The Luxury Vacation Rental Championship has entered Round 2! Vote for the first time, second time, or hundredth time! Remember to tell your friends, family, and colleagues to cast their votes! Increased votes equals increased competition! Make your vote count!
“This land is so beautiful, it must the borderland of God (D’aborde Dieu),” said Marquis de Lafayette after landing his ship on a magnificent beach side in South Carolina now known as DeBordieu.
Located in Georgetown County, DeBordieu is one of the oldest beach communities on the east coast and used to be one of the largest rice producing areas in the south during the colonial times. Not only is DeBordieu known for its rich history, but its indescribable beauty.
Here at The Society we are excited to present our new vacation rental properties in the area. Whether you are traveling to DeBordieu to attend the Annual Wooden Boat Show or seeking a relaxing vacation on a South Carolina beach, check out these new luxury vacation rental options.
148 Inlet Gateway: This 4 bedroom vacation rental offers a quaint feeling of home with its private boat dock and swimming pool. Once night strikes, the indoor amenities are just as luxurious as the outdoor ones. Enjoy a gourmet kitchen, living room, and screened deck as the dark hours pass. If you need to entertain more than a family of four, 148 Inlet Gateway can accommodate 10, providing a king-sized bed, 2 queens, and 2 double/twin bunks.
178 Sand Castle: Offering a great penthouse suite on the 3rd floor equipped with a sitting area, kitchenette, and private deck, this vacation rental is perfect for a multi-family vacation. The other levels of the house contain an enormous kitchen area with a wet bar and an open dining room and living room perfect for social gatherings. There are 5 bedrooms total and 5.5 baths, with a total capacity of 12 people. This is only a small taste of the amenities this home provides.
183 Island Dreams: Offering a view of the beach from nearly every room, this home is truly serene. One of the best aspects is the master bedroom suite, with a wet bar refrigerator, sun room and master bath with whirlpool for a memorable luxury experience.
191 Fairway Breeze: Just minutes from the beach this beautiful home overlooks a pond and is right on the golf course. After a day of play, enjoy the evening hours on a wide wrap-around porch or around an outdoor fireplace. This home can accommodate 10 guests in 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms.
The selection process is complete and the bubble properties have been selected. Now you can participate in crowning the Luxury Vacation Rental Champion. Check out the bracket below. Your votes will narrow down the top 64 vacation rentals. Don’t waste any time - Round 1 has started! Vote now for your favorite properties. Feel free to share with your friends, family, and colleagues!
Interested in adding this to your blog? Embed the following code:
Colorado has a reputation worldwide of providing visitors (and residents) the ultimate vacation opportunities from the mountains to the plains. While named resorts such as Vail, Aspen and Telluride are profiled in the popular press, as residents of Colorado, we know a few “hidden gems” which offer spectacular beauty, 4 seasons of recreational amenities and best of all, no crowds.
One such area is the San Luis Valley in southwestern Colorado. Considered remote which is much of the charm, the San Luis Valley represents a Colorado of years past when you did NOT have a lift line at the local ski resort or have to wait for your tee-time on the golf course. An area where the Native American crafts are actually constructed on-site, where two-lane roads dominate and an interstate highway is not the defining geographic feature of the landscape.
Situated at the west-end of the San Luis Valley we are pleased to present The Rio Grande Club providing the ultimate guest and lifestyle experience within the picturesque San Luis Valley.
Ranked in the top 15 golf and fly fishing destinations in the world, The Rio Grande Club features a 25,000 square foot clubhouse, truly the gathering spot of the club featuring a spacious dining room with impressive mountain vista views, a comfortable and cozy lounge, conference and banquet rooms, business center, pro shop, and a spa/fitness facility with cardiovascular stations, circuit training and free weights. There is also a workout room with a wide variety of programs including yoga, aerobics and Tae Bo among other activities. The clubhouse is the perfect location for destination meetings, events, and weddings.
Beyond the clubhouse, The Rio Grande Club’s amenities allow you to choose how active your vacation is. For relaxation (and maybe do a few laps) the outdoor patio includes a swimming pool with sitting area, spacious hot tub and an outside lounging area. Outside food service is also available for the pool area.
For the tennis player, The Rio Grande Club offers two tennis courts. In addition, private lessons and challenge courts are available all season.
For the fishing enthusiasts, the Club has private access to a one mile stretch of gold medal water. This portion of the river is periodically stocked to enhance the fishing experience.
In October, we introduced some wonderful success stories/highlights that our clients have reported since the launch of The Global Bundle. Around the world, homeowners, property managers, resorts, developers and fractional owners have found The Global Bundle to be the perfect solution for their online marketing efforts.
The testimonials keep coming in, and below is a recap of November and December including success stories and some select new properties we’ve added in the past two months.
Success Stories: Paradise Valley, AZ: This $10 million estate received its first qualified inquiry within 24 hours of listing. Little over a month later, Bramasole booked for an entire month for $30,000. On top of that, the owner was contacted via another Global Bundle inquiry for the home to be used as the site for the next “Go-Daddy” commercial starring Indy-Car celebrity and Go-Daddy spokeswoman, Danica Patrick. A nice $5,000 booking for a quick, 4-hour commercial shoot. See home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23829
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: Villa Las Palmas, a 13,000 square foot paradise, arguably one of the finest luxury villas in all of Cabo was brought to us for help in November. The home was still available for Christmas/New Year’s, and it was specifically urgent to get a qualified holiday booking. Within the 1st week on listing, Villa Las Palmas was booked for New Year’s, a $20,000+ booking. See home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/24009
Breckenridge, CO: This property located on Main Street was not seeing results from previous online marketing strategies. The home was listed through our Global Bundle back in mid August. To date (December 11th), this home has been booked for 59 nights through Global Bundle inquiries. See the home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23906
Selected New Properties Added to The Global Bundle in October:
Let us help you drive qualified inquiries and bookings efficiently and cost-effectively. View more information and sign-up for more information on our Global Bundle at: http://thesociety.com/gb
Once the domain of tweens and teens, Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon, just one component of the genre we now call “social media”. Many of our clients may know The Society is on Facebook and we offer options via our Global Bundle to promote via Facebook. Yet, we at The Society are also statisticians and well attired marketing geeks. We ran across the following concerning Facebook and wish to share it with our property manager and vacation homeowner audience.
Younger men and older adults flock to site.
Facebook may have started as a site geared toward the college crowd, but as the most popular social network in the US, it has broadened its user base considerably. The Nielsen Company reported that in June 2009 Facebook had a unique US audience of more than 87 million people, compared with fewer than 63 million who visited MySpace that month.
According to Inside Facebook, the fastest-growing group of users in August 2009 were males ages 13 to 17, whose numbers increased by 14.5%, followed by men ages 45 to 54, rising 12.8%. Among women, the highest growth was in the 45 to 54 and 55 to 65 age ranges, which were up 11.8% and 11%, respectively.
Female Facebook users of all ages outnumber their male counterparts. But new male users flocked to the social network at a faster rate than females in almost every age group, tightening the site’s gender gap somewhat.
Inside Facebook reported that 57% of the site’s users, or about 45.4 million people, were women, compared with some 34.3 million who were men.
The largest block of Facebook users is still ages 18 to 25, followed by 26-to-34-year-olds. Taken together, those groups made up 51% of the user population. But young adults also have the lowest rates of uptake, indicating that the age disparity may continue to close, along with the gender gap.
Considering the baby-boomer and Generation X demographic growth of eyeballs i.e. with the money to spend on vacations with family and friends, now, will you consider Facebook?
When a reporter asked Jesse James “Why do you rob banks?” his answer in all its simplistic elegance was “Because that is where the money is.” When we at The Society have been asked “Why did The Society create The Global Bundle?”…
Our answer is more complex based on years of demographic research, statistical analysis, data mining, unique visitor data, response rates and cost-effectiveness for our clients participating in The Global Bundle. OK, the simplistic:
“Because this is where the pre-qualified eyeballs are looking and booking.”
We know our vacation home owners and property/estate managers are successful entrepreneurs and marketers in search of cost-effective marketing opportunities to promote their vacation rentals to a pre-qualified and pre-screened clientele.
While The Global Bundle may seem intimidating at first; we have heard the comments i.e.
So many portals, is it truly effective?
Do I have to load data to each portal?
How can I keep track?
The reality is, we at The Society have made the process as simple as possible allowing our clients to 1) attract qualified eyeballs to their inventory 2) track inquiries and portals used and 3) load data once and let our IT technicians handle the rest.
While The Global Bundle has been designed and facilitated for marketing to an highly educated and affluent clientele including storied names such as The Robb Report, WSJ Online, The DuPont Registry, Luxury Real Estate and others, we have designed the Bundle to cross-market to multiple demographic groups thus enhancing booking opportunities.
One client in particular had an interesting situation. He owns a vacation rental in a community where seasonal rentals are the norm i.e. summer. For a seasonal rental, this owner received multiple inquiries from The DuPont Registry, known for its affluent readership coupled with a younger demographic i.e. average age of 37.
Yet, in the off-season the home generated minimal interest. We suggested pitching the home on the weekly rental market i.e. Sat. to Sat. via Craigslist markets within a 3-hour drive distance. Our hunch was correct as “aspirationals” who may not have the disposable income for a seasonal rental could afford an “off-season” week and live the lifestyle once only envied. In addition, one “weekly” rental client is considering a “seasonal rental” as relayed by the client “I was able to try the house for a week; I enjoyed the home, the location and the on-site amenities. I plan to book the home for the 2010 summer”.
During the depths of the recession, the new media hyped the concept of “the new normal” basically a readjustment concerning spending habits and plans for discretionary income which may be spent on vacations. So, as property managers and vacation homeowners, should you be concerned as we slowly climb out of this most recent economic downturn?
For many affluent consumers the “new normal” is not anything new. Most have been conscious concerning spending and have been aggressive savers. In one survey (see * below for demographic information), the majority of respondents advised “they will return to pre-recession levels of spending when the economy has recovered and they have recovered the recent losses in their net worth, which they estimate will take 18 to 24 months”.
* This report is based on the responses from 684 men and women in households with an average annual income of $300,000, an average net worth of $3.1 million, average investable assets of $1.6 million, and an average primary residence value of $1.2 million.
In tandem to the survey results noted above, The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.3 percent in October, following a 1.0 percent gain in September, and a 0.4 percent rise in August. Says Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board: “After half a year of consecutive increases, the month-to-month growth of the LEI is stabilizing and the gains continue to be broad-based. Meanwhile, the coincident economic index has been essentially flat since June, after declining since November 2007. The composite indexes suggest the recovery is unfolding and economic activity should continue improving in the near term.”
The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s is usually a joyous time when family and friends gather to celebrate, reconnect and enjoy each other’s company. However, all journeys begin with transportation, thus we offer a few tips for flying with the family this holiday season:
First Flight: Try to take the first flight in the morning, less chance of delay and/or waiting for an inbound aircraft.
Nonstop Vs. Direct: When possible, go nonstop. A direct flight may make a stop. If in doubt, call the airlines and ask.
Ship Your Luggage/Gifts: Avoid checked baggage fees and luggage carousels, ship ahead of time. Save a few dollars by shipping air to the destination, ground on the way back. Mail Boxes, Etc, UPS Store and others can assist.
Pack Some Snacks: Pack a few snacks in your carry-on luggage. Buy beverages post security checkpoint.
Check-In 24 Hours Prior: Check in via the Internet 24 hours prior to your scheduled flight departure, less chance of getting “bumped”.
Reconfirm Return: Especially for international flights, reconfirm your return flight with the airline 24-48 hours prior.
Patience: Airports will be crowded, tempers will flare. Stay calm and cool. Please remember, the airline employee has been yelled at all day, show some sympathy. Even better, bring a box of chocolates or similar, may receive an upgrade.
Weather Delay: Before leaving home, if connecting, check options for hotels close to your connecting airport, make a list of a few with phone #’s, just in case.
Cell Phone: Keep it charged. If you are delayed and in line to re-book, call the airline from your cell as well, all inquiries and requests go through the same system.
Flexibility: If you flight is delayed and/or cancelled, be flexible. Yes, we all have jobs and lives to return to, however, if delayed consider an extra day or two at your destination. As I say, “Have laptop, will travel”.
Since the launch of our new Global Bundle product just a few months ago, we have a wealth of success stories that we would like to share. Around the world homeowners, property managers, resorts, developers and fractional owners have found The Global Bundle to be the perfect solution for their online marketing efforts.
Below is a recap of October including success stories and some select new properties we’ve added in the past 30 days.
Success Stories: Beaver Creek, CO: Ski Safari home was booked within the first week of being listed through The Global Bundle. The booking was for over $10,000. Now that’s an ROI we like to see for our clients. Every booking from now one just adds more to the bottom line. See home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23987
West Vail, CO: This “accessible luxury” condo had zero bookings through the first few weeks in The Global Bundle. Our account management team worked with the owner and adjusted the headlines and offered a reasonable discount for early bookings. The result: immediately saw 4x’s the inquiries, 3 of which ended up booking in October alone. See home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23907
Ambergris Caye, Belize: Las Terrazas Resort booked the entire resort for a 40 person Wedding. 40 guests staying for 7 nights. The Global Bundle reaches travelers and large group planners. See the resort here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23844
East Hampton, NY: This unique Whale Rock home, which is up for sale, was put into The Global Bundle to earn rental income as it was on the market. Within the first couple of days of listing, this property was filled for Labor Day and 2 off-season bookings. See the home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23668
Paradise Valley, AZ: This $10 million estate had very few inquiries for the previous months. It was placed into The Global Bundle to target affluent audiences and the owner reported a qualified inquiry within 24 hours of listing. See the home here: http://thesociety.com/vacation+rental/23829
Selected New Properties Added to The Global Bundle in October:
Let us help you drive qualified inquiries and bookings efficiently and cost-effectively. View more information and sign-up for more information on our Global Bundle at: http://thesociety.com/gb
Press RSS feed.
Once the domain of tweens and teens, 
When a reporter asked Jesse James “Why do you rob banks?” his answer in all its simplistic elegance was “Because that is where the money is.” When we at 
During the depths of the recession, the new media hyped the concept of “the new normal” basically a readjustment concerning spending habits and plans for discretionary income which may be spent on vacations. So, as property managers and vacation homeowners, should you be concerned as we slowly climb out of this most recent economic downturn?
The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s is usually a joyous time when family and friends gather to celebrate, reconnect and enjoy each other’s company. However, all journeys begin with transportation, thus we offer a few tips for flying with the family this holiday season:
