Picasa Photo Albums for Vacation Rentals by Owner.

We have another GREAT tool we want to let owners know about. If you own a vacation rental and you are running it "By Owner" you need every advantage possible to find and keep you guest.

I can not stress the importance of QUALITY photos of your vacation rental. These need to be updated as you make changes to your unit over time.

In the past, an owner could list 3-4 photos of their unit online and get plenty of business. Now with more competition you need to improve.

We love the new PICASA photo album service from Google. See my unit live online UNIT 122.

Notice the slide show plays automatically in the DESCRIPTION. Anytime you can eliminate clicks for a guest the better off you will be.

I start with the unit, outside moving in. Then go to every room in the house, showing beds and baths, laundry, EVERYTHING! Then I move back out side showing patios, street, beach, pool and then I move into area attractions. I try to paint a VACATION experience.

Many guest may have never been to your area. We as owners take all this for granted. Show off not only your unit but your area. The more quality photos you have the more time a guest will spend on your listing and the more likely they will book with you.

I use the slide show as my "bait". I have a guest on the phone and I ask them if they want to see 100 photos of the unit, they say "SURE", well go to ivacationonline.com unit 122 and look there. They go there. Once there, they love the photos and I tell them, "By the way, just click on the green week to begin the booking process." It is a very good closing tool.

We can integrate a PICASA slide show for you too. You need to join PICASA (it it FREE!) and create a WEB ALBUM. You can update this at any time. Once you create the WEB ALBUM, the system will give your EMBEDDED CODE that we will be able to put in your description so you too can have a slide show play automatically on your listing. ( Just email us the code) This is state of the art.

Think about what this will do for your business. I know I have better pictures than almost everyone, other owners and management companies. Notice I said PICTURES and not UNIT. My units are in good shape but to be honest, there are just nice, average units for the area. There are better and there are worse. What I do have is GREAT Photos. People love that! The pictures will sell it for you. No questions! Sign up today and start your own slide show. Your bookings will be better because of it.

Take advantage of the tools that are out there for you! Here is an example of one of my slide shows: