InstaManager

HomeAway Infographic: Why Vacation Rentals?

joel@bookt.com

Our partners at HomeAway have created a very cool and informative infographic about the vacation rental market, guests and their preferences, and market trends.

At Bookt, we love Vacation Rentals and the global InstaManagers who book them.

Thank you for this meaningful information HomeAway!

Travel Ideas infographic from HomeAway

InstaManager Interview: Matt Landau, Property Manager Entrepreneur in Panama

joel@bookt.com

In addition to his thriving vacation rental business, Matt Landau is the Founder of the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, a free resource for vacation rental owners looking to increase their profits, and VRLeap, the vacation rental industry’s first marketplace offering tools from 50-90% OFF. People have asked about Matt's background so this month we interviewed him about all of his business interests.

So Matt, tell us all about your history and why you became a PM in Panama?

When I first moved to Panama with no PM experience in 2006, the capital city was on the cusp of boomtown. Panama City's historic district was, back then, still experiencing some social problems but I met a handful of inspiring visionaries, among them the owners of a fleet of 4 luxury apartment rentals. Having stayed in their flats and sort of fallen in love with the neighborhood -- this bizarre Latin pastiche of old and new, rich and poor, cool and gross -- I acquired their business 2 years later and became, officially, the owner of the only (nice) place to stay in town. Having gotten in so early, Los Cuatro Tulipanes has become a fixture of the Casco Viejo tourism scene. So I guess you could say the reason I got into rentals was not actually a taste or preference, but a neighborhood.

How's business? What is Panama like as a VR Marketplace?

Business is booming. Panama's one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it's safe, democracy is strong, and tourism numbers (while just budding) are insanely high. More specifically, our historic district is so small and intimate, that we've sorta cornered the market on upscale rentals. If a traveler comes to town, I could tell you 20 different business owners who'd point them down the street to my office. We're situated amidst a bevy of gorgeous new boutique hotels but our price point (around $125/night) and our location (dead smack in the center of town) set us apart. Without fail, every guest that stays with us is intrigued first by our neighborhood: this makes offering lavish apartments easy and, well, fun.

Now, you are what I would call a "thought leader" in our industry. It seems like every day you have another good idea. Why orient your activities to sharing what you learn and know? Why not save it for yourself?

The answer I'm "supposed" to give is that I want to share this powerful information with the world. And honestly, throughout the process, I've found great joy in helping other owners and property managers succeed in the same way we have. Researching techniques now for the better part of a decade, my ability to save others time and money (literally, I'm shaving years off their learning curve), is quite a satisfying and gratifying thing that has acted as the fuel for my blog (www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com) and store (www.vrleap.com). Perhaps the more immediate answer as to why I share my information (cough cough) is because as a one-of-a-kind online consultancy, it generates good income.

What kind of products and services do you make available? Who are they geared towards? Who would be the perfect candidate?

My blog is comprised of more actionable and concrete advice for marketing rentals than anywhere on the web. I write just about every day and produce enough eBooks and courses to keep you plenty occupied. While it's often a byproduct, my real goal isn't to have my subscribers replicating my exact techniques: rather I want to give them the inspiration and motivation to develop an effective marketing portfolio of their own. I want to get their creative juices flowing. The ideal candidate for my content would be, quite simply, any owner or PM who wants to generate more bookings without necessarily spending more money. No age limit or property number here.

As a thought leader, where do you see the market for vacation rentals going in the next 5 years? Why?

I see the vacation rental industry surprising people in the next 5 years. In the scope of the history of hospitality, vacation rentals are so new that to overlook a significant period of growing pains would be naive. The problems you see rearing their heads now (phishing, scams, regulation...etc.) I see these getting worse before they get better so buckle your seat belts. But most importantly, I see the next 5 years as a very influential period for owners and PMs: with more and more competition, now' is the time to be proactive and establish your online brand. Developing a healthy stream of organic leads every single day does not happen overnight and in my opinion, those who get a head start now will be the ones thoroughly prepared for the real meat and potatoes of this industry's growth trajectory. That is to say, you will all make a lot of money.

Thank you Matt! We hope that property managers everywhere connect with you. You definitely know what you are talking about and have proven how your ideas can turn into revenue.

New Bookings Tomorrow thru Smarter + Personalized Auto-Responders Here Today

joel@bookt.com

Like pretty much every industry, Auto-Responders are underutilized in ours, thus… all you Short-Term Rental Marketers out there – listen up. If you use Auto-Responders wisely, you will engage more prospects and get more guests to book with you. Can ya hear me now!

In his article Auto-Responders: Why Trigger-Based Email Will Increase Your Conversions, Chris Hexton reminds us why emails that we send that are connected to “activity” by a Past Guest or Prospect are going to be more effective and will get more opens, clicks and conversions. Why? Because they are contextual.

Because they are linked to client engagement rather than why are you bothering me?

Are you using Auto-Responders and, if so, how?

At right are the results of MarketingSherpa’s latest benchmark survey on the actual types of automated, event-triggered, lifecycle email messages organizations deploy today. The two most-common results? The old “welcome" email (used by 50% of those surveyed) and "thank you" (by 48%) meaning that half of companies don’t even do that.

Contextual Sells

Bookt keeps a keen eye on SaaS (Software as a Service) pioneers like Salesforce.com and it was no surprise this week when they bought Marketing Automation innovator ExactTarget for $2.5 Billion.

In a nutshell, ExactTarget is a SaaS firm that helps companies convert prospects through target marketing that leverages customer data and marketing automation via email, mobile and social channels. This idea will sound familiar to Bookt’s global InstaManagers who use our Lead Insight and Smart Response Email Marketing Tools, as will the ExactTarget graphic below (similar to what's available in the InstaManager App).

Know Your Trigger

For the rental manager, what happens when a prospect engages about a specific property or date is the Holy Grail so at Bookt we have concentrated HUGE effort on creating software that automatically delivers the correct response for this trigger... instantly. With Smart Response:

Property inquiries with travel dates receive instant quotes from your system.
Inquires for properties already booked receive equivalent available property suggestions with links to your website - automatically.
Steers your guests toward online booking, 24/7.
Follow-ups scheduled automatically, too.

Tapping into proven lead management and email marketing tools with automated smart responses comes standard with InstaSites along with these other benefits:

Can be launched in 1 day or less – looks great out of the box. Start selling and booking the same-day.
Adapts automatically to the user’s device – looks perfect on a smartphone, laptop or tablet.
Widgets for featured properties, specials, property details, availability calendars, property finders, developments, etc.
Built-In Channel Manager and seamless integration with FlipKey, TripAdvisor, HomeAway, VRBO, etc.
Works for Managers and Guests anywhere in the world, handles multiple currencies, languages and devices.
Content is delivered via CloudFront meaning high availability and high performance, worldwide.
WordPress framework means better-faster-smarter content management.
Unlimited Email & Phone Support and Comprehensive Report Suite
Is affordable. Part of the $1 Switch.

So, if you 1) want new bookings tomorrow through smarter and personalized auto-responders here today, and 2) have a dollar, then 3) please connect today with sales@bookt.com and you will see our latest Auto-Responder and why when it comes to our InstaSite – loving it is easy!

Latest Web Design Trends That Your Rental Site Can Accomplish Next Week

joel@bookt.com

It is fair to say that there has never been a more important time for Short-Term Rental Managers to be paying attention to website designs trends. Simply put, if your site looks out of date, consumers will assume that your services are out of date. In addition, many of today’s design trends are critical as they concern removing a huge barrier for travel shoppers that prevents them from even seeing what you are offering.

As you can imagine, we pay a lot of attention to design at Bookt and continually keep up-to-date via feeds to articles like this one: Web Design: 20 Hottest Trends To Watch Out For In 2013 because if you want to be relevant today, you better make a good first impression.

Trends

Have a site with a Responsive Design is one of those critical design trends because only with a responsive design can your guests and prospects see and book all your rentals on their smart phones, tablets and/or computers – when they are on the go, or in their home. Because only with a responsive design can your guests and prospects see all the photos that are truly what merchandise and sell your properties – whatever device they are using and wherever they are.

Want to make navigation easy for your site visitors? Fixed Header/Footer Bars make steering a breeze and deliver a better experience to shoppers on your site. Makes it easier for them to find what they came for. And Large High-Quality Photos make a great impression and make you look like a contemporary company.

Want more Responsive Design Trends? How about Infinite Scrolling where more content gets loaded automatically as the user scrolls – just in time, with faster-load times to improve the user experience. We use this every effectively with Rental Search Results. Have you been on a site where each page is loaded in succession, pushing from left-to-right? We do this on the Bookt home page and it is called Sliding Webpage Panels; it is responsive and looks contemporary while being efficient. Bookt’s home page is also a good example of today’s fashionable and fresh Single Page Design for a more natural user experience.

Let’s end with the API and Open Source trend which Bookt has adopted by building InstaSites on the WordPress platform and especially with BAPI – the Bookt API.

In Summary, please take 5 minutes and scan the Web Design: 20 Hottest Trends To Watch Out For In 2013 article. And if you 1) wish to get onto the latest website design trends by next week, and 2) have a dollar, 3) please connect today with sales@bookt.com and we will make your Switch fast and easy.

Congrats to Matthew Hoffman

joel@bookt.com

Have you seen the Press Release titled:

Bookt Names Matthew Hoffman Senior Vice President of Sales

Congrats to Matt on a well deserved promotion!

Press Release: Bookt Launches Revolutionary New Mobile Vacation Rental Technology

joel@bookt.com

InstaSites Are Most Advanced Short-Term Rental Booking Solution for Today’s Mobile, Global and Social World

HOLLYWOOD, FL, April, 2013 – Bookt LLC, an innovator in cloud-based lodging technology, today announced the worldwide launch of InstaSites – the industry’s first mobile, social, global web solution specifically for vacation rental professionals.

“You would never bring a knife to a gun fight, but that’s unfortunately what lots of vacation rental managers do today,” said Bookt’s CEO Rob Käll at a recent industry event. The Short-Term Rental category is one of the fastest growing segments of travel. While new companies like Airbnb.com have mastered the user experience of booking a unit directly from an owner, the majority of Vacation Rentals nights are booked through agencies and management companies. Most of them have woefully inadequate online booking solutions. “Over 30% of people shopping for a vacation today are using a mobile device and they will go somewhere else when your site does not showcase your units well.”

“InstaSites represent a breakthrough.” said Matt Hoffman, VP of Sales at Bookt. “Beyond mobile support and a fast, easy and secure booking engine that is PCI compliant, we also carefully considered the context of the booker, like: How much will the cost be in US dollars, if booking an overseas unit? How close will I be to popular attractions? How easy can I share this info with my friends, and how can I validate this accommodation through other people’s user reviews? ”. Hoffman concluded, “And the sites just look great, with large beautiful images that immediately evoke an emotional response with the guest!”

“Nothing is more gratifying than providing our demanding client base with technology that knocks their socks off,” said Ben Strum, Bookt’s CTO. According to Strum, “InstaSites have many new innovations like 1) responsive design that automatically adapts to the user’s device; 2) continuous visitor data collection that feeds Bookt’s ground breaking ‘Lead Insight’ technology; and 3) a content delivery system, rolled out in partnership with Amazon.com, that makes sure that a user visits a site with engaging, fast downloading images and videos, regardless where in the world they access it.” Strum added, “We have also made sure that the site is easy to edit and very expandable by basing it on the popular WordPress open source technology.”

InstaSites get their name from their ease of launch – a mobile web solution that you can get up and running, virtually instantaneously – and that the site is tied straight into the back office of the InstaManager App, pioneered in 2011 as part of the game changing $1 Switch. InstaManager features powerful vacation rental manager software with tailored marketing distribution channels through TripAdvisor, HomeAway and others. With the introduction of InstaSites and continual rollout of breakthroughs from InstaManager’s exclusive VR Labs, Bookt continues to gain market share in the lodging technology space.

About Bookt

Bookt is a leader in cloud based services for the lodging industry. Our vacation holiday rental manager clients, called InstaManagers, compete on 6 Continents and in 85+ Countries with Millions of Vacation Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. Bookt’s cloud based platform directly drives revenue, manages resources, and provides business control for savvy lodging companies and managers worldwide. More information is available at www.instamanager.com or contact info@bookt.com. Here are User Reviews from global InstaManagers.

Matt Landau’s Corner: 4 VR Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind

joel@bookt.com

By Matt Landau

As vacation rental owners and managers, it’s important to use data to our advantage: not unlike big companies with market research departments, with proper insight, we can make adjustments in our behavior to enhance our performance (just on a smaller scale).

Here are 4 impossibly revealing statistics provided to me by the team at InstaManager along with behavioral trends that you can adopt in order to increase your profits:

1) The 5 Golden Minutes

According to InstaManager, when contacted within the first 5 minutes, a traveler is 22x more likely to book a reservation. This is a tremendous statistic, not only in sheer shock value, but also in its implications.

I get a lot of reservations every day. So my response time can be delayed. But I can promise that when I do respond to a traveler within the first few minutes, their response almost always begins with, “Wow, thanks for the prompt reply!”

Forming this first level of trust does wonders with travelers, particularly when the majority of your competitors (the other property managers your lead is emailing) don’t respond for hours.

What to do: Knowing this 5-minute time bomb statistic, give yourself a test and try to address your next 10 inquiries within 5 minutes. Whether you’re using canned messages or abbreviated text from your iPhone, respond within the golden timeframe and document your findings.

2) Nature Versus Nurture

If you’re like most vacation rental owners or managers, (a) a large percentage of your leads will naturally not end up actually booking, and (b) your disqualified leads go to an email graveyard to die. Which is to say, as small business owners, we just don’t have the resources to stay closely communicating with all our leads (not to mention, the disqualified ones).

But get this.

InstaManager showed me that nearly 70% of initially disqualified leads become qualified within 12 months when nurtured properly.

This says a lot about the tools you’re working with! So to fully nurture your leads, take advantage of email marketing techniques, newsletters, special promotions, and social media

What to do: Try launching a newsletter campaign to all your unqualified leads featuring a fascinating article about your region. Not the everyday “Today Main Street got new lights installed,” but something outrageous or unusual or newsworthy. At the bottom of this message, put a small link to your rental page and offer a good promotion. Considering this takes about 20 minutes to do, even one response or inquiry or booking means you’ve made your money back.

3) Don’t Push It

According to InstaManager’s vast database, only 13% of travelers who respond to lead generation campaigns are prepared to actually book nights at your rental.

This is to say, owners and managers need to learn to be patient when handling new inquiries. A giant part of the marketing process that often goes unnoticed is the ability to educate and sell your guest on your rental. This, of course, takes time, energy, and patience.

Dedicating some of your time to correspondence is just as important as generating the lead in the first place.

What to do: With all your leads this week, try to be as helpful as possible without pushing the “Book Now” envelope. The effect of a friendly but not pushy salesman can capture that large percentage (nearly 85%!!!) of travelers who aren’t in a rush.

4) Embrace The Good Technology

These days, technology is making a lot of things more impersonal: we have apps to use instead of doctors, devices to recommend restaurants, and websites to make friends. And a lot of this technology is straying away from good, old-fashioned customer service.

But learning to embrace the “good” technology is a weapon in the arsenal of successful vacation rental owners. According to InstaManager, without the use of automated tools, 79% of traveler leads will never receive a follow-up.

Why?

It’s simple. As small business owners, we simply don’t have the resources or manpower to follow-up to every lead personally. So learning to embrace automatic follow-up tools can be a huge advantage.

What to do: Try using follow-ups for a period of 1 week: any guest that doesn’t respond to you in 2 days, send them a follow-up stating that you noticed they didn’t have time to respond, and that you just wanted to make yourself helpful should they need any information about the area. At the very least, a tiny percentage of conversions here and you’re better off than you started.

Matt Landau is the founder of the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, a free resource for vacation rental owners looking to increase their profits, and VRLeap, the vacation rental industry’s first marketplace offering tools from 50-90% OFF.

The above article was written by Matt especially for the InstaManager Community. Ideas like this earn Matt new friends, fans and especially new OWNER CLIENTS.

Thanks Matt!

InstaManager Now Integrated with HomeAway’s Global Network | Software + Marketing = Vacation Rental Success

joel@bookt.com

Our mantra at InstaManager has always been Software + Marketing = Vacation Rental Success

We are very proud to announce that InstaManager is now integrated with HomeAway’s global network which includes HomeAway and VRBO.com. Thus, it is now even easier than ever to manage the marketing of your property inventory online.

Already marketing on HomeAway and VRBO but not yet integrated?
Then you will be happy to learn that you can:

· Save time! When you update your property information (rental rates, availability calendar, photos and description) on InstaManager, it automatically updates on the HomeAway network, meaning no manual input for you.

· Get online fast! Your current property records can be migrated very quickly, and any additional inventory you add is just as easy. You will not miss any bookings in the process.

· Be more efficient! You have the option to automatically update your calendar and rental rates table, allowing you to upload unique content onto the rest of your property listing.

· Stay updated! Whenever changes are made by HomeAway or VRBO to their site, InstaManager will also be updated, ensuring you always have the latest functionality.

· Take advantage! There is no extra charge for this service (a $299 value), and you are eligible as soon as you have at least five listings live across HomeAway and VRBO.

Not yet on HomeAway and VRBO but interested in learning the benefits of integration?
Then you will be happy to learn that you can:

· Get noticed! HomeAway is the #1 vacation rental company in the world, with more than 32 million visits per month to our network of sites.

· Save time! When you list on HomeAway or VRBO, you can manage your property information (rental rates, availability calendar, photos and description) directly through InstaManager.

· Be more efficient! Now you can manage your business and your property listings all in one place. No need for multiple logins!

· Stay updated! Whenever changes are made by HomeAway or VRBO to their site, InstaManager will also be updated, ensuring you always have the latest functionality.

· Maximize your ROI! Including the HomeAway network to your marketing mix will give you low-cost bookings and help keep your properties booked, and customers happy. There is no extra charge for this service (a $299 value), and you are eligible as soon as you have at least five listings live across HomeAway and VRBO.

· Act Now:

o Get a FREE, no-obligation ROI assessment from HomeAway, customized just for you.

o Special pricing discounts are available for InstaManagers for listings on HomeAway and VRBO!

o Activation of these listings on InstaManager is available for no extra charge.

Got questions? Click info@bookt.com to learn more. You will be glad you acted today!

InstaManagers Report that Rental Guardian = Big Profits + Great Service

joel@bookt.com

Rental Guardian (RG) is InstaManagers preferred provider of Accidental Damage and Trip Cancellation Protection for many, many reasons, like…

It is free and easy for InstaManagers to onboard and resell these policies
The potential to add over $100 dollars of profit per booking with very little work
Affiliation with Insurance Industry heavyweights like Lloyds, Munich RE and Chartis – names that will also resonate with your Guests and Owners.
Accidental Damage is a much better way to go than Security Deposits
Uniquely “pays out” on actual replacement cost vs. cash value
You collect the Insurance Fees at the time of booking and can control the retail price
All automated – no recordkeeping and reporting, no need to deal with an account rep, no manual policy management
Easy to order Rental Guardian Services – just let us know at info@bookt.com

PRESS RELEASE: Bookt Launches HolidayRentPayment for European Vacation Rental Market

joel@bookt.com

Seamless InstaManager Integration Means Accepting Electronic Payments Has Never Been Easier

HOLLYWOOD, FL, February, 2013 – Bookt LLC, a pioneer in online marketing and cloud-based technology solutions for vacation rental managers around the globe, today announced an expanded partnership with YapStone and the European inauguration of InstaManager’s Integrated Online Payment Solution with YapStone’s HolidayRentPayment – the most experienced and innovative online payment solution available in the holiday rental industry.

“The international opportunity for ePayments in travel is huge,” said Rob Käll, CEO of Bookt. “Our clients throughout the EU have been clamoring for this service and this partnership lets us offer our InstaManagers the best rates, free setup, and solid integration.” Käll added, “We have been working successfully with YapStone in the USA and now we can implement this innovative solution for InstaManagers in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.”

“HolidayRentPayment helps InstaManagers maximize bookings, increase occupancy and improve cash flow as the rental funds are immediately and securely deposited directly into their bank account,” says Matt Hoffman, Bookt’s VP of Vacation Rentals. “And, by giving guests the payment option they desire – using a reward-type credit card – the guests feel better about the money they spend when bookings are tied to rewards, and our users report better guest conversion rates.”

“Bookt offers a superior technology for holiday rental managers,” said Matt Golis, CEO of YapStone. “Our deep integration with Bookt solves a number of problems for our shared clients, like making it easy and seamless for them to perform bulk charges on due invoices, issue refunds, and immediately collect rent from an online booking.” Golis added, “We look forward to continuing to work with Bookt to help holiday rental managers around the globe increase their bookings and streamline their back-office operations through integrated ePayments.”

YapStone is Bookt’s Preferred Provider for online payments in the United States, Caribbean and now Europe. HolidayRentPayment provides industry low rates and payment processing for Visa Worldwide, MasterCard and Carte Blue in US Dollar, GBP and Euro currencies. InstaManager’s Integrated Online Payment Solution with HolidayRentPayment is a free upgrade for all current EU InstaManagers and comes standard for all new European InstaManagers in the $1 Switch.

About Bookt
Bookt is a leader in cloud based services for the lodging industry. Our vacation rental manager clients, called InstaManagers, compete on 6 Continents and in 85+ Countries with Millions of Vacation Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. Bookt’s cloud based platform directly drives revenue, manages resources, and provides business control for savvy lodging companies worldwide. More info is available at www.instamanager.com or contact info@bookt.com. Here are some global InstaManager User Reviews.

