@Keith Courtney , thanks for asking the question! I was browsing the internet today on the topic of the management of vacation rental properties and found this thread. I've enjoyed reading about everyone's experience in this industry.
I have an especially keen interest in the topic of vacation rental properties as I was employed by VRBO.com and Homeaway for 11+ years. I retired last July, but am still involved in the industry by virtue of owning a vacation rental property in Summit County, CO and starting service to assist other property owners in the marketing and management of their vacation rental properties.
Here are my thoughts related to your points (based on my professional experience as well as my personal experience from our own VR property):
1) The vacation home must offer the amenities renters want.
I won't repeat all of the good advice that I've read from others about doing your due diligence in researching the area regarding what rates the market will bear, what amenities the most popular homes offer, etc. There are a lot of amenities that seem to be popular no matter what location the property is in, such as Wifi in the unit, comfortable mattresses, quality linens, TV/DVD (HD quality is becoming more and more a sought-after amenity), and so on.
When we purchased our vacation rental property in Summit County CO (June 2012) the first thing we had to do was decide "Who is our target audience?" Since our building does not have common amenities such as hot tub, swimming pool, etc, we knew that families with children would probably opt for one of the other condo buildings that did offer those things. We decided to market our unit to attract couples traveling together. (Ours is a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit.) Therefore we offer two king sized beds instead of one king-sized bed in the master and two twins or a queen in the second bedroom.
During our extensive remodel we included luxury touches that would attract our target audience (and make up for the fact that our unit does not have a hot tub, which is a popular amenity in a ski area.) We put in a large steam shower and jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom, installed a custom kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and a 7-foot island, have a 50" HDTV and HD expanded cable package in the living area. We stocked the kitchen with everything we could think of that a guest might want or need (such as coffee grinder, blender, popcorn popper, crock pot, citrus juicer, basic pantry items, etc.) Basically we tried to think of everything that WE would like to see in a vacation rental property that we might book and when possible included those in our unit. (The hardest part of this was finding a balance of quality, luxury items that would not break our hearts or the bank if they were lost, broken or stolen.)
2) A good property manager
As others have mentioned having a good property manager is really crucial in making the difference between having a successful vacation rental experience and not. Sites like VRBO and Homeaway and Flipkey help property owners be able to market and manage their properties themselves, but that might not be feasible or desired by some people. A good personal recommendation is the best advertisement. Do your homework to educate yourself on what is a fair average property management rate for your property's location and also the most common services offered by PMs in your area.
You may not need to hire a full-service PM to manage your property. There are also services (like mine) that offer to handle the day-to-day (admin-type) items that take so much time (such as replying to inquiries, communicating with guests, setting up payments, creating & sending contracts, etc….) while you are still involved by finding & hiring your housekeeping/maintenance staff, stocking the property or conducting regular maintenance (if you live nearby), paying the taxes that are collected, etc. These services often are available for a lower fee than charged by full-service Property Management companies and might be a good compromise.
3) A good marketing program to maximize rental bookings.
If you hire a full-service Property Manager they usually have their own website and marketing efforts and participating in this marketing is included in the fee that you pay. This might be all that is necessary to keep your property booked. Some property owners might be happy as long as the property pays for itself, but others might be more "hands on" and want to be in more control than putting your property in the hands of a PM company would allow.
That is where sites like VRBO, Homeaway or Flipkey (to mention just a few) come in. Again, you need to do your homework to make sure you understand the factors that affect your listing's performance on each of these sites. (Just in the time I've spent browsing today, when anyone offered the URL to their listings on VRBO or Homeaway I've taken a look at them and could identify a few things that they could have been doing to help increase their listing's performance.) If you are careful to create an informative listing with beautiful photos and make sure you are including as many of the factors that create a quality listing as possible (which is what affects listing placement on VRBO and Homeaway) then you can have success in marketing your property on your own.
One more thing I'd like to mention is the importance of having a good number of highly-rated reviews. This is one of the most important tools that travelers used to help them decide if they should inquire on that particular property. Booking a vacation rental property might be a new experience for some travelers & they may feel insecure in the process. Being able to read glowing reviews from actual guests helps alleviate those fears and might be the thing to push the traveler to send an inquiry on the listing.
Of course if you are just getting started your listing will not have any reviews. This means you must be diligent in soliciting reviews from your guests. And if you are afraid to solicit a review for fear it will not be a good one then this is your opportunity to fix or improve your property or amenities (or even your handling of the reservation) that might be an issue with guests.
Valerie
