Show this be FREE?

[scottaj74]

Hi Members,

I'm just about to launch a vacation rental listing site targeted towards VR (vacation rental) owners in mountain communities. Think Whistler, Vail, Mammoth, Squaw Valley, Banff, Chamonix - you get the idea.....

I would like to "brand" it to the outdoor crowd. The 30-something, we climb, bike, ski , kayak and we just had baby or small kids. We would like to go an outdoor holiday, but we need a house for the kids - maybe our friends with kids would come too and maybe we should get a vacation home for the trip.

Some of may have seen VRBO or FlipKey, same idea but marketing and branding to different crowd.

The site is www.mountaintownvacationrental.com.

I would have liked www.mtvr.comfor a domain, but I currently don't' have $4k for domain name.

The business model is to offer FREE basic listings (3 pics, a google map, no video, no clickable web-link, no ability to get reviews from vacationers) and up-sell the site with featured listings, premium listing packages (more pics, virtual tours, videos, clickable web-links to VR owner's personal websites, reviews that can be added to your listing).

I also have banner space for sale that can targeted locally or globally. I thought this might be valuable to business or services that target to the tourism sector and people that would be staying in VR's - tour operators, restaurants, attractions......

The issue I think I may have is getting people to use the site. If they come to look at the site, it's initially going to be empty with minimal listings. I've been able to get about $500 in adwords for cheap to drive some traffic to the site, but if there is nothing there to look at I don't think the site will have much credibility to start. So, I'm thinking of offering everything (banners and upgraded listings) for FREE for a 3 month period. The idea is that VR owners will have nothing to loose by using the site, and hopefully, everything to gain. I also hired a VR owner/writer to publish a "9 mistakes that are costing VR owners thousands" report that I will offer as a free download from the site. Again, the idea is to get traffic to the site and collect some contact info as well.

I'm looking for feedback and ideas. Please be brutally honest with your feedback - the good, the bad and the ugly. Would you use such a service? A basic membership with one of the BIG GUNS is roughly $500 for the year. I'm thinking of offering a similar service for around $200. If I can't win with being the 1st and most well know, maybe price would be a factor....

Let me know what you guys and gals think. It's always good to get another perspective whether I agree with it or not. I already have a million ideas on how to improve the site, but it needs to generate a little cash flow before I can proceed with doing that.

Thanks reading this and good luck with your dreams!

 

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