About HolidayRentPayment
A division of YapStone International Ltd., HolidayRentPayment is the most experienced and innovative online payment solution available in the holiday rental industry. Whereas traditional payment providers take a generic, one-size-fits-all approach to all industries, HolidayRentPayment's solution was purpose-built for the holiday rental market, with a sophisticated yet flexible platform, designed to adhere to the unique business requirements of this dynamic and rapidly growing industry. HolidayRentPayment is focused on providing holiday rental property owners the best combination of total cost savings, robust security, and superior technology.

Brief Network Outage

mario@bookt.com

Dear Bookt Clients and Partners,

We apologize for any of the trouble you were seeing beginning around 6:15PM EST. We were experiencing a network outage that was affecting the control panel and some of our client facing websites. The problem has now been addressed and both the websites and control panel should be working as before. If you have any questions please feel free to contact support@bookt.com

Not all Vacation Rental Damage Protection Policies are the Same

joel@bookt.com

One of the key reasons Rental Guardian was a superior choice as an InstaManager preferred provider is their superior insurance products. For example, when comparing accidental damage protection products, it is not a given with some other plans that managers and owners will get reimbursed enough money to truly replace a ruined item. These other plans may only pay actual cash value (ACV), which means that if the damaged item requires replacement, the item is replaced based on its current (depreciated) actual cash value - costing the Property Manager or Property Owner more money.

The Damage Protection program for InstaManagers features replacement cost coverage (RC), so no depreciation is applied when a claim is approved to replace an item. In other words, InstaManagers are delivered actual replacement cost value (RC) in today's dollars to any damaged item within it's life expectancy that needs to be replaced. No depreciation will ever be applied for any damaged item approved for replacement.

Does your damage protection program pay out on a REPLACEMENT COST or ACTUAL CASH VALUE basis?

This important factor should be considered strongly by you and the property owner you represent when selecting the ideal program.

Again, that is one of the primary reasons we selected Rental Guardian as our Partner.

InstaManagers can choose from Plans for covered amounts of: $1,500, $3,000, $5,000 and $10,000 in REPLACEMENT COST Damage Protection.

And, if you want to learn more about InstaManager, our partnership with Rental Guardian and our Accidental Damage and other Travel Protection, call 1.800.941.0868 x 1 or email info@bookt.com today. Rest assured – we’ve got you covered!

HolidayRentPayment is Here for Online Payments for InstaManagers in Europe

joel@bookt.com

HolidayRentPayment (HRP) is an innovative and integrated online payment solution delivered by YapStone with merchant account services designed exclusively for the Vacation Rental industry in Europe. Why is HRP Bookt’s preferred provider for Europe-based clients? Because HRP offers InstaManagers the best rates, no setup fees, and solid integration options, and accept Visa, MasterCard, and Carte Bleu.

Bookt can implement package for InstaManagers residing in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
Because HRP specializes in Vacation Rental Companies and handles the actual processing of each transaction (not just being a gateway pass-through), they can offer very competitive rates. Many merchants qualify for rates just over 2%.
HRP can often save you thousands annually versus banks and other processors.
In today’s fast paced and competitive travel market, HRP helps you maximize your bookings and increase occupancy by giving your guests the payment option they desire – using a credit card. Why is this important? Today, 70% of all credit card transactions are on reward cards. Consumers feel better about the money they spend when those transactions are tied to rewards.
Also, HRP users report better closing rates, improved cash flow, reduced delinquencies and that your property owners will love your competitive advantage and more efficient notification practices. HRP also provides full-time service and support, 7-days a week.
Additionally, InstaManager integration means that it is now easy to perform bulk charges of all due invoices, issue refunds, and immediately collect rent from an online booking.

Connect with info@bookt.com today to get more info and to get started!

InstaManager's Journey to The Cloud – Practical Significance and Value

joel@bookt.com

A couple of years ago the InstaManager logo was revised to include the globe icon taken from its parent company, Bookt, with a puffy cloud behind it to signify our growing activities and dedication to cloud computing. At that time we had already begun our trek to “the cloud” and today we are happy to report we are all the way there. FYI, this all the way there migration is a milestone and endpoint to one journey and the starting point to the next – one we believe will be even more effective and profitable for our growing community of global InstaManagers.

What is cloud computing? Everyone is jabbering about it – you have heard the hype. But what is the cloud – and, more importantly – what is the practical significance and value for today’s and tomorrow’s InstaManagers?

The cloud environment has allowed Bookt to enable today’s leading-edge apps for our InstaManagers and on their behalf, unlock revenue-generating insights from a treasure trove of their data. Using our cloud-based apps, a new InstaManager can be much more competitive and be up and running in days – basically you just open your browser, login, customize the “apps” to your business, and start using it. And did we mention the cost?

The $1 Switch

As the industry's most powerful software + marketing platform totally integrated with a robust website and business management software, the cloud has allowed InstaManager's setup to cost just $1 – this for a state of the art Booking Website, a complete and easy to use PMS (normally over $3,000), built-in CRM, Social Media and Email Marketing tools, Unlimited Support, optional integration with Travel and Damage Insurance and leading Payment Processors, and more – all for $1 setup and starting from $99 a month.

And, as mentioned, a new InstaManager can be up and running in days – just open your browser, login, customize the “apps” to your business, and start using it.

This is the power of the cloud. It is more affordable for both Bookt and our InstaManagers. It makes it possible for Bookt and our global client-base to focus on 2.1 Million Bookings rather than hardware issues, focus on solving business problems and addressing customer needs rather than manual, non-automated, non-integrated processes. And, looking ahead, the next few years are filled brand new possibilities. Today is the starting point to even more effective and profitable opportunities for our growing community of global InstaManagers, especially due to mobility and collaboration via device independence.

Device Independence means that you, your staff, your guests and your prospects can access your website, data, inventory, special offers – whatever, using any device they wish – laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop -- so now you and your inventory are bookable under any circumstance and by all people, everywhere.

Device Independence and the cloud go hand-in-hand. Watch this space for more on Device Independence and what it means to today’s and tomorrow’s InstaManagers.

Want to learn more about Bookt and if becoming an InstaManager is right for you? Please connect today via info@instamanager.com.

Have you heard about PayByGroup.com for Vacation Rentals?

joel@bookt.com

Bookt is always looking for great new ideas and we know one when we see one. Here is a smart new idea from the team at www.PayByGroup.com.

This week we’re looking at what matters to our clients when handling group bookings. What are the different considerations that come into play when handling group bookings, delivering a good experience, and protecting your property?

When people talk about “groups” in the vacation rental industry, the SMERF acronym comes up often. “SMERF” refers to bookings for sports, military, education, religion, and fraternal (alternately family reunion) purposes. While these are the big groups that often book multiple homes and 10+ bedroom properties, groups really include any booking where multiple parties are involved in the decision. You frequently find multiple families, groups of couples, girls’ getaways, and guys’ golf weekends renting out 3+ bedroom vacation homes.

When you think about groups in this broader sense, they are a significant portion of bookings for many property managers and homeowners. They comprise a disproportionately large share of profit because these groups rent your larger, higher-margin homes.

What can property managers do to better serve these groups? Are there ways to increase bookings and profits, reduce costs, and improve the customer experience?

Enter PayByGroup – www.paybygroup.com/merchants.

PayByGroup offers much more than just a way for your guests to pay for a booking with multiple credit cards. PayByGroup was built from the ground up to serve the unique needs of the vacation rental market and can:

·         Lock travelers into your booking funnel on their first interaction with your site or agent, even before they have talked to their friends and family and feel comfortable making the booking.
·         Get the contact info of everyone who stays with you, not just the organizer, so you can market to them for future bookings. On average this is 5 decision-makers that have stayed with you and are highly valuable travelers.
·         Eliminate friction for customers who are hesitant to front the deposit or entire booking fee themselves
·         Save time for your team when dealing with multi-party bookings and payments
·         Shorten your sales cycle (Over 80% of PayByGroups complete within 2-5 days)
·         View the progress of how every group is coming together
·         Consolidate multiple payments into a single deposit to your account for simplified accounting
·         Improve your cash flow by capturing the full amount of the booking up-front
·         Eliminate hassle for customers responsible for planning their group’s vacation, making you their preferred provider

Do those sound like things that would benefit your business? The issues that prevent a group from booking are hidden from you because they lie in the group planning and organization. It’s easy to think there’s nothing you can do about it, but you can. With PayByGroup you can lift these booking barriers from the organizer’s shoulders. PayByGroup handles all the follow-ups and constantly optimizes their system to get groups to complete so you get that big booking.

PayByGroup has focused on the vacation rental market and is already delivering results for property managers. On average PayByGroup handles 10% of bookings and converts over 80% of bookings that are initiated to completed bookings.

Fees are straightforward. You are only charged 2.5% of the booking cost for credit card processing, which is equivalent to or less than standard credit card processing fees. PayByGroup supports all major U.S. credit cards, including American Express, for members of the group. The payment to your account is made through the bank’s ACH system and is processed like a check, which should not incur additional charges. Customers are charged a convenience fee to use PayByGroup.

PayByGroup enables you to increase bookings, save time, and learn who is booking your homes.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you think this is a good fit for your team.

If you have any questions or comments about PayByGroup and how it could work for you, you can contact the PayByGroup team directly @ merchants@paybygroup.com .

Using Social Media for Customer Service

joel@bookt.com

A conversation happening right now on the InstaManager LinkedIn community reminded me of an article I read last year about the use of Social Media as a customer service channel. The study upon which the article is based is kind of a classic now and is often used as a benchmark, quoted all the time. Click Here to download this classic article.

The reason I bring this up right now has to do with an exhibit from the article, which shows the various purposes for which companies use social media, with Customer Service just behind Marketing and way ahead of Sales.

As noted in the “comment” to the conversation now happening in real-time on LinkedIn, all software and hardware has glitches. Whether you are a Vacation Rental Manager or a maker of Vacation Rental Software, Social Media channels allow your company to show off their great products and service, including how it solves problems.

Another way to say this is: Users of your accommodations and of our software are going to report both success and failure. Embrace it! User Reviews which rave about you are all good! User Reviews which identify a problem are not all bad! Again, everyone knows that everyone has glitches that crop up – in every business. It is how you as a company address and resolve those glitches which make you standout from the pack and earn the respect of current and future clients.

Embrace Social Media as a terrific channel for Customer Service!
And we hope you join the online conversation and InstaManager Community.

Matt Landau’s Corner: Why Every Property Manager Needs An Insider’s Guide

joel@bookt.com

By Matt Landau

Sharing valuable information about your region is nothing new. In fact, a wealth of neighborhood knowledge is what keeps most of us in business.

Need to know where to get the freshest seafood dinner? Perhaps the most knowledgeable guide for a tour or the cheapest place to rent jet skis? Property managers are concierge hybrids: since many travelers are new to the area, our expertise and insider advice are what add value to a guest’s vacation.

It should be no surprise then, that the world’s most successful property managers use specific tools to transform their regional authority into actual bookings: enter the Property Manager's Insider’s Guide.

An Insider’s Guide is really no more than a PDF document of a few pages that reveals secret or exclusive travel tips not available elsewhere online. Considering most of us already have the content in mind, creating an Insider’s Guide is as simple as writing and formatting your information in a travel-friendly format.

With an attractive Insider’s Guide in hand, property managers can leverage their expertise into actual bookings.

Whether this means offering the Insider’s Guide as a carrot to potential renters, offering it as incentive to sign up for a newsletter, or selling it for a nominal fee, managers who offer gems of advice immediately have the upper hand on their competitors.

Why?

Because travelers have plenty of options when booking their vacation. As a result, they are drawn to property management companies that offer more than just a place to sleep. They are drawn to companies that offer travel agent-like advice, vacation tips, and insider nuggets of information that make them feel ‘in the know.’ In fact, my management company has offered an Insider's Guide entitled "5 Crackheads You MUST Meet In Casco Viejo," for years now and it has converted hundreds of bookings. It features our logo, our links to spur on bookings, and our contact info should anyone read it and want to get a hold of us (this happens all the time).

It’s with all these juicy benefits in mind, that I’ve teamed up with renowned professional travel writer Christine Anderson to offer Bookt and InstaManager clients the deal of the century: Commission Your Own Insider’s Guide For Just $195 is available on VRLeap at this price for only 48 hours. Sponsor your own travel guidebook like this for the cost of one night's rental, and watch it pay for itself over and over and over again.

InstaManager Interview: International Luxury Vacation Rentals – Catering to Clients and Delivering Unforgettable World Journeys

joel@bookt.com

January 11, 2013 – In a recent interview with InstaManager, Susan Doull talked about her company www.commendablerentals.com, her background and wonderful life’s journey with her husband, Adrian.

Good day Susan. Let’s spend a few moments learning about your team’s wide-ranging background and how that helps you in the Vacation Rental business.

Hi, Joel. We came to the industry naturally, as it builds on Adrian’s and my experiences in the international arena and for me particularly in the service industry. For us, Service is one of the most important elements in Vacation Rentals.

How did it all begin for you two?
I have been a small Entrepreneur for a long time, meaning I am happiest and work hardest when I run my own business, starting my first in New York as a young mother. It was an international relocation consulting company. I had been asked to help a company’s employees move to New York, and this quickly turned into a business. International, well-travelled executives and their families, looking for support. Our client base today is similar, and we treat every single client as an important individual with his/her own personal needs.

What happened next?
I sold that business when Adrian and I moved to France to start our next business, this time together. We had accidentally stumbled on a beautiful 18th century Chateau in France, and almost impulsively decided to buy it (the price for a 30 room historic building in great condition, fully furnished with antiques, was same as our little Manhattan apartment !) and turn it into a hotel. Thus began the adventure of living in Europe, learning foreign languages, other cultures, and again, the service industry, this time with the emphasis on hospitality, and again with International, multi-cultural clients. We also learned how to do a lot of things ourselves. Actually, we were one of the first small hotels in France to have its own web-site, and to take reservations by email. As an Art Historian by education, I have always loved art and architecture, and the historically interesting. Real Estate as well as Interior Design and Decoration have also always been an interest. Which brings us to today. I am now in my element. We visit, photograph and choose properties that appeal to us; advise on improvements, and then recommend them to the people that would most enjoy them. Adrian’s background in business is a nice complement. He will tell you that he just does whatever I don’t want to do, but he helps me in many ways. We’ve lived for many years in each of 6 countries, so have a lot of experience dealing with different cultures and languages, which is important, both in dealing with renters and the owners of the properties.

Your headquarters are in South Carolina but also have a base outside Rome, Italy. Tell us about the City and Country today?
It is hard not to love Italy. Not only where we spend significant time does the sun shine most days, but there is almost nowhere with such a wealth of history and beauty to be found at every corner as there is in Rome, the Eternal City. The city itself is an outdoor museum, not to mention all the indoor ones. There are always fabulous things to see and do, a wonderful laid back, easy-going people, plus glorious food and wines and music. If you ever get bored of Rome, there is no hope for you! It has been one of the most important holiday spots in the world (since the days of the Grand Tour), so it is a natural for vacation rentals. All of our Rome properties are in the historic center, so almost everything is within walking distance.

I know that South Africa is a focus for you and Adrian. What is it about your tours and this location that make it a great place to travel?
Since Adrian is a South African, and since Africa is now in my blood, it gives us both great pleasures to visit this wonderful, but complicated country, and to have the opportunity to show it off to other people. It started just because friends asked to join us on our visits, then friends of friends asked, so it has become a regular feature. What makes our visits special is that Adrian’s local friends and connections join us from time to time, so our guests get the opportunity to discuss this complex country with some eminent and well-informed South Africans. Now we are being asked to custom design tours, and have had some good success. We are going to be using our website to highlight this aspect of our African properties’ collection.

Sounds exciting!
Yes. South Africa is another place where it is extremely difficult to be bored! The combination of the extraordinary scenery, the thrill of amazing wildlife in their habitat, a glorious climate, and a fascinating history that is not finished, following the extraordinary reconciliation engineered by Mandela and De Klerk; that is enough to entertain anyone. We take the occasion of our visits to build a great portfolio of rental properties and fabulous boutique hotels and lodges.

You are also just adding some listings in South America. Tell us more?
I’m afraid we fall easily for lovely places with extraordinary character! We recently visited Colombia, and succumbed to the many charms of Cartagena. It was just fortuitous that we met the owner of the loveliest small colonial boutique hotel in the town, and then discovered that he also owned a wonderful historic colonial property nearby which, with the help of one of the country’s best architects, he had converted into some stunning apartments. We were overwhelmed with their beauty and style, and felt that anyone with good taste should get the full advantage of a sojourn in this historic town by staying in these breath-taking and historic places.

In general, Susan, where do your target guests come from?
We have made an effort to target many countries, so as not to be at the mercy of any one when something goes wrong (like a recession). So, of course, our clients are often Americans, but also English-speaking guests from around the world including Canada, the UK, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. In addition, we target clients from all over Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia. Brazil and other South American countries are also becoming more important.

Can you describe your target guest demographic?
Yes… Our properties are on the mid to upper end, so our guest demographic is also. As our properties vary in size and luxury, so do our target guests. It’s hard to generalize here, but we are generally not looking for people who want to put 4 people into 1 bedroom. We want guests who are looking for quality, something special, more than those looking for a bargain. Beauty has a price.

You had numerous choices in picking a technology and marketing partner. What attributes were important to you?
As our properties and our clients are multi-national in scope we needed a company that could handle issues like multi-currency, and foreign languages. As a small company, trying to do a lot, we were looking to increase our efficiency. Bookt has made a huge difference in the way that we can handle requests and reservations without losing the personal touch that is our signature. The software helps us to keep all our records efficiently in one place via the cloud which can be accessed easily by us and by our global staff. In addition, we wanted a company that regarded service as an important an element as we do, and you convinced us. This has not proven wrong. It has been a pleasure to know you, if only from a distance.

What have been your results thus far and where do you see Commendable Rentals going over the new few years?
The company has grown significantly every year of its existence and we plan for it to continue to do so, which is where the technology is so important. Except for those properties with which we have just fallen in love, every one of our new properties has come from recommendations by existing owners, which means we must be doing something right. At the right time, we will also expand by using the extranet capability, adding other like-minded but complementary property managers, in areas where we would like to add properties. But we do not want to get too large, as we believe that there will always be a nice niche for a business that provides confidence and satisfaction to both owner and renter, and that truly matches each property with the potential renters who should be there, while maximizing the owner’s revenue via targeted marketing.

Finally, as a Vacation rental Professional, what are the trends and issues you see that will affect our industry in 2013 and beyond? And how do we as an industry need to address them?
It is clear that Review sites like TripAdvisor will not only continue to influence decisions, but will dominate search. Riding that wave is one of the most important actions. We see the distinct possibility of the industry being dominated by large organizations with “commoditized” rentals, but think that there will always be an attractive niche for the service-oriented, and quality-oriented, providers like Commendable. However, there is so much change going on as technologies and the Internet itself develop further, that no one can be sure what new changes may occur. The key is to stay up to date with new developments, and remain flexible.

Thank you Susan! Thank you for your time today and for participating in the InstaManager Interview. Best wishes to you, Adrian and your entire www.commendablerentals.com Team. From all of us here, we look forward to working together, watching you grow and your continued Online Success!

Matt Landau’s Corner: 8 Things You Should Give Up To Make More Money in 2013

joel@bookt.com

Matt Landau is the founder of the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, a free resource for vacation rental owners looking to increase their profits, and VRLeap, the vacation rental industry’s first marketplace offering tools from 50-90% OFF. The following article, written at the end of last year, is Matt’s take on what Property Owners should do to make money this year. We thought it would be very interesting for our InstaManagers to hear this perspective and see this marketing tool in action, which earns Matt new friends, fans and especially new OWNER CLIENTS.

Matt’s Corner: 8 Things You Should Give Up To Make More Money in 2013
– a Vacation Rental Owner’s Perspective

Making money with your vacation rental is all about sacrifices. Like any entrepreneur, you’ve got to give in order to get. And while they may not be the most exhilarating things to look forward to in 2013, giving up to the following 8 sacrifices will lead to a record year in profits for your rental.

Give up some of your privacy: From pre-booking correspondence emails (yes, nicer, more friendly owners generate more bookings than curt, grumpy ones) to the physical hosting of your visitors, a vacation rental marketer's personality is everything. So it’s no surprise that the most successful owners (and managers) share their personal space (whether it’s a headshot, some family information, a bit of background information as to why you bought a vacation home in your location) with the visitor. This makes for a more intimate sales pitch and ultimately, many more bookings.
Give up your time: For many owners, vacation rental marketing is an “I’ll get to it, when I get to it” sort of chore. But if you really want to generate momentum, you must make some sacrifices. Whether it’s taking more time off work or spending a bit less time doing what you enjoy, the time you dedicate to vacation rental marketing should be calculated, planned, and exact. If you use the 80/20 Rule, you’re guaranteed to generate more bookings in 2013.
Give up your strict rules: Throughout the course of 2012, we did an experiment at my rentals in Panama. We decided to spend one year breaking all our (reservations) rules. This meant, disregarding our 3-night minimum when applicable, giving larger-than-usual discounts to make the sale, offering free upgrades, even helping guests make additional vacation plans (something we typically avoid because it’s so damn time-consuming). All of this was done with one specific goal in mind: to have a banner year. We wanted to break all of our occupancy and profit records on file. And what happened? We crushed our previous profit numbers by almost 20%. Sure, giving up your strict rules takes extra time and desire (you have to really want to make more money). But as we're entering the last weeks of 2012, the year-round effects are clear as day.
Give up your ego (and your need to be right all the time): Vacation rental owners are stubborn mo-fos. We are often so proud of our property and confident in our services that anyone who tells us otherwise is immediately met with an iron fist (and that includes a difficult or unhappy guest). If you are hungry to increase your profit margin, you’ll have to set your ego aside. Hospitality, more than any other industry, is about grinning and bearing. The ability to turn a doomed guest into a happy, paying customer is a skill that will increase your bottom line with remarkable ease.
Give up your excuses and complaints: One of the biggest hurdles in kick starting your vacation rental marketing and making more money is ditching any and all excuses. We limit our profits by the excuses we make. Instead of lying to ourselves about why we CANNOT, vacation rental marketers should grow and work to improve on how we CAN. Take your listing sites complaints, your depression about tourism numbers, or your preconceived notions about why your rental can’t possibly do better, and throw them in the nearest polluted body of water. You won’t be needing them anymore.
Give up your resistance to change: The times, they are a’changin. And because many vacation rental owners are older than 40, they’re hesitant to accept the latest technologies, trends, and (frankly) statistical facts as the new norm. Giving up your resistance to change means embracing any idea that works: you must be the raft that flows with the river, not the rock that tries to go against it. Being open to new marketing advice, better ways to operate, or innovative ways to treat guests: this is the foundation for progressive and profitable New Year.
Give up your first week’s income: Part of learning to increase your profits means learning to spend on marketing. Too many owners have anemic marketing budgets and because of that, they’re handicapped in making huge gains. I encourage you to take your first week’s income from 2013 (yes, the first 7 days-worth of money you bring in during January, 2013) and dedicate it to new marketing initiatives. You can find plenty of ideas on this website or you can research them on your own. But with the first week’s payment in hand, go shopping and watch the returns roll in for the next 12 months.
Give up your secrets: Give away all your secrets as a local property owner and guests will come back begging for more. Here’s the perfect example: guests who read my blog or talk to my team on the phone end up staying at my rentals, simply because they know how much value we add to the experience. They trust us to deliver. So whether it’s revealing the best dish at the best restaurant at any given time of year, or the cheapest vendor of the best jewelry in town, or the most perfect place to see monkeys that no one knows about: give your potential guests your secrets for free, and they’ll likely be your guests for life.

As mentioned, Matt Landau is the founder of the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, a free resource for vacation rental owners looking to increase their profits, and VRLeap. We look forward to more Matt’s Corner in 2013.

New InstaManager Booking Dashboard Hailed as Powerful Business Intelligence Tool

joel@bookt.com

While it may be an overused business axiom, Knowledge is Power is still true.

Bookt’s web developers and VR Labs have been hard at work refining and improving the intelligence widgets that give InstaManagers a real-time view of booking metrics. At a glance, each member of the InstaManager community can now better visualize their “numbers” in order to optimize revenue.

Before getting into the specifics of what each widget does, a few words on why seeing and understanding the numbers is important. In running our own growing business we know that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. By giving our InstaManagers a real-time view of the key elements of their business, they can each make smarter and faster decisions that impact the bottom and other lines. These particular intelligence widgets are focused on the company's booking metrics. Individually and taken together, each widget is a call-to-action towards greater profitability.

Here is a quick summary of each widget*:

1) Period Overview: displays the number of new bookings and total value.
2) New Bookings by Lead Source: pie chart display showing where business is coming from.
3) New Bookings by Agent: pie chart showing who business is coming from.
4) Booking Income Breakdown: more detail of Period Overview data.
5) New Bookings: line chart showing # of bookings recorded per day/week/month.
6) Occupancy Rate: bar chart showing total occupancy percent for each day/week/month.
7) Average Daily Rate (ADR): average rental income per paid occupied property in period.
8) Revenue Per Available Unit (RevPAR): critical performance metric; is a function of Occupancy Rate and Average Daily Rate. When the two are properly optimized, your RevPAR should increase.

Here is an example Booking Dashboard...

* Please note that each of these widgets display data within the current selected period and depending on the length of the period may be grouped by day, week or month for each applicable widget.

Want to learn more about Bookt and if becoming an InstaManager is right for you? Please connect today at http://www.instamanager.com/ContactUs/.

End of Year Savings

rob@bookt.com

As 2012 comes to an end, we hope you had successful year and we look forward to serving you in 2013!

For some companies, for tax and other reasons, shifting expenses into the current year instead of next year makes sense. We have always offered the option to pre-pay your InstaManager fees, but in the month of December, you can do so and also save significantly in the process:

When making a Pre-payment of $1,500 or higher you get an Instant Savings Credit of 15% of the pre-paid amount. E.g. If you pre-pay $2,000, your account will be credited an additional $300, for a new credit balance of $2,300, which is then used to pay your monthly invoices.

If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer, please connect with our Billing Dept. (billing@bookt.com / +1 305 760 4576 Opt 4) before Thursday 12/27/2012. We will process your payment (though credit card, check, PayPal or wire transfer) and make sure you receive the necessary invoices and balance statements.

Thank you and have a wonderful holiday season!

The Bookt Team

An InstaManager Global XMAS Present for You

joel@bookt.com

There are over 3,000,000,000 Internet users that do not have English as their first Language. Would you like to make it easy for them to book your vacation rentals?

The holidays are fast approaching all over the world.

Buy One Get One Free. Save $500 and $49/month.

To honor our special BOGO (Buy One – Get One free) InstaManager Global Fully Translated Website for Your Non-English Speaking Guests special in December, here is the ultimate "Merry Christmas" in some of the languages you might want to translate your InstaManager website into...

Afrikaans: Gesëende Kersfees
Argentine: Feliz Navidad
Armenian: Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand
Basque: Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!
Brazilian: Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo
Chile: Feliz Navidad
Columbia: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Croatian: Sretan Bozic
Czech: Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok
Danish: Glædelig Jul
Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
Eskimo: (inupik) Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!
Estonian: Ruumsaid juulup|hi
Finnish: Hyvaa joulua
Flemish: Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
French: Joyeux Noel
Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!
German: Froehliche Weihnachten
Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
Icelandic: Gledileg Jol
Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie
Macedonian: Sreken Bozhik
Norwegian: God Jul or Gledelig Jul
Peru: Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Año Nuevo
Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!
Portuguese: Feliz Natal
Rumanian: Sarbatori vesele
Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom
Serbian: Hristos se rodi
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Swedish: God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt År
Turkish: Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian: Srozhdestvom Kristovym
Welsh: Nadolig Llawen
Yugoslavian: Cestitamo Bozic

Want more languages? Find other translations here: http://translate.google.com/
Want more info on InstaManager Global? http://www.instamanager.com/vrlabs/Instamanager-Global/

Buy One Get One Free. Save $500 and $49/month.
Connect with info@bookt.com before January 4, 2013 to take advantage of this Special Offer.

Happy Holidays from InstaManager!!!

Search Engine Friendly Website Technology for Vacation Rentals

joel@bookt.com

Get Googled ...and Good
Search optimization tops nearly every list of concerns of lodging companies who rely on the internet to drive bookings. How quickly your site appears on a search engine and where it appears on a list of results can make the difference between a sale for you and a sale for your competitor. While the way to achieve SEO domination is a combination of on-site and off-site optimization actions, unless your website structure truly adheres to SEO best practices you face a serious disadvantage.

Key Bookt Website SEO Attributes:

Smart Data Driven Pages: Every data point (property, unit, development, market area, attraction, special offer, etc.,) will have its own page with unique page titles, meta tags and friendly URLs, that you can easily edit for further optimization;
Dynamic Site Map: Makes sure all your website content (including your properties) is searchable. Both HTML and XML mode;
Proper Status Codes: 301, 404 and 500. What does that mean? Perhaps not much to you, but it means everything to the search engines;
Enhanced Markup: Again a technical term, but If you want to make sure Google picks up your great user reviews, you must to follow this structure: http://microformats.org/wiki/hreview
CSS Based Design: Keeps the relevant content front and center by reducing redundant page HTML, also improves browser compatibility;
Fast Loading: This is where the rubber meets the road and why we always keep system performance stats transparent.

But not too good to be true…
Many search optimization companies promise to put your site at the top of search engine results. That's easy - if the keyword is specific enough. What's more important is to continuously drive more qualified website traffic through SEO. At Bookt, we won’t resort to gimmicks, but rather offer transparent results through our unique SEO Scorecard. It tracks important SEO metrics (such as ranking for specific keywords, # of links, referrals, pages indexed etc.) for the major search engines (e.g. Google, Bing and Yahoo) automatically on a regular basis. Making your progress transparent while holding us accountable.

Want ever more details? Take the SEO Quiz and Download our SEO Report coming soon.

Vacation Rental Managers Make Social Media Engagement Second Nature in 2013

joel@bookt.com

While putting together some new information to update our Bookt Report on Social Media, I came across this interesting "Sensible" Social Media Checklist designed by thewholebraingroup.com. Bravo!

Are we able to do all this at Bookt? No -- but we are working towards it; still not enough time in the day. Are our InstaManagers able to do "sensible" amounts of targeted social media engagement? Probably not. But many know they need to improve, and engagement -- more and more -- is becoming second nature, especially with all the social tools and apps integrated into the InstaManager platform.

In the infographic below are some "friendly reminders" of what works and perhaps some new ideas as well. In 2013, Vacation Rental Companies need to continue to embrace making social media engagement second nature. For our part, we pledge to continue to make it easier (and measurable) for our InstaManagers to globally, mobiley and nobly (adverb meaning "first rate") engage with savvy tools and insight.

InstaManager is an Open Platform for a Creative Global Vacation Rental Community

joel@bookt.com

(Since this article was posted two weeks ago, the VR Labs team at Bookt has coined the term "BAPI" -- standing for Booking API -- as the new name of this exciting new feature. Learn more about BAPI and VR Labs -- it's worth the click! :).

Have you ever posted a video to YouTube or visited a page on Wikipedia? Then you have used an “open platform”. Did you know that Bookt has been an open platform champion for years and years? We have and will continue to be. Why? Because we believe in the creativity of the global travel community and wish to make it easy and profitable for 3rd parties to integrate with our platform, to add practical functionality, as well as to add cool and whizzy components as their modules of alchemy.

Case and point. InstaManager Search and Booking Widgets and API or SBW API for short.

The SBW API is a set of functionality that Bookt’s Developers have created expressly for other Online Travel Marketers, Designers and Developers around the Globe to employ for their own purposes.

WARNING TECHSPEAK FOLLOWS...

What is SBW and how does it work?

SBW (Search & Booking Widgets) is a set of functionality have written in jQuery and JavaScript (similar to Facebook and Google embeddable widgets) with an optional WordPress plug-in.
SBW allows you to implement a lightning fast and easy to use Vacation Rental property search and booking engine on any site with minimum effort.
SBW gets its data from your InstaManager solution and respects all configured settings and rules unless overridden.
SBW generates search forms, fluid search results (including map search) and all dynamic information such as price quotes automatically.
SBW includes a secure booking engine that can process credit card transactions based on rules setup in the InstaManager Control Panel.

What are the benefits for InstaManager Clients to use SBW?

Easy - Super quick integration with just a few lines of code, following your existing business rules as configured in the InstaManager Control Panel.
Fast - No need to switch your site, widgets can be plugged in very easily on an existing website regardless of CMS platform.
Flexible – Because we have made all of SBW Open Source, it can be customized to your desired look and feel.
Choice - Work with any web designer/developer in the world who is familiar with standard web technologies like JavaScript and CSS.

What are the benefits for Web Marketers and Designers to develop on top of SBW?

Easy: No complicated API integration needed to deliver a cutting edge vacation rental booking experience.
Free: No cost for developers to get started.
Open Source: Widgets and Plug-ins are hosted and managed on GitHub.
Turn Key: Pre-made professional layouts that you can customize as much or as little as you like.
SEO Friendly: The WordPress plug-in generates static indexable pages for all relevant content in a client’s solution (e.g. properties) with a click of a button.
Proven: Full transactional REST API used by Bookt to process millions of searches and bookings.
Profitable: Referral fees paid quickly for every new InstaManager client you bring to us.
Respectful: Bookt will not promote competing services (e.g. SEO/SEM) to your referrals.

Okay – that was a lot of techspeak but the gist of this should be clear. We are open and so is our platform. We are creative and think you are too. We think that the global travel community can work together while competing with each other in some cases and the benefits of cooperation and an open approach outperform the drawbacks.

About Bookt
Bookt's vacation rental manager clients, called InstaManagers, compete on 6 Continents and in 85+ Countries with over 1.8+ Million Vacation Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. Bookt’s cloud based platform directly drives revenue, manages resources, and provides business control for lodging companies and managers.

For more information please visit www.instamanager.com or contact joel@bookt.com.
For InstaManager User Reviews, please visit http://instamanager.bookt.net/Instamanagers/

November is "Upgrade Your Website Design Month" at InstaManager

joel@bookt.com

At InstaManager your $1 Switch comes with a terrific themed website which is personalized to you and your market.

For some InstaManagers it makes sense to upgrade to a design completely customized with a completely unique look and feel exactly tailored to your target demographic so you standout online a stand apart from local competitors.

Special Offer for new and current InstaManagers: Order your upgrade design by November 30th and get a free website translation including one free year of monthly services -- a $1,100 value.

Want to learn more? Then connect with info@bookt.com -- ready to serve you.

About Bookt
Bookt's vacation rental manager clients, called InstaManagers, compete on 6 Continents and in 80+ Countries with over 1.8+ Million Vacation Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. Bookt’s cloud based platform directly drives revenue, manages resources, and provides business control for lodging companies and managers.

For more information please visit www.instamanager.com or contact joel@bookt.com. For InstaManager User Reviews, please visit http://instamanager.bookt.net/Instamanagers/

InstaManager Interview: Paris France is Magnifique for Tourism and Vacation Rentals! Bon Voyage!

joel@bookt.com

October 26, 2012 – In a recent interview with InstaManager, Adam Varcoe talked about his company www.huttonsparisapartments.com and tourism in Paris France,The City of Lights and Love.

Good day Adam. Let’s spend a few moments learning about your background and how that experience helps you in the Vacation Rental business.
We're a family business that goes back almost 20 years with roots and family in France. It's hard to say exactly when we grew from a part time service we offered as a favor for friends who needed a place to stay, or helping French expats in the Bay Area rent their Parisian apartment. Our guests and our owners were friends and family first. We started before the internet era, and we mailed color photos to our leads at a time when no one had DSL, and many people didn't have email or computers. Sometimes our photos didn't come back. So our first technology investment was a color copier, and advertising was print only. We build our first website in 1996, long before the advanced functionality available in InstaManager. But for us this has always been about helping people. It was about building a bridge between two countries, two people. And it still is. Our focus is to help our owners rent their apartments and help our guests find the right place to stay.

Paris is a beautiful city in a beautiful country. What is it about Paris that makes it the greatest place in the world to visit?
The things they say about Paris really are true. Springtime is magnificent. Art and culture almost seep in by osmosis. It’s a very humane city; buildings are never more than seven stories tall, so there are no giant skyscrapers blocking the views and the sunlight. Paris is the epicenter of western culture at every level and from a material perspective, until the industrial age, France was the pinnacle of art and craftsmanship.
And they preserved their heritage. People are always looking for their roots. The ideas that all people are created equal, and that freedom is an inalienable right are enshrined as human principles. These principles were developed 500 years ago during the French Reformation by philosophers in places you can still visit today. So the Declaration of Independence has direct ties to France. We forget it from time to time, but America is founded on values and ideals pioneered in Paris. These ideals have taken root all around the world, and you can still get in touch with their origins in Paris to this day.

Where do your target guests come from?
Our guests are mostly Anglophones. Predominantly they’re from the US and Canada, but also they’re Aussies, Kiwis, and Britons. But the world is our market, and Hutton’s has had guests from practically every country. Our offices reflect that; we’re located in California and Paris, and we speak English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

How important is tourism to www.huttonsparisapartments.com today and your projected growth?
Tourism is the foundation of our business. And Paris is one of the world's most visited cities. France has more annual tourist than it has population. So, there’s no shortage of tourists visiting Paris. However growth is an interesting topic for Hutton’s, because we need to control growth. InstaManager has allowed us to scale our business tremendously, but our DNA is about helping people. It takes time, and it takes careful consideration of people's needs. So we can’t allow growth to exceed our ability to take care of our guests. We don’t want be so large that you can't pick up the phone and talk to us.

You had numerous choices in picking a technology and marketing partner. What attributes were important to you?
We love the InstaManager property management system. We love being out of the "calendar update business" – if you’ve ever run numerous listings on a variety of sites, you know what I mean. It’s almost a fulltime job. So the data push to Flipkey and HomeAway is essential for us.

Were there any specific features of the InstaManager product and platform that stood out in your decision process??
Well, the $1 switch was very convincing. Other offers were frequently 3-5k just to get started, and nobody offered us a demo. Also the cloud nature of InstaManger is a necessity. We’re a 21st century business with staff located across the globe, and Bookt just seemed reflect that. The bottom line is that the value of a vertical CRM system combined with a property management system is practically priceless to us. It’s the backbone of Hutton’s Paris Apartments and any disruption of our day-to-day operation is a cause for alarm.

What have been your results thus far and where do you see www.huttonsparisapartments.com going over the new few years?
It’s only been a couple months, but the data push hasn’t been as smooth as we had hoped. The merger between VRBO and HomeAway has caused us a lot of headaches, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones. Just last week all our photos on our HomeAway listings disappeared, even though they were visible in our dashboard. So the short term outlook is to focus on the operations side of the business. InstaManager has allowed us to operate in a way we never had before, and all our systems and procedures have changed as a result, and they’re still changing.
I check the listings every day. When I’m satisfied that our listings are stable and our systems and procedures and buttoned up, I’d like to add inventory, but we’re picky. Hutton’s apartments are all in the center of Paris, and always high quality, and those are hard to find.

In terms of improvements or enhancements, what would you like our engineers in VR Labs to be working on that would help you meet your unique business goals?
Hutton’s is a “high touch” business. We want to speak with every guest and take the time to make sure they get exactly what they need. Everyone is personally greeted at their apartment and given a tour. We make sure their questions are answered, whether it's how to operate the washing machine, or the location of the nearest pharmacy, so we'd like to see more CRM. Greater ability to keep track of our guests’ needs and the important details that will ensure their trip is a success. Many of our guests are advance planners, but some people plans for years. We’ve hosted 40th or 50th wedding anniversaries. We had a father take his twin 16 year old daughters to Paris to fulfill a promise he made his wife when they were born. 16 years in the making. So we treat every reservation like the dream of a lifetime because sometimes, it is. So the CRM aspect of InstaManager is very important to us.

Finally, do you have any sort of message - perhaps about your experience, your company, your market -- anything at all you would like to communicate via this interview?
There are plenty of companies that are happy to take your money without ever talking to you. We want to be on the other side of that formula. We want to know our guests’ needs. Our business is about providing real services to real people and doing our best to ensure that the placement of our guests is based on their needs. We ask, “How many stairs can you climb?” we ask “How tall are you?” Aussie men are tall. Americans are tall. Never place tall people in beds with footboards. French bathtubs have high sides and people with hip surgery can’t step over. So a walk-in shower is going to be a better option. If you don’t talk to people, you don’t know. And no listing on TripAdvisor or VRBO will every replace that. When we can get people to express their expectations when they get to Paris, we do our best to fulfill their dreams.

Thank you Adam! Thank you for your time today and for participating in the InstaManager Interview. Best wishes to you and the entire www.huttonsparisapartments.com team and your continued Online Success! Merci beaucoup!

Vacation Apartments in Big Cities a Growing Global Trend with InstaManager

joel@bookt.com

For Bookt's Vacation Rental InstaManagers, business is booming on a global scale as they compete on 6 continents and in 80+ Countries and are closing in on 1.8 Million Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. But it is not all beach towns and ski resorts. On the contrary. More and more it is urban apartments that both leisure and business travelers are looking and opting for. Why is this so? Why is the trend to rent an apartment vs. stay in a hotel when staying in the big city?

Our InstaManager at Seattle Oasis or Go House in Rio de Janeiro will tell you that their guests report it is all about saving money, getting a better value, and getting more space including multiple bedrooms.

Our clients at Check-in-London or Smart Apartments in NYC will tell you their guests like to have more privacy, their own kitchen and often a clothes washer. That getting to live more like a local in all the best city locations is what today urban guest is demanding.

And our InstaManagers at Hutton’s Paris Apartments or Lisbon’s Local Traveling will tell you that it seems to be about experience and their guests are seeking a real “home” feeling with a deeper connection to the city and its people.

How do today’s travel shoppers learn what they need to so they feel confident they will be getting the experience and everything else they are searching for? Our InstaManagers employ FlipKey (part of TripAdvisor) because we integrate unbiased Guest Reviews so urban travelers can check out what other renters experience before booking – click on the “Reviews” tab for an example of this great social-sharing guest tool.

Also, there are legal issues impacting these trends. In a nutshell, some cities are wrestling with enforcement of local zoning ordinances that prohibit apartments being rented as short-term vacation rentals. In other cases, cities are approving vacation rentals in their community. For example, just yesterday (10/17/2012) the city of La Quinta next to Palm Springs approved their vacation rental program as a way to make up for their budget shortfall via a local transient occupancy tax.

All the market channels are surging including companies like HomeAway, Wimdu and Airbnb who opened new offices in cities such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, Moscow, and Paris in the first quarter of 2012 to take advantage of these trends worldwide.

