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There are a growing number of vacationers on Facebook

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Marie Satz Posted: 03-30-2009 1:27 PM

I have been surprised at how many recent inquiries that I have gotten from people who have found me on facebook.  I became a member there a long time ago and for awhile, there was no communication from folks.  Now suddenly, I have people seeking me out on this format. 

I'd be interested to know other folks response to this social networking site.

I have a profile page, property page, and have just seen a lot of growth in a group that I started: vacation rentals with owners on facebook. 

You are welcome to list your property in this group and I'd be glad to accept all friend invites.

Marie Satz: Hawaii Vacation Rental: http://alohafamilyproperties.webs.com

Offering vacation rentals on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.  Come see what we have to offer.  You'll be glad your did.

http://alohafamilyproperties.webs.com

 

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Hi Marie,

I agree. Facebook has become extremely popular and not only on a personal level. These days you can see more and more companies creating their pages and profiles and building communities with their current and prospect clients. I think it's a great way to get in touch with people from the vacation rental industry and also boost your brand awareness. I wrote a post about it here: http://www.vacationrentalscommunity.com/forums/t/1562.aspx .

I think I already added you as our friend on Facebook. We are under Rentalo Vacation-Rentals . I'll see you there Smile

Marta

Rentalo.com
Lodging Directory for Vacation Rentals, Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts used by 5.2 million Travelers

 

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No doubt Marie. I believe you and I are even Friends there. Not only are there plenty of renters it is also a great place to touch base with other owners.

As someone who rents my own property and runs the Listing Service for Florida Beach Rentals I have also seen a nice level of traffic from other owners. Twitter has been less effective - but is picking up steam

Jim

Jim Swartwout www.IndianShoresVacation.com www.FloridaGulfVacation.com
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Good Morning, Marie.   I think when VR owner participation reaches a higher level on Facebook there could be a semi-regular series of on-line chats.   Each chat would have to be centered on one or two topics.  There is tremendous opportunity for real-time sharing of thoughts and strategies. 

Of course, the question is what level of membership would be needed to net enough participation for a chat that provides value.  May not be there yet, but perhaps we're not that far from it.

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Regarding Alwaysonvacation. I have been on there about a  year and did get good results. But i was promised something that they did not respect, and they do not talk very good english. Also there is a place to take off the automatic renew you just have to look for it.

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I love the website. It looks like you need some video integration with your website. Let me know if I can help. I have done several Hawaiian properties and I can do the same for you...Yes...Facebook is great !

See my examples at

www.youtube.com/brettpropertyvideos

 

Mahalo,

 

Brett

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Hello Marie! Thanks for the question. We just set up a facebook page for KeyVacationRentals.com... you can find us by searching for Key Vacation Rentals. Last time I checked we had 3 fans so I can't say anything great about it yet. However, I do know the page has already been indexed by google, so its promising. I hope to reply back to this thread in a few weeks to say it is working liking a charm. Glad to hear you having luck with it.

KeyVacationRentals - A leading online vaction rental company.

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Nice site, we have a twitter account, facebook Page (Florida Gulf Vacation) and MySpace.

We don't get crazy traffic from it - but it does send us some customer flow.

If anyone is interested in doing some link exchanges we are a PR3 page - as long as you have a PR3 or higher lets talk

 

Jim S

www.floridagulfvacation.com

Jim Swartwout www.IndianShoresVacation.com www.FloridaGulfVacation.com
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I've always been skeptical about working too much in Facebook. I have a page for the business but I don't invest any time into it. I was on the site way back when it was just for college students, and having been on it so long and having watched it go through it's evolution, I feel like anyone who would do a search through facebook is not going to be a very reliable client in the long run.

But if you guys are getting good inquiries through it, I'll put more time into it.

Luxury Rio de Janeiro vacation rental apartments.
http://www.rentinrio.com

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Patti ,

 

I look forwad to help you. Can you tell me a little more about your account ?

 

Regards

Alex

alex.williams@alwaysonvacation.com

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Here is an example of how we use facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Indian-Shores-FL/Florida-Gulf-Vacation/73629412731?ref=ts

our blog uploads to facebook systematically, and each time we add a rental to the owner inventory it does the same

 

Jim

Jim Swartwout Florida Gulf Vacation LLC Connecting Florida Gulf Coast Beach Vacation Rental Travelers and Owner since 2004 Florida Beach Rentals
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AlwaysonVacation is here

http://www.facebook.com/pages/AlwaysOnVacationcom/80976856161

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Hi Marie

That's great to hear. I've been a little skeptical about Facebook recently but there's no doubt that it is a useful vehicle to promote Vacation Rentals. I think my reservations have been down to Facebook's shear complexity. I'm very excited about Facebook Lite which hasn't yet been launched in the UK. I've seen a demo version and it looks like FB about 4 years ago ... ah joy !

I think the trick in using social media is automation. I spent quite some time on Twitter and it became so absorbing that I started neglecting everything else ;-( If you can automate your marketing ie have one message at a time that gets fired automatically to all the social media sites then that's great and possibly the best and most profitable way to use them. I had a recent discussion about FB and my view is that it's a means to an end. The end is obviously the conversion. ie getting somebody to your Vacation Rental and then making the booking.

Steve

onelocation.com - Holiday Rental Accommodation direct from the owner
zoofish.com - Website design for Holiday Rental Owners

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Hi Maria, My name is Ron, I wanted to introduce you to a great new Application that we think will benefit the Vacation Home Community. The application called Second Porch, was launched a couple of months ago and has been received well on amongst the Facebook community. The application lets property owners list their properties and rent them to their friends or the larger Facebook community (all chosen by you, of course). Unlike other online services, with Second Porch you have the benefit of offering your property to potential renters within your own friend’s network.

Uploading takes only about 5 mins. and really, that's a great tradeoff for a free listing here in Facebook. Upload your property here: http://apps.facebook.com/secondporch and tell your friends (who knows, maybe they'll rent your place).

We invite you to check out the app for yourself and if you like what you see encourage you share with your friends. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Cheers, Ron

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Hi Ron,

You have a very interesting idea. I would be watching Second Porch very closely. Good luck!

Mohib

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