Relevant Reading

Internet Booking Trend Shows Modest Increase

Travelers’ use of the Internet, to plan and book their trips, continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace, according to the Travel Industry Association of America’s (TIA) latest Travelers’ Use of the Internet study. More than 64 million online travelers—-30 percent of the U.S. adult population—-used the Internet last year to get information on destinations or to check prices or schedules. Of that group, 42.2 million actually booked travel online during 2003.

The number of Americans using the Internet for travel planning has stabilized at 64.1 million, due to the slower growth of “wired” households in the U.S. Still, the number of travelers booking airline tickets, hotel rooms and other travel services online continues to grow.

In 2003, over 42 million people—-or two-thirds of all online travel planners—-booked travel using the Internet, up 8 percent from 2002. And the number of online bookers doing all of their travel booking online continues to grow, with 29 percent now doing so, versus 23 percent in 2002.

Professional research conducted by the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) shows that online booking in 2003 has increased slightly over the previous year. In 2002, approximately 14.63% of business was booked online while last year that number rose to 15.75% for a 7.7% gain.

Owning a Vacation Home

You don't have to be rich to buy a vacation home. My husband and I learned that when we bought a house in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire in a partnership with my sister and our parents.

But what you do need is a sense of adventure (because things will go wrong), a healthy emergency fund (for the exact same reason) and a good accountant (to make sure nothing goes wrong with the IRS).

Here's how we gave ourselves the one real luxury in our lives, a vacation home that works to pay some of its own costs.

Select property with yourself and your renters in mind
Our property is a great home in an area that's popular with tourists in the winter for skiing and in the summer for local nature and theme park attractions. The year-round attractions are key to the cost equation. If your home will draw renters only for a few months of the year, your rental income will be limited.

When you evaluate the features of a vacation home, balance your wants and needs against the expectations of potential renters. If you love big open windows with no curtains, for example, realize that not all renters will be as comfortable living in a fishbowl.

Prepare for mortgage challenges
If you're planning to take out a mortgage instead of paying for the home outright, you'll have to do some shopping. Getting a mortgage for a vacation home can be a lot more trouble than getting one for a primary residence. You might be required to make a larger down payment and pay a higher interest rate, in part because lenders believe if you run into financial trouble, you're more likely to default on your vacation-home mortgage than your primary one.

Buy the right insurance
When we bought our vacation home, I told the insurance broker that we planned to rent it, fully furnished, for short-term rentals—weekends and weeklong stays. Because the broker is known for writing policies in our development, I trusted him when he said he knew the kind of policy we needed. I glanced over the policy but didn't give it a thorough reading.

So when someone broke into the house and stole two televisions and a VCR, I learned the hard way that the contents of the home weren't covered under the policy. The entire house could have burned down, and we would have been out four bedrooms worth of furniture, plus everything in the dining room, the kitchen and so on.

I immediately changed brokers and got a new policy—which I read twice before signing.

Expect the unexpected
Even if you have a management company keeping an eye on your house when you're not there, things can go wrong. A hot water pipe in our kitchen started leaking, and eventually the lower floor's bathroom, directly under the kitchen, had its ceiling collapse from water damage. Water also seeped into a closet and the laundry room and onto the basement carpet (insurance covered this one).

I thought we were lucky. Our neighbors, who don't use a management company to watch their house, had mushrooms growing in their basement for three months after a flood before anyone noticed.

Look for potential problems
One of the features that attracted my father to the home we bought was a spa room, which included a hot tub and a sauna. Unfortunately, the previous owners of the house did just about everything wrong with the hot tub, including allowing the water inside it to freeze a few winters ago.

The hot tub, once a selling point for us, has become nothing but trouble. We've spent more time having it fixed than we've spent relaxing in it. The hot tub started having problems again the week before our vacation began. Now, it seems, it will take $2,500 to fix the problem—but the maintenance guy says he can't guarantee that the repairs will stick.

So do we spend $2,500 to fix a problem that might return or pony up more than $8,000 to replace the tub? I'm still debating that one, and not happily.

Don't plan to make a bundle on rent
The management company we use is more expensive than average. It charges 50 percent of the rental income in exchange for booking rooms, collecting payments, arranging maid service, and the like. It's a high price to pay, but we use the company because it's located right in the development, and it gets a lot of renters.