Bookt is a perfect proven partner and InstaManager is a proficient and peerless product for rental managers worldwide who want the leading marketing and technology to standout and thrive in their city markets.

Here are some other recent articles and resources that help tell this story:

How Airbnb Earned Me $20,000 And A Restraining Order From My Landlord

Serviced apartments to outperform hotels in next three years

Disrupting the Hotel Biz: Enter the Un-Hotel

Market Reports in New York, Paris and London from www.nyhabitat.com

Article in Smarter Travel

Looking for a marketing and technology partner for your short-term urban apartment rental business? Email us today at info@bookt.com and we will try to respond in a New York minute.

“Size” Matters with Contemporary Vacation Rental Website Designs

joel@bookt.com

In this case, “Size” refers to website images. And, as you have probably noticed – Facebook, Twitter and other thought leaders are influencing website design and making larger background images a standard for today’s contemporary style.

Big images are in. The Bookt design team has been paying attention and we have recently launched our first three image-centric designs. We have also modified our image upload tools to accommodate a 30 to 40% increase in property image size creating beautiful image centric designs like this. Take a look at the top row for these image-centric examples with beach, city and winter as example themes:
http://www.bookt.com/4-Pillars/Online-Direct/Website-Design/Theme-Design-Gallery.aspx

Looking to customize this approach? Take a peek at the slideshow for an InstaManager in Medellin, Colombia: www.theapartmentmedellin.com for an example of a much customized use of larger images. And to support this trend, Bookt has partnered up with Amazon for effective image delivery. Not only does size matter but so does the cloud-based technology to support it.

The experts will say that it is important that vacation rental managers keep their websites current and fresh since having a dated look and feel can impact your company’s image and brand. And this applies to both new and current InstaManagers; we can update your design and upgrade your image and brand at any time, as needed. Just ask.

About Bookt
Bookt's vacation rental manager clients, called InstaManagers, compete on 6 Continents and in 80+ Countries with over 1.7 Million Vacation Rental Nights Booked via the Bookt system. Bookt’s cloud based platform directly drives revenue, manages resources, and provides business control for lodging companies and managers. For more information please visit www.instamanager.com or contact joel@bookt.com. For InstaManager User Reviews, please visit http://instamanager.bookt.net/Instamanagers/

Enhanced Distribution Package for InstaManagers from Sumo Apartments + Villas

joel@bookt.com

We have been working with distribution partner Graham Milligan and his Sumo team since April of this year and quite a few InstaManagers are listing their properties on www.sumoapartments.com. Always looking to do more for InstaManagers, the enhanced Sumo distribution package now includes “destination marketing” articles on the site with links directly to your properties, and a heightened focus on social media.

Remember, it’s completely FREE for InstaManagers to list with Sumo. They will work with you on a pay-for-performance commission basis so you only pay for your booking success. We have made integration easy, and Bookt will integrate properties and calendars free of charge.

Want to learn more about placing your properties on www.sumoapartments.com and how yours can be a featured destination on the site? Connect directly with Graham via email: graham@sumoapartments.com to get the ball rolling.

About Sumo Apartments + Villas
Sumo provides affluent travelers direct access to superior vacation and corporate re-location properties around the globe via their site www.sumoapartments.com. Sumo prides itself on providing guests with quality lifestyle accommodations, instant online bookings, and exceptional customer service throughout their stay.

InstaManager Interview: Medellin Colombia is Maravilloso Market for Tourism and Vacation Rentals. Muy Bueno!

joel@bookt.com

September 26, 2012 – In a recent interview with InstaManager, Andrew Campion talked about his company and tourism in Medellin Colombia, the 4th largest country in South America.

Andrew Campion – you are an Australian living and working in South America. You founded The Apartment Medellin in 2005 as the first luxury apartment rental business in Medellin. You are also a real estate professional and like to specialize in the luxury side of the marketplace. Let’s start with a few questions about this city of yours where you chose to start your businesses…

Medellin has quite the reputation, especially here in the US. Tell us about the City today?
One of the first questions I always get asked by first time travelers to Medellin is about safety, especially in the early years when I began operation in 2006. Even 6 years ago Medellin was a safe city. The reputation of violence stems from the days of Pablo Escobar back in the 80’s and 90’s and is still glorified today in Hollywood so most people assume it’s still like that. The truth is that Medellin is as safe as any other city in the world and once our clients spend a few days here safety becomes the furthest thing from their minds.

What is it about Medellin that makes it a great place to travel to?
Medellin has always been a city to have fun in. It is known throughout Colombia, and now in the rest of the world for the friendliness of its people, the beauty of its women and the variety of entertainment that can be found in the city and surrounding towns. Colombia celebrates more public holidays than any country I have ever visited and there are several week long festivals throughout the year. Colombians definitely work to live, and not live to work!

I noticed that my discount carrier Spirit Airlines added Medellin out of their Ft Lauderdale Hub. Where do your target guests come from?
Around 80% of all our clients come from the US, and mostly from the east coast for geographical reasons. It’s just a few hours flight from Florida and a few more from New York. We have mostly targeted the foreign market because we created a product to suit the tastes of western travelers at a time where this service didn’t really exist.

How important is tourism to your business, and the projected growth of The Apartment Medellin?
Since 2006 I’ve seen massive changes to the city both in terms of infrastructure and tourism. There has been a 60% increase in tourism since 2006 and the numbers get bigger every year. We are really just experiencing the first wave of mainstream tourism now as the recent positive publicity about Colombia has slowly but surely put the country back of the travelers map for some people. There is still a long way to go before it is seen as a major travel destination but it has all the ingredients to be a big player in Latin American tourism in the future. The Apartment Medellin has grown as the demand has grown, and adapted as the market and laws have changed in this burgeoning industry. We are now preparing ourselves for the next 5 years which will see tourism and foreign investment explode.

You had numerous choices in picking a technology and marketing partner. What attributes were important to you?
Having spent many years building up the image and web presence of the company, one of the most important factors was a platform that made SEO as much of a priority as the other basic functions of the package. I was impressed at the functionality and ease with which this was integrated into the product.

Were there any specific features of the InstaManager product and platform that stood out in your decision process?
From a functionality standpoint, we had reached the point where we needed the online availability and booking capabilities to cut down on the manual labor required to handle every booking. This was the primary motivator as well as a simpler way to handle the onerous task of manually completing 45+ income statements every month. We looked at around half a dozen products and InstaManager was able to solve all of our major concerns as well as being able to provide a Multilanguage site.

What have been your results thus far and where do you see The Apartment Medellin going over the new few years?
The speed with which we can now respond to clients has been dramatically increased. In fact all inquiries are handled instantly through the website so instead of toiling away at emptying my inbox of 50-60 emails a day, we can now take half those bookings instantly and the others take half the time to convert into sales. This has freed up my time for more valuable tasks which help to grow the company. In the next few years we will be expanding into sales, commercial projects and perhaps replicating this success in other Colombian cities.

In terms of improvements or enhancements, what would you like our engineers in VR Labs to be working on that would help you meet your unique business goals?
The biggest improvement for me would be a better interface but I see that they are already working on that with upgrades just last week. I would also like to see the HTML interface made more user friendly for adding and editing the user designed pages and some functions added to the blogging section to have some of the features available in other blogging platforms.

Finally, do you have any specific advice or any sort of message you would like to give others in the global VR community -- perhaps about your experience, your company, and your market -- anything at all you would like to communicate via this interview?
So far my experience with the product, from the sales team, support and training, and the success team has been very positive. I’ve had all my questions answered quickly and effectively and I feel like the team is flexible enough to listen to suggestions and act on them. This makes me comfortable planning for the future of my business with InstaManager as it grows along with me.

Thank you Andrew! Thank you for your time today and for participating in the InstaManager Interview. Best wishes to you and the entire The Apartment Medellin Team and your continued Online Success!

Free Mobile Site for New InstaManagers with $1 Switch

joel@bookt.com

Bookt wants clients to succeed! To underscore the importance of a mobile device strategy to that success, all new InstaManagers get a 100% Free Mobile site with the $1 Switch.

Why is mobile even more important today?? Well, to quote from this meaningful study: http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/studies/what-users-want-most-from-mobile-sites-today/

Nearly 75% of users prefer a mobile-friendly site.
96% of consumers say they've encountered sites that were clearly not designed for mobile devices.
Mobile-friendly sites turn users into customers
67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they're more likely to buy a site's product or service
61% of users said that if they didn't find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site, they'd quickly move on to another site
48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that's not mobile-friendly
36% said they felt like they've wasted their time by visiting those sites
52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
48% said that if a site didn't work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn't care about their business

Mobile-friendly sites turn users into customers!

Learn more by connecting today: http://www.instamanager.com/OneDollarSwitch/

For InstaManager Client User Reviews, please visit http://instamanager.bookt.net/Instamanagers/

Data Liberation Launched for InstaManagers Worldwide – It’s Your Data!

joel@bookt.com

InstaManagers now compete on 6 Continents with vacation rentals in 79 Countries. Like Google and other principled firms, the engineers in VR Labs and Bookt management believe vacation rental managers should be able to – and it should be easy to – export their information from InstaManager when they want to. After all it is your data!

Bookt is proud to announce a brand new feature from VR Labs to do just that – called "Data Liberation".

Want to store a copy of your info on your own computer for marketing purposes? Want to download some Property or Booking data to redact then share with one of your partners for a specific task? Have you sold your business and are leaving Bookt and your buyer wants to take your data to a new service? Again, that is the purpose of Data Liberation and we strive to make it easy to accomplish. No one here will ever hold you hostage – and you know exactly what that means.

For more information about the data liberation concept, VR Labs suggest you visit: http://www.dataliberation.org/

For more information about the Global InstaManager Community and the $1 Switch for professional vacation rental managers, please Click Here.

For InstaManager User Reviews, please visit http://instamanager.bookt.net/Instamanagers/

4 Recent InstaManager User Reviews Tell Similar Story

joel@bookt.com

InstaManager is a featured Vacation Rental Software on Capterra’s online software directory. It felt good seeing the consistency to which InstaManagers viewed the product and experience with our company. Across the board, users remarked that the product was very good, easy to implement and use, that the feature set is rich and that Bookt provides great customer service.

Judge for yourself. Here are 4 recent InstaManager Reviews:

Review #1:
Very good product, meets my needs and on budget! Was easy to implement, is easy to use, very rich features, excellent customer support and definitely meets my needs.

Pros: This product offers a ton of features, some of which I am still learning, but my favorite is the CRM tool, so that when configured properly, all leads that come in will be saved in a database for follow-up. It is easy to simply check a box in order to set a follow-up date. I believe I have booked a few reservations that I wouldn't have, already in the past few months of using this, because of this feature. For my particular business, this is a wonderful software program. It is economical enough, the support is wonderful, it helps me keep in touch with my leads and customers fairly effectively--certainly better than I was doing without it, and overall it is an outstanding buy! Support responds promptly and is very accommodating to help whenever possible. Some services are available for additional, but they do work to keep the cost down and help you do it yourself to save money if you need to. I would highly recommend this company.

Cons: I would like to see a better email marketing program built in, but they are working on improvements on that. It is just limited on the amount of emails you can send at one time and features, but once they improve on that, it will be a nice feature to have integrated with the CRM tool. Set up was a problem for me, as I am a sole proprietor, I do not have a separate tech department, so I had to work around my already busy schedule to fine-tune property info, etc., I'm still not completely done, but the company does offer paid services to help if needed. They did import most of my information (including hundreds of properties complete with photos), which helped significantly. There are some bugs, but they are very quick to respond to any of my suggestions and help whenever needed.

Overall Recommendation: I highly recommend this company for their service. I researched a LOT of companies during a 2 month period, and I was very impressed at the features included for the price! There were a lot of expensive companies out there that had some pretty good tools, and there were some priced about the same as this one, including the one I was with prior to them, which offer much fewer tools. For example, other companies offered software to handle accounting/reservations, but not integrated with a CRM tool or website, others had the opposite, a good marketing website, but very limited on the back end reporting, this one had it all and a great follow-up tool that I love! Overall, I have been very satisfied with what I can do with this system, and I'm still learning more every day. I bet I haven't even tapped into half of what it has to offer, simply because I haven't taken the time to learn it! I expect an increase in sales this year with it and many more to come!

Sherri Chasse of www.floridaparadisevillas.com

Review #2
InstaManager does great for SunPeak Vacations! Easy to implement, easy to use, feature rich, great customer support and absolutely meets our needs.

Pros: Automated Features Increases Efficiency - inquiries entered automatically into system, email responses sent to guests automatically, editable email templates, review requests sent out automatically. InstaManager integration with property inventory is great for broadening advertising horizons beyond the standard vacation rental websites. Accounting system integrated into software helps eliminate bookkeeping tasks typically done in separate software. Convenient "tape chart" feature for checking availability quickly. Easy to use CRM system for tracking inquiries effectively. Easily edit website content inside software.

Cons: Slight delay in set-up process due to some features not communicated properly

Overall Recommendation: InstaManager's software package has all the features needed for professionals in the vacation rental industry. The software allows for many day-to-day tasks to be automated allowing time for our company to grow our business and offer more services to our clients & guests. We have been very pleased with the ease of use and the full integration of website, CRM, booking engine, guest management and accounting functions all integrated into one platform. The people at InstaManager are also enjoyable and great to work with!

Debbie Testa of www.sunpeakvacations.com

Review #3:
Bookt gave us the tech support to grow! InstaManager is easy to implement and use, great features and customer support, and meets our needs.

Pros: Good response times from the support team; System which complies to most international regulations example PCI; Good booking management system, with easy to learn features which helps when training new staff; Good lead management system that helps organize leads in the team; Excellent data management capabilities and reporting which is very important for us as we have over 200 buildings on our portal; System updates every few weeks which new features and fixes to any existing issues.

Cons: Some international features were tricky for us to use; Some system functions in the back end may need fixing every now and then but the support team are always quickly on to it.

Overall Recommendation: A great cloud based property management solution with a knowledgeable support team which makes a reliable technology partner to have in the vacation apartment rental business.

Gavin Pereira of www.check-in-london.com

Review #4:
InstaManager the #1 Vacation Rental Solution! Rich features, great customer support, easy to use, easy to implement, and meets the needs of Mansion Getaways.

Pros: Its ease of use even for those that are Dummies is amazing. Very ease to implement and add properties with a snapshot view of all information.

Cons: None yet.

Overall Recommendation: I've tried and used Live Rez and what an upgrade InstaManager is. Easier to use. You get speak to a person at Bookt and feel like a prospect all the time. This in contrast to Live Rez where as soon as I paid- I was a customer with terrible responses and barely ever had a return call. Cheers to the Bookt Team!

Marc Cohen of www.mansiongetaways.com

There are pros and cons to every vacation rental software. At Bookt, we love working with savvy vacation rental managers throughout the globe. And yes, there are problems and glitches -- they happen here every day. I think you would agree, it is how your vacation rental software company reacts when there are glitches. Keep that in mind when you read the pros, the cons and the overall review of InstaManager Vacation Rental Software. Please connect with us today if you wish to learn more about InstaManager and the $1 Switch.

Greater Options for Vacation Rental Managers with Per-Room Pricing from VR Labs

joel@bookt.com

Before speaking to what the VR Labs engineers have come up with in terms of Per-Room Pricing, let’s think first about the realm of Yield Management.

In lodging, the core concept of yield management is to provide the right service to the right customer at the right time for the right price. Both art and science, yield management incorporates various data points and strategies that ultimately enable savvy lodging managers to realize optimum revenue from individual units and across entire operations.

VR Labs has developed Per-Room Pricing to give InstaManagers a new capability – the ability to adjust and quote “rate” based on a new variable… number of bedrooms utilized. This pricing approach is very relevant for many property managers; in the Caribbean, for example, it is a common practice when renting luxury villas.

In a practical sense, InstaManagers will make Per-Room Pricing decisions based on local market conditions, competition, the calendar, demand, the clock, the property owner’s goals, other available inventory, etc. In addition to this “win” for the Property Manager, Guests “win” because this expands the inventory they can choose from, and Property Owners “win” by getting access to additional bookings based on optimum revenue and yield.

NOTE: It is important to differentiate Per-Room Pricing vs. lock-offs. An example of a lock-off is a 3-bedroom condo unit that can be rented as three 1-bedroom units, a 2-bedroom and a 1-bedroom unit, or a 3-bedroom unit. The system calculates rates based on the lock-off configuration of the unit. InstaManager also supports this. A lock-off allows you to use all unused units that make up the lock-off property. Per-Room Pricing assumes that any unused rooms are left empty.

Want to learn more about VR Labs, Lock-Offs, Per-Room pricing and other Yield Management tools? Contact info@bookt.com and we will follow-up right away.

Vacation Rental "Shoulder Season" -- Are you ready???

joel@bookt.com

As the summer begins to wind down here in North America, Shoulder Season draws near for many professional vacation rental managers. Because so many travel shoppers are starting to think, search and book their shoulder vacations now, just wanted to highlight how the InstaManager Solution’s integrated “Special’s Engine” makes it easy to create and post special offers and packages with a couple of clicks to attract this group demographic of traveler.

The key to success with our integrated “Special’s Engine” is flexibility – designing the tool so you may use your unique knowledge about your target guests and inspire them to stop searching, and click-through to book online with you right now.

Deserves repeating…

Inspire them to stop searching, and click-through to book online with you right now.

InstaManager’s around the globe wanted a Special’s Engine that could create offers using a number of different variables to meet both the consumer’s needs as well as your revenue management goals. So we developed a Special’s Engine where you can create a variety of special targeted offers based on variables like…

Easily control whether your “offer” applies to all or just selected listings and automatically respects your certain blackout dates.
Effective Date: When the special is starts, as in … you can check in on that day or after.
Expiration Date: When the special ends, as in … the last day your reservation can check out on.
Cutoff Date: The date you must make your reservation by, as in … you must book your stay prior to mm/dd/yyyy to take advantage of this special.
Min Condition Value: Make an offer tied into a minimum nights of stay required to take advantage of the special.
Amount: Used when the discounted value is a flat dollar discount.
Percentage: Used when the discount is a percentage of the total booking.
Coupon Code: The code can be applied by the guest at the time of the online reservation in order to apply the discount.
Show on site: In some cases you may want to create a special but hide it from public view. This may be the case for past guests or if you are working with travel agents or other affiliates and want to give them a private coupon code to offer guest prospects for a discount.
Plus, InstaManagers wanted the tool to measure ROI with your various lead sources; this allows you to track your promotions on the lead screens.
And perhaps most important – be able to Merchandise on your site, with automated emails and via social media and mobile with great content and images – that’s what sizzles and sells!

Does your online Booking Engine have this flexible functionality? InstaManager’s do. And, whether your shoulder season starts soon or in another period, we would be pleased to show it to you – just get in touch and we can show you how it can work for your vacation rental business at info@bookt.com.

Who has Booked 1,667,114+ Global Vacation Rental Nights? InstaManagers Around the World!

joel@bookt.com

If you visit the InstaManager Home Page you will see that we are now publishing a "real-time" measure of Vacation Rental Nights booked by guests of our clients. That number is -- or rather was -- 1,667,114 when I began typing this posting. It has already grown, since.

For our InstaManagers across the globe, bookings of their vacation rentals are the #1 data-point in measuring online success, so we track it and drill-down into it to better understand it and help increase it, working with our customers.

Here is another page you should visit -- this one tracks the Global Reach of InstaManagers and I visit this page several times a day to watch the traffic and where it is coming from, again -- in real time. It is great to see the number of pages being reviewed. Try it!

Okay, we are now up to 1,667,173 Vacation Rental Nights Booked (or Bookt as we say here) and that number will surely have grown by the time you visit www.instamanager.com.

Learn More Here About Vacation Rental Software That Matters and the $1 Switch!

Location-Location-Location is HUGE for Vacation Rentals

joel@bookt.com

Real estate is not the only business where location is everything. Just go to Orbitz, Hotels.com or Expedia and begin to book a hotel and you will see that the first thing each of their searches ask is “WHERE” as in what is the address or attraction you want to be near? For both business and leisure travel, consumer studies show that the most critical values to the lodging shopper are Location, Experience (Guest Reviews or Past Personal Experience), and Price. And since “location” is so important to our customer’s customer, we are pleased to announce the latest feature improvements coming out of VR Labs are all about location. Why? Because location is HUGE for Vacation Rentals.

Specifically, our engineers have been making some big changes to how properties, developments, and other items with locations are entered. To help simplify things, we now use Google’s geo-coding in real-time while you are filling in an address which means that you start typing in the address and, presto ... select from the auto-complete dropdown list in the system. How is that for a time saver and accuracy assurance! Need to vary what comes from Google? No worries! Any modifications to Google’s version of the address may be made by clicking on “More” to expand the address entry form.

For clients with sites with a wide geographical focus, or sites utilizing our Geo-targeting and Location Landing Pages, VR Labs has launched new features to strengthen and improve Market Area generation and overall quality of Location-based search results.

How does all of the above impact the consumer? Improved Satisfaction ... due to enhanced search performance, and increased detail and accuracy of maps and distance calculations to all of the local activities, attractions, shopping venues, restaurants, etc. People are not just booking a room – they are booking access to an entire vacation experience. Location accuracy matters!

Property Managers, Agencies and OTAs focused on the VR industry have one viable choice if they are looking for innovation in this industry: InstaManager. If you would like to learn more about how the expanded geo-targeting can help deliver more bookings to your Vacation Rental Company, please connect with us today via info@instamanager.com or REGISTER HERE TODAY.

As always, many thanks to our VR Labs for continual improvements and expansion of the InstaManager feature set. BRAVO!

