News & Commentary

We've been online for nearly 30 years, and we've been vacation-rental owners for over 14 years. During those decades we've written and thought a lot about both subjects. The News & Commentary page is where you'll find our "two cents worth." (Probably it should be our "$1.75 worth," given inflation!) News & Commentary pieces appear here first. After a month or so, they are moved to the News Archive in the Member Exclusives section of the site.

Recent Articles

VR Turnaround on the Way? Nov 30, 2009: Are luxury vacation rentals on the way back after the Great Recession? The Wall Street Journal thinks so. (But the evidence is anecdotal.)

This VR's for You: HomeAway to Advertise on 2010 Super Bowl Oct 30, 2009: Thirty seconds for $3 million. What does it all mean for you and for the industry?

Tap Into the Power of Facebook with Second Porch Sep 26, 2009: We're not at all convinced that Twitter, the "micro-blogging" service that's all the rage right now, is an effective way to market vacation rentals. We're on the lookout for success stories, but so far, we haven't encountered any. Facebook may be a different story. Especially with the launch this week of a new VR-advertising site called Second Porch that helps vacation-rental owners leverage the power of Facebook to spread the word about their properties to friends and friends of friends.

Vacation Rentals: Studies Show Satisfaction is High Jul 30, 2009: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today have all run negative articles in recent months about the vacation-rental experience. Where do the reporters get these stories and story angles? Fortunately, there are some new studies that refute the notion that renting a vacation home is fraught with perils.

Numbers Don't Lie: VRs Are Cheaper Than Hotels Jul 28, 2009: Nine cents a square foot or 36 cents a square foot. That's the difference in cost between a vacation rental and a hotel room in Phoenix, according to a recent HomeAway report. Denver, Miami, Seattle, and Oahu were surveyed as well, with similar results. Now TripAdvisor has introduced an interactive online calculator to help travelers compare hotel and VR costs in hundreds of cities.