Ramblings

First, just let me say that, when it comes to reading and books, I'm a purist. I love the feel of a book. I love holding it and turning the pages. I love everything about the physical experience of reading. But technology had to creep in. First through e-mail, then web content, blogs, book excerpts on Amazon -- and now Kindle.

I haven't done a scientific tally of the percentage of the huge amount of electronic vs. book reading I do each day. But I'm pretty sure that I spend more time (a lot more) scanning a screen than I do curled up with my latest read before bed. 

It's mostly been news, opinion and travel planning that keep me glued to the screen. Precisely why I publish my series of e-guidebooks only electronically. In practice, I buy, read and schlep print travel guidebooks with me on every trip. But less and less each time I travel. The future is electronic. There's also the environment to consider. So I stubbornly refuse to publish in print.

But fiction? Memoirs? Other books I love to savor? I won't -- well, haven't -- accept an alternative to print until Amazon's Kindle. Despite what tech gurus are saying, as reader I think it's kinda cool.

This is definitely the place to admit that I haven't yet experienced Kindle firsthand. But, to be truthful? I'm already mesmerized by the thing. Here's why:

• A high-res screen that's actually "reads like real paper?" My aching eyeballs thank you already.

• It's simple to use. Because the most avid readers may be among the most low-tech among us.

• Books are auto-delivered, within a minute! Music to the ears of anybody (me) who sometimes gets so excited about a book she has to head straight for Borders. (Premium Price Gas + Time =  ??) Plus, you can check in on your favorite blogs, have top newspaper content delivered automatically. No wireless  bills, service plans.

It all sounds too good to be true. But like that first clunky stone wheel, it's setting something new in motion. When I am actually able to purchase one (Amazon is sold out) ... I'll say more. Meanwhile? e-info is the fastest, most comprehensive and efficient resource for travelers. 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Always a humbling experience. My family's semi-annual get-together at a vacation rental home I chose was a disappointment. And if it had been my first experience renting a vacation home? It might also have been my last.

Here's (only part of) the laundry list. Most of the walls were scuffed up to waist-level. There were two TVs in our bedroom; neither worked. Two propane cans for the gas grill; both empty. The upstairs air-conditioning didn't work. No wireless Internet, as advertised.

I will say, the manager was very responsive, if a bit spacy.  But my technical-guru husband got the TVs working. And we all were determined to have a good time, so we did. The consensus among the rest of my laidback family is: the house was "fine". In fact, it was the worst we have visited in four years. Frankly, I spent too much of my precious vacation time dwelling on my mistake. Every time I walked the beach or drove along the coast, I kept wishing I could go back in time and chose another, better place for us.

And if it can happen to me, believe me -- it can happen to anybody.

I've visited dozens of vacation rental homes while researching my "Renting Paradise" series of e-guidebooks featuring firsthand, unbiased reviews of a select group of distinctive rentals. I even fancied that I had developed a "sixth sense" for homing in on the cream of a very large (and growing!) crop of vacation rental homes. Here's how I was fooled (so you'll be better prepared).

• Details  left out of description. Short and sweet can turn sour much faster than a long passionate treatise by a passionate owner. So take your time browsing listings and listen for heart. Some of the most interesting, dedicated, welcoming people I've ever met are vacation rental home owners. When they go on and on, it's generally not fluff, but pure love. And their greatest desire is for you to experience it too.

• Few--and/or deceiving--photos. The featured (un-captioned) photo in the listing for my recent misstep? Not taken from the house, but from the beach. Which was not a block away, as described. It is a block and a half to Highway 1. Once you reach the beach, you find it is not exactly pet-friendly. Threats of $270-plus fines are levied by park personnel! Walk-to access to a pet-friendly beach was one of the main considerations I expressed to the owner/manager. Yes, I was pissed. 

• Sloppy management. Walls scuffed. "Beautiful gardens" that are overgrown, weed-choked patches. Listed appliances missing. No propane...  You can't see this until you arrive. BUT, if you call and talk to the owner/manager you can glean a lot of information. As I've said, ours was responsive. But in all communications, she  kept saying she was "old" and "not technical". Clues. Big time.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

During a self-imposed (read:  money-making)“sabbatical” that has extended to several months, I’ve been watching and listening rather than posting. With a little distance, I find I’m more than a little confounded by how the vacation rental market is growing. Is it just me?

The consolidation—what I call the Hotels.com-izing—of the vacation rental industry lumbers awkwardly along. The monster site seems to get more ungainly with every smaller site it gobbles up, which strikes me as kind of sad. Because the defining feature of a vacation rental vs. a hotel or B&B is its uniqueness. No two vacation homes are alike! That’s a beautiful thing in this world of chain retailers and copycat brands. One uber-site may be more efficient, but is it the most effective way to promote the singular charm of your vacation home?

And why has the media stuck on the same old two-note praise of vacation homes for trips to Europe and for families? Can’t we all tell them new stories—direct from your own guest books—about vacation homes as perfect places to celebrate romantic milestones or quiet babymoons, to reconnect with old friends or even work through grief?

And why are we trampling on our brilliant prospects with negative sites like Vacation Rentals Watchdog.com without launching an equal number of positive sites? Certainly, bad experiences happen! But do they truly exceed the norm across all types of accommodations—or outweigh the good experiences?

I guess my point is, we’ve got something truly exceptional in this young industry. Let’s not let the dog (whether it be the big site or the media) wag us by just going along with the prescribed program. Let’s look for ways to celebrate the personal style—the heart—that distinguishes us from any of our competitors.

One very cool site called Slow Travel has gotten fabulous press for the way it embraces that lifestyle concept of “slow travel”. 

I launched my series of e-guidebooks called Renting Paradise to review vacation rentals I hand-picked for their unique charm. I separated these homes from the pack, not they are the best. But because each is exceptional on its own merits.

More owners are blogging. Bravo!

Let’s not be afraid to be individuals. Then maybe we can all figure out the best way to shine together.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

“It could definitely ruin a vacation if a rental house was terribly unacceptable. How are we supposed to know which ones are which?”

That concerned post on a Yahoo group for vacation home owners followed another renter’s horror story: dirty sheets, bugs, flooding toilets. More often, the problem lies in different expectations. The place is not as upscale as you thought. The “ocean view” is the size of a postage stamp. The odd layout in one home we rented required my parents to walk through the bedroom my husband and I slept in to get downstairs!

You can complain. You can ask for your money back. But—poof!—there goes your vacation experience.

Vacation rentals are growing in number and popularity—and nobody could be happier about it than a vacation rental evangelist like me. But it amazes me there’s no star system, no apples-for-apples comparison, no “best of” guidebooks (ahem, aside from my own Renting Paradise series, that is).

Part of the problem is that the beauty of vacation rentals—that each one is so unique—can be a bear when it comes to establishing quality standards.

 “We get a lot calls from people asking, ‘How do I know I’ll be getting what I’ think I’m getting?’” says Bill May, executive director of Vacation Rental Owners Association.  Thanks to VROA, there’s finally a blip on the horizon: Blue Ribbon Inspections.

VROA’s process will involve an on-site physical inspection (which is so crucial!) and a series of questions as to the home's outfitting, construction, amenities, cleanliness and owner policies.

May says the inspection process will focus on disclosure and accuracy. Inspectors must clearly differentiate between cabins, homes, lodges and villas. Because each one is as unique as a thumbprint, “owners need to have a lot of information in their advertising and on their web sites.” That means detailed descriptions, quality photos, floor plans and even 360-degree panoramas. Even then it can get dicey. “At million-dollar rental homes on the Carolina coast, guests are expected to bring their own linens,” May says. Guests are welcome to provide feedback on homes they feel are undeserving of the designation. Which may, in turn, lead to adjudication between renters and owners.

Something to keep on eye on. But in the meantime, here’s a list of Renting Tips you can use to evaluate vacation rentals.

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We're all busy. Just give us broad-brush description, the highlights, the "meat" and the bottom line. Until it comes to our vacation.

If you're going out of your way to search for a vacation home -- an accommodation unique from any other -- I'm betting you're can't get enough detail. Some owners and management companies get this and thier online descriptions reflect, with acres of text and a dozen photos. But, many don't and that puzzles me. It can even concern me if I've parted with cash for a deposit.

