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Hand-to-Hand Combat: Winning the Battle for Direct Bookings

By
Doug Kennedy
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2

For years now, vacation rental companies have been fighting desperately to win back market share from third parties, such as online travel agencies (OTAs), and thus reduce the cost of customer acquisition. Huge sums are spent on strategic initiatives, such as email campaigns, improving organic and paid SEO, making sure that the website tells the company’s story, and ensuring a smooth journey from looking to booking. 

All of these measures increase the likelihood that a prospective, web-surfing guest will engage directly with the rental company. 

In military terms, I would say that this approach is a bit like aerial strafing because the “ammo” has a mostly random chance of hitting its target. 

But too many vacation rental (VR) leaders overlook the real means by which battles are won, and history buffs know that wars are won one battle at a time. 

Let’s acknowledge that the most important opportunities to encourage guests to book directly, and to rebook future stays, occur through human—not digital—interactions. Whether by phone, chat, email, or in person, it is the people who make the difference. 

For too long, the lodging industry, in general, has been obsessed with digital marketing and distribution at the expense of focusing on human engagement. Perhaps this is because digital encounters make it easier to empirically measure and report KPIs to the boss, whereas the very nature of human encounters between staff and guests lends these types of engagement to anecdotal evidence. 

The good news is that emerging tech has made it increasingly easier to measure these human conversations. For example, there are cloud-based phone providers that offer call recordings, enabling managers to coach-up their teams. A few of these phone systems allow agents to track “disposition codes” and turn inbound calls into transient leads worthy of follow-up. Engaged leaders can also peruse chat logs and email exchanges between staff and prospective guests. 

Now, all of this takes a bit more time than glancing at a Google Analytics report or examining website conversion data. Yet marketing and operations leaders who are willing to do so will find a plethora of training and coaching opportunities to mentor staff. At my company, we have come to recognize these opportunities through the work my team does with remote call scoring, telephone mystery shopping, and training, but I also uncover opportunities during my consulting engagements. Here are some training tips from our programs and services. 

 

Encourage Website Visitors to Call Direct 

Post your company’s phone number prominently on each page instead of burying it in the “contact us” page. 

Use a local, well-known area code instead of an 800 number. 

If using a vanity number, spell it out below and make it click-to-call on mobile. 

Right above or below the number, post copy reading, “Call Now to Book Direct” or “Call Our Local Area Experts.” 

 

Live Chat 

Teach your team members that, although chat is wonderful for answering quick questions, they should look for opportunities to offer to call the guest immediately to complete the booking. 

When guests start to ask questions, such as “What’s the difference between this home and that one?” or other specific questions indicating a strong interest, respond by saying, “If you like, I can call you right now to assist.” 

Remind your staff that chatting with guests is not like texting friends. They need to rehumanize the medium by reacting to what the chat sender writes. Example: “I’m thinking of booking the XYC Condo for our honeymoon, but I just wanted to make sure it has a full water view.” Instead of clicking back with “Yes, it does have a view,” instead write, “Wow, congratulations! And this one is perfect for a honeymoon. Would you like me to call you now to answer any other questions and complete this booking?” 

 

Email 

Similar to chat, prospective guests will often pose email questions about rates, bedroom configurations, and special needs. Staff should always personalize their responses. 

End with a sentence such as “Our onsite team would love to assist you personally with completing your booking. You can reach in-house reservations at [number] during [hours], or just reply to this email with your phone number and time range and we will call you directly.” 

 

Phone 

Today’s reservations inquiry calls are often disguised as “I just have a quick question about . . . ” 

Teach your team that after they answer an initial question they should follow up by asking, “Now that I’ve answered your question, may I ask what dates (or what home) you are looking at?” 

Oftentimes callers simply ask about the total price including taxes and fees. This is because many OTAs display various rates differently than your website. Again, after answering questions, agents should ask, “Because we always offer our best rates here at in-house reservations, are there any dates I can check for you right now?” 

When callers are obviously comparing rates they see online, train your team to ask, “May I ask what website you are on?” and then offer to check directly. 

It is also important to coach your team on how to sell the advantages of booking directly. This pitch might include the timing of advance deposits, lower booking fees, and more personalized arrival experiences. 

From what we see, vacation rental companies may find that it is the highest-rated/top tier inventory that sells out first. Therefore, train your team to “down sell” to less-desirable locations/views when that is all there is left. Replace “All we have left is . . . ” with “Fortunately, what we still have open . . . ” 

Of course, it is also important to engage in reservations sales training and remote call scoring (or traditional mystery shopping) on an ongoing basis. Not only will this practice help your staff convert calls, but it will also promote a higher level of guest service excellence. 

 

In-House Guests 

Perhaps the best channel conversion “tool” of all is harnessing the talents and efforts of your entire guest services staff. Train them to engage guests whenever possible, such as when they stop by the reception office or when a maintenance tech strikes up a conversation while in the home for a minor repair. 

Ask guests, “How did you hear about us?” When they say they booked through a third party, talk up the benefits of booking directly next time. 

Whenever guests call the office, such as to reconfirm third-party bookings, recognize this as an opportunity to obtain email addresses. Use language that encourages guests to provide it, such as, “Oh, and while I have you on the line, can I grab an email address to put on file in the event we need to reach you, such as for any lost-and-found items?” 

For higher-revenue bookings, use personalized video email messages to welcome guests and/or to send a fond farewell at departure. 

 

 

Amid Unemployment Benefits & Hiring Struggles: How to Attract & Retain a Seasonal Workforce

By
Sue Jones
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The war for talent continues to plague businesses into summer 2021. Just one year ago in April and May, we saw unemployment rates in excess of 20 percent. Today the national unemployment rate is 6 percent (March 2021). Even with the high levels of unemployment, and more than one year after the pandemic began, many employers continue to report labor shortages and hiring difficulties. The extension of state and federal unemployment benefits continues to hinder employers’ ability to staff seasonal workforces. 

Weekly state unemployment benefits run anywhere from $275 a week in Alabama to $790 a week in Washington. Now add in the federal unemployment benefit of $300 per week, and you have individuals earning between $575 and $1,090 a week. This is the equivalent of $14.38 to $27.25 per hour. Although this benefit is less than the federal unemployment benefit of $600 a week provided last summer, it is still a significant amount for people to walk away from, leaving employers struggling to find workers. 

Recruiting in today’s environment is tough. Thus, it’s time to get creative and compete for talent through the following approaches:

 Understanding the impact of the federal unemployment benefit of $300 for seasonal hires 

 Intensifying your recruitment activities 

 Implementing a “significant” employee referral bonus 

 Offering additional pay for hard-to-fill positions 

 Enhancing employee benefits 

 Focusing on what differentiates your business from your competitors 

 

Seasonal Hires and the Federal Unemployment Benefit of $300 

One approach to attracting applicants is to let them know that, because of the seasonal nature of the work, they may still be eligible to receive a small portion of their state unemployment benefit. What is important to note is that individuals who earn less than their maximum weekly benefit through the state will continue to receive the $300 federal unemployment supplement. At this point, people are not willing to give up a weekly supplement of $300 for a seasonal position. Finding ways to inform applicants that they may remain eligible for a portion of their state unemployment and all the federal unemployment benefits while taking on seasonal work is a key strategy to hiring your seasonal help. 

 

Intensify Your Recruitment Activities 

One thing I strongly recommend is identifying one employee who is responsible for overseeing and managing your entire recruitment process. Having one point of contact will ensure timely follow-up and communication with applicants. As we all know, the early bird catches the worm. 

One thing that we have seen in this economy is the first job offered is typically the one accepted. It is all about the response time. That is why it is so important to have one person managing the process. This is not to say this person should be the only one involved in recruiting. Interviews and hiring decisions may still be made by management; however, there should be one person managing the process, reviewing applications, following up with applicants, and maintaining timely communications with individuals in the pipeline. 

Another approach is to provide applicants with a snapshot of what the pay looks like for the position for which they are applying. It is important to illustrate what the potential earnings might look like so that you’re communicating the total pay potential. Besides hourly rates or piece rates, show other incentives you’re offering, such as mileage reimbursement, on-the-job training, logo gear, free breakfasts or lunches, incentives, and other on-the-spot bonuses. Make it visual. Do the math for people; make it easy to understand so that applicants can compare your snapshot of total pay to their current earnings. Apples to apples. 

 

Employee Referral Bonuses 

Employee referrals remain your best recruitment source. Overall, 61 percent of employees have referred at least one employee and sometimes more. Employees typically refer people who will do a good job and reflect positively on themselves. Did you know that employee referrals are four times more likely to be hired? 

The Society for Human Resources recently shared research stating 45 percent of employees sourced from employee referrals stay with an employer for four-plus years, versus two-plus years for employees sourced through other recruitment channels. 

Employee referrals are huge opportunities for employers. Competing for labor with an employee referral bonus of significance is key. I recommend a significant bonus because a $50 or $100 bonus is not enough to incentivize people to delve into the recesses of their minds to find candidates to refer. If you want to incentivize your employees to spend time thinking about possible referrals, make it worth their time by offering an employer referral of $250 or more. There are several companies in the industry that are currently offering up to $500 for employee referrals. 

You may gasp at $500, but remember how much it costs to hire employees. It is not just about the cost of job postings or the cost of background checks. The main component to your cost per hire is the cost of your employees’ time. Think about the time your team spends posting positions, reviewing applications, calling applicants, scheduling interviews, meeting with applicants, and conducting follow-up. When you add the cost of the time that your team spends on the recruitment process, more often than not it will exceed $500. 

You need not pay out the employee referral all at once; however, ensure that employees receive a timely payment upfront to continue to incentivize them to refer more employees. For example, if you offer a $500 employee referral, you might consider a payment schedule such as $100 after the employee’s first month of work, $150 after the employee’s second month of work, with the remaining $250 at the end of the season. 

One last note on employee referrals: you do not need to pay the same referral fee for all positions. At a time like this, when demand is high and supply is low, you may want to pay more for those hard-to-find and hard-to-fill positions. 

 

Offering Additional Pay 

Offering additional pay as an incentive is becoming common these days to attract and retain seasonal workforces. Listed below are key inducements I see companies offering in an attempt to staff appropriately. 

 

Offer a hiring or sign-on bonus 

These bonuses are making a comeback as a competitive practice. Offering someone $500 to take a job may just be the incentive they need to sign on the dotted line. You can and should focus your hiring or sign-on bonuses on employee retention. One approach is to take the $500 and divide it by the number of weeks in the season and provide the employee with additional pay each pay period. For example, if you’re hiring a housekeeper for a 10-week season and offer them a sign-on bonus of $500, you could pay it out at $50 a week. You could also treat it like the employee referral and pay someone a portion upfront, another portion at mid-season, and a final payment at the end of the season. 

 

Increase seasonal wages with temporary adjustments 

Remain competitive with piece rates and hourly rates. When a position is in high demand, you might want to offer a temporary premium rate for specific days, shifts, or other hard-to-fill times. Offering shift premiums is a way to incentivize people to show up to work on key back-to-back days. For example: offering a shift premium of $3 per hour equates to $24 a day for someone working an eight-hour day. Right now, it is all about the money when it comes to attracting seasonal hires. 

 

Offer incentives 

Some companies in the industry have found success by offering an incentive for each property cleaned. For example, for each property cleaned, employees get an additional amount ranging from $10– $25. It is important to communicate that the additional incentive is dependent upon certain criteria such as cleanliness scores, guest reviews, or other metrics you have in place. 

 

Consider retention bonuses 

When you think about a sign-on bonus, its intent is to incentivize someone to sign on with your company. You may also want to offer a retention bonus to employees who stay with you through the entire season. A retention bonus is a great way to retain workers. You could base the bonus on a monthly amount, such as $100 per month, or you could pay a set amount such as $300 at the end of the season. As with the other bonuses and incentives, it is important to tie the bonus to metrics to ensure that the new employees are meeting and exceeding your performance metrics. 

 

 

Raise wages for hard-to-fill positions 

It’s simply supply and demand: the more demand for the positions, the higher the rate of pay. You may want to consider adjusting your pay rates to meet market demands. For positions in high demand, such as housekeepers, inspectors, laundry cleaners, maintenance techs, and other skilled laborers, you can pay a premium. If you end up providing a premium for a position, I would do it as additional pay. For example, if you were hiring an inspector at $13 per hour and wanted to pay them $15 per hour, I suggest keeping the pay rate at $13 per hour and providing additional pay at $2 per hour. This way the pay rate remains consistent throughout your company, and you can increase or decrease the premium as supply and demand changes. 

 

Enhance Your Benefits 

Another sure way to attract and retain talent is to enhance and communicate your benefit offerings. 

Today, one of the most important benefits to workers is flexibility with their schedules. Some people may only want to work one day a week instead of three days a week. Find ways to accommodate more flexible work schedules. 

Paying your seasonal employees weekly is a competitive advantage. If you’re paying biweekly, consider increasing your pay frequency to weekly or setting up a weekly payroll for seasonal employees. 

When recruiting for seasonal talent, think about transportation. There’s a population out there who may not have a driver’s license or a vehicle to get to and from work. Or there may be a workforce available 100 miles away. Think about how you might provide transportation to bring people to you. Hiring a driver, renting a shuttle bus, or whatever it takes may still outweigh being short-staffed through the season. 

Housing is the biggest conundrum for employers today in travel destinations. Finding ways to house employees is another competitive advantage. Some companies are expanding their laundry facilities with a second floor to provide discounted lodging. Others are taking homes off the market to provide housing to workers. Companies close to universities and colleges are seeking space in dormitories to house seasonal workers. Other companies are providing a stipend for housing assistance to retain employees in the area. 

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) have become popular over the last 15 months. An EAP is a voluntary, confidential program that provides your employees (and management) with access to counselors for personal or work-related concerns, such as stress, financial issues, legal issues, and family problems. Since COVID-19, these are the kinds of things that your managers are dealing with on a day-to-day basis outside their normal job responsibilities. Offering an EAP for your employees will reduce some of the personal or work-related concerns that your managers may not be fully equipped to deal with.

 

Focus on What Differentiates Your Company 

Focus on what differentiates you from the company down the street so you can clearly articulate your advantages to applicants. Think about your culture, the different opportunities (e.g., year-round, full time) and the training you provide, flexibility with schedules, and incentives and employee bonuses. What is it that you do differently than your competition that attracts people to come to work for you? Figure this out, then communicate it through your job postings, job descriptions, and snapshots of pay (total pay illustrations) at every step during the applicant’s interview process. 

Finally, remember random acts of kindness go a long way with your employees. Providing food to go, logo gear, and on-the-spot recognition with gift cards will go a long way toward engaging and retaining your seasonal workforce. 

 

Is Influencer Marketing the Right Tactic for Your Vacation Rental Business?

By
Jodi Bourne
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1

Scrolling through online vacation rental marketing and management forums will quickly reveal the story of what many professional owners and property managers think of influencers—freebie seekers and scam artists who want a free stay. 

Although there are thousands of freebie seekers who have no motivation in mind except to stay at a vacation rental and post a few photos, there are also plenty of influencers out there who will do exactly what they say—get eyeballs for your rentals, add bookings to the calendar, give you thousands of interested social media followers and email subscribers, and provide excellent lifestyle images and videos to use in your marketing. 

In other words, if you are receiving multiple partnership requests on Instagram from influencers, it is worth the time to investigate this marketing option for your rental business. These requests mean these influencers see photo opportunities and a chance to increase the value for their own brands by using your vacation experience as a backdrop. It could be a win-win for both of you. 

Influencers are people who have authentic social media followings of fans who like and trust them and see them as experts. The relationship they have with their followers is so powerful that they can “influence” their buying decisions. You can compare it to celebrity endorsements, but in today’s world, influencers are celebrities to their audience, even if their audience is small. 

Yvette Strange, of Spoon Mountain Glamping, recently used an Instagram influencer who solicited her through her direct messages (DMs). She worked with the influencer, who specialized in food and unique stays, to help launch her three glamping tents in the Texas Hill Country. In less than a week, the 10-percent discount code given to the influencer had been used more than 45 times— nearly twice as often as Yvette’s own email waitlist. The influencer was able to use the content for a TikTok video that would help her build a TikTok following. When the TikTok went viral, the influencer and Spoon Mountain Glamping received even more followers and attention on both platforms. At last count, Spoon Mountain Glamping had increased their social media following from around 1,800 to more than 17,000, and their email list expanded by nearly 1,000 subscribers. More important, they booked more than 150 nights, including every weekend for two months. 

One common mistake people make when thinking about an influencer partnership is assuming the influencer must have millions of followers for it to work, but that’s not true at all. Many influencers, called micro-influencers, have fewer than 10,000 followers in specialized markets. What’s important is not the number of followers, but the relationship they have with their following and what they can persuade them to buy—or book! 

There are definitely some strategies for choosing the right influencer and knowing what to offer, how to pitch your property, and what to ask for in return. But first it’s important to understand what types of properties influencers are looking for and whether yours fits the bill. 

In my experience, most travel influencers are looking to work with properties that provide great visuals for their photo and video “stream.” They prefer a property that is in the right destination and price range for their followers and that is part of a unique experience they cannot get right down the street. You may consider working with other local travel brands to provide a full experience with your property as the home base. 

Using influencers requires a partnership, and a good influencer will only partner with a business that is right for their audience. Remember, they have an image to uphold with their followers. 

 

Choosing an Influencer 

There are influencers in all niches, and travel and food are two of the biggest, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding an influencer to work with. Think outside the box when choosing influencers, and most important, be sure to find an influencer who has a following consistent with your target audience. 

When an influencer reaches out, or you start searching for one on your own, first look at the number of followers and assess how much engagement they have. Typically, I wouldn’t choose an influencer with an audience of fewer than 10,000, though there are exceptions. 

Look for influencers who specialize in your region, type of property, or type of experience or those who have followers made up of people likely to book your home. There are travel bloggers, YouTubers, and influencers for almost every region of the world. Some specialize in certain locations; some specialize in the type of experience, like Glamping; and some specialize in the type of travel—such as beach travel, family travel, historical travel, and foodie travel. You may also want to look for influencers who can speak to the experience you provide or the target market you are trying to attract. For example, if your Alaskan cabin is perfect for fishing, find a fishing or outdoors influencer on YouTube who will appreciate and share your experience—you may even want to partner with a local fishing guide. 

Last fall, Martie Jobe, cofounder at Happy in The Keys, worked with a mommy blogger to highlight opportunities for social distancing, remote work, and homeschooling in her rentals. The goal of the partnership was less about bookings and more about the content she would get from the influencer—videos and still images of a family of five enjoying time in the water, taking lessons, and having lots of family fun in her amazing luxury properties. 

The influencer you choose should have an engagement rate of at least 10 percent on most of their posts—this means likes and comments. Likes can be purchased, so if you see someone with hundreds of likes, but few comments, they aren’t engaging with their followers—they are just providing entertainment. You want to see authentic relationships, which means comments back and forth. 

Scroll through their post feed, stories, story highlights, and reels, and look at photos and read captions on Instagram. On YouTube, check the comments and replies as well as the total number subscribers; for TikTok, look at likes and comments on their videos as well as the follower count. 

If they are a travel influencer, make sure they are sharing photos of the spaces they are staying in. You want to see images of properties that look like yours—usually this means a special place or experience they can’t find right down the street. For example, if you have a luxury penthouse condo in the downtown area, you should look to see whether they have worked with the same type of experience. If their feed is made up of beach houses or ski condos, yours wouldn’t be the best fit. 

Next, inspect the photo and video quality. Do they have great photos of the places they have visited? Do they have lifestyle images of themselves or others enjoying the space? Are there too many photos of themselves and not enough photos of the property? What is their visual aesthetic—does it match or complement yours? One of the best reasons to invest in a top-notch influencer is the visuals they can provide, so look at their product and ensure it captures your brand’s vibe. 

Finally, read captions. How are they selling the places they are promoting? Are they providing calls to action? Are they asking questions and inviting people to comment? Are they tagging the property in their photos and mentioning them in the captions? 

Once you have decided you like the look and feel of the influencer or influencers you’ve chosen, reach out to them or reply to their inquiry and ask for a media kit. Most influencers will provide something that details their monetary expectations, reviews from other businesses, their follower count and engagement rate, and previous brand partnerships. If they can’t provide this, don’t think it is a deal-breaker. In fact, if they don’t have this in place, they may be an influencer who is willing to do more for less because they are trying to build their own influencer brand. 

 

Working with an Influencer 

Remember, an influencer relationship is a partnership. You are giving them great content for their followers. You are the one with the amazing experience that will allow them to grow their following. They will be providing you with access to their following and with a seal of approval. 

First, make a list of what you want out of the relationship and what you are willing to give up. A professional travel influencer is not looking for a free weekend getaway. They are looking for partnership opportunities with brands that will appeal to their target market because they want to provide their followers with a great stay. 

You should be willing to give up at least one night and day at the rental to give them enough time to photograph and video the property in different lights. If one free night interrupts your normal booking schedule and you have it to give, offer a second night as well. However, a professional influencer will usually want to be paid beyond the free night. Remember, they aren’t on vacation—they are working. You will also want to provide them with all the extras you usually give your guests, so they can share that experience with their followers. 

Usually travel influencers are great photographers, so make sure photos and/or videos are part of the negotiation. You need lifestyle images and different shots of your property, and they will provide you with views and angles that you may not have thought about before. Get something in writing stating that they will provide images and videos and that you have the rights to use them commercially. 

Should you pay an influencer? If the influencer can provide you with evidence of solid numbers of bookings at similar properties and has references you can verify, then yes! Work together on how you will evaluate the value they provide. Give them a special link from bit.ly, a WordPress Plugin, or a Pretty Link, or give them a discount code, and—as always—be sure to ask guests when they book how they heard about you. 

Once you’ve worked with one influencer, you may be hooked! Ann- Tyler Konradi of Yurtopia Wimberley has worked with several influencers on both Instagram and TikTok and sees her bookings go up significantly after each stay. With a waitlist of more than 18,000 subscribers, she may not use an influencer for a while, but she is open to new ideas if approached. 

Influence is a growing industry, and vacation rental owners and property managers should think about how they can add this exciting tactic to their arsenal. Although it isn’t right for everyone, and not every vacation rental will provide the requisite experience, if you have something unique and know it provides great visuals, it might be something you want to try this year. If not, think about ways you could partner with other local businesses, tourism boards, or CVBs to get your vacation rental in front of new eyes! 

 

Industry Veteran and Rented CCO Cliff Johnson Departs Vacation Rental Industry to Join Realtor.com

By
Amy Hinote
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Rented CCO Cliff Johnson has resigned from his role to join Realtor.com as vice president of new homes, category manager. In his new role at Realtor.com, Johnson will work closely with home builders, new home buyers, agents, and brokers to make the process of building and buying a new home as easy as possible. Johnson will continue to support the team at Rented as a member of the company’s board of directors. 

“Cliff has been someone who I have had the distinct pleasure of working with both as a client and as a peer,” said Rented CEO Andrew McConnell. “While there is no getting around the loss we will feel on a day-to-day basis with Cliff taking on this new role, I speak for all of us when I say I am incredibly excited for this new opportunity for him. I also very much look forward to continuing our work together to help support and strengthen local vacation rental managers through Cliff’s continued presence and contributions as a member of Rented’s Board of Directors.”

“It has been a pleasure to reimagine Rented with Andrew and the team over the past three-plus years,” Johnson said. “While I’m really excited to join Realtor.com and support a new industry, I will miss the team at Rented and all of our wonderful manager and supplier partners dearly and will be excited to watch them continue to grow and thrive and support them however I can.”

Johnson cofounded Vacasa with Eric Breon in 2009 and was an early adopter of Rented’s platform. When he decided to leave Vacasa in 2018, he knew exactly where he wanted to go and was able to join Rented at that time. In his time at Rented, the company’s focus shifted from helping managers grow their inventory to helping them optimize their inventory, and they launched an entirely new company Rented, Inc. in April 2020 to focus solely on optimizing revenue for vacation rental managers. The core products Rented offers today are Art, an automated pricing tool and RMS, a full-service revenue management solution.    

With significant industry overlap between real estate and vacation rental management, Johnson says he is looking forward to staying engaged with members in the vacation rental community who often perform these real estate development roles as well. 

Johnson added, “I’ve learned so much over the past 12 years about vacation rentals primarily, but I’ve also gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the real estate industry that vacation rentals are so closely integrated with. I’m excited to expand that knowledge to a deeper level and immerse myself in the world of new homes so I can help make the process of building and buying a new home easy and help alleviate the current supply issues that we are seeing across the United States.”

Johnson will still be joining us in Charleston for the Data and Revenue Management Conference, Aug 17 – 18, where he will provide education about identifying, calculating, and comparing key performance indicators in the vacation rental industry. 

Software veteran Kimberly Lang to Lead Inhabit IQ’s Vacation Division

By
Amy Hinote
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0

Inhabit IQ, a collective of tech-forward products serving the residential, commercial and vacation rental management industries, announced today that Kimberly Lang has joined the organization as Managing Director of its Vacation division.

In this newly created position, Lang will work across the division to drive strategic initiatives and client advocacy programs that accelerate the future of vacation rental technology and deliver greater value for the vacation rental industry. She will report to Eric Broughton, Chief Strategy Officer.

“Kimberly is a results-driven executive with a knack for building successful teams, operational efficiencies, and client loyalty,” said Lisa Stinnett, CEO of Inhabit. “Our friends in the vacation rental industry are experiencing an exciting post-pandemic revitalization, and Kimberly will lead the brands that can help them further enhance and grow their business through best-in-class tech solutions.”

With more than 20 years of experience in the technology and software space across property management, real estate, and payment processing, Kimberly recently served as Chief Business Officer at CheckAlt and as Chief Operating Officer at ExamSoft. Previously, Lang spent more than a decade in various leadership roles with RealPage, a multinational property management software corporation.

Under Lang’s leadership and demonstrated expertise in client success and business transformation, Inhabit will strengthen its Vacation division software and services and identify valuable integrations and cross-selling opportunities to support company growth and deliver greater value for the vacation rental industry.

Lang added, “We’re seeing a renewed desire for travel which presents an enormous opportunity in the vacation rental market. With a focus on product innovation, Inhabit IQ is uniquely positioned to deliver world-class user experiences to travelers and property managers alike.”

Additionally, Robin Bulba has joined the company as Vice President, Vacation PMS. With more than 20 years of experience in property management, Bulba has led all aspects of business operations. She is skilled at strengthening operations management while improving workflow, streamlining processes, systems analysis, quality improvement, and cost control.

Scott Butler, longtime EVP of Inhabit’s Vacation division, will drive growth through greater focus on digital marketing and business development efforts. The duo will report to Lang as part of the Vacation division leadership team.

About Inhabit IQ
Inhabit IQ is a unique collective of tech-forward companies serving the vacation and property management industries. Our brands’ strategic partnerships deliver best-in-class software solutions and services while fostering innovation and collaboration with like-minded entrepreneurs and industry leaders. We believe that property managers should have the opportunity to choose platforms that best support their business goals and benefit from strategic partnerships across our ecosystem.

Sarah and T Podcast releases its 100th episode—and it matters

By
Amy Hinote
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0

The Sarah and T Podcast dropped its 100th episode today, and enterprise-level vacation rental managers are better for it. Currently in its fifth season, the Sarah and T Podcast launched in the fall of 2017 by hosts, Sarah Bradford of Steamboat and Winter Park Lodging Company and Tim Cafferty of Sandbridge and Outer Banks Blue. The show addresses, in a uniquely candid and fun-filled format, the broad range of challenges professional vacation rental managers face every day. 

Bradford and Cafferty are masterfully fluent in the language of large property managers, and their hands-on knowledge about all aspects of the company resonates with the industry. 

Steve Milo, founder and CEO of VTrips, told the duo during the 100th episode, “I just find the banter between you two when you’re talking about a random topic to be fascinating. I was really interested in your take on revenue management and paying third parties to do pricing, and I was fascinated by the conversation. I always gain insight anytime I listen to one of your podcasts. I’m a big fan.”

Milo is not alone. Industry veterans including Clark Twiddy, Matt Landau, Miller Hawkins, Amy Gaster, Carrie Efird, Filipa Leitão de Aguiar, Brian Harris, Nicole Twigg, Lance Stitcher, and Brandon Sauls lined up for the opportunity to offer their thanks, as well. We joined the chorus. 

Clark Twiddy, president at Twiddy and Co., shared his appreciation saying, “Let there never be any doubt that one person can change an industry because you have.”

Claire Reiswerg of Sand ‘N Sea in Galveston, TX was also on air to offer her gratitude and take much-deserved credit for introducing Sarah and Tim to each other. “As I keep listening to you, this is part of my legacy as a vacation rental manager that I introduced you two and helped spawn this incredible podcast for the industry.”

Bradford and Cafferty have brought on big names such as customer service guru John DiJulius, author John Ruhlin, Vrbo president Jeff Hurst, HomeAway cofounder Carl Shepherd, Airbnb’s Clara Liang, and Netflix star Peter Lorimer. However, unlike other large podcasts, it doesn’t take a big name to make the episodes valuable.

Matt Landau, who recently also reached the 100th episode benchmark with his Unlocked Podcast, appreciates the work involved and congratulated the pair, adding, “We as independent property owners and managers need to be very careful about where we give our attention and who we look up to. And it’s not necessarily the institutions and the organizations that the media tells us to; rather it’s the managers next to us who are actively problem solving and doing the hard work.”

Vendors in the vacation rental industry have also discovered the podcast and are finding it valuable to listen in. ICND CEO Brandon Sauls talked about how the podcast has influenced his company’s decision making. “You have a great pulse on the industry. . . The podcasts are a great way for us to hear the property managers’ perspective and help us move and tool our products as we take tidbits from the things we’ve gotten from your podcast.” 

At VRM Intel, we echo what Lance Stitcher, cofounder at Seaside Vacations, said: “You guys motivate me to make my business better every two weeks. You have been a great source of shared information for the entire industry. You’ve made my business better. You’ve made all our businesses better. You have lifted the industry up, one podcast at a time.”

So, along with thousands of industry professionals, congratulations and thank you to Sarah Bradford and Tim Cafferty, and we look forward to having the duo emcee the 2021 Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management Conference, Aug 17 – 18, in Charleston.

Want to catch up on the podcasts? Here are some fan-favorite episodes:

Vintory’s Director of Digital Marketing Gives a Crash Course: How to Get The Most Out of Your Digital Advertising Efforts

By
Paul Manzey
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1

“We’re seeing lots of traffic, it’s not just converting.”

How many times have you heard this? How many times have you said it yourself?

Google Ads is a highly effective way to get qualified leads when it comes to B2B and B2C marketing, but it’s important to view the effectiveness of these leads through the correct lens. 

I’ve got news for you – your Cost-per-Click (CPC) is not the most important metric to follow when evaluating success.

 

Top 5 Takeaways:

  Understand the industry averages for paid search performance. Check out our benchmarks below. 

  Know which metrics to focus on to make smart ad spends that lead to higher conversions and signed deals. 

  Expert tip: Test headlines and descriptions through Responsive Search Ads, and let Google’s algorithm serve up your most engaging ad variations.

  Optimize your conversion rate by putting conversion tracking in place in Google Ads.

  Find a trusted digital marketing partner who can help you analyze your data and make smart ad spend decisions to grow your business.

 

The Sticker Shock of Owner Metrics vs. Traveler Metrics

When looking at your marketing strategies for travelers, getting volume to your website is important. The best marketers realize that travelers have multiple touchpoints, including third-party OTA’s and review sites, before making their ultimate booking.

Plus, you’re not just competing with other vacation rental companies. You’re competing with hotels, resorts, inns, B&B’s, lodges, motels, and the list goes on.

Ultimately, we’re looking to drive as many of these travelers to direct bookings as possible, and to do that, there needs to be a comprehensive strategy with as many people getting to your website as possible. You don’t want to pay big money for these clicks, as your Average Daily Rate (ADR) is going to dictate what kind of ROI you’re seeing on these clicks. 

On average, the hospitality industry sees about $1.65 CPC on the traveler side of the marketing spectrum, with brand terms driving a much lower CPC (usually under $1, depending on the name of your business). Those numbers are very appealing, given ADR ranges from $100-500 depending on location and property type.

Ultimately the cost of these clicks is so low because there are many more impressions available, and at its heart, the Google Auction is modeled off of supply and demand (with plenty of nuance along the way). People are ALWAYS (especially now) looking for inspiration to travel and go on vacation. The number of people who are going to travel in a given time period vs the number of people who are looking to list their home with a professional rental manager is vastly different.

This creates a bit of sticker shock when the limited supply, and high level of competition in many popular rental markets, tends to drive the CPC up. 

The average CPC range we see at Vintory on owner acquisition is anywhere from $3-$20. Those vacation rental managers who are used to spending $300-$500 to generate 300+ guest website visits are taken aback when the same amount nets them 40-45 clicks on the owner side, and really puts a premium on spending that money wisely.

So how can vacation rental managers get the most bang for their buck when it comes to digital advertising? 

Make sure you’re focusing on the right metrics!

Here are some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) that the team at Vintory uses to drive more value for partners.

 

What Click-Thru Rate (CTR) Means and How To Use It

Do you have compelling messaging that’s driving people to your website in your digital advertising? Your Click-Thru Rate (CTR) or Interaction Rate is going to give you a lot of insights into whether or not this is the case. Industry average for CTR ranges from 3-5%, depending on the level of the sales funnel at which you’re engaging searchers.

Similar to how Open Rates in email marketing are really more a measure of the strength of your Subject Line, CTR is really mostly about ad copy in Google Ads. That’s why it’s important to leverage all of Google’s tools to improve this number as much as possible. 

One of my favorite ways to test headlines and descriptions is through Responsive Search Ads, which lets Google’s algorithm help serve up your most engaging ad variations.

 

How to Optimize Your Conversion Rate

A low Cost-per-Click is good when volume is what you’re trying to drive, but vacation rental managers are typically playing the volume game because their direct-booking conversion rate is low. Less than a percent is fairly standard for the industry, much of this is attributable to the fact that travelers are able to book through so many different channels.

Because there is some manual nature to either importing conversions into Google Ads, or adding conversion scripts to your website, some advertisers will actually go without conversion tracking in place in Google Ads, and will simply try to monitor in Google Analytics. 

Why is this such a missed opportunity? 

Google uses a lot of automation behind the scenes to optimize for conversions (even going so far as to create multiple automated bidding strategies that optimize specifically for conversions). By not giving Google the tools to measure conversions, you’re also not able to optimize for them as easily.

 

Use Cost per Conversion to Make Smart Budget Decisions

If your heart is set on having a cost metric to measure performance, I’d recommend reviewing your cost per conversion. 

Yes, clicks are a desired action, but unless your click-to-lead conversion is 100%, you’re only getting a fraction of the story with CPC as a main KPI. 

Viewing campaigns through a cost-per-conversion lens allows you to make better investments in your higher converting channels. A business may be getting a ridiculously low CPC for specific keywords, but if none of those searchers are converting, how valuable were the cheap clicks?

On the traveler side of things, you’re measuring this based on your ADR and Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR). On the owner acquisition side, your cost per conversion is measured against your Gross Booking Revenue (GBR) for the new rental entering your inventory. Depending on your market this could be $20,000 or could be $200,000. 

Now let’s take that Gross Booking Revenue a step further. On average, net margins on that GBR are approximately 10%, so you’ve got somewhere between $2,000 and $20,000 hitting your bottom line. That’s just one year – hopefully, you’re not only keeping a rental in your program for one year.

At Vintory, we calculate the customer lifetime by dividing a partner’s churn percentage by one, so a partner with a 10% average owner churn would have a 10 year lifetime on average:

Let’s go back to $2,000 – $20,000 hitting the net margins each year. With a 10-year lifetime value, you’re looking at somewhere between $20,000 and $200,000 in lifetime value and a lifetime Gross Booking Revenue of $2M+. 

At those GBR numbers, a $10 Cost-per-Click, and a $300 Cost-per-Conversion doesn’t seem so outlandish.

 

 

Don’t Set It and Forget It

All of these KPIs are important, but if you aren’t actually paying attention to the numbers, and not adjusting your strategies based on what the data is telling you, you’ll never get the most out of your digital advertising efforts. 

Make sure that you are consistently checking in on your campaigns to ensure that these, and other KPIs are in line with your marketing and revenue goals.

 

Here are 3 recommendations to help automate some of these check-ins:

1. Create Custom Reports in Google Ads and Google Analytics that highlight your own KPIs, whether you use those listed above, or generate your own set.

2. Create Custom Alerts in Google Analytics to receive notifications when your KPIs are reporting performance outside of industry benchmarks/your desired results.

3. Make sure that Google Analytics and Google Ads are linked and sharing information. Google Ads will show you interaction with your ads — Google Analytics will show you the subsequent interaction with your website. It’s important to be able to connect the dots.

 

And make sure to find a trusted digital marketing partner who can help you read and analyze this data, to help you make the right decisions to grow your business!

Piecing Together Technology Systems to Execute Revenue Management Strategies

By
Emily Pattillo
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0

In business and life in general, they say to avoid extremes. Make a solid plan, make corrective adjustments, but stay the course and “fly in the middle.” Because 2020 was a year of extremes, it did not afford us that option. The pendulum swings were both swift and wide. Extremes in bookings, demand, staffing, politics—you name it, we experienced it. 

As we reflect on this past year and get excited to see each other in person again at the upcoming Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference, it’s important to really take a look back internally and identify our biggest challenges so we can ask the right questions and get the answers that we need. 

We all have experiences to share. We all have had horror stories, success stories, and likely plenty of aha moments along the way. We all have something to offer, but more importantly, what do we want to learn from each other? What do YOU want to learn the most? 

 

Revenue Management Strategy 

Revenue management in the vacation rental industry is an amalgamation of many different moving parts including distribution, pricing, digital marketing, and reputation management. Throw in the seemingly infinite metrics and data points, some of which the industry can’t even agree on, and vacation rental revenue management gets complicated pretty quickly. But how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So, we’ve been breaking down and analyzing our strategies and processes to find out what worked this year, what stood the test of time in extreme climates, and what we completely abandoned. 

Like you, we learned a lot at Casiola this year. Some lessons were forced out of necessity, some were happy accidents, some were intentional wins that knocked it out of the park, and others were failures we had to abandon quickly. We learned that no matter how much we think we know, we have to stay humble. If something is working, exploit it. If something is not, quickly move on. At the DARM conference in August, we’re looking forward to sharing our experiences and hearing what strategies worked (and didn’t) across the industry. 

Related: Property Management Newcomer Casiola: How their Fresh Look at the Industry is Making them Successful

 

Execution 

Each of these strategic components is fundamentally important to the revenue management process. However, the best strategies in the world are only as good as a company’s ability to execute them efficiently. 

More often than not, I find myself creating strategies around my ability to implement them, which feels like uncomfortably working backward. 

We are only as fast as our slowest component and only as strong as our weakest link. From a conceptual perspective, this is true for almost any category in any business. To use an analogy: What purpose does it serve for a restaurant to create the fairest seating arrangements for their servers if the hostess isn’t properly trained on table numbers? Everything we do, start to finish, we should do with intention. However, even with the best intentions, failure occurs. Evaluating each and every step of our processes—and our tools— and their effectiveness is paramount. 

 

Careful Evaluation of Technology 

For vacation rental revenue management, we have recently experienced incredible technological advancements, but we also still have significant limitations. It is no secret that, with so many moving parts and our industry’s relative youth, software systems have yet to come up with a full solution, start to finish. 

How many metaphorical “hands” does one reservation go through from start to finish? Until product evolution produces a more comprehensive solution for our processes, most of us find ourselves piecing various components together. And what happens when one of your software components doesn’t completely align or integrate with another? Layer in a workaround! 

The more complicated your strategy or process, the more layers and even additional software products need to be added. A perfect full solution is something we just do not have. Instead, it feels like there are an overwhelming number of “perfect partial solutions,” almost to the point of tech fatigue. 

Whether it is your website, booking engine, pricing technology, PMS, channel manager, or the channels themselves, now is a great time to take a hard look over the past year and evaluate your weakest links. What parts of the process didn’t hold up under pressure or with rapidly changing dynamics? Were there components that required a disproportionate amount of company resources? Maybe you had to contact support too many times, sacrificing resources from your reservations team, which resulted in lost revenue from missed booking opportunities. Find your weakest links and cut them out, replace them, or fix them. 

In my experience, most technology vendors are more than willing to collaborate with property managers and value their input regarding product features. If part of their product isn’t working for you, tell them. There are brilliant minds out there eager and willing to build and adapt their products to your needs. Sometimes it takes longer than we want or requires a bit more nudging. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and sometimes it requires a ton of persistence. However, if we don’t constantly try to better our strategies and our ability to execute them, we do not evolve as a company or an industry. 

Here’s a great example. Our pricing software supported a dynamic minimum LOS (length of stay) strategy we wanted to implement, but our channel manager did not. Again, what good is developing a strategy if there is no way to execute it? We had two options: abandon the strategy or try to collaborate with our channel manager to find a solution. After tons of troubleshooting, together we were able to find the core issue, and they agreed to write the software fix. Had we not brought this up, we would have had to abandon our strategy. Had we not pushed so hard, it might not have been known that this issue existed for us. 

 

Collaboration with Other Property Managers 

As we all navigate through the pandemic, collaboration is key. This includes collaboration with our vendors and among ourselves. Is there another property manager that has the same technology mix that you do? Just like vendors, most property managers, so long as they are not direct competition, are willing to share pain points and solutions. 

How often do we listen to someone speaking and immediately tune them out because “they don’t use our PMS” or “my channel manager doesn’t have that issue” or “that’s a great solution, but my PMS won’t connect to it”. If you find someone who uses the same software mix, the conversations become infinitely more advanced and useful. 

I recently had a one-hour phone conversation with another property manager who asked me to explain my pain points. Thirty seconds into my spiel he said, “Now, I’ll just stop you right there. This is your problem . . .” He had cultivated relationships with all the same vendors I had and had exactly the same issues. He told me how he solved the problem, potentially saving me months of trying to figure it out on my own. We were able to compare what worked and what didn’t and take each other through each of our processes start to finish to get fresh, yet experienced eyes on it. That’s the beauty of networking, folks! Now that we have conferences again, take every opportunity to get to know as many other people as possible and look for similarities in tech usage. 

 

OTA Channels and Mix 

This year was perfect for both highlighting and exposing what did and did not work. However, what did and did not work might be different than what is and is not working. For some markets, it was a climate of feast or famine. It is important to document which processes, including all of the technological applications involved, worked and did not work in each scenario. We might be feasting on bookings now, but let’s not forget how we navigated the famine. 

This is a great time to take a look at our distribution strategy and evaluate what changed in our channel mix year-over-year. 

 

Are you happy with your distribution matrix and the process involved? 

Have you taken a deep dive into each channel and analyzed the costs and benefits of each? Was there a certain channel that outperformed? 

Was there a channel that fell short? 

How did this affect your channel mix ratios? 

Were you able to execute revenue management strategies and take advantage of promotions on each channel? 

 

At Casiola, when the pandemic hit, we were quick to leverage what was working on each channel and what was not. Whether it was a cancellation policy change or a channel promotion, we evaluated what was driving bookings and focused our energy on the levers we could pull to increase them. It forced us to look at our metrics on a granular level, focus on what brought in the volume, and thin out what did not. 

However, this was a double-edged sword that created a problem for us over time. By forcing a disproportion in our distribution, we put too many eggs in one basket. It was necessary at the time to find bookings wherever we could, but when the dust settled, it was imperative to move back to a healthier channel mix. Too much leverage in any one channel creates vulnerabilities because having too much third-party influence over your revenue simply is viciously dangerous territory. 

It was important to create a healthier mix. As long as we maintained a healthy ratio, we could put effort into growing each channel more. With a combination of our pricing software and channel manager, we were able to throttle back bookings in the overactive channel but not cut them off. This afforded other channels access to our inventory the other was previously taking up. 

Did you have a channel that outperformed the others in your market? Which ones did not, and why do you think that is? Was there a strategy that you used that had an impact on a certain channel? How do you re-establish a healthy balance when the scales tip too far to one channel? What do you consider a healthy balance and why? These are all questions to reflect on. 

 

Data Usage 

We could fill an entire VRM Intel Magazine issue discussing data alone. After all, data is the cornerstone of revenue management. Our industry’s challenge is not with the lack of data, but with using it effectively, determining what is quality data and what is not, translating that data across multiple platforms, and having systems that are on the same page about metric calculations. 

I would simply implore you to find out where your data comes from. If someone provides you with data, where are they getting it from? Are they transparent about the sources? How granular are the metrics? 

For example, when looking at the technology platforms you use for determining competitive (comp) sets and benchmarks, really find out whether you are comparing apples to apples. Perhaps the identical seven-bedroom home down the street is in your comp set, but it has a pool and yours does not. Is it truly a comp? Comps are most certainly determined by more than data alone, but it’s important to understand what data is being used nonetheless. 

If you use pricing system and they make a change in ADR for a certain time period, how do you know what has and has not been already calculated? Is there transparency? Or maybe they are only using market data to calculate your pricing, but you are already outperforming the market. Understanding what is being used will help you make better-informed decisions. 

Perhaps the most important question is whether you can access this data outside the platform and access it with ease. I recently heard this referred to as “data liberation,” which could not be more accurate. In a world of so many technological layers, we need to have a constant: our data. 

In some scenarios, you might not need to liberate your data because it has no use outside the platform. However, what if you are using more than one platform to make informed pricing decisions? Perhaps you use one tool for benchmarking, one tool for internal pacing, and another tool to implement pricing changes. It becomes daunting really quickly. What if that platform doesn’t have the ability to perform a function on its UI, but you know it’s fairly simple to do in Excel? How easy is this process? 

Pro Tip: First determine the quality of this data and then determine if it will be held hostage. 

 

Looking Forward 

This has been an interesting year with many curveballs. We were forced to face issues we didn’t expect. Processes involving everything from operations to technology to strategy were tested almost to the breaking point. Many of us had to develop entirely new processes or find creative ways to optimize our current ones. Tons of good came out of such a stressful time; it forced evolution in many ways. 

However, we are not out of the woods. Not even close. 

It’s no secret the vacation rental market has become a dominant vertical in the travel sector during this time. Travelers have come to see STRs not just as a viable option for lodging, but in some cases, a preferable one. 

However, a substantial increase in market share for one vertical almost conclusively means a decrease for another. We will have a target on our backs, and we must continue to evolve both individually as companies and as an entire industry. 

We must collaborate, educate, network, develop, and strategize, and we must not stop learning. I’m looking forward to seeing you at DARM and sharing our battle stories and experiences! 

 

Property Management Newcomer Casiola: How their Fresh Look at the Industry is Making them Successful

By
Amy Hinote
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1

This past February, I pulled into the driveway of my Orlando vacation rental around 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night. It’s always unsettling to arrive to a dark home at night, so it was a welcome relief to see that the front porch lights were on. I opened my text messages to find my keycode, entered the home, and found lights tastefully on, soft music playing from the TV, and curtains opened to the lit pool and patio area. Exhale. Finally, after a year of not traveling, my vacation had begun. 

“A relative newcomer to property management, Casiola founder Dennis Goedheid leveraged his technology and marketing background, along with a fresh look at the industry, to quickly grow and scale his Orlando-based vacation rental management company.”

As many guests do, I set out to explore the home, both out of curiosity and to make sure everything was OK. I was happy to see that all the beds had fresh white hospitality bedding, tight-tucked corners, and white towels folded perfectly and stacked on the beds. The bathrooms were spotless, with white bathmats folded and ready for use. Moving into the kitchen, I opened the cabinets to find that all glasses, dishes, pots, pans, flatware, utensils, and potholders were matched sets and were placed intentionally and carefully on shelves or organized in drawers. After unloading the car, I put on a swimsuit, made a cocktail, and took a dip in the perfectly heated pool. 

The experience was so beyond my expectations that I had to call Casiola to find out more about the company. 

 

Dennis Goedheid, Founder and CEO, Casiola 

Founded in 2014, Casiola is based in Orlando, has 35 full-time employees, and manages 300 homes in the Orlando area and 20 homes in Aruba. 

Born and raised in Belgium, Casiola’s founder and CEO Dennis Goedheid is an intentional and savvy serial entrepreneur. After building and selling an online printing company in 2013, Dennis set out to find his next business venture. With a background in building complex and scalable technology, he headed to Silicon Valley and met with tech companies to scope opportunities. With the Bay Area’s high cost of living and fierce competition for talent, Dennis decided starting a company in that environment didn’t align with his dream for the family he was ready to start. After selling his last company, Goedheid wasn’t just looking for crazy multiples and a fast exit: “My goal was not to be traveling 300 days a year. I wanted to find a business that I could build, one in which I enjoy what I’m doing, am able to spend time with my family, and have the feeling that I can make a difference.” 

Ten years before selling his company, Dennis met his wife Liliana Rojas in Barcelona when she was traveling with her family from Peru to Spain on vacation. As fate would have it, her mother took a job in Barcelona, which brought Dennis and Liliana closer in proximity and able to date, get engaged, and eventually marry. 

Liliana joined Dennis in Belgium, but between travel and time in the office while building the printing business, Dennis wasn’t able to spend as much time at home as he would have liked. His primary goal with his new venture was to build a business that would allow him to partner with Liliana and create a life for their future family. The opportunities he found in Silicon Valley didn’t fit that plan, but the short-term rental industry caught his eye during his time there, so he headed to the vacation rental capital of the world and “happiest place on earth”—Orlando—to start a property management company. 

Using his experience in marketing and graphic design, he began the company with a strong brand and professional collateral, which he then used to add inventory. Because many property owners in Orlando reside outside the United States, his European background and connections helped in building the business. 

Dennis initially believed he would be able to work more reasonable hours from home, leverage OTAs and listing sites for bookings, and build a stable of reliable contractors to take care of the properties. “I have to say that I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Dennis laughed. 

In 2014, Dennis and Liliana acquired FLCondos4Rent and its 20 management contracts, and the couple did everything: soliciting inventory, onboarding properties, answering phones, bookkeeping, communicating with homeowners and guests, marketing, managing cleaning and laundry, and much more. As the company grew, it wasn’t long before they found themselves working 16- to 17-hour days, which was the opposite of what they had planned. Dennis then returned to his roots and began developing systems and technology for standardization, automation, and communications that would help the company both scale and grow. 

 

Custom-Built Technology System: Mobile First and Consumer Grade 

Although Dennis uses Escapia as his software for reservations and accounting, like many managers he found that property management systems didn’t have all the functionality he needed for operations and communications. 

“We started out building everything around it that we didn’t find in Escapia,” he explained. “We have two rules [for development]. 

The first thing is mobile-first. Everything we build has to work on a phone, so all functionality is built for a phone screen, but it also works on a desktop, of course. Second, everything we build has to be consumer-grade, meaning the user experience (UX) doesn’t require training. You should not need a manual to know how it works. The software has to be plain and simple. It’s saved so much time for our team, not having to go through extensive technology training or click on 20 screens to access everything they need in a day. We have three sections—properties, reservations/guests, and owners—and all sections are interconnected within the app.” 

 

Homeowner App 

One of the most unique parts of Casiola’s platform is the custom homeowner app, which presents performance insights and shows homeowners everything that has happened and is happening in their home. At first glance, homeowners see the number of future reservations, total annual revenue, occupancy rate, and how the home’s performance compares to that of the previous year. Scrolling down, the homeowner sees a “property timeline” that displays all the current and previous activity in the home, including arrivals, departures, status items, clickable links to reports, invoices, work orders, and statements. It even shows when the pool heat was turned on or off. 

“It started because I wanted to have a better overview of everything that was happening at a property. If you look at Escapia, you have a grid of all the reservations, but if you want to know what happened in maintenance or housekeeping, there’s just no place where it all comes together. What we created is like a property ‘feed’ so you can see in chronological order everything that happened.” 

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The homeowner also sees all reviews and comments as they are sent. “The owner can see how they’re doing and how we’re doing,” Dennis said. “Also, if it’s not good, they can view what they can do at their property to perform better with guests.” 

I wondered whether Dennis was concerned that he was providing too much visibility, but he said that owners love it because they have insight into real-time performance and can see each action taken at the home. “When I first presented [the owner app] to the team, and especially the owner team, they all thought I was crazy. They were so afraid that the homeowners would yell and scream at them because they might see a bad guest review or see a service order and would want to know everything about it. In the end, it saved us a lot of time because the owner can see everything that’s happened, including photos and reports. Everything we know, they know.”

 

Operations App 

Each role in the field has its own app view. For example, Casiola has a group of team members it calls “portfolio managers” who manage a portfolio of 20 to 30 homes, depending on size. These portfolio managers are fully responsible for every activity in each home in their assigned portfolio, including inspections and work orders. Their opening dashboard shows all arrivals, departures, outstanding to-do items, and all current and upcoming activities for the portfolio. They can view a chronological feed for all activity as a whole or by task type, property, contractor, or day. 

The platform’s UX is extremely simple, with a dashboard for each role, intuitive color coding, a social-media-style feed format, and easy calendar views. All property photos that the guest sees are in the app, in addition to the standard appearance guides, housekeeping photos, checklists, and appliance guides. 

Each part of Casiola’s technology is fully integrated with the others. One of the coolest features is that the app has its own search engine, so team members can do a quick search for any keyword (e.g., owner, property, guest, contractor). Every detail about the home can be found quickly, including door codes, Wi-Fi passwords, directions, reservation sources, all emails related to a reservation or property, work orders, maintenance requests, status reports, and reviews. All information and communications are stored and searchable within the app. Dennis has also automated much of the onboarding process, so he has been able to significantly reduce time getting new properties added. 

 

Multilingual Feature in Beta 

With so many international homeowners, team members, contractors, and guests, many of Casiola’s app users do not speak English as their first language. Consequently, Dennis has developed a multilingual version currently in beta that translates all text in the app into the user’s language of choice. 

 

High-Level Standardization 

As a Casiola guest, it was apparent that each room, closet, cabinet, and drawer in the home has a standard appearance guide and checklist for housekeepers and inspectors. Dennis shared that, shortly after the initial growth stage of the company, he set out to standardize bedding, linens, kitchen items, and their appearance at all Casiola homes. 

 

Standardized Bedding and Kitchen Packages 

Dennis explained that, in Europe, hospitality-quality bedding was a standard expectation. “I’ve always wondered, even before I got into this business, when I traveled here, for me the most disgusting thing ever is a comforter and a hundred pillows on the bed. The only thing you can do is throw everything on the floor before you can go to sleep. I’ve never understood it. And it was too much to manage; when there are stains on a comforter, you have to get a replacement and get it dry-cleaned. It just never felt clean to me, and if I don’t want to be in a bed like that, why would I expect my guests to sleep in a bed like that?” 

As with operations, Dennis built a linen management technology platform that provides staff with quantities and linen types for each home and generates labels with scannable QR codes so management knows when linens are picked up and dropped off. Once linens are switched out and returned, they are scanned again and weighed to check for missing items. 

Casiola also has standardized kitchen packages with standard glassware, dinnerware, flatware, cookware, small appliances, utensils, and potholders for its homes. 

Dennis worked with Durk Johnson to create each property’s standard appearance guidelines, and that information is communicated with housekeepers and inspectors via the company’s custom app. Each room, closet, cabinet, and drawer has a corresponding set of photos showing what it should look like, along with the quantity of each item that should be placed there. 

“We define how many of each item there should be in each cabinet and drawer, what it should look like, and how it should be organized,” Dennis said. “All these details are important, and it has to look nice, so we have pictures for each area of the property. That also tells us that each item has been inspected to make sure it’s clean.” 

Additionally, the app contains documentation and photos for large appliances, TVs, and remotes and shows housekeepers how each bed should be made and what it should look like. 

 

Marketing and Revenue Management 

Using his experience in branding and printing, Dennis carefully researched each aspect of Casiola’s brand creation, including colors, fonts, and design. With his passion for standardization, it isn’t a surprise that strict brand guidelines are used in everything that Casiola touches, including professionally printed signage for almost everything in the home. Reminiscent of a large, luxury hotel brand, standards carry over to the office, uniforms, brochures, email templates, the company website, guest and owner apps, and email signatures. 

Vacation rental management companies in the Orlando area face a unique set of marketing challenges such as fewer year-over-year repeat guests, fierce competition from hotels, and astronomical PPC rates. Dennis explained, “When I hear from companies that have 70 percent repeat traffic, that’s something we don’t have in Orlando. We’ve stopped bidding on keywords, for example. It’s cheaper for us to get business initially from OTAs.” 

“Every single major hotel and hospitality brand is here, including Disney and Universal, and they’re all competing with each other,” Dennis added. “Most of our bookings come from OTAs because it’s the cheapest way for us to get those bookings. It costs us more to get a direct booking using SEO/SEM than through a third-party channel. For our homes in Aruba, it’s different. We’re already seeing top search-engine placement for our Aruba rentals after only a few months, and therefore we’re able to get more direct bookings.” 

With its heavy use of OTAs, Casiola has dedicated resources to revenue and channel management. “In Orlando, there are submarkets like the convention center area where we have a lot of homes,” Dennis explained. “It’s a completely different market than the Kissimmee area, where you have people going to Disney. You need to have extensive local knowledge of each of these areas, be able to change revenue management strategies and channel marketing – even the channels themselves and your cancellation policies – for each area.” 

Emily Pattillo, who heads up revenue management for Casiola, optimizes each home’s pricing and merchandising on each channel using a combination of channel managers, pricing tools, and manual overrides. Pattillo shared more about the company’s revenue strategy in an article on page 78 and will be joining us at the Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference in Charleston, August 17–18, to discuss strategies. 

 

Staffing Challenges 

As with the majority of vacation rental management companies, Casiola is currently facing significant staffing challenges. Orlando’s low occupancy as a result of COVID-19 lasted longer than many other leisure destinations, but, when booking activity resumed, it did so in a whiplash fashion. 

“It’s like someone announced in February that COVID was over in Orlando. January and February are usually our highest booking months. This past January was our worst month ever, but then a tsunami of reservation activity hit us in February,” Dennis explained. “Now, we’re booked heavily for the rest of the year—all months—and we had the best spring break on record.” 

Dennis shared that his team struggled to keep up with the overwhelming email and call volume. The booking window was extremely short, which made it difficult to adequately staff, and Dennis said it has been impossible to find frontline workers. 

“In February, it went from 0 to 100 in two to three weeks. I worked for three months straight, seven days a week, 16 to 17 hours a day to keep up. I was doing 300 to 400 emails a day, answering calls, and taking reservations. It was bad. Since spring break ended, it’s been more reasonable, and we were able to hire five more people. We also started working with Extenteam to hire people in the Philippines to help with guest email and call volume, and it turned out great! They’re now covering our night shift, and we can now start the day without a backlog, so it really makes a big difference.” 

With the explosion of booking activity, reservations stretching well into 2022, and revenue optimization strategies that have brought ADRs up, Casiola is expecting a record-setting year. 

 

Looking to the Future 

Over the past year, as Dennis networked with other property management company owners, he has seen interest from other companies regarding licensing his technology, branding, and marketing. As a result, he’s working on a model to partner with local operators, which he has successfully done in Aruba. 

“We’re trying to fine-tune that concept right now. We’ve learned that you have to have local partners with local knowledge and property knowledge. If you have good local operators who really care and who understand hospitality and guest satisfaction, and we can combine that with our marketing, branding, and technology, we have a really strong concept and combination.” 

 

VTrips acquires Resort Collection, among others, expanding to 3,000 properties

By
Amy Hinote
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0

VTrips announced its acquisition of Resort Collection and its 800 properties on June 1, 2021. Resort Collection is one of the most well-established and influential vacation rental management companies in Northwest Florida. The Resort Collection deal follows several large acquisitions in the past 60 days including Distinctive Beach Rentals in Ft Myers Beach and Resort Property Management in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

According to founder and CEO Steve Milo, the recent acquisitions were made from VTrips operating profits and commercial bank debt. “Profitability matters, and VTrips continues to be the leader of national vacation rental companies for EBITDA, compounded EBITDA growth year over year, and EBITDA margin to revenue.”

All employees of Resort Collection, Distinctive Beach Rentals, and Resort Properties Management were offered jobs by VTrips at the same or better pay and benefits, said Milo. “VTrips believes that employees are the lifeblood of these companies, and we are doing everything possible to create a positive environment for them.”

Milo continued, “As certain large national buyers operate more like ‘strip miners’ in our industry, we are encountering more and more sellers who want a buyer that will hire all their staff, take care of their brand and legacy, and allow them to live in their community. We tell sellers that certain large national buyers are an option if they intend to move to another state or country and change their cell phone. Some sellers think this is funny. I always have a lot of good stories to share when I meet sellers in person. Most sellers dedicated their life to building a legacy and making great memories for their guests and employees and they want a buyer who shares their same values.”

According to Milo, VTrips is well positioned to compete for the industry lead in the resort vacation rental market in North America. “As a company headquartered in business-friendly Florida, with a founder and owner still in charge and who supports the industry in advocacy and volunteer work, VTrips is positioned to rapidly expand while other large companies deal with leadership and operational turmoil.”

Milo is chairman of the VRMA Advocacy Committee, which raised over $250,000 in 2020, and chairman of the Florida Vacation Rental PAC, and told us that VTrips contributed over $20 per unit in 2020 to advocacy. According to Milo, other large national firms are contributing less than $1 per unit to advocacy. “Some companies and CEOs care passionately about the future of the industry, and some are just industry outsiders who are concerned about getting a quick exit from this industry before their operational issues implode on them.”

The once sleepy vacation rental industry is rapidly transforming, said Milo. “With these changes some vacation rental owners are deciding to take chips off the table, and who they sell to may be the number one factor.  ”

Located in Ponte Vedra, Florida, VTrips manages 3,000 exclusive vacation rental properties in traditional resort destinations ranging from Florida to Hawaii.  VTrips CEO and founder Steve Milo is a recognized thought leader regarding the evolution of the highly fragmented vacation rental industry and is a regular keynote speaker at leading conferences in North America and Europe.  

Need More Properties to Rent Out? Now Is The Time to Grow Your Vacation Rental Business

By
Brooke Pfautz
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1

For a vacation rental manager, adding inventory is the best way to grow the value of your business.

 

The demand for vacation rentals is at an all-time high. Getting bookings is a problem for yesterday’s managers. The real revenue driver today is inventory growth – and the mega managers know it.

Now is the time to grow your inventory and defend it too. The vacation rental market has never been more full of opportunity and competition. If you ask me, there is no better ROI on the planet than investing in inventory acquisition.

One of the first things I realized when I started out in the vacation rental industry is that if you don’t grow your inventory – you won’t go very far. I also realized quickly that for most property management companies, keeping up with day-to-day operations is a full-time job.

This often means that owner acquisition strategies fall to the side.

 

 

The most successful business owners know their opportunity costs and they focus on making decisions that generate the greatest long-term value.

I strongly believe that as an owner, you need to focus on making investments in your company to grow, and this belief took me from 0 to 500 properties in just 5 years.

I’ve always followed the metrics mantra “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

 

Grow Your Vacation Rental Management Company Beyond the Rental Income

In this article we are going to look at three of the most important metrics in acquiring new inventory:

  • Calculate your customer acquisition costs (CAC)
  • Calculate the lifetime value of new inventory (LTV)
  • The LTV:CAC ratio – the holy grail of all metrics!

 

How much does it typically cost to generate a new customer?

The answer is…it depends. The amount you invest in marketing to new homeowners should be dependent upon your growth goals, but here is an important and simple calculation that every professional property manager needs to know – the cost to acquire a new customer (CAC).

 

Calculate your cost to acquire a new customer (CAC)

For the sake of this example, let’s assume that to generate one new contract, you invested $1,000.00 in direct mail postcards. Your cost to acquire one new homeowner in this example would be $1,000.00 in proactive marketing.

 

 

How valuable is adding a new property to your VRM?

Before you crunch the numbers, first it’s important to know what goes into calculating the value of adding a property to your portfolio.

  • Look at how much gross booking revenue it will make per year
  • Know your profit margins (we’ve found this is usually 10% of the gross booking revenue)
  • Consider how long you will keep the property in your portfolio (we’ve found the avg is 10 years)
  • Realize the value of the property to your portfolio if you were to sell your company

Or you can do all this using our handy online calculator.

 

 

When you focus on the lifetime value of a property and not just its annual revenue, the financial impact is pretty impressive.

Example: Let’s crunch some numbers together

Let’s say you have a property that is grossing $36,000 in gross booking revenue, which means your margins are going to be about $3,600 (10%).

If you were to add this one property to your program, it’s going to net you about $3,600 in year one.

Now, let’s say you keep that property and you retain it for about ten years.

 

Let’s do that math:

$3,600 x 10 (years) = $36,000

 

Now, you’re at $36,000, and this example is just one property.

 

 

Let’s amplify that up to $50,000 or $100,000 – think about the value in those numbers.

 

 

The example above is just for one property – consider if you were to bring on 10 to 20 properties a year.

 

Watch this video here to see the value of new inventory.

 

And remember, there’s not only the value you are gaining through the lifetime of this property in your program, but if you decide you want to exit your business, you’re going to get a check for each one of those properties.

We’ve found that the average “per door” value is roughly between $9-$20k!

If you’re interested in understanding more about the value of your company – check out our interactive company valuation calculators here.

 

 

Now let’s say you added an extra 30 properties to your portfolio – you’re looking at your dream retirement home.

 

Can you make more profit from your customers than it costs to acquire them?

The short answer is YES! A bit of a longer answer is, this is all about unit economics.

The holy grail of all metrics in inventory acquisition is the LTV: CAC Ratio, which is the lifetime of profits of a property vs. the cost to acquire them. This calculation takes into account all of the key factors in inventory acquisition. It takes into account churn, the lifetime of a property, and acquisition cost.

If you’re going to track one metric for inventory acquisition – this is it. So typically what we are looking for is a target of 20x but the best companies out there are doing it at 40x.

 

Take a look at the results of your competitors

Here is a summary of the target numbers and the results from the best in class companies:

 

 

The bottom line: Now is the time to grow your inventory

When 2021 vacation bookings began, it was widely reported that vacation rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO were seeing a boom in bookings. Now the surge in demand for vacation rentals is so high that the short-term, vacation rental industry has never seen occupancy rates at this level, leaving vacation rental managers scrambling to find more properties to rent out for available occupancy in a desperate attempt to help more families book their long-awaited vacations.

The lack of vacation rental inventory will mean that bookings will become nearly impossible for many as travelers are opting to choose the safety, security, and accommodations that rentals offer.

There has also never been more investment and acquisition activity in the industry. Simply put, there is more money, more interest, more demand, and more competition than ever before.

Now is the time to grow your inventory to take advantage of these trends while they last.

 

About Brooke Pfautz: From 0-500 properties in just 5 years, Vintory  and Comparent.com CEO, Brooke Pfautz, has lived and breathed inventory acquisition. Brooke’s vision is to accelerate the growth of the entire vacation rental market to become the preferred way to travel, work, play, dream, rest and invest. Vintory is the 1st and only CRM & Sales and Marketing automation platform designed exclusively for Vacation Rental Managers to grow their inventory. At Vintory, a team of over 50 growth experts is laser-focused on one thing: helping VRMs hit or exceed their growth goals.

VRM Intel at Skift Short-Term Rental Summit

By
Amy Hinote
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1

Thank you to Skift for having us at this year’s Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit. 

Here are the slides from my presentation about trends and performance in the vacation rental industry. I know we’re running through this data rapidly, so I wanted to make sure you have the information at your fingertips in case you want to zero in on some of the metrics. 

Skift Short-Term Rental Summit, VRM Intel, Amy Hinote PDF

For more info on obtaining data, contact rob.johnson@keydatadashboard.com

VRM Intel at GNEX Conference

By
Amy Hinote
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0

Thank you to Paul Mattimoe for having us at this year’s GNEX Conference and for the opportunity to learn more about the vacation ownership industry. 

Here are the slides from my presentation about trends and performance in the vacation rental industry. I know we’re running through this data rapidly, so I wanted to make sure you have the information at your fingertips in case you want to zero in on some of the metrics. 

GNEX X-Talks, Amy Hinote, VRM Intel, PDF

For more info on obtaining data, contact rob.johnson@keydatadashboard.com

See you tomorrow!

Airbnb CEO Acknowledges Vacation Rentals in Last Week’s Earnings Call: “We welcome all hospitality providers on Airbnb.”

By
Amy Hinote
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0

Over the last two weeks, investors heard from CEOs at both Airbnb and Expedia/Vrbo about their first quarter performance. According to Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, “2020 was a year that none of us will ever forget. It was also a year when travel fundamentally changed forever. Airbnb changed as well. We sharpened our focus on our core business of hosting. And we got back to our roots, back to what is truly special by Airbnb: the everyday people who host their homes and offer experiences. And we emerged as a stronger and more efficient company. Our business rebounded faster than anyone expected, and it showed that as the world changes, we are able to adapt.”

Related: Expedia CEO Discusses Vrbo’s Q1 2021 Performance

Airbnb’s business plan in a nutshell “includes educating the world about hosting, recruiting more hosts, simplifying the guest experience, and delivering a world-class service.”

Airbnb’s Performance

Airbnb reported that its first-quarter loss more than tripled, to $1.17 billion, as travel remained depressed by the pandemic and the company was weighed down by costs from past borrowing. However, revenue in Q1 was $887 million, a 5 percent year-over-year increase. “Our adjusted EBITDA loss was $59 million,” Chesky said. “This was approximately $190 million better than the same period in 2019, and it was $275 million better than a year ago on essentially the same revenue.”

Listing Growth and Vacation Rental Managers: 30% Increase in non-urban and vacation rental

Airbnb has 4 million hosts listing 5.6 million properties. During the call with investors, Chesky acknowledged “vacation rentals” for the first time since before announcing its IPO. Airbnb’s S-1 only mentioned the term “vacation rentals” once in reference to the Google Vacation Rentals platform. Words matter, and Chesky’s recognition of this sector of the short-term rental industry is notable.

CEO Brian Chesky (Chesky): But what we have today are hosts that offer 5.6 million listing. And these 5.6 million listings more about 1 million more than we had this time in 2019 and what we’ve actually seen is a large growth in non-urban listing. So we actually have a 30% growth in non-urban and vacation rental listings as well.

Vacation Rental Managers, aka Professional Hosts

Chesky: Let’s talk about pro hosts and hotels. Obviously, Airbnb created a new category in travel because we created tools that allowed everyday people and individuals become hosts. And yes, out of 4 million hosts, 3.5 million are individuals. That being said, we welcome all hospitality providers on Airbnb. And we have hundreds of thousands of professional hosts and professional hospitality providers.

The way we think about it is when a guest comes to Airbnb, they’re looking for a place to stay. And so we don’t want them to leave without having found something they want. Typically, they come to look for individual hosts, that’s what we’re known for. But we want to make sure that we have professional hosts and hotels to serve those customers and to fill in our network gaps.

So we’re continuing to develop new tools and services over the coming years to continue to welcome these providers onto our platform. And I think they’re going to obviously benefit from all the demand that we have.

Airbnb Says Travel Has Transformed and Urban, Cross-Border Travel Is Coming Back

Chesky: We expect this rebound to be unlike anything that we have ever seen before, and we expect travel to be very different than before. People are discovering that they don’t have to be tethered to one location to live and work. . . . And when people do travel, they’re staying longer. 24 percent of our nights booked in Q1 were for stays of 28 nights or longer. People are not just traveling in Airbnb, they’re now living on Airbnb. . . . The world is never going back to the way it was, and that means that travel is never going back to the way it was either.

But the other thing that we’re seeing is that travel is going to be very different than before. Probably the biggest changes are the following: number one, I don’t think business travel is ever coming back the way it was before the pandemic. It’s at least not going to look like it did. I do think a new kind of business travel may emerge. Many employees are working remotely. They’re going to need to go back to headquarters occasionally. You’re going to see longer stays going in cities. And so we’re seeing elevated bookings in urban markets for stays of longer than 28 days.

The two trends I do think are going to inverse are we are going to see a recovery of urban travel and the recovery of cross-border. This has been our bread and butter before the pandemic, and I think those are significant tailwinds for us.

Airbnb Is Looking for More Supply

Chesky: We are recruiting more hosts, and we are setting them up for success. To build on the momentum of our marketing campaign, we launched an accompanying digital campaign that’s focused on recruiting new hosts. And we’ve completely redesigned the end-to-end experience of being a host on Airbnb. We’re making it easier for anyone to start hosting.

We’re making it even easier to become a host by reducing number of steps to become a host. And as we reduce the number of steps, conversion rate for hosts gets even easier.

Because Airbnb, we started actually after the Great Recession in 2008. And at that time, there were many hosts, many people that were looking at Airbnb as a financial lifeline. I think if you think about the number of hosts on Airbnb, the top occupations of our hosts are health care workers, educators and people in food and hospitality. These are industries that have been hit really, really hard. So our job is to tell the story of hosting, the fact that on Airbnb you can make $8,000 on average if you have one listing, which is 5x you can make what an average American got in the stimulus check.

CFO David Stephenson Discussed Supply and Demand

Stephenson: On supply and demand, really, what we’re seeing, because cross-border and urban travel has not yet fully rebounded, the places that we’re seeing surpluses or deficits in demand or a surplus of supply would be more urban markets. And where we can see some tightening of it, especially U.S. non-urban for the peak in the summer is clearly going to be the most constrained of our markets.

So we’re actively working against each of those areas. But on each side, on the supply side, making sure that we are doing our best to recruit hosts and bring on as more supply as possible for peak periods in constrained markets. And then we’re also using — go back to our marketing expenses before, where we use search engine marketing is in targeted approach, especially in markets where we have maybe surplus supply and not maybe enough demand, and so being kind of pointed at that. So we look at every individual market as different, and we will use different levers to try to manage that balance over time.

Increasing Take Rate

Chesky: We absolutely see lots of opportunities to increase our monetization and take rate for both guests and hosts. For example, one of the things we’ve said is that many of these tools and services we’ve offered in the last five years, they’re incremental, we haven’t charged for. For example, unlike our competitors, we offer free protection of $1 million against theft, property damage and personal liability in countries all over the world. And as we added these services, we do not charge incrementally for these. Our general principle is we always want to give away more value than we’re taking, but we do think there’s opportunities for us to do―to offer some more tools and services to increase take rate.

Now that being said, focus is critical. . . . But make no mistake, we have many opportunities in the years ahead.

Airbnb is Seeing More Whole-Home Stays

Chesky: Now what we’re seeing is a pretty big expansion of people booking entire homes, typically even more bedrooms, the number of guests per reservation has increased considerably. And so correspondingly, people are spending more money. I think that trend, of course, will get normalized over some period of time when other geographies recover and urban recovers. But I do think that we are going to see sustained confidence, there’s no question.

Booking Window Increasing

Stephenson: Regarding the booking window, we’re seeing the booking window, obviously, in 2020 shrank dramatically, right? People were hesitant to travel. They only started booking when they had high confidence that they were going to travel. What we’ve seen here early in Q1 of ’21 is the booking windows have expanded. And in March, we actually saw booking windows consistent with those from March of 2019. And so the windows are expanding. I think that what you’re seeing is still even more confidence in the U.S. So that the willingness of travel and the booking window in the U.S. has expanded further than it has in Europe.

But we’re starting to see some greater acceleration of our European business. We’re seeing the European nights increasing the rate of year-over-year growth every month of the year since the beginning of the year, including through April and May. And we’re seeing that as things like the lockdowns in France are removed. And after the UK Prime Minister announced plans to exit lockdown in February, we started seeing more acceleration in Europe.

So the booking window trends are positive and give us encouragement for what we’re going to see in the back half of the year. But we’ll just have to see what the lockdowns and other kind of travel restrictions look like for Europe for the back half.

Airbnb’s Forecast for Remainder of 2021

Stephenson: We’re highly confident in the rebound that it’s going to be coming. All the early indications are that it’s there. But it’s hard to kind of precisely pin down what Q3 and Q4 are going to do. So what we did do is give some perspective on what we expect out of Q2. And that is that our gross booking value in Q2 of this year will be higher than in Q2 of 2019, and that our revenue rate in Q2 will be similar to that of 2019, and that our EBITDA will be― our adjusted EBITDA will be―breakeven to slightly positive in Q2 of this year. So I think those are kind of the key things. Because as you said, as rebound comes back, the pace at which it comes back in the geographies that come back will affect the mix on those ADRs. And we do expect the ADRs to moderate, but it’s hard to perfectly pinpoint down the specific of that mix.

Look for an Announcement from Airbnb on May 24

Chesky: Now I want to wrap by highlighting a major announcement that we have coming up in less than two weeks. On May 24, we will announce the most comprehensive update to the Airbnb service in 12 years. As part of this special announcement, we’re going to share insights on how travel is fundamentally changing, along with updates we’ve made to prepare for what’s ahead. We’re going to unveil a simpler and more inspiring guest experience. And we are going to show you upgrades that make it even easier to be a host on Airbnb. So watch the announcement with the airbnb.com on Monday, May 24.

Expedia CEO Peter Kern Discusses Vrbo Performance: Vrbo hosts make more than Airbnb hosts on average.

By
Amy Hinote
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2

During the last two weeks, investors heard from CEOs at both Airbnb and Expedia/Vrbo about 2021’s first quarter performance. For those who smartly opted to watch paint dry rather than listening to Expedia’s earnings call, here are some of the highlights and takeaways about Vrbo and the vacation rental industry. According to CEO Peter Kern, “We have benefited greatly in our vacation rental business and our domestic US business, but other parts of the business still remain challenged.”

Related: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Discusses Q1 2021 Performance

Expedia does not share Vrbo’s independent performance; Kern and CFO Eric Hart told investors repeatedly during the call that it is not going to break Vrbo out separately. “I would say Vrbo is doing great,” said Kern. “The US is particularly strong; but as I said, in all our strongest markets, we are showing share gains. And Vrbo is clearly―and vacation rentals in general―in very positive territory, and that is helping bring up all our numbers, no doubt. But, we don’t break them out separately.”

During the first quarter, Expedia’s gross bookings were down 48 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Room nights were 54 percent below 2019, and lodging revenue was down 46 percent. According to Cleveland Research, the US represented 80 percent of total revenue in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 57 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

Travel Trends

Expedia CEO Peter Kern (Kern): Travel remains a study in contrasts. As for different geographies, some are still shut down, some like the US are quite open now. And equally, it is a study in differences between vacation rentals, domestic travel versus international travel; business travel is more challenged; and conventional lodging, particularly in big cities, is more challenged. So, it’s really a study in contrasts. . . . The summer looks strong, particularly in the US and in other markets where vaccinations are well along the way. We are already seeing booking trends well above 2019 levels for leisure destinations, beach, mountains, etc.

Trepidation from Expedia about travel

Kern: I would just keep in mind, while summer looks great and we are ambitious and feeling good about the overall recovery, that calendar is still a question mark. We don’t know what seasonality will look like, as long as COVID is here. And the usual trends that might come in the fall and winter are still unknown. So, while we’re extremely excited about summer, it’s a little too early to predict how those trends with work-from-home, whether school is in session, et cetera, will change travel behavior going into the following quarters.

Vrbo is looking for more supply

Like Airbnb, Vrbo is looking for more supply in the markets in which demand is high (beach, lake, mountain). Expedia also is addressing this consumer demand by pushing travelers to hotels.

“But the reality is that Vrbo hosts on balance make more than Airbnb hosts on average.”

Kern: We are seeing some compression in summer. People ask about that frequently. And I’ll just say so far, we have seen replacement as a pretty good solution. Most people look for something they can’t find it, they’ll find something nearby. And increasingly, as more people are vaccinated, they are willing and happy to stay in resorts and in conventional lodging. And I would say some portion of them would actually prefer it that way. And we’re seeing in those leisure destinations for the summer, very strong conventional lodging numbers.

Campaign to Increase Supply with “Fast Start Program”

Vrbo initiated an aggressive campaign to increase supply from homeowners, which it is now calling “hosts,” emulating Airbnb.

Kern: So, we’ve amped up our investment in marketing and attracting Vrbo hosts, if you will, or owners. It has been successful. We are driving it as fast as we can. There is a lot of demand, and we’re focused, as you would imagine, in the most high-traffic areas where we need and can sell as much new inventories we can get. We introduced a new product, which we called the Fast Start Program, where we essentially take successful hosts that are highly rated from other platforms, and we launch them quickly into our platform; and instead of having to rebuild their stature as a highly reviewed host, we sort of take as a proxy, their experience elsewhere. And we put them, if you will, very high in the sort and allow them to start up their business with us.

But the reality is that Vrbo hosts on balance make more than Airbnb hosts on average. And it’s a great opportunity for people to monetize their assets. We think it’s better than any other similarly situated one. And we think owners of properties are increasingly becoming aware of that as our brand becomes more ubiquitous and as people become more used to the products. So, all our stats make for a great sales story. We just have to get it out there, and we’re spending more to get that story out there.

Bigger Push for Brand and Direct Marketing

Expedia is investing heavily in branding and direct marketing and is still not listing its vacation rentals with meta products including Google. Kern’s comments about branding are interesting for VRMs as they think about their own direct marketing efforts.

“Can you get them in the door? Can you make them love you? Is the experience great? Does it help them find what they want?”

Kern: We believe we can do better and do more on the brand building side and to create that direct customer relationship. Then, that bleeds all the way down through, of course, the importance of doing the product right, getting the engagement right, improving the apps, improving the technology, using AI to improve the customer experience. So, all of those things are the classic sort of virtuous cycle of: Can you get them in the door? Can you make them love you? Is the experience great? Does it help them find what they want?

Brand marketing is somewhat art not just all science, and it does take time to pay its rewards. We do believe though that by being more a funnel―by being more efficient in performance and allowing us to put more money upfront―we can drive greater long-term returns. Now, it’s not a quick twitch muscle. As I said, brand marketing is not like you run a great ad and tomorrow everybody books. It takes repeat. It takes sinking in of that brand proposition and getting everybody focused on your name, and then it starts to pay rewards in performance. It starts to pay rewards in direct. It starts to pay rewards across a lot of things.

So, we believe in that opportunity. We will invest in that opportunity, and it will take some time to pay out. It’s not like performance [marketing]. It’s not like you’re buying the transaction every time you do it.

We have a great new summer ad campaign coming for Vrbo that we think will be really impactful. . . . We’ve talked before about going up funnel, creating that brand love, pushing for direct interactions, direct consumption. But keep in mind, it’s not a quick twitch tool, like performance marketing. So, we have to invest over time to build that.

We mentioned last time on our last call that we went off the Google meta products for vacation rentals. And actually, over this last quarter, we have we have pulled back from other vacation rental meta players. And so far, the results have been excellent, and as good or better than we could have hoped for in terms of the returns we have seen in getting more direct traffic and traffic other ways, more efficiently. So, that has been a great move. And we will continue to focus on that. But again, we will be upfront more, we will be focused and leaning into the wave ahead. But, it could be bumpy and we may be a little early, but we believe now is the time to lean in and we will be leaning in, accordingly.

Revenue per Room Night Is Up

CFO Eric Hart: Revenue per room night was up 10 percent. That is due to two primary factors, mix to Vrbo and then mix to the US as well, where there’s typically higher ADRs. . . . Vrbo is obviously seeing some nice ADR improvements, just given the demand in that sector.

On the “Revenge Travel” Trend

Kern: I’m rooting for revenge travel, whatever that is. Whatever kind of travel people want to do, we’re happy to accommodate it, revenge or otherwise. . . . And I would say that revenge or otherwise, places like Miami demonstrate that there is huge pent-up demand to go to places where people can experience a relatively normal travel experience. And I don’t know if you’ve been to Miami recently, but it is packed. The hotels are full. People are out everywhere. Restaurants are full. . . . So, if you just think about that in a macro way, you say, okay, where people can travel, where they can have a normal experience, where they feel like they’re comfortable free, whatever your words are, there is a huge amount of demand for that.

In Closing

Kern: Finally, I’d just say we are clearly benefiting from our relative strength in some of the best markets, VR, the US, etc. But it’s a bumpy ride, and we’re hoping for reopenings. . . . We still don’t know what’s happening in many markets. Anything could happen. Things could get worse before they get better, but we are optimistic. We are seeing a lot of improvement across the globe. And we are feeling good about the work we’re doing at the company.

How Property Managers Can Capitalize on New ‘Revenge Travel’ Trends

By
Rachel Tabellion
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The rebound of the travel industry in the United States is underway with guests around the country booking out vacation rentals for the summer as the vaccine rollout surges ahead. The biggest trend to come out of this resurgence? The concept of “Revenge Travel” – the idea that guests are going to be making up for the trips they couldn’t take over the past year by spending more and traveling longer. 

Based on the results of a new white paper we developed at HomeToGo, combining exclusive insights from surveyed guests, property managers, and internal data from both HomeToGo and AirDNA, we take a closer look at “Revenge Travel” and the trends and tips property managers should keep top of mind as travel makes a comeback.

 

Longer Stays and Spending are On the Rise

To start on a high: 85% of property managers are noticing more bookings compared to previous years – not just 2020. With the vaccine rollout gaining speed, more than half (54%) of guests recently surveyed said they will travel within one or two months after receiving the vaccine, working out well for property managers eager to take advantage of summer travel.

Plus, guests are booking longer trips and spending more: 46% of HomeToGo’s U.S. summer bookings currently last seven days or longer – an 8% increase from 2020 – and 54% of property managers reported that guests are spending more on average per booking. We see this surge clearly playing out in our data with both an 18% increase in group size and an average booking value that’s currently 70% higher than in 2020 and 65% more than in 2019. We do expect this number to change as more last-minute bookings come in.

 

Guests Want Flexibility and Cleanliness

With the uptick in summer bookouts, we also anticipate an influx of last-minute, short trips as the year progresses. 85% of property managers are noticing last-minute bookings, and in our own data, the average booking window is down 16% and 46% compared to 2019 and 2020 respectively. There is still uncertainty as travel regulations constantly change, and guests are frequently still searching with flexible dates and opting for spur-of-the-moment getaways.

To maximize bookings potential, one pro-tip for property managers is to establish flexible booking and cancellation policies to put guests at ease during these unpredictable times. 45% percent of U.S. travelers rank rentals that have “Free Cancellation” among their top two booking considerations, even before price, yet 54% of property managers surveyed are not offering free cancellation under any circumstances. We encourage property managers to consider flexible policies to secure risk-averse guests and make their property more appealing to cautious travelers.

Another clear trend after a pandemic year: Hygiene was also listed as the most important booking factor, with 55% of travelers surveyed ranking “Extended Clean and Disinfection” as the top consideration when booking a rental, prioritized over other amenities such as beach access, stable internet, and a pool, hot tub, or sauna. We know there’s been some frustration among property managers over so-called “hygiene theater,” but the numbers are clear––guests expect to see extra cleaning measures mentioned in a listing. We found that 85% of property managers now highlight extra cleaning measures in listings, and we recommend doing the same in order to offer guests the assurance that they’re looking for.

 

Remote Workers are Prioritizing Amenities

With so many now doing their jobs on Zoom and “work from anywhere” policies becoming more of the norm, remote workers are a big factor in the increase we’ve seen in terms of longer bookings. In our survey, 71% of guests responded that they will work remotely at least once in 2021 and 39% of property managers are noticing more remote workers than usual. That means you need to showcase the comfortable workspaces at your property and talk up that high-speed WiFi in the description. Also, remote workers don’t want to leave their furry companions behind, so property managers should clearly highlight their pet policies in place and any special features such as a fully fenced backyard or nearby dog park. Pools are also a hot-ticket amenity, which along with pets, accounted for more than 50% of our amenity searches in 2020 and that trend is continuing so far in 2021.

How to reach these new types of remote work travelers, who may be different than your typical guest persona? Diversify your distribution strategy. We found that 42% of property managers in our survey are listed on more than 5 booking channels and 37% say they’re noticing more bookings from different booking channels. To keep up with the competition, we recommend that you consider listing on more booking channels to attract more eyeballs to your properties.

 

Rural, Domestic Destinations are the Clear Winners

9 in 10 U.S. travelers are searching for domestic destinations this year, with the same amount seeking rural getaways overcrowded, urban hot spots. In addition, 63% of guests surveyed ranked a “quiet getaway” as most preferred for their next vacation. This is reflected in the amount of rural destinations hitting our most popular list for summer:

 

For property managers interested in the best markets for growth, here’s where AirDNA sees the largest year-over-year increase and decrease in search interest. College football fans might recognize a few destinations here. South Bend, Ann Arbor and State College are all university towns with teams in the Big 10, which got off to a late start in the last football season because of COVID-19 and likely impacted search interest:

 

Travel is coming back. That’s not up for debate. What’s left to be determined is how property managers will respond to and take advantage of this new normal. For full insights, download HomeToGo’s Revenge Travel White Paper.

 

 

About Rachel Tabellion, Head of Sales at HomeToGo

Rachel Tabellion is the Head of Sales at HomeToGo and has been leading partnerships with property managers worldwide for six years. Under her leadership, her team has successfully onboarded over 2,000 property managers onto the group’s 40+ international distribution websites, cementing HomeToGo’s place as the world’s fastest-growing booking channel. Rachel also regularly hosts and co-hosts educational webinars for property managers using HomeToGo’s data of more than 18 million listings together with leading industry players such as Streamline, Ciirus, Transparent, and AirDNA.

 

About HomeToGo

HomeToGo, the world’s largest vacation rental search engine, compares over 18 million offers from more than 40,000 trusted partners. From apartments, cabins, boats, castles, hotels, hostels, and everything in between, HomeToGo combines price, destination, dates and amenities to find the perfect accommodation for any trip worldwide.

Founded in 2014, HomeToGo employs more than 250 people. HomeToGo operates 43 websites, including brands such as Tripping.com and Wimdu, across Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Asia-Pacific. To learn more, visit www.hometogo.com or download the HomeToGo app.

VRM Execs and GMs: The Industry Needs Your Feedback in this 2021 Short-Term Rental Industry Survey by Phocuswright

By
Amy Hinote
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1

By Pete Comeau, Managing Director, Phocuswright

Short-term rentals in the US have been on a steady growth trajectory over the past decade. Since 2013, Phocuswright, a leading travel industry research firm, has conducted several pioneering research studies to size the market, analyze consumer and industry trends, and explore the rise of digitalization in this segment.

Quick Link to Complete the Survey

Phocuswright’s most recent study, “Here to Stay: U.S. Short-Term Rentals Move Mainstream,” showed that gross bookings increased at a CAGR of nearly 6 percent from $31B in 2017 to $34B in 2019. Furthermore, online bookings grew at nearly double the pace of the total industry.

COVID-19 upended nearly all travel in 2020, and short-term rentals also felt the impact. Some companies operating in the sector shut down, while others downsized. Homeowners and hosts pivoted to serving long-term renters, taking short-term inventory off the market.

But as the year wore on and travelers sought to get out and about while avoiding high-traffic areas to stay safe, they turned to vacation rental properties with social distancing baked-in. Short-term rental demand recovered as summer travel skewed toward rural, less-crowded destinations and drive trips.

With vaccines on the way and an expected recovery in travel to follow, will short-term rentals continue to prosper and outpace the greater lodging market? Will short-term rentals benefit from the behavioral changes the pandemic has wrought? Which trends are holding up? What new trends are emerging?

Phocuswright is conducting a 15-minute survey of US-based short-term rental property managers to understand the marketplace and study key trends among PMs who offer their properties to travelers.

The study will answer key questions, including the following:

  • What was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on revenues, and how is the short-term rental industry projected to recover through 2025?
  • How satisfied were travelers with how brands handled the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • How have travelers shifted their preferences in a post-pandemic world?
  • How are homeowners and property managers evolving in a post-pandemic world?
  • Which trends will be short-lived and which will be here to stay?
  • Which technologies will be most important as the market matures?
  • What impact will short-term rentals have on the future of lodging?

What’s in it for you? If you qualify for and complete the survey, Phocuswright will share the results of the study with you.

Survey Link

All responses will be kept strictly confidential and will be used only to determine trends.

 

IMPORTANT EDITOR’S NOTE ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE THE TIME TO ACCURATELY COMPLETE THIS SURVEY

From Amy Hinote to VRM/PMC owners and GMs:

It is incredibly important for you to complete this survey, as many significant investment decisions in our industry are based on this particular research presented by Phocuswright.

Our professionally managed vacation rental sector has been lumped under the broader short-term rental umbrella, and your participation is critical to ensure that Phocuswright is not hearing from other sectors disproportionally, (e.g., urban rentals, individual hosts, marketing platforms, and shared accommodations). If our sector is not accurately represented, then subsequent investment decisions will be flawed, bringing a continued and substantial influx of capital injected into bad business models.

When investors continue to pour money into bad business models, it makes it harder for all of us—VRMs, tech companies, and service providers—to compete as we are unfairly competing head to head with under-performing companies propped up by outside investment. And we’re not the only ones who suffer; guests and homeowners suffer from these poor business models as well.

The professionally managed vacation rental sector needs to be heard, recognized, and represented in this study.  

I implore you to have someone in your company accurately complete this survey.

Your participation is critical and will directly help the entire industry.

2021’s Latest Issue of VRM Intel Magazine is Here

By
Amy Hinote
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0

The 2021 Spring-Summer VRM Intel Magazine is here, and this issue is packed with articles for vacation rental professionals about staffing, marketing, business, technology, reservations, and more. 

 

 

Table of Contents          

Letter from editor below. 

People                      

22           Careerists: From Entry Level to Executive by Paul Caballero             

26           Competing for Talent by Sue Jones     

30           The Front Line is Broken by Steve Trover             

Reservations                      

32           The Battle for Direct Bookings Is Hand-to-Hand Combat by Doug Kennedy

34           The Value of Asking Questions by Ali Cammelletti

Marketing

69           Email Marketing for Today’s Economic Climate by Jennifer Perez

70           Using Social Influencers by Jodi Bourne

72           The Truth About Vacation Rental SEO by Jill Highsmith McGee

76           Shift-Sharing in Distribution Channels by Michelle Marquis     

82           Vrbo’s Quizzing for Travel Preferences Provides Zero-Party Data by Wendell Lansford

84           Create Great Memories to Match Guests’ Great Experiences by Chris Taylor

Technology             

21           Time to Tech Up Your Properties by Sean Miller

63           Technology and the COVID Silver Lining by Lino Maldonado

65           New Vacation Rental Data Standards by Melanie Brown

67           Adding IT to the Executive Team by Wendy Glover

78           Using Tech to Execute Revenue Management Strategies by Emily Pattillo

88           Remote Control Exasperation by Paula Caballero

Business                   

37           Preparing to Sell: Staff and Management Contracts by Jacobie Olin          

39           Avoid Costly Mistakes When Selling Your Business by Ben Edwards           

40           An Inside Look at Casiola by Amy Hinote             

47           Important Survey: The Industry Needs Your Feedback with Phocuswright + Letter from Editor about the Survey    

49           Where is Vacation Rental Management Heading? by Jeremy Gall

52           Help Cut Your Homeowner’s Taxes by Jon Cunningham          

56           The End of Property Management as We Know It? by Alex Nigg           

59           Connecting Your Business and Personal Goals with a Plan by Bill Whichard and John Woolard             

60           Canadian Groundhog Day: COVID Shutdowns Continue by Heather Bayer  

Education                

54           3rd Annual Data and Revenue Management Conference, Aug 17 -18, Charleston, SC              

90           2021 Calendar of Events              

92           Vacation Rental Women’s Summit, December 1 – 2, 2021            

 

Dear Readers,

The year is shaping up to be record-setting for most US vacation rental destinations, but our industry’s narrative is still a story of haves and have-nots as several markets (such as Hawaii) have been slow to recover. The vacation rental industry has taken quite a hit outside the US with continued restrictions and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases and variants. In Canada, for example, property managers are experiencing yet another shutdown period (Heather Bayer tells us more on page 56).

As disruptive as the past year was, the vacation rental industry saw an enormous boost in interest from travelers. According to the inaugural consumer study, “Vacation Rental Barometer,” released in May from Generali, “71 percent of travelers indicated they would book a vacation rental in the next 18 months.”

This is a shocking number for those of us who have been in the industry for over a decade. We remember when that number moved from 10 percent to 30 percent, and we thought we had arrived! I still remember working on the first issue of VRM Intel Magazine in September 2015 when Doug Macnaught asked me if there would be enough new information about the vacation rental industry to fill the pages of a quarterly magazine. Now, I’m throwing myself a nightly pity party because I can’t keep up with each day’s news barrage.

However, I realize I’m not alone in feeling unable to keep up. Staffing has become the most significant challenge in our industry. VRMs are working locally to execute strategies to source regional employees, but as an industry, we must come together to find ways to educate potential workers about the many career opportunities in this sector. In the previous issue, we started a series (continued on page 22) featuring people who started in entry-level positions and rose to high-level positions, building lucrative careers in the vacation rental industry. Imagine a national campaign highlighting career opportunities, starting with high school students. If you are interested in working on this, are already developing programs, or have ideas, please let me know.

A more positive challenge we face right now is revenue management. In the past, revenue management strategies largely revolved around discounting, but with the tsunami of demand this year, we’re looking at this discipline differently. Although it’s great that many companies are fully booked for months ahead, many have been able to raise rates, bringing in more revenue for homeowners. There is a great deal to talk about at the upcoming Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference in Charleston, August 17 and 18 (page 54). For VRM execs, marketers, and revenue managers, this is an event that will include more strategy sharing than any we’ve had in a long time. While on the subject of DARM, I cannot tell you how much I’m looking forward to seeing you in person again! It’s been way too long.

In other news, we’re seeing another influx of outside investment in the industry, and we will be discussing Vacasa’s next move, new SPACs, consolidation, and roll-ups over the coming months. I’ll continue to try not to opine about Sonder’s recent public offering—but no promises.

For those of you who have worked for decades to build this industry in consumers’ eyes, I want to offer you heaps of gratitude and hearty pats on your broken backs. Your tireless work has paid off, and the vacation rental industry is finally reaping a harvest from the seeds you have planted and nurtured. We no longer have to fight for recognition. Now, we just have to be smart about how we mature.

Many thanks to you for reading, and don’t hesitate to let me know what VRM Intel can do to support your efforts.

Sincerely,

Amy Hinote, founder and editor, VRM Intel Magazine 

71% of Travelers in the US & Europe to Book a Vacation Rental in the Next 18 Months

By
Europ Assistance Group
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0

Key Takeaways

• Vacation rentals are among the top choice above all other forms of accommodation for 78% of travelers, continuing even beyond the pandemic with 86% indicating they would book one in the next 18 months.
• Consumers are excited to travel again with 80% of those surveyed planning to travel in the next 18 months and approximately half of the travelers surveyed (49%) planning to travel domestically.
• Respondents indicated travel is a good motivator to take a COVID-19 vaccine with 21% of Europeans who were undecided about taking one indicating that it being a mandatory part of travel would push them to get vaccinated.
• Vacation rentals are largely booked for leisure, but there is an interest from 22% of travelers who indicated they would book for work-related reasons (9% for business travel and 13% for an extended stay (for work, digital nomad, flexcation).
• Travel insurance uptake is expected to increase with 70% of Europeans and 54% of Americans indicating they would be more likely to purchase travel insurance in the wake of the pandemic as health risks that can impact their trip, like cancellation in the event of COVID Infection or confinement, become a top of coverage for 43% of travelers surveyed.

Europ Assistance (“EA”) today announced the international findings of its first Vacation Rental Barometer. The complete set of US findings will be released by EA subsidiary Generali Global Assistance (GGA) in the coming weeks. EA surveyed 8,700 travelers across eight countries in the US & Europe from February 28th to April 1st, 2021. These survey respondents, who indicated they would be traveling in the next 18 months and planned to book a vacation rental, were surveyed on their booking preferences, travel habits, and changing adoption and utilization of vacation rentals.

Francine Abgrall, Group Head of Travel at Europ Assistance: “Throughout the pandemic, vacation rental has been one travel sector that has been less negatively impacted than others. As the overall travel industry prepares for travel to pick up, we wanted to know the sentiments of travellers about their upcoming travel plans and in particular whether the favourable trend towards vacation rental would persist. We felt it was important to gauge the sentiment of the average traveler to provide ourselves and our partners, leaders in the Vacation Rental booking industry, with valuable insights. Overall the travelers we surveyed are excited to travel again, while Europeans indicated they would prefer to travel abroad Americans opted to stay closer to home. When deciding what type of accommodation they would like on their next trip, 71 percent indicated they would book a vacation rental.”

Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance: “Given the pent-up demand for travel it’s not surprising that approximately 80 percent of respondents indicated that they planned to travel in the next 18 months. Based on the findings of our Vacation Rental Barometer and current industry trends, we anticipate that travelers will flock to vacation rentals as they look to have a relaxing socially distanced getaway.”

 

Upcoming Travel Plans

  • 71% of travelers indicated they would book a vacation rental in the next 18 months
  • 47% of Europeans are planning a summer trip (from July – September) compared to 35% of Americans with summer being the most popular travel season among all respondents (45%).
  • 23% of Americans indicated they planned to travel this spring (from April – June) compared to 13% of Europeans.
  • 21% of American travelers indicated they planned to travel this fall, while Europeans were more likely to wait until 2022 & beyond to plan their trip when compared to Americans (20% vs 17%).

 

Destination Preferences

  • 49% of all travelers surveyed indicated they planned to take their next trip domestically with Americans (71%) the most likely to travel close to home.
  • 55% of European travelers on the other hand indicated that they plan to travel abroad.
  • Travelers in Spain (57%), Italy (54%) and Portugal (51%) opted to take their next trip domestically while more travelers in Belgium (29%), Germany (39%), the UK (40%) and France (45%) had plans to travel abroad.

 

Accommodation Preferences

  • 78% of travelers are more likely to book a vacation rental above all other types of accommodations in the next 18 months and 86% said they would be more likely to continue booking them after the pandemic.
  • While it’s not surprising that 77% of travelers indicated they would choose a Vacation Rental for leisure instead of business (9%), there was a significant minority (13%) of Digital Nomads who indicated they would be extended stays while working remotely.
  • Top Three Motivations for choosing a Vacation Rental:
    • 1) Comfort
    • 2) Tranquility
    • 3) Privacy

 

New Travel Habits

  • Top Three Criteria when picking a destination as a result of COVID:
    • 1) Destination has clear cleaning protocols
    • 2) How crowded the location gets
    • 3) Who they travel with
  • Vaccine availability was most likely to impact travel plans for both Europeans (83%) and Americans (82%).
  • 66% of Europeans and 64% of Americans indicated that making COVID vaccinations mandatory to board a flight wouldn’t impact them as they already planned to take the vaccine.
  • 21% of European travelers who were undecided about taking the vaccine indicated they would consider it if it was mandatory to take a flight.

 

Travel Insurance Preferences

  • 70% of Europeans and 64% of Americans indicated they would be more likely to purchase travel insurance as a result of the pandemic.
  • 44% of Europeans compared to 33% had purchased travel insurance when booking a vacation rental in the past.
  • The top three coverages that reassured travelers looking to book vacation rentals are:
    • 1) cancellation in the event of COVID Infection or confinement (43%)
    • 2) Medical Assistance & Repatriation (22%)
    • 3) Reimbursement of unused travel days in case their stay is interrupted (20%)
  • 23% of Americans favored coverage for reimbursement for unused days compared to 20% of Europeans
  • While Europeans (23%) found more peace of mind from Medical Assistance & Repatriation coverage compared to Americans (17%).

 

Survey Methodology

From February 28th to April 1st, 2021 through survey provider Phonic, Europ Assistance surveyed 8,700 online respondents who are planning to take a trip and are planning on booking a vacation rental in the next 18 months. The study consisted of fifteen questions and was sampled within the United States, Spain, France, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

 

ABOUT EUROP ASSISTANCE GROUP

Founded in 1963, Europ Assistance, the inventor of assistance, supports customers in over 200 countries and territories thanks to our network of 750,000 approved providers and 41 assistance centres. Our mission is to bring people or corporates from distress to relief – anytime, anywhere. We provide roadside assistance, travel assistance and insurance, as well as personal assistance services such as the protection of the elderly, the protection of digital identity, telemedicine and the Conciergerie. The vision of our 8,000 employees is to be the most reliable care company in the world. Europ Assistance is part of the Generali Group, one of the world’s leading insurers.

ABOUT GENERALI GLOBAL ASSISTANCE

Generali Global Assistance (GGA) is a leading brand comprised of Travel Insurance & Assistance, Medical Risk & Home Care Management, Identity & Cyber Protection, as well as other care services. GGA is part of the Generali Group, which for over 190 years has provided peace of mind to its clients and their customers and is now supported by more than 72,000 employees worldwide. Our success has been built on establishing trust by putting the customer at the core of everything we do, offering assistance and protection during our customer’s most difficult and stressful situations.

Passing the Torch: Meyer Vacation Rentals Transfers Ownership To The Next Generation

By
Amy Hinote
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0

Sheila Hodges, owner of SH Enterprises Inc. and Meyer Vacation Rentals, announced today that she is transferring ownership of the company to her daughter and company president Michelle Hodges, and CEO Les Williams. SH Enterprises is the holding company not only for Meyer Vacation Rentals but also Meyer Services, with operations in Alabama and Florida; Starr Textile Services, a commercial laundry operation with facilities in Alabama and Louisiana; and CENTURY 21® Meyer Real Estate, with operations in Alabama and Florida.

Sheila Hodges began her real estate career at Meyer in the summer of 1978 as one of six sales agents. She progressed to managing partner and then sole owner in 1984, when she purchased the company from the original founders. Since that time, she has worked to grow the organization on the business principle of balancing service, relationships and profitability. 

 

Sheila Hodges, Inaugural Vacation Rental Women Pioneer Award Recipient from VRM Intel Live on Vimeo.

 
Today, Meyer Vacation Rentals manages and provides a range of services to more than 1,000 vacation rental houses and condominiums on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast. Based on the number of people employed across all its companies, SH Enterprises is ranked among the largest employers operating in Baldwin County, Alabama.

“The SH Enterprises family of companies has always been committed to providing superior customer service and an unwavering dedication to the satisfaction of our customers,” said Sheila Hodges. “Proactively seeking to improve quality, value and service are hallmarks of these companies. We are dedicated to providing personalized service, continuing innovation and overall expertise so we may continue serving as a pacesetter in the hospitality industry.”

Michelle Hodges with Matt Landau and Heather Bayer at the Vacation Rental Women’s Summit.

Michelle Hodges grew up in the hospitality business beginning as an intern during high school and college summers. After graduating, Michelle returned home to begin her career with the company. Her hospitality experience and degree, fueled by her passion for travel and tourism, provided her with a thorough understanding of guests’ needs and changing expectations through the years. Rising through the ranks at SH Enterprises, Michelle also learned the ins and outs of the business, taking on leadership roles such as corporate trainer, director of operations, and president. Widely recognized as a vacation rental industry thought leader, Michelle has also been a speaker at multiple international conferences, including Skift’s Short-Term Rental Summit, the VRMA International Conference, and the Vacation Rental Women’s Summit. 

“I couldn’t be any prouder of Michelle, watching her through the years grow in the business with a can-do attitude at every level,” said Sheila Hodges. “Her extraordinary leadership skills became even more apparent after the BP oil spill in 2010. We witnessed her eagerness and devotion to lead several community initiatives, all while championing a positive attitude and commitment to all of our SH Enterprises families.”

As CEO, Les Williams has been responsible for the overall strategic direction and operation of the SH Enterprises family of companies as well as the day-to-day oversight of STARR Textile Services. Williams has worked for SH Enterprises for since 2005, including as chief operating officer for Meyer Services, vice president of administration and finance for Meyer Real Estate, and a variety of other leadership roles.

Prior to joining SH Enterprises, Williams served as vice president of multi-family operations for a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in New Orleans whose primary focus was investment and management of multi-family and retail properties. There, he oversaw a real estate portfolio of 4,100 properties stretching from South Florida to Texas.

“Michelle and Les made my decision to transfer ownership an easy one,” said Sheila Hodges. “They have been vested in the company for nearly two decades, and I can say with 100 percent certainty they will continue the work that has been done for more than 50 years to maintain our core values, continue on our mission of providing outstanding service, and play a leading role in shaping the local, regional and national hospitality business. I am fully confident in their ability to take the SH Enterprises family of companies to the next level and beyond.”

How to Educate & Improve your Team’s Performance

By
Paul Bergeron
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0

Operational efficiency is difficult to measure, but imperative to your business’ success. 

Ben Edwards of Weatherby Consulting offered a virtual session in March as part of Breezeway’s Elevate Operations Summit where he offered advice and key points that owners can consider to improve their business, keep their teams educated, and provide a glimpse into how your team’s effectiveness and productivity impacts your businesses bottom line.

“Once you get to a certain level in this industry, profitability becomes a game of inches,” Edwards said.

Things to Consider:

What is the ratio of your business model: More toward growth or toward quality?

Become an expert in housekeeping. Too many operators today are cutting corners.

Focus on relationships.

Focus on due diligence.

Communicate with your owners about them investing in their properties. Too many operators are doing it on a dime.

Take on the “right” owner clients. Edwards shared: “I was going to work with an owner in South Florida and he didn’t want to buy new outdoor furniture. You need that. If they aren’t willing to do what’s needed, cut them loose.”

Educate your owners on clear processes.

Train your staff on a quarterly basis. Keep trying to get better. “As an industry, I see us getting better at doing this,” Edwards said.

Be a player-coach with your owner. Communicate to them when it’s important that they become more involved in their business’s operations.

Focus on the right things: Don’t always do what you like to do, do what you have to do.

Cater to the little things that will improve guest experience.

Measure performance. If it’s not working, make changes. Don’t let some ‘crazy uncle’ be part of your decision process.

Aspire to regimented measurement: Use a dashboard that can be seen in your office. On it, state your goals, note where you are in the process and document what you are going to do to achieve them.

Chart completion rates for tasks. Figure out who on staff takes longer to finish a job and try to improve on their times. If you can’t, route those tasks to others.

Use geo-management – tracking where you workers are on the property. Keep them focused on their jobs at hand.

Calculate revenue per employee and try to improve on that.

Stays Group Announces Release of SouthwestStays

By
Vince Perez
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The member driven marketplace is part of the largest cooperative network of independent vacation rental brands working together to drive book direct initiatives that save travelers hundreds in traveler fees.  The SouthwestStays marketplace will cover Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. 

 “With all the craziness of 2020, the bright side is there has been a resurgence with property management companies realizing it’s time to take control of our future when it comes to where our customers come from.  We’ve seen the weakness in the OTAs and now is the time to come together and take back control.  The Stays Group marketplace has demonstrated the ability to deliver on premium traffic that gains strength as we grow. That value points back to us. It is time we band together!” said, Matt Tesdall, Family Time Vacations and Sisters Vacation Rentals

The Stays Group network of independent brands understand the value of partnering with quality operators that have demonstrated service excellence in their respective communities. The membership operates in complete transparency and meets on a weekly basis to strengthen their respective markets, learn from their colleagues on what works and to form partnerships that extend the value of their respective brands.

“Matt is a great example of independent vacation rental professionals ability to think outside the traditional modes of distribution to better serve his guests, strengthen his brand and extending the value proposition through the Stays Group member network destinations.  Independent brands have experienced more direct bookings these past few months.  Rather than celebrate, many independent brand operators are taking this opportunity to fix the long term problem of OTA dependence.  Lost in the headlines of “M&A” and “airbnb IPO”, are the stories of our members continuing  to execute on service excellence.  Our unified message of quality, transparency and trust matters to the vacation rental traveler. Our platform is a testament to what happens when you let quality brands serve the traveling public with no interference.” said Vince Perez, CEO of Fetch My Guest, Partner, Beach House Rentals and NWVRP Member.

To learn more about the Stays Group cooperative marketplace for independent vacation rental operators schedule a call today! 

How to Boost Owner Acquisition & Retention in Vacation Rentals

By
Paul Bergeron
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1

“With more competition in the market, acquiring and retaining owners is a large determinant of running a successful management business. It’s always a challenge for managers to find and nurture those relationships. By making property care a pivotal part of their value proposition, managers are in a much stronger position when it comes to meeting and exceeding their owners’ expectations.”

  – Jeremy Gall, Founder & CEO of Breezeway 

 

Spiking demand and the recovery from the pandemic have vacation home rental management companies primed to grow their companies and profits. Owner relations is often one of the most overlooked areas of short-term rental management and it plays a key role in retaining owners and recruiting new ones. 

A Breezeway Elevate Operations Summit virtual panel in March welcomed leading management companies and invited them to speak about how to succeed through strong business relationships.

The panel covered best practices for delivering (and maintaining) hospitality-like owner services and how they’ll foster more trustworthy owner relationships, increase client retention and boost referrals. It featured Jon Eskin of BHHS Colorado Properties and Brittany Blackman of Breathe Easy Rentals with moderator Wil Slickers of Slick Talk.

Blackman said management companies must first decide what type of business they want to operate.

“Are you a small company that provides one-on-one service or a larger one that you are trying to streamline,” she said. “Knowing this will help you to make the right decisions and stay on course.”

Once established, organization and consistency with day-to-day operations is crucial. “The last thing you want is for your owner-clients to see that you don’t know the answer to something or are disorganized,” she said.

Eskin said management companies can shine their reputations by demonstrating to new or prospective owners that they are current and have put technologies in place to work more effectively.

Letting them in on the company’s history also helps, Eskin said. “Describe to them how you conduct property inspections,” Eskin said. “Show them past photos of your properties and the notes you’ve taken. Demonstrate your company’s growth.”

Every owner and vacation rental property are different, Blackman said. “I have guidebooks for how I maintain my properties, but all properties are unique,” she said. “You have to show that you are flexible in the ways you take care of them, and cater to each.”

How a management company communicates with owners can “make or break” relationships. It’s best to use methods that are on the owners’ terms, the panelists said.

“Every owner is different when it comes to engagement,” Blackman said. “You need to get to know their personalities to determine how much you should ‘bug’ them about things. What are their expectations about how often they hear from you? Some prefer to be shown visuals, some want to talk to you for hours. We all know that property managers wear a lot of hats, and one of them is psychologist.”

Once the management company determines the ideal communications method, Blackman said they must maintain consistency with it. “If you don’t, it will upset them,” she said.

Eskin said one way he gets onto the right side of his owners is by asking them to name four or five idiosyncrasies about their property that he should really focus on.

“For example: they might like to have the blinds down when the property is vacant,” Eskin said. “This is something you might not always remember to do, but if it’s on your checklist, it will get done and it will make them happy that you’ve honed in on those details.”

 

Trust Me

Blackman said owners need to recognize that she is a professional, “so they have to trust me. If they don’t, it will be difficult for me to work for them. With owners who are new to the industry, they might have no idea what they are doing. So in that case, I tell them that I’m going to do everything for them and then basically just ‘run with it.’ ”

Owners want to know that their properties are being cared for, “so show them, by calling out safety issues or letting them know you found something during inspections,” Blackman said. “Go through a checklist of what you’ve done for them and put things on their radar. Do this, and you’ll get responses like, ‘Wow, you are really on top of things.’ ”

Using a transparent and detailed owner portal that shows current and forecasted numbers about each properties’ operations also goes a long way in building trust, Eskin said.

“This gives them a good perspective on their property without them having to contact you,” he said. “A portal’s note-taking function lets them see how you are dealing with things in real-time.”

Eskin said that there are times when he visits a property and does a FaceTime call with them while there. “Just seeing things as you talk through them makes them feel comfortable about the job I’m doing,” he said. “Another way to approach it is to let owners know that you are available and let them come to you.”

Eskin sends them his owners a quarterly newsletter with articles that apply to the industry and also puts together an annual “State of the State” report and outlook. 

Implications of Safety on Guests, Insurance, and Regulation

By
Paul Bergeron
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0

Property and guest safety are foundational to delivering five-star guest experiences. The pandemic has made this clearer than ever for operators and their guests. 

In a session of Breezeway’s Elevate Operations Conference, hosted virtually March 10-11, Justin Ford, Director of Safety and Certification Programs, Breezeway; Darren Pettyjohn, Co-Founder, Proper Insurance Services; and Mike Bayer, Vacation Rental Formula, discussed the growing emphasis on “quality” and how safety is a major driving factor in the guest experience, insurance and the regulatory landscape.

“We’re seeing claims on things such as handrails, bunkbeds and lighting,” Pettyjohn said. “Vacation rentals are experiencing unprecedented growth – it’s not just Airbnb and beach towns. Commercial liability is now being required in regulations for some jurisdictions.”

Bayer said that “Unlike most hotels that provide consistent spaces, vacation rental homes are unique with their floor plans, ability to meet fire safety codes, etc. Our industry needs to be part of the conversation when it comes to setting safety regulations. 

“Hobbyist homeowners who are renting their properties need to take a closer look at their properties. Some did their own construction and maintenance, and work on things like decks and staircases, but was it done to code?

“They need to get ahead of the curve and not be stuck with playing catch-up when it comes to compliance.”

Ford said only some consumers understand where they fit-in on liability.

“Renters are not aware of what they get in terms of coverage once they set foot on your property,” Ford said. “The short-term rental industry has grown so fast that we’re not quite caught up with it yet. Operators need to show and promote to guests how safe their rental homes are. Include it in your marketing. Express to customers: We’re all about this!”

He approximated that 5 percent of jurisdictions are requiring inspections, a number that should increase.

Pettyjohn says he’s seen 114 regulations for the vacation rental industry at the local, state and federal level. 

“You need to build coalitions and get to the forefront on the issues,” he said. 

“Operators need to meet with public officials to show them what they are and can do to meet safety standards,” Bayer said. “Show them that this is not a ‘cowboy’ industry.”

Ford: Having a working smoke alarm is so important. Consider employing a safety manager for your properties – someone who has dealt with OSHA and who follows product recalls. Recalls are coming out all of the time that people aren’t aware of, such as related to cribs, kayaks, chemicals. Thompson Water Seal was just cited for chemicals that could explode – and a can of it might be sitting in your basement. Too many of my clients have a “it will never happen to me” attitude. 

Petty recommended creating checklists for the property and including things like checking that trees, decks and swing-sets are not a hazard.

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