Abstract:
A method and system for finding, browsing, managing, booking, rating and advertising vacation rental properties worldwide via a network such as the Internet composed of a renter reservation system, an owner management system and a plurality affiliates or publishers of Internet content established to provide goods and/or services to prospective renters and/or vacation rental property owners and works in a client/server environment by receiving, storing and tracking data associated with a vacation rental property owner, the vacation rental property itself, reservation and guest information and rental property listing click-throughs from a client system and assigns a unique identifier to each in a centralized relational database.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/718,934 filed Sep. 19, 2005. 
     
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0003]    The field of this invention is advertising, browsing, managing and booking vacation rental properties worldwide using electronic means of (a) communications, (b) data storage and retrieval, (c) online reservations, (d) transfers of payments, and (e) providing customer service. 
         [0004]    These days in the travel business, the trend is for vacationers to do all their planning online, and as the vacation rental business grows (4 out of 10 homes sold in 2005 were second homes), it needs to keep up with the latest trends in technology. Online availability calendars, up-to-date rates and online bookings are three important things renters want when dealing with vacation rental properties. 
         [0005]    A complete system is disclosed, a method and system that meets the needs of today&#39;s Internet-oriented vacationers and vacation rental property owners. 
         [0006]    2. Discussion of Prior Art 
         [0007]    Traditionally, vacation rental properties generate income for their owners through rent payments and are managed by a local property management company. The owner will not typically have any visibility with respect to the process. The exposure of the owner&#39;s rental property to prospective renters is therefore left to the direction of the management company and is limited on a per-property basis because said management company has no vested interest in any single property. In addition owners are subject to various fees and expenses imposed by the management company including up to fifty percent of the gross rental income as payment for their services. Many vacation rental property owners&#39; profits are subsequently eroded away by fees charged by avaricious management companies. 
         [0008]    With respect to a renter, reserving a vacation rental is often a difficult task which may include multiple steps and involve a great deal of time. Even with the expansion of the Internet, the searching process is slow and cumbersome. For example, many traditional property management companies provide an Internet Listing Service (“ILS”) but only those properties which they represent are listed. All the vacation rental properties in a community or region may be spread across several disparate ILS websites and without a centralized database there is a high likelihood of double booking. For example, two different ILS websites may each reserve the same property on the same day. These, and other difficulties, create undesirable delays and frustrations for vacation rental property renters and owners, and may reduce the ability for property managers to attract renters and increase occupancy rates. Many of these features and functionalities have been unavailable due to the difficulty of aggregating data from disparate, often antiquated, property management computer systems. 
         [0009]    Many of what I refer to as “traditional” vacation rental listing websites have become available for vacation rental owners to advertise their rentals, providing basic advertising and listings for vacation rental properties. However vacationers who browse said “traditional” websites searching for vacation rental properties are required to correspond with the owner (either via submitting information into an email form which gets sent to the owner, or by telephone) who may or may not be immediately available to answer inquiries. In addition, most inquiries are typically in regards to the availability and cost of the vacation rental property for specific dates. The owner spends a lot of time answering the same questions over and over again. Moreover, there is no established way of screening prospective renters. If a vacation rental owner decides not to rent to a particular renter or the need of the renter are not matched by the vacation rental property (for example in terms of availability, cost, amenities or location) the renter is forced to return to the original search process to find another suitable vacation rental. 
         [0010]    Furthermore, when a vacationer actually finds a vacation rental property matching their needs, there remains the task of payment resulting from the vacationers lease obligations and the like. Because each vacation rental property is like a separate business entity, each with its own method of accepting and processing payments and refunds (for security deposit refunds for example), there is no universal method of booking and payment for renters of vacation rental properties. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The present invention overcomes the limitations and expenses imposed by traditional vacation rental property management methods and “traditional” vacation rental advertising websites by providing a system for finding, browsing, managing, booking, rating and advertising vacation rental properties worldwide via a network such as the Internet. 
         [0012]    The invention is composed of a renter reservation system, an owner management system and a plurality affiliates or publishers of Internet content established to provide goods and/or services to prospective renters and/or vacation rental property owners and works in a client/server environment by receiving, storing and tracking data associated with a vacation rental property owner, the vacation rental property itself, reservation and guest information and rental property listing click-throughs from a client system and assigns a unique identifier to each in a centralized relational database. 
         [0013]    In addition, all vacation rental property listings are subject to an instantaneous auction, among other factors, to determine their relative positioning in listing search results. Client system click-throughs are defined as when a prospective renter clicks on a vacation rental property listing provided by the affiliate&#39;s system and the full listing data is displayed on the client system. Each click-through is associated with a per-property owner-defined Cost-Per-Click (CPC) which is later tallied and invoiced to the property owner and distributed to affiliates. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    The invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating an environment within which the invention may be implemented; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a diagram functionally illustrating a management system consistent with the invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a diagram functionally illustrating an owner tools component consistent with the invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a diagram functionally illustrating a vendor tools component consistent with the invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a diagram functionally illustrating a publisher tools component consistent with the invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an exemplary reservation request method in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    The present invention provides a method and system for managing, reserving and listing vacation rental properties using a plurality of content providers in a client/server environment to a worldwide audience of vacation rental property owners and potential renters. In this regard, the present invention may be described in terms of functional modules or components, network diagrams, and various processing steps realized by hardware and software components configured to perform the specified functions. It should be noted that the present invention may employ conventional techniques for data transmission and processing, and the like. Such general techniques and components are known to those skilled in the art and are not described in detail herein. 
         [0022]    A. Environment and Architecture 
         [0023]    With reference to the conceptual diagram shown in  FIG. 1 , an exemplary embodiment in accordance with the present invention includes the owner management system  150 , at least one owner  100  of vacation rental property  110 , and at least one publisher  140  configured to provide goods and/or services to user  120  and/or owner  100 . Owner management system  150 , user  120 , owner  100 , publisher  140  and vendor  130  are all configured to communicate with each other over a network  160  (e.g., the Internet). 
         [0024]    User  120  may be a potential renter of vacation rental property  110 . Owner  100  may be the party that owns vacation rental property  110  or an agent authorized to act on the owner&#39;s behalf. 
         [0025]    Owner management system  150  is configured to communicate with the various systems primarily to coordinate the management and listing of the vacation rental property  110  and secondarily to facilitate an income stream from user  120  to owner  100  and from owner  100  to vendor  130  and publisher  140 . Owner management system  150  may perform a variety of functions, as explained in more detail below in reference to  FIG. 2 . 
         [0026]    The income stream from user  120  to owner  100  is a traditional income stream derived from a rental obligation of user  120 . The income stream from owner  100  to vendor  130  is also a traditional income stream derived from maintenance or housekeeping costs associated with vacation rental property  110 . The income stream from owner  100  to publisher  130  is non-traditional in the sense that it is derived in response to a request received from user  120  for listing data for vacation property  110  via publisher  140 . All income streams are preferably collected automatically from user  120  and owner  100  via a corresponding e-commerce module. 
         [0027]    Publisher  140  is the entity that will issue a request for vacation rental listings to management system  150 , obtain the listings from management system  150 , and present the listing to the user  120 . User  120  may then check the availability and/or any additional property data of specific properties of a selected property type with selected property amenities and of a selected property location, by communicating a request via a publisher  140  to management system  150 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a diagram functionally illustrating a management system consistent with the invention. The system includes an owner tools component  210 , a vendor tools component  220  and a publisher/affiliate tools component  230 . All of these components interface with one or more relational databases  240 . To help understand the invention, other components of the management system will be explained below. Furthermore, although  FIG. 2  shows a particular arrangement of components constituting management system  150 , those skilled in the art will recognize that not all components need be arranged as shown, not all components are required, and that other components may be added to, or replace, those shown. 
