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Ascent Processing Announces Dawn Yeskulsky As Director of Business Development

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Starfish capture on a cloudy beach

Ascent Processing Inc. recently named Dawn Yeskulsky as its Director of Business Development and Partner Relations. Dawn has been with Ascent Processing since 2010, and has held the position of Divisional Director of Sales since that time. Ascent  is pleased to welcome Dawn to this key position.

Dawn Yekulsky, Credit Card Processing for Vacation RentalsDawn was previously with Rental Network Software and has a long track record in software sales, marketing, and business development, with broad experience creating and managing all phases of the sales cycle.

Dawn will take the lead in strengthening Ascent’s current partnership base and creating new business and technical relationships within the industry. With the knowledge and experience held by Dawn, Ascent enhances its capabilities to build and grow its core business goal of providing the most comprehensive payment processing program in the Vacation Rental Industry.

“We are very excited that Dawn has accepted this pivotal and important role for Ascent.  As the industry continues to grow and payment acceptance becomes more complex, Dawn’s expertise will certainly enhance Ascent’s ability to provide our partners and clients the strongest payment programs and products available in the market.”  Regina Ebert, CEO.

 

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Wyndham Continues Buying Spree With Whistler Acquisition

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

Wyndham Vacation Rentals announced its acquisition of ResortQuest Whistler. The purchase marks Wyndham’s “first foray” into Canada and adds nearly 600 condominium units to its growing portfolio of vacation rental properties.

ResortQuest Whistler is the largest vacation rentals manager in the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

 

Whistler/ResortQuest History: Is Wyndham repeating history?

  • Whistler Chalets was part of the original roll-up of the foundation of ResortQuest in 1998. (444 units –owned by Patrick McCurdy.)
  • Later in 1998, ResortQuest bought Whistler Exclusive (35 units).
  • In 1999, ResortQuest purchased Mountain High Management, Whistler (275 units).
  • After Gaylord Entertainment purchased ResortQuest, in February 2005, the company acquired 100% of the outstanding common shares of Whistler Lodging Company from O’Neill Hotels and Resorts (600 units) for an aggregate purchase price of $0.1 million in cash plus the assumption of Whistler’s liabilities of $4.9 million.
  • In August 2007, Paul Sanderson (who previously served as VP and GM at O’Neill) purchased ResortQuest Whistler (combined properties) from Gaylord and became a locally-owned and operated company with 750 properties.
  • At the time, Sanderson said, “We are looking forward to bringing positive change to the company in a variety of key areas with the emphasis on local management delivering outstanding service to guests, owners and employees alike.”
  • When Leucadia purchased ResortQuest from Gaylord in 2007, Gaylord had no remaining rental properties in Whistler.
  • In 2013, the independent ResortQuest Whistler partnered with O’Neill Hotels & Resorts to operate Blackcomb Suites vacation accommodation rental property.
  • With the combined properties of the acquisition activity above, Wyndham purchased ResortQuest Whistler with 600 properties.

 

According to the Wyndham press release:

“We are delighted to enter the market in Canada and to welcome ResortQuest Whistler to the Wyndham Vacation Rentals family,” said Mary Lynn Clark, president, Wyndham Vacation Rentals North America. “Whistler joins the already impressive list of world-class ski destinations where we offer travelers the comfort and convenience of a vacation rental along with the peace-of-mind that comes with booking your trip with a trusted hospitality company.”

“We are excited to be joining the larger Wyndham Vacation Rentals family,” said Paul Sanderson on behalf of the selling partners. “We view this as a very positive opportunity for our homeowners, guests, associates and for Whistler itself.”

VRMs: Be Counted. Take the 2015 VRM Survey

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

Data collection has begun for the 2015 National VRM Industry Survey. This is the survey that can make a difference for your business!

For several years, Hutchins Canning & Company PA, a certified public accounting and consulting firm known nationally for its expertise in the vacation rental management industry, has published a comprehensive national annual VRM survey. The national survey and related reports have provided unique, never-before-available data to property managers and are an important source of industry information.  Many vacation rental management companies have told us they rely on this survey, with its detailed analysis, to manage and grow their business.

As a certified public accounting (CPA) firm with a 35-year history, you can be assured and confident we maintain the strict confidentiality of your business’ information. No entity, other than Hutchins Canning & Company, will have access to your information.

 

First Time Participant?

If this is your first time participating in the survey, we will release the 2014 compiled survey results to you as soon as you complete the questionnaire. You will then have access to all the metrics and benchmarks from last year’s survey to compare with your company’s current performance. The data collected for the 2014 survey is comprised of information from the 2013 rental season and represents data from 17 states, with $445,000,000 in gross rental revenue

 

Take the Survey

To access the survey, you may download a paper copy or  logon to the survey here:

2015 National Vacation Rental Management Industry Survey

We are releasing the survey early this year to give participants more time to enter their data, We are requesting that all information be entered by the deadline of June 15, 2015.  As soon as all of the survey results are compiled, you, as a participant, will receive a customized report for your business indentifying the trends and metrics necessary for more effective management of your business.

To more easily complete the survey, please have your financial/income statements, for the year ended December 31, 2014, at hand before you begin.

You can exit the survey and resume at a later time. To ensure this functionality, only one survey may be taken on any one computer.  The survey uses “cookies” to save responses, so if you leave the survey, you must come back to the same computer and use the same browser in order to pick up and finish. Also, please ensure that “cookies” are enabled. To make sure your responses are saved if you intend to exit and resume at a later time, hit the “Next” button on the page or the “Done” button at the end of the survey.

 

What Participants Say about the National VRMI Survey

“Thank you Hutchins Canning & company for sharing the most recent Vacation Rental Management industry survey. This is incredibly valuable information to our business. This year’s survey is even more rich with the information and averages we need to benchmark ourselves with our segment of the vacation rental business. Thank you for compiling and sharing this valuable look into our industry. The timing of your releasing this survey  data couldn’t be better. We’re currently in the midst of the budgeting process  in our company and find these averages to be a nice guide in assessing our overall plans. Thank you again for all you do to support our industry!”  Janice Farr, Vice-President, Sun Realty

“Kokopelli Property Management truly appreciates the national survey conducted by Hutchins Canning & Company, P.A.  We find the report valuable as we grow regionally in our area to understand how our industry operates in other locations and other markets.  We participate because we truly believe the “bar can be raised” in the vacation rental industry and choose to be an active participant in this process.  Kokopelli has used the information provided by this survey to expand new lines of service and to create a more rounded approach to the vacation rental experience.  In the near future, we encourage more vacation rental companies participate internationally to produce a better survey report with more industry data.”  Jason Couillard, CPA, Chief Financial Officer, Kokopelli Property Management

“Because we are in a smaller vacation rental market, it’s not always easy to get data. So we are always interested in industry indicators to see how we measure up:  Are we on track with similar firms in other areas?  In the industry as a whole? Is there something new happening that we missed? The annual Hutchins Canning vacation rental survey has proved invaluable; it provides data we’d never be able to access otherwise.  From HR and operations trends to revenue and expense information, we use the survey as we do year end analysis and budget work. I’ll admit that the survey is difficult and very detailed. But I’d also be the first to say that the payoff far outweighs – and outlasts –  the pain of digging out numbers.”  Claire Reiswerg, Owner, Sand `N Sea Properties

Brindley Beach “Phoenix Rising”

By
VRM Intel Staff
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By , North Beach Sun

Everyone handles disaster differently. For Doug Brindley, President of Brindley Beach Vacations, when the company’s Corolla offices burned to the ground on June 12, the way forward was to accept what happened, figure out how to accommodate the guests Corolla guests who would be coming to the Outer Banks on the weekend, and start moving to the future.

The fire started in a pile of mulch stored beside the building, although no one know why the mulch caught fire. The result though was the building is a complete loss. “One of the advantages in a total burn, is you don’t argue about how much of it’s burned.”

With the building in Corolla a complete loss and summer guests coming to the Outer Banks, a plan was needed right away.

 

Brindley Beach Corolla office in flames, Friday, June 12, 2015.

The first step was getting everyone checked in. The obvious answer was to have guests go to the Duck offices in Wee Winks Square, which worked well on Saturday.

“There were unusual things that we had to do,” Doug said. “For Saturday we already had the keys. We had taken them out of the building.”

Sunday was different.

The machine that makes the key for keyless entry was destroyed, and the Sunday keys and not been made. “If I couldn’t make a key. I couldn’t get them in,”he said. There were about 40 units effected on Sunday and Doug and his staff took the most direct route they could.

“As soon as everything opened up, we went out and got Quickset lock sets,” Doug said. “We changed them all out. We figured it out.”

The pride he has in his staff is palpable. A number of times during the conversation, he pointed to examples of how well they have responded and how important that has been. “Everyone that was checking in to Corolla is now checking in here in Duck,” he said. “And the Duck people are still in Duck. Two times the staff in here and they’re doing it with a smile and a laugh and we’re getting good things done.”

Doug also noted that his competitors stepped forward to help where they could. Outer Banks property management is a very competitive market, but there is also a sense of community among the companies.

