Indian Rocks Beach, FL (PRWEB) January 31, 2010
Florida Gulf Vacation (TM) – http://www.floridagulfvacation.com – announced today that it has reached its latest milestone with the listing of its 500th Vacation Rental By Owner property listing – on Panama City Beach – making it the fastest growing Vacation Rental Marketing website focused exclusively on the Florida Gulf Coast. “We continue to believe that the consolidation occurring at the upper levels of the by owner vacation rental market is not good for Vacation Rental Owners as rates continue to rise at an astronomical pace at the same time that owners are struggling with a weak economy and tightened vacation budgets,” said Jim Swartwout, Founder and Operating Manager of Florida Gulf Vacation LLC.
Vacation Rental Owners and Managers are able to list their properties on Florida Gulf Vacation for just $ 72 per year (less if you have multiple properties) and with each listing comes the ability to manage inquiries via email and through the owner management page, uploading 20 property photos, writing custom descriptions of the area, interior and exterior and posting rates, availability calendar and free special offer posting. “When you compare us against anyone, the functionality we provide is unparalleled in the market,” said Mr. Swartwout.
Helping owners get qualified and targeted traveler leads is the primary focus of the company. “If you list on some sites and have to pay for extra photos someone can buy one more than you and move ahead of your listing in the results on their pages. We think the fact that you have to pay for photos is ridiculous and similar to a baggage fee at the airport. Make no mistake – this is a huge profit center for large companies with high overhead but we call it nickel and diming your customer,” added Swartwout . At Florida Gulf Vacation all listings are allowed up to 20 photos at no additional charge. Properties are ordered based on long the listing has been active. Once an owner lists, as long as they stay active, no one will ever move ahead of them in the beach listings. This focus on the customer is why Florida Gulf Vacation also allows owners to use their own anchor text anywhere in a listing to link to their own website and post special offers at no charge. Owners interested in listing their properties can also take advantage of a 90 day free trial.
“Our goal is to target travelers looking specifically for our niche market and we have been very successful in doing just that,” he continued. Since expanding from their market in Pinellas County near Tampa to cover the entire Florida Gulf Coast a year ago, the company has rolled out multiple website improvements and converted onto a proprietary back office system designed specifically for the Florida Gulf Coast Travelers and Owners the company services.
Unlike Vacation Rental Websites that list vacation rentals all over the world, Florida Gulf Vacation lists only Florida Vacation Rentals in specific areas which allows them to target marketing and return substantial savings to its primary customers – Vacation Rental Owners and Managers. The site currently receives between 8,000 and 10,000 unique visitors who view on average visit seven properties per visit. Online since 2004, the company’s focus was on a limited number of Pinellas/Tampa Bay region beaches until February of 2009 when it launched the new version of the site, added online owner management and expanded to cover all gulf coast beaches. Last month the site began listing Orlando Vacation Rentals after surveying its travelers and finding that many visit both a Florida Beach and Orlando during their stays in the state.
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