Lindsborg Vacation Rentals offers several apartments and houses for travelers and guests visiting central Kansas. But our properties are filling up fast! Please consider booking with us sooner than later!
The owner of Lindsborg Vacation Rentals was quoted by the New York Times travel writer in her article published on April 20th.
Here are the five things to know:
You might already be too late
You're competing with everyone, for anything
You'll probably pay more than you did in 2019
You'll probably stay for a while
If you're looking for a non-urban location, you're not alone
Simply click on the "New York Times" button below to read this informative article by Sarah Firshein.
When guests look for a place to stay for a weekend or longer, they often go straight to Airbnb. That's where allof the vacation rentals can be found, right? Sorry, but that's what Airbnb wants guests to believe! That's why so many guests believe that they've stayed in Airbnb's!
Almost all hosts (people who own or manage a vacation rental) list their properties on Airbnb. It's fairly simple to do - that's why there are so many to be found just about everywhere!
Some guests might be surprised to learn that many hosts also list their vacation rental properties on VRBO, Booking.com and many other brand name listing sites.
Most guests may be even more surprised, even shocked, to learn that many hosts list the vacation rental properties on their own websites!
Airbnb Charges Fees of 15%
Airbnb charges its hosts about 15% of their rates to cover this company's costs and to make a profit. Many hosts, including Lindsborg Vacation Rentals increase their rates shown on Airbnb by 15% to cover that extra cost.
But nightly rates cam be 15% lower that the rates on Airbnb, if guests #bookdirect through our website.
#BookDirect is Better, Cheaper and Very Simple
What is #bookdirect? Booking a stay directly with a host is similar to calling the front desk of a motel or B&B. It's a great way to learn what might be happening locally, which restaurants to try and, more importantly, to find out if a better rate might be available.
Airbnb restricts back-and-forth communication on their Message Center. All websites, phone numbers and emails are automatically censored, which is very frustrating for the guests and the hosts!
Use Search Engine to Find Property's Website
By looking at a vacation rental property's webpage, guests can look through pictures, learn about the amenities and note the nightly rates. Guests can also note the name of the property and a picture of the hosts.
To #bookdirect, guests simply note this information from the property's webpage on Airbnb and take the next step: visiting a favorite search engine. By doing so, they may find a unique website for that vacation rental property.
Here are three ways determine whether the host has a website to #bookdirect:
If the vacation rental has a unique property name, search for that name and the city where it's located.
Click on the host's picture. The host's biography might show the name of their business. Then search for that business name again with the city where it is located.
When communicating with the host on Airbnb's Message Center, see if the host refers to their business in a two to four capitalized words, such as "Lindsborg Vacation Rentals." Then search for that business same.
Try these tips and see if they work. It's definitely worth a little more effort. Think of Geico's tagline: "Fifteen minutes could you save 15%."
Note: If a host is listed only on Airbnb, then no other websites will be found.
Spread the Word about #BookDirect
PLEASE forward this newsletter and its "Secrets to Saving $$$ Using Airbnb" to your family, friends and anyone else who wants to save on their next vacation.
Copyright (C) 2021 Lindsborg Vacation Rentals. All rights reserved.
For years now, guests have told their family and friends about their great, and not-so-great, experiences when they stayed in an Airbnb. But (surprise!) they didn't stay in an Airbnb!
Guests have stayed in an apartment or home that is owned or managed by a small business, or more often, an individual or family. Increasingly, more and more of these properties are run by professional hosts, including Lindsborg Vacation Rentals. While hosts do all the work, Airbnb receives all the credit.
So what is Airbnb then?
Think of it as a huge store with millions of shelves. Each shelf has hundreds of apartments and homes that guests can shop for. When guests book an apartment or home on Airbnb, they are, as previously stated, actually staying with an individual, family or small business. They are not staying with Airbnb.
To pay for its website and service, Airbnb charges every host 15% of what guests pay: the total of each nights stay, plus any other fees such as for cleaning or pets.
What do professional hosts do about this?
Professional hosts, including Lindsborg Vacation Rentals, increase their rates on Airbnb by 15%. By doing this, the professional hosts receive the same net income from guests who book their stay through Airbnb and from guests who book their stay through the hosts' own website. Professional hosts want to provide the same top-notch experience for all of our guests.
When guests book through the hosts' website, guests save 15%! The world-wide community of professional hosts embraces #bookdirect.
How Can a Guest Find Out If an Airbnb Property is
Owned by a Professional Host?
If you're curious, please send an email to sw3d3guy105@gmail.com. If I receive a sufficient number of requests, I'll send out the "secrets" early in 2021.
Specital Rates: Winter Break 2021
All of our short-term vacation rental properties have special rates from January 3 through March 25. Valentines Day, Super Bowl, March Madness (maybe) will be held during this early winter time. Please check with the Kansas Department of Health and Education on COVID-19. And, as always, if you're not feeling well, please stay home.
Makers Mark is a "straight bourbon whisky" out of Kentucky that asked communities to nominate themselves for $100,000 worth of Christmas lights, window displays and more. Although Lindsborg was vetted for this contest, Ripley (believe it or not) in Tennessee won the honor.
For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of downtown Lindsborg this holiday season:
For those of you who have read through this entire newsletter, please send your email address to sw3d3guy105@gmail.com
so that Jim Prugh, the owner of Lindsborg Vacation Rentals
can send $10 to your email address through Paypal.
Please send by Friday, December 4, 2020.
God Jul! (Swedish for Merry Christmas)
Many shoppers worldwide are introduced to Sweden by
shopping at IKEA, which can be an all-day excursion.
Most shoppers treat themselves to a plate of
Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries on the side.
Here's a humorous video that rings true for
everyone who has shopped at IKEA.
Simply click on the picture or here.
En-yoy! (Swedes pronounce a "j" like a "y".)
Making Meals in my Vacation Rental: What I Learned
Cooking Dinner in
My Vacation Rental
What I learned about making dinner
when staying in my vacation rental
(It's difficult to find a nice picture of meatloaf!)
Earlier this month, we traveled to one of my vacation rentals. The dining options are still limited by COVID-19, so after debating our options, we elected something simple: meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
Two positive benefits: the local grocery store, White's Foodliner had everything we needed. Even better, the vacation rental's kitchen had everything we needed to prepare the entire dinner.
Here's the dinner recipe (with some side hints)
starting with the ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef (we opted for ground sirloin)
1 egg (eggs purchased by the dozen, so scramble them for breakfast)
1 onion - chopped (that's a lot of onion, so use half an onion instead)
1 cup milk (buy some cookies to dunk) 1 cup dried bread crumbs (avoid Italian crumbs, unless you'd like that)
salt and pepper to taste (available in the vacation rental's kitchen)
1/3 cup ketchup (smear this over the top of the meatloaf)
Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all of the ingredients well (bowls for mixing were found), adding ketchup over the top. Our kitchen included a large cookie sheet that was lined with aluminum foil, spraying cooking spray to keep meatloaf from sticking. Bake for 1 hour.
Two russet potatoes were enough. The kitchen has a peeler, a knife, a masher and a pot big enough to peel, cut and boil the potatoes. The potatoes were ready for mashing in about 20 minutes. A splash of milk and some butter were added, plus salt and pepper to taste.
The grocery store offered pre-packaged asparagus that had been lightly coated in olive oil with salt and pepper plus a half-lemon to squeeze its juice onto the asparagus. These were cooked in the microwave using a glass container with a lid. Prepackaged salads are available too.
The vacation rental had a knife to slice the meatloaf, a large spoon to serve the mashed potatoes and tongs to serve the asparagus. Dinner was served on the plates (with placemats) and very nice tableware and glasses for water (or any other beverage).
With advanced planning for our guests, the vacation rental's kitchen had everything needed. But it took a little while to search and learn where to find what was needed to prepare this meal. Working in a different kitchen can be a bit frustrating, but everything needed was found soon enough.
Stay with us anytime for any reason!
Any of our properties can be short-term (for vacations or visiting family) or long-term (usually work related, especially for manufacturers in Salina and McPherson).
If you're looking for a new pair of shoes
or just trying to order a cup of coffee,
there are so many choices!
I just signed up for Medicare
My "age-odometer" turned over to 65 recently. That means signing up for Medicare. Parts A & B certainly. Then do you sign up for Supplemental Coverage (Medigap) or Advantage Plan? Took a while, but I determined the difference.
Supplemental Coverage has Parts D, G, K, L, M, N and sometimes C and F. For Part G had 59 Medigap options. Medicare Part D for prescriptions has 26 different plans. Advantage Plans are "free" but have their own restrictions.
At Lindsborg Vacation Rentals, we offer choices too - they aren't just for vacations any more! Our guests can stay for a weekend, a week, a month or longer. Currently we have four properties with guests staying for well over a month. These guests are usually workers on temporary assignments.
Åkerhuset is now available for the digital nomads through Anyplace.com.
A digital nomad is anyone who can work anywhere for 30 days or longer
as long as there's great wireless Internet service. Thanks to IdeaTek Telcom, we do! The tornado shelter at Åkerhuset also serves as another living area.
Here's a picture of the living area and kitchen in Vetehuset - Plantera. Most of our vacation rentals are furnished, fully-equipped studio apartments with onsite laundry.
Åkerhuset has five bedrooms, each of which can be leased separately for 30 days or longer. Digital nomads will share the kitchen, living areas and laundry - like a bed and breakfast (without breakfast).
Stay with us anytime for any reason!
Any of our properties can be short-term (for vacations or visiting family) or long-term (usually work related, especially for manufacturers in Salina and McPherson).
