Querétaro, Mexico!

©RENTINI “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” —Samuel Johnson

Puebla, Mexico!

©RENTINI “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”  — Lin Yutang

Córdoba Province, Argentina!

©RENTINI “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.” – Mark Twain

San Francisco!

Puerto Vallarta, México!

©RENTINI “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

NYC!

©RENTINI “If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest–in all its ardour and paradoxes– than our travels.” from The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

Mother Knows Best

In our weekly Saturday chat, my mom brought up “the website”. Mothers and fathers everywhere have their opinions. They are entitled to them. We, sons and daughters of the world, cannot help but listen when the subject involves our own lives. No matter what our relationship, their views tend to echo long after they’ve been expressed. If important, our ears jump, our eyes light up, and our lips fall silent. They have the floor.

“Congratulations” mom says. “Oh, why?” I ask. “For the website!” I was unaware my mom had seen the site yet. I knew she had confirmed her attendance to the Facebook “feedback” event. We had invited a few friends and family to look at the beta version of Rentini and had requested they use the “feedback” button on the right-hand side of the webpages to express their views.

Perhaps the first lesson in asking the opinions of your loved ones is that your friends and family are usually going to wait until they speak with you one-on-one to share their thoughts, rather than respond publicly using a feedback button. Plus, it gives them time to poke around and take everything in. 

“It’s a good looking website,” mom tells me. “It’s easy to use. The pictures are pretty. But, Paul,” her voice strikes a more serious tone, “I searched for San Francisco and I got results that included Lake Tahoe”. “Oh, really,” I responded. “Well, it looks like you saw all the places we have on offer so far.” I was talking about the listings of Vadim, the co-founder, and some of his friends from the industry. “Our network is growing, ma.” I tell her that the functionality and features are what matter. “We’re really focused on giving homeowners what they need. Without them, our network doesn’t grow.”

What mattered most to mom was that the site be simple to use. “Simplicity, ease of use, user-friendly,” she repeated. “Focus on that, Paul.” And so it is. Mom always knows best.

Mother Dearest

©RENTINI