Escapia Blog - Vacation Rental News and Trends

Go Away Earl!

 By John Suzuki, VP Sales

With Hurricane Earl bearing down on the eastern seaboard, let us all keep our east coast friends and vacation rental colleagues in our thoughts and prayers for their safety, and for Earl to take a hard right turn out to sea.

Earl is headed toward the Outer Banks of North Carolina right now and projected to work itself to the shores of Maine. To all of you in the affected areas, please stay safe. To all of you not in the affected areas, please join me in praying for their safety.

And to our Escapia clients in the area, please remember to take your laptops if you have to evacuate. We'll take care of the rest. And call us if there's anything we can do to help! Support will be standing by to help you.

Here's to looking back on this as an uneventful experience.

John

Come to Oregon!

 By John Suzuki, VP Sales
 

We will be hosting our Northwest Vacation Rental Breakfast Seminar at the Nines Hotel (a very cool spot) in Portland, Oregon on Thursday, September 9th. It will be a morning of good food, great networking, and information that will inspire and excite you.

Bill Furlong (Escapia CEO) will host the morning which will be filled with information and ideas on how to do better business in this new age of online vacation rental commerce. You will also hear from TravelGuard about their most popular Travel Services, Kaba about keyless locks and virtual check-ins, and Ascent Processing about credit card risks and security.

We have received a whopping 99.9 percent positive feedback over the last five years, and everyone walks out more informed and inspired than when they arrived. Best of all, it's free to professional vacation rental managers. And for those of you outside the area, what better time to take a business trip to Oregon than September 9, 2010?

For more information, visit VRseminar.com. I hope you can make it!

New Website Launch - Golf and Tennis Realty!

Golf and Tennis Realty is a vacation rental company with properties in Palm Springs and its companion cities in the Coachella Valley.  All of their one and two bedroom condominium homes are centrally located with easy access to all the amenities of Palm Springs. 

 

To showcase their beautiful desert vacation rental homes, Golf and Tennis Realty launched a new website powered by EscapiaWEB Portal.  The new website features home page search, beautiful high-resolution photos, property ratings/reviews and integrated social media such at Facebook and Twitter.  Contact us to learn more about these and the other latest features from EscapiaWEB.

Pytha Vacation Rentals Launches New Website Powered by Escapia

We're excited to announce the launch of another great vacation rental website powered by EscapiaWEB Portal!  Pytha Vacation Rentals in Central Florida has a new website to showcase their Orlando vacation rental properties that are close to Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios and Epcot Center. Pytha Vacation Rentals' new website is fully integrated with their Escapia vacation rental management software so that all their information – rates, descriptions, photos, and availability calendars are automatically updated and always up to date. 

Escapia and NAVIS Announce Integration Providing Vacation Rental Managers with Cutting Edge Customer Service Technology

Escapia, Inc., the leader in web-based vacation rental software and NAVIS, the leader in leisure sales optimization for the resort lodging market, announced the release of their technology integration of Escapia property management software and NAVIS Narrowcast leisure sales solution. 

Guest information will now seamlessly flow between Escapia’s vacation rental software and NAVIS Narrowcast.  This integration will enable more efficient lead and guest management by tracking reservations, guest history, cancellations, marketing campaigns and owner data.

“Our clients are delighted to have Escapia integrated with NAVIS Narrowcast,” said Bill Furlong, CEO of Escapia.  “The integration will allow our mutual customers to provide better customer service by giving them easier access to more information on their prospects and customers through NAVIS Narrowcast. Clients that have already begun using the integration are extremely pleased.”

 “We couldn't be happier with the NAVIS Narrowcast integration with Escapia,” said Sandy Stone, owner of Island Realty in Isle of Palms, South Carolina.  “We strive to exceed the expectations of our guests and owners, and the interface between the two programs helps us to achieve that in ways we were unable to before.”  

For more information on Escapia’s integration with NAVIS call 1-800-ESCAPIA.

New Website Launch for Burr White Realty in Newport Beach

Congratulations to Burr White Realty Newport Beach Vacation Rentals on the launch of their new vacation rental website! The new website is powered by EscapiaWEB Portal.

