And the winner is….

LiveRez.com Founder and CEO Tracy Lotz congratulates Margy Roe of Ocean Properties and Vacation Rentals, Inc. on winning LiveRez.com's iPad 2 giveaway.

Margy Roe of Ocean Properties and Vacation Rentals in New Smyrna Beach, Florida is the winner of LiveRez.com's iPad 2 Giveaway at the 2011 National VRMA Conference. The announcement took Roe completely by surprise.

"I was very excited. I had no idea. I kind of forgot I even put my card in there," she said. "So, this is nice. Thank you!"

LiveRez.com Founder and CEO Tracy Lotz congratulated Roe shortly after the announcement.

"Seeing the look on Margy's face when she realized that she had won an iPad 2 was awesome!" Lotz said. "This is one of the funnest things that we do at the VRMA conference, and we are glad to have given it to such a nice lady."

Shortly after the announcement, Roe was still shocked that she had won. According Roe, her boss, Kelley, is normally is the lucky one.

"Maybe it's rubbing off on me," she said.

So how does winning the iPad compare to Roe's success in other contests?

"This is the most amazing thing I have ever won!" Roe said.  "Thank you very much!"

Chris Davidson of Y Partnership shared some interesting statistics about the vacation rental industry during his speech Tuesday at the 2011 VRMA Conference.

Chris Davidson, Chief Client Officer of Y Partnership, offered some great statistics and spoke to some emerging trends in the vacation rental industry Tuesday during the morning session of the 2011 VRMA Conference.

Some of the larger trends he spoke to were price sensitivity of travelers during tougher economic times, the emergence of technology and social media, the influence of children on vacation choice, and the increasing importance of flash sales.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the more popular statistics he shared:

What are the major obstacles to traveling?

• 55 percent of travelers interested in vacation rentals cited household budget as a major obstacle.
• 41 percent cited airfare prices.
• 44 percent cited gas prices.

Many people were going on vacation to celebrate special life events. The three most popular were:

• Milestone birthdays
• Milestone Anniversaries
• Weddings

Children are having a big influence on the choice of where and how to vacation:  

• 50 percent of people interested in vacation rentals said children had a significant effect on their decision of vacation destination.

How much lead time do people need in advance of a vacation? Many people are making last-minute travel plans. 

• 38 percent said they have taken last-minute vacations (made arrangement six days or less prior to stay) in the last year.

Flash sales are becoming more popular.

• 25 percent have booked a travel service because of an unexpected e-mail.
• Last chance sales, last-minute discounts and high-urgency offers are also becoming more popular.

Price transparency is affecting how travelers make decisions:

• 44 percent prefer low airfare.
• 34 percent prefer a legacy carrier.
• 21 percent say it doesn’t matter.

Rate now trumps brand in hotels and resorts

• 89 percent indicated that room rate was very important (in fact, the most important consideration).
• Brand was much further down the list.

In terms of appeal for vacation rentals, the following were most important:

• 94 percent noted value.
• 91 percent listed privacy.

As price transparency rises, brand clarity becomes more urgent. This becomes even clearer when you look at the statistics behind what travelers are looking for in a website.

• 89  want to be able to check lowest fares.
• 85 percent want a lowest price guarantee.
• 84 percent want photos of rooms and facilities.

However…

• Only 21 percent of active leisure travelers have visited a meta search site, like Kayak.

Where are travelers going to get advice? Davidson highlighted these statistics as being the most noted (please note that these do not comprise the entire list):

• TripAdvisor (59 percent)
• Facebook (36 percent)
• YouTube (22 percent)

How Important is Social Media?

• 46 percent of active travelers maintain a page on a social site.
• 91 percent of those are on Facebook.

How many travelers say they have made a travel decision based on information from a social networking site?

• Only 9 percent

But Davidson noted to keep the following statistics in mind when determining how effective social media really is and could be in the future. When it comes to sources of ideas for travel:

• 52 percent noted family and friends.
• 49 percent said magazines.
• 48 percent said television.
• 46 percent said travel guidebook.
• 39 percent said search engines.

Mobile

• There are 70 million smart phones in North America.
• That number is predicted to rise to 239 million by 2013.

Some more tidbits:

• Hawaii was chosen as the No. 1 destination for vacation rentals.
• 26 percent of people who are interested in vacation rentals expect to travel more, compared to 12 percent who expect to travel less.

Closing Thoughts

• Vacations remain a “birthright” to Americans, and people are using new resourcefulness to counter tough economic times.
• Flash travel deals are becoming increasingly popular.
• Children are becoming increasingly influential in a family’s travel choices.
• Social media will change the way people make decisions about traveling.

LiveRez.com had a whole host of SWAG available at its booth during the 2011 VRMA Conference in Orlando, FL.

The national VRMA Conference offers an unmatched opportunity to meet with vacation rental managers from all over the United States and beyond. This year, LiveRez.com is doing a number of things to connect with professional VRMs. But these communication efforts can be used by just about any business to share its solution and connect with the people it can help.

Here are some of things we’re doing this year:

Stand Out: At LiveRez, we’re proud of our partners, and they have come out in force at this conference. To showcase our partners, we are giving them LiveRez lanyards and ribbons that say “LiveRez Partners.” In a conference setting, it’s always nice to let others know what groups you’re a part of; it really helps facilitate the networking process. One thing that can help LiveRez partners network outside of the conference is the LiveRez Network group on LinkedIn.

VRMA Gold Sponsorship: We think the VRMA is very important for vacation rental managers across the company, and our primary goal is to serve professional vacation rental managers. Many of our partners are VRMA members, as well. So, it only makes sense for us to give our support to the VRMA.   

SWAG: It’s the Stuff We All Get, and at the annual conference it’s in high supply. At LiveRez, we’re giving out pens, mints, ribbons, lanyards and more – all branded. Giving away useable branded items is a great way to connect with current and future customers (in our case, partners). Not only are these great for the conference, but in many cases they travel home with the attendees.

Promotions: Giving away a popular item is a great way to get people to visit your booth, start conversations and develop relationships. This year we’re giving out an Apple iPad 2 (who wouldn’t want one of those?). Concurrently, we’re running a promotion for a free iPod Touch on our LiveRez Facebook Page. To enter, just go to our page, click like, and then fill out the form. It’s that easy.

QR Codes: You can only fit so much information on a sales sheet, brochure, post card, etc. But, thanks to the advent of smart phones with QR-code-scanning aps, giving people a quick path to your website has never been easier. All of the LiveRez sales sheets at the conference have these codes on them. And, if you shorten the link with Bitly, you can actually see how many people are scanning the code and going through to your website. These days printed marketing materials are not complete without QR codes.

Presentations: LiveRez.com will be delivering its 10-minute Gold Sponsor presentation Wednesday morning during General Session. Additionally, LiveRez sales manager Tyler Hurst will be part of an educational presentation entitled “5 Fundamentals of Closing on the Phone.” That presentation will Tuesday at 11 a.m.  You can check out the slides in advance here.

What are you doing to connect with the people using your product and services? Share your ideas below in a comment.

Submitting your blog to blog directories is a great way to increase readership of your blog, and it can even help with search engine optimization.

One way to increase readership of your blog is to submit your blog to various blog directories. Blog directories allow readers from across the internet to find you and your blog, and start following your posts. One of the foremost directories to have your blog listed on is Technorati. According to its website, Technorati is the leading blog search engine and directory, indexing more than 1 million blogs.

Claiming a blog on Technorati is relatively easy. First, you need to start a free account. Once that is established, you simply go to your profile, scroll down and enter your blog URL under claim blog. You'll fill out some more information on the next page, and then Technorati will send you an e-mail with your claim token. The token will likely be a 12-character code (like this NPXV3YVFM2AB), and you'll need to list it on one of your blog posts to prove to Technorati that you write for that blog.

Submitting to blog directories is generally free and takes only minutes of your time. It's a great way to increase the visibility of your blog, and it even helps with search engine optimization. You can find a list of free blog directories by doing a simple Google search. It's really that easy.

Create professional looking listings for classified sites with the LiveRez.com property posting tool.

With the advent of free classified listing websites like CraigsList.org, marketing your vacation rental properties for little or no money has become increasingly easy. And at LiveRez.com, we’ve made it even easier.

Posting to free classified sites is a snap with our property posting tool.  It’s as easy as sorting through your properties, finding the property you want, and clicking on “copy html.” Now that you have the code, you can easily paste it into any form that accepts html. On property posting websites, the resulting listing looks professional and sets you apart. And, with one easy click visitors can move right to your website where they can begin the booking process.

