Hale Makai Resort Cottages is a site by a bona fide designer, John Tollett. The banner page is all image and it's beautiful. The pictures are way above average but not standard real estate picture.
Egret, A Cottage on Albemarle Sound has a beautiful site: Framed with beautiful colors, some of the best interior pictures I've seen, and quite inviting. The site is designed so that each page fits on a single screen - that's part of the beauty - every page is framed. But the beauty comes at a cost: It breaks navigation expectations. The surfer has to click on a lot of blue dots and you can't tell which ones you've already clicked. As a surfer, I'd prefer to scroll down to see the pictures rather than play hide and seek. Great site though - artists can break the rules.
Elements Hostel in Chennai (Madras) India doesn't have the epitome of "corporate-slick" of web sites. But I got a charming e-mail from them and had a look. Who wouldn't be charmed by this feature: "Clean bathrooms, one for each dormitory, cleaned 3 times a day." That's a lot better than I do at my place.
Twain Harte Cabin Rentals in Twain Harte, California hasn't reached aesthetic web site perfection. But I prefer homemade sites. This one combines the owners obvious enthusiasm for the property and the area with the sheer enjoyment of building a web site while learning as you go. It's quite exciting to build a new site and you learn a bit each time you do it. I want Craig will keep plugging away at it. I think he'll find it irresistible. One unique feature: The rates and PayPal links are right on the home page. That's good for surfers.
Casa de Lil Villa is a Vacation Villa at Palma Real Villas Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (full disclosure: I did this site) The colors came from my favorite Christmas wrapping paper. The layout scheme came from a private school web site. The slide show idea came from Cindy Svec at Relevant Arts. All in all the site came out fairly original, I think.
"Coconut Hideway" is at Little Gasparilla Island, Florida. It's a nice site but not very personal. I've listed it because it's the only vacation rental I've seen with a Paine. Is this a great country or what?
"The Other Cedar Key" is a site for 3 rentals at Cedar Key Florida. A wonderful site by the folks who did Tranquility a vacation condo at Cedar Key, Florida. Great handling of pictures, beautiful floorplans, it's an elegant site.
"a Bandon Abandon" is at Bandon, Oregon. It's a "Flash" site and quite unique and attractive. I can't do Flash and have a Flash blocker on my Firefox browser. But sometimes a site will really catch my eye. Part of the beauty is the compact, all in one screen, page design, tough to maintain if you have more than a screen full of content. Some of the downsides are untraditional navigation, and only one bookmarkable page. They aren't big problems with this site. This is one of those sites that make me fell incompetent but make me work harder.
M&S Executive Villas is at Indian Creek near Disney world. It's the most spectacular "canned" site I've seen. It's a site you can get for $1,280 plus $350 yearly package. I suspect the owners have many properties that allow them to invest more in their site technology reducing the costs per site. The things they get particularly right are the best features list which is top dead center on the home page and a comprehensive "Frequently Asked Questions" page.
RiverMile39 is on Puget Island, Near Cathlamet & Skamokawa, Washington. It's an attracitve site built with a $99 tool set. Nice work.
Idyll-By-The-Sea at Seaside, Florida is a spectacular site for a spectacular house on the beach. The pictures and floorplan based panromic pictures are breathtaking. The rent is breathtaking as well.
Tranquility a vacation condo at Cedar Key, Florida This site jogs my fond memories of brief visits to Cedar Key during two memorable vacations. This one is different from most rental sites, a little more "designed" and a very pleasing design at that. It helps that the owners are web also designers. The tone is personal. The floor plan is very nice.
CoCoPlum at Marathon, Florida has the best home page and it's a terrific site. Having just read the "Wanted a Rennaisance in print advertising" chapter of Ogilvy on Advertising, I realize that the ad industry figured out the web long before the web existed. This is something to strive for in rental site design.
Kate's Dream at Alligator Point, Florida is the best guide to the Big Bend area of Florida. This least designed site gets by far the most hits of my rental sites.
Wendy's "The Cape Escape" at Cape San Blass, Florida is new in the summer of 2004. Wendy's is trying to create the most useful website for the area.
Beach Haven at Alligator Point / Bald Point Florida is my favorite because of the tree frog and because I'm personally working on it.
Heavenly Cabins are three, by owner, vacation rentals in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains near Pigeon Forge and Cades Cove. Of course it's a favorite because I did it but now I'd like to change the look. The key thing is that over time the owner will add personal touches that will distinguish it from other rental sites. Check out the "pets" page.
The Beach House in North Wildwood This is a very client oriented site and pretty too. The Restaurant Map is wonderful, it even shows who delivers.
Locke Lake Getaway in Barnstead, New Hampshire is a straightforward, attractive site. I always give extra points for pictures of the owner. The amenities page is particularly well done.
Cabin in Hidden Hills at Lake Lure, North Carolina is simple, elegant, and very attractive.
Three properties at Ocean Isle, North Carolina Why did I pick this one? It's not a classic web design but it's personal and passionate and they get plenty of rentals I understand. I wouldn't mind spending a week there.
My Paradise Fort Myers Beach Home is a nice home made site.
This one on Upper or North Captiva has the right pictures: Families having fun.
My Beach House on Tybee has great information for guests and a floor plan so you can figure out where everybody is going to sleep.
Johnson/Yang Beach House at Fripp Island, South Carolina has a very attractive Mac made site, nice place too.
Little Sugar River Farm, Wisconsin has a very attractive and altogether delightful site. It's way, way above average in form and in personal content.
Sunnybanks is a huge remote beach mansion near Corolla, I like the site because it's personal and has some great picture galleries including aerial photographs. The owner used to own Sunnybuns as well but have sold that and now own at Lac Perdu in Quebec.
Brig o'Doon at Boothbay Harbor is a beautiful site even it doesn't meet all my requirements.
Cayman Heaven is a spectacular site. It looks like it was designed by marketing professional. Not very personal but I do like it.
Ocean Grove New Jersey is charming with great pictures. Here, a little goes a long way probably because the house and the location look so good. I like it because it has a personal touch. It's not a standard web ad.
