Languages
Allows owners to display their website in 7 different languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. Very handy for the European market.
Blog
They also have a very good blog with all sorts of marketing tips
Pricing
Your website will cost you £69.00 (that’s around $103) which works out at about £5.75 a month.
They offer a 14 day free trial too.
You can get a £10.00 discount by entering the Promotion code shown below.
When you’re ready, simply register for your no-obligation 14 day free trial and enter the promotion code below. If you decide to continue after your free trial expires, your discount will be applied automatically.
Promotion Code: NMR10
4. Web Chalet
Here’s some of what they have to say;
If you currently advertise on HomeAway, Flipkey, or VRBO you can now also create a personal website for your vacation home in minutes—WebChalet websites sync with HomeAway and VRBO calendars.
Use your personal website to communicate with your guests and keep them there instead of sending return customers back to a directory with all of your competition! Isn’t a great domain name much easier to remember than a listing number?
Every website comes with a full suite of marketing tools, from formatted Craigslist ads to Facebook integration.
Photos
You can add unlimited photos at no extra charge.
Templates
They have 18 templates to choose from
Pricing
They offer a number of pricing packages from $149 a year for a single property to $1999 a year for an unlimited number of properties. There are also a couple of packages in between.
They too have a free 15 day trial if you want to try it out.
Webchalet are already providing over 2700 websites for owners which is pretty impressive.
5. Webmyhouse
Here’s some of what they have to say;
Easy-to-use solution to create your own website and publish your property on the web, both for renting and selling purposes. Lots of great, menu-driven functionality, such as multi language, choice of layout and colors, photos, connection to Googlemaps, what is nearby, property availability overview, property pricing, listing of events, email functionality and visit reporting. Great functionality and ongoing development for a minimum yearly fee, at a fraction of the cost of developing and maintaining a website!
- Adjust your website any time of the day
- Without needing programming knowledge
- No estate agent, consultant or programmer involved
- With the website address-extension you choose
- Great functionality: availability overview, connection to
Googlemaps etc - Easy set up in 4 languages
- In the format and colours you prefer
- Portal functionality for owners of multiple properties
- Easy to add any additional properties
- Develop and maintain your own marketing community
- No unsolicited reactions for renting
- Ongoing development for more functionality and eye catching presentations
- Publish your basic website for free
- Full functionality for a minimum yearly fee, at a fraction of the cost of developing and maintaining a website!
Photos
Free version = 5 pictures on slider homepage, 2 pictures per room and 6 general photos
Paid version = unlimited images (within reason)
Languages
Produces your website in 4 languages – English, French, Dutch and German. This could be very useful to those villa rental owners in Europe.
Pricing
There are two types of website that you can create, the first type is 100% free but has some limitations whereas the second, premium website is priced at £64 per year for one property.
For full details visit the pricing page here.
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