Read Me First
Mental About Rental is an online directory of holiday directories with 3 major differences.
Firstly, it’s a directory of directories for the holiday (or vacation if you’re American) rental industry.
You can’t list your rental property in this directory, but you CAN list your favourite (and least favourite) rental directory in here. Equally, if you’re a directory owner, you’re free to submit your directory for inclusion in the Mental About Rental directory.
Secondly (and most importantly), you’re able to rate and comment on the directories listed in the Mental About Rental database.
Why is that important? Well, there’s a lot of directories out there making a lot of claims about what they can deliver for you, but we all know that the proof is in the trying. Until now, you’ve had to spend time and usually money testing out each rental website to find out whether they’re worth the investment. Now you can benefit from other people’s experience by seeing how each website is rated, and by reading the comments other users have submitted against each rental directory.
Finally, (and I’m probably going to regret this) it’s free for all to use.
That’s free for rental directories to submit to, and free for the rental community to join and benefit from (although note that I will probably be making a small charge to directories wishing to update or enhance their description as my focus will be on adding new directories). I mainly make my money from designing websites for rental property owners and so will benefit from being able to advertise my services on the site. Additionally I’m running Google adwords on the site, and in future hope to sell some premium advertising space down the right hand side of the page which may help with hosting costs.
Help me to help you.
For me to be able to run Mental About Rental for free (and make it worth using), it needs to be as hassle free for me as possible. As I want to keep the directory as useful, relevant and spam free as possible, I’m manually reviewing directory submissions, and I’m moderating comments which are submitted. So, hassle will likely come in two forms:
Hassle 1: manually checking and adding directories to the database.
The hassle is mainly in the screenshot image so please, please, please, if you’re submitting a directory for inclusion, be a sweetie and provide me with the screenshot image as a jpeg, less than 50k, 490 width x 300 high. That will cut about 10 minutes from each submission and make growing the database much easier and quicker.
Hassle 2: dealing with comment submissions (moderation).
I love to chat, and I know most people do, but the idea of this website isn’t a chat room or a forum. The only types of comments that will make it through onto the website are comments which SPECIFICALLY RELATE TO YOUR EXPERIENCE OF, OR ARE QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT DIRECTORY. If you want to chat, head over to Lay My Hat where the lively forums are perfect for general rental discussion and chit chat.
Also, please avoid slanderous comments, and try to keep emotions out of your comments. Stick to the facts and you won’t come unstuck!
You get out what you put in.
I cannot possibly find and categorise every single rental directory on the web, however with your help, I reckon we can find the good ones. Please submit your directory finds using the form here.
Additionally, the success of the website is dependent on users sharing their learnings and experiences. If you’ve tried a directory out, love ‘em or hate ‘em, share it with the community. It’s really easy to vote or comment so don’t be shy!