Rental Reviews

Thanks to the forward-thinking suggestion of a visitor I have been pondering how to implement a rental review section. I knew from the start it would not be a quick, easy task. There are literally thousands of vacation rentals along the Crystal Coast. So I started small, I went to the biggest property managers in Emerald Isle, and crawled their websites gathering each of their properties names.

I now have about 1,400 rental properties in my database. With that data I plan to first finish the database architecture. I have a good idea what fields I will need, their potential size and what type of data will be in each field. For example I will need to capture the dates the guest writing the review stayed in the rental. Then I will need their comments about their stay. I will also have a star rating that needs to be captured. As the reviews accumulate the ratings will need to be averaged. There will also be a question like, “Would you rent this property again?”

The fun part will be coding the user interface so that people can view and add to this rental data. I will also have to secure it, so that profanity and other undesirable junk doesn’t get posted out there.

Of course there will always be rentals that need to be added to the database, so be patient, and I hope it will become a useful tool for those looking to rent properties here on the Crystal Coast. I am working on this just about every other night and hope to have it in full operation before the rental season gets into full swing.

Cheers and happy renting,

Jason

3 Responses to “Rental Reviews”

  1. joe hartman, on July 18th, 2010 at 10:47 pm Said:

    Hi Jason
    I just came across your website. Since you seem to be the expert in vacation rentals at emerald isle. My wife and mother-in-law are from greenville nc. we now live in maryland and I would love to bring to emerald Isle. So i thought maybe you could help e out. I am looking for a mid aug stay near the beach (within short walking distance) 3 br 2ba.s perhaps a small min. yorkie trained and beautiful. I only have about $800 or so to spend. Can you direct me to a place?

    Thank you Joe Hartman
    443.324.2866 cell or email me

  2. Sherry O., on March 30th, 2011 at 3:19 pm Said:

    Hi Jason
    Does anyone rent by the night these days? I am divorced with adult children and visit Emerald Isle alone once or twice a month for a short visit (sometimes only one or two nights). If I found a place I liked, I would be a repeat renter.

  3. Jason, on April 1st, 2011 at 5:46 pm Said:

    Hi Sherry,

    As far as I know, yes people still rent by the night. Usually there is still like a three night minimum and you’re not going to find it in the peak of the season either. There are two places listed here that offer nightly rentals. If they’re not really what you’re looking for, try contacting the owner of a property that appeals to you and pitch them an offer. You’d be surprised how accommodating they can be, especially in the off-season.

    Best of luck in your rental search.

    -Jason

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