Deluxers Life

Brand new elaborate GPS readings made on the 17-18th Oct have registered that Mount Blanc amounts to 4810.8 meters. Mount Blanc is veiled by a deep ice-cap which has got bigger by 2.3 meters in only 2 yrs however more suprisingly the mass of the snow and ice has all but doubled . Leastwise that’s according to the experts.

The bulk of ice and snow was measured for the inaugural time in 2003. It was measured at 14600 metres cubed higher up than 4800 m. It equaled just 13600 meters cubed in 2004 possibly ascribable to the heat wave with + temperatures as high as 5000 m altitude. All the same the ice has just about increased twofold since then and today measures 25000 cubic meters.

Chamonix town’s esteemed near by weather forecaster Kim Harris said the development in the scale of the ice is one of the contrary results of climate change: The amount of snow hasn’t increased generally in the Alps but with the climate change we’re having additional hot prevailing westerly winds that bring in rain lower down however in summer this translates to heavy snow that settles higher up than 3900 m elevation therefore the volume of the ice cap is growing. Counterpoint this to the situation in winter time where snow crystals are very cold and are carried by the wind and so don’t settle on the peak.

Chamonix village is not just well known for Monte Bianco it is also a world renowned ski town and alpinism center with lot’s of snowboarding finds and catered chalets to be had. And at merely 1 hr from Geneva airport it is unbeatable for a ski weekend.

When you design a website how do you start ?

Do you start with the banner graphics at the top, or the order page or maybe the sales letter ?

All of those are areas that have to be created but they’re really not the place to start.

The place to start is by answering one simple question about your site.

>> What do I want my visitor to do before she leaves? > If she doesn’t do that, what else would I like her to do? <<

We’ll call the answer to that your secondary objective, it’s your fall back position. If you fail to convince them to take the action that you most want them to do, this fall back action will still serve a purpose and get you other opportunities to achieve objective one.

The answer to these questions will define the design of your site for you. Your site will ave to be designed so that it can react ‘on the fly’ and lead the visitor to objective 2 if you fail to achieve objective 1.

REALISTIC OBJECTIVES

Let’s take the case of a web site owner who’s selling software direct to the end user.

What would be the primary objective for such a site?

Often the site owner will decide that Objective 1 – the one thing he most wants a visitor to do is to buy the software there and then.

Great, that now defines the site for him. To meet the objective the site has to be completely focused on that objective but, it may turn out to be unrealistic to expect to achieve it in one hit.

DESIGN THE SITE TO ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE

The sales copy has to describe a problem, lay out the solutions and show how the product available from this very page will solve the problem now.

The copy must be compelling, it must describe the problem that the product solves in a way that creates detailed pictures in the visitors mind. Pictures of the day to day effects of this problem that the visitor would really want to solve.

The copy must then paint pictures to create thoughts and images of life for the visitor without this problem and how much better, easier or more profitable etc life would be if this problem could be solved.

Then, like the 7th cavalry riding in, the copy must link the features of the software to the benefits that go with using it and the problem being solved.

The more powerful the links and the more positive imagery created in the visitors mind, the more likely it becomes that s/he will be motivated to take action to end the problem and buy the product then and there.

The good feelings developed by the copy can be reinforced by glowing testimonials from users who are already enjoying life with the software and without the problem defined.

A superb close should be used that reinforces all of the good feelings achieved so far and adds value by careful positioning of the price to be paid against the real value of the product and the list of wonderful exclusive bonuses on offer if the visitor orders now.

The visitor feels so positive she reaches for her credit card, completes the order form and buys the product.

Great! Primary objective achieved. But….

WHAT IF IT OBJECTIVE 1 FAILS?

Sometimes, even if you get all of the above correct, it’s just not enough. Your visitor may not know you, one visit may not convince them that you are trust worthy. They not be entirely convinced that your software will deliver all the promised benefits or that it’s worth the money. Perhaps they might be thinking that there might be a better, cheaper, better known solution to be had elsewhere.

For any or all of these reasons the site owners primary objective may prove to be unrealistic and may not be achieved.