The one advantage to the high cost is that, between the management company's fees and all the other expenses needed to run the house, no matter how often the house is rented, it will always operate at a loss. That should mean some big deductions come tax time.

Get a good accountant
There are tax pluses and minuses with a vacation home. On the negative side, if you rent out the property for more than 14 days a year, that income is taxable and could put you in a higher tax bracket.

But on the positive side, you can deduct mortgage interest, property taxes and a slew of other expenses that you pay throughout the year to keep the house up and running. Depending on how much you use the house, there are limitations on what you can deduct. So even if you usually do your own taxes, consider hiring a tax pro at least for the vacation-home portion of your return.

Know your partners
Say a friend of yours is interested in sharing a vacation home and all of the expenses with you. That may be great financially, but you have to ask yourself if you really like this person. You'd better—because when you both want the house for Labor Day weekend, who gets first dibs?

I bought our house with family members; we actually all like each other, and we often spend time at the house together. But I know lots of other families who don't operate that amicably.

Plus, because everyone is an equal owner, you have to put up with each other's quirks. My sister tolerates the needed quiet when it's time for my daughter to go to bed, and I bite my tongue when she leaves her fuzzy puppy slippers in the living room after she's done with the house for the weekend.

Karin Price Mueller is the author of Online Money Management (Microsoft Press, 2001).

Guest Satisfaction

Lodging Hospitality, an industry trade journal, just published their results of a survey aimed at helping operators understand what guests want in bedding, lighting, communications, bathrooms, and food-related amenities. The survey of 5,000 frequent travelers also tried to determine how guest would respond when their needs are not being met. Some of the not surprising findings are: More guests favor king size beds rather than queen size. Double beds came in a distant third place. The vast majority wanted firm beds. The majority likes to have bars of soaps rather than soap dispensers. When asked what they would do if the bed failed to meet their expectations, the responses ranged from never visiting the establishment again to an equally dangerous outcome of telling friends and family not to patronize the property. Others indicated that they would complain strongly to management both verbally and via guest comment cards, along with never returning to that hotel. While the majority said they would not be willing to pay for high-speed Internet access, others indicated that computer hookups, such as dataports, play a large part in to today's travel picture.
Sources:
Lodging Hospitality and Hemispheres Magazine

Designer Tricks

In small rooms choose a piece of furniture that will create a focal point. A special bed or a beautiful armoire will look better than a room full of mediocre items. Frequently people will redecorate a room and then move some of the older pieces of furniture to another room rather than discard them. Keep only what is beautiful, stylish, and useful. Be discriminating.

Find a second hand furniture store or someone to take the older items.

Select fabrics with hues that blend rather than match. You can mix florals and checks together when the scale and colors are compatible. If you decide to mix patterns, try for a mixture of prints and patterns rather than just a floral look and be sure to include a solid texture. It gives the eye a place to rest. When choosing a palette, include rich neutrals and muted jewel tones (olive, sage, gold, cream, wine).

Source: Calico Corners

Finding the Right Fabric

Homeowners often wish to display things that they find personally attractive, whether it be a special collection of art pieces or a wall of vacation photographs. Here are some tips onhow to show off your favorite articles with style. Selecting the right finishing touches can require a sharp eye and some trial and error. Even the casual doesn't just happen. It requires as much planning as a more formal decor. Look at the overall room or even better the condominium or home as a whole. Determine what it needs most, color, texture, or interest. If you already have accessories, group them according to color or theme. Discard items that are incompatible with the central decorating scheme. Small items can get lost (literally) if scattered around a room. Items that are considered special or irreplaceable should be removed from a vacation rental. It is impossible for the Housekeepers to account for or dust every item between guests so be realistic and keep small items to an absolute minimum. Sometimes removing things makes for the best look. Area rugs offer another option to pull a room together. They come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and designs whether they are custom made or bought off the rack.

Stylishly matted and framed even modestly priced artwork can enhance the overall decor of a room. Mirrors have always enjoyed a popular place in decorating schemes. A nicely framed mirror in a fashionable frame can create a nice focal point on a wall. Personal photographs should be limited to a very few special ones that are placed in stylish frames and not displayed in a prominent place where a piece of artwork would look better.

Finding the right accessories takes time and energy. Interior decorators have ideas and resources. Don't be afraid to seek their assistance. A room that is nicely accessorized is a more inviting to guests.

-Articles provided by Resort Rating Services, Inc.