What's the benefit of having a lodging website in a foreign language?

joel@bookt.com

A multilingual website will continue to be a competitive advantage and may become a necessity for lodging companies as global travel continues to explode. For professional vacation rental managers who wish to get that competitive advantage, a multilingual website now presents one of the most high impact ways to expand your guest pool and grow your bookings.

What are the benefits of going global?

It is Cost Effective. You have already invested in your online brand and website. Having the ability to communicate to a whole new international audience in their own language will yield financial results as well as give your brand a serious boost and international outlook.

New Customers. Image is everything! Adding a new language makes your site and listings accessible to thousands of travel shoppers across the globe. Since your competitors are probably not thinking globally yet, you will standout and capture the international travel shoppers’ attention while others stand tongue-tied, watching you grow.

Trust and Customer-Centricity. A multilingual website shows that you are thinking about the guest. That extra effort shows you have thought and cared enough to offer them information in their language. If the customer thinks you care, they will want to do business with you. And TRUST you. Offering a language alternative lets shoppers feel secure in the fact they know what they are buying, how and from whom.

Search Engines. Having your site available in other languages ensures maximum potential for your site being picked up in searches. Search engines lead people to your site. The native search engines are proving successful because they work in native languages and are focused on the habits and needs of their users.

Trend Data. As mentioned on our InstaManager Global section, a major study by the European Commission in 2011 revealed that 9 in 10 Internet users in the EU said that, when given a choice of languages, they always visited a website in their own language. Add to that, in the same study, that 42% would "never" and 38% only "occasionally" would ever search for or buy items like travel from sites that were not in their native language.

Is any/all of the above compelling? Would you like to learn more? Please connect with us at info@bookt.com to see what multiple languages can do for you and your vacation rental brand.

Update to Vacation Rental Mobile Web Case Study -- Use Continues to Soar!

joel@bookt.com

In January 2012 InstaManager launched Mobile Web because Vacation Rental bookings are moving to this channel faster than ever before. And, in February, we made the Mobile Mini-Case Study available -- a fast read with real-world data.

UPDATE: Mobile Usage Continues to Soar!

How do we know? Bookt uses very sophisticated tracking of all site traffic for our hundreds of InstaManager sites. From being a little over 10% late last year, we now detect that close to 20% of all traffic is from mobile devices. And this is right in line with trend and prediction data for the travel and lodging industry.

Do you have the right tools to meet the unique needs of the mobile travel shopper? Now more than ever, you need them. Be an early adopter and beat your competition to the punch! And, Global InstaManager's can take advantage of 3 Free Months of Mobile Service -- a free trial offer. [Learn More in your Control Panel > System > Optional Services > "Mobile Optimized Website - Try Free for 3 Months"] -- offer ends soon!

As we say at InstaManager, Software + Marketing = Vacation Rental Success! Have you heard about the $1 Switch?

InstaManager iCal Sync Enhanced and Expanded

joel@bookt.com

iCalendar, often called iCal, is a standard internet calendar format that helps web developers create and share electronic calendars across different travel sites. Big News! The engineers in our VR Labs have just enhanced and expanded the InstaManager iCal capability to now allow Vacation Rental Managers to both feed availability information to other travel websites and portals as well as accept this information from other travel websites and portals. Examples of sites that use the iCal format are AirBnB, Wimdu and HomeAway Connect.

If you would like to learn more about how the expanded InstaManager iCal sync can help deliver more bookings to your Vacation Rental Company, please connect with us today via info@instamanager.com or REGISTER HERE TODAY!

InstaManager Now with Support for PayPal Payments Pro

joel@bookt.com

PayPal Payments Pro is a very customizable solution and lets you accept both credit cards and PayPal payments directly on your website. While it performs the same as other credit card processors, you can both collect and refund payments through the control panel.

Learn more, including their cost info, at PayPal Payments Pro.

Many thanks to the geeks in InstaManager’s VR Labs for Support for PayPal Payments Pro!

InstaManager Interview: Vacation Rentals Get Professional in Emerging Brazil!

joel@bookt.com

May 3, 2012 – In a recent interview with InstaManager, Mario Galvao talked about his company and tourism in Brazil.

Mario Galvao, you are the founder and CEO of GoHouse -- a marketing savvy Vacation Rental brand focused on revolutionizing and leading the Vacation Rental marketplace in Brazil. Today, your country is currently the 5th or 6th leading world economy and about to take center stage as Brazil plays host to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and of course the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

What is it about Brazil that makes it a great place for the world to travel to??
Mario Galvao: We have it all. The sun and amazing world renowned beaches. Sports. Culture. Adventure and Eco tourism. The strongest companies and business markets throughout South America. We are emerging on the world stage and more and more people are traveling to Brazil for both business and leisure and it is an exciting time to be a part of it.

How important is tourism to your business, and the projected growth of GoHouse?
Mario Galvao: We have studied this industry since 2010 and looked at many lodging markets, especially in Europe, how vacation rentals have a huge market share. Business and tourism is booming here in Brazil. The largest travel agency here for example is growing by over 25% a year. We saw a great opportunity for a professional vacation rental management company – really a first here in Brazil. We see ourselves at a market maker and have hired the professional staff to make that so.

As a relative new comer to the VR industry (you had a prestigious career in Investment Banking prior), what do you love about the VR industry? What don’t you love and want to change?
Mario Galvao: With my background I have always looked for the unseen opportunity. The untapped market in which to be the first mover. As I said, we studied the global growth trend in holiday rentals vs. hotel rooms and identified that there were no professional management companies yet in Brazil. That’s what we aim to change and that’s how we will become the market leader. That and the right people which is another area of major focus.

You had numerous choices in picking a technology and marketing partner. What attributes were important to you?
Mario Galvao: Internet focus. Looking for a company already in the cloud. Also, we were looking for a partner that would keep improving the system and what they had to offer. Someone we could grow with.

Were there any specific features of the InstaManager product and platform that stood out in your decision process??
Mario Galvao: Absolutely. The international features are critical for us. We also looked for a lead management system that would help us with our productivity here. That really sold us because after all the companies we spoke to, only InstaManager had this feature.

What have been your results thus far and where do you see GoHouse going over the new few years?
Mario Galvao: We started here in Rio de Janeiro and have already made key inroads here, with over 50 bookings per month, and adding 5 new property listings per week. Our goal is to become the largest vacation rental company in Brazil within the next three years, achieving 700 properties. In the next phase we will expand to 5 more cities around the country. That is one of the exciting aspects in Brazil – that Rio is only of many great tourist centers throughout the country.

In terms of improvements or enhancements, what would you like our engineers in VR Labs to be working on that would help you meet your unique business goals?
Mario Galvao: To help us find a way to integrate with a better credit card processor here in Brazil so we can go beyond PayPal. We also wish for a more advanced “blogging” technology with some of the additional features like in WordPress that we’re used to, which I think will help us even more with SEO organics.

Finally, do you have any specific advice or any sort of message you would like to give others in the global VR community -- perhaps about your experience, your company, your market -- anything at all you would like to communicate via this interview?
Mario Galvao: Yes, I am glad you asked this question. First, I would like to invite other vacation rental managers from around the world to come to Brazil and see firsthand what an amazing place this is for travel. Just call me or email me at mario.galvao@gohouse.com.br and I will personally handle your booking here. Also, the same holds true for your clients who are coming for the World Cup and Olympics. We are open to creating win-win type partnerships with you so please connect with me to discuss ideas. Finally, we want this type of connection with our peers around the globe as we know we have a lot to learn here and I will answer any call or email personally so please connect at any time.

Thank you Mario! Thank you for your time today and for participating in the InstaManager Interview. Best wishes to you and the entire GoHouse Team on your continued Online Success!

Two New Time-Savings Capabilities for InstaManagers Worldwide

joel@bookt.com

The engineers in VR Labs live by the saying, “I must govern the clock, not be governed by it” for the functionality they build for their own use and especially for the new features built to assist our customers.

Is the reason for our huge focus on saving time obvious? Probably. But let us state it for the record. InstaManagers are the hardest working people in the vacation rental industry. If they have “extra time” they do not spend it on the golf course or reading a good book at the beach. Extra time means more to spend on guest satisfaction and sales; more to spend on staff training and email marketing; more to spend on creating new revenue opportunities.

Here’s what just came out of VR Labs that helps our growing network of InstaManagers across the globe govern the clock in their vr business:

1) Email Payment Reminders: An option for “Email Payment Reminder” has been added to the email action button on Booking Detail screens in the control panel. Using this option will send a payment reminder to your guests with a link for them to visit your website and process a payment for the amount currently due.
2) Combined Owner Statement Report: A new report titled “Owner Statements (All Owners)” has been added. This report can be run for all owners at once in order to help save time during month-end accounting processes. It contains similar content to the existing Owner Statement report for single owners, and may be run for all owners simultaneously or for one owner at a time.

Two New Time-Savings Capabilities for InstaManagers Worldwide? Yes – and all in a day’s work for the geeks back at the lab. :)

Lock-off Support Now Available for InstaManagers Worldwide!

joel@bookt.com

Not all vacation rental managers have “lock-off” units but many do, especially in resort type locations*. Example of a lock-off? A 2-Bedroom Lock-off Villa can be the combining of a one bedroom and a studio with a connecting door between the two units. Depending on reservations, the VRM can rent the studio and the one bedroom separately or combined – a very flexible use of inventory and revenue management.

We are pleased to announce that lock-off support is now available to InstaManagers in “beta” and that this is another great product of VR Labs. Please contact support@bookt.com if you are a client and want to learn more, contact sales@bookt.com if you want to become an InstaManager and learn more about the $1 Switch.

*Note: In the above type of resort property, you might hear the term “dedicated” two bedroom. This means that there is no lock-off potential for that unit, it is strictly a 2BDR.

InstaManagers to Get Big Benefits from Big Data.

joel@bookt.com

InstaManagers worldwide profit from all of the new and practical tools developed for them in our VR Labs. We just announced a biggie – and this one has to do with “Big Data” and the big impact it will have on their success and competitive advantage.

What is Big Data and why is it important? We asked that question to Vacation Rental Managers via LinkedIn and I am sure it is a new idea to most in the industry.

In a nutshell, Big Data is the term for the huge amounts of information coming in all the time, from a variety of sources which can be collected, processed and analyzed on an ongoing basis for the benefit – in the travel market – of both the buyer and seller of lodging. A true thought leader from Columbia University has joined us to help in this effort. Please see the Press Release in Software Industry Today or the announcement on the Bookt Blog.

Welcome Dr. Tony Jebara to Bookt/InstaManager!

What Year Is It At Your Vacation Rental Business?

joel@bookt.com

Let’s face it, in today’s super-connected world, successfully marketing your vacation rentals online requires more than it used to, like just driving traffic to your website and smart SEO. You cannot sell the same if people are not shopping the same.

Given the way 2012 would-be guests shop for travel online today you need to make it easy for them to explore your destination and listings in multiple languages, connect with you on social media, and access your listings seamlessly on their smartphone browsers. You really do. The mobile, global and social travel buyer is here today and here to stay. And the dominant forces shaping the evolution of many industries, including travel. Perhaps especially travel. Again – you can’t sell your vacation rental inventory the same way if people are shopping for it in new ways. Through all the stages of travel shopping. Day dreaming, comparing, booking, sharing. If your marketing is missing global, social media or mobile, you are missing out on opportunities to attract and convert more and more guests, and ceding them to a forward thinking competitor.

You guessed it. InstaManager is full of global, social and mobile features. Our clients demand it. And demand that we stay one step ahead and have the future covered as well.

What year are InstaManagers ready to conquer? This one. And the one after that.

InstaManagers Client Rewards

joel@bookt.com

If you take a look at what InstaManagers actually say about their experience joining and being an InstaManager, you see how rewarding they feel it is to make the $1 Switch. With so many new InstaManagers joining every month and the growth-rate accelerating, current clients are benefitting in another way in what we call the Client Rewards Program.

Here is how it works:

TESTIMONIAL REWARDS: Provide a short testimonial that we can use in our marketing material and receive a $50 Reward Credit towards your Monthly Services.
REFERENCE REWARDS: Then, if we call on you to provide a “Reference” for a new client during the Sales Process, and a sale results, you will earn a $100 Reward Credit towards your Monthly Services.
REFERRAL REWARDS: If you refer another lodging manager and they purchase a new lodging solution within six months of your referral, you will reap the rewards!
- A sale with collected setup fees of less than $5000 = $250 Reward Credit towards your Monthly Services.
- A sale with collected setup fees of over $5000 = $500 Reward Credit towards your Monthly Services.

Here is how to Get Started:

Send us an email to clientrewards@bookt.com
Include your “testimonial” – please feel free to comment about your satisfaction with your solution and website, feedback you have received, our service levels, and your results. Take as much space as you need. Thank you! Please feel free to add suggestions, things that could be improved and other feedback separate from your actual testimonial. All feedback is welcome and reviewed!

For clients who wish to refer another lodging manager, email us with their name, email, phone number and url (if they have one). Send as many “referrals” as you would like! We will track each referral and will let you know when a deal closes.

That’s it! When you are ready, please email us at clientrewards@bookt.com and we will follow-up with you right away! We love issuing credits for Client Rewards!

Thank you for your support as we work together for mutual Online Success.

MarketWatch Release: Smart Response Advanced Lead Processing to Drive More Vacation Rental Bookings

joel@bookt.com

Here is a reprint of the entire release. If you wish to visit MarketWatch, click here.

Release follows:

Bookt Adds "Smart Response" to InstaManager(TM) FLEX
Smart Response Advanced Lead Processing to Drive More Vacation Rental Bookings

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Mar 8, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Bookt LLC, a pioneer in cloud-based technology solutions for the lodging industry, has announced that all current and new InstaManagers will get Smart Response Advanced Lead Processing as part of the latest free platform upgrade.

"Almost all travelers are comparison shoppers today," said Rob Käll, CEO of Bookt. "They tend to make inquiries -- what we think of as leads -- on multiple sites, looking for the best deal and value. With our cutting edge Smart Response technology, these inquiries can get answered immediately, 24/7 -- all automatically generated with the deep information travelers crave and the tools and tracking Vacation Rental Managers need. This Smart Response innovation allows InstaManagers to convert more leads with a lot less work."

Smart Response has been integrated into the InstaManager CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System which automatically consolidates leads coming in from all sources. It is also tied to the InstaManager Reservation System. This not only makes instant responses possible but also provides the ability to track and measure sales, marketing and ROI down to the campaign and agent level. "This is a real-world practical breakthrough," said Käll. "Lead consolidation combined with automation, online bookings and metrics give our clients a competitive edge."

InstaManager FLEX is a revolutionary product combining powerful vacation rental manager software with tailored marketing distribution through FlipKey and TripAdvisor, with pricing starting at $1 with additional fees tied exclusively to a client's booking success. Since 2007, Bookt has successfully served a fast growing global network of vacation rental managers. With the introduction of InstaManager FLEX and continual rollout of new features like Smart Response coming out of the company's R&D Program -- called VR Labs, Bookt is experiencing accelerated growth and rising market prominence. Learn more at: instamanager.com.

About Bookt

Bookt is a leader in cloud based solutions for vacation rental managers, hoteliers, innkeepers, and larger travel organizations in the lodging industry since 2007. Bookt's software and integrated marketing services make lodging companies more effective with activities that directly drive their revenue, manage resources, and provide business control. Our flagship product, InstaManager, is delivered in partnership with TripAdvisor targeting the $85B Vacation Rental Industry. Sophisticated PMS, CRS, CRM, CMS, distribution and back-office functionality is delivered through the cloud to customers in over 32 countries on 6 continents. Learn more at: www.bookt.com.

The Bookt LLC logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11911

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Bookt LLC

Leisure and Business Travelers “Shopping” Now More Than Ever – Lessons for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

According to Pegasus Solutions (a leading Hotel and Travel Agency Technology and Services Company) – both business and leisure travelers are seriously shopping-shopping-shopping these days before they book.

Based on what Pegasus calls the look-to-book ratio, in January 2012 a new high was reached with 4,500 availability and information requests for every one booking made.

While this data is specific to hotels, it is fair to reckon that this trend is the same in other lodging categories, including vacation rentals.

Please take two minutes to read the Pegasus press release: “Global Business and Leisure Hotel Rates Continue Climb” as it contains additional data useful to vacation rental managers. Also, go back to this site once a month to scan for interesting articles and insights.

So what can a savvy Vacation Rental Manager do with this information?

First, make sure that your own site makes it easy to get a quick quote, but also uses “smart” lead capture requests that encourage engagement. For example, how long does it take when someone makes an inquiry on a 3rd party site you use? “Smart Response” Advanced Lead Processing, a unique technology available to InstaManagers, will respond with a full quote and/or alternative properties. And, because this functionality is really smart, the activities of the traveler are then tracked, for example: Did they click through to your site? Did they forward the email? This behavior is called the digital footprint and can be very revealing.

If you are unable to make the customer convert online by themselves, perhaps you should offer a 10% off special in an email. Yes? “Smart Response” has a special email that can follow with your special offer and all the special attractions and activities popular in your area.

Price is and always will be an important factor in why guests will choose you over the competition. But as this data alludes to, it may be more about the right offering, price parity and value – ideas we love to discuss with savvy vacation rental property managers and do every day at InstaManager and Bookt.

Now Available -- Mobile Web Case Study for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

Because Vacation Rental Bookings are moving to Mobile faster than ever before, InstaManager launched Mobile Web in January of this year.

If you need convincing about creating a mobile website for your vacation rental business, please download the free Mini-Case Study – it is a fast read and has real-world data for your review.

Want more info about InstaManager Mobile? Click Here NOW.

Finally, while we have your attention... Mobile goes hand-in-hand with Global. Check out this recent Press Release from Bookt on the launch of InstaManager Multilingual to address the needs of the Global Travel Market for vacation rentals.

Thank you!

As we say at InstaManager, Software + Marketing = Vacation Rental Success! Have you heard about the $1 Switch?

Using Free Reports to Sell Your Vacation Rental Property Management Services

joel@bookt.com

New York Habitat specializes in corporate apartments and vacation rentals in New York, London, Paris and the South of France. This week while reading their “Paris Furnished Apartment Market Report: 1st Half 2011” I found myself thinking that if I owned a Paris Apartment to rent, I would definitely consider listing with them and they would be at the very top of my list.

Why? Because it was not someone just saying that they were experts on the Paris Rental scene (in fact, they do not say it) – they show it.

The title of this article is a bit misleading. Yes, offering free useful reports is a great way to connect with your target audience and has been forever. In my humble opinion, what the people at New York Habitat have done is take this up many notches in sophistication. It is more than just a free report. The data and value is unique and makes them stand out. It is uber professional and probably gives them an edge when talking to property owners. I also think that understanding the data and its meaning also makes them more successful with renters.

Bookt is also leveraging our information management technologies to collect and analyze large quantities of data regarding the vacation rental business. And we are beginning to use it more and more to help our clients and we will be talking about it more and more in the near future.

For now, checkout some of our free quizzes and reports; join us in saying BRAVO to New York Habitat; and for our InstaManagers out there, start thinking about what kind of report you could write that would make you standout in your market area – one that would translate into new clients. If you want to bounce around some ideas with another marketeer, please email me at joel@book.com and let’s have a chat.

Does “Support” Matter for Vacation Rental Software & Marketing Providers?

joel@bookt.com

InstaManager is thoughtfully designed in order to be intuitive to the professional vacation rental property manager and his/her staff and to work correctly all day, every day. You're welcome! …But now let’s talk about the real world.

In the real world, things break. In the real world, people have questions and staff turnover. That is why “Support” is such a critical issue for our InstaManagers and why we provide unlimited email and telephone support plus unlimited access to our interactive training courses. And there are no extra charges for this because we believe that how well we support our customers will be what differentiates us from our costly competitors and will power our continued growth.

And, if you think about it, we are actually being selfish. We like being known as a company with friendly and knowledgeable support staff. And it is in our selfish interest to have created a system where all support issues are logged and ticketed so they can be handled quickly and managed professionally -- which we have done.

Another example of self-centeredness on our part is comprehensive online help documentation accessed through the control panel so that our InstaManagers can get answers on their own in real-time meaning there will be fewer calls and tickets to for Support to have to handle. Wink-wink... Same with unlimited access to our focused training sessions as the more and better trained InstaManagers are, the fewer the questions. ;)

So – does support matter for Vacation Rental Software & Marketing Providers? Don't overlook this common mistake! Evaluating the actual company supporting you is just as important as the Vacation Rental software!

What do you think?

Vacation Rentals during London Olympics

rob@bookt.com

I just read an article reporting that there is a home for rent in London during the Olympics for a record 433,000 pounds ($678,400) per month. (Link to article.) Sounds like a great place but the price is bollocks.

I asked our client Gavin Pereira, Managing Director at Check-in-London.com – what he is seeing at the source. According to Gavin…

"The Olympics 2012 will put London in the spotlight this summer and bring with it a huge influx of people who will require accommodation across the Capital while they are participating, supporting or coming to watch the highly anticipated games.

After its successful bid in 2005, the city has been gearing itself for the expected surge in visitors by increasing its infrastructure and undertaking new projects for constructing sports centres and stadiums and introducing more transport links. We have also seen a significant increase in the number of new hotels and serviced apartments hoping to launch their product at a time when all eyes will be on London.

While most accommodation providers, feel this is the time to charge customers a premium for their stay (like any other peak season or event dates in major cities), some have not found it easy to secure advance bookings at these higher rates (up to 40% higher and non-refundable in some cases).

