Tuesday, June 15, 2010

“Vacation rentals, not property sales, hurt by BP Gulf oil spill, Realtors say” plus 2 more

“Vacation rentals, not property sales, hurt by BP Gulf oil spill, Realtors say” plus 2 more

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Vacation rentals, not property sales, hurt by BP Gulf oil spill, Realtors say

Posted: 14 Jun 2010 03:53 PM PDT

NAPLES — Realtors in Southwest Florida say the oil spill isn't chasing buyers away.

But renters may be another story. Bookings for vacation homes could suffer.

"I think people will drag their foot a little bit for next season, waiting to see what happens. I haven't seen a lot of it yet. But that is something I'm kind of monitoring," said Mike Hughes, a vice president for Downing-Frye in Naples.

Few buyers have backed out of contracts because of fears about how the BP oil spill could hurt values, he said.

"It really hasn't been much of an issue," Hughes said. "I can tell you out of 1,500 transactions, I could count on one hand the number that have fallen through, and I don't know if the oil spill was the reason."

The transactions he's talking about are closings at his office since Jan. 1. Since then, he's only seen three deals fall apart, he said.

As the oil slick moves toward the Panhandle's pristine beaches, Hughes fears what might happen to the real estate and tourism industries there.

"It's tragic what has happened with the Panhandle," he said. "There's no question."

In the Panhandle, Realtors have lost buyers and contracts because of the oil spill. It also has hurt vacation rentals. The busy season for visitors just started there.

Deborah Orr, a broker for Unique Panhandle Properties, said her company alone has seen at least four residential deals fall through since June 2. Three of them were still in negotiations, and the buyers put them on hold. One buyer decided to cancel his contract on a home, she said.

"The beach is the big attraction. Our beaches are studied all over the world," Orr said.

During the past week, she's seen more homes coming back on the market through the local multiple listing service, or MLS, in the Panhandle. She suspects it's because of deals that have crumbled over fears about the oil spill.

"We did put a claim in (to BP)," she said, adding that her office already has lost $48,000 in commissions.

Among Realtors in Southwest Florida, there's a more positive feeling that this area will be spared because the Loop Current is projected to keep the oil far from this coast. The current, a stream of warm water that acts like a conveyor belt, is about 200 miles away.

"The hurricane season is the wild card," Hughes, the Naples Realtor, said. "None of us really know what to expect, but so far it looks pretty good."

In Southwest Florida, rumors have circulated about deals that have or could fall apart because of the oil spill, especially those involving Gulf-front lots or homes. But sales continue.

"In my particular business, there has been no impact whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I have written over $20 million worth of contracts in the last two weeks," said Philip N. Collins, a broker associate for Premier Properties of Southwest Florida Inc.

He isn't hearing many concerns or getting many questions about the oil spill from prospective buyers that he's dealing with.

Even if the oil spill reached the beaches, it could be easily cleaned up, Collins said. His bigger concern would be the estuaries, he said.

Naples Realtor Craig Jones, with John R. Wood Realtors Inc., said the oil spill hasn't hurt her sales either.

"I just closed on a Gordon Drive lot 10 days ago, where it wasn't considered an issue at all," she said.

The Naples Area Board of Realtors hasn't been able to document any lost sales from the millions of gallons of oil that have poured into the Gulf of Mexico.

"I think overall people are confident it's not going to come to Naples," said Brenda Fioretti, NABOR's president.

Her concerns are in the "rental department." It appears some would-be visitors are holding off on renting vacation homes for next winter and more of them have a "wait-and-see" attitude, she said.

When season ends, bookings for next season usually begin for the most desirable homes and condos in the winter months.

"Obviously, we're hearing that in Pensacola it's a much bigger issue," Fioretti said. "We are just very thankful to be in Naples."

Tom Bringardner, president and CEO of Premier Properties of Southwest Florida, said his company's rental division is seeing more hesitation in advance bookings for weekly rentals.

He said the next month or two should be more telling about how much rentals will be hurt this summer or in the winter.

"Gosh, we might be struck by a meteor, too. But I'm not sure whether we will see that oil here on our coast or not," Bringardner said.

"The whole thing is just a tragedy, but it's just an aspect of the business that we have to deal with and allow potential renters and buyers to make a decision," he said. "Right now it looks like it's pretty far away from us."

__ Connect with Laura Layden at www.naplesnews.com/staff/laura_layden.

© 2010 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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RRBO Makes Timeshare Vacation Rentals Available to Everyone (Without the Sales Pitch)

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 12:16 AM PDT

New Internet site offers timeshare resort rentals for 30-50 percent less than hotels

(Vocus/PRWEB ) June 15, 2010 -- Vacation travelers looking for a timeshare for rent can now find a timeshare vacation unit at an exclusive resort for 30-50 percent less than a comparable hotel. Resort Rentals By Owner (RRBO.com), a newly launched online marketplace, connects owners with renters while managing and guaranteeing the payment.

There are over 5 million timeshare owners in the U.S. who own one-, two- and three-bedroom villas at luxury resorts and pay annual maintenance fees. Upwards of 30 percent of these timeshares go unused each year and owners now have an easy way to recover their annual fees by offering timeshare rentals by owner using this website.

"RRBO was created to give travelers a better option than going to a hotel and paying retail," said Mike Blackwell, company founder and president. "Timeshare resorts are among the best vacation resorts anywhere, most of which have only been available to timeshare owners. Now a traveler can go to one website and find available timeshare owner rentals from thousands which have been listed on RRBO.com."

Other online sites require travelers to contact the owner to work out rental details and that is risky to both the owner and the renter. According to Blackwell RRBO eliminates the hassle and risk of finding and negotiating a rental agreement between parties that have never met.

RRBO operates much like other popular person-to-person commerce sites. A traveler visits RRBO.com where they can view available timeshare rentals by owner at resorts all over North America, find the unit they want, and rent it immediately. RRBO acts as the marketplace intermediary and when a unit is booked, the owner pays RRBO a portion of the rental fee to guarantee the payment, handle the booking and eliminate risks of non-payment.

"Owners win because they don't pay anything unless their timeshare is rented, and consumers win by having access to an exclusive resort for a great price," said Blackwell.

About RRBO

Resort Rentals By Owner (RRBO.com) is an online marketplace for vacation rentals founded by Mike Blackwell, former AOL executive and CEO of ShareThis. Fractional ownership units (timeshares) were created in the early 1970's as a way to allow deeded resort ownership without the need to purchase an entire condominium. Timeshare ownership became wildly popular, with resort companies like Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham and Disney developing thousands of units worldwide. These units are now available to anyone using RRBO's online marketplace.

For more information on RRBO, contact Bob Kington; 1-877-357-RRBO (7726).

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Tons of fun

Posted: 15 Jun 2010 10:07 AM PDT

Lead Photo

Jessica Kornacki speaks at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition.

The key to creating an engaging social media campaign isn't about spending a lot of money, but rather finding a fun way to engage visitors and customers, Endless Vacation Rentals vice president of marketing Jessica Kornacki told workshop attendees Friday at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition.

On a budget of less than $1,000, Endless Vacation Rentals, a business unit of hotel chain Wyndham Worldwide Corp., created a vacation giveaway promotion for Facebook and other social media sites that produced a huge spike in social networking traffic, a 110% increase in the conversion rate for certain branded paid search terms and the highest ranking on Google search pages for the phrase "vacation contest."

"We had a tiny marketing budget and kept our goal simple," said Kornacki, who spoke at an IRCE social media workshop session entitled "Creating a successful social media campaign: What works and what doesn't." "We wanted to create a fun avenue for talking about us and we did."

After brainstorming, Endless Vacation Rentals marketing managers, working with marketing agency iProspect, created a microsite—YourFatChance.com—and a contest called "Turn Your Luck Around" that featured a happy pink hippo called Fat Chance. Consumers could do five things at the site: submit hard luck stories, post shorter instant-win submissions, create "Send Some Lucky Lovin" e-mails that they could customize with their own photos superimposed on the pink hippo, vote on submissions and sign up for e-mail offers. Visitors could also submit their funniest bad luck stories for a chance to win a week-long vacation for four worth up to $2,500 and a $2,000 Visa gift card.

The contest, which launched on St. Patrick's Day 2009, was aimed at using social media to build up consumer awareness of Endless Vacation Rentals, which lists more than 200,000 rental properties in getaway destinations in more than 100 countries. But the results also demonstrated the power of social media as a new and engaging way to build brand awareness, generate positive and substantial word-of-mouth advertising and make corporate marketing personal, Kornacki said. The key to effective social media marketing is to be both engaging and targeted. "What we did was to be concise and simple," Kornacki  said. "What we wanted to do was the create a buzz."

 If other web retailers want to be successful with their own social media campaigns, they need to set realistic goals and define how they want visitors to participate in campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere, she said. "Here's the secret sauce: be concise, linked, achievable and results," Kornacki said.

Online Sales: Growth: See More

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