What is it about the Castle St John that makes it so unique? How about the location, which borders two national parks and offers incredible views and privacy atop a lush green hill? Or how about the Japanese Zen Garden, perfect for a relaxing, romantic stroll? Or perhaps you’ll be wowed by the life-size chess board on the roof, letting you experience your own Alice in Wonderland moment in the warm USVI sun. Whatever it is, there’s no doubt that the Castle St John is full of surprises. Plus, these surprises are contained in an amazing, castle-themed package, with local paintings, mosaics, sculptures, masks, and relics accentuating what is already a very unique rental.

So check out the Castle St John if you’re into unique vacation rentals that are a little off the beaten track. You may never want to leave one of its cozy hammocks again!

La Iguana del Molino is a three bedroom luxury condo that offers travelers the very best of Puerto Vallarta. The most striking feature about the unit is its massive marble balcony – its big enough to feature a large, cozy L-couch, two plants and a coffee table on one side, while the other side features a dining table and 30’ Kitchen-Aid barbeque, with plenty of leftover space to stretch one’s legs. The balcony overlooks the Pacific Ocean, with the waves so close you can practically taste the salt, as well as an Olympic-sized, salt-cleaned infinity pool (which you’ll have full access to). The unit itself, meanwhile, features the same gorgeous marble floors throughout, including all over the massive his and hers bathroom. The main sitting area, meanwhile, includes a massive U-shaped couch that is perfect for entertaining guests, while unique and hand-crafted artwork and furniture graces the unit all throughout.  Two of the bedrooms also have private balconies with mountain and jungle views. The unit also features a beautiful hide-away 60’ flat-screen, iPod docks, Blu-Ray Player, a Vonage payer for unlimited long distance to the US/Canada, and an ever-important security deposit.

It’s no wonder then, that La Iguana del Molino receives such great feedback, especially considering that it’s centrally located in the Romantic Zone, which is home to Puerto Vallarta’s best shops, restaurants and nightlife. So check out the unit if you’re interested in booking a luxury condo that delivers a unique experience at a price that’s not as high as you’d expect, especially if you divide the sticker price by the number of guests it can accommodate.

That’s because tourist hubs like Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Ixtapa, San Miguel de Allende have not only remained completely free of any violence, but because of the bad press, have also cut prices drastically in order to attract more business. These cities have went from being some of the most desirable destinations on earth to losing business to Caribbean resorts, so the time is ripe to take advantage of these deals. For example, you could get a 2 story penthouse in Playa del Carmen for $2,000, which is about the price you’d pay for a 2-bedroom in the Caribbean. The discounts get even deeper if you head to Acapulco, which unfortunately has been even more impacted by the bad press as of late – which is a real shame, considering it’s home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country. You could get a 4 or 5 bedroom villa in the hills over there for that very same price, and rest assured it’ll be one of the most unforgettable trips of your life. If you head to more authentic Mexican towns like San Miguel de Allende, also, you’ll be shocked at how warm and friendly the Mexican people are, especially now that they know that they’re combating these awful preconceptions. All that combines to make Mexico a better destination than ever.

Of course, if you don’t believe me, speak to some of owners who have properties in Mexico, and they’ll tell you not only how overblown the bad press has been, but also how safe their area is for tourists. The fact is, very few travelers have been caught in any crossfire, and if you compare the safety of Mexican tourist destinations to places where street crime is much more of a problem, such as certain areas of South and Central America, Mexico is an extremely safe option. With all that said, Mexico represents not only a safe destination, but also a great opportunity for travelers looking to take advantage of the misguided perceptions that have resulted from the bad press.

The first rule of following up is to always call before emailing. By calling, you get instant feedback from the client and you can immediately address any concerns that they may have. By email, in contrast, they may not even be upfront about their real concerns, and even if they are, by the time you’ve addressed them, they could have booked another property. That’s partly why leads with phone numbers are always considered of higher quality than those without, so if the client provided that, always call before writing.

The question I get most from owners, though, is when to follow up and how often. This can be tricky and the answer partly depends on when the inquiry is for. In terms of the initial response, though, the answer is easy – answer immediately, since you want to show the traveler that you’re reliable, and also because you don’t the traveler forming a relationship with another owner. If you don’t get a response from that initial reply, it’s a good idea to follow up two days later just to ensure that they received the response. If the traveler still does not reply, follow up again two days after that. If they do reply, then the follow up dates vary. If it’s for something last minute (i.e. less than two months away), a follow up 2 or 3 days after speaking is entirely appropriate. Likewise if the dates are very popular, such as over Christmas, as these dates book fast. If, however, the trip is a ways off and not during your busiest booking season, you can follow up 5 days later. If you follow up 3 or 4 times and still don’t receive a response, it’s time to let that lead go.

If you follow these rules, you’re sure to improve your conversion ratio. The most important thing to remember, though, is to never shy away from following up – remember, persistence pays off!

The answer to all these questions lies in the rental agreement. As we’ve seen, the rental agreement is the owner’s legal lifeline, so in many ways it’s worth having it reviewed by a lawyer in order to ensure that it corresponds with your jurisdiction’s laws. This includes establishing the amount required as a security deposit, but if you’re seeking added protection from damages, one way to do so is by charging your guests for accidental damage insurance, which covers, as the name implies, any damages that occur in your rental during the course of the stay (but does not cover theft). Taking payment by credit card, though, will protect you from theft, which is another reason why this payment method is the preferred option of most owners.

What if your guests are making a ton of noise, throwing parties, or engaging in some other behavior that violates the terms of the contract and makes you want to throw them out of the rental? For such cases, it’s important to have an eviction clause in the rental agreement, although you’ll want to make it brief so as not to scare off potential renters. Related to this, it’s important to state in the rental agreement that potential renters forfeit their right to sue the property owner as a result of the rental, and that all disputes will be resolved by an independent third party (most likely an arbitration organization), with another clause limiting the amount of damages that will be paid.

Of course, in many cases, owners can avoid these situations by thoroughly screening guests, as well as consulting sites such as Badvacationrenter.com and Guestchecker.com, and in any case most renters are respectful anyways. Still, with an airtight rental agreement, you can ensure that your rental is protected at all times, thereby allowing to rent your home with the upmost of confidence.

Don’t get me wrong, though, Jamaica is a big island, and there are plenty of different areas, each of which offer different advantages. Most weddings, though, take place in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Runaway Bay, or Negril. Out of all them, Ocho Rios is the priciest, but offers the most in terms of luxury villas and five-star staff. Negril, on the hand, offers your guests a chance to experience Jamaica’s cultural life and move to the rhythm of the reggae music that constantly sways the island, while also providing them with plenty of affordable accommodation. Runaway Bay and Montego Bay offer the best of both worlds, with villas and vacation rentals in plenty of different price ranges and an abundance of private beaches to accommodate your reception.

No matter where in Jamaica you choose, though, rest assured that you will experience a wedding the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Many of the luxury beachfront villas, in fact, were designed with weddings in mind, and wedding planners around the island are more than happy to accommodate any wish you may have. You’ll also have access to top-of-the-line food, including locally grown fruits and vegetables, fresh seafood, and any kind of meat or desert you wish to provide your guests with, since the island is home to so many gourmet restaurants and thus has a steady supply of high-end food, which is not something that can be said for all Caribbean islands.

In the end, walking barefoot down the aisle on the beach with the sound of waves crashing behind you and enjoying a sunset reception is something you and your guests will never forget, which is what any good wedding is all about, so be sure to consider Jamaica if you are in the market for a destination wedding.

Out of all the options available, credit card is undoubtedly the best and most secure, but unfortunately the most expensive. From your traveler’s perspective, they know that with a credit card payment, they’re fully covered in the event that, say, they show up and the vacation rental doesn’t exist. Of course you know there’s no chance of that happening, but your traveler may not, so paying by credit card gives them that added peace of mind. Plus, it’s the easiest and cheapest method from your client’s perspective, since they can just read you off their credit card number and they won’t have to pay anything extra for that. They’ll also feel secure knowing that they’re dealing with an owner who’s professional enough to accommodate credit card payments. The only problem for the owner is that they have to get themselves set up with either a merchant account or get a proxy to accept the payment for them, in which case they’re looking at paying a couple of percentage points on each transaction. That cost is well worth it, though, since it brings in renters that would be wary of any other payment method.

