Name of your website?
Casa Preciosa Ajijic Vacation Rentals – Best Ajijic Lodging – Lake Chapala
Your name?
Joel Smith
Your Location (city, etc)
Ajijic Centro, Lake Chapala, Jalisco
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Casa Preciosa Ajijic Vacation Rentals was created to provide responsible travelers to a unique and interesting vacation experience in Mexico. Many vacation travelers that visit the Lake Chapala area are searching for lodging and typically they first search for 'Ajijic Hotels' or 'Ajijic Bed and Breakfasts'. Another very viable option is to consider renting a vacation home. Casa Preciosa Ajijic offers a wide range of amenities that a small B&B or hotel room in Ajijic cannot provide. In addition, as the owners my wife and I, live here full time in Ajijic, Mexico.
A vacation rental in Mexico many times will offer more privacy, more safety and comfort than accommodations such as a hotel or bed & breakfast. Frequently, people travel to the Lake Chapala area to check it out as a possible retirement spot in Mexico. Staying a vacation home is a great way to 'test the waters' of actually living in Mexico. We invite those that are reading this interview to read our story on our website about how we made this transition to living in Mexico all year round. Click here to read more: http://www.casapreciosaajijic.com/Your-Hosts-Joel-and-Sue-retired-in-Ajijic-Mexico.html
What inspired you to launch your own website?
While Ajijic is a small village on the north shore of Lake Chapala, Mexico, there are several Ajijic lodging choices. These include Ajijic Hotels, Ajijic Bed and Breakfasts, and Ajijic Vacation Rentals.
Some of these establishments provide good lodging value and others do not. Our goal was to launch a web site that was truly helpful to the traveler planning to visit the Lake Chapala area whether they rented our home, Casa Preciosa or not. In addition, we wanted to differentiate Casa Preciosa from other vacation rentals in the Ajijic area of Mexico.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched the site about three months ago and it is a vacation rental and Lake Chapala visitor information site that includes:
Casa Preciosa Ajijic vacation rental details with calendar, retire in Ajijic, Mexico information, Lake Chapala pictures & Ajijic photos, things to do in Lake Chapala & Ajijic, Ajijic restaurant reviews, Lake Chapala and Guadalajara tour info, Ajijic travel & vacation tips, Ajijic maps and more!
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Well our site name is the name of our vacation home and the village name that it is located in, in Mexico, Casa Preciosa Ajijic. Casa Preciosa initially was used only by our family and friends that would frequently visit Ajijic, Mexico.
We wanted to create an accommodation for friends & family that was homey and comfortable. Another plus is that it is only 3 houses away from us. The name Casa Preciosa means ‘Precious Home’ in Spanish and that is the feeling that the property has for us, it is truly precious.
We also decided that we would make Casa Preciosa available on a short term basis with a maximum stay of one month. We limit the stay because we want family and friends to be able to visit often and make it easier to book on the whim.
What makes your Ajijic vacation rental property, Casa Preciosa different from, similar offerings?
#1 is location. We live on a Privada which is a small cul-de-sac type of street of only seven homes. So it’s more quiet and private. Casa Preciosa is located in the heart of the village and about 3 ½ blocks from the plaza. It’s important to be close to the plaza but not too close because of all the celebrations that emanate from the plaza.
#2 We live here all year and manage the property ourselves. There are several vacation rentals in Ajijic and the constant feedback that we get from guests that have stayed at other places is that, Casa Preciosa stands head and shoulders above other Ajijic rentals. We take great pride in providing this kind of value to people vacationing in Ajijic whether it’s their first visit or they are repeat visitors.
What is your eventual goal?
As we mentioned before our goal in creating the web site was to provide a valuable resource to someone vacationing in Ajijic and planning a visit to Lake Chapala. Additionally, we wanted to demonstrate the extra value that Casa Preciosa offers over other Ajijic vacation rentals in Mexico.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
The site is only about three months old, so it’s too soon to tell. We are ranked in google S.E.R.P.s in the top 20 for most of our keyword phrases and some are in the top 5. We are already getting inquiries so; I’d have to say that the site is successful.
What has been your biggest challenge?
I think our biggest challenge is really demonstrating the value that Casa Preciosa provides that person that wants an Ajijic vacation for one to four weeks over other Ajijic accommidation choices.
I think that the CasaPreciosaAjijic.com website does this when compared to a huge impersonal vacation rental site like VRBO with thousands of listings. The web site visitor can see the difference in that value that we provide on the web even if they don’t stay at Casa P.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Providing lots of valuable content to our visitors.
Putting ourselves in the visitor’s shoes and asking ourselves what they would want in terms of web site information that builds trust and helps them with their goal of having a great vacation experience in Lake Chapala, Mexico.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
I can’t really say that my expectations are all that different from what I expected running our website. I am not a techie and therefore have a technical learning curve that I’m dealing with is publishing content to the site.
I’m in the process of adding a Wordpress blog to the site and want to spend time learning how to do that. This is all while creating new content for the web site, so it’s a balancing act.
What makes Lake Chapala such a popular retirement spot for Americans and Canadians?
There are several reasons. Here are a few:
#1 English is widely spoken. We have lived here for almost 8 years and are by no means fluent in Spanish.
#2 The Great Weather. Lake Chapala enjoys 360 days of sunshine and the temperatures are moderate all year round. National Geographic several years ago, ranked the weather in Ajijic as some of the best in the world.
#3 The Cost of Living. For us coming from the San Francisco bay area in California, the Lake Chapala region provides a very comfortable and affordable lifestyle without scrimping or penny pinching.
#4 Affordable Health Care A one hour doctor visit with a top tier physician costs approximately $40.00 US. It’s wonderful to be able to sit down in a relaxed manner an actually speak in English with your primary care doctor. No physician assistants, medical administrators, no middle men dictating your care, just you and your doctor. It’s the type of relationship that patients had with their doctors 50 years ago in the US.
Any final thoughts for people that Ajijic travel or retirement plans in the future?
Check out our website CasaPreciosaAjijic.com. It’s a lot more than just talking about renting our Ajijic vacation home Casa Preciosa.
There is a lot of visitor information and resources for retiring in Mexico. Photos of the Lake Chapala area and pictures of the village of Ajijic can be found here http://www.casapreciosaajijic.com/Lake-Chapala-Pictures.html
What is your website address?
Casa Preciosa Ajijic Vacation Rentals – Best Ajijic Lodging – Lake Chapala