Burr White Realty has been providing vacation homes in for families for more than four decades. With over 200 vacation homes to choose from, they have a vacation home to suit every taste. Burr White Realty's virtues of honesty, integrity, and loyalty have been hard-earned by providing consistent quality, value, and service to each and every client. Today on the Balboa Peninsula, Burr White Realty maintains its reputation with its long-held clients as the area's most capable property manager, specializing in vacation rentals, property management and sales.

Vacation science tips: Plan early; Go often

by Bill Furlong, CEO

When you consider how much all of us obsess over vacations -- not just those of us in the vacation rental business but just about any of us -- it surprising that there is not more scientific research on the impact of vacations on the human body and spirit.

Some of that research has recently been done according to this article from Smart Money.  Apparently the bottom line is this:  the psychological benefits of vacation start as soon as your planning does, but the lasting impact is short once you get home.  So the inevitable conclusion is that to have maximum impact on our lives, we should string together an endless series of vacation planning.  Sign me up!

New & Improved Website for Knutson & Associates!

Congratulations to Knutson & Associates, who recently launched a new vacation rental website powered by Escapia! Knutson & Associates chose the EscapiaWEB Portal solution for their new website.  EscapiaWEB completely integrates Knutson & Associates' website with their back-end vacation rental software, providing a seamless flow of reservations, availability calendars, rates, photos, descriptions and more.

Knutson & Associates is a mid-sized, independently owned company consisting of dedicated professional Realtors. Their offices are located in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii.  They are backed by a management team with decades of experience in all phases of Hawaiian real estate and are currently celebrating their 29th year in business in Kailua-Kona.

Palm Springs Vacation Rental Manager Seminar

By Brandon Besecker, Escapia Sales

Last week, Bryan Boice and I made a trip to Palm Springs where we held the annual Vacation Rental Manager Breakfast Seminar and we had a great turn out! Over 20 vacation rental managers came out to spend their morning with Escapia, TravelGuard, Kaba Locks, US Merchant Services, and Visual Data Systems.

  

There were some GREAT conversations within the group! I've heard the saying "A rising tide lifts all ships" and I love it when firms get together and share thoughts and personal experiences that can help others! Here are some takeaways from the seminar:

• If you are not providing guest reviews, you are missing the boat! Guests expect them and they help increase bookings.
• Yield management really works! You will get more bookings and make more money if you utilize it (attending customers were happy to provide testimonials to support this fact)!
• Paying for leads from Distribution Partners is not cool. You should only be paying for bookings, and AFTER the guest has checked out!
• Travel Insurance Protection will not only protect your guests and give them piece of mind; it will put money in your pocket!
• If you are not taking credit cards, pull up the shag carpet and take off the plastic couch covers! It's 2010 and guests EXPECT to be able to pay online!
• Keys are out. If you like running out at midnight to let in a guest that lost their key, stay with keys. Do you know who has the keys to your units right now? Most likely, not. And that's a liability! Go keyless!
• Facebook is an effective tool for building a "group" of followers for special deals and to promote last minute stays for unbooked homes! SEO and custom websites allow you to update the content, but also allows your development firm to create a truly custom experience for your guest with lots of cool features and widgets for guest to interact with your firm! And, the web is mobile! You should have a mobile version of your site available!
• Finally, I have a personal takeaway: If Bryan tries to talk me into walking around Palm Springs or any other desert destination to find a Starbucks, I'll pass! It was 110 degrees there and stones actually melted into the bottom of his sandals on the death march for his "cup of joe". Next time, I'll search it out the nearest Starbucks on my iPhone and hail a cab!

New Website Launch - Luxury Paradise Vacations!

Luxury Paradise Vacations is a vacation rental company with properties on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii.  The new website is powered by EscapiaWEB Portal. 

Luxury Paradise Vacations offers a variety of vacation rentals that will suit any type of renter. They are family friendly and accommodate accordingly. Many of their rentals are close to beaches, golf courses and shopping.

To see other beautiful vacation rental websites powered by Escapia, visit our website gallery.