If accepting credit cards isn’t an option, there’s also Pay Pal. Pay Pal offers a safe and reliable way for individuals to transfer money to one another from around the world, so it’s not surprising that it’s popular in the vacation rental world. If there’s a dispute, Pay Pal offers mediation services, for example, as well as fraud protection and refunds for items that never arrive, so travelers can feel like they have that added layer of security as well. However, the level of security is not as high as with credit card payments since it’s not as easy to get a refund in the case of fraud, but this disadvantage is partially offset by the fact that a Pay Pal account is free and easy to set up. Plus, as an owner, you receive the funds immediately, so there’s no need to wait for a check to clear or for a wire transfer to come in, which will also help you take last-minute reservations.

If credit card or Pay Pal aren’t options for you, there’s also checks, although here the disadvantages start to become more apparent. For one, as mentioned, there’s a clearance period on most checks (usually about a month), so you’ll have to be checking back with the bank to see if the payment went through, and you also won’t be able to accept bookings that are less than 30 days away, unless you’re 100% sure that the check won’t bounce. That’s why owners that accept checks will sometimes only accept it for the deposit payment (usually 70%), but will then ask for the balance to be paid cash on arrival.

Lastly, you could ask for a bank (or wire) transfer. While this payment method is popular in Europe, North Americans travelers are usually wary of such payment options since they offer no fraud protection, so do know that you might be turning off perspective renters.  Furthermore, there’s at least $30 worth of fees involved with a bank transfer, so you’ll have to work out who’ll incur those costs. Lastly, as an owner, you’ll have to keep checking your bank account to see if the funds were transferred, which is not necessarily ideal.

With all that said, the business-minded owner would do best by either getting a merchant account or at least having someone take credit card payments on their behalf, but in the absence of that, Pay Pal and check could work (in that order). Bank transfers, though, are expensive, complicated, and just don’t sit well with North American owners, so this type of payment should be used as a last resort only.

Beginning with one of the most popular and established communities, Calabay Parc at Tower Lakes boasts itself as the premier vacation rental community in all of Florida, although it is similar to places like Tuscan Hills and Indian Creek. These gated community feature some exquisite homes, most of which feature open concept living rooms and private pools with lanais. They also haves little playgrounds for the kids, but undoubtedly the best feature of Calabay Parc and the other communities are their proximity to Disney for the price. At just 9 miles, you’re looking at a 15 minute drive for Calabay Parc, especially considering you’ll be driving on theUS27 from the I4, as opposed to the jam-packed I94. As you’ll see, it may not be as close as Celebration, but rental rates are also lower to reflect that, so if you’re planning on renting a car (and maybe heading to Daytona for one day), Calabay Parc is a smart bet.  It’s also 2 miles from plenty of restaurants, shopping and golf, so even if you don’t hit Disney every day or go to Daytona, you definitely won’t get bored.

If golf is your top priority, though, you may want to check out the community of Southern Dunes, since it’s located directly on (as the name implies) the Southern Dunes Golf and Country Club. That’s no ordinary course either – Southern Dunes routinely wins a ton of awards – for example, it was the #2 Reader’s Choice pick in Golf Digest and the #6 Florida Pick in Golf World in 2009. Villa owners there often offer golf passes and country club passes as part of their rentals as well, so if golf is your thing, it’s definitely worth looking into. Southen Dunes is also 15 miles from Disney World, so you’re looking at about a 20 minute drive, depending on traffic. With the longest distance from Disney out of the three, then, Southern Dunes is definitely best suited to guests that want to experience as much magic on the links as they do in the Magical Kingdom.

Of course, out of all the Disney vacation rental communities, the most famous is undoubtedly Celebration. If you don’t know, Celebration was actually first built by the Disney Development Company as a means of developing the area around Disney World, to the tune of about $2.5 billion. Today, much of the land is privately owned, though Disney does still maintain control of the city’s utility services, which has actually led to some controversy and accusations of monopoly. In any case, though, Celebration definitely feels the most Disney out of all the communities, since its buildings are unique and built in that old small-town America style, making it kind of seem like the town in Pleasantville, but in a good and much more colorful way. It also has plenty of shops and restaurants within walking distance, which is key if you don’t have a car. Plus, out of all the communities, Celebration’s the closest Disney World – in fact, it’s also known as Downtown Disney, and is only a couple of miles at most from the park, meaning you’re looking at $16 cab ride with no traffic, and even less if you use one of the Disney buses that routinely pass by. Rentals are a bit more expensive here and also book up faster, but if your priority is Disney World and you don’t plan on renting a car, Celebration can’t be beat.

So remember, if you have a rental car, Calabay Parc offers great villas for cheap, and if golf is your thing, Southern Dunes is the place for you. If you don’t want to rent a car and want your trip to feel as Disney as possible, though, check out the rentals in Celebration, although if you’re going that route, be sure to book early. And tell Mickey I say hi!

The first thing you want to do is make sure that your property is showing up when people search for places that meet your rental’s criteria. To continue the newspaper analogy, this is akin to making sure your story shows up in the right section of the paper. In order to do so, make sure the location, the price, the number of bedrooms, and the number of people that the property can accommodate are accurate, since these are the most common search terms. Above and beyond that, it’s also a good idea to study how each site ranks search results, and optimize your listing for those results, if possible. For example, if adding new photos makes you rank higher, you need to have a strategy in place to add new photos at least once a month to keep that ranking high. With all that done, at least travelers will be able to see your property in the relevant search results, which is half the battle.

The only problem now is that travelers are also looking at a bunch of competing properties at the same time, so if you want them to click on yours, you’re going to have to get creative, which is the other half of the battle. As usual, having a bunch of positive reviews helps, since travelers will see the number of reviews available in the search page and are more likely to click on well reviewed properties. Also, as mentioned earlier, a snappy headline and a great profile picture should definitely help. The headline should emphasize the most important unique selling point of your villa, since that’s what makes your place stand out from the pack anyways. So, if you have a huge games room, put “Huge Games Room!” in the headline. The same is true if you’re running specials at a given time. Also, make sure you take a photo that highlights the best part of the villa as well. So if you have a cliff-top rental in USVI with an infinity pool, maybe capture the pool and deck area at sunset with the ocean in the background, that way you can really capture the attention of your target market. In the end, that’s what it’s all about, since you have about 0.5 seconds to grab the traveler’s attention once they’re browsing the search page.

Remember, there’s no sense in paying for a listing that no one clicks on, so make sure you’re showing up high in the appropriate search criteria, and make sure your listing stands out with a great headline, profile picture, and as many reviews as possible. Do so and you’re sure to have so many inquiries, you end up signing up for our reservations management service!

Of course, if you took a look at some of these cabins, your first instinct will probably be that you can’t afford them. They usually have huge fireplaces, mezzanines that wrap around the house, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, and whatever other little perk you can think of. But,what you have to pay attention to is the number of people these cabins can usually accommodate – generally, they can sleep upwards of 10 people and more. When you divide the sticker price by the number of people that can stay there, suddenly that $6,000 a week rental becomes much more affordable. And besides, when it comes to ski holidays, the more the merrier, so if you have some friends or extended family that like skiing, why not invite them to Colorado with you? That way, you can get an even bigger and nicer ski cabin for less money, and maybe even get a ski-in/ski-out rental so you can hit the slopes right from your front door. Trust me, there’s no greater luxury than that in Colorado, and when you ski back in you’ll be greeted with a huge, warm rental featuring all the amenities you can dream of. And, if you want make that vacation extra special, you can even get the rental catered, meaning you’ll ski home to a beautiful meal prepared by your own personal chef. It sounds expensive, but again, when you compare the price of that to the price of a nice dinner for the whole family at one of the better restaurants in the popular ski towns, that private chef suddenly goes from a fantasy to a value proposition. Even if you don’t take a private chef, though, just being able to cook your own meals will save you a ton of money. Speaking of savings, you’ll also save on resort parking, since you can just park your car in your driveway. When you add all these things up, it makes a big difference.

Like I said, though, the best cabins fill up their winters fast, so if you can tear yourself away from the pool for one second, it’s definitely a good idea to start browsing for Colorado ski cabins now.