vacation apartments

recommend

VAR — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:07:35 +0000

Here is the problem,
I write stuff,
Some of you read it and it is great, but you really can’t tell if my recommendations worth anything,

In other words, I am looking for a tool that will help me recommend stuff. Any ideas?
I mean, sure, there is the like face book option, but that is not what I am looking for

Can someone point me to a good tool?

Living the dream in TLV

VAR — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:04:32 +0000

Hi All
It has been a while,
As most of you know I used to live in Boston, well I used to live in many places. The more the better, that’s what I say.
So I just moved to Tel Aviv lately and I have t say that so far it is great. I can get used to the sunshine.
What am I doing here you ask? Well, few things. I am still helping some vacation rentals owners, well they help me too and I am looking for some new projects.
Hey? you got an idea?
I am still thinking about the internet and different products we can sell through it (hey, it worked with the vacation rental thing). I will let you know what is my decision.
I am also thinking about actually managing few vacation rentals. You all know I like this industry. just a matter of decision. As part of these thoughts I am looking for a nice property in a big city. I don’t care which one so if you heard about a RE investment opportunity, please shoots me an email.
Will keep you posted on what I end up doing.

I just can’t make sense out of it

VAR — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:05:05 +0000

I have to be honest here, I think I am beginning to like Bing better than Google. Well like is not the right word, maybe the word that I am looking for is “understand”.
Hey, we all Google, and from what I see in my statistics people use the Google page as a browser entering www.yahoo.com at the search. However, when I follow my statistics I just can’t make sense of the traffic that Google sends me. One week they send me a lot of traffic related to one key word, then no traffic from that word for months and then they send me traffic again. At least with Bing and Yahoo, sometime you’re up and sometimes you’re down but it is not drastic. You can make sense of it.
Speaking of making sense, I got an email from a Rabbi. Yes, the Jewish equivalent to Christian priest or Muslim Kadi. She was trying to book a vacation apartment in Tel Aviv, she paid the down payment but the owner was very slow to respond to her questions and emails. She was so disappointed that she cancel the booking. The owner off course wanted to know what went wrong. Well, stupid, just answer the emails and make the customer happy. Let’s face it, you make customer happy and you get good reviews and repeat customers!! That does makes sense no?

Till next time …………. try to make sense !!!

A case study – true and honest review is worth a lot of money

VAR — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:27:41 +0000

It has been a while since I wrote, well better late than ever,

As you all know I am writing on the vacation rental business and some cool places I have visited. And from the different vacation rental websites I usually use Guesthouse Network cause I like the way that they present their apartments and I can count on them that all posting are legit. As a result Guesthouse Network, share some info with me.

This is a great story that they shared with me, as you know the vacation rental business really started to flourish thanks to the internet, when every owner could create a small website and put it online. Another addition to the growth of the vacation rental business is the evolution of new portals like Guesthouse Network, or VRBO and others that allow owners to post their short term or vacation apartments. Most of these portals use the power of the internet to get customers, they use different techniques to drive users to their websites.

Guesthouse Network shared a case study with me, which is remarkable. Last month the NY Times run a story about cool things to do in NYC. As you can guess there is a lot to do in the big apple. On the online version of the article some users recommended using Guesthouse Network for short term accommodation in NYC, they even called it cheap accommodation. On a following article the author, Matt Gross, choose to specifically mention Guesthouse Network as a great cheap vacation apartments option in NYC. Here is a link to the article:

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/readers-go-even-deeper-for-the-cheap-in-new-york/

This small article drove so much traffic to their website that it tripled the monthly average. Guesthouse Network marketing manager told me that they were not even aware of and they don’t know the author or the users that recommended the Guesthouse Network service.

This case can just show you that there is nothing like an honest and true review in the right place, that can go a long way!

This post got me thinking about the way that these vacation rentals websites makes money. Well, that’s might be a good topic for next time.

Please let me know what you think about this post

Denied!!!

VAR — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:51:12 +0000

I wanted to be in NYC for the new year’s celebration. Never been in times Sq for the new year’s celebration. BUT!!! I guess that I will have to watch it on TV this year too ?
For the last few days I tried to pull all of my contacts and look for a nice vacation rental in new York. Nothing spectacular, just a place to crash since the thought we had was to PARTY. Well I am sorry to report that I had no luck.
Even when I tried some of the hotels website I couldn’t find anything, well, anything in a reasonable price. I guess that this is the time of year that they make their money.
I was able to get on a waiting list for a cool place on 53rd St, the thing is that they are waiting for someone to book 5-7 days, well I can see where they come from, for them it actually makes sense.
Would like to hear your thoughts!! Do you know anyone that I can crash with at New Year’s?

A weekend in Barcelona, and a tip for a cool place

VAR — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:26:09 +0000

Like any place, the perception of it is the outcome of the people you spent time with. What I mean I that sometimes you are in a horrible place but with good friends or family that makes it to a great place (well, that is if you like your family and friends ?)
Me and some friends of mine had a small get together in Barcelona, well, Barcelona is great no matter who you spend time with!! Since my friends know my vacation rental “craziness” they were bugging me about getting them all a cheap accommodations in Barcelona. Well we ended at a great apartment in Las Balmes, 6 people, paying around 25eu a person. Hey, I don’t know what you think but I think that is a sweet deal. The owner, Fernando was very helpful and also gave us some great tips about the city. He recommended a small bar called Bonobo Bar, This place is located at a very quiet street of Barrio de Gracia and it’s away enough of the neighborhoods rhythm to be unaware by the most of locals, so not people go there if they already know it. This small and cozy bar became our refuge for the week, cheap beer, good music and great friends, hey, you can’t go wrong!
I will add some more thoughts about Barcelona in the next coming weeks,
For now, what did you think about my find me a vacation rental website? Have you used it? if not please check it at http://www.bidforarental.com/and tell me what you think

OK, so here it is, bid for a rental tool !!

VAR — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:59:40 +0000

Hi Everyone,
Trying to search for a vacation rental can be a pain as I mentioned in one of my last posts, you get lost between all the websites and even when you do find a website you like that shows the info in a way that you like it still doesn’t mean that there is actual availability. Try to search for a vacation rental in London or Paris short term rental in Google or Yahoo and you will see exactly what I mean.
Well, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I was working on a new venture that will make our life easier, here is the thing, why not filling a request for a short term apartment. Let’s say, 1br in Midtown Manhattan in March 15th for 3 nights, and this request will go to all the owners that have such an apartment. If one of these owners has availability then he will email you back with info (price, photos, and location). So technically all you have to do is fill in one request and all the owners will send you the info!!!
One stop shop!!!
Well, this is just a beta version but I would like to know what you think, we named it bid for a rental (open for new name ideas) or http://www.bidforarental.com/just click on the link and test it
Let me know what you think, it just went live a couple of days ago so any feedback will be appreciated!
So, when you try to find a vacation rental or some sort of a short term rental, please use http://www.bidforarental.com/

Thanks

Vacation apartment in Boston

VAR — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:35:32 +0000

Well, first things first, I have not forgotten you and I am still working on my super cool new application!!
But this week I was asked to write about Boston, hey, it is just 3.5 hours by train! Unless you are taking the train with me! I was stuck for 7 hours.
But, when you finally get to Boston, it is a great city, I will recommend a long weekend for the trip (around 4 days) but you can also stay for a month.
I would dedicate one day to down town Boston, a day to Cambridge and Harvard Sq, a day to Charlestown and at night go out to little Italy. This is just the basic and if you only check the city. As for accommodation, it is better to be close to the T so you can get to every part of the city in just few minutes. As usual I stayed at a great Bostonian vacation rental close to the green T line. It took me 5 minutes to get to downtown and ~20 minutes to go to Cambridge on the red line. This great short term rental in Boston is efficiently run by a great guy that personally renovated it and decorated it. Click the link to his place.
I will write more about my Boston short term rental at another time, had a busy week !!!
Till next time

What if? Is it a better way to search for vacation rentals

VAR — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:21:58 +0000

One of the biggest problem in the vacation rental industry is that the information that is presented is not always accurate, meaning that the description or availability are a little off. What happen that people go through all of these websites find a place they like but at the end of the day the place is not available.
Why can’t you, let’s say, look for a Paris vacation apartment or a Paris short term rental for February, and there will be one source that can tell you what is available and what not. I know, that’s what everyone trying to do!! But I think that the right way to attack this issue is by making it easy for the owners! Let’s say I have a short term rental in Amsterdam, and I have 4 apartments but only one is available, all I have to do is to let people know that I have some availability for these dates so if someone is looking for these dates he will not waste the time looking at my other properties.
Wellllllll, I am working on something, and I will hopefully be able to show it to you next week!

Eduardo’s short term rental in midtown NYC

VAR — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:07:26 +0000

Eduardo vacation apartments are a hidden secret in new York city, Eduardo’s 20 apartments are all located next to Broadway and between 51st to 55th streets very close to the theatres and the park.
Eduardo’s character (which is a combination of hectic Brazilian and NYC business man ?) can be seen in each of the apartments, his motto is well located midtown vacation apartment in a reasonable price. Eduardo personally manages the renovation of all of his apartments, all of the apartments has all the amenities that you need from full kitchen to WiFi. On 53rd St the studio has great view to the David Letterman studio so you can see the daily celebrity as they roll in to the show. Most of Eduardo apartments are studios that can sleep 2-4 guests but some are one bedroom that can sleep up to 6 guests.
If you are looking for a short term rental in NYC and in Midtown Eduardo is your guy, his short term rentals start at $130 a night and as mentioned above are well equipped.

If you want us to mention your business pease drop us a line

Till next time…