If this is the case he needs to rapidly switch the purpose of his site to achieving his secondary objective. This can be tricky to do but there is a simple technique that can be employed for the purpose.

First, what sort of secondary objective might be achievable by the site owner? We’ll look at a couple of examples.

NEWSLETTER

He may have a newsletter about the subject area that his software covers.

If so, his secondary objective may be to get the visitor to sign up for it before leaving.

That way the site owner has opportunities to build on the pictures painted by the site. He can use the newsletter to reassure, prove the benefits, introduce other benefits. He can show more testimonials and provide a stream of useful, valued information to build a relationship of trust with the visitor.

FREE TRIAL

He may have a ‘test drive’ version of the software that will allow the visitor to find out first hand what it does and how it will benefit him to own it. If so his secondary objective might be to get the visitor to download the ‘test drive’ and then supply him by email with how to’s, tutorials and other useful information to get the visitor using the software and experiencing the benefits first hand.

BACK TO OBJECTIVE 1

Either of these secondary objectives provide the site owner further opportunities to develop a relationship with the visitor until they feel ready to buy the software.

HOW TO RE-PURPOSE THE SITE

One of the best ways is the intelligent use of Popups.

In this case the site owner only wants to go for objective 2 if objective 1 is not achieved. He knows it hasn’t been achieved if the visitor is leaving the site without going to the order page or does go there but doesn’t buy the product.

Time for a great Popup triggered by either event.

A good, fast loading Popup inviting the visitor to sign up for the newsletter or download the test drive works wonders. They’re about to leave, but now they see something that’s so compelling, free, zero risk, high benefit that they’d be crazy not to react to it.

It’s a simple technique that has earned a lot of money for a lot of site owners.

Set your objectives carefully and structure your site to give you the best chance to achieve at least one of them.

Look out for more in this series from Martin Gateshill http://www.adzinmotion.com

About The Author

This free article has been provided to you courtesy of Martin Gateshill of AdzInMotion.

AdzInMotion produce innovative software that allows Web Site Owners of all levels of ability to produce eye catching on site promotional materials that do one thing very well – Increase Sales, Click thru’s and Sign ups. To see AdzInMotion in action go to http://www.adzinmotion.com

CONTACT AND INFO

This article along with may be freely republished provided this panel is included. A courtesy copy is appreciated.

Martin can be contacted at martin@adzinmotion.com

You know exactly what your organisation does and what your website offers its users. This information has probably become second nature to you, but first-time visitors to your site won’t know this. As such, make sure you don’t forget to tell them what you do.

As soon as new site visitors arrive at your website the first thing they need to know, before anything else, is what you do. You can talk all you like about how great you are, but unless you spell out what you actually do, they won’t even know what you’re so great at! This oh-so-overlooked yet such basic of information can be communicated to your site visitors in a number of different ways:

Page title

Don’t just use the page title to tell me who you are; tell me what you do too. If your company is called Bloggs Ltd don’t only place the words, ‘Bloggs Ltd’ in the page title as there’s plenty of room for more information. If Bloggs Ltd sells widgets, a good page title might be: ‘Bloggs Ltd – Buy widgets online’.

Note in this example, ‘Buy widgets online’ was used to describe what Bloggs Ltd does, and not ‘Widget seller’. When describing what it is you do be sure to speak the language of your users, and don’t talk from your point of view. From your point of view you sell widgets, but from their point of view they want to buy widgets online, so do bear this in mind when authoring the page title.

The page title is the first thing that appears on screen, and especially on dial-up modems can be the only thing that displays for the first 10 seconds or so. For many web users this is the first piece of content they’ll read on your site.

The page title is also very important for search engines, which place more importance on the page title than any other on-page element. Descriptive page titles are also essential for blind web users utilising screen readers, as it’s the first thing that gets read aloud to them upon arriving at the page.

Tagline

A good tagline is one of the most important usability features on any website. A good tagline should be explanatory and not vague, clear and informative and about four to eight words in length. A tagline is different to a company slogan, in that the former describes what the organisation/website does whereas the latter is designed to evoke certain feeling or create a brand.

‘Priceless’ and ‘I’m loving it’ are slogans by Mastercard and McDonald’s respectively – they differ from taglines because they don’t describe what the organisation does.

Taglines are so important because no matter on what page site visitors enter your website, they’ll always be able to quickly gain an understanding of what your organisation and website offers. This can be especially true for site visitors coming into internal pages from search engines – by telling these site visitors what you do through the tagline, they may be more likely to explore your site beyond the initial page on which they enter.

Taglines are also good for search engine optimisation, as they appear on every page right at the top of the page, an area on to which search engines place importance.

Main heading

The main heading on the homepage is one of the first pieces of text web users notice, especially on clean well laid out websites. Sticking a ‘Welcome to our website’ may seem to be friendly and welcoming to you, but to task-driven site visitors it doesn’t help in any way shape or form. A quick summary of what you do and/or what the website offers, in just four or five words can be highly effective (and very search engine friendly too!).

Opening paragraph

Perhaps the most important place on the homepage to tell your site visitors what you do, the opening paragraph must be short, succinct and straight-to-the-point. Just one sentence is enough to put across this most basic yet fundamental of information.

When writing this opening paragraph, remember to front-load the content (this rule actually applies to every paragraph on the website). Front-loading means putting the conclusion first, followed by the when, what, where and how.

Don’t write a story with a start, middle and conclusion – generally speaking on the web, we scan looking for the information that we’re after so put the conclusion first. This way, site visitors can read the conclusion first, which in this case is what your organisation actually does. If they want to know any more, they can then continue reading or jump to another section of the page. (To see front-loading in action, read any newspaper article.)

Exceptions

So, does every website need to tell users what the organisation does in these four different places? Well, not necessarily. We all know what Mastercard and McDonalds do, so it could definitely be argued that websites for household names need not explicitly say what they do. What these sites should do instead is tell us what the website offers, and this message can (and should) be put across in any of the above four ways – how else will site visitors quickly be able to find this out?

Conclusion

People are going to visit your site who don’t know what you do. Before you can even begin selling to them you must tell them what your organisation and website does. In addition to fulfilling site visitors’ immediate need (finding out what you do) you’ll also be boosting your search engine rankings. If your organisation is a household name, then instead of explaining what you do, it may be wise to tell site visitors what they can do on your website.

This article was written by Trenton Moss. He’s crazy about web usability and accessibility – so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy (Webcredible – www.webcredible.co.uk) to help make the Internet a better place for everyone.

For years the most prominent public role for Peter Sutherland as chairman of BP PLC was to play host at the company’s yearly meeting. But after a string of oil spills, dangerous accidents and an energy-trading scandal at BP, the 60-year-old one-time rugby player has rushed into the scrum.

Last year, the Irish politician and prominent banker forced Chief Executive John Browne to publicly pin down his retirement date. After Lord Browne’s shock decision last month to depart a year and a half earlier than planned, Mr. Sutherland must now bolster BP’s image and manage the company’s first executive-suite transition in more than a decade.

Despite oil prices dramatically increasing its shares rose just 4.5 per cent in 2006, in comparison with a 36 per cent increase by Exxon Mobil Corp. and 15 per cent at Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Yesterday, the company reported 4th quarter net income fell 22 per cent, in part reflecting lower production and lower natural-gas prices.

BP, meanwhile, faces U.S. criminal probes on multiple fronts — corrosion and oil spills in Alaska; a March 2005 refinery blast that killed 15 in Texas; as well as its energy-trading practices, with federal officials alleging BP traders manipulated propane markets in 2004. BP denies manipulating markets and says it is cooperating with investigators on all three inquiries.

Mr. Sutherland’s prominent public standing also underscores a pattern that goes beyond BP: a transition in the boardroom dynamics at many of Europe’s largest publicly traded companies. The criticism is often leveled that nonexecutive directors leave too much of the decision making to the executives. In recent times, many companies are moving to strengthen their boards with strong and independent directors.

