I have just renovated my family's home and need to know how best to
advertise it on the Internet.
Audience I want:  adults interested in renting rooms in a high-end
home for a week at a time.
Things to know:
1. I live in the house - so sites that rent houses like vrbo.com won't
work for me.
2. I'm not interested in providing breakfast for guests - so B & B
sites won't work real well (although I would consider them).
3. Home on Mission Bay in San Diego, California.  Audiences for this
location would include those involved with:  relaxing/sun, water
sports, Sea World (1 mile away),  SD Zoo, bicycling,
walking/jogging/skating, national baseball/football.  20 minutes from
Tijuana, Mexico.
4. Father built home in 1955, it?s filled with heirlooms/art
(particularly Mexican art ? painter Zuniga).  No kids under 12.
5. Home = 4,000 sq ft.  Renting 3 bedrooms/2 baths.  Guests will have
access to 3,200 sq ft of house, including kitchen access and yard.
6. Current pricing for 1 room/1 bath during summer (high season) = $1200/week
7. Current pricing for 1 room/1 bath during winter (low season) = $130/night
8. Pet friendly.  I have 3 indoor cats.  
9. I am planning on eventually publishing my own internet site.  To
get started I need to advertise on sites selected by you which meet
the above criteria.

Any recommendations on taking payment via the Internet for rentals?

Dear cherlyncarolcaldwell,



Judging from your description, the kind of advertisement you wish to
place falls under the category of "vacation rental" or "vacation lodging".
This implies relatively short-term (but not day-to-day) occupancy without
a lease. The fact that you are renting several rooms rather than the whole
house, as well as the presence of pets, rules out those vacation-rental
networks that are run by professional real-estate agencies. This means
that you will have to market and manage the rental yourself, but of
course that's exactly what you are proposing to do.

Never fear, there are a great number of websites that cater to vacationers
who seek rentals in specific locations, as well as to homeowners who
wish to take out a listing in order to attract such vacationers. What
follows is a selection of what I feel are some of the most competitive
vacation-rental listing services currently on the web. I have excluded
those that do not appear at a high position in search-engine rankings,
but also those that are highly ranked because they are unscrupulous
spam artists. Then I did some winnowing on the basis of aesthetics and
pricing. If a listing service was too ugly or too expensive, I gave it
a miss. Finally, I concentrated on services that listed rentals in your
area in a similar price range.

Here, in no particular order, are my picks. In each case, I give three
links: the first showing the site's San Diego listings; second, the home
page; and third, a page with sign-up information for homeowners.



---------------------------------------------------------

10k Vacation Rentals: San Diego
http://www.10kvacationrentals.com/lodging/ca/sndiego/

10k Vacation Rentals: Home
http://www.10kvacationrentals.com/

10k Vacation Rentals: Add Your Property
http://www.10kvacationrentals.com/advwithus.htm


---------------------------------------------------------

Cyber Rentals: San Diego Area
http://www.cyberrentals.com/CA/SDCA.html

Cyber Rentals: Home
http://cyberrentals.com/homepage.html

Cyber Rentals: Add Listing
http://cyberrentals.com/signup.html


---------------------------------------------------------

Vacation Rentals 411: San Diego
http://www.vacationrentals411.com/city/san_diego.php3

Vacation Rentals 411: Home
http://www.vacationrentals411.com/

Vacation Rentals 411: Welcome
http://www.vacationrentals411.com/welcome.php3


---------------------------------------------------------

Vacation Homes: San Diego
http://vacationhomes.com/city_search.cfm?l=424

Vacation Homes: Home
http://www.vacationhomes.com/

Vacation Homes: Advertise
http://www.vacationhomes.com/advertise-vacation-rentals/


---------------------------------------------------------

Goin2Travel: San Diego
http://www.goin2travel.com/sandiego.htm

Goin2Travel: Home
http://www.goin2travel.com/

Goin2Travel: Rates
http://www.goin2travel.com/rates.htm


---------------------------------------------------------

Rent 101: San Diego
http://www.rent101.com/san_diego.html

Rent 101: Home
http://rent101.com/

Rent 101: List Your Property
http://www.rent101.com/placead.html


---------------------------------------------------------

Find Vacation Rentals: San Diego
http://www.findvacationrentals.com/STATES/Searches/San-Diego.asp

Find Vacation Rentals: Advertise Rental Property
http://www.findvacationrentals.com/

Find Vacation Rentals: Advertise Rental Property
http://www.findvacationrentals.com/LISTINGS/pickastate.asp


---------------------------------------------------------

Vacation Rentals: San Diego
http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/San-Diego-California.html

Vacation Rentals: Home
http://www.vacationrentals.com/

Vacation Rentals: List Your Vacation Rental
http://www.vacationrentals.com/members/start.asp?id=0


---------------------------------------------------------

Owner Direct: San Diego
http://www.ownerdirect.com/search/browse_resort.asp?resort=246

Owner Direct: Home
http://www.ownerdirect.com/

Owner Direct: Register Property
http://www.ownerdirect.com/intro/invitation.htm


---------------------------------------------------------

San Diego Beach Rentals: Reservations
http://www.secure-reservations.net/vacation_rentals/rentals.mv?action=display_rentals&citypath=1000&agent_id=9227

San Diego Beach Rentals: Home
http://www.sandiegobeachrentals.com/

San Diego Beach Rentals: Add Your Property
http://reservations.sandiegobeachrentals.com/res_manager/forms.mv?action=rental_owner_form&agent_id=3001


---------------------------------------------------------


I believe you will find the last three websites listed above especially
interesting, since they demand no money up front. The third from the
end, vacationrentals.com, offers a free 60-day trial without requiring
that you even give them a credit card number. The second from the end,
ownerdirect.com, takes its payment from the renter rather than the
owner. And the last one, sandiegobeachrentals.com, takes the owner's
payment only when a renter has made a reservation. The other sites ask an
annual fee in the range of $130 to $150 for a basic listing. You may like
to start with the last three in order to minimize your financial exposure.



