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Working With Policymakers To Help Create Effective, Commonsense Regulations

By
Matt Curtis
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My wife and I had a recent dilemma: What do we do in a hotel room when our six-month-old daughter has fallen asleep? The solution: Next time, stay in a vacation rental.

Like many parents, we got to the point when we needed to have our daughter on a sleep schedule. This hit us especially hard when we found ourselves in a small hotel room at 7:30 p.m. after we had finally gotten the baby to fall asleep. That’s when we realized we had no idea what to do! With extremely limited options, we sat on the floor on the opposite side of the room from the baby and watched TV shows on our iPads. In truth, we were staying for only one night, but when Christie turned to me and said, “If we were here for more than three nights we would have to rent a house or I would probably kill you,” I knew exactly what she meant.

As parents of one six-month-old I can’t begin to fathom this same scenario for families with more than one child.

As city policymakers discuss regulations, they might want to consider trading places with parents like us first to understand the demand for private home accommodations, otherwise they may also be hiding in the dark as they create onerous vacation rental regulations that drive family travelers away.

Property managers and owners can help policymakers cast the right vote; they can join the conversation, serve on decision-making boards, and give their time to organize the industry.

People have used vacation rentals for years when traveling, for all kinds of reasons. Typically, it’s a family staying for a longer than normal length of time. In fact, recent surveys show the average stay in a vacation rental is just over seven nights, which is a huge shift from the average stay in a hotel of just over one night. And the average size of the group is significantly different—four people in a vacation rental versus just over one person in a hotel.

The research group Longwood International recently outlined some of the reasons families travel. These travelers bring heaps of economic impact to communities, and the research found that this type of travel is often part of a decision to make a new life in the place being visited. The Longwood International study found that some families research towns based on whether they are a good place to live or a good place to start a business or career.

The research also showed that some families decide to visit communities when seeking to determine whether they are good places to attend college, retire, or purchase a vacation home.

Of course, when families are making travel choices, we know they may need the option to rent a home for their visit, and as cities decide on regulations around home rentals, they may want to remember the needs of family travelers.

And why not? The need is clear, especially for families, and the economics are clear, too.

In the United States the travel industry has created 972,000 jobs and expanded employment 18 percent faster than the rest of the economy. Travel industry salaries have risen 10 percent faster than overall private sector salaries, and since 2010 the industry has created more jobs than the entire manufacturing sector.

In Nashville the community benefited from $5.4 billion in visitor spending, and the visitors helped to support over 58,000 jobs. Now, that wasn’t all due to the traditional short-term rentals of visiting families, but an economic impact study of Nashville’s peer city, Austin, Texas, shows that the vacation rental industry helped bring $234.1 million in economic impact to that city and helped support 2,500 jobs.

In little St. Joseph, Michigan, the vacation rental industry brings $24.4 million dollars per year to the community and supports more than 300 jobs. In larger Galveston, Texas, the vacation rental industry helps bring $283 million to the community and support over 3,100 jobs.

At the recent U.S. Travel Association annual conference, ESTO, the attendees spoke at length about some incredible statistics on vacations, including the following: 55 percent of Americans don’t use all their vacation time, 222 million vacation days went unused in 2015, and only 36 percent of Americans go into a new year with confidence they’ll take a vacation.

In addition, the attendees discussed some other fascinating statistics. Traveling families are spending more on their vacations. In fact, families are spending on average 11 percent more, and families staying in vacation rentals in some destinations have been found to be spending two times the amount daily spent by the average traveler.

These conversations led to a common theme from tourism leaders: They want vacation rental managers and owners to get involved.

Time and again at recent tourism conferences we have heard heads of convention centers and visitors bureaus, tourism boards, and destination marketing organizations say that the demand for vacation rentals by family travelers is too great and the economic impact is too massive for property managers and owners to be left out of the discussion. One solution has been all too commonly discussed: Join your Convention and Visitors Bureau. Be a part of the conversation.

Property managers and owners who want to help frame discussions occurring at the local or state level should join their tourism industry stakeholders. Strong consideration should also be given to joining local and state real estate and home-builders associations. These organizations should be part of discussions on how vacation rentals bring many jobs and have a massive impact on the economy and also meet the huge demand of family travelers.

Managers and owners seeking to help advocate for effective, commonsense regulations should sign up to serve on local planning commissions, zoning boards, or building committees. These local advisory groups give policy direction to city councils and can benefit from sound voices of individuals who understand the industry.

To prepare for the growing discussions of how vacation rentals are becoming a more important aspect of the visitor industry and to prepare for the increasing conversations about regulations for vacation home rentals, managers and owners should also give their time and resources to form local and state alliances. Only when you are part of an organized group will policymakers fully hear your suggestions on how regulations should be created that are realistic to the needs of family travelers and property owners.

Join, serve, and give. It’s that easy.

The economic impact of the visitor industry is gargantuan. City policymakers prepare to capture visitor dollars by investing in public spaces, parking, wayfinding, and cultural events. They analyze and decide how best to fund public art and bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and they encourage and invest in concerts and art festivals. Policymakers do all this while working to preserve heritage structures and the environment and provide walkable, transit-friendly town centers. And they know that visitors help fund all these efforts.

These city policymakers need to understand why some people travel, why some families choose longer stays, and why for visiting families a vacation rental or traditional short-term rental is the best option.

One great mayor once said, “The visitors industry is the ultimate green industry. Visitors leave their money in our local economy, and take up very little footprint.” That is true, and policymakers need to hear from industry stakeholders on how to best understand the demand, the family traveler, and your business.

Although my wife and I found a way to get through the night in our tiny hotel room, cowering on the other side of the bed and watching iPads while our baby slept, I know that we will need the option to rent a home when we are staying for longer periods of time—there is no way we can go through life hiding in a dark room. I’d rather take a few extra minutes next time to research and find a great vacation rental.

The demands of traveling families are great, and the economic impact they have is even greater. Cities will continue to benefit from visitors who choose to rent homes when they travel with their families or friends. And to help policymakers create effective, commonsense regulations, property managers and owners should join their local tourism bureaus, serve on planning commissions, and give their time and resources to organize local and state vacation rental alliances.

Working with Communities and HOAs: Galveston Island Homeowner addresses HOA

By
VRM Intel Staff
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On Galveston Island’s west end, there are approximately 41 different resort subdivisions, each with its own set of deed restrictions. Only two neighborhoods ban short term-rentals via their deed restrictions.

In 2004, six property management companies organized the Galveston Association of Rental Managers (GARM), to proactively prevent additional deed restriction changes.

We worked closely with all the West End neighborhoods to create our strategy: good neighbor policies, universal registration, guest “code of conduct” forms, and most important, patrolling off-duty police who are available 24/7.

In 2010, a homeowner sought to amend the deed restrictions in her subdivision and ban vacation rentals. There were numerous meetings, and neighbors debated the idea among themselves. GARM also participated in the discussions.

Recently, I stumbled across this letter which was written anonymously by a homeowner in the subdivision in response to the proposed ban. Even though it was written several years ago, the positions presented in the letter are valid and relevant today. I have adapted and updated the letter in hopes that it serves as a template and provides positioning assistance to other companies, neighborhoods, and homeowners facing the same challenges in their communities. 

A Letter to Our Friends And Neighbors Regarding Changing The Deed Restrictions In Our Subdivision:

 A survey has been sent to everyone in our neighborhood proposing to change our subdivision deed restrictions to exclude short-term rentals. As you contemplate this proposal, there are various factors that should be considered.

Life can change, so maintain all your options.

It is risky to unnecessarily restrict property ownership rights. Storms come, finances change, or family dynamics shift. When these life events occur, property owners should not be restricted from adjusting their investments—including real estate investments—to meet their needs.

In our resort subdivision, for example, many large beach homes were built by the rich and famous of Houston. Those vacation houses were well used and enjoyed for many decades; however, the owners aged, as did the homes, and circumstances changed. Some of the homes became vacation rentals, which enabled the homeowners or their heirs to defray expenses while continuing to utilize the homes on occasion. The fact that these homes became rentals did not diminish the value of the subdivision.

Vacation rentals and renters drive the real estate sales market.

Vacation rentals are the driving force behind the real estate market on the West End of the island. Countless buyers start out as renters of vacation homes, learn to love the island and then purchase a home. Local Realtors® report that most clients won’t even look at beach properties in areas where vacation rentals are restricted. Even buyers who have no intention of renting do not want their options limited. It is frightening to think of trying to sell a home in Pirates Beach West if rentals were restricted. The number of buyers will be limited, and real estate values will go down.

Vacation rentals are not a problem in our subdivision.

If rentals were to become a problem, negotiations with the property management companies for more stringent policies would be a better solution than a drastic change in deed restrictions.

The Galveston Association of Rental Managers (GARM) is an established organization made up of seven property management companies which are dedicated to good-neighbor policies. GARM carefully monitors renter activities via carefully crafted, universal registrations, on-site check-in procedures, and year-round, off-duty police officers who patrol our area and monitor renters’ activities 24 hours per day. GARM companies manage several vacation homes in our subdivision. When there is a problem, we have one number to call for assistance, 24/7.

In addition, several homes are managed individually by their owners—Rent-By-Owners. Report directly to these homeowners, your neighbors, if you feel their renters are breaking subdivision rules or are out of bounds. Most people are reasonable and we are all dedicated to maintaining a peaceful neighborhood.

The Reality

There are ten summer weeks and a couple of festival weekends a year when rentals are at a peak. During the other 42 weeks there are approximately ten families in residence in our area. To change the deed restrictions for those ten weeks and those ten families seems extreme. In reality, we are a community of absentee owners.

Are you certain of the legality of the proposed deed changes?

These changes propose grandfathering current owners.  Will you be ready to defend yourself in a lawsuit if you fail to disclose to a new owner that their deed restrictions are different than those of their neighbors and different than what you enjoyed?

A change in restrictions that does not restrict everyone equally will be confusing and risky. If the new deed restrictions do not comply with fair housing rules, would individual homeowners be liable? What if one section decided to change and another section didn’t?  Does that help the marketability of the neighborhood to have a plethora of different deed restrictions?

Most important, who is going to police this restriction and how? Will our property owners association be responsible? Will we have to increase our dues to make it work?

Let the market determine the rules. Why put your fate in the hands of someone else? 

Our current deed restrictions are moderate, just enough to ensure the beauty of our community. The initial platting with the wide concrete streets, the curving roads, the separation from the highway and the set back requirements are the real reasons for the success of the subdivision, not the deed restrictions.

Many neighbors go far above and beyond deed restrictions with beautiful landscaping, clean wetland areas, stunning architecture, and year-round property maintenance. Our beautiful entrances and cul de sac landscaping are mainly the result of homeowner donations. Cooperation among neighbors has been key to the success of our neighborhood. 

We will always be friends.

Thank you for your consideration of these points. Many of us in the neighborhood are against the change in the deed restrictions. We want to remain anonymous as we care more than anything about the sanctity of the subdivision as a collegial environment. No other neighborhood in the area has what we have—our monthly parties, our Christmas celebration, and the July fourth festival. Let’s all decide this issue privately, vote anonymously, and stay friends.

 

UPDATE:

GARM celebrated its twelfth anniversary this year and now has eight members companies. Over the years, we have become a known entity at City Hall and the go-to organization when any questions come up about vacation rentals. Over the past two years, we participated in the formulation of a city-wide short-term rental ordinance along with representatives of the Rent-By-Owner community.

Our ordinance requires that:

  1. All vacation rentals register with the city.
  2. All vacation rentals pay lodging tax.
  3. All registrations list a 24/7 contact who will respond to problems at the property.

We remain proponents of the “good neighbor policy” and strongly believe that our work—started over 12 years ago—has contributed to our community having (mostly!) positive attitudes toward vacation rentals.

What was the outcome of the neighborhood debate discussed in the letter? The homeowners voted overwhelmingly to maintain the original deed restrictions and allow short-term rentals.

 

Demand-itis: 3 Ways to Cure the Problem of Missed Leads

By
VRM Intel Staff
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The hospitality industry is suffering from a serious condition. Few recognize it, and therefore even fewer know how to treat it. The condition is one in which vacation rental managers (VRMs) devote more and more of their marketing budget to generating leads while paying exorbitant amounts for every inquiry, but at the end of the day, a huge percentage of these are going unbooked.

Demand-itis: when demand is plentiful, but not enough of it is being captured.

It seems natural to diversify—going after variety and volume—however, learning to turn existing demand into business is far more efficient and profitable. In hospitality, marketing budgets devour a huge percentage of overall revenue.

Consider a VRM with a $100,000 marketing budget. This company receives 9,000 inquiries as a result of its marketing efforts. This means that every inquiry costs $11.11. (We have seen this number climb as high as $30 or $40 per inquiry.) If reservations agents are converting only 30 percent, this means that there are 6,300 leads that have gone unbooked—that’s almost $70,000 in leads.

The cure for this condition is to increase conversions for existing leads by improving performance on the ground level. The three factors to consider are:

 

Training

Traditionally, reservations agents have been treated as order takers: self-focused, following a script, filling out a form, and booking a home. To capitalize on existing demand, reservations agents should be thought of as sales professionals who are guest-focused and devoted to earning trust and loyalty, as well as listeners instead of talkers and creators of an experience. Reservations agents should be hired as salespeople and trained with the aim of creating an exceptional guest experience from the get-go. Successful training and coaching can increase conversions incrementally over time, so a 5 percent initial increase may become much higher in the long run.

 

Lead Management Improvements

Proper lead management is essential for VRMs. A typical scenario for VRMs: Three different home inquiries from one guest all become different leads. Multiple agents may end up reaching out to the same guest, in which case the guest experience is muddled and the guest story can get lost. Alternatively, agents may spend valuable time merging leads when they could be generating revenue through outbound calls or recording vital guest details. With true lead management software, the guest is the lead, and the lead is integrated with a CRM so that the whole story is captured.

 

Outbound Sales Programs

What’s happening with the calls that go unbooked? What about that other 70 percent? If you’re not following up, they are booking with your competition. Of course, in some cases, your properties just aren’t the right fit. In many cases, the guest is just in the middle of the decision-making process, and a thoughtful follow-up call that says “Hey, we know you’re considering a Valentine’s Day visit to ski with your fiancé, and we have the perfect romantic home with a hot tub available during that time” goes a long way toward showing guests that you are invested in their experience.

A portion of outbound sales can also be automated. For instance, an East Coast VRM with 200 units created an email program that triggered an email to be sent to “hot leads” four days after the last touch point with an agent. The email reminder—“Let’s finalize your vacation”—created 727 bookings with revenue of over $877,000 in just five months.

 

Conclusion

The rising cost of guest acquisition is a hot-button topic. Yes, the cost is rising. The solution is not to spin your wheels faster to drive more demand—it is to fine-tune essential operations in order to capitalize on the leads that already exist. Have a serious look at how many leads are coming in versus conversion rates, and then consider what happens when you increase conversions by 5 percent through agents or add on an outbound program that captures an additional 2 percent.

Then there’s the possibility we haven’t even discussed yet: implementing a marketing tracking program that shifts money from programs that don’t work to programs that do—this can add on another 2 percent. This can look like hundreds of thousands of dollars that can go into enhancing the guest experience in myriad ways. The alternative is to keep sending that money out the door to other marketing programs to drive more leads, many of which will go unbooked without focusing on the foundation: curing the Demand-itis.

Increasing Revenue Through Reservations

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Many independent properties are focused on increasing online bookings—an essential part of running your business for many reasons. Benefits of online bookings include less human resources required for processing, easily measurable attribution tracking, and lower associated costs. However, many people are not booking online until they speak with someone first, especially when reserving a vacation rental.

Why? Vacation rentals are not standardized like hotel rooms. Because the average booking is often two to three times the cost of a typical hotel booking, people want to speak with someone prior to booking to verify that they are getting exactly what they are looking for.

 

3 Ways to Increase Bookings:

  1. Track all incoming calls to understand how many inbound leads your reservations team is receiving.

 How does this help? Without knowing how many calls for availability your team is receiving, you have no way of determining your closing rate. Here is an example of how to determine a closing rate for a 150-unit vacation rental company:

  • A 150-unit vacation rental company could take as many as 10,000 calls in a year.
  • A 20 percent closing rate would equal 2,000 bookings.
  • With a three-night average length of stay and a $200 average nightly rate, the company would have $1,200,000 in direct bookings.
  • If the company increases its closing rate by 5 percent (five bookings for every 100 calls), then 500 additional bookings times three nights times $200 per night equals $300,000 in incremental bookings.

This would be a big increase in top- and bottom-line revenues if you had the necessary tools to track and generate this revenue. Benchmark studies show that up to 79 percent of all inbound leads are lost in the first ten minutes. Who has your 79 percent?

 

  1. Provide incentive opportunities that track agent performance to allow top agents to increase performance.

In many years of managing and directing sales professionals, one thing has always been true: showing agents (salespeople) how they are performing allows the cream to rise to the top. Simply put, top performers want to perform at a high level. Without measuring and showing them this data, there is no way for top performers to gauge themselves against the rest of the team.

Top sales performers will often be responsible for the majority share of revenues. Incentivizing employees to perform by showing them how they rank against their counterparts creates a positive, competitive atmosphere within your reservations team.

There are many positive side effects of this type of sales culture, and this data can be easily measured by call/reservation software offering “dashboards.” Dashboards are great tools that can show individual or team sales data and how the team’s hard work is affecting your property’s business.

 

  1. Increase reservations and recover lost opportunities by using outbound call blitzes to follow up with inbound calls.

If a property receives 10,000 calls and books 2,000 reservations, then there are 8,000 calls from travelers interested in booking who did not confirm on the first inbound call. If your team follows up on these 8,000 calls and 3 percent of them turn into reservations, then you are looking at 240 incremental reservations and, potentially, a revenue increase of upwards of $240,000 (at an average of $1,000 per booking).

Even incentivizing your staff with 10 percent commission would still deliver a net gain of $216,000 in new bookings. If you haven’t considered an outbound call blitz campaign to increase bookings on inbound calls, it’s time to do so.

So why follow up with these leads? Because the Internet is the dominant way people plan, research, discover, and book their lodgings, it is vital to follow up with leads that do not convert on the first call or user session. If you don’t, then there is a good chance that the traveler will simply find another property management company with a similar rental at a similar price and book with it instead of you.

 

Consistently Closing the Sale

A solid outbound calling and lead follow-up strategy allows your independent property to consistently close more business than your competition. We are dedicated to leveling the playing field for the independent property, and our customers are having great success using an outbound strategy that works for them.

Happy booking!

Shopping for Smart Locks? 5 Considerations When Selecting a Smart Lock Provider

By
Amy Hinote
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The professionally managed vacation rental industry has seen rapid adoption of smart lock technology over the last two years. The increased security that keyless entry offers to managers, owners, and guests is reason enough to invest in smart locks for rental properties.

However, smart locks provide much more than the ability to lock and unlock a door without a key. Today’s smart locks also track who is entering and leaving the property, provide real-time alerts and notifications, email digital codes to guests, ensure an increased level of security for both owners and guests, and offer networked home automation products that control and monitor thermostats, refrigeration, pool heat, and more.

“Smart Home benefits all of the key stakeholders in vacation rental management,” said Greg Burge, president at PointCentral. “It provides a secure and convenient guest experience, cuts owner energy expense and maintenance, and delivers revolutionary operational benefits to Vacation Rental Managers (VRMs). Our customers have told us that no other investment has delivered as broad a set of benefits as their Smart Home investment.”

 

Key Advantages to Using Smart Locks

  • Improves security for owners and guests
  • Tracks activity in the property
  • Provides protection for VRMs
  • Eliminates the need for on-site check-in
  • Decreases or eliminates staff time addressing late-night key delivery to guests who are locked out of the property
  • Provides connectivity for Smart Home automation systems that control thermostats, refrigeration, and pool temperature

Because new smart home products and technologies are being introduced at warp speed, it can be challenging for VRMs to know the right questions to ask when selecting a smart lock provider.

We reached out to PointCentral, LockState, and dorma+kaba (Dorma and Kaba recently merged) to find out more about differentiating between smart lock options and the key factors in selecting a smart lock provider.

From installation to networking, software integration and guest communications, there are multiple factors to consider. Consequently, at VRM Intel, we compiled a cheat sheet of questions to ask when shopping for smart locks for your vacation rental management company.

 

 5 Considerations When Selecting a Smart Lock Provider

  1. Hardware Architecture

A primary consideration when choosing a smart lock provider is whether the lock system connects with the internet via broadband, Wi-Fi, or cellular-based technology. In some cases, providers offer a variety of options, but VRMs will want to dive deeper by asking additional questions about networking and gateways.

  • What is the average life cycle for the lock? Three years? Five years? Ten years?
  • Does the lock system operate via broadband, cellular, Wi-Fi connectivity, or a combination?
  • Does the lock require a “gateway” or additional hardware?
  • If a gateway is required, what communication protocol does it use to communicate with the lock?
  • Do I need to set up a new radio frequency (RF) network on-site?
  • If a Wi-Fi connection is required, how friendly is the “environment” to the new network? For example, are there concrete walls that would limit the range of acceptable locations for the gateway?
  • Does an RF technician need to be available for installation and support? If so, what will that installation and support entail?
  • How often will the lock batteries need to be changed?
  • Does the lock have a manual override option?
  • What happens if connectivity is dropped? If power is lost to my gateway, will I receive a notification or alert? Will the lock still operate normally? Will I still be able to generate codes for my lock?
  • Will the lock location be exposed to extreme weather conditions? If so, does the provider have locks that perform well when exposed to the elements?
  • If I am located in a high windstorm area, is the smart lock approved or certified for these conditions? According to Rich Lang, vice president of sales at Oracode, “When deciding on hardware, one consideration is whether the smart lock is certified for installation in a high windstorm area. This feature could be essential for those properties located in hurricane-prone areas such as Florida.”
  • Will the lock be purchased directly from the manufacturer or from a third party distributor?

 

  1. Enterprise Software Functionality and Integration

The functionality offered by smart lock providers differs from company to company. In addition, most vacation rental managers require integration with their preexisting software systems. As a result, managers will want to understand the parameters of that integration, the additional functionality provided by the smart lock company, and the performance of the dashboard monitoring system.

  • Will the system integrate into my current property management software?
  • Is the software accessible from any mobile device without downloading apps?
  • Can the software be embedded into my current property management software, providing seamless status management workflow?
  • Can the lock company’s platform expand into other services that I need (e.g., booking calendar synching, cleaning crew management, maintenance management, HomeAway/Airbnb, etc.)?
  • Is there an enterprise-wide operations dashboard? If so, does it allow me to make one change and update the entire enterprise? What information is provided on the dashboard? Am I able to see the real-time status of all of the properties that I manage?
  • How are automated alerts and notifications created and sent to guests and the manager? How easy is it to customize the notification business rules and messaging?
  • Does the provider offer occupancy-based (reservation) control of other devices such as thermostats, plugs, cameras, etc.?
  • Are there multiple user levels and related data privacy and security restrictions?
  • For large homes and Home Owner Associations, can the lock company’s platform control all locks and access points in the platform rather than just individual unit doors—that is, sliding glass doors, elevator floor access, parking garage gates, and garage doors?

 

  1. Installation

Installation can be a major factor for VRMs to consider when deciding between smart lock companies. Additionally, there may be internal resources needed for installation. You will want to have a comprehensive understanding of the installation process.

  • How easy is it to install the lock and the connecting system?
  • Is any network setup required (i.e., gateways)?
  • Who will do the installation?
  • How long will it take to install smart locks at the property?
  • Do I need to allot any additional resources for installation?

 

  1. Company Performance and Track Record

According to Nolan Mondrow, CEO of LockState, “For property managers, connected locks are more than just hardware. They are new tools to help you better manage your business. The lock company you buy from should understand your business, not just the lock they sell you.”

It is critical to select a smart lock provider that has a comprehensive, specialized knowledge of the professionally managed vacation rental industry. Taking the time to research companies and check references from other VRMs who utilize these products and services will give invaluable insight into how these companies operate within the industry.

  • What is the provider’s depth of knowledge about the vacation rental industry?
  • Will I have dedicated project management of my account and installation?
  • Will the company provide relevant references whom I can contact?
  • Does the company invest in the ongoing development of smart home technology in the vacation rental industry?

 

  1. Support

As with any technology used by VRMs, requests for assistance and support will need to be handled with speed and efficiency. For this reason, a company’s customer support infrastructure should be a significant consideration when you are selecting a provider.

  • Is training provided to my staff?
  • Does the company offer direct support for end users?
  • How quickly are requests for support answered?
  • Do I need to have a local resource for ongoing support and maintenance?
  • How robust is the lock company’s platform on which the lock is controlled? Can it handle thousands of locks in one user account?
  • Is there a warranty?
  • Is there an additional cost for ongoing support?

Free Pizza? Using Creative Thinking to Convert Leads and Improve Guest Retention

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

Our industry is rapidly changing. With changes to Google’s algorithm, which gives established brands more credit, competition via online searches is becoming a losing battle. As a result, OTAs are becoming more prominent than ever before. They simply have the budget and the presence to dominate certain markets. How often have you searched “New York vacation rentals” only to find that the large vacation rental portals dominate paid and organic searches?

In the past, this may have been a good thing. As a property manager, I can remember the days when we could not keep up with incoming leads from VRBO and HomeAway. Every year the number of leads seemed to grow exponentially.

Yet, in recent years, I have come to the realization that leads from these large rental sites have been drying up. Property managers everywhere are justifiably concerned about the current shift and feel as if they are scrambling for solutions, creating a situation that is forcing property managers to get extremely creative with their marketing. Fortunately, creative marketing isn’t as impossible as it may seem at times.

Sometimes, all it takes is a guest/visitor mobile app with a visitor’s guide and some free pizza.

 

A Different Approach

Why pizza? Like it or love it, pizza is truly one of those quintessential “vacation meals” and one that guests almost certainly will seek out at least once during their stay. Now, what if you were to make that pizza absolutely free, no strings attached, for any guest who stayed at one of your rentals? As you might expect, this small kindness, though imposing no huge cost on your behalf, gives renters just one more reason to love the vacation they booked with your rental. Not only does this make your product more memorable, it puts your services in an even better light than ever before and can leave a lasting impression, something that is absolutely necessary for guest retention.

Obviously, there are many questions that need to be answered before putting this plan into action. After all, that free pizza is only free to your guests, not to you. Fortunately, it’s quite easy to perform a cost-benefit analysis to make absolutely sure it is worth the time, effort, and money.

Just ask yourself the following questions:

  • How much does each lead/inquiry cost you today?
  • How well does each lead convert?
  • How likely would it be for someone to get a free pizza during a vacation?
  • How likely would it be to work out a great deal on free pizza with a local vendor?
  • How much money are you putting into other marketing efforts and organic search engine optimization?

Let’s take these answers and keep them in our back pocket.

 

The Guest/Visitor App

Of course, simply offering pizza won’t be enough to improve profit and rental rates; you need a creative and interesting way to offer the deal in a manner that promotes the entire area, as well as your free pizza coupon. This is where the guest/visitor app comes into play.

Oftentimes used to improve guest experience in a chosen area, guest and visitor apps give renters the ability to learn more about their vacation destination, find out what’s nearby, and even get some choice coupons for their stay. But, before we utilize this app in conjunction with free pizza, it’s important to ensure that your app is actually worth using. In many cases, there can be hundreds of travel apps for any given destination, so how could you make yours unique and profitable for your company?

Let’s take a look at a few things that can make you stand out from the competition:

  • Personalize the App

Did you just throw in every local restaurant or take the time to provide your honest feedback? Who is your favorite server in town? In other words, are you putting in the effort to educate your guests?

  • Make Sure Your Logo Implies Vacation Guide

Your app’s logo is much more important than you might think. You need people to see the logo in the app store and understand immediately what its use is. This will help draw clicks and ensure high download rates. It also helps avoid confusion.

  • Make Your App Easy to Find

The surest way to get low download rates on your app is by making it difficult to find on the app stores where it’s available. Refer to your app by its proper name in all your promotional materials and make sure it’s available on all major app stores, not just the Apple store.

  • Keep Your App Small and Useful

Some people want to save space on their phones, so you want to make your app as small as possible. Still, make sure you are providing all the information you need. Just make sure it’s optimized nicely and is not bogging down anyone’s limited memory.

Once you have all this in place, it’s time to market your app on your website, in your local visitor guide magazine, and everywhere else you can, all with the promise of (you guessed it) a free pizza with download!

At this point, if we are extremely successful, we have negotiated 100 free pizzas per month from our local pizza parlor, our guest/visitor mobile app is in app stores, and we have created a creative and compelling reason in the local visitor guide magazine to download the app for a free pizza. (This is the most critical component to being successful.)

Hopefully, by this point, hundreds of people are downloading the app with the hope of a delicious free pizza and more information about their vacation destination of choice. Finally, this is where the marketing spin comes in.

 

Marketing With Push Notifications

When people download your guest/visitor app offered by Streamline, they will be asked if they would like to receive mobile notifications on their phones. Once this is approved, the property manager has the ability to send push notifications to each phone. If you don’t abuse this and use this marketing avenue to send specials for future vacations, then you are now exposing your property management company to guests who visited that destination in the past.

This, obviously, has a myriad of marketing uses. Let’s say you promote a last-minute 40 percent discount to fill up rooms via the app’s push notification system. The people who see this discount are almost always going to be past renters in the area who would probably come back for a visit if the price was right. Best of all, because most of us have our phones attached at the hip and rarely ignore notifications that we receive, push notifications have a much higher chance of being noticed, especially when compared to something as innocuous (and annoying) as a spam email. Because of that, the number of people in this marketing list who will see your special will be astronomically higher than any email campaign that you send out. Add that visitors to the area who downloaded your guest app are the most likely to take the offer and it’s easy to see why this could become your most valuable marketing strategy.

 

Using Your Creative Side to Increase Conversion Rates

As mentioned at the beginning, we have to get creative with our marketing strategies to survive in the cut-throat world of vacation rental management. But, that doesn’t always mean marketing to outside parties. Targeting past renters that have already had a great time at your rentals with the strategies outlined above is the ticket to increasing conversion rates, filling your rentals, and improving your reputation in the vacation rental community. This is precisely why guest retention should always be your number one priority.

Just remember, if the pizza is good, your vacation specials are the best in town and you utilize your guest/visitor app to the best of its potential, you may find a loyal guest—or ten—for years to come. This is an asset that will always be more valuable than attracting a new guest via conventional means. Be creative and see where that takes you; you’ll certainly be happy you did!

Managing Financial Performance: 4 Critical Financial Figures or Reports Every Vacation Rental Manager Should Know

By
Ben Edwards
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As a vacation rental manager (VRM), your day is filled with responsibilities, most of which, if not all, are operational in nature. Most VRMs do not spend the day reviewing income statements, performing financial analyses, or calculating metrics; rather, we build the relational components and marketing aspects of the business. Frankly, if we all functioned like accountants, we would not have any properties to manage! Although we may all agree that managing the financial results of your vacation rental operation is not the most glamorous part of the business, it is imperative to understand critical numbers to ensure your business remains successful and profitable.

Without tracking and managing certain critical financial components, you cannot make informed decisions about revenue, expenses, or profit. There are always opportunities to increase profit in vacation rental operations, which we’ve confirmed in every business we review.

To help ensure your business is operating progressively and generating a meaningful profit, take time to review and manage these results:

 

Cash

So many VRMs do not have a handle on their trust accounts or overall cash. It’s like flying blind; you’re probably not going to hit anything, but it is generally not a good way to do business. More often than not, VRMs struggle to maintain accurate and reconciled trust accounts. Certain states do not regulate short-term trust accounts, which makes maintaining them properly less of a priority for VRMs. Having a handle on cash allows VRMs to have the confidence and comfort in knowing that they can meet the company’s obligations at any point in time. Cash flow forecasts and monthly reconciliations of the company’s trust account are a cornerstone of vacation rental operation best practices. Performing these functions consistently and accurately is a sign that your business is in the black, grounded in solid financial management, and ready for the unexpected. In short, the business is poised for success.

 

Net Operating Income (NOI)

NOI is also a good indicator that your business is healthy. Closely tied to cash, a vacation rental business can be profitable on an NOI basis and still go out of business due to a lack of cash. NOI and cash work in tandem, and you should review them regularly to ensure the business has a sound financial footing.

 

Income Statement

This is also referred to as the profit and loss statement (P&L). Most vacation rental companies operate with a P&L that could use some work. Often, it does not clearly present actionable data or provide accurate results. Understanding your company’s revenue and expenses is paramount to operating a sustainable and successful business. Two of the largest issues with P&Ls in the vacation rental industry are timeliness and consistency. The data is often inconsistent and cluttered among a number of unnecessary or unorganized financial accounts. Again, the key component is actionable financial data. If your P&L does not provide you with the information necessary to make critical business decisions, then it is time for a review.

 

Gross Rental Revenue (GRR)

Most VRMs track commission income as opposed to GRR. The genesis of that format originates in the real estate industry; commission income is paramount in that field’s revenue process. However, with this model, the lack of visibility into GRR and the relationship between GRR and certain direct operating expenses create inconsistencies throughout the financial management process. This can prevent you from discerning certain drivers of key expense accounts or generating opportunities for further efficiency in operations. Reviewing management commissions as a percentage of gross is an excellent way to maintain the integrity of your commissions. Management commissions as a percentage of gross tend to diminish over time if not properly managed.

 Each of these reports individually will present opportunities to create efficiencies. However, managing each of these items in conjunction with each other will greatly propel the business.

If your business is lacking in one or more of these areas, it is important to act quickly to minimize exposure to adverse financial results. In the event your business lacks the resources to properly manage this process, please know that Weatherby Accounting Services handles accounting and financial management for more than twenty-five companies. By outsourcing certain components, or all financial accounting processes, VRMs can get back to more desirable areas of the business and focus on generating needed revenue for the company.

Start Using the Sink: Upgrading to a Cloud-Based Property Management System

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Here at HomeAway Software, we’ve upgraded hundreds of property managers from a server-based property management system (PMS) to one of our two cloud-based PMS products, V12.NET and Escapia. Most property managers are nervous to change such a fundamental business tool, and that’s understandable: changing your property management software often means changing your reservations systems, marketing tools, and distribution capabilities.

But, the property managers we speak to know that their business has outgrown their current PMS. Despite the anxiety and stress, their thoughts after the process are almost always the same: “I’m so glad we upgraded. It’s worth it.

Why is upgrading to a cloud-based PMS worth the stress?

 

Cloud-based software is more efficient than server-based software.

When was the last time you dug a well and pumped groundwater into a bucket to wash your hands? I doubt most of us ever have. Instead, we walk to the sink, turn on the tap, and water flows into our hands from the city’s water system. Easy access to the city system saves us the time and energy required to dig and pump so that we can quickly wash our hands and move on.

The same principle applies to property management systems. Gone are the days when property managers had to buy expensive servers, set them up in a utility closet, and call a technician to repair them when they crashed. Cloud-based property management systems allow PMs to simply “turn on the tap” to access their data and delegate setup and maintenance to cloud-computing providers.

Drawing water from the city system also saves us from having to dig a new well when the first one runs dry. The PC hardware required to run server-based property management software will inevitably become outdated or even be discontinued, forcing you to chase down old hardware on eBay or at garage sales, find a new PMS, or continue using unsecured, unsupported hardware.

Cloud-based systems, on the other hand, can be accessed from any device with an Internet connection and are designed to seamlessly integrate with the latest technology. Product updates, including new features and security updates, are delivered automatically. There’s no need to dig a new well if the first one doesn’t dry up!

 

Cloud-based software protects your business.

Cloud-based property management systems protect your data better than server-based systems in two key ways.

Physical Security

Unlike server-based systems where your data is stored on a server in a utility closet at the back of your office, cloud-based systems store it on enterprise-grade servers in remote locations.

This is a tremendous advantage to all property managers, especially those in areas that sometimes experience natural disasters or inclement weather. If the servers in your utility closet are damaged, your operations come to a halt. With cloud-based systems, your data and business remain safe, secure, and operational in the face of flooding, wildfires, or even just a lightning strike or power outage.

Digital Security

The remote servers on which your data is stored are maintained by professional cloud-computing providers who implement some of the highest security standards.

These protections typically include the following:

  • Advanced encryption and 24-hour monitoring to protect against cyber attacks
  • Redundant backups so you always have access to your data, even if one server fails
  • Redundant Internet connections to safeguard against unexpected downtime

 

Cloud-based systems work anywhere.

The most immediate benefit of a cloud-based property management system is that you can run your business anytime, anywhere, on any device connected to the Internet.

In the office? Hop on your computer to check availability and complete a reservation. Meeting a maintenance team at a property so they can install a new appliance? Open your laptop and pull reports for your accounting teams while you wait for them to arrive. Need to know if a room is ready for check-in? Your housekeeping staff can use a mobile device to mark that they’ve cleaned a unit that is now ready for the next guest.

When your team can share or find information it needs at any time, your business can keep running smoothly all the time.

As technology advances, so do the tools property managers use every day. It’s time to quit pumping, start using the sink, and enjoy the efficiency, security, and flexibility that cloud-based property management systems offer.

Measure, Convert, Retain, Optimize: A Quick Guide to Listing Site Independence for VRMs

By
VRM Intel Staff
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The number one request for information from vacation rental managers (VRMs) we receive at VRM Intel is about listing site independence. VRMs are looking for new ways to increase direct bookings, but it is getting more difficult with HomeAway, Airbnb, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor competing for vacation rental market share.

In an interview with VRM Intel, Phocuswright Vice President of Research Douglas Quinby predicted that rental listing sites and online travel agencies (OTAs) will account for 78 percent of bookings of private accommodations by 2018. Over the next few years, the cost of booking through these channels is forecast to increase while the amount of customer data you receive is expected to decrease.

Continuing to find innovative ways to increase bookings outside of OTAs will become more important as costs increase and the amount of data received from those channels decreases. However, laying the groundwork for a profitable customer lifecycle is essential for survival in an OTA-led marketplace. Once the foundation has been laid, your marketing team can create and test new ideas knowing that a sound strategy is in place to convert leads to bookings and bookings to repeat stays.

 

Steps to Listing Site Independence

  1. Measure Performance on Listing Sites

Knowing your performance on the channels you use is half the battle. Having the following metrics on hand will help you make the best decisions for your VRM and will help you compare the performance of each distribution channel:

  • Number of leads
  • Number of inquiries
  • Average and median booking window
  • Number of bookings
  • Number of repeat stays from bookings

Pro Tip: Tracking additional information about leads obtained from channels can help you make marketing decisions and optimize your listings, conversion strategy, and retention plan. The following are examples of additional information that may be beneficial:

  • Party size and type
  • Feeder market
  • Special needs (e.g., pets, accessibility)
  • Reason for stay

If you don’t currently have a plan to track these metrics, you are not alone. But if listing site independence is a long-term goal, now is a great time to work with your reservations and marketing teams to implement a strategy that lets you start fresh in 2017.

 

  1. Create and Implement a Plan to Convert Leads to Bookings

It is difficult to justify spending money to acquire leads from OTAs if you don’t have a strategic plan to convert those leads into bookings. An effective plan includes collecting and managing lead information, selling to leads, and remarketing to leads.

 

Collect Lead Information

Leads and inquiries are not the same thing. As Heather Weiermann points out in her article “Demand-itis” on page 58, the prospective guest is the lead. Often, a single lead will send several inquiries across multiple channels for information on your properties. The most effective and efficient way to manage leads is by using a lead management system that is part of or integrated with your property management software.

Without a lead management system, your reservation agents will need an internal system to manage leads and merge inquiries manually. Depending on the size of your company, that task can be overwhelming. Track the time it takes to manage leads internally and conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine if you are better off purchasing a lead management tool.

 

Implement a True Sales Strategy

Like any other business, a proven, measurable sales strategy that follows through the customer lifecycle is a necessity.

listing-site-independence-graphic

The articles “Increasing Revenue through Reservations” on page 46 and “Demand-itis” on page 58 provide beneficial sales tactics. Keep in mind that, as a VRM, you are competing with homeowners in the sales process, and the response and follow-up from homeowners is highly personalized. Respond with your strengths. If you are using an autoresponder, use language that communicates trust and professionalism (i.e., 24/7 service, professional housekeeping, keyless entry, additional amenities, and offerings). In addition, some autoresponders have artificial intelligence tools that can help personalize responses.

 

Create a Remarketing Plan

If you missed the sale this time, chances are the lead will return to your destination. By creating a marketing plan to retarget leads, you increase your chances of reaching guests on their next trips. Besides general email blasts, consider special automated marketing based on the following factors:

  • Stay date
  • Date of inquiry
  • Reason for stay

 

  1. Create and Implement a Plan for Guest Retention

Repeat guest bookings are the lifeblood of VRM revenue. According to a recent study by Phocuswright (page 60), four of ten vacation rental bookings in 2015 were made online, and that number is expected to increase to 55 percent by 2018. As a result, direct interaction with your guests is decreasing. In order to have a business model that is sustainably independent of OTAs, it is critical that you develop an effective guest retention plan.

 

Personalize Your Relationship with Guests

According to Phocuswright’s Douglas Quinby, travelers who stayed in owner-managed rentals reported higher levels of guest satisfaction that was driven by increased interaction with the host or owner. With the increased adoption of keyless entry, VRMs are challenged to create a meaningful connection with their guests. Talk to your team and brainstorm ways to play to your strengths to personalize the guest stay.

 

Collect emails from all of your guests, not just the one who made the reservation.

Unlike hotels, the average stay for vacation rentals includes three to five people—depending on the destination—and it is not uncommon to have eight or more adults staying in a property. In many cases, the person who made the reservation was not the decision maker in the booking process. Consequently, you will find it beneficial to discover methods to collect contact data on all guests staying in your properties. Here are a few ideas:

 

  • Guest Apps: After the booking, guest apps provide tools to capture data from guests not listed on the reservation (i.e., emailing key codes).
  • Internet Access: Use branded landing pages on the guest’s access point for Wi-Fi that collects names and emails. Silicon Travel is one company that provides a solution for Internet access landing pages.
  • Activities Promotion: When you book activities for guests, capture emails from all adult guests who will be participating.
  • Surveys and Reviews: As you reach out to guests with surveys and reviews, find tactics and incentives to reach all the guests who stayed at the property.
  • Pool Passes, Parking Passes, and Amenity Access: Many condominiums and communities require passes for shared amenities and parking. One idea is to require a record of the guest’s name, email, city, and home state in order to receive passes/access.

 

Target repeat guests with special offers and reasons to return.

Phocuswright’s recent study also showed that travelers who stay in vacation rentals take more trips per year than those who stay in hotels. Target those guests with special offers, event information, and reasons to return. Make an effort to communicate differently to guests who live in drive-to markets vs. fly-to markets. In addition, like your remarketing efforts to leads, automate marketing messages based on stay date, date of inquiry, and reason for stay.

 

  1. Optimize Channels

Once you have implemented plans to measure your performance, convert leads, and retain the guests you have, then it is time to optimize your listings on OTA channels. Here are eight tips to update and enhance your OTA listings:

  1. Monitor changes to OTA’s search algorithms and listing component recommendations. OTAs are constantly revising their sort criteria (e.g., HomeAway’s Best Match). Each quarter, take time to review the changes and adapt accordingly.
  2. Take new professional photos. The size recommendations for photos on OTAs are changing, so make sure your photographer understands your photo size requirements.
  3. Add an office photo to your listings to promote your brand and communicate professionalism. Just don’t add language to the caption that violates the channel’s terms by encouraging guests to book directly with you.
  4. Add floor plan images (or links if allowed).
  5. Use language in your listings that is professional, descriptive, and authentic. ProofreadingPal.com is a great tool to ensure that your descriptions are grammatically correct. Promote your strengths and professionalism (see Housekeeping Marketing on page 88 for more tips).
  6. If a property meets special needs, make sure to include that fact in both descriptions and photos (e.g., pet-friendly, kid-friendly, easy access to activities, accessibility for older and disabled guests).
  7. Don’t forget to write great headlines. Like search results in Google, merely appearing in the top results isn’t enough. Your headlines need to appeal to travelers searching for the right vacation rental.
  8. Review amenities. Check your listings to make sure all the amenities associated with a property are displaying properly.

 

Pro Tip: Keep in mind that your company’s website is your most important channel. While you are optimizing your listing channels, make sure your website is providing a professional impression, updated photos and descriptions, compelling headlines, and an easy booking path.

OTAs provide an effective way to attract guests to your company. With increasing costs, it is essential that you accompany your OTA strategy with an effective plan for conversion and retention. 2017 is the right year to lay the foundation that takes advantage of OTAs but that is not reliant on them.

Safety and Vacation Rentals – Change is Needed  

By
Justin Ford
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By Justin Ford, On the Water in Maine Vacation Rentals — As vacation managers across the country know, states and towns have been taking a closer look at vacation rental regulations over the past couple of years. It’s in all the newspapers that they are. One of the areas that regulators keep looking at is safety in vacation rentals homes – even though many regulators aren’t even aware of the problems. The problem is that nationwide, there are no centralized guidelines for vacation managers to follow. Many vacation managers are forced to piece together laws and regulations from town ordinances, state laws and even federal guidelines on their own. This is something that vacation managers need to get out ahead of – and fast. Vacation Managers need to be the experts on home safety – they need to set the standard.

Other sectors of the travel industry have had their disasters over the past century. In 1912, the Titanic set sail from Liverpool and hit an iceberg. Everyone knows that over 1,500 people died. What some people don’t know is that as a result of that tragedy, in 1914, SOLAS (The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) was created. Today, everyone sees lifeboats for all the passengers when they cruise because of SOLAS.

The fire on Air Canada Flight 797 in 1983 lead to smoke detectors being installed in all airplane lavatories. Today, every time you listen through the safety speech on a plane, you hear them mention that tampering with smoke detectors in the airplane lavatory is a federal crime – again, all a result of that one incident in 1983.

So has the vacation rental industry had its big disastrous moment?

Some could say so. While more people have died in homes than on all ships and planes combined – one particular incident in Colorado in 2008 has had the greatest effect on safety in vacation rentals. Around Thanksgiving in that year, the Lofgren family, Parker 39, Caroline 42, Owen 10 and Sophie 8, checked into a $8.9 MM, recently built vacation rental property in Aspen, Colorado to celebrate Thanksgiving. When their friends arrived to join them, they discovered all four were dead. A team of four gas and heating technicians determined that a malfunction of the hot water and snowmelt system for the driveway caused extreme levels of carbon monoxide in the home. There was not one carbon monoxide detector in the vacation property, despite that it was recently built and had several carbon monoxide producing appliances in it. Had there been even one carbon monoxide detector in the property it is possible the Lofgren’s would have been alerted to the issue and awoken to evacuate the home.

What’s interesting in this case is that despite that contractors were obviously sued for improperly installing the heating system that resulted – the lawsuits didn’t make any mention of the homeowners or the rental agency responsible for the home. State law in Colorado at the time didn’t require CO detectors to be located in residential homes in that state. That all changed on July 1, 2009 when the “Lofgren and Johnson Families Carbon Monoxide Safety Act” when into effect. Other states around the country quickly followed. It is now law in almost all 50 states, similar to Colorado, that “if it is your personal residence or if it is used as a rental, it must have an operational carbon monoxide detector.”

So did the Lofgren incident change the vacation rental industry for the better? Possibly. However, there have still been cases of CO poisoning and deaths in vacation rentals since the Lofgren incident. So why aren’t more vacation rentals better equipped with CO detectors? Unfortunately, although most states have enacted laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, many don’t carry penalties and most states don’t have any inspection programs in place to enforce that the laws are being adhered to.

Skip forward a few years to April 2014. A family of 22 people checked in to a vacation rental cabin in Seviler County, Tennessee. This 5-bedroom, 3-story home was recently built, but only had one entry/exit point other than windows. Late at night, when alerted to a fire by smoke detectors going off, many of the family members started to evacuate the house. Unable to get to the front door because of all the smoke, many of the vacationers jumped out windows. A 56-year-old grandfather ended up dying of blood loss after lacerations from jumping through a window on the 2nd floor. State forensic anthropologists were called in to search the rubble of the home for 5-year-old Tyveon. His body was never found, and to this day, his family holds out search through a Facebook page that maybe he somehow made it out alive.

While no regulations or laws have been enacted to address what happened at the Seviler County fire, there are many lessons that vacation managers can take away from this tragic event. First, it can come as no surprise that the rental agency that rented this home to the family was not only sued, it is now completely out of business. They closed without notice and left behind devastating financial issues for the property owners and renters that were already working with them. Although the home was protected by smoke detectors and they did work to alert the renters of the fire – the real questions that came into play were why were 22 people sleeping in a 5-bedroom home and why was there only one exit out of the home?

Setting occupancy limits for vacation rentals varies inconsistently around the country, in states and even in towns. Some vacation managers and vacation homeowners have limited occupancy by the number of beds, bedrooms or even by what the septic system rating is on the dwelling. Its rare, however, that vacation managers take a serious look at a rental home and ask, how many people can safely stay in this home? Would it be easy for people to get out of the home in the event of a fire? Are there enough exits for people to escape the home quickly? As the vacation rental industry grows, vacation managers need to take a closer look at how occupancy is evaluated for a property and ensure they set strict limits that their renters must follow.

Several incidents at vacation rentals in North Carolina and other parts of the country this past year have shown that some vacation managers are recognizing the need to be more proactive when it comes to safety. After a 24×12 deck with over 25 people on it collapsed last 4th of July in Emerald Isle, NC at a vacation rental, seven area vacation managers came together to start a mandatory deck inspection program. While deck inspections are important – several of the collapses bring up the same issue as the Seveiler County fire – what were over 25 people doing on a residential deck not made for it?

Other areas of the vacation rental industry can be scrutinized for safety and well being of renters:

 

Hammocks – Thousands of vacationers are injured each year in hammocks, either by falling out of them, the hammock breaking or hooks falling out of trees or hammocks stands.

 

Inexpensive Deck Chairs – Resin plastic chairs, commonly used in many vacation homes because of their inexpensive cost, constantly break at rental homes leading to many injuries, some requiring hospitalization.

 

Grill Fires – Each year over 6,500 grill fires result in $27 MM in property losses, many to vacation rental homeowners.

 

Kitchen knives – Not many people know a sharp kitchen knife is sharper than a dull one. Most accidents in the kitchen are a result of a knife, especially a dull one. The vacation rental industry is known for providing inexpensive and often dull knives in rental homes.

 

Burns – Over 3,800 injuries and 34 deaths occur in U.S. homes each year due to scalding from excessively hot tap water. In most vacation rental homes, any renter with a screwdriver and internet access can quickly adjust a hot water heater to the temperature desired. But what if it isn’t lowered back down for the following renters (who have a small child) when they arrive?

 

Amenity Items – Vacation renters crash on poorly maintained bikes provided by vacation homeowners at rentals across the country each summer. In the state of Florida, drowning is the leading cause of death in children under the age of four. Many of the children who drown in Florida vacation home pools are the children and grandchildren of tourists on vacation. People go on vacation to relax; they let their guard down. They become preoccupied with socializing with one another, or just enjoying much needed down time. Children, exuberant with vacation excitement and sometimes unaccustomed to beaches and pools, make bad choices. They wind up getting in over their heads – literally.

 

There is an endless supply of safety issues to take into account when renting out vacation homes — the list goes on and on. What about stair safety? According to the AARP, falls with elderly people is one of the number one injuries. How do they fall? Absence of handrails account for a large percentage of falls on stairs that result in injuries. Unexpected locations of stairs leads to many falls. For example, stairs of just one or two steps in a hallway or doorway can be especially hazardous.

When a person wants to get certified to direct and flag traffic, they go to classes put on by OSHA to get certified. In the vacation rental industry, the assumption has always been that because someone grew up in and now probably still lives in a house – that they are experts on safety in homes and they don’t need additional education. As the vacation rental industry grows bigger and hotels, which are heavily regulated to provide safe lodging options, vacation managers are going to need to put together a plan to establish safety standards in the industry. While that is a monumental challenge, what is going to be even more challenging is getting the rental by owner, of which more properties are offered by RBOs than VMs, to also stick to strict safety guidelines.

Take this situation I encountered in Maine recently. I was contacted by a woman that has been offering a 16-bedroom, 22-room home for rent on VRBO on her own for the past eight years. As many RBOs do, this woman had tired of cleaning the home and fielding inquiries all winter and now was seeking professional help. When I walked into the home to consider adding it to our rental pool, the first thing I noticed were several porches that didn’t have railings up to code. As I walked through the house and didn’t see smoke or CO detectors in any bedrooms, the kitchen, halls – anywhere in the home, I tried to imagine how anyone could possibly find their way out of this home in the dark. If the house were to be filled with smoke – especially when renters would be waking to fire, not a smoke detector, and have little time to escape – how would they get out? By the time I finished the tour of the home – I was terrified to learn that vacationers had been renting this home for the past eight years with none of these safety items in place. When I asked the woman why there were no smoke detectors in the home, she replied, “actually I think there is one, but it kept beeping so we removed it.”  Its these types of homeowners in our industry that are going to ruin it for all of us and cause so many safety mandates to come into our industry that no one will be able to afford to rent out their homes anymore. That is where change is needed.

What can vacation managers do to address safety in our industry? First, recognize that safety is the most important aspect of renting out a vacation home. It is more important than the advertised rate, the marketing plan, the furnishings, all of it. Vacation managers need to understand that the “buck stops with them.” When a vacationing family arrives in a vacation home at 9pm on Saturday night, after traveling all day with kids screaming in the car, after airline delays, after getting groceries, after unpacking the car – they are doing one critical thing that not enough vacation managers take the weight for – these vacationers are completely trusting the vacation manager and homeowner. When they climb into bed exhausted, ready to begin their vacation, they trust the smoke detectors are all the best that money can buy and have fresh batteries in them, that the railing down the stairs to the bathroom isn’t loose and ready to fall off the wall, that there is a CO detector near the boiler in the basement that will alert them to an issue, that the pool gate is locked so that their early bird riser 3-year-old son can’t sneak out into the pool before them in the morning…the list goes on and on.

Everyone at your rental agency needs to be an expert on vacation rental safety. Your reservationists should be helping you by promoting that your vacation homes are safe. Yes, like Volvo has done for decades – promoting safety in your product is good for business.

When visiting homes to decide if they make the cut to be in your rental pool, managers and agents should be evaluating homes for safety as well. Are there smoke detectors in each living space as required by law? Is that dead branch over the deck a hazard that may result in someone getting hurt? Is the uneven walkway up to the front door a tripping hazard? Is the deck attached to the property attached by nails instead of screws (a big no-no)?

One of the best ways for managers to get familiar with what they are looking for is to require that all new rental properties they list be inspected by a professional building inspector prior to entering the rental pool. Be sure to have a member of your staff join the inspectors on the property tour to not only gain knowledge of items to look for, but to be able to talk to property owners with confidence about safety items that need to be addressed.

Housekeepers are one of the most important staff members when it comes to addressing safety. Your cleaning staff should be encouraged to speak up when they see something that doesn’t look right. Managers need to take action and show the housekeeping staff that their concerns are important – so they continue to speak up. Cleaners should be carrying batteries to replace missing ones in smoke and CO detectors. Renters are notorious for taking batteries out of detectors when they burn food or set them off by letting too much hot steam out of unventilated bathrooms. Every smoke detector in every rental property should be tested after each rental by the cleaning staff. Incent your housekeeping staff to do that.

Property owners themselves need to be a part of any safety program you put in place at your agency. Homeowners are going to rely on the agency to guide them in the right direction. Many don’t know what vacation managers should know – that smoke detectors older than ten years since manufacturer date should be replaced (they don’t make off-white smoke detectors – when they age to a color other than white – replace them). They don’t know that CO detectors wear out after five to seven years. Many homeowners like to place smoke detectors in an aesthetically pleasing location in their vacation homes rather than where they should go to operate properly. The vacation manager needs to be there to guide them.

Vacation Managers need to reach out to the RBOs in their communities and ensure they are aware of safety protocols. Every incident in every vacation home affects everyone in the industry. Just like the CO deaths of the Lofgren family in Colorado lead to laws in other states – the next disaster in a vacation rental say, in California, is just as sure to effect change in Georgia.

Every industry has its disasters to learn from. The most important thing that the vacation rental industry needs to do now is come together and learn from past mistakes and find a way forward to promote its industry as a safe industry. Vacation rental agencies can help this by supporting a working culture where safety is a top priority. By creating industry safety standards that exceed any standards that government regulations will create, vacation managers will stay one step ahead of the curve. In the end, all will benefit.

 

Justin Ford is the owner of On the Water in Maine vacation rentals in Maine. He has a background in safety that goes back to a four-year tour in the US Coast Guard where he participated in fishing vessel safety enforcement in Alaska. Later, he joined his local fire department where he is the training officer. Justin is also the Vice President of the Vacation Rental Professionals of Maine and presents regularly on safety for the VRMA. Justin also produces a Facebook community page on Vacation Rental Safety at facebook.com.

Airbnb vs. HomeAway: Who is Winning the Race to the Top of the Vacation Rental Industry?

By
VRM Intel Staff
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1

There’s an ongoing debate about Airbnb and HomeAway and which company is going to win out as the leading marketplace for of private accommodations. In August, Airbnb reportedly raised $850 million, bringing its total equity funding to approximately $3.2 billion, according to Equidate. With a $30 billion valuation and the best public relations strategy in the twenty-first century, Airbnb was no surprise as the media’s choice. However, there is compelling evidence that HomeAway is leading in the race for performance.

 

What HomeAway and Airbnb Have Done for the Vacation Rental Industry

By aggregating supply, increasing awareness, and mainstreaming online booking, both HomeAway and Airbnb have played disruptive roles in the travel industry by increasing the number of visitors choosing private accommodations for leisure travel stays. According to Phocuswright’s A Market Transformed: Private Accommodations in the U.S., published this fall, the number of travelers staying in vacation rentals grew from one in ten in 2011 to one in three last year.

In 2006, HomeAway purchased VRBO.com, the industry-leading online marketplace that was the first to give vacation rental owners an avenue to bypass property managers and reach consumers directly. HomeAway continued to aggregate supply by acquiring dozens of regional online vacation rental marketplaces, and in so doing, it gave travelers a one-stop shop for whole home vacation rentals in leisure travel markets.

Airbnb approached the industry from an entirely different perspective with a focus on hosted urban supply. In 2009, after its highly documented humble beginnings, Airbnb raised enough investment capital to mass-introduce online-bookable, resident-managed lodging in urban markets to travelers seeking either a “local” experience or value-oriented accommodations.

By 2013, as both companies promoted private home lodging, the two business models began to experience marketplace overlap in inventory between Airbnb’s urban accommodation alternatives and HomeAway’s whole home vacation rentals in resort markets, drawing daily—and often unfair—comparisons from the media and the investment community.

 

Airbnb and HomeAway: The Raw Numbers

According to Beyond Pricing, Airbnb currently has approximately 2.8 million private accommodations listed on its site as of September of 2016, up from 2.2 million in March. In contrast, according to its latest reporting, HomeAway has approximately 1.2 million listings.

However, comparing the two channels based solely on the number of listings does not tell the whole story.

Last year, HomeAway had an estimated $14–$16 billion in vacation rental bookings. By comparison, according to a Tnooz article by Sean O’Neill, “A new estimate by US investment bank Cowen & Company predicts that the [Airbnb] bookings site will process $12.3 billion in reservations this year, up from an estimated $7.2 billion in 2015.”

Based on calculations of a generalized average annualized booking trend, the numbers suggest that each listing on Airbnb generates an average of $4,000 in bookings per year versus $11,650–$13,330 per year on HomeAway.

 

All Inventory Is Not Created Equal

What the investment community has not yet realized when comparing the two companies is something that vacation rental managers have long known—all inventory is not created equal. When examining Airbnb’s and HomeAway’s overall performances in the vacation rental industry, it is important to examine each channel’s inventory makeup.

chart-2-airbnb

According to data from Beyond Pricing, only 16 percent of Airbnb’s listings, as compared to 33 percent of HomeAway’s listings, are in the United States.

HomeAway’s inventory is primarily made up of whole home vacation rentals, and their top US markets are resort areas such as Kissimmee/Davenport (Disney World area), Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach, the Upper Gulf Coast, Hilton Head, and Breckenridge.

Airbnb’s top US markets for shared and whole home rentals are in urban markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco.
chart-3-airbnb

The total number of listings is a titillating metric for investors, but the number is not indicative of revenue performance. The average nightly rate for the shared accommodations and urban apartments prevalent on Airbnb is substantially below the average nightly rate for the whole home vacation rentals comprising the bulk of HomeAway’s supply. In addition, the average length of stay and average number of available nights are significantly higher for the listings found on HomeAway.

In addition, according to Beyond Pricing CEO Ian McHenry, “Approximately 44 percent of Airbnb’s 2.8 million listings have not received a review.”

With Airbnb’s heavy focus on reciprocal reviews, this number reveals that a substantial portion of Airbnb’s listings have never had a booking completed through the site.

 

Performance among US Vacation Rental Managers

Although Airbnb draws the bulk of media interest, the majority of US vacation rental managers report that they receive more bookings from HomeAway than from Airbnb.

According to Phocuswright’s Douglas Quinby, “In terms of sites used, HomeAway.com and the HomeAway family of sites are far and away the most important for property managers.”

“HomeAway’s performance decimates Airbnb’s,” said an executive (who wished to remain anonymous) at one of the country’s largest vacation rental management companies. He reported that HomeAway accounted for over 85 percent of his company’s total number of bookings from third-party channels, while Airbnb brought in less than 2 percent.

John Banczak, co-founder at Turnkey Vacation Rentals, which manages 1,500 vacation rentals in 32 U.S. markets, agreed. “HomeAway does significantly more volume than Airbnb, although we still prefer the Airbnb pricing model,” said Banczak.

Since its purchase of VRBO.com, HomeAway has dominated resort markets, but now that Airbnb is focusing on growth within these nonurban markets, the tide may be turning.

 

HomeAway’s Connectivity Advantage

HomeAway also has a significant advantage with its broad connectivity to the property management systems being utilized by vacation rental managers. In 2010, HomeAway purchased Instant Software, the largest software provider for vacation rental managers—a move that allowed HomeAway to secure direct connectivity to professionally managed, online-bookable inventory across the United States. In addition, HomeAway now offers almost all of the software platforms in the vacation rental market a direct connection to its listing sites.

In contrast, Airbnb experienced a steep learning curve in building working integrations and has been slow to provide the same level of connectivity to property management software systems. In addition, Airbnb does not have direct connectivity to the HomeAway’s software systems.

“HomeAway Software is never going to give Airbnb access to its API,” said our unnamed source. “And the third-party intermediaries can’t make Airbnb work because of the way it is structured. They can’t handle multiple booking rules. Why? Because Airbnb’s senior leadership wasn’t committed to professional property managers. They didn’t think that property managers provided the level of service that individual hosts provide. Airbnb absolutely blew it.”

Scott Breon, chief revenue officer for Vacasa, which manages 3,800 vacation rentals, has also experienced difficulty in connecting to Airbnb, but he is more optimistic about Airbnb’s future. “Airbnb’s API and closed-communication interface continue to be a challenge to integrate with,” said Breon. “But once they invest in the next generation of API integration, I see them quickly achieving 20 to 30 percent overall market share and the potential for upwards of 70 percent market share in West Coast urban and west coast ‘last minute romance’ markets.”

In August, Shaun Stewart, global head of vacation rentals at Airbnb and the company’s face to the professionally managed community, left Airbnb to join Google X’s Self-Driving Car Project.

 

Is HomeAway in Danger of Losing its Stronghold in Vacation Rentals in Resort Markets?

Breon is now seeing mixed results with listing Vacasa’s properties on Airbnb and HomeAway.

“HomeAway and Airbnb booking trends fall along some distinct but blurring lines,” said Breon. “I look at customers based on geo-seasonal-demographic-intent segments, and within each of those buckets there are definitive ‘winners.’”

Breon continued, “HomeAway wins in the trend toward traditional second home markets, older demographics, larger party size, longer booking windows, and East Coast markets. Airbnb skews toward urban markets, international markets (beating out Booking.com), younger demographics, smaller party size, smaller booking windows, and in proximity to San Francisco.”

More and more vacation rental managers are beginning to list on Airbnb. In the most recent Phocuswright study, research showed that the percentage of property managers listing on Airbnb increased from 7 percent in 2012 to 47 percent in 2016.

Although HomeAway has dominated the US vacation rental industry for the past decade, there are questions surrounding its ability to sustain the leading market position because of increasing transactional costs for travelers and suppliers, along with changes to its criteria for search results.

Turnkey’s John Banczak prefers Airbnb’s pricing model to HomeAway’s. “Owners see almost 11 percent commission and credit card fees from HomeAway compared to 3 percent from Airbnb, and it never sits well with them,” said Banczak.

Banczak also noted that HomeAway’s changes to “Best Match,” the search algorithm that determines the order in which listings appear for travelers, have caused friction. “Owners really want to see more transparency in the HomeAway search results,” he said. “We spend an unbelievable amount of time trying explain to owners why their fully bookable, highly reviewed homes are showing up below homes without the book-it-now button and with no reviews. HomeAway has become the site of frustration for owners, which leads to frustration for us.”

Professional property managers in core vacation rental markets are seeing a much higher number of bookings from HomeAway than from Airbnb. But the race is far from over. Over the next year, overlap between the two companies will grow as Airbnb pushes quickly into resort markets, and HomeAway increases urban supply. However, while they rush to capture market share, both companies could benefit from making some internal improvements. The winner in the industry will be the company that provides the best booking experience for both the supplier and the traveler.

Trying to reach vacation rental management professionals with your marketing message?

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

The vacation rental industry has exploded into a $29 billion marketplace with 1.4 million private accommodations in the U.S. alone (Phocuswright A Market Transformed: Private Accommodation in the U.S.).

VRM Intel offers a wide variety of ways to reach the professionally managed vacation rental industry.

VRM Intel Magazine is being distributed to over 8,000 subscribers and to an additional 7,000 at industry conferences and seminars, and traffic on vrmintel.com has increased 72% over last year.

And we have big plans for 2017!

For vacation rental managers, we will be launching a new look for vrmintel.com in a few short weeks and are in the process of building a competitive data reporting tool. These VI Reports are designed to give vacation rental managers the ability to compare their performance to the overall market performance.

For advertisers, we are also adding events, webinars, dedicated email campaigns, news distribution and retargeting campaigns in 2017 to connect you in a more meaningful way with vacation rental managers.

Here are our 2017 VRM Intel Ad Rates. We would love to have you on board!

For more information about advertising with VRM Intel, email amy.hinote@vrmintel.com or call 251-455-4994.

RealTimeRental Spins Off RentalRetreat.com

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

RealTimeRental vacation rental software announced today that it intends to spin-off RentalRetreat.com as an independent company. The distribution channel has been highly successful, and RealTimeRental is confident that the spin-off will allow Rental Retreat to grow and remain competitive in the vacation rental industry.

“We believe the best way to realize the full potential of Rental Retreat is to allow it to operate independently. The transition will allow professional property management companies who do not use RealTimeRental software to host their rental inventory on the distribution channel” said Joe Testa, co-founder of RealTimeRental.

RentalRetreat.com currently hosts 50,000+ professionally managed rental properties, has a lead conversion rate of 28% which is well above industry standard, and has generated over 2.4 million dollars on behalf of its clients. RealTimeRental and Rental Retreat have been working closely with developers and SEO professionals to ensure the transition period is seamless.

“Despite becoming an independent company, Rental Retreat’s mission remains unchanged: to help travelers easily find professionally managed rental properties around the country” said Testa.

Rental Retreat is now open to all professional property management companies and real estate offices who want to increase their rental properties’ online visibility.

Editorial: Time to stop false reporting about the vacation rental industry

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

Since we are talking more and more about “fake news,” this is a good time to discuss and begin to address the abundance of false reporting in the vacation rental industry.

This week at least two articles appeared on trusted “news” sites — one on Forbes.com and one on nasdaq.com — by two different authors using the same talking points saying that TripAdvisor is the “most formidable and sophisticated” channel in the industry that will overtake HomeAway and Airbnb. There is not a vacation rental industry professional who does not know that nothing could be further from the truth.

We wrote a rebuttal to one of the articles, “Forbes article misses by a mile on TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals prediction,” but even after sending the corrected information to Forbes, they retweeted the fake news article yet again this morning. And then others retweeted their retweet, and — just like that — the false Forbes article is now a reliable source of news about our industry, even though it is completely inaccurate.

And there are many more, including one in USA Today that said, “Don’t look now, but vacation rental companies are piling on the fees, many of them pure junk.”

And one article in the Wall Street Journal said VRMs arose as a result of Airbnb and HomeAway and, “These rental-management companies maintain the online listings, with some masquerading as the homeowner to answer questions from potential guests.”

And there are many more that misinterpret the state of the industry and the challenges and opportunities facing the vacation rental sector.

Besides misleading the public, one problem with false reporting in the vacation rental industry is that investors, venture capitalists, analysts and startups are hungry for information about the industry and use these articles to make investment and development decisions. As a result, startup pitch decks are littered with bad information, and poor investment decisions are made.

Currently, in the vacation rental sector there are dozens of new companies, propped up by fiction-induced funding, that have not yet — nor will ever — produce a profit. These companies get even more media attention that leads to more vaporware psuedo-solutions being created in the space…and on and on.

As an industry, we need to push back on this type of misinformation being distributed in the industry. If you see an article that has false reporting about the industry, take the time to comment on the article, email the author, or send it over to us.

By calling out the authors that publish bad information, hopefully we can provide a level of accountability that discourages false reporting about the vacation rental industry in the future.

By Amy Hinote, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, VRM Intel

Forbes article misses by a mile on TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals prediction

By
Amy Hinote
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Forbes published an article this week written by contributor Peter Lane Taylor entitled “Watch Out, HomeAway and Airbnb: Here’s Why TripAdvisor May Be Your Biggest Competition,” which vastly misrepresented the state of online distribution in an industry characterized too frequently by vast misrepresentation.

At first glance, readers might conclude that this article was a paid advertorial for TripAdvisor, but one vacation rental manager reached out to the author and received a reply saying, “We are never paid by anyone to write anything and get nothing in return.”

Taylor claimed, “Yet, while HomeAway and Airbnb have been veering ever closer to each other in terms of their platforms, marketing, and target demographics, their most formidable and sophisticated competitor (TripAdvisor) has been quietly gaining on both of them, and may just be on the verge of becoming the vacation rental business’s next 800-pound gorilla, especially when it comes to the luxury market.”

Taylor added, “If this exclusive interview with Ben Drew doesn’t put a shiver in HomeAway’s growth plans and Airbnb’s high-flying bluster, they might just need to go rent a ‘bubble house’ from TripAdvisor in Costa Rica.”

As any industry participant or observer will testify, nothing could be further from the truth. Read the Forbes article.

 

A closer look at the numbers

The actual numbers tell a very different story than the Forbes article. TripAdvisor purchased FlipKey in 2008 at a time that FlipKey possessed the largest market share of the professionally managed vacation rental inventory, but HomeAway quickly gained ground. By 2011, as a result of key acquisitions, HomeAway had grown to 641,000 listings compared to TripAdvisor’s 160,000 listings.

tripadvisor-homeaway-airbnb-booking-com-vacation-rental-market-share

 

In addition, the author claims, “There are an estimated 10 million additional vacation homes sitting vacant for most of the year in the U.S. alone.” In contrast, a recent research study by Phocuswright determined there are 1,393,000 U.S. vacation rental accommodations available.

Over the last two years, as a result of a lack of executive-level understanding of the industry, poor technology integration and an internal loss of key talent, TripAdvisor’s performance has fallen short for its suppliers in revenue, service and support.

 

It was theirs to lose.

TripAdvisor’s FlipKey was the preferred channel for professional vacation rental managers up until 2014. For suppliers, the exposure, ROI and service at TripAdvisor’s FlipKey was the best in the sector, but things changed quickly.

With TripAdvisor’s attempts to integrate FlipKey inventory onto the TripAdvisor platform, the internal team faced more challenges than expected, and it did not have a process in place to support the subsequent issues with vacation rental managers and homeowners.

Last year, at VRM Intel, we wrote a series of articles driven by complaints from vacation rental professionals who were hoping to trigger a change in TripAdvisor’s trajectory. The goal of the articles, followed up by an open letter to TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer signed by over 100 leading vacation rental managers, was to jolt the responsible parties to take a closer look at the inner workings of its vacation rental operations.

However, their calls for change were dismissed by the company, and dozens of vacation rental managers and owners reported to VRM Intel that they had ended their relationship with TripAdvisor.

One vacation rental manager responded to Taylor’s article in Forbes saying, “They do not answer the question of how they are going to get VRM (Vacation Rental Manager) trust and buy in after all of their technical and support failures. Also, not to mention what happens to our reviews – like the over 3000 of our company’s reviews that no longer exist since we ended our contract due to performance and technical issues.”

 

HomeAway does not consider TripAdvisor to be a threat.

The author is correct that Expedia-owned HomeAway does not consider TripAdvisor a threat.

In its most recent earnings call, Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi addressed its perceived competition – with no mention of TripAdvisor – saying, “I just want to make sure that our investors understand the perspective that there are two big players (HomeAway and Airbnb) in this space, and arguably a third coming with Booking.com and their activity.”

There are solid reasons that HomeAway and Airbnb do not consider TripAdvisor as the “most dangerous under-the-radar threat,” as the author claims.

First, TripAdvisor has much bigger issues that its vacation rental division’s below-market performance. Its stock value has decreased almost 50 percent and is currently trading at approximately $48 per share.

tripadvisor-vacation-rentals-takes-a-dive-in-2016

The vacation rental division was barely mentioned in its last four earnings calls with investors and is a small part of their overall turnaround plan.

Second, TripAdvisor’s growth rate in the vacation rental sector is well below that of key industry players, including Priceline’s Booking.com, which last year saw a 30 percent growth in inventory compared to TripAdvisor’s 8 percent.

To be fair, Ben Drew, Head of Business Development for TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals, was in no way dishonest in his representation of TripAdvisor. Through no apparent fault of Drew, Taylor’s interpretation of the interview and TripAdvisor’s performance is not found in Drew’s responses to the author’s questions.

 

Yes. HomeAway and Airbnb should be looking over their shoulder….but not at TripAdvisor.

The real threat to Airbnb and HomeAway is the next player  – yet unknown – that provides a supplier-friendly marketplace for vacation rentals.

HomeAway, Airbnb, Booking.com and TripAdvisor are all moving forward by working off of market assumptions that have yet to be proven, including (but not limited to):

  • Extra Fees: Travelers will pay a premium to book through their websites. (HomeAway, Airbnb and TripAdvisor have added “traveler fees” that increase the price of booking on their channels by up to 12 percent, while Boooking.com charges a 15 -20 percent commisssion to suppliers.)
  • Cancellation Policies: Vacation rental suppliers can often not withstand the 24 hour cancellation policy that channels are pushing toward.
  • Lack of Communications: All of these channels (HomeAway, Airbnb, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor) are operating under the assumption that travelers book vacation homes in the same way that they book hotels. In actuality, data shows that vacation rental travelers have questions when booking a large vacation home with up to 12 bedrooms that necessitate a vehicle for communications between the homeowner/manager that these platforms are trying to eliminate.

The Forbes author contends, “HomeAway and Airbnb would be wise to keep one eye looking over their shoulders.”

This is true. But the real threat is the one they don’t know yet

By Amy Hinote, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, VRM Intel

Wyndham acquires Wimdu & 9Flats

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

By Kevin May, Tnooz — Something in the coffee over at Wyndham Worldwide, with its rental brand Novasol buying Wimdu and 9Flats – a pair that merged together just eight weeks ago.

The deal comes the same day as Wyndham Vacation Rentals invested in UK-based luxury home rental brand Veeve.

Terms of the Wimdu-9Flats acquisition – confirmed by CEO of the combined company, Roman Bach – have not been disclosed.

The good news for Wyndham’s Denmark-based brand Novasol (a 48-year-old rental service from Denmark, formerly known as Noridsk Ferie) is that it will get its hands on what is claimed to be a combined portfolio of around 500,00 short-term rental properties in 140 countries.

Novasol has a modest figure of 40,000 properties in 29 European countries.

The company will have a reasonably difficult task on its hands if it wants to try and resurrect the ambitions of 9Flats and Wimdu.

Both positioned themselves in their early days as viable competitors to their well-funded and media-adored counterpart in the US, Airbnb.

The pair were founded over five years ago.

Wimdu started well, receiving a €90 million investment round that was co-led by Rocket Internet, the Berlin incubator, and Kinnevik of Sweden.

9flats has received about $10 million from sources such as PROfounders Capital and Redpoint Ventures, but its last raise was a Series B in 2012.

Read more at Tnooz.com

Devastating Fires Rip Through Gatlinburg

By
Amy Hinote
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0

While little is known at this point, devastating wildfires are still having an impact in the Gatlinburg area as local officials ordered evacuations for downtown Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and other parts of the county.

Fire crews are still battling blazes in Sevier County as a heavy layer of smoke settles in many areas of the county.

At this point, approximately 30 structures have been impacted in Gatlinburg, including a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartments reported fully-involved near the Park Vista Hotel.

State Hwy. 441 heading into Gatlinburg is closed, except for emergency traffic. State Hwy. 441 leaving Gatlinburg is open to evacuating traffic.

More updates to follow.

gatlinburg-fire


gatlinburg-fire-5

 

gatlinburg-fire-4 gatlinburg-fire-3

Join us at VRM Intel Live! Destin on November 30

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

VRM Intel Magazine is coming live to Sandestin with advanced level education and information for vacation rental managers.

register-now-for-vrm-intel-liveVRM Intel Live! will be held on November 30 at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort Baytowne Village, and the high-level lineup of speakers includes industry leaders, experts and many of your favorite VRM Intel Magazine writers.

The early registration cost is $80 per person and increases to $99 per person after November 10. For registration information, go to vrmintellive.com. Join us for great education, intel, food, networking and fun!

2016-vrm-intel-live-destin-agendavrm-intel-live-2016-sponsors

Beyond Pricing Wins Phocuswright Battleground 2016

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

On Monday, Beyond Pricing was one of three winners at the 2016 Phocuswright Battleground Competition.

During the Battleground, applicants had ten minutes each to demonstrate their innovations to a panel of sometimes ruthless and uncensored judges, and the cheers or jeers of a live audience of conference attendees. In the end, only the three most promising companies won the right to move on to be part of the Summit, where they will demonstrate their groundbreaking innovations on the main stage.

Beyond Pricing provides dynamic price modeling, statistics, algorithm design, and real estate analytics for the vacation rental industry. Their focus is on developing pricing software to help managers & owners maximize the performance of their vacation rental properties.

According to Beyond Pricing’s CEO Ian McHenry, “We believe vacation rental managers and owners should be able to tap into the same data that airlines, hotels, and other travel industries use to determine pricing. We view this as a democratization of data, that you can use to power your listings’ performance.”

The other two winners were Airmule and Stride Travel.

At VRM Intel, we congratulate McHenry and the Beyond Pricing team for their amazing performance and for representing the vacation rental industry. Knock ’em dead on the big stage!

Vacasa Raises Additional $5M from Assurant

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

Vacasa today announced it has raised an additional $5 million from insurance provider Assurant. As an expansion of its Series A Round, the investment comes seven months after the company announced its initial raise of $35 million led by Level Equity, which brings its total funding to $40 million.

In an interview with VRM Intel, Breon said, “The additional capital allows us to continue to expand both organically and through acquisition.”

In 2016, Vacasa has purchased 17 vacation rental management companies, adding approximately 900 units via acquisitions to its inventory, The company currently manages over 4,000 vacation homes in the U.S., Italy, Spain, Belize, Chile and Costa Rica.

vacasa-markets-november-2016

In addition, Vacasa is home to over 1,200 employees and boasts that it has internally established a base minimum wage of $15 per hour.

Assurant offers specialty protection insurance products to protect homes and personal property. According to a press release, Assurant’s investing arm backs growth companies with technology platforms that are in “complementary businesses.”

“Our strategic growth investment in Vacasa is a testament to our belief in the attractiveness of the large and rapidly growing vacation rental market, as well as our confidence in the Vacasa team to continue to execute on its vision,” said Jeff Flynn, director of growth investing at Assurant in a written statement.

NAVIS Helps VRMA Raise $33,670 for Vacation Rental Government Relations

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0
Arthur Chapin, VP Expedia at vacation rental conference

The Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA), an international trade association representing professional property managers of traditional short-term vacation rentals, raised nearly $34,000 at the 2016 VRMA National Conference via live and silent auctions. The events, which featured entertainment sponsored by NAVIS, far exceeded the goal to raise more than previous years, with funds going to support the association’s government relations and advocacy efforts.

Over 50 companies donated items for the auctions including vacation home stays in over twenty different destinations, services that help professional vacation rental managers improve their businesses, gift baskets filled with items representing popular vacation areas, plus items such as electronics and bottles of alcohol.

VRMA has been focused on increased advocacy efforts as part of its strategic plan, to assist members in fighting restrictive regulations at the state and local level. The VRMA advocacy program includes government affairs and advocacy staff, local and state issue tracking and online advocacy tools. The funds raised by these auctions will allow VRMA to invest in more engagement tools and public relations efforts to support and protect the vacation rental management industry.

“We are extremely pleased with the turnout at this year’s National Conference,” said Mike Copps, VRMA’s executive director. “The enthusiasm of our speakers, exhibitors, and attendees significantly contributed to our success. That energy also carried over to the auction; we were very pleased with the participation and proceeds that will support our government relations efforts nationwide. Heather Weiermann and NAVIS really helped push this auction to the next level; Heather’s fundraising efforts and NAVIS’ sponsorship of the evening’s entertainment helped everything come to fruition.We look forward to continued growth and innovation in the years to come.”

NAVIS, the most trusted reservation sales and marketing platform for vacation rentals, hotels, and resorts, partnered with VRMA to support, plan and execute the two auctions and provided on-site assistance throughout the event to help increase the event’s success.

“The fight to protect our communities from restrictive regulations is not an issue that relates directly to the ways NAVIS supports our clients, but it is easily one of the most important matters facing our industry today,” explains Heather Weiermann, NAVIS system consultant, and auction committee chairperson. “I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the donors and response we received when soliciting for contributions. We work with amazing people and when we come together, great things happen. I am proud to say that the money raised from these auctions will continue to strengthen our association’s voice and be used to help us work together to protect our industry.”

Kyle Buehner, CEO of NAVIS adds, “We are thrilled by the extraordinary success of the event and can’t thank VRMA enough for all they do on behalf of members and the industry. It’s a great partnership, and we look forward to working with them on future initiatives.”

This 2016 annual conference was held from October 16th– 19th, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, Arizona and featured over 50 educational sessions as well as an impressive Vendor Showcase hosting more than 70 industry-leading companies.

San Diego City Council Votes Against Ban on Vacation Rentals

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

The San Diego City Council members voted 7-2 to reject a proposal by council President Sherri Lightner that would have prohibited short-term vacation rentals in neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes. Councilwoman Lorie Zapf was the only colleague to support her plan. In addition, the city council directed staff to develop a comprehensive set of regulations governing vacation rental properties in San Diego, and bring them back for consideration within four months.

According to Matt Landau, “This HUGE news for the people of San Diego and anyone else in a short term rental hot zone.”

Landau summarized the meeting (below) and what it means to other cities looking to regulate vacation rentals.

 

Meeting Summary

Today was an enormous win for STRASD members. After more than 5 hours of public comment, the Lightner proposal to ban home-sharing & rentals was shot down by a vote of 7 to 2. We are encouraged by the Council’s level-headedness, and their sincere desire to bring about a future fair ordinance to regulate Short Term Rentals for all San Diegans.

 

Outcomes

Some highlights from Council’s debate on the dais:

  • Councilmember Todd Gloria thought that Lightner’s Ban proposal put the City in a very precarious legal position with the Coastal Commission. (We agree.) He also reminded everyone that over 500 days ago he asked the Mayor’s office to investigate what kind of budget would be needed for a strong Code Enforcement program to help enforce good guest behaviors….
  • Councilmember Cole did not realize her district was affected by the STR issue, so big thanks to all of her constituents who have met with or written to her office to help educate her. She seemed touched by the testimony of home-sharers in her district.
  • Councilmember Kersey noted that recently the Council had voted to allow expansion of start-up home businesses, begging the question how could they support home businesses, but not STRs. Good question!
  • Councilmember Cate released his own STR ordinance yesterday. While we haven’t had a chance to review how it differs from his original ordinance, we have long supported his original, and we continue to be grateful for his support and efforts to bring about fair regulation. He and his staff have produced excellent work in this area, and we are eager to review it.
  • Councilmember Sherman reminded everyone that the Coastal Commission has said, ‘No Bans in the coastal zone’, and he wondered how the City would have fared on a path with them had we banned STRs today. He also reminded everyone how a basic pillar of our freedom is the constitutional right to home-ownership — and a ban on STRs would not support that!
  • Councilmember Alvarez reiterated some of the above, but his big winning statement came when he reminded the audience that everyone deserves to live in good neighborhoods, not just those in single family neighborhoods! Yes, thank you Alvarez for pointing out that life abounds beyond SFRs.
  • Councilmember Emerald wanted to ensure home-sharing is protected going forward, and said we have an opportunity to set a nationwide example on how to manage STRs.

Does it get any better than this? This was stellar work from our electeds today!

But wait, there’s more.

 

What’s Next

Todd Gloria was THE super star. He proposed an alternative motion: the Mayor’s office should work out a budget for Code Enforcement; that DSD, Planning, and the Mayor’s office work on an ordinance framework to regulate STRs; and then run the whole process through the Smart Growth and Land Use committee for the public to weigh in.

Sherman seconded it.

Lightner wanted to know if it could include a rapid response for complaints/enforcement.(This seems like a good idea.)

After a little more debate, and with some input from City staff, the council was assured that we could likely review an ordinance within 3-4 months. Gloria’s motion passed 7-2.

So, what this means is that early next year, we will be looking at an ordinance to regulate STRs!

 

What You Can Do

A big win today thanks to your tremendous turnout is not a total victory. Short Term Rentals remain in a precarious position in San Diego and a long road lies ahead. So STRASD leadership is asking for your help. If you are interested in taking a more active role in the STR debate please respond to this message and let us know! We’re looking for additional organizing board members and appreciate anyone willing to lend a hand.

For more information, go to: http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/inner_circle_digest/

By Matt Landau

 

The Fight Over Noise: Can Noise Monitoring Quiet Protests Against Vacation Rentals? 

By
VRM Intel Staff
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In regulatory battles over vacation rentals, there is a lot of noise about noise. While there are legitimate concerns over issues such as tax compliance, occupancy, trash, and parking; complaints about noise often incite the loudest objections. Yet these grievances are largely anecdotal and lack evidence or data to substantiate their validity, which leaves vacation rental managers and owners with little defense.

“The issue of noise elicits the most emotional and hyperbolized arguments by those opposing short-term rentals,” said Matt Curtis, senior director of global government affairs and public policy for HomeAway. “In city council meetings, vacation rental opponents approach the podium with enthusiastic complaints about perceived parties that may or may not have even occurred. We are not having discussions about noise based on hard data.”

This absence of noise-related data has given city council members and representatives few options when talking to enraged constituents about parties at short-term rental (STR) properties. However, with recent innovations in technology, vacation rental providers now have access to a much-needed monitoring solution to address the issue of noise.

 

What Is Noise Monitoring?

Until recently, property managers have had a limited set of options to monitor the noise levels at their properties. Typical solutions can be expensive as they utilize human resources rather than technology, e.g., roaming beach walkers and staff drive-bys. While these types of analog noise monitoring methods may have been sufficient in yesteryear, in today’s era of heightened scrutiny and activated anti-STR groups, there is an obvious need for reliable, scalable noise monitoring solutions to address both perceived and real noise issues.

Effective noise monitoring accomplishes the following:

  • Tracks the noise level at rentals in real-time
  • Protects a guest’s privacy by not recording content
  • Provides managers with the ability to customize noise level thresholds, which when breached generates instant notifications directly to staff
  • Keeps the noise level history after the fact, which is helpful information in instances of falsely and legitimately reported noise complaints
  • Integrates into existing management software and smart home control systems
  • Is scalable for portfolios of all sizes

 

Why Is Noise Monitoring Important?

Noise Monitoring for Vacation RentalsAt the end of the day, noise issues are neighbor and community issues. Without noise monitoring technology in place, managers are reliant on neighbors and police to be their de facto noise monitors. When a manager finds out about their loud, partying guests after the disturbance has already angered neighbors or 911 has been called, then the consequences can be devastating.

No one knows this better than NoiseAware Co-Founder David Krauss. In early 2015, Krauss suffered a loss of over $30,000 from a single noise complaint. David rented his property to a couple who claimed they were in town for a quiet weekend. It was not until two days after the guests checked out that David received a letter from his HOA’s lawyers informing him of the police report generated by his not-so-quiet guests’ “mini-Coachella” party.

Neighbor relations soured badly, and he ultimately sold the property. Determined to protect himself from a repeat nightmare at his remaining short-term rental, David searched online for a noise monitoring solution but found nothing.

“I then teamed up with Andrew Schulz, a brilliant electrical and software engineer, to build a solution to my problem,” said Krauss. “A few months later, we installed the first prototype in my rental property. I quickly realized two things. First, it was a huge relief to be able to remotely verify that it was actually quiet during quiet hours, and secondly, I could finally relax knowing that if a noise violation did occur, the automatic text message alerts would ensure that I was the first to find out, not the last.”

 

How Noise Issues Affect Regulations

In a growing number of cities, the “noise issue” is cited as the number one driving force behind punitive short-term rental ordinances and bans. In February 2016 in HomeAway’s hometown of Austin, Texas, the Austin City Council voted to ban Type 2 short-term rentals—homes not occupied by the owner. That same month, HomeAway launched its “Stay Neighborly” program, which features a zero tolerance policy for disruptive behavior of short-term home rental owners and travelers.

Carl Shepherd, co-founder of HomeAway, is confident that noise monitoring technology, and the hard data that it creates, will be significant in defending mischaracterizations in the future.

“Anecdotes and stories about ‘party houses’ played a major role in Austin’s fight over short-term rentals,” said Shepherd. “We knew that the anti-STR crowd’s claims were exaggerated and the city’s own records of 311 and 911 complaints showed that. If we could have walked into those public hearings with data showing the anecdotes were false, I know it would have made a difference.”

As part of the Stay Neighborly program, HomeAway has partnered with NoiseAware to perform noise audit studies to collect anonymized noise data from short-term rentals in Charleston, Nashville, and Seattle.

“It is difficult to deny that this is the perfect way to deal with this issue,” said Matt Curtis. “In every one of our conversations, elected officials do not have a principled objection to vacation rentals as an accommodations alternative. In most cases, these representatives regularly use vacation rentals for lodging on their own vacations. We just need, as an industry, to continue to find tools such as NoiseAware that offer real solutions to the concerns their constituents have about short-term rentals.”

 

Noise Monitoring Is a Long-Term Solution for Short–Term Rentals

The growing number of short-term rentals in previously residential-only neighborhoods has brought about highly publicized protests, an increase in STR regulations, and in many cases the implementation of rental bans. If the industry can find technology solutions that address hot-button issues of residents in the same way that noise monitoring addresses noise complaints, perhaps the anti-STR tide can be reversed.

Tom Hale, former COO of HomeAway and current NoiseAware advisor takes the long view. “In the last few years at HomeAway, the perception that vacation rentals were riddled with noise issues became a top-tier concern,” said Hale. “Innovative technology like NoiseAware will reorient the conversation to focus on effective solutions, not just perceived problems.”

Hale added, “More critical for the industry in the long run, I expect noise monitoring will become the norm, guests that otherwise may produce noise nuisance issues will adjust behavior, and the use of data—not just anecdotes—will provide objective information to help cities create more sensible and enforceable ordinances.”

By Amy Hinote

Time for an Update: Convincing Owners to Upgrade Home Furnishings and Décor

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Vacation rental managers (VRMs) are tasked with maximizing rental income for property owners and ensuring a safe and comfortable stay for guests. To accomplish this, VRMs strive to ensure that the décor, furniture, and flooring for each rental property are kept up to date.

“If the property is dated and furnished with worn furniture, bedding, flooring, appliances, light fixtures, cabinets, and counter tops, or is in need of fresh paint inside, there is no amount of cleaning that will convince the customer that a property is worth what they have paid,” wrote Elliott Realty Beach Rentals, based in North Myrtle Beach, in a letter to homeowners. “Often times, poor condition is the cause of customer complaints, not poor cleaning. A poor cleaning can be corrected rather quickly at the beginning of a customer’s stay. Poor condition cannot be corrected as easily or quickly, causing the customer to feel misled and highly disappointed about the property they’ve rented.”

Even though poor customer satisfaction, bad reviews, and lack of repeat stays have a proven negative impact on rental income, convincing owners to update their interior design and furnishings is an ongoing, uphill struggle for vacation rental managers. It is common to get responses from homeowners such as:

  • “But we just bought that sofa in 2002.”
  • “The wicker furniture is more ‘beachy’!”
  • “We just replaced the mattresses right after Katrina.”

The conversation would be easier if home décor came marked with an expiration date. According to a study sponsored by the website Apartment Therapy, 54 percent of US consumers think furniture should last 20 years or more. While this flawed expectation is surprising enough in a private residence, in a vacation rental environment, it can be damaging to rental income and your company’s reputation.

All furnishings and home décor should be evaluated using at least three factors: safety, cleanliness, and appearance. Let’s look at few items that are frequently debated between managers and homeowners.

 

Mattresses

Unlike vacation rentals, hotel operators place significant attention on the lifecycle of a mattress to improve guest satisfaction and reduce expenses. Regular flipping of mattresses helps to increase a mattress’s life span. One manager advised, “In May and November, flip them end to end, and in February and August, flip them side to side, but still plan on replacing them every five to eight years or so.”

While flipping, rotating and cleaning mattresses on a regular basis extends the lifespan, ten years is about as long as even a well-maintained mattress can last. As a result, mattresses that were purchased before 2006 are in need of a serious assessment.

 

Carpet

Most vacation rentals have a mix of flooring in each property, including but not limited to tile, wood, engineered wood, and vinyl; each type and brand has its own recommended longevity.

For example, let’s look at carpet, which is expected to need replacing every five to fifteen years, depending on quality and usage. In the hotel industry, operators often choose carpet over other options for many reasons. Carpets help to limit noise, which is a primary concern in accommodations. In addition, it is cheaper to clean carpets; things break more easily when dropped on hard floor surfaces; gouges in hardwood are far harder to fix than a spot on a carpet; and it is less expensive and time-consuming to replace carpet than other types of flooring. For vacation rentals, replacing flooring is a matter of when, not if, so the ease and cost of changing is a key factor in flooring selections.

 

Sofas

Who hasn’t encountered a vacation rental marked by a sofa that’s clearly past its prime? If stains cannot be removed, the fabric is torn, the frame is sagging, or the cushions or springs have lost their support, it is time to replace the sofa or sectional. As the center point of living rooms, a sofa is generally the most used piece of furniture so it is best to keep it comfortable and clean. Vacation rental owners should expect to replace their sofa at least every 7 to 15 years.

 

And more…

A lot of attention is given to mattresses, flooring, and sofas, but other items require ongoing evaluation.

Shower curtain liners: Because they are regularly exposed to water, shower liners are prone to mold and mildew. For this reason, it is best to replace them every four to twelve months.

Pillows: Replacing pillows is also often overlooked. Most knowledgeable hotel industry professionals will tell you that with regular usage and cleaning, pillows should be replaced every two years.

Bath, door, and kitchen mats: These mats endure a lot of wear and tear during each stay, so replacing them every one to two years will keep the space feeling fresh and clean.

Accessories: Like major furnishings, accessories should be assessed based on safety, cleanliness, and appearance. New throw pillows and area rugs go a long way toward freshening the appearance of a rental. When replacing accessories, keep in mind that some home décor items, such as lamps with intricate designs, wall sculptures, and silk plants require more time dusting. In addition, styles and color palettes change in popularity. Comment cards, surveys and reviews often reveal when a vacation rental’s décor is past its prime.

 

New Technology for Communicating with Homeowners

Communicating interior design needs with homeowners is both challenging and time-consuming, but one vacation rental owner and technology entrepreneur seeks to change that.

Sarah Honaker and her husband purchased a vacation home in northwest Florida that was in dire need of a design overhaul. She quickly discovered that redecorating a rental property from several states away was incredibly difficult as she struggled to keep track of purchase decisions and the total project cost.

“I kept thinking there had to be an app that does this,” said Honaker. But there wasn’t, so she set out to create one. The result is a technology platform called Design Made Easy.

In September, Honaker launched a new tablet application aimed at helping property owners and managers communicate easily when updating and decorating vacation rental properties.

design-made-easy-app-for-vacation-rentalsThe Design Made Easy (DME) app eliminates the need for VRMs to send images via multiple texts or emails with suggested interior design changes to owners. With DME, homeowners have access through the platform to select inventory in categories such as home furniture, decor, accessories, kitchenware, appliances, and flooring. In addition, all communications sent to the vacation rental owner from DME appear from the VRM’s company brand under a private-label approach.

DME’s proprietary, patent-pending suite of tools includes a VRM-branded mobile app with a custom-built company profile and recommended inventory, so that interior design choices are appropriate and add value to the vacation rental. The DME central application tool is designed around projects created for rooms with collections to choose from and connections to share with the vacation rental homeowners for timely collaboration. Each step in the process allows collaboration, tracking of all design choices and costs, and allows vacation rental owners to reach decisions faster by choosing from virtual interior design boards—thus saving time and money.

360 Blue Properties, based in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has had success in using the platform. “The application has been very beneficial in assisting owners in how to visualize how different styles of furniture and decor can enhance the interior appearance of their home,” said 360 Blue’s Kim Catellier.

John Martin of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Watercolor, Florida also recommends the platform. “The app makes it easy to see rooms with new furniture, paint colors and pricing to redesign,” said Martin. “This tool has been a valuable resource.”

“Having a clear, simple way to communicate and track the costs of interior design projects took hours off the process of decorating our family’s vacation rental, and we want to provide the same capabilities for owners and managers,” said Honaker.

By using advancements in technology, such as Honaker’s DME app, VRMs can streamline the process of communicating design challenges and updates with homeowners.

VRMs know there is frequently a gap between the guests’ and owners’ perceptions of what is considered worn and outdated. Creating a replacement schedule for common items and performing regular evaluations of home décor and furnishings based on safety, cleanliness, and appearance improves customer satisfaction, builds trust with owners, and increase revenues for years to come.

By Amy Hinote, VRM Intel

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