Check out the MUCH improved method of searching and sorting for vacation rentals in France:

We’ve finally began the process of making it easier to search for vacation rentals in areas that have many small, relatively unknown cities and municipalities.    For example, in Italy, the entire collection of cities and regions was just too difficult for the average American to navigate.

What we did was assign all the Italian vacation rental listings to their appropriate region and province in Italy and then map them to a drillable flash map.

Check it out:

http://www.vacationrentaldirect.com/vacation-rentals/132/Italy.htm

We’ve always had the ability to share VacationRentalDirect.com property listings on the top social networking sites.  However, we recently updated this technology to allow Facebook users to post their property directly into their Facebook “Wall”.

Here are a couple of examples:

Periodically posting your listing to your wall is a great way to introduce your property to your network of friends.   If your friends like it, they in turn will visit your listing on VacationRentalDirect.com and may add the listing to their wall, thus introducing your property to their network of friends, starting the process all over again.

Social media vacation rental marketing, if done correctly, can be a powerful way to gain exposure for your vacation rental.

To share your listing on Facebook,  first mouseover the “+ Share Listing” image at the top of your listing.

Next click on the Facebook icon

and finally, add some introductory text to introduce the property to your friends on facebook, choose the image of your property that you would like displayed in the posting and then Share it with all of your friends!!

My family and I arrived on Sunday, May 24th at the Grande Villas in Indian Beach, NC which is right in the center of Emerald Isle. Thus far everything has been perfect. The team at Emerald Isle Realty really does an incredible job of considering your every need. Our check in was smooth and our unit is beautiful.

We have two first floor units, 1-K and 1-L. These units each have stairs which leads right to the grass and then to the beach. It is so so convenient. We worried a little about if there would be a privacy or noise problem, but this would never be an issue due to where the units are located. It is just so nice to quick go to the pool or the beach or each others unit, without have to go into the building.

The units themselves are brand new and first class. Tile everywhere, 13 foot ceilings, granite countertops, walk in showers, walk in closets in each bedroom and three very nice flat screen TVs. There is high speed wireless Internet in each unit! I mean there is an actual wireless router in our unit! 2.5Mb/s according to speedtest.net, so very nice!

The exercise room overlooks the ocean and the equipment is brand new. There are two ellipticals, a couple of treadmills and a stairmaster, as well as some strength training equipment.. There is also a game room with a huge flatscreen, free pool table and free video games including Galaga!

The closest grocery store is on the east end of the island, a Food Lion, and it’s about 9 miles away. There is a convenience store about 100 yards from Grande Villas, just across the street, that has the basic staples and also also bait and tackle for fishing! The bait is frozen however. But if you take a right out of the resort and go a 1/4 mile or so, there is a place called Homer’s Point which sells fresh shrimp (among other fresh seafood). We stopped by there on our way out and picked up three very nice Mahi Mahi filets which we grilled up when we got home!

One night we drove about 10 miles to the west end of the island and ate at Rutger Johns. It doesn’t have an amazing view, and it’s in the back of a strip mall, but the food came recommended and it was very good and economical. Great place to take a 15 month old. Kid friendly, nice atmosphere and excellent food. A word to the wise, if you are in a hurry to eat, and want to eat on the water (or really eat period) don’t go west (turning left) out of the resort, there are no restaurants for 15-20 minutes. However, if you go east, there are quite a few restaurants in the first two miles. This is good to know if you have kids and need to eat. Carleton’s is just a 1/4 to 1/2 miles to the west (left out of Grande Villas) but we never ate there mostly because it seemed like it might be a bit too fancy to take a kid.

On Tuesday afternoon we had lunch at The Big Oak, where we all had our first shrimp burgers.   They were amazing, and we had a really nice time.   For most people, I would consider getting the large shrimp burger, I ordered the regular shrimp burger initially and ended up ordering two of them!

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I had a nice exchange with Jared and Angie this past week, they own a villa in St. John and needed a little customer support.    Having the abilty to meet new people is one of the great aspects of owning a vacation rental site, for the most part vacation rental owners are a super lot of people.

So since Jared and Angie were so nice, I thought I’d feature their property on this blog.   I have to admit, I have never been to St. John, but their unit looks exceptional. Maybe somebody will comment on what makes St. John unique? What’s the easiest way to get to St. John? Any local secrets or places to eat that anybody would like to share?

Here is a little widget highlighting Jared and Angie’s place, you can click on it to go to the listing on vacationrentaldirect.com.

Charming and Private St John Villa Caribbean » US Virgin Islands » St. John   View This Listing at VacationRentalDirect.com   Starlit Escape is an immaculate 5 bedroom,3 bath rental villa with a pool nestled in a private, forested valley on St. John’s unspoiled east side. This St John Villa is known for its seclusion, peacefulness and natural beauty. Come relax in Paradise   Property Details Type :Villa Pets :No Listing :3380 Children :Yes Sleeps :8-10 Pool :Yes Bed(s) :5 Bath(s) :3 Amenities Phone Radio Washers & Dryer TV Cable DVD Player Fax

Contact: Jared or Angie        Phone: 1-800-965-1650 email: info@starlitescape.com

Vacation Rentals By Owner | VacationRentalDirect.com | Vacation Rental Software

We also have quite a few other St. John vacation rentals listed on vacationrentaldirect.com, please have a look!