It has been an interesting challenge to address this question on your
behalf.  If you find fault with my answer, do let me know through a
Clarification Request so that I have a chance to fully meet your needs
before you assign a rating.


Regards,

leapinglizard

---

Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 25 Apr 2005 19:20 PDT

You also asked about taking payment through the Internet. I have some
personal experience in this field with PayPal, which has worked just
fine for me as a way to accept online payments. The nice thing about 
PayPal is that you don't have to deal with any financial institution 
directly. All you do is sign up for a free merchant account with PayPal,
while your customers sign up for a free PayPal account of their own. They
give their credit card number to PayPal, not to you, and their payment
is instantly transferred to your account (less the transaction fees). You
never have to get involved in the details of the transaction. Of course,
you do have to request payment, which you can do through email with a 
"Request Money" message, or by adding a Buy Now button or the PayPal
Shopping Cart to your web page.

PayPal: Home
http://www.paypal.com

PayPal: Transaction Fees
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving-fees-outside


One thing you can't do with PayPal is take payment over the phone. If
it's crucial that you have that capability, you need to get a credit-card
merchant account. Larger vendors who have the expertise and personnel
can process credit cards directly by obtaining a merchant account with
each credit-card company, an account with a payment gateway to process
payments, and a customized web form to initiate the transaction. For 
smaller operators such as yourself, the more manageable option is to
sign up with an integrated merchant-account provider that unifies the
major credit cards into one account, deals with a payment gateway on
your behalf, and gives you ready-made web forms. Here are three such
providers that are large and reputable.


Monster Merchant Account: Home
http://www.monstermerchantaccount.com/

Monster Merchant Account: Rates
http://www.monstermerchantaccount.com/internet-merchant-account-rates.asp


Merchant Accounts Express: Home
http://www.merchantexpress.com/

Merchant Accounts Express: Rates
http://www.merchantexpress.com/merchant_account_rates.htm


Charge.com: Home
http://www.charge.com/index.shtml

Charge.com: Price Comparison
http://www.charge.com/compare.shtml


Regards,

leapinglizard

---

Request for Answer Clarification by cherlyncarolcaldwell-ga on 26 Apr 2005 18:54 PDT

I visited each site listed.  Don't believe any of them will work for
my particular situation.  To make sure, I sent all but 2 of the listed
sites the following inquiry (2 sites didn't make themselves available
for email quesitons):

"Will your site work for me?

1. I live in a 4,000 sq ft home, interested in renting 3 bedrooms/2 baths.  
2.	Guests will have access to 3,200 sq ft of house, including kitchen
access and yard.

It's a "house sharing".  Haven't found a site that my particular
renting situation fits into.  Will your site work for me?"

I am looking for a very narrow market.  All of the site listed rented
100% space of homes, condo's, duplexes, etc.  NONE of them listed a
rental that included sharing space with the owner of the house.

I am disappointed and, it's evident that you spent time on gathering
info....just won't work for me.

HummmBugggg

---

Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 26 Apr 2005 23:37 PDT

I disagree with your assessment. I'm confident I understand exactly
what you're offering -- a B&B without the breakfast -- and I spent
many hours locating and considering sites that I would use if I were
in your situation. What you are providing is a vacation rental, and
you will be competing in the marketplace with all those homes where
the owner is not also an occupant. You should mention your occupancy
in the listing, and the extent to which it makes the rental more or
less attractive should be reflected in your pricing.

leapinglizard

---

Clarification of Answer by leapinglizard-ga on 26 Apr 2005 23:53 PDT

Here's an example of a site listing six full-house vacation rentals in Mission Bay.

http://www.californiavacation.com/regions/Mission-Bay-California.html

Elsewhere on the same site, however, we do find house-sharing vacation rentals.

http://www.californiavacation.com/listings/280.html

I see no reason why you can't list your Mission Bay house-sharing
rental alongside the Mission Bay full-house rentals, on this site or
on the other ones I recommended.

Perhaps "guest room" is the right phrase to describe exactly what you are offering.

leapinglizard

Greetings Cherlyncarolcaldwell,

The first site I thought of for you to contact is http://www.primelocation.com

Best regards,
journalist-ga

The best of all the services for my money is vacationrentals411.  When
you post a FREE listing it also shows up on several other sites,
cabinrental411, beachrental411, accessvacationrentals. 
Vacactionrentals411 seems to do the best in the search engines.  You
may wish to consider a property management company like
http://www.casasderuidoso.com that already has an established internet
presence.  Don't dismiss the local websites for promoting your rental.
 Here in the resort community of Ruidoso, New Mexico a local travel
site with good traffic like http://www.goruidoso.com can be a good
investment too!  Good Luck!

www.FreeLists.com is a free site where you can list your
availabilities, anything you list there will be broadcast.
http://www.freelists.com