VRPDirect.com   vacation rentals direct from the owner worldwide.

   Vacation Rental Properties Direct are not rental agents. Our sole purpose is to create a ‘shop window’ where Vacation Home Rental owners can display their vacation rental properties worldwide to millions of potential clients and to connect those potential clients directly with the property owners.

   We often thought to ourselves, that there must be an easier way of getting more confirmed bookings throughout the low season!

   SO WE DECIDED TO TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

   This started around 3 years ago. As property owners like yourself, we would try using the ‘last minute’ sections on several vacation home rental websites to get those extra, much needed bookings during the quieter periods. To do this we were reducing our seasonal rates by up to 20% on the basis that a lower rental fee was better than no fee at all. Unfortunately at times this was still to no avail.

   We had no problems with the busier periods but we knew how much we needed to achieve each year just to break even, especially with all the maintenance fees and utilities bills we were paying even when our properties sat empty. If you own a property specifically for vacation home rentals then breaking even is not an option. In order to try to improve our profit margins we asked ourselves the following questions: -

   Are our rental prices too high?

  Is it the property that is the problem?

  Does the property lack appeal?

  Is there a problem with the furnishings?

  Is it the location which is a problem?

 
To all these questions we had to say, “No”.

   We spoke to other owners that we knew, who also had their slower rental periods and we realized that in order to improve our profits we first had to improve our marketing strategy. That’s when we decided to try something a little different. We ran an advertisement in one of our local newspapers with a description and a small but nice picture of the property, the dates available and then, quite simply, the words “Make us an offer”.

   From just one ad we received six replies with offers; of which only one was unacceptable, the remaining five being acceptable including an offer that was actually higher than our advertised rate on the net.

   We have tried this method on several occasions since then and were always successful in getting confirmed bookings, mainly with offers very close to our normal advertised rates. Of course, we still received one or two of the silly offers but, generally speaking, we did improve our profit margins and we would have improved our profit margins even more substantially had it not been for the cost of the newspaper advertisements.

   It is because of this that we decided to create our own ‘vacation home rental properties direct from owners’ website and include this concept which we have named “BID-A-WEEK”. Here you can advertise your hard-to-fill weeks for less than the cost of a newspaper advert and to a much wider audience.

 
This is how it will work for you……. Bid-a-week

 
A NEW CONCEPT

   Having been involved for many years in vacation home property rentals and sales, we at VRP Direct take the view that holiday rental properties should never be vacant, even if it means taking a last minute, reduced rental fee. We know from experience that some holiday rental periods have better rental potential than others. Having your vacation home rental booked throughout the ‘high’ season when a higher rental price can be achieved is not normally too much of a problem.

 
In order to help maximize your property’s rental potential we have created a new rental concept we refer to as ‘BID-A-WEEK’  This is a new and unique feature designed specifically by VRP Direct to help fill those last minute vacancies and any other hard to fill weeks on your rental calendar. ‘BID-A-WEEK’ can help to transform the normally ‘break-even’ or ‘loss periods’ into more profitable times.

 
We will be regularly sending out all the latest offers and properties listed on ‘BID-A-WEEK’ to thousands of previous enquirers as well as advertisements in many holiday magazines and newspapers, on TV and the Radio. We aim to be on the first page of all the major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and MSN within a short time of our launch date and well within your 12 month free listing period. With so many other added features and free bonuses that we will be offering, you cannot lose.

UPDATED  17/11/2007

Since March this year a total of 2450 enquiries have been made through our site with over 1600 confirmed bookings, and thats not including the bookings made through our last minute section BID-A-WEEK.