I had a nice conversation with the owner of a Blowing Rock North Carolina Vacation Rental the other day, so I thought I’d feature his rental on my blog as well as tell my readers a little more about Blowing Rock North Carolina.

Waterfall Tree House United States » North Carolina » Blowing Rock   View This Listing at VacationRentalDirect.com   Beautiful Tree House like cabin near waterfall in private gated development.   Property Details Type :Cabin Pets :Yes Listing :13708 Children :No Sleeps :1 to 2 Pool :No Bed(s) :1 Bath(s) :1 Amenities Air Condition Radio Hunting near by Washers & Dryer TV Cable DVD Player

Contact: michael Kirkland        Phone: 828-719-5761

Holiday Rentals | VacationRentalDirect.com | Vacation Homes

Blowing Rock is a small town just outside of Boone in North Carolina. The town has a wonderful variety of shops, small hotels, resorts, golf courses, state parks and local activities. Most weekends it is very busy with tourists. Parking can be difficult on the weekends, especially in the summer because it’s always about 10 degrees cooler in Blowing Rock.

Expect to wait when having lunch. My wife and I prefer to visit on a weekday if possible, simply because of the crowds.

We’ve never stayed in Blowing Rock over night, however there are some super nice hotels just a few hundred yards from the downtown. You can view all of the Blowing Rock Vacation Rentals by clicking here.

There are some decent boutique clothing shops for women, and even a nice one for babies. I don’t recall a lot of options for men. There are a few touristy shops, but many are more artsy in nature. There is a Tanger Outlet Mall in Blowing Rock as well.

Overall, Blowing Rock a great place to spend an afternoon. There is a ton more to do in the area, that I have not explored. One of the things I aim to do this spring is a little bit of hiking in the area. I found this article about hiking around Bass Lake, which seems like a wonderful trek:

Trail Map for the Moses H. Come Memorial Park (includes Bass Lake Trek)

Happy New Year!! I’ve been hearing from a lot of vacation rental owners and property managers about how the economic slowdown is hurting their business. Many are talking about reducing their marketing budgets for 2009. Hold up. Did I hear that correctly? Business is slowing and you want to decrease your vacation rental marketing dollars?

When times get a little more lean or when competition heats up, there is never a better time to spend more money on marketing. Margins will be thinner, but at least your properties are occupied and cash flow is strong.

For my own vacation rentals, I am always revisiting my marketing mix. I find print advertising to be very expensive and it offers little in the way of return on investment. My website remains a good source of leads and I make extensive use of pay per click campaigns as well as advertising on a select number of vacation rental listings sites, including, of course, vacationrentaldirect.com.

I am spending a little more this year to generate the same number of inquiries as in previous years, but the results are well worth it. My summer 2009 bookings are already nearly 85% booked, and that’s for seven units, with one week minimums, at rents rangins from $1500 to $5600 per week.

The vacation rental market remains very strong, but the economy is taking a tool. On the flip side, more people are traveling closer to home so the local markets are stronger.

In short, don’t reduce your vacation rental marketing dollars because you budget is tight. Spend your money wisely and diversify with a nice mix of a personal website, targeted long tail ppc, a variety of vacation rental listing sites, craigslist, eBay, free listing sites, some print advertising and don’t forget word of mouth and email marketing.

2009 will be a great year for vacation rentals, but dont’ skimp on the marketing budgets!!!