Until the point at which Shell faced an accounting controversy in 2004, Shell’s British holding company had as its chairman a professor of geology. After the scandal, it hired Jorma Ollila, former chief executive officer of Nokia Corp as chairman. Unilever also appointed an outside chairman last month to cap a restructuring at the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant.

The goal of Mr. Sutherland at BP has always been to focus on establishing a “robust” and independent board of directors he was quoted as saying in a recent interview. After short periods as Ireland’s attorney general and Europe’s competition czar, Peter Sutherland took over negotiations known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva in 1993. There, he clinched the Uruguay Round, a pivotal trade agreement that set the basis for today’s World Trade Organization. For a man who has achieved so much it is difficult to forsee where he will find his next challenge.

Broadband is not only used for a high speed connection. In fact, the latest wave of technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) requires its users to have broadband access. With broadband access the users of VOIP are changing the face of communication all over the world. With faster ways to communicate, the interest in a broadband connection and VOIP is on a rapid rise. Thanks to broadband, people can actually use the Internet to make telephone calls and no longer have to rely on plain old telephone lines.

Landline phones are fast becoming a thing of the past. Although users of VOIP require a high speed connection and may even require special software, the use of such technology has landline phone users switching over to the advantages that VOIP provides. What are the benefits of high speed technology over the plain old telephony service of yesteryear? You may be pleasantly surprised.

First, the fees associated with VOIP are often cheaper than a standard telephone service with the same features offered. Consumers today are always looking to save a buck and those individuals with high speed access have no trouble converting to VOIP telephone services. The fees vary from one VOIP to another, but a number of companies are offering services at more than reasonable costs to their subscribers.

Next, certain VOIP long distance calls do not incur a long distance charge at all. Moreover, even some international calls can be made without incurring additional charges. Thus, once again the cost is a big factor as to why consumers are switching from landline phone service to the technologically advanced services offered by high speed Internet access and VOIP.

With high speed Internet and VOIP services, many business owners are also seeing the benefits. First, an increase in productivity can be identified with the use of VOIP and business owners can have video conferencing and phone conferencing immediately available to them. This can cut down significantly on travel costs and it can increase the efficiency with which all business is handled within and outside the company.

The days of having lines of cable installed to have phone services and computer services are now over. High speed connections and VOIP services have literally done away with the snarling mess of under desk wires that accumulate from such services. Rather, all phone and conferencing transactions are handled through the computer, the high speed Internet Access and the VOIP software provided by VOIP manufacturers and distributors.

What does the future hold for high speed Internet and VOIP? Only time will tell, yet one thing is for certain, that the increased efficiency, the broader abilities to communicate and the money saving advantages of such technology are a sure indication that VOIP technologies are here for the long run. Why miss out? Catch the wave and get your high speed Internet and VOIP services today. Whether you get them for your personal use or you get such services for your business, the benefits you will derive from their use are more than worth their investment.

Tis the season! People are in a buying mood. Many retailers make half their yearly revenue from now until Christmas. People will be shopping for gifts, decor, food, and more for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza. How can you increase your sales during the holiday season? If you run a small or home-based business, make sure you plan to incorporate some special promotions during this time. It’s tempting to put off business until “after the holidays” and focus on your own celebrationsthere’s always so much to do. That’s fine if it’s your choice. But if you are trying to increase business, now is a great opportunity to do so.

Here are some simple, low-cost ways to increase your revenues during this busy shopping season:

Revamp your descriptions:

Think about how your product/service would make a nice gift and tell your prospective customers. “Makes a great gift for the special guy in your life”. Perhaps you could create a gift suggestions flyer. People need help choosing great presents for their friends and family. Help them out by telling them what to buy for their mom, dad, wife, husband, sweetheart, child, co-worker, aunt, etc. Offer your “gift-buying” guide free on your website, put it in with all your orders, and distribute it around town.

