posted by orlandovacationhome on Sep 13

The Disney Corporation announced that it will be expanding the Disney World Fantasyland attraction in two phases with a ready date in 2012-2013. This will reportedly replicate the California Adventure Park’s Little Mermaid ride. Most of the changes will come to the east of the current Fantasyland area and north of the Winnie the Pooh ride in Magic Kingdom. This will include attractions for Cinderella and Aurora with an elaborate ride planned with the Little Mermaid theme. An expansion to the Dumbo area is also part of the plan. This is reportedly the largest change to the Magic Kingdom Park in 38 years according to the Orlando Sentinel. Orlando media also has high hopes that the Fantasyland expansion will trigger strong future parks and attractions growth.

Much of the speculation from various sources indicates a commonly held belief that Universal will capture the imagination of the market in 2010 with the opening of the Harry Potter attraction. We believe that this could be part of a larger plan to upgrade the Disney theme parks in Orlando and some future creative use of the Disney and Marvel strategic partnership may be in order as well. For now, the Disney Princess and Fairies merchandise is hugely popular for Disney with over $4 billion in annual sales and the company does want to build on that.

Vacation rentals in Orlando are an excellent way to enjoy a sunny Florida vacation. Most rental homes near Disneyworld are an excellent value when you consider amenities and the fact that most homes sleep at least 6/8 persons. Consult our vacation reviews area for information on more than 80 resort communities. We do the research for you to take the stress out of planning your Orlando vacation.

Click on the following link for the Fantasyland Expansion video announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08W5Os-Wnj0&feature=fvw

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Aug 31

Back in June, 2009, we made the case that social media needed more creative attention relating to Orlando Tourism Promotion due to the flagging economy. The Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau has now come around to the power of the social media. The Bureau released a new social blogging strategy to promote all that Orlando travel and tourism has to offer. This will hopefully create some much needed buzz in markets across the globe to encourage taking an Orlando based vacation.

Stacey Doornbos and Kyle Post (appropriately named for a blogger) from New York were selected as the new “Orlando Makes Me Smile” Tourism Campaign Ambassadors. They will blog about over 100 attractions the area has to offer. As stated earlier, this will include both the smaller yet high quality attractions along with news from the bigger more well known venues.

As active followers of social media, we applaude the actions of the OOCVB. Social media is a great way to create a crafted message to boost tourism and inform potential consumers.

Our mission mirrors this same goal along with promoting the advantages of Orlando vacation rentals. We believe there is power in vacation home brands based upon years of positive experiences at these resort communities. We review and profile over 80+ vacation home subdivisions, many located just minutes from area theme parks. Orlando villa reviews give you additional detail and insight for most communities in the area. You typically get all the amenities of home and then some including pools and common area amenities by booking in vacation villa subdivisions. Vacation rentals for many tourists visiting Orlando are now truly preferred over cramped hotels.

Orlando Tourism

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Aug 23

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “A Robin Hood for Inconvenienced Travelers in Europe” caught our attention. There is recourse for European air travel to the United States from Europe that is below acceptable standards and based on a strict passenger bill of rights. This is not to say you will have a pleasant flight to either the Orlando International Airport or the Sanford, Fl Airport.

A website for travel claims that violate the European Union’s Passenger Bill of Rights is http://www.euclaim.co.uk/. These claims may arise for several reasons including flight delays, cancelled flights and getting involuntarily sacked from a flight programme. The website boasts 1,200 successful claims for individuals. Be sure and carefully read the awards criteria before you file any claims.

Orlando villa rentals are an excellent alternative for European travelers. Most of our area Floridian style villa rentals have full amenities like individual pools, self-catering kitchens and washing machines. Our vacation villa consumer blog reviews most of the home subdivisions in the area so you can spot the best values, and make a great decision. We profile each of the communities based on extensive criteria. We do the research for you to give you peace of mind for your Orlando vacation.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Aug 10

We were honored that David M. Scott, international social media marketing expert, blogger and author, made some comments on our vacation home branding post regarding Orlando and branding.

There really is credence to the fact that vacation home communities are in fact brands. This is simply a new paradigm for the general public, and for the travel and tourism blogosphere.

I’ll give you a personal example that occurred late last week which exemplifies the power of brands.

I traveled to several communities, made some notes for our blog, and then did tours of several rental houses. Although my observations are not empirical, I was shocked to see the high occupancy in Windsor Hills Review and Emerald Island Review versus many of the other vacation home communities.

This trend was especially noticeable as you moved down the quality spectrum. The lower rated communities, referencing our quality reviews, appeared to be relatively slow.

There are powerful Orlando area vacation home community brands at work that drive rate and occupancy and are derived from reputation branding and referrals. This also confirms an earlier post on Orlando villa comparison rates for rental homes regarding the impact of quality on rental rates.

For some reason, the vacation rental business became commoditized. In other words, vacation rentals have been marketed as short term rentals on the Internet with no differentiators for quality other than mostly size of home and time of year. Contrast this with the marketing of real estate which does just the opposite. Location of the homes and perceived quality of the neighborhood (as reflected in a per square foot sales price) often drive home pricing.

Our core belief for this site, and on our home page, is that all vacation home communities are NOT created equal.

Visit our website for independent reviews on over eighty vacation home community brands along with travel and tourism news of interest to Orlando visitors.

There are lots of brands to choose from in the Orlando area!

Orlando Vacation Home Brands

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Dec 25

Business conditions in Orlando will eventually improve, but a few opinions are in order for maintaining viability for vacation rentals during these difficult times:

1. Know Your Customer – These times demand changing tactics. As we have indicated on another blog post, international travel may make up a smaller percentage of your overall occupancy than they did in 2008. However, as we write this, the tourism and travel market is very dynamic and always stay attuned to your customers. Always segment your customer base to better understand their tastes and preferences.
2. Emphasize Family Values – Don’t stray from the competitive advantages that vacation homes have over other traditional means of lodging. These include, but are not limited to privacy, value, and quality. A sacrifice in any of these core values will impact your core business significantly. Moreover, referral marketing based on past rental experience is a low cost way to generate value as well.
3. Flexible Pricing Strategies – As we have indicated on other posts(1), the general travel market is quite uncertain moving into 2009. Price cuts may need to be on the table for a temporary promotion to boost the bottom line. However, clearly establishing and communicating a strong value proposition for your rental home should always be the primary and first driver of any strategy.
4. Maintain Marketing Spending – Although difficult to do, it is not advisable to cut marketing spending during a business downturn. It is also not the time to pull support from vacation home management companies who may be able to garner high visibility on the internet which is often the lifeline for Orlando vacation home rentals.

There is possibly no better time for prospective vacationers to visit Orlando than in the coming year. Promotions for area theme parks and attractions abound. As we have established on several other posts(2), there is also no better value for Orlando lodging than renting area vacation homes. As always, do your own due diligence using the appropriate independent professionals when making a decision of any kind.

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posted by orlandovacationhome on Oct 2

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