         [0029]    Owner tools component  210  is the component by which owner  100  enters information required for listing and managing one or more vacation rental properties. Owner tools component  210  contains a variety of tools designed to help owner  100  to manage vacation rental property  110  and also to create and monitor listings. The data required for, or obtained by, owner tools component  210  resides in a database  240 . Owner tools component  210  may perform a variety of functions, as explained in more detail below in reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0030]    Vendor tools component  220  is the component by which vendor  130  enters information required for initiating and managing its services to owner  100 . Vendor tools component  220  contains a variety of tools designed to help vendor  130  initiate, monitor, and manage its maintenance jobs associated with vacation rental property  110 . The data required for, or obtained by, vendor tools component  220  resides in a database  240 . Vendor tools component  220  may perform a variety of functions, as explained in more detail below in reference to  FIG. 4 . 
         [0031]    Publisher tools component  230  is a component that interfaces with publisher  140  to obtain or send vacation rental listing information. For example, publisher  140  may send a request for one or more vacation rental listings to publisher tools component  230 . The data required for, or obtained by, publisher tools component  230  resides in a database  240 . Publisher tools component  230  may perform a variety of functions, as explained in more detail below in reference to  FIG. 5 . 
         [0032]    Databases  240  contain a variety of data used by management system  150 . In addition to the information mentioned above, databases  240  may contain statistical information about what listings have been displayed, how often they have been shown, the number of times they have been selected, who has selected those listings, how often display of the listing has led to a reservation, etc. Although databases  240  are shown in  FIG. 2  as one unit, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that multiple databases may be employed for gathering and storing information used in management system  150 . 
         [0033]      FIG. 3  is a diagram functionally illustrating an owner tools  210  component consistent with the invention. The system includes an owner entry component  310 , an owner modules component  320 , and an owner billing component  330 . The data required for, or obtained by, owner tools component  210  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0034]    Owner entry component  310  is the component by which owner  100  enters information required for listing and managing one or more vacation rental properties. The data required for, or obtained by, owner entry component  310  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0035]    Owner modules component  320  contains a variety of modules or tools designed to help owner  100  to manage its vacation rental properties and also to create and monitor listings. For example, owner modules component  320  may contain a tool for helping owner  100  estimate the number of click-throughs a listing will receive for a particular publisher. 
         [0036]    Other possible modules may be provided as well. Depending on the nature of the module, one or more databases  240  may be used to gather or store information. 
         [0037]    Owner modules component  320  preferably includes the following modules: an account overview module, a properties module, a bookings module to track reservations and guest information, a tasks module to track and notify the owner of tasks associated with specific reservations such as housekeeping and security deposit refinds and the like, a finance module to track payments and expenses, a calendar module to display and amend availability information, a marketing module, and a support module. 
         [0038]    Owner billing component  330  helps perform billing-related functions. For example, owner billing component  330  generates invoices for a particular vacation rental listing or vendor. In addition, owner billing component  330  may be used by owner  100  to monitor the amount being expended for its various vacation rental properties. The data required for, or obtained by, owner billing component  330  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0039]      FIG. 4  is a diagram functionally illustrating a vendor tools component  220  consistent with the invention. The system includes a vendor entry component  410 , a vendor modules component  420 , and a vendor billing component  430 . The data required for, or obtained by, vendor tools component  220  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0040]    Vendor entry component  410  is the component by which vendor  130  enters information required for initiating and managing its services to an owner. The data required for, or obtained by, vendor entry component  410  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0041]    Vendor modules component  420  contains a variety of modules or tools designed to help vendor  130  initiate, monitor, and manage its maintenance or housekeeping jobs associated with a vacation rental property. For example, vendor modules component  420  may contain a tool for helping vendor  130  to schedule housekeeping jobs for a particular vacation rental. Other possible modules may be provided as well. Depending on the nature of the module, one or more databases  240  may be used to gather or store information. 