If you provide a service, those make great gifts, toowho doesn’t like a massage, or a free housecleaning, or a free tax planning session? Sell gift certificates for your services. A key selling point is that people don’t think to give services, but they can be very unique and appreciated gifts. You might have to come up with ideal recipientsi.e., for the harried homemaker, the busy executive, the loving mother, and so on. Tell your customer (the gift-giver) how much the recipient would love your service instead of a fruitcake

Create Gift Packages:

Perhaps you could bundle several products into a basket. Think about the “recipients” and create special basketsfor example, if you sell cosmetics, create a “teen-dream” makeup kit, an “anti-aging” kit, a “glamour party makeup” kit, and so on. Almost any business can come up with creative packaging or bundling for their products and for their services. For services, you could do a “buy one, get half-off” package. Or a buy three, get one free package. You can even team up with partners to create super packagesa spa and a housecleaning service could combine a massage & a house-cleaning for a fabulous gift for working moms.

Offer Free Gift Wrapping or Free Shipping:

The word “free” gets attention. Wrapping and shipping are two things that add to the cost of the gift and if you can include it, that would increase your sales. To make it worthwhile, set a spending requirementfree gift wrap on items over $50 or something similar. Ditto for shipping. You can even run specials where shipping is only $5 for all orders by a certain date, or gift wrapping is free on Mondays.

Holiday Give-Aways:

It’s nice to do something extra for your customers during the holidays. If you have a retail store, bring in Christmas cookies or candy or hot chocolate. If you ship products, buy some ornaments at the dollar store and toss them in with the orders. If you visit clients, take a small goodie bag or fruit basket. The ideas are endless. For spa-type businesses (products or services for anything from manicures to bath gel), consider a sample of a product – a holiday-printed emery board costs pennies and is a nice thought. For an event planner, send everyone a “holiday party guide” even if you don’t have their business this yearfill it with great ideas and you’ll get more business! For a wedding planner, a personalized ornament for all your wedding couples will create much good will.

My Holiday Card Rule:

If you are going to send holiday cards, please, please, please sign them. Having your company name pre-printed on the card is so impersonal that you’d do better saving your money. Hand-addressing your cards is nice, too, but some people have illegible handwriting, so printing the envelopes is okay. But, really, an unsigned card is simply going to send the message that you don’t have time to be bothered with things like signing cards and you never want your customers to think you don’t have time for them. It’s the greeting card version of a form letter.

Action Item: Take a few minutes to write down some holiday ideas you can implement in your own businessjust one could be enough. Don’t overload yourself-one idea well executed will be more fruitful than 20 haphazard ones. Then, put it on your calendar and spread some holiday happiness to your customers!

Deborah Crawford, owner of www.smart-marketing-works provides coaching and consulting services to help small business owners creatively grow their businesses. She is also an online columnist at www.BellaOnline.com/site/soho.

When you are just starting out playing cricket it is not always easy to know what you need to buy. If you go into a sports high street retail store and ask them what you need, you will end up coming out with a substantial amount of kit that you don’t need. So, it’s prudent to clearly understand what you require before you go shopping. That way you are a great deal more likely to obtain what you need, instead of what the shop manager advises you require.

Below, is essentially a full cricket equipment inventory, you don’t have to get all the goods on this list, as many clubs will provide you kit particularly at youth level:

Cricket whites, cricket bats, balls, helmets, gloves, batting (wicket keeping) inner gloves, wicket keeping gloves, batting pads, wicket keeping pads, box, chest pad, arm guard, inner thigh pad, cricket boots (bowling boots; batting boots), box (groin guard), stumps and bails.

For the majority of cricket games you will ever partake in you will require to have your own set of whites. Cricket whites include white cricket trousers and a cricket shirt. It is important to check that you purchase a high-quality pair of cricket trousers & also a good white cricket shirt & jumper as it can rapidly turn cold if you are standing out on the pitch for a great deal of time particularly if you are going to play in England (the start and end of the cricket season are the coldest).

