What are the Most Marketable Amenities?

Note:This is an edited transcript of Christine Karpinski's How To Rent Vacation Properties by Owner podcast.

Host, Christine Karpinski: Today's question comes from Amy. She asks:

Q: "What amenities do I need to add to my vacation home to make it a little bit more marketable to renters?"

A: Well, Amy, when evaluating the amenities for your vacation home, it's important to first understand what pretty much every renter is looking for. Regardless of where your property is located, most renters are looking for some sort of water. They would like a pool, a hot tub, or be near the beach, near the ocean, near a river, near a stream.

If you don't have any of those, even a Jacuzzi tub might do it for them. So, if you don't have any of those, you may want to consider adding a hot tub as the least expensive way to go.

Some of the other things that people are always looking for is some sort of outdoor living area, whether it's a porch, a patio, a deck. Most often people have them, but it's important to show it in your ad. They also want a barbecue grill, some extra amenities that go along with staying in your home that's associated with the attractions ‑ maybe bikes, or beach towels or boogie boards or something similar.

As far as indoor amenities that pretty much everybody's looking for: WiFi. People are looking for high‑speed Internet. Even if we think that they shouldn't be checking their email on vacation, in reality, they do not want to be disconnected while they're on vacation. So, if you don't have WiFi in your house, it is definitely something you'll want to consider.

Another thing that they want is TVs with DVD players, maybe even a DVR. Maybe a pool table, fire place, game room, playing cards, Scrabble, Yahtzee, those sorts of things.

Another thing that it seems like all the renters are looking for is quality linens, such as bed sheets and towels. We've done focus groups here through HomeAway and we found that the most annoying thing renters find is when they rent a really nice house and they have a small 20 x 20 towel that they have to dry off with. My standard for bath towels is at least 54 x 30 inch towels. That's the minimum size that I would recommend for your bath towels. With sheets and stuff, just make sure to buy nice quality ones that aren't going to pill after a few washings.