As I mentioned, I recently booked a house for a family get-together that I'm sort of nervously lukewarm about. The listing shows enough photos, but the rooms look drab -- no art on the walls. It was also light on text, which was brochure-y. "Walk to the sand. Enjoy water sports or soak in the sun at one of California's most picturesque beaches....  So much to be found!" That could describe hundreds of other homes on or near the California coast.

I think it's going to be okay. Once I'd narrowed the field based on my clan's needs, it seemed like a reasonable option. But okay is typically not my style. When I review homes for Renting Paradise or hotels for i-escape, I layer on specific detail. Just like my readers:

• I want to experience the place ahead of time. Paint me a picture. Describe the views, the sounds, the smells. The little extras the owner left behnd for my breakfast. I can't dream on a diet of brochure-speak. I want first-hand experience to fire my own sweet anticipation. If I wanted a room at a chain hotel, I'd book one.
  

• I want to be sure I'll experience what I'm already envisioning. It's nice to be surprised. But not all surprises are nice. I'm wondering, is there some little thing you're leaving out that I might care about? I'll give you an example from my own experience -- our dramatically  situated beachfront home had a driveway on a blind curve of Highway 1. My heart was in my throat every single time I ventured out. Detail prepares me.

• I want specific guidance and recommendations that will help me plan my trip. What shouldn't I miss if this is my first visit? What are your (as the owner) favorite things to do?  Places to visit? Eat? Too many descriptions gloss over this important element. Detail makes a prospective guest feel like a welcome friend.  

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oprah does it. So does your favorite sitcom. A spate of new reality TV shows do it ad nauseum in every new episode! And yes, I rerun past posts in this blog. But not just to give my brain and typing fingers a rest.

I want to make sure that new subscribers and curious browsers are aware of my latest reviews of vacation rentals and web sites listing rentals. So peridically I'll dip into the digital archives and pull out a post.

This past week I featured rerun reviews of one Sonoma Country vacation rental home and three vacation rental listing sites -- VRBO, Rentals Express and the WVR Group (a family of sites under the aegis of one corporation). Just for grins, I threw in a golden-oldie called "Top 10 Reasons Vacation Rentals Are Better Than Hotels". And there's plenty of good stuff still languishing in the archives. (Just click on any category and scroll.)

But there are many more fresh, new posts in the oven. Promise.

Happy reading.     

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ramblings goes beyond journal-style travelogues to offer up-to-date reviews of vacation rentals, practical advice, personal recommendations and food-for-thought to active (and armchair) travelers to Northern California and beyond.  

Subtitled “Sometimes you want more than a room with a view,” this blog's topics focus on the needs and interests of travelers who prefer renting a vacation home to checking into a room in a hotel, inn or bed-and-breakfast (B&B).

Whenever I discover a remarkable vacation rental, a particularly scenic drive, a phenomenal bakery… I want to stop people on the street, tell them all about it and make them promise they’ll try it themselves. The blog format gives me a chance to do that—without risking a restraining order. I’ve gotten some of my best tips from vacation rental owners and other travelers. I’d love to start an ongoing "conversation" with travelers who share my passion for unique experiences.

As the author of Renting Paradise—a series of e-guidebooks reviewing vacation homes, cabins, cottages, flats, houseboats and estates in Northern California—I admit I have another agenda for the Ramblings blog: to turn you on the joys of renting a vacation home.

It’s unbelievable that to me that the vacation rental industry is still a stepchild in the industry. A few guidebooks briefly mention renting as an option and most major booking sites don’t offer vacation rentals as an option along with hotels and B&Bs. I have very strong opinions about why—and when—renting a vacation home is the best option.

Aside from reading daily posts, you're invited to delve into entries archived in more than a half-dozen categories including “The Rented Vacation,” “Favorite Places” and “e-Planning & Travel Tips. Recent posts have given readers a heads-up on a completely charming alternative for a wine country wedding that’s much less costly than a winery setting, a link to Sonoma County’s Farm Trails Map & Guide, the perfect companion for anyone following the popular Sonoma Diet, and a step-by-step navigation of the granddaddy of vacation rental sites, VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner).

Believe me, I know how cumbersome the selection process can be. It can take days or weeks to find the right rental on dozen of sites. Part of my mission is to review the top web sites and rate them in terms of quality, navigation, tools and user-friendliness.

Enjoy! 

Posted by Joyce Hadley Copeland at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)