If you can not rent gear from your club the other most critical items of equipment are a cricket bat and box. A good quality cricket bat is imperative if you want to score plenty of runs and is a very personal piece of equipment, spend several hours choosing your bat, preferably you ought to go to a shop and try one out before you buy in order for you to know how it feels to play with. As soon as you know what you want you can often procure bats online much cheaper). You need a good box to shield your groin from the ball, as getting hit down below’ is considerably painful, so investing in a good box before you start is a defiant must – you can’t bat without one. Find cheap cricket equipment online at Sportswear-Equipment.com.

Do you spend loads of money on holiday ornaments every year, trying to create a unique and unforgettable Christmas tree display? Do you wish holiday decorating were simpler and more affordable?

If so, here are three fun and easy ideas for creating your very own recycled Christmas tree ornaments! Remember, decorating need not be costly or stressful. Creating your own ornaments out of everyday household items can be one of the most rewarding and stress-busting activities of the fast-paced holiday season.

1. Make a Whimsical Light Bulb Reindeer

You will need:

One used light bulb
Brown felt cloth or fun foam
Acrylic paints and brushes
Ribbon
1 small red pom-pom
Glue

First, paint the light bulb brown. Set aside and let dry. Once the brown paint on the light bulb has dried completely, use a paint brush to paint eyes and a mouth on your reindeer. When the paint has dried begin to glue the red pom-pom nose onto the end of the light bulb, just above the mouth. Next, use the brown cloth or foam to fashion a pair of antlers for your reindeer. Glue these to the side of the light bulb. Finally, cut a small piece ribbon, loop and tie into a knot, and glue it to the top of your reindeer light bulb ornament.

2. Make a CD photo ornament. This is a great personal gift to give to someone you love.

You will need:
An old CD
A piece of felt fabric
Ribbon
Glue
A photograph

Use the CD as pattern to cut out a round piece of felt. Carefully spread glue on the back of the CD. Place the felt circle that you’ve cut out over the CD, and pressed gently. Make sure you haven’t put too much glue on the back of the CD!

Next, cut around the photograph you plan on using. Trace the picture onto a piece of felt, leaving about inch around the sides. Glue the picture onto the felt, and then mount onto the CD with glue. The photograph should cover the hole in the middle of the CD.

Finally, cut a piece of ribbon and tie it into a loop. Glue it onto the back of the CD. Your CD photo ornament is now ready to be hung!

3. Make greeting card ornaments. Do you hate parting with all those beautiful Christmas cards you receive each year? Instead of throwing them out or keeping them shelved away, why not transform them into beautiful Christmas tree ornaments?

Cut out your favorite Christmas card images and mount them onto wooden craft shapes with glue. For an older finish, varnish them, drill a small hole at the top, and then tie ribbons at the tops. You can also cut out your favorite images from cards, laminate them, punch a hole at the top, and use a piece of ribbon as the hanger. If you don’t want to cut anything out, an even simpler approach is to glue the front and back of the card together. Punch a hole at the top of the card, loop a piece of ribbon and it’s ready to hang.

Ornamentscity is an expert resource for
personalized christmas ornaments,
hallmark ornaments and
lawn ornaments on the internet. Check out our site today!

It is understandable why California attracts a lot of people. There it is warm and sunny most part of the year, Los Angeles is full of movie stars, rollerblading babes can be found all over the place in Venice Beach. Even if it is exaggerated, this part of the California mystique is real and not very hard to find.

But California has other things too, that are not scripted, sanitized, and broadcast to the mesmerized masses of the world. The glitter and glamour are only the surface of an incredibly diverse state that would be a productive and powerful nation in the event of ever getting separated from the Union. California has it all: redwood forests, an incredibly verdant Central Valley, the Sierra Nevada, deserts, a lot of well-known cities, and hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline.

Despite the crime, pollution, traffic, and earthquakes, which have made California famous as well, people here are still the golden children of the United States, America’s spoiled rich kid that is either loved or loathed by everyone. (In Oregon, for example, they sell lots of license-plate rims stating “I hate California.”) To be perfectly sincere, people here don’t really care. Californians are aware of the fact that they live in one of the most interesting places in the world, and they’re proud of their state. Nobody can guarantee you that you’ll meet Arnold Schwarzenegger or learn how to surf here, but with a little time, a little money, and an adventurous spirit, you will be guided by us and offered one of the most fulfilling vacations of your life. The four of us do nothing but travel, but we chose to live in California because this place has so much to offer.

Dominic is the author of this article. This article may be reproduced on websites subject to credit being given to the author, and a link to his website. If you would like more information go to http://www.californiavacationsources.com

In November, 2004, my wife Terry and I visited Paris for seven days. We stayed in a postage stamp sized hotel room in the Latin Quarter about two blocks from Notre Dame Cathedral.

We toured the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Versailles, Sainte-Chappelle, the Arc de Triomphe, the Musee d’Orsay, the Louvre (two days), and went to a show at Lido’s.

We discovered, or rather stumbled upon another highlight of our trip – an open air market half a block from our hotel. The market operated only three days a week and featured the freshest meats, poultry, seafood, cheeses, breads, and produce from the outlying farms and countryside. There was a black wild boar, or at least the hide, on display in the meat section. Pheasants and other game birds, feathers in tact, hung from the rafters of the butcher shop

While we had many great meals including a few gourmets dining experiences in Paris, we missed the opportunity to prepare some of our own dinners. Both Terry and I love to cook and we have never seen such quality, fresh ingredients. But, we had no facilities to cook for ourselves. Nor did we have much space in our hotel room.

This is one of those times when you hit yourself on the forehead with the palm of your hand. “Why didn’t we rent a fully furnished apartment or condo rather than a hotel room?”

This revelation has prompted me to revisit some of my own writings. And here is some of my advice from years past:

Your vacation property provides value, fun, and excitement not just for you and your family, but for anyone who might rent your property.

Vacationers will find a “home away from home” with all the privacy and convenience they expect.

Consider the vacation options: a resort hotel room, a cramped cabin on a cruise, or a privately-owned vacation house or condo at the destination of your choice.

Count the following among the many advantages a privately-owned vacation property has over a resort hotel room:

1. Savings on Meals – A furnished kitchen allows vacationers to prepare many of their own meals. During a week’s vacation, dining in, rather than going to restaurants for every meal translates into several hundred dollars in savings on food alone.

2. More Room – A vacation home, condo, or villa usually has more space than a resort hotel room. Often, the condo or villa has a living room, dining room, kitchen, and perhaps a porch, balcony, or deck. When you’re on vacation, it’s nice to have some space.

3. Beautiful Furnishings – Many vacation properties reflect the good taste and pride of the owners with fine furnishings and decorator touches.

4. More Privacy – Often the homes, villas, and condos are more secluded, more private than a room in a hotel. In a resort hotel, you may have revelers roaming the halls at all hours.

5. Fully Equipped – In addition to a furnished kitchen with microwave and refrigerator, the vacation property may have a washer and dryer. Guests can wash their golf, tennis, ski, or beach wear each day. Hidden benefit: less luggage to haul on the trip.

6. Mini Bar vs. Refrigerator – Take a single beer from the hotel mini-bar or take a six-pack from the refrigerator at the condo. Guess what? The cost is about the same. Mini-bars provide great profit centers for hotels. Refrigerators, microwaves, VCRs, washers and dryers provide excellent convenience and savings for vacationers.

7. Better Rates – Despite these many advantages, privately-owned vacation property often costs less per week or per day than a hotel room at the same resort.

We had a wonderful trip to Paris. But, when we return – and I hope it is soon – we will take the extra step of finding an apartment or condo to rent.

Copyright© 2005, Christopher Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author — Chris Cain wrote “Maximize Your Resort Property Investment” (1984), “Road Map to Your Vacation Property Dream” (1998), and dozens of articles on vacation property. He is a nationally-known speaker on the topic and he sells vacation property in Orlando, FL. Chris bases his writings and counseling on his 16 year ownership experience of a seaside villa at Kiawah Island, SC. “Road Map to Your Vacation Property Dream,” is available for $9.95 plus $4 S&H when ordered direct by calling toll-free 1-888-822-6657. Contact Chris Cain at vacvalue@aol.com.