“Through great help from Jimbo Ward at Beach Realty, he’s renting us his old building in Kill Devil Hills,” he said. “That’s where our back office staff is going. He’s letting a competitor rent it.”
Help also came from Gordon Jones at Coldwell Banker who had extra sets of keyless entry blanks that he sold to Brindley Beach. “He probably wanted to get rid of them, but he didn’t have to sell them to me,” Doug said.

Outside help was also on hand. According to Doug, Steven Craig of Pro Resort Housekeeping, who was working with the company on ways to improve maintenance, was invaluable. “He has 36 years in the business,” Doug noted. “He helped me with critical thinking. He helped me get organization done. I had the perfect person with me . . .”

According to Craig though, the biggest asset was Doug and the Brindley Beach staff. “The biggest help was Doug,” he said. “If I was able to help it was to focus on the people in the company and where each person had their greatest strength, even if it wasn’t their role. People who needed to do more, did without fussing.”

The rebuilding process is already underway. The burned out building will be gone by the beginning of July. Officials in Currituck County have assured Doug they will help him fast track a new office, and if all goes according to plan, new offices will be ready by next summer.

Temporary trailers have been rented for a sales office in Corolla, and Doug is keeping the personal service that has been a hallmark of Brindley Beach. “We call it sit and swat,” he said, probably referring to the occasional mosquito or sand fly. Agents sit under an umbrella by the side of the road, ready to greet anyone who happens by.

“It’s a great way to meet people,” Doug adds.

To Doug it’s putting things back together. “When it breaks apart you got a puzzle,” he says. “With all these pieces and what are you going to do with it. And every now and then, ‘Oh that fits here.’ And then another piece puzzle fits here . . .”

To his wife, there is another way of seeing it. “Joanie is using a phrase that fits,” Doug said. “Phoenix rising.”

Editorial: Owner Service Providers in the Sharing Economy

By
VRM Intel Staff
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The Important Role of Owner Service Providers in the Sharing Economy

Editorial by John Banczak, Co-founder and Chairman, TurnKey Vacation Rentals

It would be virtually impossible for anyone involved in the sharing economy or vacation rental industry to be unaware of the increasingly complex and growing body of government regulations. Short-term rentals are a very attractive lodging solution for families and groups, and improvements in both the ease of finding and booking them over the past several years have enabled more and more travelers to take advantage of them. The increase in popularity has come with increased scrutiny from local governments as well as from lodging alternatives like hotels or B&B’s which view vacation rentals as competition.

Local governments and the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) presented recently at the FTC Sharing Economy Workshop made fair points that virtually all professional vacation rental property managers agree with:

  • Vacation rentals should be a positive influence in the community
  • They should pay the same type of taxes any lodging provider pays
  • They should be licensed and regulated to promote these goals.

 

What Are Illegal Hotels?

The AHLA uses the phrase “illegal hotels” in a lot of situations. The origin of this phrase seems to stem from large apartment buildings in major metro areas that have been converted to handle short-term rentals. They often resemble hotels in just about every way – multi-story buildings with multiple units per floor, elevators, and a single investor/owner. The AHLA defined them as “individuals or companies operating multiple properties as a business.” While we believe the AHLA understands the difference between a true “illegal hotel” and a traditional vacation rental manager like Wyndham for example, there is some concern that the general public does not.

The “illegal hotel” definition more and more often is starting to be loosely applied to the traditional vacation rental management industry, which is entirely different from a metro-area illegal hotel. Unlike an illegal hotel operator, traditional vacation rental managers do not own units at all – they provide services to individual home owners much like any local service provider.

The decades-old vacation rental management business can be thought of as having two broad categories. The first are Resort Managers (RMs) – folks like Wyndham, Marriott, Westin for example that might manage a vacation rental structure that resembles a resort or hotel, and may have individually or corporate-owned units. The second category are Owner Service Providers (OSPs) – folks like TrueGreen, Lawnlove, America’s Swimming Pool Co, Merry Maids, TurnKey Vacation Rentals, Evolve, Handy, ARS, Paypal, Square, HotSpot Tax, even Wyndham in many areas, and thousands of small business across the country that provide some type of service for an individually owned primary or secondary home. OSPs help most vacation rental owners in some aspect of the process (such as a housekeeper, electrician or lawn service).

Should an individually-owned, single-story, single-family home rented for part of the year be required to have the same type of sprinkler-system, earthquake reinforcements, and health-code inspections as a thirty-story hotel in downtown San Francisco that has multiple restaurants and event catering? Few would agree. But should it pay the same taxes and not be a nuisance to neighbors? Absolutely.

Does a two-hundred unit, twenty-five story apartment building in Manhattan owned by a REIT seem more similar to the twenty-five story hotel across the street than it does a stand-alone single-family home in Austin, TX? It sure does, and the AHLA would have a good argument that that the fire code of the hotel and the apartment building in Manhattan should be similar, while the fire code on the single family home should not.

Do Resort Managers with multi-floor/multi-unit structures seem a lot like hotels? They sure do – many are owned by the same hotel companies represented by the AHLA. Does an OSP that helps an individual home owner take care of their property in some way resemble an illegal hotel? No, individually owned homes whether rentals or not hire all sorts of OSPs to help maintain their property.

 

Professional Vacation Rental Managers are Owner Service Providers (OSP), not Illegal Hotels

A traditional, professional property manager doesn’t run illegal hotels, they are an OSP that may provide a few focused services to owners, or they may provide a wide range enabling an owner a single point of contact for most of their needs. The easiest way to understand what traditional managers is to compare three examples of similar properties in an average coastal community. The first owner does everything on his own, the second owner uses a couple different OSPs, and the third has hired a full-service professional property manager to be their single point of contact. Each home is a single family residence, should have the proper permit to be a vacation rental and should pay all transient occupancy taxes due.

Our first example owner – Joe – owns a three bedroom home a couple blocks from the beach. Joe is retired and spends about four months a year at his vacation home. His primary residence is a three hour drive away. Joe manages most everything on his own – he has listed his home on VRBO since 1999, handles all of his email inquiries, phone calls, takes payment in the mail by check or online through Paypal, and serves as the guests only contact point. He contracts out to local cleaners or course, has a local lawn service, a pool service, a plumber and electrician he uses, and a contractor for larger repairs. He runs his own finances and is responsible for paying his own local taxes each month. He keeps things like spare sheets on site, extra lightbulbs, and has guests bring their own amenities like toilet paper, shampoo, etc. For the most part the rental runs smoothly, save for the occasional instances when Joe’s not available to answer the phone in an emergency, or there is a problem with the quality of housekeeping or pool service. Joe has plenty of time on his hand to handle all of the scheduling and has always been more of a do-it-yourselfer.

The second owner – Susan – owns a three bedroom home right next door to Joe. Susan spends less time at the home as Joe, living a couple hours flight away. Susan is an EMT and cannot be reliably available to answer emails or phone calls so he contracted with Evolve Vacation Rentals – a professional service that lists his property on VRBO, provides 24/7 phone and email support, and handles payments from guests. Susan likes that guests always can reach someone and he doesn’t have to worry about sleepless nights. She also contracts with Hotspot Tax to handle all of her tax filings. She’s always used H&R Block to do her taxes, and he likes the idea of a professional filing each month so it is accurate and verifiable. Susan uses the same local lawn service and pool company as Joe, but has a different housekeeper that she schedules himself, and her own plumber and electrician. She’s looking for a new general contractor as his recently moved out of town. The rental runs smoothly, save for the occasional issues that arise when the plumber is busy or the old general contractor couldn’t be found. Susan doesn’t mind doing a little work now and then, but feels that paying for phone, email and tax service is well worth-it.

The third owner – Fred – owns a three bedroom right next door to Joe. Fred uses the home just as much as Susan, and lives in the same hometown as Joe. He plans on retiring there to live full-time eventually. Fred used to manage his home on his own, but got promoted to a regional sales rep and is on the road most of the week with no time to schedule any of the services. Fred started using Beachwise Vacation Rentals as his OSP. Beachwise acts as a single contact for owners, providing a VRBO listing, phone and email services, and payment handling like Evolve does. Beachwise uses the same housekeeping company, electricians, and plumbers as Joe, but does all the scheduling of them so Fred doesn’t have to. Beachwise also provides regular inspections of the home and keeps basic supplies on hand for renters like toilet paper, shampoo, garbage bags and paper towels. Beachwise handles things like tax payments, they even verify each guest’s photo ID, put digital locks on the doors for added security, and hire a local private security patrol on weekends and during big events. Fred likes having one local point of contact – he is busy at work, and feels better having someone manage all aspects of his home – after all, he spent years saving enough money to afford a second home and wants to make sure it is well looked after.

Each of these home owners has chosen a set of OSPs that work best for their own situation. Whether a home owner is the do-it-yourself type, or they want to have one single point of contact – the combination of OSPs doesn’t change the characteristics of their homes in the community. The homes are identical, all providing the same type of rental to guests. Each home owner is free to switch their plumber, housekeeper or electrician if a newer, better, or less expensive provider comes along. Competition among service providers is strong in the USA and owners benefit from that competition. Beachwise, a single point of contact OSP simply bundles up services for owners that need more convenience.

The mere bundling of services however doesn’t change the home itself, nor does this bundling of services imply that full-service managers like Beachwise are running illegal hotels in their area.

 

OSPs vs Illegal Hotels

We doubt that the AHLA’s intention is to group traditional full-service professional managers into the same category as illegal hotels. We would urge them to clarify this position. Making it difficult to bundle services for home owners, or reducing competition among service providers wouldn’t do anything to curb the type of illegal hotels mentioned in the larger metro areas. It would only serve to hurt the hundreds of thousands of second home owners.

Professional property managers have been providing bundled owner services to individual owners for decades in a thriving, competitive local marketplace serving as a valuable OSP to almost half of all vacation rental home owners. We hope that the all of those discussing the issues in the sharing economy make it a point to fully understand that traditional vacation rental managers are not running illegal hotels, and to further define the type of lodging that has become problematic.

Winning back a customer is like winning back a lover

By
VRM Intel Staff
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The 21st century has brought about big strides in the psychology of customer service. We can thank millennials for helping us “find our truth” and learn relationships between customers and businesses are just as personal as any other serious relationship.

With today’s competitive environment, a business that sincerely wants to win a customer back can take cues from the steps needed to reconcile the most intimate of relationships.

 

6 ways to win back a customer like winning back a lover

 

1. Know why things ended

winning a customer back the break upWhen we’ve lost a lover, it is easy to get defensive and not take a hard, honest look at we did wrong. But if we don’t understand what we did wrong, we can’t fix it.

Some businesses have an easier time than others at capturing data about why a customer left. Sincere exit interviews are critically important when possible, and in most cases, our ex-customers (and our ex-lovers) are eager to share why they moved on. Was the cost too high? Were there better alternatives? Did we ignore their needs to pursue our own agenda? Did we not understand what they were trying to tell us? Were we rude and unsympathetic?

 

2. Sincerely apologize for what we did wrong

Winning back a customer apologiesWhen we are hurt, it is hard to apologize for our part in the breakup…in intimate or business relationships. Once we clearly know where we failed, we need to find a way to be humble and sincere and acknowledge our part of the breakdown to the person we’ve hurt. A simple and personal email or letter to the customer validates their complaints and plants the seed that we care, which is all we want to do with the apology. And with this apology, we don’t ask for them to come back.

 

3. Get in shape

winning back a customer get in shapeTo be alluring enough to be reconsidered, we need to do some self-improvement…We need to look hot again.

What does that look like for you? Do you need to change your call center strategy, give your product or service a face lift, or reduce your costs so you can offer a lower price? You may simply need to adopt a company culture of compassion and service. You had something special that won the customer the first time. Try to recapture the romance and show them that you still have what it takes, but now –after taking some articulated steps -you can meet their needs even better.

 

4. Don’t be annoying

Don't be annoying to your customersMost of us have learned that if we call or text or message too often, our ex will run even faster in the opposite direction. We need to communicate to find out what we did wrong…once. If they tell us, we have something to work with. And we need to apologize…once.

Then, after seriously improving, we can communicate what we’ve done to change. But that it is. Like our ex-lovers, the more we chase, the faster our customers will run.

 

5. Give them easy access and more control

Winning back a customer make it easyFind ways to give ex-customers an easy, unobstructed path to reconciliation. We already have their account information, their billing info, their logins/passwords, and the specifications of what they want. If we know where we messed up, have improved our offerings and are still easily accessible, more often than not, our exes will find it is easier to stay with us than start over with someone new.

Gently offer them incentives…real incentives… to return. Take a hit. We all know what the lifetime value of reconciliation is worth to our company, so we should make our incentives show we truly and deeply care.

 

6. Know when to move on

Winning back a customerLike our ex-lovers, there are some customers we either cannot win back or we are better off without. Inevitably there are a few exes that drain our energy and keep us from moving forward. They prevent us from being the best we can be, and we need to be able to let them go without it hurting our egos or consuming our thoughts or resources. It is important that we conserve our energy and talents for those who we can serve effectively.

 

Relationships are hard, whether they are with an ex-lover or an ex-customer. Reconciliation requires self-awareness, hard work and humility. In business, it is critical that we have something special to offer our customers, but we need to listen to them, improve our services and empower them to choose us.  In this generation more than any before, the choice is theirs.

 

By Amy Hinote

Amy Hinote Marketing for Vacation RentalsAmy Hinote is the founder and editor of VRM Intel which provides news and education for the rapidly expanding vacation rental industry. With a background in finance and marketing and over 10 years im hospitality, Hinote has worked with accommodations and tourism companies, suppliers, and intermediaries and provides insider information about the growing vacation rental industry. Hinote resides just north of Chicago in Evanston, IL.

Contact Amy Hinote
amy.hinote@vrmintel.com
(251) 455-4994

 

Outer Banks Fire at Brindley Beach Vacations

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Another Slide

On Friday night, a fire broke out at Brindley Beach Vacations and Sales in Corolla, NC.

Currituck County spokesman Randall Edwards said the fire started at Brindley Beach Center on Ocean Trail around 7:15 p.m. Due to wind, the flames spread to two houses just north of the recreation center. Edwards said there are road closures in the area as crews work to knock down the fire.

The building was empty and there were no injuries, but the structure is a total loss. A chimney is all that’s left of what used to be the 12,000 square foot building.

Investigators think high winds fanned the flames and caused it to spread, but there is still no word on what caused the fire.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Doug Brindley, Kelly Hanig and the Brindley Beach team.
 


 

According to the company blog:

We’re not sure what caused the fire; the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), who investigates any fire in an unincorporated town (Corolla), has finished their investigation and found that the fire was of an undetermined origin.

We’ll be rebuilding our Corolla office. As Doug Brindley, the President of Brindley Beach said, “It will be like a phoenix rising from the ashes. It will be better than ever.”

 

Facebook Brindley Beach fire OBX

 

Brindley Beach Fire
 
Brindley Beach Fire After
 

Please ignore the insensitive audio in the video below posted by OuterBanksVoice.com.

 

Just seven months ago Outer Beaches Realty in Avon also experienced a fire. The fire department ruled out arson in that fire. While they have several theories about how the fire started, his official ruling is “accidental.”
 

Outer Beaches Realty Fire
 

Outer Beaches President Alex Risser agreed that the cause of the fire is mostly conjecture but that the most reasonable theory centers on an outside electric outlet under the building.

The thought, he said, is that, over time, salt could have corroded the outlet to cause the blaze. Even though the outlet is above flood level, he added, tide from one or more recent storm could have compromised it.

 

Luxury Retreats gets $11M in Funding Led by iNovia

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Luxury Retreats, a company offering curated luxury vacation rentals, today announced that it has raised $11M in capital funding to continue its differentiation strategy in the fully serviced luxury segment of the vacation rental industry.

“The sharing economy has exploded in popularity and we see a big opportunity in delivering predictability and consistency to our guests,” said Luxury Retreats Founder and CEO Joe Poulin. “We’ve zoned in on a unique niche in the industry. By only offering curated homes and focusing on great guest experiences we’re removing uncertainty and we’re answering a need. Having a brand driving standards for an end to end experience is crucial. Luxury isn’t sold, it’s delivered.”

Poulin added: “We’re thrilled that iNovia and their partners share our vision as we expand into new markets and continue to perfect our offer and operations in existing markets.”

Luxury Retreats’ existing operations include 24/7 concierge support and a team of over 180 luxury travel enthusiasts with the common goal of ensuring every guest vacation comes with surprises – but only the good ones. “We’re breaking down the process to remove as many friction points as possible,” says Poulin. “When it comes to someone’s vacation with their family or friends we have to make sure we get it right.”

Luxury Retreats offers a closed network of over 2,800 hand-picked private homes in 90 destinations around the world and is focused on refining its collection and operations in existing locations while continuing to develop new markets.

As much as the company is focused on the Guest Experience, Luxury Retreats is also continuously striving to improve the Homeowner Experience. Homeowners (whose homes are accepted into the LR network) are assigned a Relationship Manager from day one. The Luxury Retreats approach is opposite to the experience offered by the industry’s listing sites. “Luxury Retreats Homeowners always have someone to speak with and more importantly there is a dedicated person on our team who is looking for ways to improve the performance of their property,” said Poulin who owns a couple of properties himself so he knows the importance of one to one attention first hand.

“Under Joe Poulin’s direction, Luxury Retreats is positioned to further revolutionize the industry by providing even more added value for guests and homeowners alike,” said Chris Arsenault, Managing Partner at iNovia Capital. “We support his aggressive plan to expand Luxury Retreats’ footprint globally and continue to grow their own category.”

The $11 million investment is led by iNovia Capital, a venture capital firm specializing in emerging technologies, and partners including: Claridge Inc., led by President and CEO Pierre Boivin and Executive Chairman Stephen Bronfman; financier Peter Kern of InterMedia Partners; and Andrew Lufty, Entrepreneur and CEO of Groupe Dynamite.

