Furnishedhomes.com interactive google maps mashup site. It is very challenging to build a maps based vacation rental site. Anyone can throw up a vacation home directory overnight. The reason you do not see many, if not really any, truly interactive map sites for vrbo’s is that it is very hard to develop. Not a project for the weak hearted. Furnished Homes is making headway in map based site.

reservemyhome.com

Travel on!

For real estate search, map interface for both search and browsing is certainly important, in addition to a large inventory of listings. In fact, a map interface and a large inventory probably go hand in hand to explore what’s out there in the real world.

I am working at Cazoodle, where we building a very comprehensive crawl-based “organic” apartment search and, yes, map is *the* interface. We also integrate with Google Streetview to let users better explore the neighborhood. Try it and let me how you think: http://apartmen...s.cazoodle.com/.

Search into the real world just go naturally with maps!

kevin chang

One thing that hotpads seems to really lack, besides inventory (where does their inventory come fry btw?), is useful list features. Their sorting criteria in the list mode is pretty lame. Price per sq. ft. for a vacation home, is that really important? How about number of bedrooms, price, etc.? And no filters, such as pets, wheel chair accessible, etc.

Vrbo’s site is certainly cumbersome with it’s enormous list of cities, listings, etc., buy at least they have some sorting features and some icons that tell you info (e.g. allow pets) in a list view. I think if hotpads combined a nice list with the map side-by-side, added some decent sorting features and filters, and could federate their inventory across popular sites like vrbo, then we’d be talking!

BTW, one nice thing about vrbo’s cumbersome and vast interface is that it decreases rental demand perhaps resulting in lower cost rental homes? Just a thought…

No need to use any harsh and inappropriate language. I don’t run the site, and I am no fan of the design of that site, no.

However, I do believe that their widgets are indeed useful and are quite promising – something that HomeAway could probably learn from.

“Geeky web html freaks” – ok, I take that term back.

Hopefully our developer widgets don’t come across as too ‘geeky.’ After all, we’re hoping that many of our owners would find it easy to simply drop our vacation rental widgets to their websites.

We’ve still got some more widgets we’re developing now, such as an embedded availability calendar.

Daniel
Ravant vacation rentals, co-founder

Get out of here with the crap.

Geeky web html freaks… jesus.

There are also some luxury players that vet each home and have reviews such as http://VillasofDistinction.com, http://TheSociety.com and Roberts Villa List.

One thing nobody is mentioning is RECOMMENDATIONS. Feedback from users easily trumps all of the features for any consumer looking for a vacation rental.

Vacation rental seekers however inquire into holiday destinations that are relatively foreign to them. A map may be useful to see how close the house lies to a body of water, but that’s about it.

For vacation rentals, I would prioritize the most important features as being 1) clear easy pricing 2) ability to quickly and easily compare pricing with other rental units 3) sophisticated search queries such as how many beds, bedrooms, swimming pool? Jacuzzi? etc.. 4) high quality pictures of the interior and exterior of the rental unit… I would even put availability calendars ahead of maps.

The new website provides developers and/or geeky web html freaks with added features, too, and on their blog they show off the add-ins, or widgets, which one can take and display on their own pages. That includes a slideshow, which is a nice feature for a developer, and saves them the time creating one themselves. Also, an easy upload to craigslist, a must for someone trying to get their listing out there. And, maps, of course.

Nice site – but I will definitely check out this HotPads one, too, for the integrated map search.

For a fairly new site, Ravant definitely seems promising, in more of a geeky tech way, which could be a good thing, yaknow.
Thanks!

Vacation rentals are generally individually owned. Therefore it’s up to owners or professional vacation rental firms to:

1. provide an address in the first place and
2. ensure it’s accuracy with Google Maps, Mapquest, etc.

Many folks don’t want their vacation rental home’s address listed at all due to theft concerns, etc. In addition, most of the mapping that occurs in resort markets isn’t accurate. Homeowners or managers have to actively work at correcting their home’s location

Escapia, like our partner HotPads, is working hard at making it easier for consumers to find and book vacation rentals online and that includes mapping.

Bryan Boice
National Sales Manager
Escapia, Inc.