Scott Breon, chief analytics officer and head of revenue at Vacasa, is leaving his position at the company, according to insider sources.
Scott began with the company in 2013 as product analytics manager and, in 2014, took on the role of chief strategy officer. He was instrumental in creating and implementing Vacasa’s distribution strategy and its proprietary revenue management technology. He also worked closely with Google to become the only property management company with a direct connection to Google’s new vacation rental platform. Breon will remain as an advisor to Vacasa.
Industry observers speculated that Eric’s departure, along with the announcement of former OpenTable CEO Matt Roberts being named interim CEO, was designed to attract top-tier talent in the company’s search for a top executive to lead the company in its IPO.
However, the additional departure of Scott Breon is leading to more questions about the company’s internal dynamics and trajectory.
I began my career in the vacation rental industry 20 years ago. As a kid out of college, I accepted a job with ResortQuest, preparing federal tax returns. I was immediately fascinated by the vacation rental sector. I would explain my new position to anyone who would listen, yet everyone I spoke to asked me if I was in the timeshare business. In June 2000, vacation rentals were unheard of as a lodging option for mainstream travelers. Fast-forward to today: vacation rentals are listed in the toolbar on Expedia. The entire traveling public is now aware of our former cottage industry.
I would estimate that it has taken us 50-plus years to get to this point. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience available to us as vacation rental managers (VRMs), yet we rarely use it.
VRMs continue to search far and wide for the newest, brightest, most progressive widget in an effort to streamline, standardize, and supersize their businesses. The constant quest is actually hurting the business, and it’s time to slow down. It’s time to focus and consider our return on effort, seeking ways to become more effective and produce a meaningful profit.
As we embark on a new year, it’s time to align our business with our experience and become more professional.
Review Service-Oriented Processes
One of the quickest ways to increase the “experience” level in your business is to review your processes and develop a service-oriented approach to each issue. As problems arise, they require time and energy to resolve, yet we fail to recognize that the international vacation rental industry is actually thousands of years old. Jesus was born in a stable because there was no vacancy at the inn—or was it a vacation rental?
It’s important to note that there are no new issues in the vacation rental industry.
Someone, somewhere, has dealt with the same challenge before. We continue to have recurring difficulties in the business, yet we fail to make adjustments or implement corrective action. Developing company-standard resolutions to common issues and to frequently asked questions (FAQs) will help to ensure that your team is more consistent and effective, as in a more-experienced business. Leverage your own proficiency to start, learn from problems that arise, and err on the side of service. Details matter.
Choose Experienced and Professional SS&Ps
VRMs also have access to a tremendous amount of knowledge in our vendor partners. With that said, finding the right vendor partner is not always easy. VRMs must run a gauntlet of needs/wants in the business today. Software, services, and products (SS&P) are hurled at us almost daily, and VRMs must get better at navigating this onslaught of solicitations.
Generally speaking, business revenues are not increasing at the same rate as new SS&P are being purchased and implemented within the business. Experience is paramount when it comes to vendor partners and SS&P. There is an old adage, “Hire old doctors and lawyers.” The same could be said for the vacation rental industry.
Experience matters when deciding which SS&P to purchase, yet we fail to properly weigh experience when making a decision. Time spent in the marketplace, tenure of the vendor contact, the pricing model, service, and support should all be areas of focus.
Many fee structures, such as flat fees per property or a percentage of revenue, penalize the business. If the service being sold is so great and your business is going to make so much money as a result of a purchase, why not have an agreed-upon sale threshold?
Return on investment is often overlooked, and too many businesses are not getting the product and service they bargained for during the negotiation process. Often, VRMs wind up subsidizing an underperforming vendor partner.
It’s time to hold your vendor partners accountable for the service provided and stop rewarding poor performance.
What Does It Mean to be Professional?
As you begin to alleviate recurring issues and surround your team with more-experienced partners, the business inherently becomes more competent. Unfortunately, many vacation rental management companies are not grounded in sustainability, profitability, and professionalism. The best businesses in the industry are the most professional ones.
What does it mean to be a professional? Below are three key elements:
1. Treat owners and guests the way you would want your family to be treated.
Issues are going to arise; it is how those issues are handled that is important. Not every owner and guest is out to take advantage of the business. If the home was not cleaned properly or there is an issue during the stay, resolve these problems the way you would want to be treated. It’s okay to draw the line, but most VRMs don’t get to that point. Too many VRMs are combative when issues are presented.
One easy way to ensure problems are resolved in a reasonable manner is to follow the LEARN method:
• L = Listen to the owner or guest
• E = Empathize with the owner or guest
• A = Apologize
• R = React by offering a solution
• N = Notify the rest of the team about the problem so they can follow up with the customer and escalate for resolution if necessary.
How much would you reimburse/pay to avoid a negative review? Over the course of a year, I guarantee your aggregated reimbursement expense is less than what a negative review might cost your business.
2. Be a good operator/competitor.
There is entirely too much infighting in today’s environment, and too many VRMs are trying to game the system. The best businesses in the industry are not overly aggressive. Providing great service, clear communication, and quality properties is key to great business.
Service and professionalism sell.
If you have to tell an owner or guest how great your business is, it may be time to review your company. Consider the local market and competition as you conduct business. Your competence will be apparent to owners and guests, as you create a rental program that they actually want to use.
3. Being professional requires a VRM to be profitable.
Too many VRMs are not generating a meaningful profit. Certain VRMs are afraid of profits or are reluctant to charge for services provided.
Your business cannot be successful or be positioned as a professional vacation rental management company if you can’t afford to operate. Sell your service and don’t be afraid to stand behind it. Discounted fees, free services, and gimmicks will lead to a less-profitable and diminished business over time.
As you consider the business you want to build and operate, be attentive to experience and professionalism. A thoughtful, measured focus on these two areas will create a sustainable and hugely profitable business. The current bull market, robust economy, and amount of free cash flow will not last forever.
Providing exceptional service, clear communication, and well-maintained/clean properties will ensure your business has the attributes needed to navigate an ever-changing industry.
Regardless of the many changes in the sector, these things remain the same.
If you or your business are struggling to adapt to industry change, concentrate on being as professional as possible. And to make the most out of 2020 and beyond, focus on the details of your processes, leverage your experience, and enhance professionalism through service.
Over the past 35 years, each company has played a significant role in growing the demand for condo vacations among visitors to the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand area. Between Condo-World and CondoLux, the two companies represent primarily luxury oceanfront condo rentals, including the management of on-site desks at several properties. Both companies have been major contributors to the golf package business as well, booking nearly 30,000 tee times per year.
“Condo-World and CondoLux have grown up side by side in North Myrtle Beach both virtually and geographically,” said Alex Husner, Condo-World’s chief marketing officer. “As across-the-street neighbors, Condo-World and CondoLux had a lot in common. For example, CondoLux also uses RPM, our proprietary software, which made this opportunity even more appealing; and Condo-World.com and CondoLux.net have been the two powerhouse websites in organic searches for anything related to condo rentals in the Myrtle Beach area for many years.”
Now under one umbrella, Condo-World will extend its marketing, revenue management, and property-care services to CondoLux homeowners. Condo-World will be the parent brand for all marketing efforts and in-market signage, but the CondoLux brand— with its large online presence—will be maintained digitally through its websites and social media profiles to provide additional exposure to all properties.
Condo-World’s Hybrid OTA Model
In addition to its expansion and aggressive in-destination marketing, Condo-World has executed a unique hybrid strategy, which includes (a) increased investment in the development of its proprietary technology to meet the specific needs of condo managers, and (b) the expansion of its national online travel agency (OTA)/ booking site for condo rentals in key resort areas across the US.
Designed to be a pure OTA, Condo-World.com provides its guests a wider range of accommodations through strategic partnerships with preferred resorts and rental companies outside its home base.
The hybrid model has been successful at deepening relationships with Condo-World’s loyal guests and with its resort partners. With a primary focus on condo travel, Condo-World has been able to target a segment of travelers in a more focused way than other online alternatives, and we expect to see innovative development of its loyalty program in 2020.
Multi-tiered Strategy
“After a summer-long exploration of what would be the next big move for Condo-World, we were at a decision intersection,” said Husner. “Our long-term goal is to grow market share locally through our managed portfolio and regionally through our exclusive resort partnerships. There are a variety of outputs that are complementary to both objectives, including the development of our custom loyalty program, building out additional API connections, and licensing our proprietary software.”
Husner continued, “When the opportunity presented itself for us to acquire CondoLux, we knew that was the direction we needed to go first. The acquisition was a natural extension of our growth because it increased our managed inventory in North Myrtle Beach from 350 to over 500 oceanfront condos and provided numerous advantages with economies of scale. Even better—the acquisition increased our ability to execute on our three core growth strategies, and now we are able to tackle all these projects as we move into 2020.”
Benefits for Resort Partners
As part of its OTA strategy, Condo-World has developed World Class Destinations by Condo-World, a collection of exclusive partnerships with resorts and rental companies with properties outside of its North Myrtle Beach home base.
“Gone are the days when guests only want to vacation in one spot—more than ever, guests want to try new destinations and take trips more frequently,” said Husner. “Through this program, our guests can ensure that the quality they have come to know staying with us in North Myrtle Beach will be upheld when they visit our partners. With the CondoLux acquisition, our audience has effectively doubled, which will allow us to reach additional guests in a noncompetitive approach that complements our partners’ marketing efforts.”
This spring, VRM Intel will join Husner to learn more about the growing segment of condo travelers and about Condo-World’s resort partnership programs at the upcoming Onsite Property Management Association Summit, at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, Florida, from May 6–8, 2020.
In a refreshingly clear-eyed and candid earnings call on Thursday, Expedia Group Chairman and senior executive Barry Diller and vice-chairman Peter Kern (who are running Expedia following the exits of Mark Okerstrom and Alan Pickerill) discussed Expedia’s adjusted trajectory, Google’s effect on the business, Vrbo, and its new focus on developing direct relationships with consumers.
The Google Effect
Expedia is not happy about changes at Google.
According to Barry Diller, Google should have oversight, but Expedia isn’t waiting for the government to step in: “When businesses get to this size they absolutely have to have regulation—sensible regulation . . . I do believe that will happen, but we are making our own efforts. We are driving direct relationships with consumers.”
Diller said Expedia’s app download growth is up 40 percent this year and added, “We are going to do everything we can to diversify our traffic to more direct arenas.”
According to Peter Kern, “[SEO] is still a significant part of the business and a good part of the business. We’ve been belaboring this, but clearly as we move to direct relationships and direct traffic, with our customers. That is the single best way we can offset any declines that come from SEO.”
Reflecting on the previous quarter’s results, Kern said, “In terms of what happened in the third quarter, I think it was a compounding of a number of tactical things that Google did, and we did not respond well to. Again, Barry mentioned in the very beginning, we were caught up in a rather large undertaking in terms of reorganization, and that took people’s eyes off the ball, in our view. We could have done better; we should have done better; we will do better. There were also some changes in some auction dynamics in meta that we did not respond particularly well to. So there are a number of things that were going on that we were not really on top of. SEO was one of them. We expect SEO to be a continued headwinds.”
“Google—until someone stops them—is not going to stop doing what they’ve been doing,” Kern added. “We’ve seen signs as recently as last week of some changes that may have impact and hopefully they will think better of it and create a fairer marketplace. But we can only control what we can. We are working really hard to offset those headwinds in pure SEO activity, as well as do everything we can around the rest of the business to make up for whatever we give up in SEO.”
“SEO is not going to kill us,” Diller said. “And SEO is not the future of our business. These trends began seven or eight years ago. We should have been more alert obviously to the continuing consequences of this. I don’t think we are going to be saved by some bell—by a government bell. I absolutely believe there will regulation, but we are doing all the things that we intend to do to de-emphasize it. It is a part—not a huge part—but a part of our business, but it ain’t the future.”
Will Google also create competition on the supply side?
However, many are unsympathetic to Expedia’s challenges with Google, as Google is now doing to OTAs what OTAs did to its lodging suppliers: bait with traffic, create dependency, and then switch business models.
A expected problem for OTAs is that its vacation rental providers are now accustomed to paying for booking performance (thanks to these same OTAs), and are agnostic on whether they pay Google, Expedia, Booking, or Airbnb.
As more vacation rental channel managers are able to connect directly with Google’s new vacation rental OneBox search functionality. vacation rental managers and homeowners are not going to need to use an OTA to connect with consumers. Since Google is at the top of the funnel for vacation rentals, managers are likely to shift budgets from OTAs to Google. As a result, brands like Vrbo may have a supply problem resulting from Google’s new format in addition to the decline in consumer traffic.
Views on Vrbo’s Rebrand and Performance
Expedia executives were asked, “Is Vrbo where you need it to be, in terms of operations, marketing, etc., in order to attack the alternative accommodations market?”
According to Diller, “No. Vrbo is not where it needs to be, but it is a lot different than it was a few months ago. It has a new leader whom we have confidence in, and he is also on the ground. And—look—what happened to Vrbo is it was—as I think all of you know—a collection of a bunch of disparate businesses/brands all over the world, basically, that were bought together and put under the name of—a dumb name—called HomeAway, which meant nothing to no one. We did have one business which did mean something to people called VRBO which we tried and I think are at the very beginning of branding Vrbo. And, I don’t know if we went too fast or too slow on this, but we did this absolute change—day one to day two—from everything to then one thing Vrbo. That caused it to lose a ton of SEO traffic. Given the trends in SEO anyway, it was not well executed.”
Diller continued with what we believe to be a little dig at Airbnb: “Vrbo is in a great—somewhat standalone—category. It’s not rooms in the attic that people rent you and stand next to you while you go to the bathroom. It is basically accommodations for families, whole homes, and large apartments in resort areas and other places. It’s got great product. We just need to market it better than we have, but certainly it’s got large opportunity for us.”
He added, “As far as the category, I’m very impressed with what Airbnb has done over time. I wouldn’t call it a revolution, but not only has it opened up inventory that didn’t exist, but it has also brought people into traveling that couldn’t afford it before, or didn’t want to mess with big stiff hotels, and also people who wanted a different experience, older people who were lonely and didn’t want to go to some cold place. It’s done a great job. But you put its inventory against hotel inventory, they have kind of a different audience. I’m not a big believer that they’re going to merge. I think there is a healthy standard hotel business and there’s going to be this business. We are participants in it.”
Diller also announced that almost all of Vrbo’s inventory is now on Expedia.com.
What we can expect from Expedia
Unlike previous earnings calls, Diller and Kern were open about the direction they taking Expedia. On the consumer side, the company is looking to “ease their path to travel” and “add value” for its consumers. Internally, the company is looking to streamline and simplify the business and decrease costs that resulted from unnecessary complexity.
“We were a bloated organization . . . over the years, chasing the tail of growth, adding people and people and complexity and all this stuff until very few people could figure out what they were supposed to do during the day,” said Diller. “Simplifying that has a great by product of cutting our costs.”
Kern added, “The industry suffered –or benefited — from a high degree of commercialization around everything they did. It was an aggressive ‘how can we turn a customer into a consumer into buying a hotel room?’ That goes for all OTAs. And I think, ironically, to tie a few of these questions together, that Google’s pressure and the pressure on performance marketing puts the pressure back on all of us to make it about the consumer experience.”
Throughout the call, Diller and Kern mentioned several initiatives they’ve added to the playbook for 2020:
Progressive web app (PWA) growth
Focus on user experience
Packaging: Adding value to consumer by packaging to provide lower price and better experience
Content: Customizing content that is served and matched to the customer
Call center improvement
Brand differentiation
Driving “biggest pools” of direct demand
Customer retention and loyalty
Streamlining and simplifying businesses and identifying areas for cost-savings
With the convergence of lodging types in the minds of consumers, traditional property managers are transitioning into hospitality providers.
The role of vacation rental property managers has changed over the past decade. Responsibilities have more than doubled, particularly with respect to operations and guest services. There is a tighter booking window, and the average length of stay is shorter. Hotel and vacation rental inventories have converged on travel websites. Big travel brands are crossing segments as well: Airbnb purchased HotelTonight, Marriott launched its Homes and Villas product, and OYO pushed into vacation rentals. Customers are shopping fluidly between segments and expect the same quality experience whether they stay in a vacation home or a hotel. At this point, “property manager” is becoming a misnomer in the industry, one that fails to convey the full scope of service and value these professionals bring.
It’s official: property managers have become hospitality providers.
Why the Title “Property Manager” Isn’t Enough
Historically, vacation rental managers were hired by second homeowners to (a) market their homes, and (b) oversee maintenance and property care. Managers generated bookings and rental income, offset by maintenance expenses, and handled the accounting.
Short-term vacation rental property management, much like long-term residential property management, was transactional.
Today, managers are required to take a more proactive and purposeful approach to their work. There is a newfound focus on guest service that demands the full attention and resources of property managers. The job is now more guest-centric, and managers are responsible for facilitating a branded guest experience from the booking process through checkout.
Hospitality providers have always made the guest experience the core of their business. While these operators are similarly responsible for upkeep and maintenance, their focal point has always been servicing guests.
Guests staying in a hotel are constantly surrounded by service personnel who see to it that every request and question is promptly resolved. Hospitality providers are in the business of building relationships with guests by creating valuable touch points throughout the stay, such as daily cleaning, turndown service, or a personalized concierge. Staff are trained with clear standards of operations that fold into the hotel’s brand guidelines.
Vacation rental property managers are now tasked with all the above but in a more challenging environment with unpredictable variables and competing responsibilities. Unlike hotel proprietors, vacation rental operators are faced with managing properties in differing locations, maintaining large spaces with multiple rooms and exterior amenities, working with several owners who have distinct preferences and expectations, and coordinating various external service partners. A standard hotel room with two beds, a dresser, a TV, and a bathroom is a more predictable setting. In comparison, a vacation home requires significantly more attention to detail and permits a smaller margin for error.
And yet, professional managers of vacation rentals get this done. They turn over a seemingly impossible number of unique homes according to their specific brand standards, and at the same time offer concierge services with maintenance plans tailored to each owner. These offerings are much more than reactive property management and go a long way in shaping the guest experience.
The Role Is Evolving Along with the Industry
The modern traveler is looking for a comprehensive, Instagram-worthy experience: meaning all the amenities of a hotel plus the uniqueness and privacy of a vacation rental.
Travelers today are demanding more service than ever. These expectations don’t seem to be plateauing any time soon. Moreover, the profile of today’s traveler is younger; 82 percent of millennials traveled last year and cited experiencing new cultures as their primary reason.
These guests are accustomed to a higher level of service across every interaction. It’s much more than providing a clean accommodation—the expectation is a curated stay. The need to meet these expectations and facilitate this type of experience has forced managers to rework their offerings and branded experiences to differentiate themselves from the crowd.
Managers have responded by expanding concierge service, around the clock availability, and access to extensive local recommendations. Options such as grocery delivery, chefs for hire, drivers, affiliations with excursion providers, itinerary creation, and other personalized offerings have become common and are often influential considerations during the booking process. The sky is the limit when it comes to amenities, and managers are aware of the implications of failing to increase their service offerings.
Strategies to Embrace This New Terminology
The trend toward more service has been a catalyst for continued growth in the short-term rental category and has led to increased demand among those traditionally partial to hotels.
Vacation rental managers have met this demand, and while they might not have changed their titles (yet), many managers have already made the transition to being hospitality providers. This is evident in the ways these professional managers talk about their businesses, market their rentals, communicate with guests, and implement brand standards.
For those managers who have yet to transition and double down on “hospitality service,” expanding concierge offerings is less intimidating than it seems. Start by identifying additional amenities that you would like to offer, then work backwards to determine what services you can provide immediately. Discuss the timeline for rolling out these new initiatives with your teams and stakeholders, and track your progress accordingly. Holiday Vacation Rentals, for example, now offers a list of supplies that travelers can request to be stocked at the property ahead of their arrival. Guests can also order flowers, balloons, or gift baskets to celebrate a special occasion during the trip. This is becoming the standard and was much different in the days when guests didn’t know if they needed to bring their own sheets and towels.
To scale and sustain these guest amenity programs across your portfolio, managers need to equip themselves with the right tools to access data. When repeat guests book a trip, reviewing information from previous stays is important. Check for historical requests to see if any issues popped up during their stay. Try implementing a survey for new guests to better anticipate their needs, or even soliciting special requests in advance. Taking these proactive steps will help facilitate success for your team and ensure that guests are more satisfied.
Hospitality-Level Service Is the Next Big Opportunity
The vacation rental industry is continuing to evolve and mature, and with that comes a change in the set of responsibilities and expectations. The moniker property manager doesn’t nearly encapsulate the work that goes into the job, nor does it capture the emphasis placed on personalized guest service and property care.
Professionals who have traditionally worked with vacation rentals are at the forefront of the movement toward hospitality living, servicing both guests and owners. Those who offer creative amenities and services to curate guest experiences will embrace their new hospitality provider title and capitalize on this huge opportunity.
Vacation rental professionals are heading to Tennessee in a few weeks for VRM Intel Live! Gatlinburg. The conference will be held on Wednesday, February 26, from 8 – 5, at the Gatlinburg Convention Center. With 26 sessions covering marketing, strategy, operations, property care, technology, and revenue management, we are bringing national-conference-level education, discussion, and speakers directly to the TN mountain markets.
It is becoming increasingly costly to send staff to national conferences for education and training. At VRM Intel, our Live! events are designed to bring this education directly to regional markets so in-market team members have a chance to learn about industry changes, see performance data, and get access to the latest education and information. This is our largest and most comprehensive lineup of sessions we have ever offered at a Live event.
The early registration fee is $129 per attendee through Feb 15, and $199 after the 15th. Tickets include access to all 26 sessions, breakfast, lunch, all-day sodas/coffee, snack breaks, and the cocktail party at Ole Red (from 5 to 7),
Key Data and VRM intel take a deep dive into actual year-over-year (YOY) performance. Which areas saw YOY growth? Are we seeing migration of guests across destinations? Did we see notable swings in ADR, Occupancy, and RevPAR? Get the answers to these questions and more as we examine 2019 activity and look at year-to-date booking activity for 2020. We will also look at the TN-SC-NC-GA regions to identify trends.
A New Decade in Vacation Rental Management
Vacation rental management companies are witnessing a shifting landscape with an influx of new faces, business models, and customer behavior. Industry leaders will be on stage to discuss regional changes, the competitive environment, new franchise models, preserving our destinations, and the future of vacation rental management in this new decade. With Jim Olin, John Madewell, Steve Milo, and Shawn Spiezio
Changes at Google are disrupting traditional SEO and SEM strategies. How are these changes affecting marketing efforts, and how can VRMs navigate the new search format? Amber will demonstrate what has changed at Google, how channel managers and OTAs are working with Google’s new booking platform, and what strategies VRMs can implement to get in front of the coming disruption. With Amber Carpenter
Could You Be Losing Guests in the Booking Process?
Once a guest finally chooses one of your rentals, are you losing them in the booking process? Identify and create a user-friendly online booking process while keeping guests excited about booking their vacation as they finalize the reservations. Analyze abandoned shopping cart activity, examine rental policy formats, and ensure an easy contract signing process. With April Burns, ICND
How to Leverage Marketing Tools for Business Decisions & Real Results
While SEO and marketing tools provide incredible data, these tools oftentimes overwhelm non-marketing professionals. However, with a small amount of training, these tools can provide actionable data that provides a solid foundation for real-life business decisions. With David Angotti
Mitigate Bad Reviews and Get More 5-Stars
Most people do not leave reviews and those who do either had an amazing stay or well, you know, a really bad one. In this session, I will show you how to get more reviews so you have more data to make better decisions with as well as show you how to mitigate bad reviews so they do not get found online. You’ll also find out how to get more 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor, Google and other review sites. This is critical for social proof, conversion and even SEO. With Justin Jones, IMEG
Building the Relationship with Guests Before, During and After the Vacation
With more guests going straight to the property, it is increasingly difficult to build a trusting relationship with them that keeps them coming back year after year. Using email and SMS/text messaging, we’ll discuss how to connect and interact with guest with information that communicates trust and ensures that guest expectations are set and met. Alisa Justice, Bluetent
Strategically Working with OTAs in 2020
People talk about strategic use of OTAs, but what does it actually mean? This session covers when to use OTAs, maximizing real estate on listing pages, and pricing strategies. Plus, does the billboard effect still exist and, if so, how does a VRM plant brand info into listings? With Michelle Marquis, Lexicon
Workplace issues that kept leaders up at night in 2019 continue to cause more anguish in 2020. To assist you with a strong start as the calendar turns, we’re looking back at the key workplace topics that trended throughout 2019 that we expect will continue to hold your attention in the months ahead. Employment updates on salaried employees, overtime, marijuana, sick leave, ban the box and other key changes will be addressed during this session. With Sue Jones, HR4VR
The People Problem
Of the many challenges for vacation rental managers, the most pervasive and the most constant always seem to be people. Putting the right people in the right seats is critical to the success of any business. With unemployment at an all-time low, it’s harder than ever to hire and retain great talent. This session will focus on identifying, hiring and inspiring great teams to drive results within your organization. With Steve Trover, Laveer and Co
Proactive Homeowner Acquisition
Competition for new homeowners has sharply increased with the influx of new and aggressive multi-destination companies. Pfautz discusses how homeowners are making decisions about choosing a VRM in 2020 and how to tell your story and set your company apart from the competition. With a focus on data and performance, VRMs can examine unique strategies and practices for targeting homeowners with the right message at the right time. With Brooke Pfautz
Lessons Learned—Technology, Hiring, Owners, Guests, Laundry, Linens and More
Experience is the best teacher, and some lessons are learned the hard way. Milo will candidly discuss some of these lessons he has learned over the last 15 years in vacation rental management, including implementing technology, hiring, working with homeowners, dealing with guests who want to blackmail you, battling regulations, facing new competition, and more. With Steve Milo, VTrips
Experience and Professionalism: Why it Matters in the Vacation Rental Industry
With new entrants in the vacation rental industry, the level of professionalism has seen a decline across the US. How is this lack of experience and diminished focus on best practices affecting the industry? Edwards will discuss the important of professionalism and how VRMs can raise the bar to create a higher expectation for homeowners, in our destinations, and in the industry. With Ben Edwards, Weatherby Consulting
The Data Behind the Guest Experience Movement: A Glimpse into Why AirBnB, Booking.com, and Expedia are Investing Millions of Dollars into Experiences
Join Matthew Loney, President and CEO of Xplorie, as he reveals the data and rationale behind the OTA’s growing investment in experiences for guests. We’ll take a deep dive into what it means for the vacation rental industry and how you can leverage your local tours and attractions to secure a competitive edge.
The Growth of Smart Home and its Implications for Property Managers
Smart home technology is quickly changing our industry. Join us as we discuss the challenges and opportunities this presents to property managers and how you can leverage this technology to improve operations, safety, and guest/homeowner experience. With Stevan Henning
Revenue Management Infrastructure
Now that the vacation rental industry is getting destination-level performance data, we have the ability to create data-driven revenue management processes and practices. With a background in hotel revenue management, Saylor will show VRMs how hoteliers determine and implement pricing strategies by combining technology (including PMS software, pricing tools, and data sources), and how these processes compare and contrast with the vacation rental industry. With Ryan Saylor, Beyond Pricing
Advanced Revenue Management
Putting the “how-to” after the “why” with Anurag Verma, Pricelabs
2020 Technology Landscape
Vacation rental technology has seen a shakeup over the last two years with consolidation and emerging third-party solutions. How are software executives looking at building PM software and how are property managers navigating combining the use of third-party tech products with their PMS? Panel: Scott Butler (Inhabit IQ), Brett Parry (Streamline), Ryan Bailey (TRACK), Ed Ulmer (Barefoot Technologies), and Joy Ritter (LiveRez), moderated by Amy Hinote
Data-Driven Business Strategy
VRMs now have access to a ton of data, including destination data, performance data, website analytics, call center data, property data, and more. But how do managers combine all of this data to make business decisions about growth, staffing, pricing, and marketing? Each piece of data tells a small part of the business story, and when taken out of context, it can be misleading. But when the pieces are combined, VRMs can use these data sources to boost performance and maximize growth opportunities. With Brise Carpenter, NAVIS
Data Workshop
Become a performance and destination data expert and identify KPIs that are important to your business. Learn to use the Key Data Dashboard to create reports that help drive business decisions, pricing and marketing strategy. Create your own dashboard views, and learn to quickly pull individual homeowner performance. Now that we have the data, let’s learn how to use it. With Key Data Team
It is important to address safety in your vacation rentals to prevent harm to guests, avoid lawsuits and improve marketability. How do you go about doing that? In this session, we’ll discuss establishing the role of a safety manager(s) and establishing protocols, procedures and demonstrated best practices that will help ensure your VRMC is doing all it can do to address the safety of your guests. With Justin Ford, Breezeway
Independent Contractor or Employees – Rethinking Staffing Models
Effective January 1, 2020 Tennessee uses the IRS 20 factor test (versus the three-factor “ABC” test) to decide whether someone classifies as an independent contractor or employee. This presents an opportunity to re-evaluate your staffing model for housekeepers. During this session we will discuss pro’s and con’s of hiring IC’s or employees and the impact it has on your P&L, guest satisfaction, cleanliness scores and repeat business. It’s not just a dollars and cents decision. With Sue Jones, HR4VR
Bed Bugs
Description Coming Soon with Leslie Adcock, Cabins For YOU
Professionalizing the Housekeeping Department
Description Coming Soon. With James Skinner, Brindley Beach Vacations
Breezeway Master Class
Join industry veteran, Koryn Okey, as she leads a Breezeway Master Class where she’ll provide a deep dive into key functionality to improve your scheduling process, increase visibility into the progress of your field staff, automate guest communication, and identify efficiency gains for your daily operations. As an added bonus, you will get a first look at upcoming features available this spring.
Operations Roundtable
Operations is a core tenant for any property manager. During this roundtable session, we’ll address key issues that impact your housekeeping, inspection and maintenance teams. Choose between 5 topics or switch among those that are most relevant to your business.
What is it that keeps you from delegating? More often than not I hear, “It is just easier to do it myself versus training someone to do the task right now,” or “There isn’t someone to delegate to who has the skills to complete the tasks as well as I can.”
In today’s workplace, employees want to be challenged, engaged, and provided with increased responsibilities and opportunities. Developing your team through delegation is a great start to keeping them challenged.
Gino Wickman1, author of Traction, states, “Be prepared to delegate and elevate yourself. You have to delegate some of your responsibilities and elevate yourself to operate at your highest and best use.” Learning to delegate effectively is the key to providing yourself with the time to focus on those things you do best, things that very few people can do as well as you to generate the most income for your company.
Delegating improves not only your job performance but that of others, providing a vehicle for mentoring and coaching. Delegating builds camaraderie, allows you and your team to get more work done, relieves job burnout, and alleviates stress. Job burnout is a workplace issue characterized by feelings of exhaustion, increased cynicism, and feeling less capable at work. Part of the responsibility for addressing burnout falls on managers to ensure they have the right people in the right roles, understanding what employees do best, and providing them with responsibilities where they can use their strengths.
When delegating work, skilled managers understand when to manage and when to coach. When you are managing the delegation of tasks, you are typically focused on directing immediate needs and specific outcomes. You take responsibility for the outcome by telling, directing, and making decisions for the employee about how the task is to be completed.
This type of delegation works well in crisis situations when decisions are made swiftly and when employees are new in their positions, have new client and customer relationships, or take on new tasks and responsibilities. You also want to direct employees when they have low-to-moderate competence with skills and lack confidence in their ability to complete the task autonomously. This type of directive delegation will get the job done; however, it will not develop your employees’ skill sets.
Coaching works best when delegating responsibilities. A good example is coaching a sports team. It is very rare that you will see a coach play an athlete who didn’t practice extensively before the game. For athletes to play on game day, they need hours of practice to develop their skills.
In the workplace, you want to delegate and coach your employees when they have some experience in their role, a track record, demonstrated competence with the task, and your confidence in their abilities. Taking time to coach, teach, develop, and guide your employees when they take on new tasks and responsibilities is the key to their ongoing development.
Providing coaching and guidance when delegating tasks to employees often results in outcomes that exceed your expectations. When delegating to an employee who has high competence and high commitment to the task, define excellence and get out of the way. One of the most difficult transitions for leaders to make is to shift from doing to leading.
One of the strategies that Jack Canfield2 speaks about often in his Success Principles is called complete delegation. It simply means that you delegate a task once and completely rather than delegating it each time the task needs to be done. There is an exercise you can find online at www.thesuccessprinciples.com that will assist you with better understanding what activities you should focus on and what activities you should delegate.
Career and business strategist Jenny Blake3 recommends conducting an audit of your tasks using the rules below to find out which tasks you should delegate. Think about tasks you want to delegate and categorize each type of task using the following list:
Tiny: Tasks that are so small they seem inconsequential to tackle but add up. These tasks are never important or urgent, and, although they only take a few minutes, they end up taking you out of the flow of more strategic work (e.g., registering for conferences and booking hotels and flights).
Tedious: Tasks that are relatively simple are not the best use of your time. Very straightforward tasks can (and should) be handled by anyone but you (e.g., manually inputting data into a spreadsheet or updating KPIs in reports or in your presentation deck).
Time Consuming: Tasks that are time consuming do not require you to do the initial research. Others can take it on. This allows you to easily step in when the task is 80 percent complete to provide input, guidance, or direction on next steps.
Teachable: Tasks that can be translated into a system or process can be passed along with you still providing quality checks and final approval (e.g., teaching others how to hold, lead, and facilitate meetings in your place).
Terrible At: Tasks that are not your strength or an area where you feel unequipped. Think about the tasks that take you far too long to complete, which may produce a less-than-desired result than what a skilled person in that area could produce. A good example is creating PowerPoint presentations. If you are not a PowerPoint guru, delegate this task to someone who is more capable.
Time Sensitive: Tasks that are time sensitive but compete with other priorities. When there isn’t enough time to do them all at once, delegate tasks that can be done parallel with your other time-sensitive tasks (e.g., calling an airline to change seat assignments for the following day while you are in meetings).
Once you’ve classified your tasks, you’re ready to hand them off. Think about how important the handoff is in a relay race at a track-and-field meet. If the passing runner messes up the handoff or has poor technique, the next runner could stumble, lose their position in the race, or, even worse, drop the baton. These steps provide a clear pathway to delegation and assist you to define your technique.
Six Steps for Effective Delegation
Prepare beforehand (see above).
Clearly define the task to be completed. Be specific. Ask the person to whom you are delegating the task to repeat the information back to you to ensure he or she fully understands.
Outline the timeframe. Be specific about the timeframe in which the delegated task must be completed.
Delegate authority. Defining the level of authority an individual has is key, yet it is often overlooked. The following levels of authority and delegation grid provide examples of when it might be important to give someone the authority to recommend versus the authority to act or inform and initiate based on the importance of the task and the employee’s knowledge and expertise.
LEVEL 1: The authority to RECOMMEND
LEVEL 2: The authority to INFORM and INITIATE
LEVEL 3: The authority to ACT
Identify checkpoints. Plan time to meet with the individual to review his or her progress and offer guidance. Schedule these meetings frequently at first, and then taper off as you see the task being mastered.
Hold a debriefing session. Don’t forget to take time to debrief. Ask process questions such as:
What went well?
What could have been improved?
What has been learned?
Effective delegation requires effective communication. Research tells us that what you hear (tone of voice) is 38 percent of the message you communicate. What you see (body language) is 55 percent of the message. The actual words (what is said) are only 7 percent of the message received. When delegating, it is important to think about how you communicate the message. Delegation via email is the least effective way to communicate. Try to delegate with face-to-face communication or by video so that messages can be easily interpreted.
Over the course of the next few weeks, identify and categorize your tasks that fall under the six types of tasks defined on page 43, and make a plan to delegate the low-hanging fruit. Practice is required to become a skillful and effective delegator. Stop doing it yourself. Start directing, delegating, and developing. Keep communicating effectively.
Go forth and delegate!
1Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, Gino Wickman, 2011
2020 Technology Landscape – Panel: Brett Parry (Streamline), Matt Renner (TRACK), Ed Ulmer (Barefoot Technologies), and Steve Milo, (VTrips), moderated by Amy Hinote Watch Video
Property Management Software Round Table – moderated by Dawn Yeskulsky Watch Video
Vacasa announced today it has appointed Matt Roberts, former OpenTable CEO and independent Vacasa board director, as interim chief executive officer. This appointment follows founder Eric Breon’s decision to initiate a search for a CEO to lead the company’s next phase of growth. Breon will remain on Vacasa’s board of directors and continue to guide the company’s vision and strategy. Vacasa has engaged Russell Reynolds Associates, a leading executive search firm, to assist the company with finding a long-term CEO.
“Vacasa has grown from a small team around my dining table to North America’s largest full-service vacation rental management platform,” said Breon. “After 10 years of leading Vacasa, the time was right for me to step away from day-to-day operations and focus on the strategic vision for our business. As we look to the tremendous growth opportunity ahead, we’re seeking the best long-term CEO to lead the large and dynamic organization that Vacasa has become.”
Since founding Vacasa in 2009, Breon has grown the organization to more than 25,000 homes under management and 6,000 employees worldwide. On the heels of purchasing Wyndham Vacation Rentals, Vacasa is on track to exceed $1 billion in gross bookings and in excess of $500 million in net revenue in 2020.
“As a founder-CEO, I’ve been deeply involved with all aspects of the business, which can be a challenging scenario for a new CEO to step into,” added Breon. “To facilitate the search for a long-term leader, we’re fortunate to have someone with Matt’s strong operational experience and familiarity with Vacasa assume the role of interim CEO.”
Roberts is recognized for his tenure at restaurant booking service OpenTable where he served as CFO from 2005 to 2011 and CEO from 2011 to 2015. As CFO, Roberts successfully led OpenTable through an IPO in 2009, and as CEO he negotiated the sale of the company to the Priceline Group (now Booking Holdings) for $2.6 billion in cash. Roberts was also CFO of online consumer lending group E-LOAN (NASDAQ: EELN) and a member of the digital money transfer provider XOOM board of directors as they transitioned from the private to the public markets. In addition to Vacasa, he currently serves on the board of Quantcast, a provider of data-driven programmatic and digital advertising, and Snag an online staffing platform.
“Eric’s entrepreneurial skill to build Vacasa into North America’s largest vacation rental management platform is incredibly impressive,” said Roberts. “With the recent acquisition of Wyndham Vacation Rentals and completion of a new round of funding, this is an exciting time in Vacasa’s development and we’re well poised for continued growth into our large market opportunity. I look forward to supporting that growth while we search for the best long-term CEO to lead Vacasa into the future.”
According to Bloomberg, Expedia Group Inc., TripAdvisor Inc. and more than 30 vacation rental providers asked the European Union to investigate how Google shows vacation rentals, claiming it unfairly gets a prominent placing above other search results.
As Google continues to roll out its Google Vacation Rentals OneBox search, organic search results for consumers’ queries are being pushed further down search engine results pages (SERPs), and direct traffic to both OTAs and to vacation rental companies is dropping off significantly in affected markets, causing a notable decline in direct bookings.
In an open letter, these OTAs and vacation rental companies assert that Google is “favoring its own service in general search results pages” by displaying ads “in a visually-rich OneBox” showing pictures, a map preview, ratings and prices. The display “secures Google’s service more user attention and clicks than any competing service may acquire.”
According to the letter, “The competition concerns arise from the fact that Google features its new product in a visually-rich OneBox at the top of its general search results pages – a ranking and display that Google reserves only for its own specialized search service. The prominent feature includes pictures, a map preview, ratings and prices – a user experience like any other vacation rentals search service. As the Commission established in its Google Search (Shopping) decision, such favourable ranking and display secures Google’s service more user attention and clicks than any competing service may acquire, even if these are more relevant for the user’s search query.
“Google Vacation Rentals is a direct competitor to our specialized services. There may be some form of cooperation but ultimately both Google Vacation Rentals and our platforms compete on all fronts for the intermediation between vacation homes and holiday seekers. We all compete for the attention of the same users. We also all compete – sometimes on different levels of this market – for either original content
providers such as property/channel managers or providers of vacation rentals such as home owners or real estate companies. But none of us Google rivals is capable of resorting to a favouring within the results pages of the standard Internet search engine to bundle these two user groups of consumers and properties. We see strong indications of a competitive strategy for Google to reduce us and our industry to mere content providers for the “one-stop-shop” of Google’s new product…”
The letter further outlines Google’s anti-competitive behavior in its Google Vacation Rentals platform, stating, “Google’s conduct will have a massive detrimental effect on the industry. Due to Google’s general search service being the first port of call for most Internet users, almost all specialized search service providers are dependent on being findable in Google Search. By pushing, at no costs, its own service above those of its rivals in general search results pages, Google can convey its service an economic advantage that none of us can compete with or outbalance through other investments or innovations. Google is increasingly providing the relevant vacation rental intermediation service directly within its results pages. This will ultimately render any click through to a competing intermediation service unnecessary. These services will be reduced to mere content providers for Google’s rival service. This disables them from gathering the data required to enhance their search and matching algorithms, to identify user needs and to improve the user experience.”
Google said in a statement that it is testing a new format for specialized searches in Europe “where people might see a carousel of links to direct sites across the top of search results.”
“This is designed to demonstrate the range of results available,” a spokesperson for the company said in an email to Bloomberg. “Search results are designed to provide the most relevant information for your query.”
Amber Carpenter will be at VRM Intel Live! Gatlinburg, February 26, to discuss the changes at Google and the threat these changes pose for vacation rental managers.
Listening to recorded calls for reservation sales and guest services offers invaluable insight into how company’s values are being reflected in direct phone communications. I often hear supervisors say they can hear their team members in the office, and that is all they need to know. While I am always excited to hear that supervisors are paying attention and listening to team members, there is much to be heard when company managers take the time to listen to recorded calls. Coaching employees on how to grow their soft skills and create better relationships is a wonderful way to build trust with your team members and make them feel valued.
Recently, I was working with a multi-destination vacation rental management company with a large reservations team, and an employee confided how much it meant to her that the company’s founder and CEO valued her enough as an employee to invest in her and have someone coach her. Another employee at the same company who had improved significantly after coaching told me that she had been looking for guidance about what worked (and didn’t) in her sales calls and was grateful for the effort they had put into helping her be more successful. The CEO was equally touched and grateful that team members looked at the coaching opportunity in such a positive light.
To build solid relationships with team members, it is critical to hire for values and then coach additional soft skills.
Over the years, I have updated and altered sales, guest relations, and service points based on what I’ve learned from listening and scoring thousands of calls. Following are some critical areas for creating loyal guests who want to book directly and come back year after year.
Greeting the Caller
While it sounds nice to ask for a caller’s name in the initial greeting, often such a greeting seems like a mouthful that makes employees feel more robotic than authentic. Instead, ask for the caller’s name sometime during the first minute of the call. If the caller offers his/her name right away, I suggest repeating it, just like a verbal handshake.
Using names in calls has many benefits. Research shows that, as humans, we judge people within the first seven seconds of meeting them. I’ve found, if you use the caller’s name, they will listen to the next seven seconds of information that you give.
Asking Questions
In my experience, the foundation of any call includes asking two open-ended questions. I am a fan of the following questions:
“What brings you to the area?”
“What are you looking forward to enjoying while you are visiting?”
“What is important in a home for you and your family?”
“What traditions do you enjoy this time of year?”
“What did you enjoy last time you visited?”
Let callers begin with what they are calling about; then you can transition to asking the above questions as you look up the details related to their inquiry.
If you fully understand what is important to your callers, you can eliminate many subsequent follow-up calls, emails, or texts that take place when you make incorrect assumptions. Often, just two questions will allow you to really understand someone. It is best to avoid a series of close-ended questions, which can make people feel disconnected, such as how many people are in the party, how many beds do you need, are you bringing any furry friends, or do you want to be near downtown?
DISC Assessment is another great technique that I like to use for understanding behavioral styles. By listening for answers to the who-what-why-how questions, you can narrow down callers’ behavioral styles to determine whether they are dominant, steady, compliant, or influencing. Then you can match your call techniques to what they like. For example, people with dominant styles do not want to hear about the sand between their toes and the smell of the ocean, yet they do care about facts, such as how many steps there are to the villa or how the travel insurance can benefit them. On the other hand, those with an influencing style enjoy your painting a picture of them sitting on the deck with their morning coffee, looking out at the ocean.
Building Relationships and Connecting
People want to do business with people. I have listened to many calls where a team member shared something simple like being from the same area or having children similar in age. The caller’s tone changes, and they ask how they can contact the same provider again.
We are living in a disconnected world while, as humans, we are put on this earth to connect. Even though I have never heard someone say out loud, “Hey, I want to connect today,” connecting is fulfilling. When connection happens on a call, most callers express something along the lines of, “You are the nicest person I have talked to today.”
It is essential to empathize with callers when they share something personal or call as the result of a problem. I have listened to many calls where a caller shared the loss of a family member or something tragic, and the team member didn’t acknowledge it at all. Supervisors may miss this when they hear one side of a conversation. When a caller shares something personal and it is ignored or dismissed, it breaks trust and creates disconnection. No one likes to have someone completely ignore the fact that they just took off their mask. My favorite saying is, “empathize before you educate.”
Putting Callers in the Moment
The key is to say “you” and directly relate it to information they have shared. This could be wanting an ocean view, needing time in the warmth of the desert, wanting to walk to all their activities, preferring a private pool at the home, knowing the number of steps, or cancelling the previous year due to an emergency. When describing the home, you might say, “You will be able to sit outside into the late evening with the most pleasant temperatures.”
Educating about Travel Insurance
Most companies I work with offer travel insurance and for a good reason. Recently, I had a representative tell me that he doesn’t feel that he needs to discuss travel insurance when callers are concerned with pricing. I believe the opposite. How are callers going to react if they are already financially stretched and they end up having a death in the family, can’t make their trip, and lose thousands that they didn’t have in the first place? I promise that, if they choose not to take the insurance, they won’t be nearly as upset as if they had never been told at all. I remember a call where the representative said she would drop the travel insurance to lower the price and the caller stopped her and said, “No, leave it; with the number of kids we are traveling with, we always buy the insurance.” Besides health-related concerns, the weather in our world is changing, and it is important to let people know their options.
Expressing Professionally
I am one of those people who thinks about the words I use to communicate and strives to build relationships with a compassionate tone and warm words. I often hear industry verbiage, such as units and properties. Such verbiage feels the same to me as fingernails scraping on a chalkboard. I understand that we have the word properties in company names and all over websites and technology platforms, yet we can always say house, villa, cottage, or cabin. Notice how much softer and inviting those words feel.
The same concept applies to cheaper and expensive. There isn’t anything soft about those words; instead, we can say most economical or best price point, even high-end or luxury. People often use a technique when they struggle to find the right words, filling in with ums. Write the word down, and draw a ghostbuster sign over it. Do this daily and see what happens.
It’s professional to refrain from bad-mouthing third-party booking websites about their added fees and altering of emails, which makes it hard for consumers to contact companies directly. When we talk badly about others, the bad talk does not transfer to the person we are abusing; instead, it reflects on us as people. Keep it positive, and simply state that the best price is always guaranteed when they book directly with the property management company.
Asking for Commitment
When asking whether people are ready to commit, you don’t have to be pushy. I am a fan of simply asking, “How does The Cozy Cottage sound for you and your girlfriends?” The key is to do so right after stating the price. Too often I hear an awkward pause after the price is shared, as if stating the price were a question. It isn’t a question. Take it from an industry expert; the next step is to remove the pause and ask for a commitment in a kind way. If they aren’t ready, the next best step is to offer to email them the details so they have them on hand.
Closing the Call
We are in the hospitality industry, so it is up to us to make the booking process easy on people. The best way to do this is to ask, “When are you looking at making a decision?” Then, follow up with, “Can I call you if I don’t hear from you?” This makes it easy to manage leads, and, more often than not, the caller will be grateful for the offer. Then, be sure to use the caller’s name in the closing and rebrand the company name. Rebranding the company name is important these days because multiple booking platforms can be confusing to consumers. I also see it as a form of gratitude. Consumers have options, so thanking them for their business is essential.
Smiling and answering questions make it easy to be a service provider, yet being a hospitality expert is more difficult and requires self-reflection and mindfulness about how we communicate and how to be the people we want to be. I encourage you to take the time to ensure your people are getting the personal development they need to be true relationship builders.
True Hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to your guests.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
The third Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day, recurring on the first Wednesday in February, is set for February 5, 2020. With a multitude of new travelers searching for vacation rentals, vacation rental managers and homeowners are yet again joining forces for one day with a singular message to let travelers know that there are many advantages to bypassing third-party channels and booking directly with management companies and homeowners.
What Is #BookDirect Guest Education Day?
The idea for the campaign originated three years ago in a webinar discussion with several large vacation rental management companies located across the United States exploring ways to educate consumers about the value of booking vacation homes directly instead of on third-party channels. The urgency for education increased with the guest/traveler fees—and the consequential confusion among guests—that were added to Vrbo and TripAdvisor.
After the conversation, we did a little research and quickly realized it only takes a few thousand tweets on a single day to create a “trend.” In addition, vacation rental travelers often have stayed in several vacation rentals in the past and would be likely to get email messages from multiple VRMs in a short amount of time if a large number of VRMs initiated email messaging at the same time. As a result, #BookDirect Guest Education Day was born.
The campaign’s goal is for vacation rental shoppers to see multiple messages across social and email channels on the same day promoting the many reasons to book their vacations directly with managers or homeowners. With frequency as a driver, we believe that guests will understand why they should #BookDirect.
#BookDirect Guest Education Day is a collective education effort, and VRMs are encouraged to leverage their own brands in communications. The idea is to use your own graphics, customer list, and benefits and to direct people directly to your company’s website and/or social pages.
“I think the timing of this campaign is impeccable,” said Tim Cafferty, president at Sandbridge Blue Realty Services and Outer Banks Blue Realty Services and cofounder of the popular podcast Sarah and T. “The message has resonated with consumers and vacation rental managers alike.”
April Salter, chair of the Association of Vacation Rental Operators and Affiliates said, “[Vacation home owners and managers] are a creative and determined group, and they’re excited about putting advocacy into action. #BookDirect Guest Education Day is a chance to shout out to the world that booking direct is better for owners and managers and for guests. This is a chance to work together to get out the message.”
Campaign Performance (2018 and 2019)
Over the past two years, VRMs delivered creative social media posts, videos, landing pages, how-to instructions, emails, and promotions from both managers and homeowners. The independent boutique hotel industry joined the effort last year, expanding the overall reach.
Last year’s #BookDirect Guest Education campaign was able to directly communicate with over seven million travelers through email messages to past guests and prospects (reported by VRMs) and resulted in over 60 million impressions on Twitter and Instagram (Keyhole.co).
As a non branded, grassroots effort—with a zero dollar budget—the campaign trended on Twitter in both 2018 and 2019, and we hope for an even larger reach in 2020.
How to Participate
We are asking all vacation rental managers and homeowners to do the following on Feb 5, 2020:
Use the hashtag #BookDirect on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to bring attention to the many advantages of booking vacation rentals directly with managers or homeowners instead of on third-party channels.
Send out an email campaign to past and prospective guests with a message about the value of booking direct, booking local, and booking smart.
Other ideas:
Work with local and feeder-market media sources to educate consumers about the best ways to book vacation rentals.
Encourage local destination marketing organizations (i.e., CVBs, chambers of commerce, and state tourism organizations) to join in promoting their direct connections to lodging providers.
Create a landing page on your website about the value of booking direct and instructing guests how to book direct.
Using #BookDirect Guest Education Day as a Catalyst for Year-Round Education Efforts
For most vacation rental managers and owners, the #BookDirect movement is not a one-time pitch. Instead, it is a launchpad for an ongoing campaign to let travelers know the following:
When travelers book on large vacation rental websites like Airbnb, Vrbo.com, and TripAdvisor, they are paying substantial fees to use these sites.
Many of the best homes are not listed on these third-party websites.
Local managers and homeowners know the properties and the area better than anyone and can better match travelers to homes and help plan better vacation experiences.
Travelers can find out about special offers that cannot be found on the big websites.
Managers and owners can better help guests optimize dates and budgets to fit their needs.
Travelers with special needs and requests can work directly with owners and managers in a much more personalized way to guarantee an amazing vacation for their family or group.
Mike Harrington, former president of the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) and founder of Carolina Retreats in North Carolina, has been a longtime advocate of industry-wide education. “At VRMA’s educational events, finding new avenues of marketing—both direct and through listing and third-party sites—have been some of the most requested topics at any event,” Harrington said. “With our industry now squarely in the spotlight of the mainstream travel sector, continuing to market your local brand and what makes each location and company unique is becoming more and more of a challenge. Finding ways to highlight and educate travelers of the intimate knowledge that you offer of a unique property and area is something that everyone in the industry should want us to promote in order to elevate the guest experience that is so important to the long-term health of the vacation rental industry.”
Vince Perez, vacation homeowner, property manager and founder of Fetch My Guest, agreed. “Guest education is important because travelers appreciate and expect transparency when making important vacation decisions.”
Perez added, “We believe it is important that travelers get the best value for their vacation dollars. We don’t believe charging them hidden fees on vacation rentals that will drive up their cost by hundreds of dollars is the answer. This effort gives the vacation rental professional community a voice in educating the travelers on what is taking place and how it impacts the market—and their pocketbooks.”
According to Steve Milo, founder and CEO of Vtrips, “Vrbo and Airbnb will soon realize they do not have the power in the vacation rental space they think they do. Given the dynamics of far more demand than supply, the power in this relationship is with owners and property managers with exclusive inventory.”
Heather Bayer echoed Milo’s sentiment: “Demand for vacation rentals is rising as this type of accommodation becomes a mainstream choice. Supply is critical to this trend, so it’s important for travelers to know that the OTAs don’t show the entire inventory. Giving them the information on where to find the best accommodation at the best prices and with the best people—the owners and managers—is what they need to create the best vacation experience.”
As investors and analysts examine the vacation rental industry, it is worth noting that the supply is controlled by individuals and local, independent property managers who are capable of and accustomed to voting with their feet.
“It’s been exciting to see the newsletters, posts, images, and tweets that they’ve developed and are sharing across their networks,” Salter said. “I think the message to OTAs is that vacation rental owners and managers have a voice, and they intend to play a major role in shaping the future.”
Tara. Pemberley. House of the Seven Gables. Graceland. Oak Alley. Mount Vernon.
The idea of naming homes isn’t new, but the practice seems to have lost some of its romantic appeal over the years. After a recent trip to England’s Cotswolds, passing thatched-roof cottages and High Street townhouses—each with a plaque by the door displaying one enchanting home name after another—I realized that the practice is still alive and well in some areas. And it matters.
In Europe and in the United States, owners and managers in leisure destinations have been naming homes for decades for very good reasons that still apply in 2020—perhaps more than ever, as vacation rentals are quickly becoming commoditized on OTAs.
The advantages below are not just for single-family homes. Naming condos and multifamily units has value, too.
10 Reasons to Name Your Vacation Properties
1) Naming Homes Helps Get Through—and Around—the Google Funnel
While I hesitate to start this list by mentioning how naming properties will impact performance in search engines, things are changing at Google. For those who will only read part of this article, I want to touch on this point before you flip the page.
As you will read in Amber Carpenter’s article, “SEO/ SEM Disrupted,” Google’s search engine results page (SERP) format is changing for vacation home rental searches. As a result, your company is likely to find less organic (non-paid) real estate on SERPs as Google Travel’s mapped booking platform advances.
A memorable property name can help you optimize—and even bypass—Google (if you can etch the name in the minds of current and potential travelers). More on this later, but it’s important to keep in mind as we look at the other advantages of giving a house a name.
2) Names Are Inviting and Engaging
According to Dale Carnegie, “Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Giving something a name demonstrates that it is special, unique, and worth knowing. Names bestow individual identity. For example, football fans can discuss the performance of college quarterbacks this past season, but when they specifically identify Joe Burrow or Jalen Hurts, they are discussing individuals and their uniqueness with more attachment and engagement.
3) Names Communicate Uniqueness and Help Set Customer Expectations
When you name a home, travelers understand that it is a one-of-a-kind accommodation—a true vacation home rental. In contrast, for example, Summerhouse Units B804 and B602 are not distinguishable in the minds of customers.
With an individual name, guests will be more open to understanding that the home is individually owned and unlike any other. They will begin to look at renting the home how they might look at residential real estate: “Can I see myself living/vacationing in this particular home?”
New travelers coming into the vacation home rental market don’t always understand the unique nature of individually owned vacation homes. If they haven’t fully comprehended that the rental isn’t a hotel, friction can arise during their stay because their experience may not match their expectations.
Giving a property a distinctive name creates for the guest an overall—sometimes subconscious—expectation of a unique experience unlike staying at a hotel. It provides the property manager more of an opportunity to accurately set and exceed the guest’s expectations.
4) People Look for Their Next Vacation While They Are on Vacation
While guests are vacationing in your area, they are often drawn to look for places they might want to stay when they come back. They are looking for factors such as the view, proximity to things they like to do, amenities, and home styles and sizes. Identifying properties gets much easier when their names are displayed; guests are significantly more likely to remember a property name than an address. In turn, they are more likely to gain direct access to your site by Googling a property name than an address.
5) Travelers Connect to Home Names, Especially When Provided a Backstory
As a guest, when you’re choosing a vacation home rental, you have a different connection to the home when you know the property name and its backstory.
Suppose you decide to stay at Chesa Madrisa in Big Trees, California. Your stay becomes even more meaningful when you can share your experience with your friends, family, and coworkers and tell its backstory. According to Chesa Madrisa owner Hilary Gibson, “My grandparents built our vacation home and named it Chesa Madrisa long before we knew how helpful it would be to have a unique name.”
Gibson’s grandparents named the Sierra Nevada mountain home after being inspired by the Swiss chalets they had visited. Chesa means “home” in Romansh and Madrisa is the name of their favorite ski run in the Swiss Alps from Klosters to Davos. Her grandfather’s original wooden skis, used in the Alps, hang in the entryway.
As a guest, you now have a real connection to a unique home, and any expectations of it being a commoditized, hotel-like accommodation are quashed.
6) Names Are Memorable, Interesting, and Shareable
Chesa Madrisa is now on my list of places to stay, and now that I know its name and backstory, I am much more likely to share a link to the home on Facebook to update my friends, on Instagram to show off my future vacation, and on my Pinterest board titled “Vacation ideas for 2020.” Thus, free network marketing.
Using another example, Low Places is the name of a beach home in Sanibel, Florida. “Low Places is the name of my personal vacation rental,” said Sharon Michie, founder of Cottages to Castles of Sanibel & Captiva, Inc. “You can ‘show up in boots for a black-tie affair’ here. ‘I’ve got friends in (and at) Low Places’—queue the Garth Brooks song!” With so many shareable lyrics from the song Friends in Low Places, the name alone gives guests an irresistible urge to share about the home on social media.
The right home name can help you write creative posts on your company’s social media pages, encourage others to share the home’s details page, and expand the property’s social reach in a very short time.
7) Logistically, Home Names Make the Property Easier to Find Upon Arrival
As more guests bypass office check-in and go directly to the unit, having the property name displayed on the home makes it easier for them to know they are in the right spot without double-checking addresses as they navigate lock boxes or key codes—especially when arriving after dark. While different signage regulations may apply, we’ve mentioned a few options below, including custom doormats and welcome signs for multifamily developments.
8) Home Names Make the Home Easier to Find Online—and to Book Direct
See Me Lodge was originally named for a family’s three kids (initials C, M, E). It was the perfect name for their house at the top of a ski village in Steamboat Springs. When a guest shares a family photo on Facebook with the caption “We’re on top of the world at See Me Lodge in Steamboat,” their friends can see the picture and Google “See Me Lodge in Steamboat,” which takes them directly to Moving Mountains, the property management company that manages the home.
With more competition from OTAs, multi-destination competitors, and Google Travel, the search marketing funnel is getting both crowded and pricey. When travelers search for a home name, they are significantly more likely to find your booking page directly.
9) Naming the Home Revitalizes the Billboard Effect on OTAs
Although several OTAs work to strip vacation rental branding from photos and descriptions, they do not remove home names because properties with names convert at higher percentages. Guests who want to see if they can find a better deal—or a better experience— by booking directly can simply copy the home’s name and paste it into their search engine to find the home’s manager or owner.
For condo owners and managers, this is key. If the traveler just uses the condo name, they are back in the Google funnel, where OTAs dominate. However, if they search for the home name, they are closer to finding you. Use home names in both property descriptions and photos to help consumers find you directly.
10) Reservation Agents Can “Put a Name to a Face”
Training reservation and sales teams to speak knowledgeably about properties is challenging, but giving a home a memorable name allows them to speak to guests in a more engaging way about the differences between properties. In addition, knowing the name helps them remember differentiating factors about the home. It isn’t only guests who relate to home names more personally; your team does, too.
How to Name a Property
Working directly with homeowners yields the best results for finding the perfect name for vacation home rentals. The advantages of naming vacation properties do not only apply to single-family homes. Condos, townhouses, and apartments also benefit from having unique names.
Make it meaningful. Consider why the property was purchased, any family history, the location, the view, amenities, and what kind of experience guests will have in the home. When homeowners connect to the name in a meaningful way, they are more likely to share it with their social networks.
Make it unique. One of the main advantages of naming a home is that it is found more easily online, so do an online check to ensure the name is unique. If you are committed to a name that isn’t unique, include the destination name in online attributes.
Consider purchasing a domain name, creating a subdomain, and/or building a landing page that homeowners can share with their social networks.
Where to Display Property Names
Once the property has a name, there are two ways to think about displaying the name to maximize the advantages, physically and online.
Exterior Signage
It only takes a quick trip up and down beach roads in coastal destinations across the U.S. to see how property names are displayed on homes. Most single-family beach houses have exterior signage on the home, by the driveway, or both. However, if this type of signage isn’t feasible, there are other options available:
Regulations and Restrictions
First, investigate municipal signage regulations and POA/HOA/ COA restrictions. Then, get creative.
Exterior Signage on the Home
In most cases, for single-family homes, there are legal—and tasteful—ways to display home names on properties using signage. In my recent UK experience in the Cotswolds (page 88), home names are posted using plaques appropriate to the historical nature of the homes.
In more rural areas with long driveways, signage is also displayed by the road or on mailboxes. Be considerate and aware of the destination’s traditions and protocols. A sign that is gaudy or inappropriate can hurt more than help. If the sign can be cobranded with your company name, it is a bonus (e.g., “One Fine Stay,” followed by “by ABC Vacation Rentals” in smaller print). Some destinations also allow additional signage for rental companies to display their company name, phone number, and website.
Window Signage
For many multifamily properties, exterior signage is not allowed. However, especially in condos and townhouses, signs can often be placed inside windows that face the hall, walkway, or path. You can see some signs in hall-facing condo windows with sayings such as “Welcome to the Beach” or “Mountain Paradise.” Placing attractive signs with the property name in path-facing windows may be an option for multi-family units.
In some cases, the property name can be displayed on the exterior, but the management company name cannot. For example, in the Cotswolds, the property name plaque is allowed, but exterior signage from rental management companies is not. Instead, property managers display signs in the window closest to the door with a message that the home is available to rent, alongside company contact and website information. (In our UK townhouse rental, the plaque by the door displayed “Sansons Cottage,” and the framed sign inside the window said, “This cottage is available for holiday stays. Contact Honeypot Cottages [logo, phone number, website].”)
Custom Doormats
Even in developments with heavy restrictions, an exterior doormat is often allowed. There are a multitude of online suppliers that print affordable custom door and floor mats. A doormat that displays the property name is a good option for multifamily units with no other display options. If done in a tasteful way, not only will guests be able to quickly identify their condo or apartment rental upon arrival, the name of the home will also be etched in their minds. In addition, other guests who pass by and think that particular location would be perfect for their next vacation will more easily remember the unique name and find you for their next trip.
Optimizing the Home’s Name Online
1) Property Titles:
In your property management software (PMS), displaying the name in the property title makes it easier for guests to find the home through all channels, including your own website’s search function, in search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), and on OTAs. If you are using OTA channel distribution, consider how the information in your PMS is being pushed out to third-party websites and OTAs. In most cases, the name of the home is best placed in the property title, but in some instances, it may be more advantageous to include verbiage about amenities and location in the property title (e.g., 4BR w/ private screened pool, minutes to Disney).
2) Property Description:
Regardless of what you choose for the customer-facing property title, include the home name in the property description. The description is a great place to announce the property name and tell its backstory. In addition to giving guests a clear way to search for your property directly, the name helps guests connect to the home emotionally and recognize it as a unique, individually owned vacation home instead of a commoditized hotel room.
3) Property Photo(s):
Include at least one photo on third-party websites that displays the property name. Whether it is an exterior sign, a window sign, the doormat, or another creative idea, use the photos to help the guests find the home online if they want to search for the direct source for booking. In addition, use the property name in alt tags on your photos. Alt tags are HTML image tags that provide a text title for each image that tells search engines what the photo is showing.
4) URL:
Use the property name in the URL. For example, the URL for See Me Lodge from Moving Mountains is www.movingmountains.com/vacation-rentals/see-me-lodge. Adding the property name to the URL makes it easier to find online and more shareable for guests and homeowners.
Consider offering owners a name package that includes a unique domain, landing page, exterior signage, custom doormat, and property-specific thank-you cards (cobranded with your company).
A property name provides a unique, distinctive identity.
In our industry, differentiating properties is becoming more challenging as OTAs and Google seek to commoditize vacation home rentals. Besides the many marketing benefits to making vacation rentals easier to find and share online, naming homes helps guests, staff, and homeowners connect with them in a more meaningful way.
Not long ago, there was a time when housekeepers were thought of as people who showed up, did their jobs, and went home. Not much thought was put into the training they received or how they performed. Employers expected them to know what to do on their first day of work. They gave them an assignment, told them where to go, and sent them out the door.
In today’s business and hospitality environment, this is no longer good enough. I think the podcast Sarah and T said it best in episode four of season one when they said housekeepers and maintenance technicians are the face of a company. I completely agree.
Think about it for a moment: For most guests, the only face-to-face interaction they have with your company will be with your back-of-house staff, whether it be for a clogged toilet, a remote control needing new batteries, dropping off extra towels, or a mid-stay service. The memories of your company that guests will hold onto rest in the hands and attitude of the maintenance technicians and housekeepers who show up at the property. Does this thought make you giddy with glee or strike fear in your heart? If it is the latter, here are some steps you can take:
1) During the hiring process, talk about the customer service levels that are expected. Include several interview questions about their customer service philosophy and how they have handled guests who were unhappy or complained about everything. This will allow you to find those who already have a mindset geared to quality service.
2) As part of your onboarding experience, provide a document that outlines the expectations of how they, as company representatives, are to interact with guests, owners’ guests, and owners, and even competitors’ guests. This document should address items such as how to stand, how to shake hands, what to say when they see someone, and how to answer the phone.
3) Customer service principles and standards are an integral part of employee training. The training time is a chance for the trainers to reinforce knowledge and for employees to practice company standards.
4) Weekly retraining is a necessity to help keep the company standards top of mind. These weekly reminders do not need to take long; five minutes is enough to remind everyone of the training they have received.
5) When the staff arrives at the property, do they look professional? Do they have clean and tidy uniforms? Are the tools they are carrying organized and displayed in an orderly fashion? The answer to all these questions must be yes. You are a professional property manager, and you hire professionals to do their work assignments.
6) Does the staff have professional tools? It is one thing for a housekeeper to have a toothbrush to clean a tough-to-reach spot on a bathroom faucet; it is another to expect the housekeeper to use the same tool to clean a sliding glass door track. The tools the staff uses must reflect the professionalism that you expect them to provide.
You are hiring professionals to work with you. Taking the time to plan and prepare for the professionals to provide the best guest service and work will provide dividends and have a positive impact on your business that will be reflected in your guest comment cards, owner comments, and ultimately, your bottom line.
November in jolly olde England. Cold. Drizzly. Gray. But, with a bit of luck, an occasional pop of sunshine. During a recent month-long stay, while the weather was chilly, the welcome I received from my property manager was consistently warm.
England’s beautiful Cotswold region is located approximately 75 miles northwest of London. From Heathrow Airport, a visitor is whisked from the hectic, traffic-laden outskirts of London back in time to an idyllic countryside worthy of any Jane Austen novel. Bright green hills roll by, broken only by narrow lanes bordered by stone fences, picturesque villages, and plentiful white, fuzzy sheep.
Even with the addition of central heating, historic cottages, crafted centuries ago from the plentiful golden stone of the Cotswold region, can be less than comfy by twenty-first-century standards.
Late one afternoon, I came in from a brisk walk down the fairy-tale lanes of Chipping Campden and noticed the cottage was less than warm. After boosting the thermostat a bit, I set about building my daily fire. By evening, I had upped the heat twice more but realized that the cozy living room was not getting any warmer and the kitchen was downright cold.
Edging my chair closer to the fire, I sent a text to Honeypot Cottages’ property manager, Andy Smith. Straightaway, he replied that it sounded like the boiler was out and needed to be “topped off.” He offered to come that night, but I assured him I would be fine. The cozy English comforters are toasty warm! He promised to be there first thing the next morning. My bedroom was upstairs, and I had stayed up late listening to the intense Alabama versus LSU game, online. I told Andy I would most likely sleep in and he could let himself into the cottage the following morning.
I woke the next day, dressed, came downstairs, and was welcomed by the crackling of a roaring fire in the fireplace. The large wood basket had been replenished with logs and kindling.
It felt like Christmas morning!
Andy had left a note asking me to call, explaining the problem was the boiler, and telling me he would need to go up to the third floor to “top it off.” He didn’t want to do that while I was sleeping for fear he might frighten me.
As soon as I texted him, Andy returned immediately, got the heater back on, and stayed to chat a while about my trip, his family, the business, and the magical Cotswold area itself. He even offered to drive me to nearby Dover’s Hill so I could get some good photographs of the rolling hills. Not only did I have a great property manager, I felt as if I had made a new friend.
Decades of Booking Direct
Over 40 years before I heard the term or learned its definition, booking direct was simply the way our family traveled. Summer vacations on the private, sugar-white sands of Fort Morgan, Alabama. Autumn canoeing trips to the Buffalo River. Laid-back weekends in Georgia’s Blue Ridge mountains. Spur-of-the-moment visits to New Orleans, Nashville, Natchez, and more.
When we began to plan a vacation, I would pick up the phone—and, later, after searching online—and talk directly with the property management company. I’ve always appreciated the personal contact and the relationship built with property managers from the early stages of vacation planning.
Now, as a woman traveling alone, I value the assurance that the person on the other end of the phone or email will not only be my host but also someone with whom I’ve made personal contact and can call on in an emergency or in an unfamiliar location.
Honeypot Cottages: Badger’s End, Cidermill, Kissing Gate, The Thatch, Silk Mill, and More
Andy Smith and his lovely wife Sarah, cofounders of Honeypot Cottages, were introduced by a mutual friend and, within a year, found themselves married and putting together a business plan. They currently manage 16 unique, individually-owned holiday (British for “vacation”) cottages in Chipping Campden, a centuries-old market town at the northern end of the Cotswolds, and in nearby hamlets Paxford and Ebrington.
The Honeypot Cottages themselves include a delightful array of storybook cottages with appealing names: Badger’s End, Cidermill, Kissing Gate, The Thatch, Silk Mill, and—you guessed it—The Honeypot! The cottage names are posted on each property using plaques that fit the time period the cottages were built, making them easy to find—both in person and online.
During November 2019, one of the Smiths’ properties became my home away from home. Sansons Cottage, conveniently located on Chipping Campden’s bustling High Street, is located less than a three-block stroll from the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker as well as welcoming pubs filled with hearty conversation and inviting fireplaces, tearooms, restaurants, shops, bakeries, and delicious “takeaway meals.” While there, I had only to mention a need or raise a question to Andy or Sarah to have it immediately answered.
Their special brand of hospitality was on display from the start. I had fallen in love with the cottage after seeing photos on their Facebook page. And I knew I wanted to stay a month. Midway during the month of November, they already had a three-night booking for the home I was already calling “mine.” Andy reached out to the guests who had previously booked the cottage and persuaded them to switch to another home, just around the corner, to allow me to have a full-month’s stay.
Upon my arrival, I discovered a welcome-to-Chipping-Campden bottle of wine in the refrigerator. Sarah arrived the next morning, bearing a hamper filled with breakfast items: eggs, bacon, milk, bread, jam, and cheese. I learned this was a holiday special they were running for their guests. Just perfect!
Each Friday morning, Sarah and one of her helpers arrived to bring fresh linens, change the beds, clean the bathrooms, chat for a bit, and offer any help I might need.
Because it was November and I am a “fireplace person,” my little woodshed in the garden was depleted twice during my stay. A quick call to Andy brought firewood, stacked in the woodshed and replenished in the inside basket. When I ran out of kindling, Sarah showed up at the door with a fresh bag within minutes of my call. If I needed to go to another village or even the closest city, Cheltenham, to shop, they were available to take me.
I had an opportunity to sit down with the Smiths and talk about their business venture.
With a warm smile, Andy explained the beginnings of the business. “When we married, Sarah was working for an agency here in this area, managing and cleaning other people’s second homes and holiday cottages. We bought our first cottage, The Honeypot, in 2007, completely ripped everything out, and started over. It wasn’t long before the word spread, and we were being asked to do the same thing for other people.”
“We began with The Honeypot, a holiday cottage in the heart of Chipping Campden, and, before we knew it, the business had grown into Honeypot Cottages,” he continued. “I handle the bookings and management. Sarah Smith Cleaning & Management looks after the rest. Sarah has three or four helpers, all self-employed, who work for her. Our three daughters pitch in and help too.”
Andy added, “A couple of our properties are on the market now, and we constantly have second-home owners contacting us to take on their properties. In addition to caring for our cottages, Sarah’s cleaning service also manages several other second homes.”
Q&A with Andy and Sarah Smith, Honeypot Cottages
Ren Hinote (RH): This was my second time staying in one of your cottages. Initially, I remember finding Honeypot Cottages online. How do you use third-party channels to get new guests? And how do you get them to come back, like I did?
Andy Smith (AS): We like to use third-party channels to get ourselves out there along with the big booking sites. However, it’s a real challenge getting noticed because they often have the top spots on Google. We also use other, smaller national agencies that give us opportunities to offer free “late deals,” which helps a lot. Everyone’s looking for a bargain. We believe the best way to get guests to return is to offer fabulous service in the first place, including good, clear communication, and offers of help for the duration of a guest’s stay. We want our guests to have a holiday that is carefree as well as memorable.
RH: Sarah, you have wonderful linens in your homes. How did you choose the brand, and how do you work with your homeowners to get them to use your linens and towels?
Sarah Smith (SS): When we began, our homeowners supplied their own linens—one set on, one in the wash, and one to spare. Originally, we did all the laundry from our home in Chipping Campden. As the business grew, so did the amount of laundry! We found ourselves spending a huge amount of our spare time washing, drying, ironing, and folding linens. We would get bits done between running the children to after-school clubs, preparing meals, and other things. We often found ourselves up until 2:00 a.m. doing laundry, to make sure there wasn’t a backlog, and stuffing linens into bags for the following day’s changeovers. We soon began shipping the linen out to local ironing people and eventually moved to a local linen company four years ago. We’ve changed linen companies since then, when the standards of the first company dropped. We’re happy with the linen company we currently use. They’re based in Stratford-upon-Avon, and they supply a few hotels and businesses locally.
RH: Having stayed in two of your cottages in the last three years, it appears that you have a standard kitchen package . . . similar plates, glassware, and other items. Is that correct? If so, how did you decide to standardize kitchenware, and how do you work with homeowners on this?
SS:We try to go along with our owners’ wishes when it comes to plates, glasses, and other kitchen essentials. Breakages or lost items can be a challenge. If a cottage allows the space, we try to keep a few spares in the cupboards so that we can quickly replace items. Because we’re located in a country village, we often have to travel to Stratford, Evesham, or Stow-on-the-Wold to purchase replacements, and restraints on our time can make that impossible. If a cottage happens to have breakages, we have to make do with what we can find locally. Consequently, we sometimes supply our cottages with crockery, glasses, or more obscure items, like a cafetiere [a French press coffee maker] from our own kitchen! We’re often missing an item from our home, only to find it in one of the cottages at a later date.
RH: What are some of the challenges you face today that you didn’t face when you started the business?
AS: Competition! When we began, there were only a few other local agencies, but now everyone seems to be in the holiday leasing business, especially with the advent of Airbnb, which gives people the option of advertising their own space in their own homes. We’ve heard more than a few horror stories. Guests need to be careful and do their research as much as possible. If guests can locate the owner or agent and talk with him or her directly, it reduces the risk of booking a cottage that isn’t available or a home that doesn’t meet their needs. We much prefer taking bookings over the telephone, but we understand that many guests want to book online.
That’s fine with us, but we like people to know they can ask us any questions at any point in the booking process, straight through to departure.
RH: What challenges do you think vacation/holiday home rental managers will face during the next decade?
AS: Definitely competition from the big agencies offering online booking, taking the first page of Google, and Airbnb. They make it so easy for people to rent their own homes.
RH: What do you love most about your business?
AS: Simply put, we love working with people, knowing they’re planning a special holiday—or just a weekend away—and making sure they have a fabulous stay. We like to offer our support without being underfoot or in people’s faces. We completely enjoy the personal touch. Several of our returning guests call and ask us to meet them at one of our local pubs, The Volunteer Inn, for a drink or a meal. That particular pub and Toke’s (wine, cheese, and delicious homemade takeout foods) offer discount “tokens” to our guests as a special incentive to stop in.
It’s truly a small world, and we love discovering “people coincidences.” Often, when talking with potential guests, we learn that we know some of the same people and places. We have an interesting story about two couples, one from Canada and the other from Australia, who met in a restaurant line in London. They began chatting and learned that one couple had recently stayed in one of our cottages and the other was booked to stay with us in the very same cottage! These two couples have kept in touch and meet in their travels around the world. And it all began when they stayed with us at Honeypot Cottages.
Andy and Sarah Smith have found a way to offer a super helping of down-home hospitality in the middle of England’s beautiful and historic Cotswolds. As for this traveler, and I am certain many others, I’ve discovered the “honeypot” of gold in the center of one of the most magical locations on the globe!
Our only certainty in the vacation rental industry is change, and 2019 did disappoint those who enjoy the adrenaline rush of disruption.
Google Travel is not just another channel; it will continue to cause the convergence of organic search engine strategies, pay-per-click advertising, channel/distribution management, and revenue management more so than any other new opportunity in our space during the last decade.
This topic is broad, complicated, and evolving faster than we can likely get to print, so I have taken a research point of view while trying to simplify the landscape as much as possible.
For those of you taking a “device break,” or if you just have not looked at search results for your destination in a while, there is a new, bold box of vacation rentals showing up where you might have seen individual listings on Google Maps even a few weeks ago.
Organic vs. Google Travel Placements
Not to be controversial here, but I have seen several articles label traffic from the Google Travel module on the search results page as “organic” traffic. This is incorrect for many reasons, even if the traffic to this content is “free” as of now.
Organic placement means showing up based on Google bots querying available content, indexing it, and deeming it relevant for search results related to specific queries.
Google Travel is curated through inventory fed from a handful of early integration partners that are sending Google property content, availability, and pricing through the Google Hotels application programming interface (API) feed. So yes, as of now, this traffic is “free,” but it is certainly not “organic.”
Organic ranking strategies are generally handled by search engine optimization (SEO) teams. In contrast, you need distribution/ channel management, pay-per-click advertising, and revenue management teams to tackle Google Travel.
The Changing Anatomy of Google Search Results
There are at least three different versions of a Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for queries that contain “destination + vacation rentals,” and it largely depends on whether the destination has inventory being fed through the Google Travel API or via one of the authorized integration partners.
Google started with partners that could provide the largest sets of inventory so it could spread across the map as fast as possible and be as relevant as possible.
The reality is OTAs have the most aggregated inventories, so Google started there and has been working down the food chain ever since as it continues to test and iterate the experience for the traveler in search results.
1. Google SERP Format 1—Legacy/No Google Travel Module
As I am writing this article, “Sea Island, Georgia Vacation Rental” queries still produce search results consistently without Google Travel.
There are several key elements to these pages that are likely to be few and far between—if not completely extinct by this time next year—but offer the most organic real estate on the page.
Listing Placements in Legacy/No Google Travel Page Format Module
In the Legacy SERP format, of the available space on the first page of search results, approximately 25 percent of the page is paid listings versus 75 percent organic content.
2. Google SERP Format 2—Vacation Rental Organizations Call-Out Box
This is an interesting version of Google search results that I was surprised to stumble upon in my research on organic results across the industry and the impact of Google Travel. This query for “Palm Springs Vacation Rentals” shows what looks like regular paid and organic search results, except that it has a call-out box labeled “Vacation Rental Organizations” toward the bottom of the page, which contains the logos of several different vacation rental companies.
Listing Placements in Page Format with Vacation Rental Organizations Call-Out Box
Vacation Rental Organizations Call-Out Box
No Google Business listings in the right gutter—it is left blank
Four AdWords listings at the top of the page
Eight organic listings
Three AdWords listings at the bottom of the page
“Vacation Rental Organizations” logo box
It is not clear how Google chooses which brands to show in this vacation rental organizations box, but it does not look like there has been much time spent on it because the logos are mostly cut off or outdated. Not all of the partner logos showing are integrated directly into Google Travel, so it might be pulling from business listings, but it is not clear.
Regardless, if you click a logo in this box, it actually takes you to another Google SERP with the brand as the query parameter. I would not be surprised if this box was created by accident, and someone forgot to take it down; it is utterly useless, poorly designed, and loosely related to my original query.
This layout provides about 40 percent paid ad space and 60 percent organic listings on the first page.
3. Google SERP Format 3—*New* with Google Travel Module
For destinations where Google Travel integration partners are actively feeding inventory, the first page of Google SERPs for most queries for “[destination] + vacation rentals” returns a page with a new “Vacation Rentals” travel module that displays right below the AdWords listings at the top of the page and before any organic search results.
Listing Placements in *New* Google Travel Page Format
No Google Business results in right gutter
Three or four AdWords listings at the top of the page
Google Travel module with four search results based on prefilled dates
Seven organic listings
Three AdWords listings at the bottom of the page
With this layout, the first page of Google search results is 60 percent paid or API generated versus 40 percent organic listings.
Consumer Experience on Google Travel
Although this is incredibly rich content that is being fed through the Google Hotel API—and it is certainly an attractive module in search results—and much better than the original map listing view that rolled out—the click journey to research rentals on Google Travel can be a bit confusing and inconsistent, depending on the integration partner feeding the content.
Search Experience
For every destination that I searched, the same arrival and departure dates were prefilled in the Google Travel module, basically three weeks from today for a three-night stay.
If a consumer tries to update the arrival dates in the box, it opens a new tab with full search results on the Google Travel website and does not update the results on the original search results page.
The Google Travel search results page looks like a simplified OTA layout with dates, occupancy, and filterable search options such as amenities across the top and visible listings on a map in the right gutter that highlight as you click or scroll.
Listings have a hero image with a per-night pricing call-out box, a property title, average star rating with the number of reviews, the logo of the Google Travel inventory feed provider, the number of bedrooms, and max occupancy.
This all seems pretty simple and straightforward until you realize that Google has a lot to learn related to search filters, and partners must update amenity mapping for individual listings.
No matter which destination I searched across the globe, Google Travel used the same 12 amenities to filter for every destination. This makes for a poor consumer experience, and some of the amenities are irrelevant based on the destination.
Available amenities for filtering rental results are as follows:
Free Wi-Fi
Air Conditioned
Pool
Hot tub
Patio or deck
Crib
Fitness center
Kid friendly
Pet friendly
Kitchen
Outdoor grill
Fireplace
Here is an example for Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Google Travel and what happens if a consumer tries to use these filters.
Original Query: January 18 arrival/January 21 departure; two guests = 4,746 rental results
Refined Query: January 18 arrival/January 21 departure; two guests + Air Conditioned = 3,626 rental results
Refined Query: January 18 arrival/January 21 departure; two guests + Kitchen = 3,219 rental results
Refined Query: January 18 arrival/January 21 departure; two guests + Crib = 9 rental results
If you have been to Orange Beach in July or August, you probably share my skepticism that there are really over 1,100 rentals that do not have air conditioning, 1,500 that do not have a kitchen, or just nine rentals for the entire destination that have a crib available.
Oddly, there is no refinement option for property type, such as condo or vacation home, and as you can imagine, there are other refinements that are much more relevant than air conditioning at ski and winter destinations; many winter destinations have heat but no air conditioning, and most travelers are eager to refine their search by proximity to ski lifts.
Sample Booking Experiences
When you click on a specific rental on the Google Travel search results page, you come to a Google Travel version of a property details page.
This page is a simplified version of what you might see on any vacation rental website and contains an image gallery, reviews, pricing, an oddly titled “about” tab (which is the property description), and a photos tab with all available images at a glance.
Original search parameters carry over to this property details page so that calculated pricing displays with a “Book Now” button in blue. This is where the consistent Google Travel experience ends. Depending on the integration partner feeding the inventory, clicking “Book Now” leads you away from Google Travel to a landing page from the inventory partner in a new tab.
Following the Book Now Button
VRBO and Airbnb
Inventory being fed from VRBO and Airbnb yield similar experiences after you click “Book Now.” A new tab opens and lands you on a search results page instead of a similar property details page where you can complete the booking.
The search results page has the property that you were reviewing on Google Travel highlighted as the first result, but then it has dozens of property listings below under a heading that leads you to believe that there are many more similar properties to review if you actually are not ready to book.
I found this experience the most confusing because most consumers click “Book Now” to either start the reservation confirmation process or to see further booking details like cancellation policies, terms and conditions, or other information relevant to making a decision.
My assumption is that both VRBO and Airbnb are trying to treat the traffic like organic traffic and drive consumers to use their platforms for additional research and clicks/ engagement rather than just a landing page to finalize a transaction.
I think there could be a better hybrid approach that allows the consumer to get the details they are looking for when they press “Book Now” while also giving them more options since booking funnels have notoriously high abandonment pages.
Conversions on Airbnb and VRBO that originate on Google Travel are subject to channel commissions, and the brand of the individual property manager was not visible.
Red Awning
Red Awning has a slight variation on the experience that VRBO and Airbnb provide in that after the consumer clicks “Book Now” on a property detail page on Google Travel, the new tab opens to a Red Awning property detail page obstructed by a modal urging the consumer to complete the booking process.
This is less c o n f u s i n g than landing on a search results page, but it felt a bit intrusive. Also, the modal lacks any branding, which makes it feel more like a phishing pop-up window.
Consumers cannot tell they have been brought to a Red Awning landing page until they close the booking modal and review the property details page, which has the Red Awning branding clearly visible.
However, dates and rates pass over to the Red Awning website and match what was displayed on Google Travel, making it simple to continue booking.
TripAdvisor/HolidayLettings
TripAdvisor and HolidayLettings have a similar approach to Red Awning without the modal pop-up, so once a consumer clicks “Book Now” on Google Travel, a new tab opens that lands the guest on a property details page from the respective aggregator website with TripAdvisor or HolidayLettings branding.
For my research, I searched for “San Diego vacation rentals” from the warmth of my home in Bend, Oregon, and, oddly, a US-based property manager listing was listed by HolidayLettings (a UK website). If I were ready to escape the cold and head south to sunny San Diego, I would not book on a UK website, so I am not sure this is the ideal channel to list this property for an American consumer.
This slight variation in experiences leads me to believe that Google Travel is still figuring out how to dedupe properties that may be in multiple integration partner feeds and choose the one ideal for driving conversion.
Rentals United
Rentals United had a unique experience: a landing page opens up after a consumer clicks “Book Now” for one of its listings on Google Travel.
Instead of providing a Rentals United–branded landing page, the tab opens a property details page with the arrival/departure parameters prefilled, pricing that matches that shown on Google Travel, the individual property manager brand in the upper-right corner, and messaging that the booking page is powered by Rentals United at the bottom.
This is clearly a win for the property manager because the actual hospitality company brand is hidden on Airbnb and VRBO listings throughout the entire journey. Consumers can finalize their booking or review more details on the Rentals United–powered property details page.
In this example of a potential consumer journey, the traffic from the original Google query never reaches an individual property manager’s website, but there is brand attribution and a clear path for the consumer to finalize booking.
Rentals United and other channel managers taking a similar approach have yet to determine a pricing or commission structure for these bookings, and, as of now, they are free. But because they control the booking experience, it will be interesting to see when and if these bookings are made subject to a commission like other marketing channels.
NextPax, BookingPal, & Other Direct Integrations
The next version of the consumer journey and booking experience was similar for distribution clients of NextPax and BookingPal. NextPax and BookingPal are opaque partners on Google Travel, meaning the individual property manager brand shows on Google Travel throughout the experience instead of NextPax or BookingPal. Those channel managers are just powering the technology to feed the inventory but are not portraying themselves as consumer brands (in contrast to Red Awning).
This is an ideal setup for most property managers who want their brands front and center. The example I used for NextPax in this article was for the query “Denmark Vacation Rentals,” and NextPax client Novasol was front and center in the Google Travel search results.
NextPax does not provide an intermediary, cobranded landing page and sends the traffic from Google Travel via “Book Now” to the property details page with the dates and prices prefilled on the property manager’s individual brand website.
I can hear everyone cheering for this type of integration, but there were some challenges I did not experience during the previously outlined customer journeys.
For example, Google Travel knew I was in the United States and spoke English, and it used American dollars to display pricing, even though I was using incognito browsing for this research. Once NextPax passed me to the Novasol booking engine, I was brought to a page in German with pricing in Euros that did not match the page.
Because both BookingPal and NextPax rely on the technology of the individual property manager websites, they cannot ensure a seamless experience once the consumer is on the brand website. This responsibility falls to the individual property manager, so this experience is best for those who have invested in modern booking engines.
Tracking conversions on individual property manager websites and attributing revenue to Google Travel and your channel manager may be challenging under this model, and conversion rates will vary significantly based on the design and modernization of the individual property manager websites.
Cancellations, Booking Changes, and Issues
A model that charges commission per booking means there must be a path forward to address cancellations, changes, refunds, and other issues. As we all know, this is one of the most challenging aspects when using any channel management strategy. A great deal of manual work goes into cancelling bookings in your property management system (PMS) and on the channel to ensure refunds are processed. Ultimately, guests who are booking through Google Travel must cancel with the property manager or OTA directly because Google is just sending traffic. Rest assured that it is unlikely Google wants to get into the hospitality customer service business any time soon, which leaves that fun up to the pros, who are likely exploring a pay-per-click model that would allow for a much simpler path forward for everyone.
Getting Ready to Participate
Here are four key things to start thinking about as the Google Travel/vacation rental platform continues to evolve:
Organizationally, it has never been more important for your e-commerce/digital marketing and revenue management/ channel management teams to be on the same page. In the near future, I predict they will work together to optimize listing placements on Google Travel.
Do you have a pay-per-click budget? How do you recognize those costs versus channel costs? Many property managers pay commissions to OTAs and intermediary channel managers before they split revenue with the owners, but they often eat the cost of their pay-per-click budget. With this channel likely to drive a tremendous amount of web traffic and revenue for eager participants, start working on a strategy to handle this with your finance team.
Do you have a team member who is up to speed on the latest pay-per-click strategies? If not, then you must start interviewing potential professional partners or candidates for an internal search engine marketing specialist.
There has never been a better time to make sure your property images are high resolution, professional, and in the right order. Nothing jumps out like a bad photo on the first page of Google search results.
If the predictions come true and Google Travel ends up using a pay-per-click model, the opportunities are endless to use this channel to boost new and struggling properties and minimize costs on high-performing rentals. You will need to be dynamic on this channel and not just with your pricing. It will not be “set it and forget it” like other OTAs that charge a flat commission per booking (at least not if you are smart and capitalize on the opportunity).
Getting Listed on Google Travel
You have probably already seen some of your rentals on Google Travel via VRBO or Airbnb, but if you are eager to list your rentals directly, there are a handful of channel managers that are partnering with Google, most of which I have detailed above.
Rentals United, NextPax, Red Awning, and BookingPal all have integration with Google Travel, but all of them are at different stages in the partnership. Most of them have stated they are testing a few key markets with key clients before they onboard new clients.
Rentals United was the only company I spoke with that openly agreed to onboard new clients to Google Travel.
It is worth speaking to each one about its Google Travel program and understanding costs, the consumer experience it plans to offer (directing traffic to your website versus an intermediary booking page), and its timeline before you make any final decisions.
It is likely that PMS platforms will also start building integrations to Google Travel shortly, including PMS systems with integrated, direct channel manager modules such as MyVR, Guesty, Streamline, and Direct.io.
Google is already on the third version of the Google Travel API and is clearly investing in the short-term/alternative accommodations space. It is trying to optimize its revenue potential while delivering rich, relevant search results to consumers.
There is still much to learn for the Google Travel team, and it will continue to iterate to optimize conversion. I believe each of the potential guest journeys on Google Travel has merit, and it is in the best interest of consumers/travelers to know what brand will be checking them in, hosting their stays, and addressing issues that arise. The only way this will be the evolution of Google Travel is if individual property managers invest in their brand websites, optimize the mobile booking experience, and iterate on their booking engines to maximize conversion.
Now is the time to invest in your people and partnerships and reorganize your teams for the future by breaking down internal silos and ensuring you have one revenue-generating team that is on the same page, makes decisions based on consistent data, and optimizes all of your channels.
To take a deeper dive into how Google Travel is shaking up the marketing funnel. Amber will be speaking on this topic at the upcoming VRM Intel Live events in Destin (January 23) and Gatlinburg (Feb 26).
The 2020s: This new decade will establish law, order, and professionalism for the vacation rental industry.
The vacation rental industry is like the Wild West.
Over the past 15 years working in the sector, I’ve heard this comparison hundreds of times in articles, discussions, and presentations.
Like many of you, I’ve been asked for 2020 predictions, and each time the question was posed, this comparison between our industry and the Wild West kept replaying in my head. So, like the nerd I am, I researched and watched over a dozen documentaries about US westward expansion over the holidays.
And it is true. There are startling similarities between the vacation rental industry’s progression and that of the Wild West. Let’s take a look at some of the stages of westward expansion, the parallels we see in our industry, and—yes—a prediction about where we are heading in this new decade.
Early Explorers and Pioneers
Like the Wild West, the vacation rental industry began with early explorers and pioneers.
The Birth of the American Vacation
the early 1800s, the idea of the “American vacation” took a big leap forward in 1869, when Pastor William H.H. Murray published one of the first guidebooks to the Adirondack Mountains. According to Smithsonian Magazine, “Murray broached the then-outrageous idea that an excursion into raw nature could actually be pleasurable.
Before that date, most Americans considered the country’s primeval landscapes only as obstacles to be conquered. But Murray’s self-help opus . . . suggested that hiking, canoeing and fishing in unsullied nature were the ultimate health tonic for harried city dwellers whose constitutions were weakened by the demands of civilized life.”
As railroads made destinations easier to access, the idea of “vacating” the city gained in popularity, and developers built roadside camps, then cabins and hotels. Local attractions emerged, and popular destinations saw increased traffic from car travel. For example, in 1916, around 30,000 visitors traveled to Yellowstone National Park, the majority coming by train, but by 1936, 409,000 people were traveling to the park in automobiles. (“How American Tourism Began” by Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily)
In 1922, Eva Peterson, one of the vacation rental industry’s early pioneers, opened Peterson’s Cabins in Wells, Maine. With no plumbing, running water, or electricity, Eva charged 75 cents per person per night. Her oldest daughter and eight grandchildren helped clean and take care of the cabins.
By 1940, Eva’s daughter Miriam and son-in-law Herbert Plimpton were following in her footsteps, opening New England Village in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. Their collection of “overnight homes” was arranged like a miniature town. Some buildings were themed as Main Street mainstays with one built like a church, another like a school, and a third like a doctor’s office. Walt Plimpton, Miriam and Herbert’s 10-year-old son, towed a little red wagon from cabin to cabin collecting trash bins and dirty sheets. He brought the sheets home where Miriam washed them, hung them out to dry, and ran them through a mangle to smooth out any wrinkles. Walt then trucked the clean and crisp linens back to the cabins where his older brother, Donald, made the beds.
Herbert Plimpton playing with a dog in front of New England Village
By World War II, the idea of vacationing was gaining in popularity. During mandatory nightly blackouts along the coast, Herbert would skirt the rule against outdoor lights by cutting out “OVERNIGHT CABINS” from their cabins’ roll-down shades so people driving by could find them.
Rental activity increased in the postwar years. The growth of car ownership, rising middle-class wealth, newly established paid vacation benefits for union workers, and the introduction of air travel contributed to the tourism boom. Miriam would visit competitors’ houses in the dark and count the cars in the driveway to track occupancy.
In June of 1955—900 miles south of the Plimpton’s New England Village—Rae and George Sloane packed up their children and drove onto a ferry with what little they had to start a new life as the only full-time residents on an idyllic North Carolina barrier island called Ocean Isle Beach. Their job was to sell oceanfront lots for Rae’s Uncle Odell, and the Sloanes used money they had inherited after George’s mother’s death to build a house on the island. “When we started, we were selling lots for $500,” said Rae. “Odell paid us 2 percent, and we sold hundreds of them.”
Rae Sloane and kids
Travelers began building and renting vacation homes along the Carolina shores, and by 1965, the Sloanes had built an inn and were managing 25 newly built vacation home rentals. “We had a well with a pump in the backyard,” Rae told us. “I did all the laundry, and I would fold the sheets when they were still a little damp so they would look like they were ironed. You learn to do whatever you can to make it work. I primed many water pumps and scrubbed many bathrooms.”
Across the US, pioneering families like the Petersons, Plimptons, and Sloanes built vacation rental businesses in seasonal areas that attracted families vacating their normal lives to embrace the vacation as part of the fabric of the American dream.
Old West Speculators
Looking back to the Wild West, as large numbers of pioneers ventured westward to build new lives throughout the territories, speculators entered the race, buying up tracts of land and developing towns and dynasties.
Vacation Rental Destination Developers
In the same way, from the 1960s to the 1980s, real estate developers in leisure destinations began accumulating land and building vacation homes and commercial properties for sale and rent. These developers amassed wealth and family fortunes, creating leisure meccas that attracted a multitude of middle-class travelers. Many of these developers not only built homes, they also opened large real estate companies and then built rental businesses to manage the homes as short-term rentals.
From Maine to Florida, along the Gulf Coast, and in lake and mountain destinations throughout the US, developers kept building, and Americans kept buying. Second home ownership exploded as the idea of taking vacations cemented itself in the American psyche.
Many of these development/real estate/rental businesses continue to thrive and remain enormously influential in leisure vacation rental destinations across the country.
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
The most critical factor contributing to the explosive westward expansion was the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad connecting the east to the west; and competition was fierce between the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad Companies, who raced toward each other from Sacramento, California, on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska, on the other.
Accessibility was the key to growth.
Explorers and pioneers had previously traveled by wagon, but the railroad provided easier access. Settlers followed the rails by the tens of thousands—and then millions—building cities along the way. Additional railways branched out from the Transcontinental lines, and once-unexplored territories turned into thriving townships. By 1890, the US Census Bureau announced the end of the frontier, meaning there was no longer a discernible frontier line in the west, nor any large tracts of land unbroken by settlement.
Accessibility via Vacation Rental Listing Websites and OTAs
Following the analogy, vacation rental websites and OTAs were our industry’s Transcontinental Railroad, giving mainstream travelers easy access to millions of vacation rental properties.
Between 1994 and 2009, OTAs and vacation rental websites (i.e., Vrbo, FlipKey, Airbnb, and hundreds of regional and niche websites) were built and then consolidated. (You can find a more detailed timeline at vrmintel.com/third-party-distribution-channels/)
In 2010, only 8 percent of travelers had stayed in vacation homes, but after these websites gained steam, that number grew to 33 percent by 2015. (Phocuswright)
With the increased accessibility these websites provided, short-term rentals spread outside of traditional leisure destinations to cities and residential areas in every corner of the US.
Gunslingers, Outlaws, and Brothels
Westward growth was swift, towns sprouted almost overnight, and law enforcement was slow to catch up. Stories of lawlessness inspired folklore that endures today, including tales of gunfights, stagecoach robberies, bank holdups, bounty hunters, and brothels.
In the early settlements, governments did not have a legal monopoly on keeping order. Instead, “private agencies provided the necessary basis for an orderly society in which property was protected and conflicts were resolved . . . they included such organizations as land clubs, cattlemen’s associations, mining camps, and wagon trains.” (“The Culture of Violence in the American West” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, 2010)
We later learned that many of the folktales were fiction.
According to journalist Laurie L. Dove, “During a 15-year period in the late 1880s, there was an average of only three murders a year in Abilene, Caldwell, Dodge City, Ellsworth and Wichita— the five Kansas cities that served as significant railroad stops.
This was far lower than murder rates in the eastern cities of New York, Baltimore or Boston at the time.
(The city with the most murders of the five was Dodge City, which had 17 over nine years, less than two murders per year.)
As previously mentioned, OTAs and vacation rental websites provided more accessibility for guests, and the practice of staying in home rentals expanded well beyond traditional leisure destinations. Short-term rentals have sprung up in every major city and in residential areas where there were no existing laws to address home rentals. As a result, municipal officials are struggling with the best way to regulate this new rental activity.
In addition, fast growth has allowed multidestination business models and rental sites operating as merchants of record to emerge with a focus on short-term gains with little to no contribution to destination growth, sustainable tourism, sensible regulations, the establishment of best practices, or escrow-account protections for homeowners.
Admittedly, our industry has seen instances of illegal, speculative activity in the growing short-term rental industry in the form of online scams, companies that misuse guest funds (i.e., LeisureLink), and rental providers who do not follow regulations.
But, like the Wild West, much of the reported lawlessness in the vacation rental industry is fiction or based on isolated activity exploited by AHLA lobbyists, residents fearful of an influx of tourism activity, and homeowners opposed to having short-term renters in their neighborhoods.
Today, the industry recognizes that sensible regulations are important for the vacation rental industry to thrive, but city officials have been reacting to fear and folklore instead of methodically analyzing challenges and creating a regulatory environment that benefits all stakeholders.
Law and Order for Established Cities and Townships throughout the West
Western towns matured and grew into cities. Private agencies turned into governments, and laws were established to protect citizens and property rights. Businesses were professionalized, and interstate commerce grew.
A new generation of Americans was born, reared, and educated in areas that only a few decades before had been uninhabited. These children born in the Wild West built careers, lives, and legacies.
The Wild West was tamed.
Between 1859 and 1912, the US added 16 states to the union, including (in order) Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.
The 2020s: A New Decade for Thriving, Professionalized Vacation Rental Management Companies
Like the Wild West, the vacation rental industry had its early explorers and speculators. Mainstream accessibility arrived with the proliferation of vacation rental websites and OTAs; and with rapid growth, the industry has its share of bad actors and businesses/investors looking for get-rich-quick opportunities.
But through all of this, the professional vacation rental industry, especially at the local level, has matured and proven itself as a sustainable, valuable, and thriving sector of travel.
So here is my prediction
This next decade—the 20s—will establish professionalism and bring sensible and sustainable regulations to the vacation rental industry. And those panning for gold and looking for easy ways to make quick fortunes will eventually move to more tempting pastures. The hotel and lodging industry will bring short-term rentals under its umbrella as new standards are adopted to meet guest expectations, and true asset management models will emerge to maximize second home investments. While it won’t happen in the exact year 2020, over this new decade, the vacation rental industry will stabilize and grow with profit-driven, professionalized business models.
As for our two industry pioneers, the Plimptons and the Sloanes?
Today, nearly a century after his great-grandmother Eva Peterson began managing her plumbing-free cabins in Maine, Greg Plimpton and his wife Debbie own and operate Cabins for YOU, one of the top five management companies in the Gatlinburg area. The company manages 330 homes with 70 employees, 50 housekeepers, and 25,000 reservations a year. Two of Eva’s great-great-grandchildren serve in leadership positions in the company. If their children stay in the family business, they will be sixth-generation vacation rental managers. But we will have to wait a bit to find out if that will happen. In 2022, on the 100th anniversary of Eva’s original cabins, the youngest of the sixth generation, Ava, will be just four years old.
As for Ocean Isle Beach’s first full-time residents? Sloane Realty Vacations is still thriving with George and Rae’s children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren operating and working in the business. Today, Sloane Realty Vacations has 35 year-round employees and manages over 150 long-term rentals and 375 vacation rental properties from Ocean Isle Beach to Sunset Beach. The company is now co-owned by Rae’s children, Tripp Sloane and Debbie Sloane Smith. Debbie is also now serving her 16th year as mayor of Ocean Isle Beach. Most of Rae’s 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren still live in the area, and three of her grandchildren—Whitney, Chris, and Leah—are also working in the business.
Across the country, the descendants of the pioneers, developers, and innovators of this industry will tell the folklore of billion-dollar valuations, gamblers who walked away with fortunes, and speculators who crashed.
Now that vacation rental managers and destinations are contributing source data, we are beginning to get a factual view of actual performance over the past three years.
The following key performance indicators (KPIs) were provided by Key Data Dashboard and represent data compiled from 12 key vacation rental markets through December 31, 2019. It is important to note that Key Data Dashboard obtains information directly from property management systems instead of compiling self-reported data or data scraped from OTA calendars.
Reviewing annual data allows us to identify year-over-year trends in booking activity. For example, contrary to what we’ve been told, the average length of stay (ALOS) across these markets has seen little change over the past three years, but it is also not increasing in any of the markets we analyzed.
In addition, as you review the average booking window (the number of days between the date the reservation was made and the date of arrival), you will see that the Western regions and Southwest Florida saw a moderate decline in the average booking window, while the other markets experienced guests booking further out on average.
In the following pages, we have used adjusted occupancy and RevPAR KPIs. As you read in the fall issue of VRM Intel Magazine, the adjusted paid occupancy percentage accounts for owner stays and maintenance holds, considering only nights available to guests. Although the traditional occupancy rate may be an additional helpful KPI to compare, the adjusted paid occupancy percentage allows property managers to view occupancy from an angle that excludes factors beyond their control. Because the rates of owner stays and maintenance holds vary greatly from property to property, the adjusted paid occupancy percentage is useful for comparing similar inventories and is essential when benchmarking performance against competitors.
When calculated using adjusted paid occupancy percentage, adjusted RevPAR becomes a vacation rental-specific KPI. A critical KPI for measuring revenue performance, adjusted RevPAR accounts for both average daily rate and the paid occupancy percentage.
Train hospitality through the heart and not the head by focusing on concepts such as empathy, patience, intuition, and compassion (EPIC).
As I often say in my conference presentations and private workshops, conveying authentic and genuine hospitality during guest interactions is the single most important task that any lodging company can do to stand out from the competition.
This is especially true in the vacation rental (VR) sector, when traditional differentiating factors such as location, décor, and amenities fail to separate you from your competitors. In other words, your competitors are renting accommodations of a similar size and style, appointed with the same amenities, in the very same neighborhood, development, or building. Because of new technologies, their homes are likely priced similarly, and guests are booking on the same OTA and receiving the same automated text messages on arrival.
In this increasingly homogeneous industry, what can one company do to stand out from all of the others? Too many VR managers think the key is to “out-tech” the competition or to put more company-branded gift items in a logoed tote bag.
The reality is that the best way to stand out is to obsess about people and not just process.
Touching the hearts of guests ensures repeat business and converts otherwise anonymous guests into social media apostles. This is especially true in the VR side of lodging, where the number one objective of virtually every guest is to create memories that will echo through time as children grow up, couples grow old together, and Facebook memories pop up on the home page five or ten years down the road.
Although connection opportunities are decreasing in frequency, many opportunities exist for VR companies who truly understand and embrace the heart of hospitality—human kindness, especially to strangers.
Let your competition be in the “unit rental” business. Make sure your staff knows your company is in the vacation-memory-creation business.
After 30 years of training frontline staff on the essentials of guest service, I intuitively knew it was time for a new approach to conveying this concept, especially to a new generation that was not yet born the year I started my first training company. So I picked up on the favorite word of many young people these days, including my own Generation Z children, which is the word EPIC.
Before creating E.P.I.C., I came to realize that too many guest service training programs approach teaching hospitality as if it were merely a series of communication techniques. Perhaps this is because hotel-rating services such as Forbes and AAA put a great deal of weight on specific, scripted phrases, to the point that many staff members are so nervous about using these rigid, standardized phrases that they sound insincere.
Yet when you teach only politeness and obsess too much about rigid scripting of guest conversations, the result is fake, disingenuous service. Therefore, I decided it was time for a new model of training through the heart and not the head.
E.P.I.C. Hospitality is a philosophy about how all vacation rental staff members touch the hearts of everyone they encounter. Yes, the end game is how your staff interacts with guests, but authentic, memorable guest hospitality is rooted in intercompany culture.
E.P.I.C. Hospitality begins when we greet our first coworker each shift and continues on through every connection we make, with everyone we encounter, whether that person is a colleague, coworker, homeowner, vendor, or contractor.
My mentor and friend, Howard Feiertag, who recently had the Virginia Tech School of Hospitality renamed in his honor at the age of 91, said at his acceptance speech, “Hospitality is simply making people feel good.”
Conrad Hilton, the iconic founder of Hilton Worldwide, said it more formally: “It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality.”
Perhaps the great poet laureate Maya Angelou said it best in her famous quote: “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
To paraphrase her, I’ll just say this: Guests will forget the text message you sent on arrival, the amenity you delivered, and the automated email you sent after check-out, but they will never forget how your maintenance worker or welcome-center staffer showed interest in their child, dog, or aged grandparent.
Here are five train-the-trainer ideas you can use as a road map for training your own staff during in-house meetings.
Rehumanize your guests. Often, frontline workers in the VR space may not have experienced personally the vacation situations that those who are planning and paying for the vacation are experiencing. Therefore, find creative ways to help staff members imagine the guest stories playing out every day in your homes. One fun activity is to select pictures that represent your guests; you can use actual guest photos taken from social media or those purchased for media use. Assign staff members to work in pairs and pass out pictures representative of different demographics (for example, traditional families, couples groups, friends getaways, and extended families). Have them come up with stories behind the travelers’ plans that explain why this vacation is so particularly important (for example, last trip with the high school senior, first trip with the baby, possibly the last vacation ever because of terminal illness, or first reunion in 10 years).
Assign staff members to write up their own definitions of empathy and share them with the group; then show definitions from Google. Ask half of the group to think of guests they have encountered who had mean, harsh personalities. Ask the other half to think of guests they have met who were going through difficult personal challenges. Ask the groups to alternate sharing their examples. Is it possible there is a backstory behind that difficult guest
Search Facebook for user groups with words such as kindness and compassion in their names, and then subscribe to their feeds. When you come across meaningful memes, download them as images and share them during your hospitality discussions.
Search YouTube for videos about empathy, patience, intuition, and compassion (E.P.I.C) and share the good ones.
Create a reporting system whereby staff members can identify heartfelt gestures and actions taken by coworkers and colleagues. Then, celebrate these occurrences on intercompany social media (such as a company Facebook group) or in a celebratory email.
The Winter 2020 issue of VRM Intel Magazine is here. From the top of the marketing funnel to the gunk of deep cleans, this winter issue covers professionalism, changes at Google, true hospitality, performance data, technology connectivity, property care, industry context, and much more.
The term vacation rental has taken some hits over the past few years—but even more so in 2019.
Although it’s probably unfair, I still blame Phocuswright for introducing the terms alternative accommodations and private accommodations in its research, lumping new rental segments (i.e., shared housing and urban rentals) with traditional vacation rentals under one umbrella. But it wasn’t just Phocuswright; consumers did the same thing organically, calling everything an Airbnb. I get it. It is difficult to find an easy way to describe a lodging segment that includes apartments, beach houses, cabins, chalets, condos, townhouses, treehouses, spare bedrooms, and air mattresses. For consumers, telling friends, “I’m staying in an Airbnb,” is much simpler.
But, in 2019, after attending dozens of conferences, viewing over 30 startup pitch decks, talking to investors and analysts, and commiserating with hundreds of property managers, I’m a little peeved and perplexed—particularly about the viewpoints comparing urban short-term rentals and leisure vacation rentals. Over a billion dollars have been invested in the urban short-term rental sector, including $400M in Sonder, $180M in Lyric, $116M in Domio, and $62M in Stay Alfred. Although we see opportunities for the urban segment, we also see the risks. These models execute strategies that include master leases, facilities management, complete furnishings, reliance on distribution, and a volatile regulatory environment. It may be risky, but this urban rental segment is fast-growing and likely to find its way under hotel flags, giving its investors and founders the potential for astronomical exits. With big risk comes big reward.
So why am I peeved? First, the influx of urban rentals has precipitated a contagion of regulatory issues that have spread to leisure destinations. Second, the consistent year-over-year, decade-over-decade growth in the leisure side of the vacation rental industry is being misrepresented as old and fragmented, and in need of a consolidated overhaul. Third, if the considerable risks these newcomers are taking don’t pan out, I’m concerned that the vacation rental industry’s reputation will suffer from guilt by association.
I personally believe that the two segments, urban short-term rentals and leisure vacation rentals, need to be looked at differently in the minds of investors, owners, guests, and municipalities, as well as in the media. As a result, at VRM Intel, we have made a decision to primarily focus on leisure vacation rentals and have created new events and initiatives to improve the narrative about our industry. For example, we are launching the Second Home Investment and Rental Show (page 53) and are creating a widespread PR initiative (page 104).
In addition, this issue is filled with information supporting vacation rental managers with performance data and articles about the importance of professionalism, the evolution of property management companies into hospitality companies, strategies to address changes at Google, ways to improve site conversion, and the improvement of call center performance. In addition, we address deep cleans, inspections, and housekeeping profitability.
I hope you find this issue helpful for your team and your company. I strongly believe this new decade will be game-changing for the professionally managed vacation rental industry, and I am grateful to each of you for allowing me the opportunity to contribute to and chronicle its success.
Data can be a vacation rental management company (VRMC)’s best friend. However, it’s only useful if you’re looking at the right data for the problem at hand. Too much data can be overwhelming, but too little can lead to incorrect assumptions and uninformed decisions. There’s no such thing as information overload, only filter failure— so here’s a look at how to best analyze and understand data to avoid potential business mistakes.
Using Data to Drive RevPAR
Imagine the average daily rate (ADR) in your market is up, but occupancy is down. Based on this information, it might be tempting to assume a price drop will lead to higher occupancy. But lowering rates isn’t a decision to be taken lightly; you should have confidence in your understanding, based on data, of what the market can tolerate. Sure, certain markets are pushing back against aggressive rates, but rate resistance is just one of many reasons a guest might not book with you. Understanding why your leads booked elsewhere is essential to driving revenue per available night (RevPAR).
Although dropping your rates may seem like a simple solution to increase occupancy, it will only work if you are in fact losing leads due to rate resistance. But what if rate resistance only accounts for a small percentage of lost nights? If you could see what caused lost revenue, you could make more informed decisions. For example, if the majority of nights lost were not due to rate resistance, you could be lowering your rates for no reason. Besides that, lowering rates would be unlikely to drive additional bookings, meaning your ADR, occupancy, and RevPAR would all suffer.
When looking at the unconstrained demand for rentals in the Outer Banks for July 2019 versus July 2018, we found that although ADR was up and occupancy was down, rate resistance accounted for less than 4 percent of lost nights. Company policies—such as deposit and cancellation rules—were responsible for a much higher percentage of lost revenue. When companies had access to this information, they could alter policies that were discouraging leads from booking. After all, although you can’t control what the market is doing, you can control your policies. You’re never going to know why 100 percent of unbooked guests didn’t book, but if you know a statistically relevant percentage of reasons, it can help you make better decisions.
Considering All Revenue Channels
The previous example is just one of myriad ways in which data can be misleading if not used strategically. Imagine that, when looking at data from your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, you notice the online booked revenue for a campaign is barely higher than the total cost. Clearly you should pause this campaign and divert that money to a different one that’s driving more bookings—right? Not necessarily. If you can’t see offline inquiries and bookings in addition to online bookings, you’re not looking at the full picture.
It’s essential to consider all booking avenues when analyzing a campaign’s success. Otherwise, you could pause a campaign that’s driving many of your company’s phone leads and bookings. A 360-degree view of your PPC spends with revenue attribution for all channels allows you to make more informed and more effective marketing decisions. Employ actionable analytics, then act.
Leveraging a Hospitality CRM Platform
Although leisure demand has been strong, it won’t continue to thrive indefinitely, and VRMCs need to be prepared for unpreventable situations such as recessions and natural disasters. All signs say a recession is coming—this isn’t an “if ” but a “when.” Launching data-based strategies now will empower VRMCs to manage this inevitable downturn.
Vacation rental managers have two distinct customers: guests and homeowners. The identity of a manager continues to evolve into that of a hospitality provider, and the industry is adapting to the idea that professionals not only manage properties, they also shape the guest experience.
I’ve spent 15 years examining the interplay of marketing, operations, and software in the vacation rental industry. We’ve built our business on the premise that elevating the brand experience is the future of the industry, and I’m confident that more attention will be devoted to the homeowner portion of this experience.
Let’s discuss the importance of delivering deeper service and look at ways to effectively communicate this value to property owners.
The True Significance of Deep Service Value
For homeowners, there are many options for facilitating the rental process. First, you can manage the entire process on your own: list the property on platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo and hire cleaners and contractors to handle turnovers and maintenance repairs. A second option is to use an agency model—for example, Evolve — where owners receive marketing and OTA assistance but rely on a network of their own for cleaning, maintenance, and guest services. Finally, there is the full-service option of hiring a vacation rental property manager. This is particularly attractive for the top end of the market—when the owner is time constrained or doesn’t live locally—and nearly 44 percent of owners select the full service option.
As platforms such as Airbnb lower the barriers for owners to choose self-management and more professionals compete in vacation rental markets, owner expectations have risen. Homeowners are looking for top-to-bottom asset management, which includes preventative maintenance, clear communication on services delivered, time spent caring for properties, VIP concierge service, and guest communication.
Managers who don’t deliver hospitality-like service will lose their clients to alternative management options or other property managers in their markets.
Showcasing the Full Value of Your Work
When a homeowner makes the purposeful decision to employ a manager, he or she expects that manager to deliver value commensurate to the management fee (which is typically around 25 percent but depends on the market and on services provided). The manager takes on the responsibility of effectively communicating with the homeowner, which is instrumental in building trust and transparency in the relationship.
Of course, the idea of homeowner relations is not a novel one. As the industry has matured, however, owners are demanding greater detail and more frequent reports. Property management has evolved into a much more service-oriented business (i.e., it’s no longer just about maintaining property but also about maintaining guests), and managers have become saddled with heavier workloads. The increased owner-facing responsibility comes second to that of meeting guests’ service and quality expectations, but it is still critical.
With 76 percent of guests expecting a personalized rental experience, property managers are forced to do a significant amount of behind-the-scenes work during each reservation. This work extends well beyond property care and readiness prior to each check-in (e.g., cleanings, inspections, and maintenance repairs) and includes both reactive and proactive guest attention.
In fact, managers are spending an average of 200 hours of work at each unit per year, but owners are aware of approximately 20 percent of it.
Demonstrating service level takes time and resources, which is why many managers don’t consistently relay information regarding level of service to property owners. It’s not enough to simply say your team is accomplishing X, Y, and Z on a daily basis. Managers need compelling data to convey value, and they need to showcase the data to owners. This is where some of the disconnect lies. Managers often lack the time and software resources needed to meticulously track the frequency, details, and results of their work; and manual tracking activity takes time that managers simply don’t have.
Despite their best intentions, managers often fall prey to reactively relaying information to homeowners. However, this makes it all the more important to have a positive working relationship with homeowners so that when there is an emergency, or when a costly repair arises, owners are more receptive because trust has already been established.
Actionable Methods to Convey Service
Making a good first impression is the foundation of a robust owner relationship. Building strong rapport leads to a better understanding of owners’ idiosyncrasies related to the items in their rentals, their styles of communication, and the overarching goals of your service. Building trust from day one sets the tone for a positive relationship, which often affords you more flexibility when it comes to maximizing rental income.
There are many ways to foster owner relationships, from personalized preventative maintenance plans to consistent and reliable communication.
By leveraging data, managers can easily provide concrete evidence of work completed at the home (e.g., the number of visits made to the property; the amount of time spent on cleanings, inspections, and maintenance repairs; the frequency of performance for each task; the length of time required to complete various tasks; the number of service calls made to the property; and the frequency of guest communication). Consider how these metrics would easily translate into a comprehensive view for owners that could be shared on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis and could supplement existing meetings by phone or in person.
Although many owners expect to be kept in the loop regarding the above metrics, not many understand the full value of preventative maintenance and asset management.
Tracking and reporting information such as appliance downtime, number of repairs per appliance, running age of each appliance, and quarterly inspection reports will impress many owners and prove that you can quickly diagnose issues, prevent emergency repairs, extend appliance lifespans, and drive more predictive property management — all of which demonstrates how indispensable you are to the homeowner.
Another best practice when conveying value is outlining service standards that are tailored to each property. No two properties are exactly the same, and each therefore requires a specific level of service. This fact may require you to implement different service measures that contribute to the success of each rental property (e.g., more than one property manager to oversee the property, thoroughly customized checklists, and preventative maintenance plans).
Suggestions for Homeowner Reporting
Making homeowners aware of the extra (and customized) measures taken to make sure their properties are well maintained will go a long way toward ensuring you retain your owners for years to come.
Benefits of More Service Offerings and Effective Communication
Embracing the service side of the business and constantly looking for growth opportunities is the future of property management. Managers who deliver quality services will be given more work and responsibility. (Note: increased operational load can be offset through smart partnerships and adding service staff.) Upselling owners with added services such as landscaping, mildew removal, snow cleanup, and pest control increases your owners’ lifetime value by helping you generate more revenue in the short term, as well as develop longer-lasting relationships.
Today’s consumers hold fellow consumers’ reviews in high regard. Homeowners researching property management companies in their markets want reassurance that the services they receive will be top notch. Happy owners who feel they are getting more value than the fees they’ve paid are much more inclined to refer your services to others. As we know, the best form of marketing in this industry is word-of-mouth referral.
Conclusion
Providing hospitality-level service for both guests and owners is one of the strongest trends in today’s vacation rental market. Delivering on this service isn’t quite enough, though, and managers are now expected to take the necessary steps to effectively communicate all the work they do. Those who are able to leverage deep property data to execute on prescriptive service plans will be able to adapt to this new service-provider role and will more quickly differentiate themselves from the growing number of managers in the market.
We are currently in an interesting time in the vacation rental industry for M&A transactions. From VC-backed companies to private equity (PE) firms, hotels, OTAs, and traditional short-term rental companies, there is no shortage of buyers for short-term rental management companies.
We get asked this question at least once a week: “How much can I get for my company?”
The short answer is, “It depends.”
Let’s start with the easy part—your financials.
Objective Part (It isn’t completely objective, but it’s close.)
Figure out your trailing twelve-month (TTM) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
Adjust by taking out all expenses associated with owners of the company (payroll, benefits, perks, one-time outlier fees, etc.). These can be subjective and are often negotiated.
If you do not already have a general manager (GM) in place, add back in a “market rate” expense for replacing the owners/management team, upcoming minimum wage hikes, rent expense (if not charging market rent), etc. Once again, these expenses can be subjective and may be negotiated.
This should give you an adjusted EBITDA for your company.
Now that you have come this far, what’s next?
The Subjective Part (The “Fun” Part)
Put a multiple on this adjusted EBITDA (AE) number. The current range of multiples is somewhere between 3.5 and 5.5 times AE, with some acquisitions falling lower or higher. Currently, however, most deals are closing within this range.
Why are some companies valued at 3.5x and others at 5.5x? Consider these questions:
Q: Are you located in a “hot” market or not?
Does your market have long peak seasons?
Is the management fee in your market higher than that in other markets?
Are local regulations lax?
Q: How is your company’s TTM EBITDA compared to its trailing 36-month EBITDA ?
Are you growing or regressing? This can be defined as revenue, EBITDA, or inventory.
Q: What is the length of time the majority of your homeowners have been on your program?
What is your inventory’s yearly churn (attrition) rate?
Q: What is your advance bookings report, as of today, compared to the “as of today” from one year ago?
Q: Is there already a GM in place, and how much are the owners involved in the day-to-day operations?
Is the owner of the company also involved in homeowner relations? Note: This can affect your valuation when trying to sell.
Q: How much of the EBITDA is from a real estate brokerage operation?
Real estate brokerages traditionally trade at a lower multiple.
Q: What does the company culture/staff look like?
Do the buyer and seller have similar company cultures and philosophies?
Q: What terms of the deal are you willing to accept? This can change your valuation wildly. Buyers are often willing to offer higher multiples for more agreeable purchase terms.
Are you willing to accept a large amount of seller financing?
Are you willing to stay with the company for x number of months/years?
Is your entire staff staying on with the new company?
Each buyer has his or her own subjective reasoning that affects the multiple, and there are many more questions in addition to those above. Each buyer treats each factor differently as well.
Every deal is different.
If you use this cheat sheet to determine your AE and are realistic in your multiple for your company, then you can figure out a range of what your company is actually worth. As I have stated several times, every deal is different, depending on the buyer’s and seller’s priorities in the plethora of factors and issues.
About the Authors
C2G Advisors is an M&A consulting firm with more than 35 years in the short-term rental industry. The company predominantly advises buyers by helping them expand through acquisition. However, whether you are a buyer or a seller, Jim Olin and Jacobie Olin at C2G Advisors would love to work alongside you to help you get the best deal at the right time.
To truly develop your brand requires building direct bookings. It’s critical for a vacation rental property management company to maintain a professional looking website, and all of your marketing efforts should work in alignment to drive traffic to your branded site. Here are five best practices you can use to accomplish the goal of driving direct bookings.
Website Optimization
Your website should define your brand, allow guests to make inquiries, offer value to drive conversions, and answer questions your guests have. Here are key elements to include on your website to help accomplish your goal:
Professional photography
Well-written unit descriptions
Location information
Key factors—price and offers
User reviews
Online booking capabilities
Speed and accessibility
Functionality across all devices
Blogging
Email Marketing
One of the most important marketing assets you have is the email list of prospects who inquire about your properties and your former guests. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to build long-term relationships with guests.
Build your subscriber list
Encourage readers to engage
Make it personal
Keep your email out of spam folders
Make sure your emails are clean and crisp
Include links and calls to action
Make it easy to unsubscribe
Make email mobile friendly
Social Media Marketing
When properly utilized, channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn can be great sources for adding names to your email list, driving traffic to your website, and increasing direct bookings.
Have a plan
Determine which platforms suit you
Get to know your target audience
Market your properties via social media
Use photos, videos, and graphics
Prioritize quality over quantity
Work with the right tools
Follow conversations and respond
Paid Search
Use paid search (i.e. Adwords) to promote special events and offers, book slow rental periods, or drive traffic to your website. Unlike the low- or no-cost options, you will need to establish a budget first.
Understand how PPC works
Have defined conversion goals
Select your PPC channel
Perform detailed keyword research
Determine your PPC budget
Create compelling ad copy
Make sure your landing pages are relevant
Continue to test and optimize
Organic Search
It’s a marathon, not a sprint!
Identify your target keywords/keyword phrases
Perfect your on-page optimization
Develop your content strategy
Attract high-quality links
Monitor performance
Continue to optimize your SEO efforts
Acting on and implementing these five best practices can help you to build an effective marketing strategy and drive direct bookings for your properties. Most of these best practices can be accomplished for low or no cost and a small commitment of your time. The result, whether you choose to do it yourself or hire staff or third-party contractors, will be to drive direct booking and increase your revenues!
The news comes just a few weeks after the abrupt announcement that Scott’s brother and Vacasa CEO, Eric Breon, had stepped down from his role.
Over the past 35 years, each company has played a significant role in growing the demand for condo vacations among visitors to the Myrtle Beach Grand Strand area. Between Condo-World and CondoLux, the two companies represent primarily luxury oceanfront condo rentals, including the management of on-site desks at several properties. Both companies have been major contributors to the golf package business as well, booking nearly 30,000 tee times per year.
The following levels of authority and delegation grid provide examples of when it might be important to give someone the authority to recommend versus the authority to act or inform and initiate based on the importance of the task and the employee’s knowledge and expertise.
Last year’s #BookDirect Guest Education campaign was able to directly communicate with over seven million travelers through email messages to past guests and prospects (reported by VRMs) and resulted in over 60 million impressions on Twitter and Instagram (Keyhole.co). 
We are asking all vacation rental managers and homeowners to do the following on Feb 5, 2020:
New travelers coming into the vacation home rental market don’t always understand the unique nature of individually owned vacation homes. If they haven’t fully comprehended that the rental isn’t a hotel, friction can arise during their stay because their experience may not match their expectations.
Even in developments with heavy restrictions, an exterior doormat is often allowed. There are a multitude of online suppliers that print affordable custom door and floor mats. A doormat that displays the property name is a good option for multifamily units with no other display options. If done in a tasteful way, not only will guests be able to quickly identify their condo or apartment rental upon arrival, the name of the home will also be etched in their minds. In addition, other guests who pass by and think that particular location would be perfect for their next vacation will more easily remember the unique name and find you for their next trip.
Edging my chair closer to the fire, I sent a text to Honeypot Cottages’ property manager, Andy Smith. Straightaway, he replied that it sounded like the boiler was out and needed to be “topped off.” He offered to come that night, but I assured him I would be fine. The cozy English comforters are toasty warm! He promised to be there first thing the next morning. My bedroom was upstairs, and I had stayed up late listening to the intense Alabama versus LSU game, online. I told Andy I would most likely sleep in and he could let himself into the cottage the following morning.
As soon as I texted him, Andy returned immediately, got the heater back on, and stayed to chat a while about my trip, his family, the business, and the magical Cotswold area itself. He even offered to drive me to nearby Dover’s Hill so I could get some good photographs of the rolling hills. Not only did I have a great property manager, I felt as if I had made a new friend.
When we began to plan a vacation, I would pick up the phone—and, later, after searching online—and talk directly with the property management company. I’ve always appreciated the personal contact and the relationship built with property managers from the early stages of vacation planning.
During November 2019, one of the Smiths’ properties became my home away from home. Sansons Cottage, conveniently located on Chipping Campden’s bustling High Street, is located less than a three-block stroll from the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker as well as welcoming pubs filled with hearty conversation and inviting fireplaces, tearooms, restaurants, shops, bakeries, and delicious “takeaway meals.” While there, I had only to mention a need or raise a question to Andy or Sarah to have it immediately answered.
With a warm smile, Andy explained the beginnings of the business. “When we married, Sarah was working for an agency here in this area, managing and cleaning other people’s second homes and holiday cottages. We bought our first cottage, The Honeypot, in 2007, completely ripped everything out, and started over. It wasn’t long before the word spread, and we were being asked to do the same thing for other people.”
It’s truly a small world, and we love discovering “people coincidences.” Often, when talking with potential guests, we learn that we know some of the same people and places. We have an interesting story about two couples, one from Canada and the other from Australia, who met in a restaurant line in London. They began chatting and learned that one couple had recently stayed in one of our cottages and the other was booked to stay with us in the very same cottage! These two couples have kept in touch and meet in their travels around the world. And it all began when they stayed with us at Honeypot Cottages.
