Lake Tahoe Stimulus=Stable Economy*Spring Bookings Flat.....Summer Fencesitters
*Gas,Jobs,Confidence
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Hot Tub Maintenance Program Unveiled  Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaways is instituting a new program that streamlines Hot Tub maintenance by placing a flat monthly fee for ALL maintenance items including drain and fills, chemical balancing and pre/post guest checks. (Any required repairs over and above general maintenance and Pinnacles scope of service will be outsourced to a third party vendor. If the estimate is over $100 Pinnacle will contact you for authorization)
This program will save you money and allow better budgeting without those annoying monthly tub charges. The monthly investment for homewowners that have Hot Tubs will be $40. Do the math...this is a great value! This program begins July1, 2009 and will be reflected on your August statements.
Call 530-318-7990 for more information.
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"Pure" Vacation Rental Insurance 
Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaways has been encouraging all of our homeowners to procur insurance that covers you for short term vacation rentals. Even though your current carrier may state that you are covered for vacation rentals most policies do not fully cover you for the unique situations that may occur during the short term rental process. We are not insurance agents therfore we strongly advise you speak with you carrier and take a look at the list below of known carriers of "pure" vacation rental insurance.
Lexington
Lloyds of London
Cascade Risk Management
The Obstacles to Obtaining Insurance for Vacation Rental Properties
Q:Why is insurance so difficult to obtain for vacation rental property owners?
A:Well the problem, is [that]
the traditional homeowners and dwelling insurance polices are intended
for owner occupied properties or second residences that are gonna be
used by the owner. Or in the case when the home is rented on an annual
lease. It's really the short-term rental aspect that eliminates 95
percent of the traditional insurance companies.
Q: Ahh, so it's that short-term that really gets to us. So,
why can't I just call my current insurance agent and say, "Hey, I'm
renting my property on a short-term basis. Can you just insure me?"
A: The problem is that your current agent
likely does not have the types of policies at their disposal that will
fit. So what they're trying to do in most cases is pound the square peg
into the round hole. Most insurance applications are going to ask about
the occupancy and use of the property. Then when you sign that
contract, you're also verifying that the information that you're
providing them is true.
Q:Well can't I just tell them that I'm not renting my property?
A:The challenge with that is if you
misrepresent something that is material in obtaining insurance, you can
actually void your insurance contract. It actually could void your
coverage should you have a claim. The application requires that the
client and the agent verify that the facts in obtaining the insurance
have been provided correctly. It's gonna ask: "Is the property owner or
tenant occupied? Is it used for primary use or seasonal/secondary use?"
So those are going to be asked real blatantly on the application and
you have to present that information correctly.
Q: So just as with anything, it's never good to lie
A:No, you may get away with it for a while.
The other half of the lie may go uncovered for a while. But the problem
is [that] should you have a claim and you have a guest either injured
on your property or perhaps something goes damaged or missing from your
property and all of a sudden it comes to light that your property was
rented for a vacation rental, you're going to run into a problem with
that claim. In fact, actually it could very likely void the coverage
you had obtained in the first place
Q: Ah, we definitely don't want that to happen. Now are there other problems with insuring your home? What are some of the other issues be that we need to consider in getting insurance for our vacation rental homes?
Danielle: Well, the next one that I would say is
commonly a problem all across the United States is the location where
most vacation properties are. They are in the most beautiful places in
the world, which is not down the street from a fire department, lets
say, or they're located in coastal areas or very rural areas.
Christine: And we know the coast. I own in Florida
and boy, oh boy, every time I see a hurricane stirring in the gulf, it
makes my heart thump.
Danielle: Well, I can honestly tell you over the
years I immediately start thinking about all my clients, current and
past, that have properties down there and I'm like, "Oh Lord, please
have that storm go back out to sea."
Christine: So with those properties in the high hazard areas, that's one of the issues that makes them even more difficult to insure?
Danielle: That's true. See, each state has its own
insurance issues because insurance is regulated at a state level. And
then obviously you have the hazards themselves. Coastal properties
could be subject to hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, landslides, and other
parts of the country, earthquakes, sinkholes and brush fires could be
high problematic insurance issues. Or if you're sitting and you've got
a property in Minnesota, and its on a beautiful lake, your problem is
probably none of those, but it could just simply be the distance from
fire protection, or a water source like a fire hydrant or a pumpable
lake and how far the nearest responding fire department is, and whether
they're a volunteer or paid fire department, and have the equipment to
bring to the site to fight a fire.
Christine: So this is much more of a complex issue than I guess I even thought of on the surface.
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| Spring Yard Cleanups and Deep Cleanings
 It's that time of the year when yards need to be cleaned of winter debris and homes need to have a deep cleaning. Please let us know by May 15 if you plan to perform your own yard cleanup or if you would like us to schedule a cleanup. We will be scheduling the spring interior deep cleans in the next few weeks.
Please call 866-407-0245 or 530-318-7990
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Pinnacle Considers New Lock Program  Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaways is considering instituting a new security door lock system which will allow us to better monitor your Lake Tahoe property and give a higher level of customer service to our guests.
FAQs and Information on the Oracode System
Kaba Lodging Systems is bringing you the safest and simplest way to manage your property. With a unique access system that allows you to securely manage your properties without the need of keys, all from the Kaba e-code web site. With a time sensitive code you don't have to worry about who is in your home when they shouldn't be. You give out the code for the period of the guests stay and once that time frame is up the code automatically expires. THAT SIMPLE!
Electronic access is the standard for the future
The need for keyless entry has been mandated in the hotel industry for the year 2004. Security, accountability and safety of the guests are the reasons physical keys can no longer be used in situations where transient rentals occur. It's only a matter of time before the vacation rental and corporate housing industries follows suit. Owning and operating a vacation rental or corporate housing property using physical keys can be a costly mistake for both the owner and the guests. It is for these reasons that Kaba Lodging Systems embarked on the journey to develop a product that meets the needs of this market. The product represented is the only one of its kind in the world. Kaba Lodging Systems believes and participates in the vision of bringing wireless, remote key management to these industries. Easy, Secure, Flexible and Cost Effective.
This program will require interested homeowners to participate in the purchase and/or leasing of this upgrade. We will be providing a cost breakdown in the next newsletter.
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What we are doing... 
The Staff at Pinnacle is working overtime to make sure we can out-perform our results from last year...even in this down economy. We have asked many of you to adjust rates and to allow our staff to negotiate within reason with our valued guests....more valuable than ever this year! Our marketing is on-going and we have been working on all web portals, building striking e-flyers, creating You Tube presentations and working hard on our search engine optimization program which allows our staff to have the customer base we will need in these challenging times. Please call or e-mail to discuss your property and our marketing efforts anytime!
What's New at Pinnacle 2009?
-Completely Revamped Website which will allow guests to "save" properties into a "Grocery Cart" and view them in a side by side comparison view...VERY COOL!
-The revamped website will also allow us to search engine optimize even more than we are currently doing by creating a separate web page for each of our properties.....Google likes this!
-We have instituted a 100% electronic document signing program which will allow rental agreements to be signed, verified and stored by a third party. This will protect you from frivolous charge-backs as each rental agreement and credit card receipt will be properly signed prior to the guest stay.
-A new internet based phone/communication center has been added.
-Pinnacle will be moving their software and data to our vendors server farm and utilizing terminal servers for all of our reservationist. This allows a heightened level of security for our data as well as instantaneous web access for all of our staff.
-As members of VRMA (Vacation Rental Managers Association) we have been included in their new international website Discovervacationhomes.com
-Pinnacle has joined Flip Key/Trip Advisor
-Continued prescence on the Homeaway Network, VRBO Network and a multitude of other web portals via our V-Flyer campaign(s).
-ALL properties to be showcased on YouTube by July 15, 2009
-New informative stand-alone blog to be released to Google June 15,2009 This Blog will state-of-the art and is designed to ramp up further Pinnacle's organic search engine rankings.
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