And, if you’re doing this for multiple properties, we’ve got you covered. As soon as you copy the html code, the system highlights that property so you know that you’ve already posted it. The property will remain highlighted for four days, helping you keep track of how long ago you’ve advertised the property.

The property posting tool is just one of the many ways LiveRez.com can make your life easier. To learn more about how LiveRez.com can help your company, visit our website, LiveRez.com, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. And, check back here for more LiveRez.com news.

LiveRez.com designed Villa4Less.com's website to reflect how close its properties are to Disney World.

Villa4Less.com
Location: Orlando, Florida
Website: Villa4Less.com
Quick Quote: “It was just so easy to get something that was based online, where all you had to do was log in from anywhere and continue to work.”

With 20 years of property management experience under his belt, Luis Vicente of Orlando’s Villa4Less.com knows a thing or two about offering his guests the most convenient and affordable accommodations available.

Located close enough to Disney World that many of its guests can watch the theme park’s fireworks show from their back yard or out their windows, Villa4Less.com offers much more than just a place to stay.

“We don’t only rent them a home, we rent them a whole experience,” Vicente said. “We’re a one-stop shop for everything.”

Villa4Less.com’s properties are all centrally-located, close to shopping centers and restaurants, and, of course, the Disney World attractions.

And according to Vicente, you won’t find better rates on luxury rentals in the area.

“Our rates are very competitive,” he said. “They’re the most competitive rates out here in the Disney area – way cheaper than our competition.”

Villa4Less.com has rentals available in some of the nicest communities in the Disney World area.

Vicente’s properties attract a broad range of guests – he regularly deals with schools, churches and corporate clients, as well as the more traditional vacationer. And those guests keep coming back thanks to the exceptional customer service offered by Villa4Less.

And being an expert in the field, Vicente knows good customer service when he sees it. That’s one of the reasons he loves LiveRez.com. He specifically mentioned the great experience he’s had with the Hurst brothers from LiveRez.com.

“I’ve had really great experiences with Tyler Hurst and Joshua Hurst,” Vicente said. “Tyler is always there for the smallest things. I can e-mail him, and he gets right back to me. His communication skills are excellent. Any time we have a problem, I can always count on Tyler to help me out.”

One other thing Vicente can count on is his LiveRez.com software.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of software in the past, and I was looking for something that was based online,” he said.

With LiveRez.com’s industry-standard end-to-end SaaS platform, Vicente can access all that he needs to run his business from anywhere in the world where he can find an Internet connection. That’s one of the main reasons he signed up to be a LiveRez.com partner.

One of Villa4Less.com's many homes in the Disney World Area

“It was just so easy to get something that was based online, where all you had to do was log in from anywhere and continue to work,” Vicente said. “And it was more cost-effective for us, too.”

With LiveRez.com, Vicente didn’t have to set up a website and deal with a bunch of server issues – all that was resolved in LiveRez.com’s end-to-end platform.

And for a man who prides himself on offering his guests the most convenience and best value, he seems like he gets much of the same from his vacation rental software company.

Andres Zagarola, manager of KZ Cabins, plays with the new Apple iPad he won in LiveRez.com's March Madness Bracket Challenge.

LiveRez.com partner Andres Zagarola, manager of KZ Cabins, used his college basketball know-how to win the first annual Partner March Madness Bracket Challenge. After beating a field of 59 competitors (limited exclusively to LiveRez.com partners), Zagarola took home the grand prize: an Apple iPad.

Zagarola will be able to use his iPad to access the LiveRez.com system, which is compatible with a number of mobile devices. All you need is an Internet connection and some way to access it (desktop computer, laptop, iPad, smart phone, etc.) and you have LiveRez.com’s industry standard end-to-end SaaS platform at your fingertips. Upload property photos and descriptions directly to your website, generate a wide variety of reports, manage reservations and more – on the fly.

What’s better than that? Well, I guess getting a free Apple iPad is nice, too.

Learn more about the industry’s leading vacation rental software at LiveRez.com.

Once again LiveRez has had another successful conference. This time the Western VRMA conference in Sacramento, California.  Along with great seminar presentations, tradeshow exhibits, LiveRez handed out another iPad 2. The Winner was Heather Weiermann from Southern California Vacation Rentals! So congratulations to Heather!

We also want to express our thanks and appreciation to the VRMA staff and VRMA Board for another perfect show.

Another highlight of the show was Tyler Hurst's remarks during the seminar opening session. During this presentation Hurst talked about and displayed the TOP 5 Priorities of LiveRez.com.

Here is a copy of LiveRez's Top 5 Priorities and the Video from the seminar.

Top 5 Priorities of LiveRez.com

1 – Serve Our Property Manager Partners

2 – Build the Best SaaS Application in the World
Supported by a World Class Organization

3 – Build the LiveRez.com Network to unlock
New Revenue Opportunities for our Partners

4 – Continue to be Industry Thought Leaders
and Support the VRMA

5 – NEVER FORGET PRIORITY #1

The Video:

Seabrook Cottage Rentals
Location: Pacific Beach, Washigton
Website: SeabrookCottageRentals.com
Quick Quote: “Every element of the website is geared toward customer service and that’s what sets us apart."

Innovative is one word that comes to mind when talking to Chris Murphy, director of sales and marketing at Seabrook Cottage Rentals in Pacific Beach, Washington, a growing vacation destination on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Could it be because the development on the Washington coast is a brand new concept in the western United States?  When Seabrook was constructed, planners kept in mind that many travelers want a beautiful relaxation spot and not necessarily a launching pad for other destinations.

In short, Murphy and the folks at Seabrook want guests to spend time enjoying the ocean views, meeting with friends, and relaxing, rather than on long road trips for supplies or sightseeing.

With that idea in mind, Seabrook was built to have everything a traveler could need within a short distance.  "A guest's basic needs can be met with in a 5-minute walk," said Murphy.  Cars are welcome, but are usually quickly exchanged for a pair of flip-flops and a beach cruiser.

The town's website sums up the concept nicely.  "Towns do not become great by accident. The best towns are inspired by our innate need for community, combined with easy accessibility to goods and services," says the Seabrookwa.com.  The town embraces the idea of "new urbanism," which is an effort to integrate work and community through diversified mixed-use developments.

"It's a return to a simpler time, before cars, when people lived near where they shopped, celebrated the arts and good food, and placed great importance on green space," concludes Seabrook's site.

While Seabrook seeks to provide mixed-use living to residents, Chris and his team are dedicated to creating one of the best vacation spots in the area.  “We got into the business to create coastal experiences unlike anything on the Washington coast,” said Murphy.

How does SeabrookCottageRentals.com achieve that objective? A combination of the “new urbanism” concept and great employees and staff.  “Customer service is the foremost concern of Seabrook,” said Murphy. “It’s something for which we strive daily.”

Seabrook even provides beach cruisers to guests to help them enjoy their stay.  “It adds an element of relaxation,” Murphy noted.

Seabrook has chosen to partner with LiveRez for its vacation rental software because the platform is one that many guests find very informative.  “We want people to have as much information at their fingertips as possible when they come on site,” said Murphy.  “The site LiveRez built for us helps make that happen.”

The LiveRez website is also built to help Seabrook better serve guests.  “Every element of the website is geared toward customer service and that’s what sets us apart,” explained Murphy.

It seems that Seabrook has found a way to combine innovation with simplicity, both on the web and on the ground of the community.

And that really does set them apart.

See SeabrookCottage Rental.com’s  LiveRez-powered site here.

Who says nothing in life is free?

Not LiveRez.com, that's for sure.

LiveRez, an emerging leader in the vacation rental software industry, is sponsoring the 2011 March Madness Bracket Challenger and the winner of the contest will take home a free website and reservation system, a prize worth $5,000*.  The second place winner will receive 1/2 off the regular setup fee for a website and reservation system, valued at $2,500*.  Third place receives a 1-year paid membership to the VRBO.

Entry is simple and can be completed in a few easy steps.

Step 1. Register for a free CBS Sports account by clicking here.

Step 2. Enter the pool password: morebookings

Step 3. Complete bracket challenge and remember to save your work!

Step 4. Sit back and watch the points roll in. It's that easy.

Like every contest, there are a few rules you must know before entering. LiveRez allows one entry per person and if there is a tie, a winner will be drawn at random.  LiveRez employees are eligible to play, but may not win prizes.  Only those participants who are not LiveRez partners are eligible to claim prizes.

There is no entry fee for the contest and anyone can play.  Entries must be completed by March 17 at noon EST.

Winners will be announced the week of April 4.

Note: VRBO is not associate with and has not endorsed this contest.

*Monthly services charges may apply.