As of today, FlipKey has opened its doors. Please visit our new homepage at www.flipkey.com and explore how FlipKey can help you collect verified reviews and manage your internet-based Reputation.

Why was FlipKey created?
After managing our own vacation rentals we discovered a lack of trust and consumer awareness among prospective guests searching for vacation rentals. Guests needed assurances that our vacation homes were as advertised and that we, as managers/owners, were legitimate business operators.

Fact is, the majority of vacationers LOVE vacation rentals. The experience is more personal, often more economical and affords a unique travel experience. The majority of our guests had a great time and would send us emails saying as much.

The Problem:
Despite evidence of the wonderful experiences of our past guests, browsing consumers were skeptical. Prospective guests assumed our testimonials were written by us and not actual guests.

In addition, guests were often confused about how we would resolve potential problems like lost keys or an unexpected maintenance problem. Were we onsite or did we live 200 miles away? Did we have experience renting our homes before?

To effectively attract, book and yield a top nightly rate we needed “verified” reviews of each home and a way for guests to understand the difference between a professionally managed property and a unit managed directly by the owner.

The Solution:
FlipKey was created to help managers of all sizes collect verified guest reviews to establish a trusted internet-based reputation. The FlipKey Reputation Manager allows managers to easily invite past guests to share their vacation rental experience. Guest reviews are collected by FlipKey, verified for authenticity and then published on your website, FlipKey.com and any other marketing channels you may leverage.

FlipKey allows managers to publicly respond to reviews to thank guests for their positive experience or to address improvements. All replies are posted to the original reviews, so you can effectively manage your reputation and communicate the full value of your service.

[Click Here To See an Example]

On FlipKey.com, we reinforce consumer trust by informing users whether properties are “professionally managed.” By helping educate vacationers on the security and predictability afforded by professionally managed homes, we help consumers evaluate the relative benefits of renting from a property manager versus directly through an owner.

Who is using FlipKey?

“FlipKey is the first Reputation Solution designed for vacation rentals. As a webmaster I love that FlipKey offers free tools to port verified reviews and reputation to my clients’ sites.” - Trent Blizzard, CEO of Blizzard Marketing

Companies collecting verified guest reviews through FlipKey include:

All-Star Vacation Homes (Kissimmee, FL)
Franconia Notch Vacations (Franconia, NH)
Escape 2 Florida Homes (Clermont, FL)
Surfside Realty (Myrtle Beach, SC)
Imagine Vacation Homes (Orlando, FL)
And more…

*Click company name to view their FlipKey Front Deskâ„¢

What’s Next for FlipKey?

• FlipKey will soon enhance its service and features by offering integration with property management software services. This will make it even easier to collect this invaluable marketing asset.
• We will continually improve and expand FlipKey’s suite of Reputation Tools helping you go beyond guest reviews to improve/increase your reputation.
• Provide managers that have established a strong reputation through FlipKey guest reviews the opportunity to be featured on large affiliated travel sites.

If you manage vacation rentals and would like to join FlipKey, click here to learn more and apply.

Foregetaway - The Weather Channels (TWC) vacation rental marketing arm - recently announced a multi - year deal (no financial terms disclosed) making AirTran the official airline of ForGetaway.com.

The deal ensures that AirTran will have a featured link on every page of TWC’s listing service for the next seven years. This is an interesting deal, as it marks the first exclusive airline partnership in the vacation rental market.

AirTran operates scheduled airline service primarily in short-haul markets in the eastern U.S. Below is a snapshot of AirTran (ticker AAI on the far left) and its competitors, as determined by Yahoo finance. Illustrated below, AirTran is a smaller player compared to larger operators, such as JetBlue, Delta and SouthWest.

Despite its size, AirTran does offer service to several key vacation rental destinations, such as, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) and South Carolina. Key markets AirTran does not currently service include Myrtle Beach (SC), Hawaii, the Caribbean and Europe.

The deal continues the exploration of new revenue categories that are emerging in the vacation rental marketing arena. FlipKey recently reported on HomeAway’s introduction of display advertising across its network of sites. TWC’s partnership with AirTran is the first dedicated airline partnership - a logical extension of its service, complimenting vacation rental interest with relevant content and offers. With the emergence of more sophisticated vacation rental properties we won’t be surprised to see similar deals announced in 2008.

What’s that? Oh, the phone is ringing… I wonder if it’s Delta! : )

Yesterday, Mountain Reservations Inc. announced the acquisition of VRGateway Inc., bringing VRGateway’s newly re-launched consumer site www.rooster.com into the Mountain Reservations stable of “over 80 web sites that offer consumers . . . vacation properties for short and long-term rental.”

Both of these companies have re-branded themselves in the past and plan to announce a new consumer brand in the future. Mountain Reservations was formerly OTravel (known as Ski West Inc. before that) until Overstock.com sold it to a private equity firm for $17M in April 2007. VRGateway’s consumer destination site used to be vrgateway.com until roughly October 2007 when it was re-branded as rooster.com. According to yesterday’s press release consumers can expect a new brand name and destination website from the combined entity in the second quarter of 2008.

Mountain Reservations has been successful developing a niche alpine rentals service, with growing consumer traffic and a robust inventory of 9,556 rental listings in popular mountain destinations on www.mtnres.com. VRGateway’s attempt to build a national consumer brand has been challenging, attracting less traffic nationally then mtnres.com and including only 7,055 national listings through their destination search interface.

With this acquisition, Mountain Reservations is hoping to bridge its niche market success to a broader market offering. The new combined entity is dedicated to working only with properties represented by property managers and through channel partners which will limit their market to North America.

The acquisition of VRGateway by Mountain Reservations demonstrates the challenges VRGateway has faced in creating a viable consumer brand. The fact remains: there is no recognized consumer brand in the vacation rental market. In hindsight, Mountain Reservations has proven that focusing on a niche sub-segment of the market is a viable and successful market entry point.