Vacation Rental Owners in the Press

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Getting your vacation rental featured in major publications is less impossible than you think. Sure, it takes time. Sure, it takes persistence. But I wanted to show owners that it?s not only the most unbelievable properties that make it to the pages of the world?s biggest newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

From personal experience, I want to explain that rentals as simple and unremarkable as my own have the potential to get featured. It boils down to either a) luck (a tough thing to rely on) or b) getting the right pitch to the right journalist at the right time. That?s where we can start getting excited?

Here are some of your fellow vacation rental owners doing things the right way. I can guarantee that getting featured in each of these spotlight articles has changed their vacation rental bookings, maybe forever. And for your assistance, I?ve added my corresponding thoughts on how this pitch might relate to your property.

1. The ?Profitable Business? Angle
CNNMoney Article: Getting in on cheap vacation home prices
Takeaway: It?s great to know that if you?re making profit on your vacation rental, you could be featured in an article like this. In hard economic times, journalists like stories of individuals ?making it? and?Larry Posselt, ?a small-business owner and father of three, paid $99,000 in cash for a three-bedroom, three-bath Florida townhouse eight miles from Disney World,? is proof that the owners featured aren?t necessarily millionaires or marketing geniuses.

2. The ?Regional Trend? Angle
Budget Travel Article: The Parisians are on vacation! Rent their apartments
Takeaway: Pitching journalists regional trends like (in this case) the month that people in Paris go vacation abroad and thus sublet their apartments, can be hugely effective. Writers love insider tips like that!

3. The ?Local Attractions? Angle
National Geographic Article: Where are America?s best bears?
Takeaway: Interesting or special local attractions make for tremendous reading material and when journalists are doing stories like this one, it?s great to know they will reference your vacation rentals just as quickly (if not sooner) than they?ll mention a boutique hotel or B&B.

4. The Spectacle Angle (for those with unusually cool rentals)
Travel+Leisure Article: World?s Coolest Rental Homes
Takeaway: Most of the examples on this list reference rentals that are somewhat unremarkable. The obvious angle, if you have an unusually cool rental, is to hype it. Maybe you have a one-of-a-kind rainforest hot tub or maybe your backdoor opens onto the ski slopes. Playing the spectacle angle like Anne Menke and her beach villa in Mexico,?is always effective if your property makes the cut.

5. The ?Saving Money? Angle
USA Today Article: Vacation rentals vs. hotels: How to save big
Takeaway: I am a huge fan of this angle and it?s becoming a popular trend in travel in general. If you can make the argument that staying in your rental is more economical/private/authentic/spacious?etc than a hotel, you?ve got yourself a pitch.

6. The ?Competition? Angle
The New York Times Article: The Summer Rental Rat Race
Takeaway: Like the old saying goes, ?any press is good press.? This article is a good example that not all pitches have to be positive to make the headlines. For Richard Johnston and his 2-bedroom farmhouse in Southern France, I guarantee business turned around the day this piece came out (and for many months onwards). I know because our rentals were also featured in the New York Times and we?re still getting inquiries from the article 3 years later.

7. The ?Makeover? Angle
Country Living Article: ?Country Cottage Makeover
Takeaway: Ask the?Dunn-Levine family and I promise getting featured in this article as a result of their home renovations was a home run for their occupancy rates. And it?s important to note that this home isn?t abnormally grandiose or luxurious. Just a good story attached with a good owner.

8. The ?Buying Process? Angle
House Hunters Episode: House Hunters? Tybee Island GA Vacation Home
Takeaway: I threw this one in there because good press isn?t just for magazines and newspapers. Getting featured on a show like House Hunters has been known to generate massive business and pitching the producers can lead to great things. And in most cases, they don?t just stumble on you: putting your lines in the water is a requisite to landing the big fish.

These examples are not meant to say that every pitch results in a featured travel or business article. Rather, they are meant to show owners that, when presented properly, vacation rentals have just as much of a place in these kinds of publications as do boutique hotels, B&Bs, inns or any other kind of original accommodations. And since the vacation rental industry is growing so fast, your opportunity (as an owner with a unique angle) is prime for the taking.

Source: http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/vacation-rentals-in-the-press/

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