Topsail Realty acquired by Mike Harrington

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Last week Mike Harrington, former CEO at Resort Realty of the Outer Banks, resigned from Resort Realty and acquired Topsail Realty in Topsail, North Carolina.

Topsail Realty currently manages approximately 170 rental properties and was previously owned and operated by Randy Leesburg. The 40 year old company was founded by Leesburg’s father, and Randy Leesburg took over in 1985.

Mike HarringtonMike Harrington worked with Stewart Couch at Hatteras Realty before joining Resort Realty of the Outer Banks in 2007.  At Resort Realty he oversaw over 600 vacation rental homes and led daily operations and strategic growth initiatives for the company.  Harrington currently serves as the President of the North Carolina Vacation Rental Managers Association (NCVRMA), sits on the Board of Directors as Treasurer for the national Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA), and is a member of East Carolina’s University’s School of Hospitality’s Advisory Board.

Leesburg will continue to assist in operations and will begin transitioning towards retirement.

Related:

By Amy Hinote

Inbox Avalanche? 3 Ways to Turn VR Inquiries into Gold

By
VRM Intel Staff
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OTA's for Vacation Rentals

Shifts in the hospitality market have put vacation rentals on the map like never before. The Sharing Economy has more travelers looking to vacation rentals as a viable option for their stay. That includes both business and leisure markets. As the popularity of listing sites like HomeAway and VRBO skyrocket, they send a flood of inquiries to Vacation Rental Managers’ inboxes.

That’s more potential revenue–a very good thing, right? Yes, if you can promptly and effectively follow up on those leads. Which brings us to…

 

3 Solutions that Turn Inbox Inquiries into Gold

 

Challenge #1: Listing sites flood you with leads, leads, leads

Here are some statistics from the 130 VRs that use our NAVIS Narrowcast listing lead management technology:

  • Three years ago, 6% of our VR clients’ business came from lead generating inquiries from online listing sites such as HomeAway, VRBO, and FlipKey
  • Today, the proportion of business from these listing sites averages 25%
  • Despite this significant jump, VRs across the country report that they only convert 5% of listing site inquiries.
  • That means 95% of potential revenue gets left on the table!

A major reason: listing sites deliver a separate email for each property inquiry. A potential guest may inquire about 4 properties on one site and 2 of the same properties on a second. Your inbox gets hit with six leads from two different sites–all from the same potential guest. No wonder inquiries build to avalanche proportions!

Solution: The new NAVIS Listing Lead Management (LLM) system consolidates all lead data from email (and telephone) inquiries from the same household into one record. You can access that data with the NAVIS Narrowcast Dashboard and follow up on that business quicker and easier.

 

Challenge #2: You must open every email to determine which leads are most valuable

Solution: NAVIS LLM lets you rank inquiries according to the metrics of your choice (daily rate, length of stay, requested booking dates, etc.). The system automatically queues up leads according to the value to your business at the time of the inquiry and routes them to the highest converter on your sales team–or according to any other skill metric you choose.

 

Challenge #3: You need more resources to follow up quickly on valuable leads.

The VR market is competitive. Even with leads organized and ranked, you may not have enough sales agents to ensure that the most valuable leads get immediate attention.

Solution: NAVIS Auto-Agent automatically responds to inquiries based on attributes such as availability, property recommendations, and repeat guest recognition. Plus, the NAVIS Narrowcast Dashboard tracks whether the potential guest opened or forwarded the auto response email.
Here are three more ways NAVIS helps you zero in on your most valuable guests:

  • It manages all email and telephone leads in one system with features controlled by a single dashboard
  • It’s free of charge to all NAVIS Narrowcast clients
  • You can leverage your collected CRM lead data with NAVIS Reach to create personalized marketing campaigns that reach each potential guest at just the right time in their travel planning cycle

Michelle Marquis, NAVIS VP Marketing and Strategic Initiatives

LiveRez Donates $5,000 to Fight Vacation Rental Regulations in San Diego

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VRM Intel Staff
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LiveRez is all in with its partners, fighting for fair vacation rental regulations in San Diego. The company recently donated $5,000 to the San Diego Vacation Rental Managers Alliance to help protect its partners against proposed regulations.

Additionally, LiveRez’s own Brittany Funk has been active in the fight locally, attending all of the civic meetings where regulations have been discussed. LiveRez is committed to winning this fight and will continue to stand by its partners until these proposed regulations are struck down!

Short-term rentals have come under fire recently across the United States, but the battles in San Diego have been especially fierce. One such proposal would essentially outlaw short-term rental by limiting rental stays to more than 30 days. Another proposal being pitched would only allow home sharing, meaning that owners could only rent out homes that are their primary residences, many times just an extra bedroom. Either one of these proposals could put many professional management companies out of business.

You can learn more about these issues — and how you can help — at SDVRMA.org.

LiveRez's Brittany Funk (center - front row) sits alongside LiveRez partner Maurice Maio of King of the Beach, at a Pacific Beach Planning Group meeting in March. Many of LiveRez's partners in San Diego have been working tirelessly to oppose unfair rental regulations in the city.

 

Learn More About LiveRez
LiveRez is the most widely used software platform for professional vacation rental managers. The company’s cloud-based, end-to-end platform offers fully integrated solutions for reservation and property management, websites with online bookings, trust accounting, CRM, housekeeping and maintenance, reporting, reviews and more. LiveRez is a proud Gold Sponsor of the Vacation Rental Manager’s Association (VRMA).

Visit LiveRez.com to learn more

Twiddy & Company and Their Kaba Integration

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VRM Intel Staff
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About Twiddy & Company: In 1978, Doug and Sharon Twiddy moved to the tiny village of Duck, North Carolina where Doug embarked on selling real estate and renting vacation properties. Not unlike most start-up companies, the business began out of an office located in the family home, and over time, expanded its operations. Four years after landing in Duck, Doug Twiddy opened the first, formal,Twiddy & Company office in the nearby town of Corolla, and Twiddy & Company was on its way to not only being the area’s premier rental management company but one of the most well respected local businesses.

Twiddy Owner RelationsSince its inception, the business has grown to 100 full-time employees who serve and represent nearly 1,000 Outer Banks vacation rental properties and their owners in Duck, Corolla, and the four-wheel drive beaches. Properties range from expansive 23-bedroom oceanfront estates to cozy rental cottages tucked away on unpaved roads.’

 

Petrina Guthrie, Owner Services Manager

According to Petrina Guthrie, Owner Services Manager at Twiddy & Company, “I have been in the hospitality business for over 30 years, so I understand what it takes to provide an incredible vacation experience. When I first arrived in the Outer Banks (OBX), I surveyed several companies to see who was doing it right. Twiddy & Company was at the top of the list.”

The company’s mission is straightforward—provide vacation homeowners superior management services and guests an extraordinary vacation. And Doug Twiddy believes that this mission is only achieved with a team that, not only is competent, experienced, and motivated, but mirrors his drive for integrity and passion for personal service.

“Twiddy is extremely successful because it typifies what it means to be a good corporate citizen—whether to the staff, community, property owners, or guests,” adds Guthrie.

 

Starting with Kaba’s Keyless Locks

“About eight years ago, I was introduced to Kaba Oracode locks when I was working at another rental management company,” notes Guthrie. “We always had a good experience using the keyless access control system, so when I joined Twiddy I presented the locks as a replacement to the existing lock solution.”

Oracode is an intelligent, electronic access control system that provides keyless access for temporary users, such as vacation renters, timeshare owners, and corporate housing tenants. Using a time- and date-specific code, Oracode eliminates keys and cards as well as time-consuming access control management.

“With the Oracode system, we can generate and distribute lock codes in advance or in a moment’s notice and from anywhere in the world,” states Guthrie. When a guest enters a predetermined code into the lock, the lock uses its stored match “digital key” to decrypt the code. If the lock ID matches and the lock’s real-time clock indicates that the current time is between the designated parameters, then the lock will open—otherwise, the lock remains locked and secure. Oracode locks use three AA alkaline batteries, which typically last three years before needing replacement.

“Because our properties are located on or near the beach, they endure more wear and tear than homes located inland,” notes Guthrie. “One of most important selling points of Oracode locks is their oceanfront construction and finish options.”

Oracode locks are totally sealed to withstand climate extremes and meet ANSI A156.25 requirements for dust, humidity, and salt.

 

Upgrading to Kaba’s Oracode Live

Kaba Keyless Locks“When Harry Schneider, the Kaba representative, told me that there was a new, next level of Oracode (Oracode Live), I was extremely interested to know how it could benefit not only our company, but homeowners,” says Guthrie. Oracode Live provides all the features of the stand-alone system but now adds real-time notifications and alerts, such as Guest First Arrival and Internet Down.

According to Guthrie, “Oracode Live is definitely more convenient because of its ability to “talk to” the lock remotely. We have homes on the four-wheel drive section of OBX, which means it is very remote, and sometimes you have to drive 15 minutes on the beach to reach certain properties. Oracode Live lets us communicate with a lock without standing in front of it. Also, our maintenance staff has sent lock codes to preferred vendors directly from their smartphones, allowing vendors unattended access inside a property.”

Twiddy & Company has migrated 125 properties from the stand-alone Oracode system to Oracode Live.

Oracode Live also integrates into the BeHome247 energy management system. This unique combination further enhances a guest’s experience by creating a welcoming and comfortable environment as well as streamlines property management operations. With the BeHome247 Enterprise Property Control™ system, managers can: → Monitor and control a property’s temperature and lights → Adjust pool and spa settings, lights, and pumps → Receive notifications when the HVAC system or appliance is out of service

“An additional benefit of the Oracode Live system is the integration capability to the BeHome247 package,” says Guthrie. “We are really interested in its status management segment. Our house cleaners travel a great distance to OBX properties so knowing which home is vacant—because the guest checked out early—is really important to us. With status management, a guest enters a code into a lock and BeHome247 captures it, alerting us that a house can be cleaned early. Whether it’s allowing a guest simple, easy entry into a property or helping provide that WOW factor once inside a property, a satisfied guest means we’ve done our job. And in turn, we’ve served the homeowner well.”

 

Read More: http://www.kabalodging.com/

 

PMT Launches RateChaser™

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VRM Intel Staff
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Property Manager Tools (PMT) – the originator, and still the leader, in automated quote response technology with SmartResponse™ – has launched the next generation of advanced rate intelligence.  Named RateChaser™, it enables PMs, VRMs and owners to maximize their revenues.

A comprehensive overview of your market’s rate and occupancy levels is vital to the success of your vacation rental revenue strategy. RateChaser™ has one of the most advanced rate shopping systems, offering reliable rate intelligence technology for any market in the world.

Revenue Management for Vacation RentalsRobert Simmons, Co-Founder, Marketing Director, states “RateChaser™ takes Yield Management to another level. Everyone shops competitive rates – and they do that manually. And now that booking engines use dynamic pricing, rates are consistently changing.  You can’t afford to set your listing rates once and walk away. As experts in automating manual processes, PMT’s developers have created a service that automates rate shopping. And we’ve added competitive occupancy level reporting to the service as well. With the emergence of ‘Book Now’ buttons and ‘low to high’ sorting options on the major listing sites, your property will only get one shot to offer a competitive rate or lose the prospect to another listing.  This service will be essential for vacation rental managers and owners alike.”

According to Doug Rein, Co-Founder and Technology Lead, “There is a limit to how much data you can analyze by hand.  It’s risky to make pricing decisions based on limited data. Our servers capture the whole market at once.  The single report option lets you choose just those areas you want in your report – often down to specific resorts. Then, on your own timeline, you can purchase a fresh report for the latest data. We also offer a Professional version on a monthly subscription, providing continually updated data, rate change notifications and the ability to target specific units. ”

This robust tool will be the preferred choice of revenue managers, general managers and individual rent by owners worldwide because it can be used as a standalone service. There is no need to use a specific booking engine or PMS to receive the benefits of the service.

For more information and to sign up for a $19.95 competitive rate and occupancy level report for your market using RateChaser™, click this link to learn more RateChaser™

Selling a VRMC: 6 Reasons 2015 Might Be the Best Year to Sell Your Vacation Rental Management Company

By
VRM Intel Staff
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With increased attention on the vacation rental sector in the media and in the market, investors are sprinting into the industry and looking to acquire vacation rental market share at a premium.

For veteran vacation rental company owners, this seller-friendly environment provides an especially enticing opportunity to explore a potential sale of the business.

 

Here are six reasons 2015 might be the best year to find a buyer for your vacation rental management company.

 

1. Buyer interest is at an all-time high.

Ben Edwards Transaction AdvisorInvestor interest in the vacation rental space has been on the rise since 2010, but 2015 is showing the largest gains to date.

“Vacation rental managers are in a bull market,” said Ben Edwards, President at Weatherby Consulting and founding member at the VRM Consultants. “Buyer interest in vacation rental management companies is the highest it has ever been.”

Edwards has closed 20 transactions in 18 months from six to eight figures –in competitive bidding environments -with additional interest from multiple buyers in both traditional and non-traditional vacation rental markets.

“The key is to sell to a class A qualified buyer without giving away the farm or making a bad deal,” said Edwards. “Not all buyers are alike. There are good deals and bad deals.”

 

2. The competitive environment is heating up.

Doug Macnaught on software selection for vacation rental managersNew interest in the vacation rental marketplace has resulted in the emergence of new business models moving across the country, i.e. Vacasa, TurnKey, InvitedHome, et al. With the injection of outside funding, lower commissions, and offers of revenue guarantees, rate-pressure in affected markets is surging.

In addition, homeowners are becoming increasingly savvy at self-management. Consequently, tools to help in self-management are sprouting in major vacation rental markets.

“This is the first time in a decade that well-funded corporations have started to re-enter the local VRM Market,” said Doug Macnaught, founding member of the VRM Consultants and owner of Macnaught Consulting LLC. “If a manager doesn’t have the appetite to either confront these new disruptors, or adapt their business model to the changing times, it may be the perfect time to attempt a sale and get out while the ‘going is good’, so to speak.”

 

3. The cost of using 3rd party channels is escalating.

The acquisition cost per customer is quickly rising. Behind the scenes, there is a general consensus among the third party channels that vacation rental managers can -and should -absorb a 10 to 15 percent cost of distribution. Furthermore, many channel providers believe the cost will push closer to 20 -25 percent in the next two years.

In HomeAway’s last earnings call, CEO Brian Sharples said, ““Probably the one disadvantage we have versus competitors who are pure bookings base is take rate because there is a segment of our listings -and it happens to be the biggest segment of our other listings -that has a lower take rate than 10% or 15% that other people drive through that. So it is still very much the strategic objective of this team to get that take rate up.”

In addition to the percentages and subscription fees charged, the cost of managing these channels and paying technology providers to integrate with the channels is also increasing with each technology provider wanting a piece of the revenue pie.

 

4. Marketing costs are mounting.

Amy Hinote Marketing for Vacation RentalsIn order to keep up with increasing competition, marketing expectations for 2015 and beyond are astonishingly high.

“Marketing managers for vacation rental companies today are being charged with being web developers, SEO/SEM experts, copywriters, marketing technology and automation specialists, graphic designers, media buyers, social media professionals and email strategists,” said Amy Hinote, founder of VRM Intel and founding member of the VRM Consultants. “The demands on in-house marketing talent are extraordinary, and the cost of outsourcing is rising. Maintaining a strong online presence, nurturing leads and retaining past guests are getting much more difficult and much more expensive.”

In addition to the rising costs of existing marketing tools and services, new marketing technology has been added -including customer relationship management, automated marketing, auto responders, and revenue management tools.

      >>Related: The Plight of the In-House Marketing Manager

 

5. Most VRMs are facing an imminent need to upgrade software and security systems.

The majority of property managers are operating with outdated property management software (or are under-utilizing the systems they have purchased) and security systems.

“For a significant number of large property managers software is like a comfortable pair of shoes, they know that there are many new shiny styles available, but they are worried about the pain of switching to a new pair,” said Macnaught. “It is difficult to truly quantify the pain and anguish involved in a software change for a large company with many departments and diverse practices.”

Macnaught added: “The amount of work involved in simply determining what your needs are –added to the treacherous process of selection and implementation –may well be too much for some company owners. It is one of the most important elements of the company, and often companies do not invest in the correct assistance throughout the whole process. You wouldn’t use your accountant to paint one of your houses, yet they often put them in charge of the selection and installation of a hugely complex piece of technology.”

Tom K on updated security systems for vacation rentalsIn addition, security breaches affecting businesses with an online presence or actively involved in ecommerce have become commonplace and well publicized.

“Since most successful Property Management companies do conduct business online, this potential liability has to considered,” said Tom K, Managing Partner of TomK Consulting Group and founding member of the VRM Consultants. “Without proper systems, policies and safeguards in place, a PM company could be hacked and financially affected beyond the point of recovery. Fortunately, there are professionals available who can help these companies deploy solutions to mitigate the threats, so security IS an issue, but one that should garner serious attention rather than create panic.”

 

6. Operational costs and an expanding regulatory environment are making growth difficult.

A vacation rental manager would be hard-pressed to find any operational costs that are going down,” said Edwards. “The cost of living has gone up, employees want to make more, software costs are rising, and fuel is up. Vacation rental managers are being charged to find more efficient ways to operate the business, which includes implementing operating models that may feel foreign.”

Many markets are also facing increasing levels of regulations and restrictions which add to the burden faced by established property managers. While new entrants are flying under the radar, established companies are bearing the brunt of additional licensing, taxation requirements, reporting, trash and parking compliance and guest communications.

“Most Property Managers have spent their entire time being compliant with local taxes and regulations and have never truly been rewarded or even appreciated for doing it,” said Macnaught. “As the new disruptors make it harder to do business, many home owners will see their property manager as failing to adapt and protect them, rather than having kept them legal. This falls under the category of ‘No Good Deed Goes Unpunished’ and could well tip the scales in favor of an exit.”

 

Conclusion

With rising costs, the need to adapt business models and the changing skill set required to remain competitive in the evolving vacation rental marketplace –added to an influx of buyers and investors looking to acquire market share at a premium – the vacation rental landscape is likely to reshape in the coming months.

Macnaught added, “If vacation rental company owners sell to one of the companies that have the new technology systems with Revenue Management Tools, responsive websites, and all the other shiny new things, they could be seen as bringing new life to the company for the benefit of the staff and homeowners as opposed to ‘selling up’ and leaving them ‘high and dry.’”

As the year progresses and the seasons unfold, business owners will find 2015 to be a tempting year to look at opportunities to execute their exit strategies.

Bringing out the best in your guests

By
VRM Intel Staff
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By Doug Kennedy –As we have explored in previous articles, many of those who staff our front desks and other operational positions tend to view travel as being fun, exciting and glamourous.

Yet, the travel experience can bring out the worst side of even the nicest guests’ personalities, and on top of that the very reason for travel is not always pleasant. For every guest in town for a wedding there is another visiting for a funeral; for every business traveler in town to hire staff for an expanding company, there is another there to terminate a colleague, settle a lawsuit or close a branch.

Doug Kennedy and Pedro MandokiIn addition to helping our staff better empathize and understand the real-life experiences being played out daily on the other side of the front desk, it is also important to make it a daily mission to bring out the best in others we encounter.

Whereas in it should be a service provider’s job to bring out the best in the guest or customer, most that I encounter seem to read my mood and react accordingly. Most often I try to be the upbeat, gregarious customer, and I usually receive great customer service from everyone I encounter. But sometimes I find myself distracted, disconnected and otherwise out of sync; in these cases I find that I am processed by the service provider like a widget on the assembly line in a factory.

Instead, we need to make it the mission of our service providers to bring out the best in everyone they encounter; to turn things around for even the detached and seemingly cranky individuals.

Truth be told, there is a certain percentage of people in the world who always come across as polite, always friendly and understanding, even when encountering problems. Even when something really bad happens, such as inadvertently checking them into an occupied room, they come back to the front desk and say “Hello again, really sorry to have to bother you, but when we got to the room there were already guests in there. Hate to be such trouble but do you mind switching us?”

I estimate these to be about 5% of the general population; it seems nothing can shatter their happiness and wellbeing. I call these the “VNPs” meaning the Very Nice People.

As many a wise man has said, there is a great balance in the universe. For sunrise there is sunset, for spring there is fall, and for every VNP there is also the complete opposite set of personalities; I simply refer to these as the “NVNP’s” meaning the Not Very Nice People.

These are the individuals whom we can never seem to satisfy; no matter what we do they will never be happy. You offer to comp a breakfast and they want a comp room; you offer to comp their room and they want you to comp all charges. Now wouldn’t it be nice if our caller ID systems identified these people when they phone in to book? Then our agents could see “NVNP calling on line 1” and answer “Hello? Hellooo? Sorry, can’t hear you!” Or we could put a cookie on their computers that would cause them to find us sold out when they go to book online.

There is just one problem with these fantasies though; we would then lose 5% of our revenues. As most finance managers know, this might represent the difference between actually making a small profit at the end of the tax cycle versus breaking even. In other words, we need their business, too.

 

The solution

What we really need to be doing is training our staff to be thankful for the VNPs out there and celebrate them every day, and at the same time to be accepting of our share of the NVNPs. After all, without the latter we would not appreciate the former.

Most importantly, we need to train them that it is their job to focus on bringing out the best side of the personalities of the 90% of us who fall somewhere in between. Catch us on the right day, say the right things to start guest interactions, and you can bring out the best of our personalities. Alternatively, make the wrong remark on the wrong day and you just might trigger a negative reaction that makes us upset, frustrated and angry.

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us will admit we fall into the 90% in the middle; I know I do.

A perfect example happened to me recently when I had a problem with my Mastercard debit card. I was out to lunch with my teenage son Adam at our favorite Mexican restaurant that we go to nearly every Sunday; as part of our routine we go to the same place and order the same items, then we take time to talk about the past week and I catch up on his Instagram postings. The entire staff knows us by name and even memorizes our order. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was when my card declined?

Now this has happened to me fairly regularly, especially after an intense period of travel when I often find myself in as many as eight cities in 10 days; I’m sure they cannot imagine a real person travels that much. Being admittedly upset, I called my bank and I’m sure I sounded a little gruff and frustrated when I barked out, “Why did my card decline?”

Yet, my service provider stayed on point. He maintained his pleasant attitude and tone of voice. He proceeded to calmly ask if I had taken out $500 at the ATM each day for the least three days, which I had not. My card had been skimmed! All of the sudden I transformed back into the “VNP” mode and began thanking him profusely for looking out for me.

As in this example, when we train our staff to stay on point, to rise above the negativity and to always make it their job to turn things around, our guests will have a better day that sets the tone for a better overall stay. They will be more likely to give us positive guest reviews and to make social media postings about us.

Yet, this is also self-serving; when we bring out the best in others it also brings out the best in our own personalities. Come into work with a positive attitude, greet everyone you encounter warmly and sincerely, express empathy for and an understanding of what guests go through, and you will spend the vast majority of your day meeting nice, wonderful human beings we call guests.

 

Doug Kennedy is President of the Kennedy Training Network, Inc. a leading provider of customized training programs and telephone mystery shopping services for the lodging and hospitality industry. Doug continues to be a fixture on the industry’s conference circuit for hotel companies, brands and associations, as he been for over two decades. Since 1996, Doug’s monthly hotel industry training articles have been published worldwide, making him one of the most widely read hotel industry training writers. Visit KTN at www.kennedytrainingnetwork.com or email him directly. doug@kennedytrainingnetwork.com

Wyndham acquires Vacation Palm Springs

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Today Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) acquired Vacation Palm Springs in Palm Springs, California, adding approximately 450 vacation rental properties to its inventory.

Vacation Palm Springs was founded in 2001 by Rick Hutchenson and Rob Kincaid and is the largest vacation rental management company in the Palm Springs area.

Wyndham’s purchase of Vacation Palm Springs marks the company’s entry into vacation rental home management in California.  According to Wyndham’s 2014 Annual Report, “Wyndham Vacation Rentals N.A. offers over 9,000 rental properties, in beach, ski, mountain, theme park, golf and tennis resort destinations such as Florida, South Carolina, Colorado, Delaware, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Utah”

Last month, Wyndham purchased Corolla Classic Vacations in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The two acquisitions add approximately 700 homes to the Wyndham program.

Vacation Palm Springs co-founder Rick Hutchenson also serves on the Palm Springs City Council and as Palm Springs Mayor pro tem. In this role, Hutchenson successfully worked with vacation rental opponents to put in place a set of regulations that legalize short term rentals while protecting long-term residents. Hutchenson’s work was widely praised in the industry, in contrast to other California cities which have been short-sighted in their approach to legislation regarding vacation rentals.

You can review the ordinance in Chapter 5.25 of the Palm Springs Municipal Code.

Kayak to display HomeAway listings

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Today HomeAway and Priceline-owned Kayak announced an agreement to display HomeAway’s vacation rentals on Kayak’s metaseach platform.

According to the press release, “Integration is expected to be live by the end of the year with nearly 200,000 property listings worldwide — giving KAYAK a more diverse set of lodging options for users to search.”

“Kayak has built a business model that clearly depicts value among its many offerings, and I can’t think of a better offering than a vacation rental to sell through Kayak,: said Ben Edwards, President of the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA),  I think this a fantastic distribution opportunity for HomeAway.”

 

How does this affect PMs?

“It has been Vacation Rental Pros’ experience that HomeAway is by the far the best OTA at integrating vacation rentals and their very complex rate rules,” said Steve Milo, founder and Managing Director at Vacation Rental Pros.  “I believe larger OTA players underestimated the complexity of the rate rules in the vacation rental space in resort areas that include varied minimum stays, varied arrival days and departure dates based on seasonality, weekly rate pricing, monthly rate pricing and displaying additional fees.”

Milo added, “OTAs clearly have the choice to spend significant internal resources and time trying to solve the complexity of vacation rentals, or simply partner with HomeAway which already has the technical expertise in this space.”

 

This is not the first attempt by HomeAway to partner with a large distribution platform.

In October 2013, HomeAway announced a partnership with Expedia “to expand online travel accommodation options by surfacing HomeAway vacation rental properties on Expedia.com.”

At the time, Sharples said, “As one of the most visited online travel agencies, each month Expedia.com will give millions of travelers the opportunity to discover the benefits of booking a vacation rental, and we look forward to also helping our customers increase the visibility of their properties.”

However, HomeAway’s partnership and integration was slow to get off the ground. In mid 2014, Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company has just started to experiment with HomeAway’s vacation rentals, but won’t gather enough data about it until the second half of 2014.

 

Fast forward another 12 months…

Last month in their Q1 2015 earnings call, Sharples addressed the stagnant Expedia integration, ““There is not a lot of new news since last quarter. It’s fairly still status quo. We’re not exposed on the majority of the searches on Expedia still…Relative to others we call EEN  -or electronic distribution network -deals we don’t have anything announce-able today on this call. But we continue to work on that.”

Today’s announcement potentially signifies a move away from Expedia and reignites rumors of a potential purchase of HomeAway by Priceline.

HomeAway’s stock price rose over 8% on the news.

 

HomeAway is not new to metasearch.

While the shift (or expansion) in HomeAway’s partnership strategy is interesting, industry insiders observe that metasearch distribution isn’t new to HomeAway. Metasearch platform Tripping.com has been offering HomeAway’s listings for over a year, along with listings from TripAdvisor, Wimdu, 9flats, HouseTrip and…Priceline’s Booking.com.

A potential acquisition of HomeAway by Priceline is still the speculation of the hour, but the relationship between Priceline and Tripping.com warrants a closer look.

 

More to come…

Meanwhile, read Dennis Schaal’s article on Skift: Kayak Partners With Booking.com Competitor Homeaway on Vacation Rentals

 

By Amy Hinote

Stuart Pack named CEO at Resort Realty

By
VRM Intel Staff
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Resort Realty has named Stuart Pack the company’s new Chief Exectutive Officer, replacing Mike Harrington, who recently stepped down.

“Stuart has been one of the main driving forces for Resort Realty’s growth and success these past 4 years,” said Harrington. “I have the utmost confidence in him and the entire Resort Realty team that they will continue to provide excellent service and performance for their owners, clients, and guests.”

Stuart Pack CEO Resort RealtyPack has more than 13 years in the Outer Banks property management and real estate sales industry.

He has been responsible for the day to day operations at Resort Realty and has served as both the General Manager and most recently, Chief Operating Officer since 2011.

“I am delighted to move into this new role and am very appreciative of the opportunity to manage Resort Realty’s vacation rentals and real estate sale divisions,” Pack said. “With the support of more than 100 Resort Realty team members and sales brokers we strive for excellence, professionalism and top performance.”

With five offices from Corolla to Hatteras Island and directors at the helm of every department, Resort Realty will continue to operate as a leading Outer Banks vacation rental and real estate sales company.

 

Related:

Resort Realty acquires the vacation rental operations of Colony Realty, adding approximately 70 vacation properties to its inventory.

Under the Hood with Resort Realty

 

 

The Plight of the In-House Marketer in the Vacation Rental Industry

By
VRM Intel Staff
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In order to keep up with increasing competition, marketing expectations for 2015 and beyond are astonishingly high in the vacation rental management industry.

Today’s marketing managers for vacation rental companies are charged with being web developers, SEO/SEM experts, copywriters, marketing technology and automation specialists, graphic designers, media buyers, social media professionals, email strategists, and marketing analysts.

 

Maintaining a strong online presence, nurturing leads and retaining past guests are getting much more difficult and much more expensive.

Here are just a few of the basic marketing challenges facing a vacation rental management company in order to be competitive:

 

In-house marketing for a vacation rental maangement company1. Building and maintaining a responsive company website with an updated UI/UX, an easy eCommerce booking path for customers, and a solid response strategy which nurtures inquiries

2. Staying up-to-date with search engine algorithms and remaining ahead of new and existing competition in search results

3. Keeping up with increasing PPC and remarketing costs and new processes

4. Developing and sustaining a strong social media presence

5. Managing a positive online reputation

6. Implementing expert-level email strategies

7. Utilizing marketing automation in a smart, personalized, effective and error-free way

8. Providing unique, relevant and engaging content

9. Optimizing and managing rankings, content, responses and remarketing associated with the use of third party channels

10. Learning to identify and use key performance metrics to adapt marketing strategy

 

The demands on in-house marketing talent are extraordinary, but the costs of outsourcing are even more shocking. In the vacation rental marketplace, industry experts charge exorbitant and often prohibitive service fees. Website creation is often triple the cost of building an eCommerce website in another industry, and even crafting a simple email is running over $125 per hour in contrast to under $50 per hour in other industries.

An average vacation rental marketing plan and budget include the following line items:

  • Website (building and maintenance)
  • Email Marketing
  • Third Party Channels
  • Direct Mail
  • SEO
  • PPC and Remarketing
  • Graphic Design
  • Social Media
  • PR
  • Sponsorships/In-market events
  • Content Creation
  • Print Advertising
  • Marketing Technology (Automation, CRM, Autoresponders, Apps)
  • Photography, descriptions, floor plans

 

With an available marketing budget of 5-12% of rental revenue, accomplishing these tasks is an enormous challenge in the vacation rental industry.

Now add the element that each of these tasks and tools are constantly changing at a breakneck speed.

Have you hugged your marketing manager today?

 

By Amy Hinote

FTC schedules workshop on sharing economy issues

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop on June 9 to explore issues relating to emerging internet peer-to-peer platforms— the “sharing” economy—and the economic activity these platforms facilitate. The workshop will examine competition, consumer protection, and economic issues arising in the sharing economy to promote more informed analysis of its competitive dynamics as well as benefits and risks to consumers. The workshop will consider if, and the extent to which, existing regulatory frameworks can be responsive to sharing economy business models while maintaining appropriate consumer protections. It also will examine how various regulatory choices may affect competition and consumers.

Information about the plans for the sharing economy workshop, including a list of questions for public comment, is available in the workshop announcement.

 

Dates

The workshop will be held on June 9, 2015 in the Conference Center of the FTC office building at 400 7th St. SW, Washington, DC 20024. Any interested person may submit written comments in response to this announcement and workshop discussions until August 4, 2015.
 

Watching the Workshop

The workshop will be webcast. A link to the webcast will be added to this page on the day of the workshop.

 

Attending the Workshop

The workshop will be free and open to the public. To pre-register, please email sharingeconomy@ftc.gov (link sends e-mail) and include your name and organization.

Pre-registration is not required to attend this event, but is strongly encouraged. To ensure you get a seat, and to have time to pass through security, it is recommended that guests arrive 30 minutes prior to the event. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Pre-registration will not guarantee you a seat if the workshop reaches capacity. Please bring a valid government issued photo ID (government badge, license, passport, etc.). The security processing will include a metal detector and X-ray screening of all hand carried items.
 

Public Comment Period

The FTC will be accepting public comments through August 4, 2015. For more information see the “Public Commments” tab below.

 

Questions?

If you have a question about the workshop, please email sharingeconomy@ftc.gov (link sends e-mail).

 

Event Details

 

FTC Privacy Policy

Under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, and as a matter of discretion, we make every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments before posting them on the FTC website.

The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s comprehensive Privacy Policy.

Hyatt deepens vacation rentals footprint with investment in onefinestay.com

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

The hotel industry has fought short-term rental companies like Airbnb tooth and nail. But, in a rare move, Hyatt Hotels has aligned itself with what some might perceive as a rival.

Hyatt has invested in onefinestay, a vacation rental marketplace that matches travelers with luxury homes. While it is unclear preciecly how much Hyatt invested, a source told the Wall Street Journal that the investment “was part of a nearly $40 million round of funding that was completed at the end of last year.”

Onefinestay works with upscale homeowners in London, New York, Los Angeles and Paris. It manages a portfolio of more than 2,500 homes with a combined value of more than $5 billion, according to the Journal.

Onefinestay CEO Greg Marsh declined to comment on his relationship with Hyatt.

A Hyatt spokesperson said in a prepared statement that it is “collaborating with onefinestay” and that it will “continue to test a variety of offerings, work with a number of companies and make investments to continue innovating the guest experience.” [WSJ] – Christopher Cameron

– See more at: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/05/25/a-hotel-giant-is-getting-behind-the-short-term-rental-movement/#sthash.I8q8WsvH.dpuf

OPMA Executive Summit in Atlanta a resounding success

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

In what was referred by many as a ground breaking industry event. The Onsite Property Management Association (OPMA) hosted it’s Executive Summit May 11 – 12 in Atlanta promoting a unique and informative program agenda and format. The inaugural Summit brought together top industry speakers and OPMA members in an intimate meeting environment that resulted in an open dialogue and positive interexchange between the speakers and attendees.

The meeting format had the attendees, represented by senior executives of OPMA’s onsite manager and supplier membership base, positioned classroom style in a semi circle around each speaker. After each speaker presentation John Dalton, Chief Marketing Strategist for OPMA, moderated the lively interexchange dialogue amongst the Summit participants.

” I just returned from the OPMA conference in Atlanta and want to take a moment to thank the association for making it such a worthwhile experience. The 30 minute speaking formats and then 30 minutes of discussion were perfect for maximum information flow and they were relevant to what our industry is facing. I especially liked the selection of speakers and industry topics.”   —Matthew Brittain, Managing Director, Brittain Resorts, Myrtle Beach, SC

 

As a relatively new national lodging association OPMA understands the importance of focusing on a few extremely important goals. The speaker presentations, while different and unique, all tied back to the three major initiatives that OPMA has determined to be  immediate priorities and long term objectives for the association:

 

1) To define our lodging category and maximize awareness and recognition of the ” condo hotel” lodging experience with consumers, the travel and mainstream media, and a wide range of lodging industry stakeholders  including DMOs, the OTAs,  and the state and national lodging associations. The OPMA Board of Directors voted unanimously to join AH&LA as an allied member which would provide OPMA with a voice on a local, state, and national level and a broad based venue to promote our program platform and initiatives.

 

2) To continue our national campaign against illegal short term rentals  in our quest to not only level the  playing field but to tilt it in our favor.

 

3) To further expand our membership base whereby we can dominate the available condo hotel rental inventory in any one market and to identify and subsequently leverage the financial impact our collective efforts are having towards tax revenue generation and job creation with the destination Economic Development Councils.

 

” What an outstanding group of professionals you had organized for the first OPMA Summit. I have attended and even spoken at many conferences and meetings but never have I seen this intent or focus from a group on it’s initial gathering of members. Well done and looking forward to our nextSummit event. ” —Dennis DiTinno, CEO, Liberte Management, Treasure Island, FL

 

The four featured speakers at the Summit were:

1. Troy Flanagan, Vice President – State and Local Government Affairs, AH&LA –“Industry trends related to short term rentals and the future impact on local and state governments”

2. Mindy Rehse, Senior Director – Global Partner Group for Expedia, Inc  –“Our vision and strategy for supporting and further enhancing the relationships with our hospitality partners”

3. Dr. Steve Morse,  Economist and Hospitality Director  -Western Carolina University –-“Claiming your industry contributions and identifying local economic impacts of your destination’s condo hotel lodging sector”

4. Ron Cacciatore, Director Standards and Compliance -Broward County Appraisers Office–“Identifying and exploring solutions to collecting taxes tied to illegal  short term rentals”

 

 

” The OPMA Executive Summit provided me and my supplier colleagues a tremendous opportunity to meet and interface directly with C-level executive members of the association. I cannot think of a similar lodging  event that provides in one venue unprecedented  one on one access and quality time with the top decision makers within the condo hotel sector and overall lodging industry”   —Jim Olin, President, C2G Advisors, LLC, Franklin, TN

In addition to the general session presentations there was a significant amount of networking and side bar meetings between the speakers, the OPMA onsite managers, and the OPMA providers of goods and services …all key decision makers with their respective companies. The following represents a link to photos of the attendees finding the time to combine business and pleasure:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/133381734@N04/yk2o2y

” The first annual OPMA Executive Summit brought a productive focus to several of the most critical issues facing our industry. Each topic addressed was presented by a highly qualified speaker as a ” state of the union” , and then carefully analyzed with the attendees to identify practical ways that we as onsite property managers can counter threats and maximize opportunities. The Summit was truly unique, tactical, and forward looking.”  —Mia Vlaar  Director of Sales and Marketing   East West Resorts   Avon, CO

The Executive Summit represents an important first step in our growth plans as OPMA has defined and articulated it’s goals . Our efforts will now be directed to collectively implementing targeted strategies and initiatives that will help us achieve those objectives. Based on the tremendous positive feedback that we have already received from the attendees we are already looking ahead to our next Executive Summit and other OPMA events.

 

For more information and questions about the  Executive Summit you may contact Rick Fisher, Executive Director for OPMA, at rfisher@theopma.orgor ( 877) 870 6510.

California cities miss the boat on vacation home sales by imposing rental restrictions

By
VRM Intel Staff
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1

While the fourth major California city voted to ban traditional vacation rentals under 30 days and pushed to legalize Airbnb’s homesharing, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) published its 2015 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, which reported that 2014 vacation home sales were up 57.4 percent over 2013 –rising to a record level.

But as vacation home sales soared in the U.S., according to the LA Times, California witnessed a contrasting trend, with the percentage of vacation home sales falling to 5% last year from 6% in 2013, according to a tally by the California Association of Realtors.

Not so coincidentally, municipalities in California have led the charge to ban traditional vacation home rentals for less than 30 days in several cities -including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica -while many other cities are in the process of determining legislation regarding short term rentals.

In the rush to jump on the Airbnb band wagon, West Coast municipalities have made a series of uninformed decisions regarding traditional vacation home rentals and will likely reap long-term consequences.

Besides the massive income for the city generated from high-end vacation rental travelers, city council members do not seem to understand that people who rent vacation homes also buy vacation homes.

Money published 7 Tips For Buying a Vacation Home advises vacation home shoppers to rent a vacation home before they buy. “Before you lock yourself in, rent a place (more than once is best) in the area you’re considering to be certain you’ll actually enjoy it. Stay for at least two weeks to make sure you don’t grow bored on extended stays.”

In the Forbes article 8 Things To Know Before Buying A Vacation Home, “Don’t even think of buying a vacation home until you’ve visited the area a few times. It sounds basic, but you better be sure you simply adore and can’t get enough of that beach town, ski village, or country ranch before you commit to buying there, since you’ll be spending a great deal of your free time there in the future.”

In addition, buyers look to city regulations to find out if a city has a vacation-home-friendly environment. According the Heather Bayer in the Inman article Shift Your Mindset When Selling to Vacation Rental Buyers, vacation home buyers want to know, “What zoning and bylaws are currently in place? Is there any news pending or brewing in the media? What might impact a buyer’s potential to rent a property in the future?”

Bayer said, “The legislative impact on vacation rentals is significant, and in-depth knowledge of what a specific location allows or restricts is essential.”

Even Airbnb, who initially lobbied for laws in California which would restrict non-owner-occupied vacation rentals in these municipalities, is now looking for ways to work with and profit from traditional vacation home rentals. Behind the scenes, Airbnb has been actively implementing technology integration with software providers in the traditional vacation rental space to allow real-time booking and content updates for non-owner occupied vacation homes. In addition, Airbnb has joined the Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) and is currently listing a significant number of professionally managed vacation homes on its site.

With vacation home sales dropping in California and with lobbyists from Airbnb shifting their position, city council members in California are likely to find themselves standing alone holding the bag when the numbers come in and the vacation rental debate matures.

By Amy Hinote

 

Airbnb Buddies up to North Carolina Cities

By
VRM Intel Staff
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0

BY TAYLOR KNOPF —North Carolina guests renting rooms and apartments through Airbnb soon will begin paying sales and hotel occupancy taxes.

The online vacation rental service announced Monday that it will begin collecting and remitting sales taxes on behalf of its North Carolina home hosts starting June 1 and will collect hotel occupancy taxes in Wake, Durham, Mecklenburg and Buncombe counties. The tax rates vary from county to county.

Those in the hospitality industry say it is unfair that homeowners can rent rooms or whole dwellings to short-term guests for lower prices without charging taxes through Airbnb. The last traditional bed-and-breakfast in Raleigh, The Oakwood Inn, will close its doors for good in June and blames competition from the less-regulated online rental services.

The only other state where Airbnb collects taxes from guests statewide is Oregon. In the past year, it also began collecting taxes in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Malibu, San Jose, Washington, D.C., and Amsterdam.

In Raleigh, regulation of Airbnb rental homes has been discussed since December when one homeowner was served a citation because his Airbnb rental is in a residential neighborhood and violates city zoning rules.

Raleigh City Council deferred the citation until the issue of short-term rentals could be sorted out. The council’s Law and Public Safety Committee is discussing how best to bring Airbnb, and similar businesses, into the market.

Raleigh Councilwoman Mary Ann Baldwin, chair of the committee, said she has been negotiating short-term rental laws with Airbnb and is pleased it agreed to collect and pay sales and room taxes.

“Airbnb is a popular piece of the new sharing economy that tourists and prospective residents expect to see in modern cities, so we are glad that we have taken the first step in welcoming Airbnb to Raleigh,” Baldwin said in a statement Monday.

Airbnb’s public policy manager Max Pomeranc said the company would continue to work with North Carolina officials to create clear, fair rules.

“We are confident that we can work together on some simple policies that embrace home sharing and make North Carolina communities stronger,” Pomeranc said in a statement.

Sales and hotel occupancy tax rates vary between counties in North Carolina. The statewide sales tax is currently 4.75 percent, but local taxes push the rate higher. In Wake County, for example, it is 6.75 percent.

The hotel occupancy tax also varies. Wake County receives a 6 percent hotel occupancy tax, according to the county Revenue Director Marcus Kinrade.

Kinrade said that Airbnb has given host homeowners an unfair advantage by avoiding taxation and code compliance. Although these new Airbnb taxes are a step in the right direction in Wake County, Kinrade said he would prefer that host homeowners register with the county so that taxes can be verified.

Gregg Stebben, the Airbnb host homeowner cited in Raleigh, said he agrees it is unfair that his guests did not have to pay the same taxes as those who stay in a hotel or traditional bed-and-breakfast, which pay for the tourist maps and brochures he would hand out to them.

“I am completely supportive of what happened today,” Stebben said. “It doesn’t impact me or any other host. I’m never going to touch that money, and it’s no extra work to me. It puts us in a fair position with other businesses in the area.”

Like at a hotel, the sales and room taxes will be added to the bill when a guest makes a reservation with Airbnb online using a credit card.

Stebben added that he is also happy with the signal sent by the negotiations between the city and Airbnb.

“It’s all about businesses,” he said. “The city working constructively with Airbnb sends a message to other businesses to come to Raleigh and they will work with you.”

Knopf: 919-829-8955

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