I have wanted to reward some of the users of TheVacationCalendar.com who have very generously referred their friends and family to the site. Going forward, I believe I have come up with a simple solution for anyone who refers a new member: Money.

Any time you recommend someone to use the site, give them your PayPal username. After the new member completes their free trial and becomes an official member, I will send $5.00 to you via PayPal.

How does this work? During the house creation process, there is a new field to capture the referral PayPal account. This account will receive $5 via PayPal after the new account remains open beyond the initial free trial period. Please note that the referral PayPal account cannot be the same as the account used to activate this house. Additionally, please note that standard PayPal service charges will be applied to the $5.

I hope that some of you will see the opportunity here. A short email to friends or a conversation piece at your next vacation spot happy hour could help you earn some extra spending money. There is no limit on the number of people you refer, however, if you happen to exceed the minimum reportable IRS amount, I will ask that you fill out a the appropriate form so that I can keep the IRS up to date.

We are pleased to announce that a new version of TheVacationCalendar.com has been released.... and it is packed with new features that we think you will LOVE!!

The first major enhancement is we have made the online calendar interactive so you can manage your vacations directly from the online calendar. Just click on the calendar day and an edit box appears which will allow you to add, edit and delete vacations.



We have also added color options to both the background and text so you can now color code your calendar. This should definitely liven things up a bit.



Next, we decided that since people are getting more use out of their vacation homes thanks to the online calendar system in The Vacation Calendar, we needed to provide a way to memorialize the great times you are having. So we added a new photo album. It is pretty simple for the first iteration, just add photos and comments. As always, the Administrator has the ability to remove any photos or comments that are inappropriate.



Since we were on a roll, we decided to pick up two more enhancements that were requested by the user community. Through the Administrator's manage account screen, anyone who wants to be notified when a vacation is added, updated or deleted can now get an email with the changes. Additionally, some users want to use the blog as a way to notify the group they share their vacation home with. Now, the initial add of a new blog can be automatically emailed to any one or list of email addresses. All of this functionality is easily maintained the Administrator's manage account screen under the Manage Website heading.



Lastly, to be able to provide better service, some hidden features were added to the website. We added auditing so we can track all of the changes that occur on the website so we can answer any questions that come up. Additionally, we added more logging so that The Vacation Calendar team can see what functionality everyone is using and what functionality is not getting used. This will help us focus our efforts on what is the most important to the user community.

Well, that is it (whew!) for now. Now get back to planning your next vacation!!

The Vacation Calendar Team