         [0042]    Vendor billing component  430  helps perform billing-related functions. For example, vendor billing component  430  generates invoices for a particular vacation rental. In addition, vendor billing component  430  may be used by vendor  130  to monitor the amount of income associated with a particular vacation rental. The data required for, or obtained by, vendor billing component  430  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 5  is a diagram functionally illustrating a publisher tools component  230  consistent with the invention. The system includes a listing search component  510 , a listing serving component  520 , and a listing display component  530 . The data required for, or obtained by, publisher tools component  230  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0044]    Listing search component  510  interfaces with publisher  140  to obtain or send vacation rental listing information. For example, publisher  140  may send a request for one or more vacation rental listings to search component  510 . The request may include information such as the site requesting the listing, any information available to aid in selecting the listing, the number of listings requested, etc. In response, search component  510  may provide one or more vacation rental listings to publisher  140 . In addition, publisher  140  may send information about the performance of the listing back to the management system via the search component  510 . This may include, for example, the statistical information described above in reference to a database  240 . The data required for, or obtained by, ad consumer interface component  250  resides in a database  240 . 
         [0045]    Listing serving component  520  receives an ordered list of vacation rental listings from listing search component  510 , and formats that list into a manner suitable for presenting to publisher  140 . This may involve, for example, rendering the listing data into hypertext markup language (“HTML”), into a proprietary data format, etc. 
         [0046]    Listing display component  530  receives a unique vacation rental property listing identifier from publisher  140 , and formats the listing data into a manner suitable for presenting to publisher  140 . This may involve, for example, rendering the listing data into hypertext markup language (“HTML”), into a proprietary data format, etc. 
         [0047]    B. Operation 
         [0048]    Referring to the flowchart shown in  FIG. 6  in conjunction with the system overview shown in  FIG. 1 , an example reservation request from user  120  operates as follows. First, user  120  utilizes publisher  140  to submit a vacation rental listing search request (step  601 ) to management system  150 . Management system  150  parses and processes the request (step  602 ), then searches databases  240  (step  603 ) for listings matching the search criteria in  601 . Search criteria may include details such as location, size, amenities, availability and the like. Management system  150  then formats the search results (step  604 ) in a suitable format for presenting to publisher  140 . This may involve, for example, rendering the listing data into hypertext markup language (“HTML”), into a proprietary data format, etc. 
         [0049]    At this time, user  120  may browse the listings and select a particular listing of interest by submitting a listing request (step  605 ) to management system  150 . Management system  150  receives and processes the listing request (step  606 ) which may include steps such as incrementing the number of times a listing has been requested and storing that data in databases  240 . Management system  150  then formats the listing data (step  607 ) in a suitable format for presenting to publisher  140 . This may involve, for example, rendering the listing data into hypertext markup language (“HTML”), into a proprietary data format, etc. 
         [0050]    At this time, user  120  may decide to make a reservation for this vacation rental by submitting a reservation request (step  608 ) via publisher  140  to management system  150 . Management system  150  receives and processes the reservation request (step  609 ) which may include steps such as querying user  120  for personal contact information and storing the reservation request and user information in databases  240 . Management system  150  then determines if owner  100  accepts online rental payments (step  610 ). Online payments are preferably handled via a corresponding e-commerce module or a third-party provider such as PayPal.com (step  611 ). Management system  150  then sends a reservation request notification to owner  100  (step  612 ) via e-mail, web-page update, PDA, pager, or the like. 
         [0051]    At this time, it is the responsibility of owner  100  to determine if payment has been received and confirmed (step  613 ) for the reservation above. Owner  100  uses management system  150  to confirm payment and management system  100  processes the confirmation (step  614 ) which may include steps such as updating availability data in databases  240 , sending a reservation confirmation notification (via email) to user  120  and automatically scheduling housekeeping tasks associated with the reservation. 
         [0052]    C. Conclusion 
         [0053]    The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention.