Matt Landau, founder of VRMB and host of the online series The Vacation Rental Show, is expanding his toolkit of resources for short-term rental companies with a new podcast featuring Dana Lubner, director of sales at Effortless Rental Group, based in Denver, Colorado.
Sponsored by TRACK software, the podcast, titled How To Save Your Vacation Rental Business, is a 10-part educational series hosted by Dana Lubner that will teach short-term rental managers how to solve the greatest looming threat—unfair regulation—from the ground up.
The rise in popularity of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb has prompted neighbors and lawmakers around the world to ask, “Where do alternative accommodations fit in our community?” And without active participation from professional stakeholders, the sector’s bad apples are threatening to ruin the bunch.
Dana Lubner knows this all too well. Her company Effortless Rental Group, which according to the company website, “specializes in maximizing exposure on platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo, and the Expedia Partner Central Network,” was in danger of being shut down due to several problem operators ruining the image of Denver’s hosting community. The hosts in question were sent affidavits, and some were even charged with felonies when legitimacy of primary residency was in question. The news headlines were weaving a story that made the community at large view hosting as a crime, when in fact it’s not.
As a result, Lubner organized the Good Neighbor Summit: a first-of-its-kind event designed to unite local professional hosts under one roof and establish standards. The Good Neighbor Summit sparked a series of collaborative successes, which have created what Lubner calls a “narration shift” showcasing the good side of the local hosting community. But the learning process wasn’t easy.
“The one thing I always wished we had in Denver was a how-to guide on better advocacy practices,” says Lubner. “Most people have no experience in this kind of leadership, so learning what works and what doesn’t really speeds up the process. It can literally save a vacation rental business.”
To fill this need, Lubner teamed up with Matt Landau to produce “How To Save Your Vacation Rental Business,” a ten-episode masterclass into the world of vacation rental advocacy. The series will feature a variety of the nation’s most vocal participants: from Public Affairs and policy experts to leading vacation rental managers, and even to neighborhood advocates rarely included in pro-short term rental conversations.
“We’ve been thinking about ways to get more involved in this advocacy challenge,” says Landau. “Dana has proven herself to be such a courageous leader locally in Denver, we were honored for the chance to expedite her research and amplify her findings with the greater community.”
The chance to help shape the evolution of the vacation rental industry and be a part of shaping the narrative moving forward is what led this season’s sponsor, TRACK Hospitality Software powered by TravelNet Solutions, to join in the initiative. “As a supporter of our vacation rental community, we think responsible participation by vendors is more important than it’s ever been.” Said Ryan Bailey, CEO of TravelNet Solutions. “The topic of advocacy, an experienced voice in Dana, and an industry advocate in Matt is the perfect combo to drive this discussion forward.”
Matt Landau ROCKS!!!