The 7 Key Ingredients in Writing Vacation Rental Reviews

When I go through the process of finding a vacation rental, I read the reviews. It doesn’t matter if I’m looking for an Orlando Vacation Rental or one in Chicago; I read the reviews.  Therefore, when I am writing a review I put myself in the potential renter’s shoes and write to them. This article covers the seven things that, I think, need to go into a vacation rental review. Don’t write what you think the property owner or agents wants to read. Write what you wanted to read about when you were searching for your vacation rental.  

1. If you are uncomfortable with putting your personal information on the web, make sure the property owner / agent knows this before they publish your review. Many people use pseudonyms.

2. Tell the reader about your experience in as few words as possible. Don’t be too flowery or overly-flattering.

3. If you had apprehensions, say it and tell how the vacation rental owner / agent made all of that go away.

4. Talk about the vacation rental itself and be straight forward.

5. If the pictures don’t do it justice, say it.

6. Talk about what your traveling partners thought of the vacation rental. i.e. kids or friends.

7. If there is anything that stands out about the vacation rental mention it.

If you want, you may want to put yourself out there as a source of references.  Be clear with the owner /agent what you will and will not do. They get requests often and you don’t want to be spending your days responding to other potential renter’s emails. Tell the owner / agent that on a time-to-time basis you would be happy to help them . Don’t be shy in telling them that if they go overboard you won’t respond at all.

The ancillary benefit of writing vacation rental reviews.

Probably the most listened to radio station in the universe: WIIFM. What’s In It For Me? If you are going to spend time helping the owner / agent get more business they dang sure better return the favor promptly when you ask. You see, reviews you write are published on the web until that page is taken down. They provide your next owner/ agent you are dealing with a solid metric on which to gauge you. Once your review is published you can, on a go forward basis, refer your next owner / agent to the website(s) where your review(s) are published. Then that person can reach out directly to the past owner / agent and verify what they want.

Personally I think this keeps costs down for all of us as the practice of background checks is getting more commonplace and those checks are not free. If your next owner/ agent makes a few telephone calls or sends a couple of emails to past owner/ agent you rented from and can verify that you are legit they don’t have to pay for the service which, in turn, keeps the costs down. So there you go. Put yourself out there a little bit. Be straightforward with the vacation rental owner/ agent about your review and it may help you get your next rental quicker, keep overall operating cost of the units down, and it may help you get your deposit back quicker as well. A well written review is good for everyone involved!