The release of about 120,000 rooms back into the market by LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) a couple weeks back has further encouraged accommodation providers in London to make more inventory available at reasonable prices for stays during the games.

Check-in-London has been successful in placing its Olympic bookings at properties that offer good value and quality apartments and predicts that well priced accommodation will shine during this season."

Thank you Gavin. Interesting. I know that Check-in-London.com has availability during the London Games and you can check out their Special Offers Here.

It is great to speak to an expert in serviced apartments in London during the Olympics. Many Bookt clients have local events that they can build a great promotional offer around using the easy to use tools in the Bookt Platform.

Best wishes to all. Let the games begin!

International Tourism to Reach 1 Billion in 2012

joel@bookt.com

Yesterday we officially launched InstaManager™ Multilingual and today, the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (part of the UN) whose name is Taleb Rifani blogged that in 2012, for the first time, one billion will travel internationally (meaning outside their own borders) this year.

Coincidence? I do not think so. We officially launch InstaManager Multilingual and then1 out of every 7 people on the planet decides to become an international tourist. I think these two are definitely related.

I hope you take the time to read Taleb Rifani’s entire blog post because it really talks about the impact that tourism has on the entire world’s economy. I especially liked his President Obama quote: "The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It's that simple."

Here is a link to the blog post as well as a link to InstaManager Multilingual press release.

Coincidence?

InstaManager is now Multilingual

joel@bookt.com

Travel is Global and so is InstaManager!

Read this Press Release on Bookt.com.

The Importance of Guest Reviews for Vacation Rental Websites

joel@bookt.com

I am in the midst of planning a road trip in Northern Europe in May which will require lodging in 5 locales over a 16-day period. This planning task again reminds me of the importance of Guest Reviews for Vacation Rental Websites as I am now doing my own research on FlipKey, TripAdvisor and Booking.com to plan and book this trip.

I have never been to most of the places we will be staying and I am struck by how important reading about other people’s experience is to my process. In fact, I would say that reputation and price have meant “everything” to my process, and it makes me appreciate the InstaManager™ FLEX product even more.

InstaManager FLEX combines FlipKey reviews and marketing (all integrated and automatic) with all of the other terrific InstaManager features and software. Want to see an example in action? Click on the “Reviews” tab on this condo -- who would not be interested in staying here?

I know that FlipKey and TripAdvisor take pains to make sure that reviews are “real” and unbiased. That is one reason why our global InstaManagers have the reputation management functionality to respond to a guest’s review and comments. There will be problems and glitches from time-to-time. It is more important on how and how fast the Property Manager responds.

There are hundreds of features and integrated functionality within InstaManager FLEX. I cannot think of one you can least do without than User Reviews from trusted partners like FlipKey and TripAdvisor.

For more insight into Reputation Management, check out this article written by our CEO, Rob Käll.

Knowledge, Tools and Tips for Vacation Rental Booking Conversion

joel@bookt.com

Having lots and lots of aggregate data from lots and lots of vacation rental managers is a real treasure trove for Bookt and our clients. Case and point, we recently did an aggregate analysis of our clients that are using the “Held Booking” feature in our software.

How many of your reservationists’ phone conversations end without a sale? What if they instead ended with something like this?

"Yes Ms. Jones, I understand that you need to think about this a little, but let me put this property, dates and rate on hold for you for 24 hours while you talk to your husband. I just need your name, email and phone to do this. In that way, no one else can book this unit and you are assured of all the details we discussed today. Plus, I will email you this quote in writing right away. Okay?"

So what are the outcomes of these held bookings? According to aggregate data for the last 4 months, 65% of the time that reservation will convert into a confirmed booking.

That is a powerful concept, isn't it? Are you using this approach it in your business? Do you have the tools to automate the processes? Do you have software solution partner who has the data and knowledge base to help you shape your online success?

Bookt clients, including our InstaManagers have these tools. Learn more at www.instamanager.com.

InstaManager Yield Management Enhancements!

joel@bookt.com

We consistently get feedback from our InstaManagers that they like that our software’s feature set is always growing as we continually refine and enhance the Bookt platform. Since many of these ideas come directly from our clients we say, “thank you and keep those ideas flowing!”

Based on these suggestions we have recently added to our Yield Management and Special’s Engine. Now it is fast and easy to create a Special Offer that automatically applies to any booking made online or through the Control Panel without the need for the guest or agent to enter a coupon code.

InstaManagers can create a wide variety of “rules” governing special offers like fixed or percentage discounts, free nights, special rates, minimums, cut-offs, blackouts and for specific properties – the Bookt Platform’s specials engine is very flexible. Now you can easily use the CMS tools to let travelers coming to your website know about last minute discounts, and then have them see those discounts being applied automatically when they receive a quote. Let’s face it – special offers create bookings, especially in competitive markets and off-season.

And speaking of a “special offer” for savvy vacation rental professionals interested in becoming an InstaManager, check out the $1 Switch! Remember -- Software & Marketing = Vacation Rental Success. Thank you for visiting www.instamanager.com.

Bookt LLC Announces Partnership Integration with FlipKey and TripAdvisor

joel@bookt.com

InstaManager™ FLEX is a Revolutionary New Product for the Vacation Rental Industry

HOLLYWOOD, FL, September 28, 2011 – Bookt LLC, a leader in cloud-based technology solutions for professional vacation rental managers, today announced their latest partnership integration with FlipKey and TripAdvisor. FlipKey is a leading vacation rental site, featuring the industry’s largest collection of verified and authentic guest reviews, and powers the vacation rental experience on TripAdvisor, the world’s largest online travel community with access to more than 50 million travelers monthly.

Bookt is launching InstaManager FLEX – a new, groundbreaking product that combines robust and powerful rental manager software with unique and tailored marketing distribution through FlipKey and TripAdvisor, all at an industry-leading price point for rental managers.

"We are very excited about the prospects for InstaManager FLEX and believe this offers rental managers a powerful and economic platform," said TJ Mahony, co-founder and CEO of FlipKey.com. "Bookt has created robust website and business management software and will now be able to offer integrated and flexible marketing options through FlipKey and TripAdvisor at economics that make sense and align with how professional managers run their businesses.”

“Initial feedback has been great,” says Bookt’s CEO Robert Käll. “Our goal was to introduce a fundamentally new and flexible solution that addresses every vacation rental manager’s operational and marketing needs.” InstaManager FLEX pricing begins at $1 with additional fees tied exclusively to a client’s booking success, which Käll noted, “makes it extremely easy and risk-free for property managers to upgrade to what is essentially a full e-commerce website and suite of back end property management software”. Since its founding in 2007, Bookt has successfully served a fast growing global network of vacation rental managers. With the introduction of InstaManager FLEX, Bookt anticipates accelerated growth and market prominence. To learn more visit www.instamanager.com.

About Bookt™
Bookt is a leader in cloud based services for the lodging industry. The company provides a complete range of services for vacation rental managers, hoteliers, innkeepers, and larger travel organizations. Sophisticated PMS, CRS, CRM, CMS, distribution and back-office functionality is delivered through the cloud to customers in 31 countries on 5 continents. Bookt also offers website & portal development, online marketing, Social Media and SEO services. Learn more at www.bookt.com.

About FlipKey™
FlipKey is a leading vacation rental service that makes booking a vacation home simple. Featuring over 100,000 vacation homes and the world’s largest collection of authentic vacation rental guest reviews, FlipKey ensures that consumers find their perfect vacation home with unique advantages of personal space and superior amenities in ideal locations throughout the world. FlipKey has been named a “Top Vacation Rental Site” by Travel + Leisure Magazine and was ranked one of the top 10 travel websites by the New York Post. FlipKey has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, MSNBC, SmartMoney, and the LA Times. FlipKey is majority owned by TripAdvisor, LLC, and exclusively powers vacation rentals on TripAdvisor, which attracts more than 25 million unique monthly visitors. Learn more at www.flipkey.com.

Search Engine Success – Are You in Control?

joel@bookt.com

SEO – What You Need to Know!

By: Sam Marks

Director of Success, Bookt LLC.

Search Engine Optimization is a topic on the mind of just about everyone these days, and if you are not thinking about it, now is a good time to start. In general, SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to rank better in the search engines, thus increasing traffic and the presence of your website in a given market. SEO is comprised of many variables, but generally grouped in two parts: Onsite optimization and Offsite optimization (link building). There are thousands of companies selling SEO services, but wouldn’t it be great to have the tools to be in control? In the past unless you were a web junky and had a deep understanding of html and programming skills, there was little you could do to optimize your web pages for search engine success.

With Bookt’s online lodging solutions, you can super-charge your onsite optimization with just a basic understanding of SEO. First, determine your keyword targets. What are you offering? Recognize the competition for this these keywords. Understand that “Vacation Rentals” is far more difficult to rank for than “Long Island Beach House Rentals”… and everything in between. Don’t shoot for the stars right away, work on longer tail keywords that are less competitive

What Web Page Content is Important to Optimize?

Now it is time to apply what you know. The next step is to understand what parts of a webpage resonate with the search engines. Aside from the content you clearly see on a webpage, here are some additional page attributes more specific to Search Engine Optimization

Page Title – The title of the page is seen at the top of your browser. This is arguably the most important page attribute to optimize

Page URL –The URL is also extremely important to write specifically.

Page Meta Keywords – These keywords read only by search engines, not users. They give the search engines and idea of what the page is about

Page Meta Description – a description of the page and it’s offering. This is seen in search engine listings as the description of the page/listing

Image Alt Tags – tells the search engines and users what an image is about

How to know what content should be optimized?

With hundreds or even thousands of web pages on your website, it is not feasible to manually fine-tune the content for every page. This is why it is so important to have smart, dynamic generation of this content automatically. Bookt’s platform dissects your business, lodging type, market area, specialties, and other important data and automatically creates these optimized pages for you! This allows you to start off with “smart defaults” that are already optimized. For your most important pages, the Bookt SEO Editor puts the fine tuning in your control, further optimizing these traffic driving pages.

Let’s take a look at an example. In this particular case, we are showing a popular category search page - “Vacation Cabins Near Gatlinburg”. With the SEO Editor, we can easily fine tune the page details to support this keyword.

Below you can see the corresponding changes SEO enhancements you have made. You are now in the driver seat, and racing toward more search engine success!

Selling Summer Vacations in January?

joel@bookt.com

In my last blog posting entitled "Lodging Managers - Are You Monitoring Your Competitors?" - I talked about the importance of consistently looking at how your adversaries are going to market. Case and point - see the HomeAway ad that came into my email box this morning. Know that all of the hyperlinks were "live" in the email; I have pasted-in the email as an image (so the links are not active).

Whether you are in the hotel business or manage vacation rentals, HomeAway is targeting your same prospects and their vacation-dollars. And they are a major force to be reckoned with - to be sure. At least once a week I receive the HomeAway mailing and I am always impressed with their keen marketing skills. Here they are now getting a jump on the competition and already starting their Summer blitz....

While it is still January, are you starting to think about Summer and getting a jump on your target marketing? Please consider doing so, and please start monitoring the competition.

Want to schedule a fast, no-obligation online meeting where we can discuss your seasonal marketing campaign planning? Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time to plan ahead and Get Bookt!

In Leisure Travel, do you sell the Steak or the Sizzle?

joel@bookt.com

Are you selling hotel rooms or couples getaways? Are you promoting you vacation rentals or your great accommodations for family reunions? Which should you sell? The product (steak) or the benefits (sizzle)?

In leisure travel, most people search for the steak – meaning your units, as in the following keyword phrases:
Orlando Vacation Rental
Palm Springs Resort
Lake Geneva Hotels

Once they get to your website, you need to create “empathy” – especially with visual images – that shows the sizzle. Families splashing in the pool. Couples holding hands walking the beach or dining under the stars. You want people to see themselves in these images so they know they are in the right place and should stop and look around (at your accommodations).

While most people search for the steak, many people also search for the sizzle, as in:
Ski In Ski Out Breckenridge
Orlando Rental near Disney
South Beach Oceanfront Condo

So there it is. In leisure travel you should be selling both your units as well as your benefits, advantages, differentiators in price, location, amenities and services.

Sell the steak and the sizzle. That’s what vacation shoppers are searching for.

Vacation Rental Managers Association on Facebook

joel@bookt.com

If you are a Vacation Rental Manager, you should be interested in Social Media marketing to help promote your properties and destination. Social Media can help you leverage the “soft sell” and build relationships with consumers who wish to engage on these emerging channels.

Leading by example is VRMA. This morning I received an alert to check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DiscoverVacationHomes

I immediately became a “Fan” – their 82nd, and I suggest that you consider the becoming one, too. At Bookt, we recommend that Lodging Managers get involved with Industry Groups. For Vacation Rental Managers, VRMA and Discover Vacation Homes are a terrific group to get involved with. Be sure to take a look at the Video and the Poll on this page, too.

I learned that November is designated as International Vacation Rental Awareness Month, quoting now...

As more people across North America seek ways to reconnect with family, friends and spouses – especially when on vacation - November 2009 has been designated as North America’s first-annual International Vacation Rental Awareness Month. For the first time, parents, grandparents, partners and best friends will have easy access to the tools, resources and inspiration to discover how to stay together on their next trip for less!

Here are a few ways to take advantage:

(1) VACATION RENTAL SPECIALS: Staying together will be made more affordable beginning in November, when http://www.DiscoverVacationHomes.com will list a huge amount of vacation rental travel specials across North America. Special rates and packages include a variety of multiple-bedroom vacation home, condo and villa rentals through the fall, winter, holiday and spring seasons, including regions from mountains to beaches, adventure hotspots to theme park capitals and everything in-between.

(2) TIPS AND INFORMATION: General topics and other resources will also be available online in November, including answers to frequently asked questions, debunking the top vacation rental myths, as well as planning tips, 10 secrets to saving on travel with vacation rentals vs. hotels, tips for choosing the right vacation rental and more.

A regional map will also allow you to connect for the first time with the most trusted vacation rental companies across Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and the United States.

(3) WAYS TO CONNECT ONLINE: Making it easier to ask questions, connect with other travelers, view and share travel photos and more, “Discover Vacation Homes” will answer questions about vacation rentals on Twitter when directed to @GoVacationHomes, including knowledgeable and personal responses by experts on the category. Facebook visitors can now post to a public discussion board, post past vacation rental reviews and browse and upload vacation rental images among other features.

Coming Soon from Bookt - More on Social Media Marketing for the Hospitality Industry - watch this space!!

Vacation Rentals for Family Reunion Vacations

joel@bookt.com

According to a recent VRMA Press Release, the “Family Reunion” is growing in popularity. Here are some of the stats:

23% of leisure travelers said it was the primary reason they were traveling during the past year;
this is an increase of 13% over 2008;
2.45 million family reunion travelers who took an overnight trip of at least 75 miles from home in 2008 indicated staying in a vacation rental.

Interesting stats! Is your Vacation Rental business and properties family reunion friendly? As VRMA points out: The vacation rental option often costs less than reserving multiple hotel rooms, and homes can even be rented side-by-side in the same neighborhood. Vacation Rentals provide a sense of privacy under one roof, rather than the stress of requesting adjoining rooms, remembering floor numbers, and designating “family” floor monitors to keep a watchful eye out for “tween” and teen members of the group.

I Googled family reunion vacation rentals to see how Vacation Rental Managers are marketing their properties for this type of large group. Click Here for results. ...Then "click" around and see what other Vacation Rental Managers are doing.

Bottom line? If your inventory contains individual properties or properties in close proximity that make sense for large groups like Family Reunions, create some special content and offers on your website to attract this target group. And, if you have already hosted Family Reunions, don’t forget to blog about them as Success Stories and obtain “testimonials” and reviews from the Organizers.

Family Reunions are growing and Vacation Rentals are a terrific cost-saving option for small, medium and larger lodging needs.

Couples Retreat – Promotional Idea for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

There is a new movie opening today around the nation. It is a comedy called Couples Retreat and is centered around four couples from the Mid-West who go on vacation to a tropical paradise. A near “perfect” opportunity for Vacation Rental Managers to employ Borrowed Interest Advertising.

As defined previously in one of our Blog Posts, Borrowed Interest Advertising — so-named because you “borrow” consumers’ interest in something outside your company — is a way for vacation rental companies to ride the coattails of much larger events — and is "free".

Why not create a promotion around this? Why not create a “Couples Retreat” deal for your Vacation Rental Business?

Offer a special price, a special package with romantic or couples-oriented amenities – and include Couples Retreat movie tickets for all of the individual couples or groups of couples who participate.

Are there other “Borrowed Interest” ideas and themes you can think of to sell and promote your Vacation Rentals? Is there a local event or even a national or global “happening” that you can tie into? I bet there are many creative ideas you can think of to promote your properties and destination.

Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com and we'll talk "borrowed interest" and how this can be applied to your Vacation Rentals utilizing the free tools within the Bookt Platform.

There has never been a better time to borrow and Get Bookt!

Vacation Rental Blog Topics Organized for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

I sort all my blog posts by purpose and topic, and continually update this article - in order to make it easy for Vacation Rental Managers to find exactly what they are looking for.

Bookt Platform
> Site Score for Vacation Rental Managers
> Promo Calendar for Vacation Rental Managers
> “Lead Scoring” for Vacation Rental Managers
> “Demo” Meeting with Vacation Rental Managers
> Marketing For Vacation Rental Managers
> Online “Empathy” Books and Closes the Vacation Rental Sale
> Vacation Rental Managers: BYOD!
> The “BEST of Breed” Vacation Rental Booking Engine!
> Take Command & Control of your Vacation Rental Business Now
> Location, Location, Vacation! Why Integrated-Mapping is Critical
> “Third-Party Endorsements” are “Sales Closers” and "Build Trust"
> The BEST and PERFECT Sales Representative for Your Business
> Free Competitive Website Analysis for Vacation Rental Managers
> Why Clients Love Our "Do-It-Yourself" Content Management Tools!

Education/Webinars
> News for Vacation Rental Managers
> How To Use Online Meeting Technology to Increase Bookings
> Blogging Webinars for Vacation Rental and Lodging Managers

FVRMA/VRMA
> Vacation Rental Managers: Please Read Report!
> FVRMA – Expectation “Set” and Good-To-Go!
> FVRMA "Summer Special" Offer from Bookt!
> Vacation Rental Managers – Call to Action!
> Hello! My Name Is...
> Florida Vacation Rental Managers Association – Proud Member!

Social Media
> Vacation Rental Managers: Social Media Trends
> Keyword-Rich Blogging for Vacation Rental Managers
> Twitter and Vacation Rental Marketing
> Read Any Good Vacation Rental Articles Lately?
> Indian Shores Florida Vacation Rentals: Blog Topic Ideas
> Blog, Blog, Blog for Online Success!
> Online Marketing: Exploiting Social Media For Fun & Profit
> Picking Topics For Your Vacation Rental Site Blog Is Easy As 1-2-3!

Notes From The Road
> Notes from "the road" - Naples, Florida
> Notes from "the road" - FVRMA Conference
> Notes from "the road" - Welcome to Florida!
> Notes from "the road" - Callaway Gardens
> Notes from "the road" - Columbus, Georgia

Industry Trends
> Vacation Rental Managers: Learn From Hotels
> President Obama - Consider A Vacation Rental This Summer
> TripAdvisor Survey Shows Popularity of Vacation Rentals
> Bragging Rights for Vacation Rental Managers
> Vacation Rentals: Where Leisure Travel and Real Estate Collide!

Editorial
> Vacation Rental Ads Where You Least Expect
> Another Vacation Rental Manager's Dream
> Vacation Rental or Hotel Room in Rome?
> Kate Rice, Executive Editor of TravelPulse.com
> Bullish on Bookt for Vacation Rental Managers

Looking for more information? Is there a specific topic you would like to chat about? Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com.

There has never been a better time to learn more & Get Bookt!

Vacation Rental Ads Where You Least Expect

joel@bookt.com

This morning I was sent a link about something happening in my hometown which took me to Boston.com.

As a sales and marketing professional in the vacation rental industry, I immediately was drawn to the banner ad at the top of the paper advertizing Kissimmee – where Bookt has many Vacation Rental clients.

So I clicked it.

Lo and behold I saw that Vacation Rentals were an option for Kissimmee accommodations (along with hotels.)

So I clicked it. And saw many, many, many vacation rental options for the Boston visitor to choose from. Cool!

The site www.visitkissimmee.com is one BIG advertisement driven by the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau.

As a Vacation Rental Manager, do you belong to a local or regional organization that is marketing your destination along with your properties? If not, you should look into this and perhaps join the crowd selling your community and all it has to offer. You might just find that there are some advantages and buying power when you join a group of like-minded travel and business people.

As you may have read in the Instant Software and VRMA Report I blogged about the other day, Vacation Rentals really and truly help drive the local economy. These local groups selling your destination are the exact type of group you could be spreading the word that: >Vacation Rentals Generate Billions in Annual Real Estate Sales >Vacation Rentals Generate Millions in New Construction >Rental Homes Generate Millions in Insurance Premiums >Vacation Rentals Generate Billions Finance and Mortgage >Rentals Can Dominate Resort Area Property Tax Revenues Just a thought.

Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com.

There has never been a better time to join in and Get Bookt!

Vacation Rentals - Pictures Sell!

joel@bookt.com

Nothing sells a vacation rental like a picture showing a family or couple enjoying the great activities in your area, or the terrific amenities that you have to offer. Over the last few years, Stock Photography has gotten much more economical. What used to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars can be achieved often for tens of dollars. Like many other goods and services, Stock Photos have become a commodity. That's the good news! Even better is that your friends @ Bookt use photos in a way that creates "empathy" with your target audience and they will ultimately see themselves in the shot - enjoying a wonderful time in your little piece of heaven.

Want to create some images that sell your Vacation Rentals? Want to tell your story with pictures that get to the heart of the matter? Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com and we'll look through some pictures together and Bookt's talented design team will create your unique storyboard for your amazing Vacation Rentals. There has never been a better time to show-and-tell to Get Bookt!

Vacation Rental Managers: Please Read Report!

joel@bookt.com

As you may recall, VRMA sponsored a 2008 survey of the vacation rental market by PhoCusWright, one of the travel industry’s prominent research authorities.

That survey concluded that the vacation rental market was a $24 billion industry in 2007, generating revenue equaling more than one fifth of all hotel room revenue and 8% of the total US travel market. And, further, in resort areas, vacation rentals actually tend to be responsible for a much higher share of revenues and can far exceed the revenue generated by hotels.

Please read this new research defining State and Local Economic Impact of the Vacation Rental Industry just released by Instant Software and Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA).

Top Findings: The vacation rental industry is an economic engine that facilitates non-resident investment in resort communities and drives local real estate, finance, and insurance industries. The vacation rental industry is a major “Tool for Growth” in these communities, often poorly understood by the local powers that be.

Read This Report as it is designed to help vacation rental managers educate themselves and state/local governments regarding the impact of the vacation rental industry on state and local economies. >Vacation Rentals Generate Billions in Annual Real Estate Sales >Vacation Rentals Generate Millions in New Construction >Rental Homes Generate Millions in Insurance Premiums >Vacation Rentals Generate Billions Finance and Mortgage >Rentals Can Dominate Resort Area Property Tax Revenues

Download the entire report here! Thank you VRMA and Instant Software!! GREAT JOB! Please email: joel@bookt.com or call 1-800-941-0868 x 934. Why? There has never been a better time to take advantage of these trends and to Get Bookt!

Vacation Rental Managers - Pictures Tell & Sell

joel@bookt.com

A few “clicks” during some online research today brought me to an Internet page that has nothing to do with Vacation Rentals or Vacation Rental Managers.

However, a simple ad I saw on the page was very clear and reminded me of the power of images to tell a story and deliver a message.

I am not involved in the day-to-day technical aspect of Bookt as I spend the vast majority of time speaking with Vacation Rental Managers about Online Booking Engines, Property Management Systems and Search Engine Marketing issues. I know enough “tech” to have immediately understood the “story” in this ad, and got the message loud and clear…

How are you telling your story with pictures online? Do you sell your services and vacation rental properties as well as the musclemen for liquidweb sell their heroic support?? Do your online images tell a story with a "direct-hit" on the empathy-button for your target audience???

At Bookt we know that an effective website design must capture the vacation-travel-shopper in the first couple of seconds; otherwise he or she will simply click the back button and look somewhere else.

Our website designs clearly offer the visitor a strong “emotional motive” to stay on your site as it draws them to your properties and your destinations and attractions. We employ very talented designers who will capture the essence of your brand and great story using your property photos as well as photos and images of your destination and all it has to offer.

Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com.

There has never been a better time to find images that resonate with your target audience and succinctly tell and get to the heart of your story online to Get Bookt!

“Packaging” Vacation Rentals – Part 1

joel@bookt.com

Let’s first talk about paint as a "Case Study" for Vacation Rental Managers. Glidden paint. Familiar with it? I am staring at a gallon can of it right now as we are doing some painting in my home, including here in my office.

Primarily sold in Home Depot stores (among several other brands), Glidden paint is a quality American product that recently underwent a “packaging” redesign to recreate, rebuild and reestablish itself as a national consumer brand.

BEFORE:

For competitive reasons and because Glidden had not made any significant marketing changes in years, the Glidden brand was losing 1) share, 2) consumer recognition and 3) sales volume.

Earlier this year, Glidden turned to its expert “packaging” consultants to reinvigorate the brand’s packaging with these two goals: >> First, make the packaging work for HD sales associates so they could better use and reference Glidden’s product range in-store. >> Second, create an emotional connection between the product and the consumer.

With painting season just around the corner (April through October), it was important that Glidden find a way to bring its products back into the eyes of consumers fast.

AFTER:

The solution was to change the ”packaging” – to do a complete overhaul. In fact, the only thing that did not change [in the packaging] was the logo. BUT – while the logo stayed the same, it now appears three times on the packaging, which now enables the HD salesperson or HD consumer to view the logo from any angle.

Next, to create an emotional connection with consumers, the packaging now features photos of real Glidden customers with quotes explaining their experiences with the brand. Further, they have added abstract designs to remind consumers of the feeling of finishing a painting project – with the bright colors and circular elements on a metallic-finish foil stock label giving the package a premium, fresh look. Finally, they simplified the package with info on the can now clean and clear, better displaying the bold colors representing each paint variety. AND – to make the brand stand out further, Glidden put the trays that hold its paint cans to work by carrying the same design elements from the can over to the trays making the brand more eye-catching while creating a shelf block in the HD Stores.

The results: The redesigned Glidden brand began appearing in stores in late April 2009 and continued to roll out in 400 locations through June 2009. Within the first couple of months – before any advertising hit – stores that were reset with the new packaging were reporting a sales boost over stores that hadn’t been reset.

Glidden did all this to make the Glidden brand STANDOUT more for both consumers shopping and the HD sales associates serving these customers and staring at these shelves all day long.

THAT is the first definition of “packaging” – the literal look and feel of your brand. In “Packaging” Vacation Rentals – Part 2 we will drill down on “packaging” your units and offers as part of a larger Travel Offer to incentivize your target customers to book their vacation with you because you have connected the right lodging unit with the right amenities and activities at the right price.

In the meantime, does your Vacation Rental website “package” need a makeover? Is their an emotional connection to your visitors and target clientele? Is your BIG "painting season" just around the corner and does your online vacation rental brand need invigorating and a fresh coat of paint?

Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com.

There has never been a better time to re-package to Get Bookt!

Vacation Rental Managers: “Borrowed Interest”

joel@bookt.com

Borrowed interest advertising — so-named because firms “borrow” consumers’ interest in something outside the company — is a way for vacation rental companies to ride the coattails of much larger events — and is "free", whether it be the Olympics, a president’s birthday, a steep rise in gas prices, a local “happening” in your area, or a newly published article appearing elsewhere. I like reading the great travel articles in Forbes.com and always see the "hook" that Savvy Vacation Rental Managers can deftly apply to communicate their message, and "borrow" the pro or con to capture the interest of their target vacation shopper. Here are a few from Forbes published since May of 2009:

Ten Trips On A Tank Of Gas America's Most Polluted Beaches America's Best National Parks Obama Went To Ghana. Should You? America's Best Bargain Vacations Chill With A Cerveza By The Coup Best American Towns To Visit By Car America's Prettiest Road Trips America's Hidden Travel Gems How To Forage For Springtime Food While the borrowed interest tactic may seem clever, some marketing experts feel it is a recipe for mediocrity. I agree! When every other company is “borrowing” from the same interest in a particular event, how can you expect to differentiate your firm?

A jewelry store, for example, shouldn’t expect killer profits on February 14 without a Valentine’s day promotion in line with all the other jewelers’ campaigns. So while borrowed interest ads can and do provide a boost, they should NOT form the backbone of your advertising strategy. But they do have their place - when used appropriately and when no one else is using them in your market area. That's why I like Forbes.com articles - because they are not the typical "fodder" for the typical Vacation Rental Manager and can make you stand out if "borrowed" in a subtle and useful way! Looking for ideas to book more vacation rental shoppers and stand out online? Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com and we'll talk "borrowed interest" and how this can be applied to your Vacation Rentals utilizing the free tools within the Bookt Platform. Here is some borrowed interest that you can take advantage of because of FVRMA! Offer good whether FVRMA Member or not. There has never been a better time to borrow and Get Bookt!

Keyword-Rich Blogging for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

The following post is Keyword-Rich for Orlando Vacation Rentals: Bookt is working with one of our favorite clients, a savvy vacation rental firm in the Orlando area. We live in Naples Florida on the Gulf in a permanent vacation home, so we do not need a beach vacation – my family likes to go up to the Orlando area a few times a year for a Disney World Vacation. For us, family vacations are a time to think about the cost-savings aspect of vacation rentals like a condo rental or another vacation home rental as we have two sons with wives and children. A Disney vacation is a great option for us because our client provides several types of Disney Vacation Packages – and we get to select our own price-point from a luxury vacation home to an all inclusive vacation villa. While there are oodles of hotels in Orlando, a hotel in Orlando does not offer a kitchen. Vacation homes give you that choice – and I love to cook for my family and turn our time into a dining vacation. Speaking of our great Orlando area vacation home rentals expert, they provide a fl vacation with a difference. Not only can you get a terrific vacation house or vacation condo or your choice of many vacation home rentals, but they can put you in a prime location for Disney vacations, so you may enjoy a Seaworld vacation or Epcot vacation or Pleasure Island vacation or Universal vacation in addition to your Magic Kingdom vacation! Plus they give an amazing amount of customer service that you’ll be glad you did not settle for some vacation rental by owner’s beach vacation rentals this year! There are so many things to do in Orlando! Vacation rent! In one of their vacation villas! No hotels vacation this year! For more info on their Disney World vacation packages, click here! For more info on Keyword-Rich blogging, call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time to Blog to Get Bookt!

Bookt @ FVRMA, Destin, FL Aug 17-19

Florida Vacation Rental Managers, if you haven't attended a FVRMA conference, what are you waiting for?! Bookt attended and had a successful 2 day show last week in Destin, Florida located in the Florida Panhandle. The show was not too long, not too short, but just right. We were pleasantly surprised with the Sandestin Resort where the conference was located. It was like a little city in itself with shops, restaurants and bars with every kind of cuisine and all kinds of live music like piano, blues, and jazz. We give a big thanks to the FVRMA team for all their efforts and for choosing such a great place to host the show.

The highlight of our trip was a featured speech by Bookt's President, Robert Kall entitled "The First Decade of the 21st Century: What did we learn and how does it relate to the Vacation Rental Industry?". The talk began with a background on Rob and the real estate industry and how technological advances took the industry to a another level (5 million online leads in 3 years for Remax alone) and how similar technology is available and applicable today to the VR industry. Rob gave solid examples of the way technology is underused and how Vacation Rentals can improve their representation online such as 'Reputation Management' and what happens when you Google your own name or business, the Cloud, aka 'Cloud Computing' (we are all using it but often don't know it), and the online free document management service called Google Docs. People walked away from this presentation with simple, immediate tools to better their business processes and provided them with a much better understanding of technology, how it relates to them, how it changed in the past 10 years and can expect to change in the next 10.

On a side note, if you ever get the chance to go to the Florida Panhandle, make sure you visit the town of Seaside located about 20 minutes up the coast heading East. It is the quaintest little town EVER! I've included a photo of Robert Kall, Joel Fellman and Joel's wife Paula in front of the post office. Seaside is the town where they filmed the movie Truman with Jim Carrey. A must see!

So all in all, a great trip and bonding experience for our team and other exhibitors and Vacation Rental Managers. We look forward to the next one!

New Tactic for Non-Professionally-Managed Vacation Rentals By Owners

joel@bookt.com

We have all heard about “By Owner” rental scams where a consumer gets duped and the vacation rental does not exist or does not live up to its advertising. That’s why vacation-shoppers should always rent with a trusted, Professionally Managed Vacation Rental Co. Still, these Vacation Rental scams give the entire industry a black-eye and while it is not fair... we sometimes get lumped-in here even though it is more the VR By Owner problem.

Check this out: www.rentalseal.com

Interesting idea – to be sure. However, in my humble opinion, these owners would be much better off listing their property with you! Instead of just getting a seal that says “I am not a crook” – think of all of the amazing 24/7 support, services and marketing that you as a professional Vacation Rental Manager have to offer property owners! YOU WIN HANDS DOWN!

Professionally Managed Vacation Rentals are the fastest growing portion of the Vacation Travel segment. While the seal is not a bad idea, the scam artist will use it to their advantage soon enough.

Looking for a platform to show off your Service, your vast array of Accommodation Choices, and your INTEGRITY? Looking for a platform that reeks of TRUST and makes it as easy for the vacation-shopper to book online as they do on Orbitz, Hotels.com or Expedia?

Call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time Get Trusted & Get Bookt!

A Little Traveling Music for Vacation Rental Managers & Online Travel Shoppers

joel@bookt.com

While I am not fond of websites that “push” musical interludes at you when you visit, there is some really great vacation music out there if handled in a subtle and professional way.

Here are my top 5 songs/videos for Vacation Rentals – to get your travel shoppers in the mood:

#5: Johnny Cash – I’ve Been Everywhere

#4: B-52’s – Roam

#3: The Beach Boys – Kokomo

#2: The Go-Go's – Vacation

#1: Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman – Time To Say Goodbye

Want to spice up your vacation rental website with some well-placed video or music? Want to do it in a subtle and professional way?

Please call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email us at: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time to get the vacation travel shopper "in the mood" & Get Bookt!

Organized Vacation Rental Blog Topics for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

I sort all my blog posts by purpose and topic, and continually update this article - in order to make it easy for Vacation Rental Managers to find exactly what they are looking for.

There has never been a better time to learn more & Get Bookt!

Twitter and Vacation Rental Marketing

joel@bookt.com

As most know by now, Twitter is a micro-blogging site and social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. Twitter enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.

The question is… can you tweet your way to additional bookings and traffic to your Vacation Rentals?

Case Study: Twitter & Social Media Marketing For Small Business

Well, it is apparently working for LocalGetaways.com – Hotel and Travel Deals: San Francisco Bay Area, Wine Country, Napa, Sonoma, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Carmel, and more…

RESULTS (as of July 2009): Twitter is currently one of the largest sources of traffic to LocalGetaways.com Secured thousands of qualified followers in less than 30 days Tracked Twitter clicks through to sales Realized more than 20K website clicks in 2 months Generated national traditional media story Tweets trickled out to other social media sites, generating additional website traffic

You can find me tweeting on twitter @ bookt_solid.

The results for LocalGetaways.com speak for themselves. Please call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time to tweet & Get Bookt!

Read Any Good Vacation Rental Articles Lately?

joel@bookt.com

Knowledge is Power ...as they say. Are you reading all the articles coming out that feature tips, trends & tech regarding Vacation Rentals? Here are a handful of the articles you may want to check out: Are Vacation Rentals the Hottest Growth Area in Online Travel? Vacation Rentals Hit by Economic Downturn? Here’s Simple Tips That Will Help Boost Your Bookings and Fill Your Calendar. Survey delves into travelers' interest in vacation rentals Are you a Lodging Laggard or a Leader? Airfare, Hotel, and Vacation Rental Sales Abound While this may be a shameless plug for my own Tips, Trends & Tech regarding Vacation Rentals, save this LINK as one of your favorites. Every day of the week I blog on topics specifically for Vacation Rental Managers. Knowledge is Power! Power to ACT! Please call 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or email us at: joel@bookt.com. There has never been a better time to read about the Vacation Rental Industry & Get Bookt!

President Obama Should Consider A Vacation Rental For His Summer Family Getaway

joel@bookt.com

I was reading the Taiwan News the other day. I really was. [I use Google Alerts to keep tabs on vacation-related news stories, and this article was in my Google Alerts email.]

The focus of the story was on how President Obama and past-Presidents seem to get a lot of heat for taking vacations and the high cost to tax-payers for leisure travel by the Vacationer-in-Chief.

Looking for a terrific and economical vacation for you and the family this summer, Mr. President? Why not consider a Vacation Rental at a great destination! You cannot beat the Vacationomics whether you are looking for a beach condo, private home or villa, cozy cottage or mountain retreat.

Plus, many Vacation Rentals are "pet-friendly" so Bo, too, can join you on the First-Family Getaway.

There is something for the whole family in a spot like Orlando. And the mountains in Park City or the ocean in Laguna Beach also deliver wonderful family fun. Seeking local "attractions" or sports? There is a U.S. Air Force museum near Okaloosa Island and Central Florida has some of the best Golf Courses in the world!

Looking for something that's kid-friendly or would you prefer to take the whole family fishing or learn to dive?

Perhaps you would like to really get away. How about an Island like Aruba or R&R on Martha's Vineyard with the Clintons? You were in Paris recently so consider South Beach which rocks all year round. And the rocks around Keystone in Colorado are especially great to climb all summer long.

You have a stressful job and deserve time-off. And you just might find that the Vacationomics of a Vacation Rental may help silence your critics and provide you and your family with memories to savor in the years to come. And yes! Basketball is one of the many amenities available at many Vacation Rental destinations.

My humble suggestion? Take your mind off the problems of the world and Go-Go find your Vacation Rental now! Enjoy your summer. Vacations Rentals are worthy of your Vote!

TripAdvisor Survey Shows Popularity of Vacation Rentals

joel@bookt.com

More terrific news for Vacation Rental Managers...

According to a recent survey by TripAdvisor of more than 2,800 travelers, forty-three percent of travelers said they are staying at a vacation rental in the next 12 months because they believe there are good deals to be had in the market. Twenty-four percent are staying or have already stayed at a vacation rental this summer.

Sixty percent of travelers would take advantage of a great last minute deal at a vacation rental this summer, and 41 percent would require a 50 percent discount or more to entice them to book. Eighty-seven percent of travelers would choose a vacation rental over a hotel if it were a better deal.

The top reason travelers like vacation rentals is that they offer more space, according to 78 percent of travelers. Seventy-seven percent cited access to a full kitchen, while 57 percent noted the benefit of a vacation rental home's privacy.

Among travelers that have already stayed at a vacation rental this summer, the south is the most popular US vacation rental region, according to 37 percent of respondents, followed by the west at 18 percent and northeast at 14 percent.

Twenty-four percent of travelers have stayed at vacation rentals more than 10 times in their lifetime and 14 percent stay at the same property every year.

Sixty-six percent said that the top activities that vacation rentals allow travelers to do is sleep more people, 64 percent said they enjoy the ability to have homemade family or group meals, and 60 percent identified common areas for hanging out. Twenty-three percent believe the best benefit is more privacy for romance.

"Travelers on the hunt for a hot summer deal should take a closer look at vacation rentals," said Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of new initiatives at TripAdvisor. "Many rentals offer comparable amenities to hotels but with more space, privacy and similar comforts of home."

Would you like to see how easily Bookt can integrate TripAdvisor and FlipKey “Third Party Endorsements” into your online marketing approach, please call us today at 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or reach out via email to joel@bookt.com today. There has never been a better time to be in the Vacation Rental Business and Get Bookt!

Summer's Keyword Ranking Recipe

sam@bookt.com

Summer’s Keyword Ranking Recipe

By Sam Marks

Directory of Success, Bookt LLC

2/17/10

There is an estimated 200+ ranking elements that are in

Ingredients

·         Title Tags

·         H1 Header Tags

·         Meta Description & Keywords

·         Keywords in Content

·         Optimized URL’s

·         Limited Trailing Slashes

·         Sitemap’s

·         Alt & Image Tags

·         Local Search Submissions

·         Inbound links

·         Domain Trust and Authority

·         URL Remapping

·         Age of Domain and Content

·         Topical Relevance of linked sites

·         Server Speed & Stability

·         Site historical data i.e. CTR

cluded in Google’s organic search algorithms. These coveted codes, although manipulated by some in the past have never been fully cracked. Further, the search engine indexes are always evolving and becoming smarter in order to show only the most relevant results for users. Google’s optimization recommendations, along side of statistically backed theories, split tests, and years of data mining have all combined to become what is known as SEO ‘Best Practices”. This summer, familiarize yourself with some of the more important ranking factors, and develop a plan to optimize your lodging website for the coming fall.

Preparation: 1 Week

Get the ‘low-down’ on the competition in your marketplace

All the energy and resources in the world can be futile without the proper preparation. You need to first understand your strengths and the competition’s weaknesses, and then put in place an aggressive strategy to obtain organic search traffic. Conduct the following research:

1. To begin, break your market into segments and determine where you have clusters of prominence. On a broad level recognize your country/state/province and even county; then establish the cities, regions, neighborhoods, developments and even streets that apply to your property.

2. Next, you want to identify your rental unit specialties if you are a vacation rental, or your hotel amenities if you are a hotel. Consider what your guests are asking forand what you can also accommodate. What people typically ask for when at your hotel or rental property is more often than not the same criteria for which people will search for online, so optimizing your pages with these keywords will resonate well with your organic search initiatives. Just to give you some ideas, here are some we know to be popular: with private pool, near beach, on golf course, waterfront, near attractions, by convention center, with boat slip, with mountain view, near ski lift.

3. Last, distinguish your property types. Terms such as ‘Hotels’, ‘Vacation Rentals’, ‘Resorts’ are the most common but are generally the most competitive terms in a market area. Don’t be afraid to target other terms such as ‘suites’, ‘lodging’, ‘accommodations’,’ villas’, ‘studios’, etc.

4. With this data defined, you now can make a list of primary target keywords, and secondary long tail keywords. Use the following tools to gauge the search volume, competition, and trends of each keyword phrase. Now you can develop your final lists of keyword targets. Time to start cooking!

-external keyword tools – for volume and competition

-Google trends – for keyword trends

Directions

1. Fine tune your Title tags

If you do only one thing this summer, review and fine tune every page’s title tag. These HTML tags identify what your page is about for both visitors and search engines. Use the keywords determined during the previous exercise as the base for your property pages. Most importantly, make sure your title tags actually relate to the content on the particular page.

*For extra flavor-fine tune and optimize your Meta descriptions, and keywords. The SEO values of this initiative are highly debated, but one thing is for sure, a well-written and targeted meta description will improve your click through rate on the SERPs. This will send more visitors to your site, and improve your historical data with the engines.

2. Rewrite and normalize your URL’s

Without clean and normalized URL’s, it’s difficult for search engines to properly index all of your pages. The more pages your site has in the indexes, the larger your footprint. In addition, having clean, keyword rich URL’s will improve your click through rate on the SERP’s. If you see a parameter in any of your site’s URLs such as “?”, then it is not search engine friendly. Additionally, if you are a vacation rental, try to limit numeric characters identifying your properties and instead, maximize the attributes i.e. property type, market area, and amenities.

*For extra flavor – try to limit the number of trailing slashes “/” in your URL’s. Most SEO experts agree to never exceed 4, for example www.myvacationhomes.com/searchhomes/floridakeys/condos/karas-cottage-nearbeach. Each additional slash will dilute the trailing keywords, so keep it simple this summer.

3. Say Hello to the Search Engines

It’s time that you formally introduce your website to the search engines. Of course, it’s best if you dress up your site in modern fashion prior to the introduction… after all, these are the governors of the Internet. Create both an HTML and XML sitemap. An HTML sitemap can be useful for your site visitors as well as the search engines. The XML sitemap should be located off the root of your domain (e.g. www.mydomain.com/sitemap.xml)) and then formally submitted to Google, Yahoo, and Bing through their respective webmaster tools. This dynamic XML feed will provide quick and easy navigation for the engines to regularly crawl your pages.

*For extra Flavor – while you are busy submitting your sitemaps in the respective engines, take the extra initiative and make a local search submission for your website/company. You will be surprised at how much traffic a page 1 local search listing can drive. It also extends your footprint in the search engine indexes.

4. Sleep, Eat, Build Links - Sleep, Eat, Build Links - Sleep, Eat, Build Links

This summer instead of squeezing oranges, reach out to where the real juices is – inbound links. Link building is without a doubt one of the most important and influential pieces of SEO, that is if it appears natural.

*For Extra Flavor – Read our 3 part series of Link Building

Topics include:

-Building links from sites with topical relevance

- Obtaining links from trusted and authoritative sites

- Deeplinking – spreading your juice to deep landing pages

- Avoiding link farms and spam sites

- The weight of links, including reciprocal vs. one way

-Out linking can be healthy too!

The Bookt Platform maximizes the automation of SEO elements to minimize your leg work. 10+ years of SEO theory testing has given us tremendous insight on the optimization initiatives that matter and we built our platform from the bottom up with this in mind. Our SEO Scorecard shows you a real time analysis of your keyword and other SEO related performance metrics so you can see ‘the proof is in the pudding’.

Bragging Rights for Vacation Rental Managers

joel@bookt.com

Despite “rumors” to the contrary, vacation rental guests are extremely satisfied with their accommodations and rental experience.

According to PhoCusWright's landmark study of the industry called Vacation Rental Marketplace: Poised for Change, nine in 10 vacation rental guests intend to rent again within three years and would recommend to a family member or friend. Nine out of 10! You cannot do much better than that!

How do these rumors get started? It’s the usual suspects. One bad apple spoils the barrel. In other words, guests who are not satisfied, or worse – have a BAD experience and their accommodations are not clean or do not live up to expectations, tell everyone. And the industry suffers by reputation.

How do we fix this? We keep sharing all the success stories, great reviews and testimonials. AND, continue to deliver great condos, cabins, vacation homes, villas and GREAT SERVICE.

Congratulations Vacation Rentals Managers. Keep up the great work and brag a little. You’ve earned the right! The PhoCusWright!

AND, if you would like to see how easily Bookt can integrate your success stories, great reviews and testimonials into your online marketing approach, please call us today at 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or reach out via email to joel@bookt.com today. Ask me about Bookt's Summer Specials! There has never been a better time to Get Bookt!

Indian Shores Florida Vacation Rentals: Blog Topic Ideas

joel@bookt.com

Picking great topics to write about on your Vacation Rental Site blog will serve the needs of:

Vacation travel-shoppers who will find your targeted content helpful in planning their trip.
Search Engines like Google, YAHOO, MSN, AOL who are looking for targeted keywords that match the content and links that these same vacation travel-shoppers are searching for.

Currently, Bookt is working with a Vacation Rental Property Manager covering the Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg Beach, Indian Rocks Beach… to Madeira Beach, Sand Key, Belleair, & the Redingtons in FL. Let’s use her as an example of the precise kind of subjects that she and her staff could be blogging about – starting with the following rules of engagement:

Blog about what you know – what your “sweet spot” is.
Blog about subjects that will resonate with your target audience.
Blog about timely information or events.

Here are some practical Topic ideas (with search-engine-optimized Headlines) that might make great blog articles and will engage both the travel-shopper and the Search Engines:

Indian Shores Florida Vacation Rentals: Come celebrate Indian Shores 60th Anniversary and Rock Around the Clock on Saturday, August 1st

Looking for Fishing or Golf Packages during your stay at Barefoot Beach Resort on the Florida Gulf Intracoastal? Book your Vacation Condo HERE and Learn More!

Looking for Fishing or Golf Packages during your stay at Barefoot Beach Resort on the Florida Gulf Intracoastal? Book your Vacation Condo HERE and Learn More!

Rent an Economical Vacation Home Near Clearwater Beach – Busch Gardens and Tampa Zoo Close By for Family Vacation FUN!

Monthly Condo Rentals on Beautiful Belleair Beach – Value Season Starts September 1st. Our Staff Overlooks No Detail while you Overlook the Gulf of Mexico!

Vacation Rental Success Story on Indian Shores: “Our BIG Condo was amazing! You spoiled us! The beach is beautiful and the location was perfect!"

Great Shopping Venues Near Sand Key Florida Delight both Budget and Luxury Vacation Travelers!

Blogging is a great way to stand-out and get noticed online. Both vacation travel-shoppers and search engines eat this content up! Speaking of food, here is the final blog post topic/headline:

Casa De Playa Condos – a Terrific Central Location for your Florida Vacation Rental – Dining-Out or Dining-In, Great Shopping, Water Sports, Beachfront, 90-Minutes to Orlando Theme Parks

Want to learn more about blogging? The medium is the message! Read this post entitled: Blogging Webinars for Vacation Rental and Lodging Managers

Here is a Great Service to Provide to your Vacation Rental Clients

joel@bookt.com

"Trust" is something you build and it takes time and attention to the big and small details.

This morning I researched "home security" for people taking a trip. Add this to your chain of communications with guests and vacation travel shoppers to reinforce that you consider trust and security issues a top priority. The email below is part of a larger automated email campaign sent to “Booked” Guests prior to their trip.

Hello Mr. and Ms. Jones!

We are all ready for your arrival on August 17th and look forward to serving you in Paradise Coast! As you prepare for your trip, here are some helpful hints that offer peace-of-mind while you are enjoying your time-off.

Home Security Considerations When Away On Vacation > Don't tell non-trusted people you are traveling. > Tell a trusted neighbor you are going and to watch your home. > Leave a car parked in the driveway. > Put interior and exterior lights and a radio on timers. > Don't record voice mail message that says you are gone. > Stop newspaper or let neighbor collect paper/mail/deliveries daily. > Lock doors/windows; wedge sliding glass doors shut. > Tell security service you're going; provide alternate contacts. > Take photo or video inventory of your valuables. > Hide small valuable items like jewelry. > Engrave your name onto larger valuables/computers/bikes/etc.

We cannot wait to meet you and want your visit to Paradise Coast to be relaxing, secure and FUN!

- Your friends at Paradise Vacation Rentals!

Did you know that at Bookt, we make it very easy for you to create and automatically send Bulk or Special Emails AND entire multi-part Email Campaigns to your clients and prospects?

To learn more about this and many other dynamic Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, please telephone us today at 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or reach out via email to joel@bookt.com - Trust me... we have the tools to help you build a "trusted-bond" with your clients and target vacation travel shoppers. "In Bookt Tech We Trust!"

Vacation Rentals: Where Leisure Travel and Real Estate Collide!

joel@bookt.com

Collide? Maybe that’s too strong a word. But certainly, trillions of dollars in Real Estate and Leisure Travel meet, amass, convene and connect at a location-location-location called Vacation Rentals. And precisely at that intersection stands Bookt – a true thought-leader in the integration of these two massive industries, with one foot firmly planted in online property marketing and technology and the other foot firmly planted in online lodging marketing and technology. Bookt is precisely and faithfully there where these two behemoths overlap and intertwine.

Since 2001, we have been successfully marketing real estate and vacation rental properties online. On a daily basis, hundreds of thousands of agents and consumers use our platforms to advertise and find real estate and vacation rentals. While we are focused now solely on online lodging solutions and vacation-rental-shopping consumers, our proven technology has driven well over 6 million leads to our clients and we have created the best of breed lead capture and conversion tools in the industry to turn those leads into sales and online reservations.

If you are a Property Manager and want to increase your online lead capture and conversion for your condos, vacation homes, cabins or villas – look no further. You’ll find us standing tall @ 123 Bookt Blvd at a location-vacation-location near you. To learn more, please call us at 1-800-941-0868 x 934 or reach out via email to joel@bookt.com today.

Vacation Rentals on Mars?

joel@bookt.com

As any schoolchild can tell you, there is not one hotel on Mars. Now don't get me wrong, they have nothing against hotels, nor do I. Bookt loves all forms of lodging; each one has its place. But as Bookt's internal "champion" of the Vacation Rental Industry, I must say that I am not surprised at the situation up there. After all, Vacation Rentals have distinct advantages over hotels.

Said in the spirit of friendly competition, summarized here is what VRMA has to say on this topic:

Vacation home rentals are the best way to enjoy a truly relaxing, rewarding and budget-friendly family vacation. Vacation homes give you room to relax after a long day and provide unique and luxurious amenities/services versus the limits found at even the highest-rated resorts and hotels. Vacation home rentals can provide luxurious amenities like: ...Private pools, spas, patios or decks, fireplaces, beach access ...State-of-the-art home theatres, high-speed Internet ...Multiple master suites and bedrooms ...Full kitchens and large and multiple dining areas Plus... Vacation home rentals deliver Privacy, Great Locations, Major Savings & Priceless Value.

I often stay in hotels for a night or two when traveling on business. But I always stay in a professionally managed Vacation Rental for holidays with my wife and family. If you're planning a trip to Mars, consider a Vacation Rental. It's worth the trip!

Blog, Blog, Blog for Online Success!

joel@bookt.com

The Bookt Platform comes with free Blogging functionality. Blogging is a great way to get noticed by the search engines as they “perceive” consistent, new content as a more dynamic website and will rank your site higher due to the always changing and fresh nature of the content on your site.

Here is a recent article I found that would be a terrific topic for your next blog post. I have already gotten approval from the author, Debbra Brouillette, Tropical Travel writer for Examiner.com, to link back to her article. Simply personalize with your [“Keywords” – which the Search Engines look for and love] and then cut-and-paste it into your Blog… -----------------------------------

10 Tips for Staying Healthy on your [City Goes Here] Vacation

At [put your Company Name Here – i.e. Destin Vacation Rentals] we are focused on ensuring that our guests have a splendid vacation. We always go the extra mile to provide outstanding customer service so our guests not only have a superb [condo, villa, vacation home] to stay in but also can take total advantage of all the [attractions, shopping, museums, golf courses] and more that our amazing [Martha’s Vineyard, Park City, Key West] destination has to offer.

As Travel writer Debbra Brouillette says in a recent article on Examiner.com, “You’ve waited weeks, even months to go on vacation, and you want to enjoy it to the fullest!”

Here are Debbra’s 10 Tips for Staying Healthy on your Vacation: 1. Water, not wine. 2. Stretch and wiggle. 3. Protect yourself from germs. 4. Wash your hands. 5. Wear sunscreen. 6. Wear protective clothing, headgear, and sunglasses. 7. Don’t overdo it! 8. Don’t overindulge! 9. Maintain your routine. 10. Pay attention to symptoms

To view the complete article on Examiner.com, which includes information under each of the 10 topics, go to: http://www.examiner.com/x-12498-Dallas-Tropical-Travel-Examiner

The entire [Mountain Vacation Cabins, Shoreline Condos, River Rentals] Team is at your service to ensure the complete success of your [Vail, Cape Cod, Grand Canyon] Vacation. Stay healthy! Enjoy your Vacation to the fullest! We are here to make your [Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall] Holiday the best you’ve ever had.

Call us today at [1-800-XXX-XXXX] or visit us online at [OurGreatSite.com] to book your [San Diego, Vermont, Great Lakes] Vacation today!

-----------------------------------

Call your Bookt Account Executive today to learn more about Blogging for Online Success or more about how to our Websites Solutions and Leading-edge Booking Engine can be leveraged to grow your Lodging business for an even healthier bottom line.

A New Model for the Vacation Rental Industry

sam@bookt.com

A New Era, a New Model for the Vacation Rental Industry Bookt Launches Industry-First Platform to Drive Visibility, Bookings and Revenue MIAMI, FL – Oct 20th, 2008 – One of the fastest-growing sectors of the worldwide leisure travel market is the vacation rental industry. Once relegated to regionality and at the mercy of travel agents and immeasurable word of mouth, vacation rentals have moved into a new era of distribution and visibility thanks to significant demographic and technological shifts within the global lodging industry, and a growing consumer base that demands more choice than ever before. The evolution of the vacation rental industry has been facilitated by a confluence of key drivers and changing market conditions, according to Bookt founder and President, Rob Käll. Käll’s company, which has been more than a year in the making, capitalizes on the industry’s recognition for standardization and consolidation in an increasingly fragmented landscape, and need for more marketing channels for vacation rentals inventory. There are other players in the arena, but what sets Bookt apart is its true comprehensiveness. Developed for the global vacation rental industry, Bookt’s proprietary platform allows for a much greater degree of flexibility in design, content and business rules than is currently available. Importantly, Bookt’s platform Connect allows for full integration of client information with virtually every leading management system and portal. By providing a solid platform on which to build a highly successful marketing, sales and visibility strategy for vacation rental units, Bookt helps vacation rental managers, tour operators, developers and larger travel organizations with diverse types of properties and portfolios attract and optimize their ideal customer bases far beyond current industry norms. Founded by travel industry, e-commerce and tech professionals steeped in the nuances of the real estate marketplace, Bookt is able to develop strategies and solutions tailored to the unique dynamics of vacation rental properties. Bookt’s bi-industrial approach shows a deep and sophisticated understanding of its clients’ needs, targets, and operational aims to better manage inventory, increase efficiency and usability, and of course, drive revenues. “Simply, the Bookt platform is the foundation upon which a successful vacation rental strategy is built. Our services expand on standardized industry capabilities to reconcile consumer-centric searching and effective online booking, solving a huge problem that has dogged the lodging industry for years,” says Käll. “Bookt’s solutions integrate valuable consumer data with third-party property management systems and portals, affecting a seamless transition for companies already utilizing a PMC, and are hosted in the company’s scalable datacenter, ensuring centralization and security. In other words, a complete turn-key solution.” Bookt’s modus operandi [approach] clearly differs from others in the vacation rental landscape [eco-system]. Its sites are designed to provoke an emotional response from potential consumers, presenting them with more features and options to drive better conversion rates. Combined with a focus on expansive property search within each site and search engine optimization (SEO), vacation rental professionals can develop an immediate, and impressive, global web presence that yields tangible results. The way Bookt sees it, the vacation rental industry is on the brink of great expansion. The maturity of new technologies, the emergence of new tourism hubs, the industry’s overall shift to online marketing and the need to turn underutilized real estate holdings into profit centers, has created the need for a new business model and new industry platform for the vacation rental industry - the Bookt platform. For more information about Bookt or to arrange an interview with Rob Käll, please contact Vanessa Horwell at vanessa@thinkinkpr.com or +1.305.776.8817. Success stories, fact sheets and data regarding vacation rental industry trends are available upon request.

Bookt Showcases at VRMA

sam@bookt.com

Vacation Rentals: Here and Now at the VRMA Conference Bookt’s Solutions for the Vacation Rentals Industry on Show at Industry Conference, October 26-28 PHEONIX, AZ - Oct 20th, 2008 –

In just a few short years, the vacation rental industry has blossomed and boomed , growing to a $63 billion dollar market and steadily gaining share of the larger, $100 billion leisure travel industry. Complex, largely unknown outside the industry, and definitely underestimated, the U.S. vacation rental market is poised for change. Thanks to some significant demographic and technological shifts within the global lodging industry, and a growing consumer base that demands more choice than ever before, vacation rentals have finally moved into a new era of distribution and visibility thanks to companies like Bookt. Bookt, who will be exhibiting at the upcoming VRMA (Vacation Rental Managers Association) conference in Phoenix next week, is an important figure in the vacation rental industry landscape. Bookt works very closely –here and around the globe - with vacation rental managers, tour operators, developers and larger travel organizations with diverse types of properties and portfolios, to attract and optimize their ideal customer bases far beyond current industry norms.

The company offers industry-specific web solutions tailored to the unique dynamics of vacation rental properties and provides a solid platform on which companies can build a highly successful marketing, sales and visibility strategy for their rental units. Bookt will be demonstrating its portfolio of services at the VRMA, including Bookt Connect, Bookt Site Widgets and the Bookt Control Panel; combined these allow for a much greater degree of flexibility in website design, content management and business rules than is currently available with other providers. Bookt will also be participating in industry discussions that focus on how suppliers, intermediaries and consumers connect, and presenting industry trends from its study of the vacation rental marketplace. Founded by experts in the travel industry, e-commerce and technology fields, and steeped in the nuances of the real estate marketplace, Bookt’s bi-industry approach shows a deep and sophisticated understanding of the vacation rental industry’s needs, targets, and operational aims to better manage inventory, increase efficiency and usability, and of course, drive revenues.

According to Bookt, the vacation rental industry is on the brink of great expansion. The maturity of new technologies, the emergence of new tourism hubs, the industry’s overall shift to online marketing and the need to turn underutilized real estate holdings into profit centers, has created an urgent need for a new business model and new industry platform for the vacation rental industry – the Bookt platform. Visitors to the VRMA conference will have the opportunity of seeing Bookt’s successes within the vacation rental industry, as well receiving information on lodging and hospitality trends in 2009. For more information on Bookt or to schedule an interview at the VRMA in Pheonix, please contact media liaisons Vanessa Horwell or Jennifer Rodrigues at 305.749.5342, or Vanessa@thinkinkpr.com or jrodrigues@thinkinkpr.com. ________________________________________________________________________________ About Bookt Bookt is a comprehensive web services provider to the global vacation rental industry, delivering seamless integration and turn-key web solutions. Headquartered in the US, the company provides a complete range of services for vacation rental managers, tour operators, developers and larger travel organizations ranging from sophisticated website development, online marketing services, search engine optimization and CRM strategies, to a wide range of domestic and international clients. For more information, please visit www.bookt.com.

Is Your Sales Pitch Photo Rich?

sam@bookt.com

An Undeniable Asset: You know the old real estate phrase “location, location, location”? Well when dealing with vacation rentals, an equally important aspect is “Photos, Photos, Photos”. Photos are more important than ever when marketing Vacation Rentals and Real Estate. In fact, a recent study by the California Association of Realtors found that Multiple Photographs/Slideshows continue to be the online feature with the highest rating among all online features, followed by Maps and Directions. Photo – A First Impression: Just like a handshake, a centralized photograph is going to be the first and lasting impression upon your audience. A good photograph will capture the consumer’s attention and encourage him to read on and click through. Use this knowledge to your advantage, because just as most things, it can be used for better or for worse. Make sure your putting up quality photos, displaying all aspects of the property. If the resolution is low, ask the realtor or property owner to provide a new one, or just do it yourself…it’s that important! Quality AND Quantity: In this case, a healthy photo mix of quantity of quality will have the most positive impact on your site, and business. Research has proven that more photos listed on a property resulted in more click through and leads. A company Point2.com conducted a similar study. They found that: *Monitored over a 30 day period. o Listings with 1 photo generated 5 views and 1.37 leads o Listings with > 21 photos generated 77 views and close to 11 leads In conclusion, listings that added an additional 20 photos generated nearly 10x the number of leads and over 15x the number of views Consistency Across All Delivery Points: It is important to remember this information across all marketing channels, not just your website. Because more than likely it’s the other channels that will bring a wide audience to your website…so stay consistent. Whether its inventory advertising, blogs, brochures, flyers, magazine articles, press releases, real estate preview guides or your office window, remember to keep it “Photo Rich”

Bookt's VRMA Success

sam@bookt.com

Last week (oct. 26th, 2008), The Bookt team traveled to Chandler, Arizona to showcase their new platform at the annual Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) convention. For the first time since the company's inception, Bookt was able to meet face to face with industry professionals and show off their Vacation Rental web solutions. The 2 day show, hosted at the Wild Horse Sheraton, attracted a huge audience of vendors and property managers both domestic and abroad. For two full days, Bookt showcased its platform (at their booth) which has been specifically developed to help property managers market and book their properties online. The team was also able to put in motion several partnerships with 3rd party portals and reservation systems. These partnerships will benefit property managers buy allowing them to sync their listings/data between the Bookt platform and any other services they are currently using - and innovative solution termed Bookt Connect. After the convention, the Bookt team traveled back to their corporate office in Miami, Florida. Bookt invites and encourages all VRMA members, and those who didn't have a chance to attend this year's conference to Contact themand schedule a free online demo of their Vacation Rental web solutions.

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