There are some real advantages to using your rental property as a vacation rental, but there are also some negative points to this practice. Here are some tips from the pros to help you decide whether your rental property would make a good holiday rental, and how to maximize return on the property once you’ve made the decision.

The first rule of vacation rentals is that not all property qualifies as good vacation rental property. As is the case with any property, it’s all about location. The rental property you own in a quiet town in the Midwest, miles from the nearest neighbor, might attract an occasional visitor. But the vacation rental property that’s going to stay rented out on a regular basis has to be in the mainstream tourist areas. Beaches, major attractions and good weather are at the top of the “necessities list” for a successful vacation rental property.

You may think that having rental property available near an annual event is a great idea. The problem with that is that you’ll have high demand for the property during that time, but probably little or no requests for the rental property the rest of the year.

If you have rental property in some of the “hot” vacation spots, you may think you’ve got it made. There’s a big demand for Las Vegas vacation rental properties, vacation rental property in Florida and Hawaii rental properties. But just because you have these vacation rentals available doesn’t mean people are going to flock to your door. Location is still a priority, but you also have to do some successful advertising and your vacation rental has to offer what vacationers are looking for.

With that in mind, remember to pay attention to the details. A family who spends a couple of weeks in your vacation rental on the beautiful beaches of Maui probably won’t be returning if they spent their time worrying with a refrigerator that wouldn’t keep drinks cool and found only three spoons in the silverware drawer. The only way to make up for these deficiencies is to offer the vacation rental at a greatly reduced price. Even then, you may not attract any return business.

Pricing is another important point. If you price your vacation rental too low, you’re losing out on potential return on your investment. If you price it too high, you’re going to miss potential customers.

Down time is another important issue when you’re considering using your rental property as vacation property. In almost all tourist spots, there are off seasons when tourism simply drops off. You may find that your property sits idle for that season – every year.

You may be thinking that you love to vacation on the beaches of Florida and a vacation home there would be a good investment. You can use it when you want and rent it as a vacation rental the rest of the time. It’s a great idea. But remember that you’re going to be working around schedules. You probably won’t be able to run down for a long weekend just because you have time – someone else may very well have already paid rent during that time. Carefully consider whether you’re going to want to share your vacation home with renters before you decide this is a good way to get a return on your investment.

Vacation rental property is a great idea and one that can bring you a good return on your investment, if you take time to consider all the angles.