Morning Folks!!
We have all heard the fanfare about the "Record" sale of Vacation.Rentals. Some in the industry doubt the authenticity of that sale. I have been checking on the site from time to time for the past couple months. Again more fanfare as they got a page 1 ranking. But is that bogus SEO too?
Some companies in the domain space are ethically challenged to put it nicely. Some chronically. Seems there are financial motives for the publicity that helps their sales. Especially when those sales are lagging and even the biggest GTLD fans are starting to question their "Investments". Let's not be naive.
Go to the site, punch in the dates and no matter what place you punch in only one thing happens. I keep getting "NO RESULTS FOUND". Nothing worse than going somewhere and being fooled. Those folks NEVER come back! It's bad business and I think that will just fuel the debate on the authenticity of the sale.
Go ahead, search for any place. Here are Maui results: NONE!
Here are the stories about the sale.
What do you think?
Real Sale? Fake Sale? Don't Know?
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
Andrew Hyde
Fake or real sale doesn’t matter, they just going to drive visitors to vacationsrentals.com – people don’t get the dot anything but com, net or org.
Josh
Ahhh yeah, the ole beauty.cc trick.
Leonard Britt
The landing page resolves but I checked a few popular US vacation destinations for July and received a “No results found” response. Now why would you spend six figures on a domain name to have a vacation rentals site which doesn’t work? Yes, I have had $XXX sales which the buyer did nothing with but generally above that range the buyer has plans.
Michael Anthony Castello
In all fairness, they might be starting from scratch and looking for those willing to list their places. I know with Daycare.com I had to offer free listings for the first three years in order to generate a usable database for parents. Vacation rentals is a saturated market and they are going to have to spend a lot of money reaching out to home owners who would be willing to use their interface and new gTLD address.
Larry Scott
Well the owner literally stated to me that he had so many clients calling him and wanting to list that he couldn’t accept any more people at the time, he had to put it on pause. This was about 1-2 months ago I believe. Same time he bragged about ranking on Google top page in only 2 weeks.
KT
1. Although few, there are results. Zoom out on the map and some listings start to appear.
2.Have all $500k+ .com sales you’ve ever seen been fully developed and marketed in a few months?
My belief is that the sale is real but of course, the price paid too high for the current market. I don’t think Donuts would advertise a fake sale.
I agree that there have been some companies in the ngltd space that have used shady and unethical techniques to inflate their registration numbers and give the whole ngtld space a bad name but it is apparent(by their tld registration numbers) that Donuts never tried any such techniques.
Mark Thorpe
The average person does not trust domain hacks like vacation.rentals or home.loans. I wouldn’t trust them.
The domain addresses look like spam or a scam. IMO
asset.domains
Donuts is a top ngtld company , it’s sort of king of ngtld registrars ;)
Anunt
Fake Sale.
All new gtlds suck including .app, .web, .xyz, .club…
They all suck…not worth crap!!!
All Fake Sales scamming newbies!!!
John
People would like “Home.Loans” if they encountered that. It’s also no threat to .com.
Auction.fyi
Ranking high on the SERP, it means that New gTLD keyword.keyword works
Graham
Not ranking high when I search vacation rentals or vacation rentals followed by city.
Larry Scott
I’ve already called them out on DomainInvesting.com where the owner boasted to me about he’ll be eating shrimp and lobsters soon. Even if it was a real sale he could have gotten that domain for around $100k. He claim that .rentals perform better than .net thats how he rank so fast. I absolutely love it when people tell me shit I really know about. I rank websites on #1 pages for the fun of it and this clown is going to sit there and give that bullshit proclamation about .rentals rank faster than .net. Its obvious he paid for SEO service. I can corroborate that his site does have legitimate healthy traffic from Google search engine I estimate around 1,200 visitors a day (just a guess).
JOHN COLASCIONE
I think it is telling that Donuts still has not come up with any sort of proof to my calling out of their original PR nonsense. Not a peep, and everyone read it, and everyone knows it. https://www.strategicrevenue.com/call-for-donuts-to-release-proof-of-original-record-breaking-gtld-sale-in-late-2017/
Michael Kugler
Hi Rick,
We haven’t been properly introduced. I am Mike Kugler – Owner and CEO of the https://vacation.rentals
You have written plenty of me but never reached out to me directly to establish any credibility. I have posted the wire transfer for the ownership – nothing to hide there.
Ironically, you will need to go back in and edit your original takedown of our site. Literally, the very day that you posted your blather – a homeowner found our site and put her home up in Maui.
Was it because of your blog? I have no idea – but we now have Maui, Steamboat Springs, Panama City, Key West, North Top Sail and 266 others. All since the 15th of May when the site went live – officially.
Now to Larry Scott – I see that reading comprehension is a problem for you and that you like to embellish on the facts. Your comment about lobster and shrimp struck me as odd – because I am neither a gasbag blowhard or a person with a propensity to show arrogance. So it seemed highly unlikely that I would say something so rude as that in the first place. With that, I went back to find the exact quote.
“I will come back to this thread in 3 months to either eat crow or filet mignon”
Let me know if you need any additional help with understanding the meaning.
Richard, I realize you are just doing your due diligence by trying to protect the public at large. I would recommend filing a report on our fake site and fake sale to the https://www.usa.gov/stop-scams-frauds
Hope all is well, Mike
(Gotta run now. Just had a new listing that I have to review and approve)
Rick Schwartz
“You have written plenty of me but never reached out to me directly to establish any credibility. I have posted the wire transfer for the ownership – nothing to hide there.”
Gee, you must have me confused with another blogger or two. This is the first post I ever wrote on the subject and it never mentions you. It mentions the experience I had that led me to question what some others have been asking and made me wonder as well. I never saw that wire posted anywhere. Please feel free to post for my readers to see. I doubt many have. I am certainly one that has never seen it and not sure if anyone else has. So please post a link.
Thanks and Good Luck!
Michael Kugler
No, I know who you are and remember your post from 2 months ago.
Here are your comments from back in April.
https://www.strategicrevenue.com/call-for-donuts-to-release-proof-of-original-record-breaking-gtld-sale-in-late-2017/
Rick Schwartz
And I stand by what I said in reference to your site. My first comment was a general one. And it’s true!
My second comment was about YOUR site! And it is STILL TRUE!!
What you should be focusing on is the point where I showed you it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to make any sales the way you have it set up asking for dates and always getting NO RESULTS. You should be thanking me for pointing out that fatal flaw. But please just go on with your arrogance! This one flaw guarantees your failure! Hope you just laugh it all off! It’s of no consequence to me either way. I use homeaway.com
This is what I posted and my opinion has not changed.
“PS: Their site is a total joke.
I went to their site, I did several searches and they ALL came back “No results found”. Who would EVER go back? I don’t care if the site is finished or not, you offer a service with no service or content. Fake site! Waste of time. It’s just another “Shell of a site”. Millions of these type “Mini sites” WITH the content that nobody will ever use. Why would I TRUST a No.Name brand vs actual brands that are reliable, have guarantees and millions of users that praise their service? No.Reason.”
Rick Schwartz
And I just did another search for Key West. I find nothing.
Here is the link.
https://www.vacation.rentals/Key-West-FL-USA?checkin=07/18/2018&checkout=07/25/2018&guests=1&room_type=&min_price=10&max_price=750¤t_refinement=Homes&property_type=&amenities=&beds=0&bathrooms=0&bedrooms=0&limit_distance=400&page=1&instant_book=0&php_date_format=m/d/Y&property_id=
Here is Maui. Nothing there either.
https://www.vacation.rentals/Maui-Hawaii-USA?checkin=07/18/2018&checkout=07/25/2018&guests=1&room_type=&min_price=10&max_price=750¤t_refinement=Homes&property_type=&amenities=&beds=0&bathrooms=0&bedrooms=0&limit_distance=400&page=1&instant_book=0&php_date_format=m/d/Y&property_id=&location=Maui-Hawaii-USA#
What am I doing wrong??
Michael Kugler
Maybe spelling it wrong?
https://www.vacation.rentals/kihei-hawaii-fantastic-location-across-from-kam-ii-beach-kihei-maui-walk-out-garden-lanai-all-new-renovations/10137?checkin=&checkout=&guests=1
https://www.vacation.rentals/key-west-florida-key-west-seashell-cottage/10186?checkin=&checkout=&guests=1
Rick Schwartz
Come on!
All I did was punch it in and highlight the city when it came up.
Maybe you have an issue on your site!
Not smart to blame customers!
Maybe some others can go there and share their experience. I doubt we are all bad spellers.
Please post the wire transfer info. Thanks!
Michael Kugler
No one is blaming anyone. It just appears you are the only person who is running into problems finding what literally 1000s of people are finding quite easily.
Since we are all of 3 weeks old and are sitting on 265 listings as of today – it is reasonable to assume that there will be some growth. But, let me assure you of this as abundantly clear as I can – each and every…single… day… we are being “found” organically on the search engines and each… single… day… we have new listings. Every, single, day.
Next thing. At this moment, I have approximately 700 “Users” but only have 265 “Owners” What does that mean?
It means by almost a 3:1 ratio I am picking up people who are signing up for the website in a double opt in who are looking for some place to rent. Play that out in the future – 10,000 listings – 30,000 travelers who are looking to book.
Every single thing you have said about the URL and the success of the site has been wrong. Breathtakingly wrong. It is hammering on the search engines, we have paid NO marketing fees to any company, and we are growing at a rapid pace.
We are getting ready to roll out updates to the site version 1.3 and will continue to make the experience better for the travelers and homeowners.
In the end, it has been the single best purchase I have ever made in my life – period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXPyn-cm01k
Rick Schwartz
Ok, so I am an idiot. I don’t know how to use YOUR SITE! I don’t know how to highlight the city when it comes up.
I went there originally as a consumer. But what do you care Mr CEO??
I was looking to list a property I have and at the same time look to see what I might find.
But what do you care Mr CEO??
You are very arrogant and way too defensive. Something weird here.
I guess Berkens must be an idiot too cuz he got the same results when we were on the phone together. NO RESULTS FOUND!
Anyone else?? I mean I posted the link to my search. Why aren’t your properties coming up?
Maybe you should concern yourself with that instead of insulting me Mr. CEO!
Michael Kugler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYF_VVDJ58U
Rick Schwartz
This blog post is an opportunity for you to clear things up.
You have the floor.
You can use it as intended or squander that opportunity away.
Michael Kugler
I have already posted this several times before, so have nothing to hide.
First wire was $100,000
Second wire was $25,000
Last and final wire was $375,300
Here is the link with the proof. If you need further proof, call me at 417 230 0717 and I will gladly direct you to the banking officer who did the wire transfers for me.
https://vacarent.com/verified-proof-of-purchase/
Michael Kugler
Sorry, bad link earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4NRSfVlhzE
Now, if you would have simply reached out to me (phone number, email , text whatever) and said “Mike, I am going to write a blog on your site and nothing comes up. You have a problem with your site” I would have gladly entertained your input and looked into it.
Instead you come out with this nonsense “Fake site” “Fake gTLD sale” nonsense and tried to frame it as the site is a scam.
Regardless, you have been given irrefutable proof to answer each of your questions.
Have a great day, Mike
Rick Schwartz
Well why don’t you fill in the dates like it asks?
Maybe you should REMOVE those fields if you don’t want somebody to fill it out?
Maybe when you punch in the date the property should pop up and show availability?? Don’t ya think??
You can’t make a sale the way you have it.
Michael Kugler
And here is your video with dates.
So while you are selectively trying to discredit our site, I am here to selectively show you – again – you are wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0n7vZuGsfk
(You and I both know why the site is not returning any results for your dates. The property is obviously booked already – resulting in the expected NRF. But, it fits your narrative to skew the facts to your narrative – whatever…)
Rick Schwartz
Believe what you want. I don’t care.
I just shared my experience.
There is no narrative you are simply in denial.
Go to a device that has never been to your site and see if it works.
It’s in your cache pal!
It’s all my fault.
Good luck with your site.
Over and out!
Seonghun Jin
Funny I had the same problem with Vacation.Rentals in 2020.
I typed “Texas” in the search bar but no results were shown.
Anyways, who goes on a trip this year?