Home Blog Page 6

Safety First: Evaluating and Addressing Safety Risks at Your Vacation Rentals

By
Justin Ford
-
4

On an early January morning in 2021, a devastating fire broke out in a vacation rental home in Malibu where smoke alarms had not been installed. Just 111 days earlier, the Malibu City Council had enacted an ordinance that, among other things, mandated smoke alarms be installed in all short-term rentals. This ordinance was overdue because the state had accepted the International Building Code’s guidance that smoke alarms be installed in all transient rentals in the state years ago. 

The tragedy in Malibu exposes that without precautions, occupying a dwelling—whether a hotel, condo, vacation rental, or house— poses many risks. 

To address the potential hazards of staying in a hotel or motel and acknowledge the evolving need for fire safety in the hospitality industry, the U.S. government adopted the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990. The act recognizes that correctly installed and maintained smoke detectors and safety markers provide the most effective safeguards against fire incidents at hotel properties. Sprinkler heads, smoke detectors, maps of fire exits, and fire extinguishers in the hallway are some of the many features that hotel guests commonly encounter as a result of this act. 

Contrast this with occupying a vacation rental or someone else’s home; sadly, similar government precautions have not been put in place. The number of fire-related tragedies and other accidents at rental homes are on the rise, and because mandatory safety elements such as hallway lighting, exit markers, and clear indicators of where fire extinguishers are located have not been established, many renters who are unfamiliar with a property could be in danger. 

 

Understanding Fire Safety 

So how do you keep your guests safe in your vacation rentals and keep your team safe when doing the same? Smoke alarms are simple but vital home safety features and can make all the difference when properly installed. The National Fire Protection Association says that three out of five home fire deaths result from fires in properties without working smoke alarms, and 38 percent of home fire deaths result from fires in which no smoke alarms are present at all. When looking to install or update a smoke alarm, there are several ways to ensure you are meeting this safety standard. 

 

1. Choose the best smoke alarm on the market. Consumer Reports ranked smoke alarms in 2019 and revealed that dual detectors (which use ionization and photoelectric sensors) rank the highest. 

2. Make sure your smoke alarms are less than ten years old. Statistics show that each year a smoke alarm ages, it becomes less reliable. There is a 30 percent failure rate for smoke alarms older than ten years. Because of this, many models now come with a ten-year sealed battery. 

3. Interconnect your smoke alarms. Today’s technology allows smoke alarms to “talk” to each other through wired or wireless communications. A warning for a fire in one area of the home alerts the alarm in another area and will provide more time to notify occupants and let them escape. 

 

Further Instrumental Rental Home Safety Precautions 

Although fire and smoke accidents are some of the more publicized misfortunes that can occur in a vacation rental, there are many other risks guests encounter that need to be addressed. 

 

Slips, Trips, and Falls 

In 2019, 83 percent of all insurance claims submitted to Proper Insurance—a leading vacation rental insurance company—were from slips, trips, or falls. Preventing these hazards and injuries in your rentals is actually extremely easy. Making sure handrails are installed on all stairs that meet International Building Code Standards and that the rental walkways, inside and out, are well lit and easy to navigate are simple solutions to a potentially dangerous situation. Ensuring carpets and other trip hazards are secured from sliding and do not have turned up corners is another easy protectant against trip and fall accidents. 

 

Pool and Hot Tub Safety 

Unfortunately, pool and hot tub accidents are a leading cause of fatality for people under the age of ten at vacation rentals. Guests— many of whom do not have pools at home—often do not have the knowledge or experience to understand the details that constitute lifesaving precautions at a pool. Property managers should have necessary items such as locking covers, pool rescue poles, life rings, and easily accessible ladders at their properties and should clearly communicate to guests where they are located and how to operate them. Properly installed fences and safety gates with childproof locks are also a smart installation to provide further protection from unwanted access to water amenities. 

 

Other Amenities 

Many property owners are surprised to learn that the amenities they offer such as fire pits, grills, bikes, baby gear, or other “bonus” items are actually sources leading to an increasing number of accidents.

Although they are a great addition and favorite feature of many vacation homes, grills and fire pits require specific placement and clear operating instructions to prevent accidents. Grills should be placed at least three feet from combustible walls, fences, or other structures and should have a minimum of nine feet of overhead clearance from the grill surface. Fire pits should be placed at least 20 feet from the home and not have trip hazards around them. Additionally, the inspection of gas line connections and tank o-rings will ensure that grill and gas firepit fuel sources don’t leak. 

Property managers and homeowners should consider the risks of offering bikes, golf carts, watercraft, or other transportation options with their rental. Although having these amenities at your home(s) can be great for guests, the risk associated with them is high. Unless a thorough inspection program is in place to inspect all these items before each renter uses them, and unless proper safety equipment such as helmets and life jackets are available for their use, these items should not be offered or available. 

With many families traveling and looking to spend quality time together, it may seem like a generous offer to let renters use old cribs, highchairs, and portable playpens. Unless each of these items is personally inspected before each use, they pose the potential for tremendous risk to your business and, more important, they may cause harm to a child. 

 

Professionalism requires Safety Awareness 

Reducing risk in your vacation rental(s) protects you and the homeowner, helps ensure the safest and best experience for guests, and establishes your position as a professional. Across the United States, groups are coming together at a local level to address safety issues and regulations. Many of these groups are coordinated or supported by Rent Responsibly, a community-building and educational platform for local short-term rental alliances. Insurance companies such as Proper Insurance are leading the way to help make rentals safe to reduce insurance claims and prevent renter injuries. At Breezeway, we have developed safety checklists and inspection programs to help ensure property owners get their rentals up to current safety standards. 

The subject of safety is important and can provide common ground for homeowners, insurers, and local regulators to work together to improve their communities and industry. Responsible managers who address safety items in their rental properties are more likely to address other concerns—such as parking, trash, and parties— which may ease community tensions over vacation rentals. By putting in time, effort, research, and the correct safety precautions, vacation rental managers can have a positive relationship with the community and provide the best experience for their guests. 

 

 

Implementing Change in Your Organization by Creating a Culture of Inclusion

By
Ali Cammelletti
-
0

Have you ever implemented a new technology or process in your company and wondered why it took so long or felt so difficult? Maybe it looked more like the spaghetti method—you throw it on the cabinet and see if it sticks. However, with the right focus and outline, the process can be much easier for you and your team. 

According to research, three skills provide the necessary connection between the process part of change and the people part of change. The three Cs are communication, collaboration, and commitment. The words are easy to say, but how do we implement these three Cs? 

Following is a two-part, step-by-step process to set you and your team up for success. If you have already done personality assessments with your team or the TIGERS (trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk, and success) team wheel game, this knowledge about your staff will assist you with the process. 

 

Focus on the Emotional Target 

The first part involves focusing on the emotional target, which includes getting the team to a place of being accountable and committed to achieving the plan’s objectives. Some might also consider that it engages the right side of the brain before shifting to the left side. Often this part will take teams up to three hours to complete using the following four steps: 

 

Step 1: Outline the plan 

I will use a technology changeover and implementation as an example. You will review with the team why the change is happening, the desired ground rules for implementing the plan, and the steps that are important for effective planning. Many vacation rental management companies have encountered problems with new technology as a result of some platforms not integrating well together or some platforms choosing not to grow or expand. It is important for the team to understand in detail why the change is happening. 

 

Step 2: Consider what success looks like 

Discuss what success looks like for everyone. This might mean reducing double entry as much as possible, having enough staff to help with the process so it doesn’t feel too overwhelming, and eliminating redundant steps in daily processes. It is important to bring in personal satisfaction as much as task success. 

Recently, a business owner implemented a new technology platform in her business, and I asked her what she would have done differently, knowing what she knows now on the other side of the change. She said, “I would have staffed up and accepted the decrease in net revenue during the transition.” 

 

Step 3: Admit reality 

Review what team members bring to the table as positives and how others will struggle. In most companies, some team members are more “techy” than others. That is okay, but it’s important to acknowledge that and place people based on their strengths for a successful implementation process. For example, some members are better at looking at the process at a high level while others are great at digging into the details or testing and troubleshooting. You need all kinds of strengths to have a well-oiled machine when undertaking change. Discuss what will work best and address areas that could lead to problems during the process. If a leader is constantly going to an employee who isn’t strong in the area for which they‘ve been assigned, it will create frustration for the leader and can make the employee feel undervalued or incapable. 

 

Step 4: Outline an agreement with the team for commitment 

It is recommended this agreement contains wanted behaviors, ground rules, communication techniques, and decision processes. The agreement will support everyone in being accountable for their part in the change. 

 

Focus on the Goal Target 

The second part involves focusing on the goal target. This part is where you delve into the action planning of the process. This four-step process can take anywhere from four to six hours of focused time with the team. 

 

Step 1: Document the tasks at hand 

Review and document the actions that will occur during the process. Gather the actions and divide the members into subteams to finalize the actions. Sometimes, technology platform companies will give you this information; in that case, the head implementation team member can still undergo this process with the team and then add in areas the technology company may not have considered. What information needs to be saved from the previous platform to move to the new one? How do you transfer information to reduce duplication and ensure clean data? 

 

Step 2: Create the timeline 

As we know, timelines are great to have, and they will be flexible based on business flow and running into glitches. Ensure this timeline is somewhere everyone can always access it, and reference it throughout the process to keep on task. 

 

Step 3: Coordinate the final details 

The team will discuss leadership roles in specific areas such as decision-making, task reporting, communication, and specific tasks which must be completed before other tasks can begin. 

 

Step 4: Resolve and pull it all together 

This is where you will have the team meet and agree that everything is covered. Some teams like to create a theme for the implementation with a title and slogan to create focus and team spirit. This is a great time to bring the creatives into the mix so they feel like they are adding value to the change. 

This process can be enhanced by a leadership facilitator who is in the company or an outside consultant. If you are looking to be certified in this area, Dianne Crampton of corevalues.com offers such certification to company leaders. I have found the certification to be extremely helpful, and it has allowed me to offer teams support during change and implementation in their companies without the 65 percent failure rate so many change initiatives face. 

Change is always happening in companies. It can involve hiring a new team member, implementing a new position as the company grows, or even adding company values and a mission statement. It is all about how we as leaders implement the change with the teams to create a culture of inclusion and honor the three Cs. 

“A leader’s job is not to do the work for others; it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” —Simon Sinek 

 

 

 

Stays Group Announces Guest Loyalty App for Vacation Rental Travelers

By
Vince Perez
-
1
vacation rentals at the best price

The first guest loyalty app that supports independent vacation rental professionals

The beta release will take advantage of the rapid growth of the Stays Group network of independent vacation rental operators in key leisure destination markets in Hawaii, California, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast. 

The Stays Group app will play an essential role in recognizing and rewarding loyal vacation rental travelers who recognize the value of #BookDirect and appreciate the importance of having flexible cancellation policies, local experts who support their local communities, real time local information and of course, the industry’s only best price guarantee. 

“Four years ago, a group of independent vacation rental professionals chartered a course to lessen their dependence on the OTA’s and provide a marketing platform that can protect their respective brands into the future.  The return on investment from the marketplace and the Stays Connect program has proven to be a game changer in how trusted independent brands work together to drive more direct bookings and brand visibility. 

As a result, our loyal guests have embraced our ability to extend our inventory beyond our local destinations.  The Stays Group loyalty app is a natural extension of the value add we have created for our guests and our NWVRP stakeholder members. ”said, Vince Perez, CEO of Fetch My Guest, Partner – Beach House Rentals and NWVRP Member.

“As a board member of the NWVRP since 2017 and as current President, our core values and mission continues. We work together as a group of independently owned and operated property management companies in a collaborative fashion to provide solutions for our members to reduce dependencies on the OTA’s while simultaneously strengthening our book direct philosophy.

In 2017, we partnered with the Stays Group and launched NorthwestStays, our first marketplace. To date, we currently have five regional marketplaces that serve our exclusive member community. The recently introduced Stays Connect program links our companies together to provide members and their loyal guests with an extensive inventory throughout the United States and Canada.  Now, after many months and one pandemic later, we are proud to announce at the 2021 NWVRP conference, the newest member service benefit, the Stays Group Guest Loyalty App. We are excited to be able to provide this new service for our members and are looking forward to 2022. ” said John Pickart, President of the Northwest Vacation Rental Professionals.

To learn more about our exclusive membership: https://calendly.com/staysgroup/60min

 

 

The Value of Direct Bookings vs. the Airbnb & Vrbo Demand

By
Amy Hinote
-
4

KPIs Show the Value of Direct Bookings, but Airbnb is Quickly Gaining Ground as a Percentage of Total Revenue 

The following data sets were provided by Key Data and represent 2020 and 2021 booking data for professionally managed US vacation rentals year to date (TYD) as of September 8 for both years. 

 

The barrier to entry for starting a vacation rental management company is currently low. New companies form easily and often, and they’re able to secure bookings and revenue simply by listing rental homes on Airbnb and Vrbo. This is possible because the industry is experiencing high consumer demand and constrained supply. Although demand for vacation rentals has been steadily increasing for over a decade, it catapulted during the pandemic as leisure travelers flocked to home rentals instead of hotels and cruise lines, and the existing supply of available vacation rentals has not kept up with demand. 

However, solely listing homes on Airbnb and Vrbo is not a sustainable marketing strategy. Travel behavior is cyclical when demand compresses and supply catches up, simply listing homes on Airbnb and Vrbo will not bring in enough revenue to support current business models. Building direct business is critical for long-term success. 

 

All Bookings Are Not Equal 

All bookings are valuable, but all are not equally valuable. The chart below shows average stay values (ASV) for US bookings across channels. 

In 2021, the ASV for direct bookings year-to-date (YTD) as of September 8 was $1,935, up 13 percent from 2020. In contrast, the ASV on Vrbo was 9 percent lower at $1,764. 

But take a look at Airbnb, which had an ASV of $906, more than 53 percent lower than direct. You’ll see as you continue reading, the difference in ASVs is the result of a combination of higher average daily rates (ADRs) and longer stays for direct bookings. 

Another way to look at it is that it takes 2+ bookings on Airbnb to equal one direct reservation. 

Although revenue is important, there are other reasons direct bookings are more valuable: 

Lower costs of acquisition over time 
 Longer lengths of stays 
 Longer booking windows 
 Increased ability to communicate and manage guest expectations 
 More opportunities to vet guests and spot potential problems early 
 More repeat stays 
 Less wear and tear on properties 
 Less burden on housekeeping and operations 
 Increased homeowner satisfaction

 

 
 

How Understanding Performance Data Affects Revenue Management Strategy 

At the recent Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference, attendees discussed how and why revenue management strategies should differ across channels, as consumers behave differently depending on which channel they are using. For example, Airbnb’s guests are more likely to book shorter stays and more last-minute stays.

We also learned that the main levers revenue managers pull to affect performance are rate, minimum stay requirements, and booking window (days between the reservation date and booking date). Revenue management success requires:

a strong grasp of property and benchmark performance data
an understanding of how channels perform for different regions and property types
skill and optimizing listings on each channel

Let’s take a broad look at US performance across channels, dive deeper into regional performance, and then drill down even further into rental performance by bedroom size.

 

US Vacation Rental Performance KPIs 
by Booking Source 

The four charts below examine ADR, average length of stay, average booking window, and percentage of total revenue by channel. 

Increased demand allowed property managers to increase rates resulting in higher ADRs, which we saw in most US leisure markets. The shorter average length of stay and longer average booking window in 2021 over 2020 represent a slow return to 2019 numbers (read more on page 76). 

Notably, all three of these KPIs were significantly lower on Airbnb compared to other channels. Comparing direct bookings to Airbnb, ADR was 34 percent lower, the average length of stay was 31 percent smaller, and the average booking window was a whopping 63 percent shorter for bookings on Airbnb. 

The most concerning number is found in the Percentage of Total Revenue by Booking Source chart, which shows that direct bookings as a percentage of total revenue decreased 20 percent in 2021 (47 percent in 2020 vs 38 percent in 2021). 

 

avg-daily-rate

avg-length-of-stay

total-us-bookings
 
 

Regional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Professionally Managed Vacation Rentals
(YTD as of September 8)

Although it is important to monitor national trend benchmarking, the real value comes by tracking the market(s) in which properties are located. In the regional tables below, a few KPIs stand out. For example, in each of these regions, the percentage of total revenue for direct bookings dropped by double digits.

The Gulf Coast saw the biggest hikes in ADRs. In the Southern Appalachian region (which includes mountain regions in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina), the average length of stay dropped on all third-party channels but increased for direct bookings. Colorado is the only region we examined with over 16 percent of revenue coming from Airbnb, and the Southeast Atlantic Coast is the only region with less than 20 percent of revenue coming from Vrbo. Additionally, the Southeast Atlantic Coast and Oregon are the only regions with an overall decline in the length of stay in 2021 across all channels. Hawaii’s KPIs are skewed because of hefty travel restrictions in 2020. As property managers assess their own market(s), they are also able to compare their companies’ performance to regional performance.

 

 

 

KPIs by Property Size 

Analyzing data by property size helps challenge assumptions. The charts below reveal channel performance by bedroom size for direct bookings and for Airbnb and Vrbo. The ASV is considerably lower on Airbnb, regardless of bedroom size, although the canyon increases with the size of the home. 

Looking at average length of stay for one-bedroom properties, bookings on Airbnb are just .6 days shorter than direct bookings and .2 days shorter than Vrbo. However, for properties with more than one bedroom, stays are consistently two days shorter on Airbnb than for direct bookings. 

It is also true that more Airbnb guests book at the last minute than guests booking on Vrbo or directly with property managers, and the gap becomes more pronounced as the number of bedrooms increases. For example, for homes with seven to eight bedrooms, the booking window is 66–69 percent shorter on Airbnb than on direct channels and over 50 percent shorter than on Vrbo. 

 

 

 

Protecting Your Right to Rent with Advocacy Efforts by Inhabit IQ & VRMA

By
Kate Henion
-
0

All industries need help with protecting their interests, especially in times of unprecedented crisis. Following the first hurdles of the pandemic, destinations across the country looked to gradually reopen in May 2020 to engage their workforces and stimulate economies. But vacation rentals were left off the list. In areas such as Florida, hotels and bed and breakfasts were permitted to accept visitors, while vacation rental properties were hindered and restricted by state and local regulatory agencies. 

Historically, the vacation rental industry has been outmatched in lobbying efforts funded by the hotel sector, leaving the industry crippled with overreaching local policies, outright bans, and unfair taxation. 

According to Smart City Policy Group, from April 1 to May 1, 2021, there were 297 regulations targeting short-term or vacation rentals across the nation. Every week an average of 81 new regulations are announced. With a multitude of restrictions and regulations being proposed and passed each year, often with little notice, the vacation rental industry must stay vigilant. 

Enter Inhabit IQ and the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA). 

In an effort to fairly represent the vacation rental industry and ensure the continued choice of homeowners and property managers to rent their properties as vacation rentals, Inhabit IQ and VRMA initiated the Right to Rent program. 

Right to Rent is an effort to establish a steady, predictable, and sustainable source of revenue for advocacy work in the vacation rental space. 

“We understand and value the importance of protecting vacation rental businesses through pivotal advocacy initiatives,” said Eric Broughton, Inhabit IQ’s chief strategy officer. “With Right to Rent, we can facilitate a program that develops sustainable funding for these critical efforts. Our goal is to expand the program beyond the Inhabit IQ portfolio so that all vacation managers can contribute.” 

Through Inhabit IQ’s portfolio of property management software, donations are collected from vacation rental companies that choose to participate through a guest booking add-on fee. The fee, typically $1–$3 per booking, is included as an administrative or program charge within the reservation. The collected donation flows seamlessly to the VRMA Right to Rent fund. The property management software being used will provide real-time reporting and tracking of all funds collected. 

Here’s a bonus: by signing up for the Right to Rent program, property managers new to VRMA will receive a one-year VRMA membership. 

One hundred percent of contributions collected directly fund the Right to Rent program. Right to Rent donations support VRMA’s efforts to build a stronger advocacy program for the vacation rental community and will include the following benefits: 

Professional Support: Defending businesses against onerous regulations 
 Issue Tracking: Tracking state and local regulations that affect the vacation rental industry 
 Response: Driving greater efficiency in responding to legislative concerns when they arise 
 Lobbying: Reaching out to state and local policymakers 
 Communication: Building awareness of the local economic value of vacation rental properties 
 National Focus: Strengthening national VRMA government affairs’ efforts 

Currently, the Right to Rent program is available to Streamline Vacation Rental Software users. The program will be released across Inhabit IQ software brands, with the intention to share the technology with any property management platforms interested in participating.

The need for advocacy within the vacation rental space is nothing new. VRMA Advocacy has been instrumental in lobbying efforts, marketing tactics, data collection, and tracking of negative legislation. But it doesn’t end there. VRMA is funding projects and studies related to the economic impact of vacation rentals, housing affordability, cost of compliance studies, and educational materials that define industry professionalism. 

“I firmly believe each of us needs to invest in our industry in order to keep it healthy and growing, and to fight against hurtful regulations on short-term rentals,” said Doug Brindley, owner of Brindley Beach Vacation Rentals. “I think it is extremely important for vacation rental managers to get involved, not only with advocacy programs like Right to Rent, but also organizations like the Realtors Political Action Committee.” 

With programs such as Right to Rent, vacation rental managers can gain an extra vote of confidence, knowing a team of experts and advocates is in their corner. 

 

 

Hunting for Talent in Today’s Challenging Market

By
Sue Jones
-
0

Over the last 18 months, the traditional workplace has undergone one of the largest remote work experiments in history with close to 7 in 10 employees working from home. The pandemic—responsible for a significant shift in the way we live and work—created a workforce that is reassessing what they want in their professional and personal lives. 

Remote work during the pandemic created opportunities for people to consider what they want to do for a living, where they want to live, and who they want to work for. Employers who previously had little trouble finding and hiring employees are now dealing with high turnover rates and struggling to find the right employees. 

 

Employers today are finding success in hiring by:

Understand who the best recruits could be
Be creative with compensation and benefit offerings
Actively engage with onsite and remote employees 

 

The Hunt for Talent 

Start your hunt for talent by taking a fresh look at your recruiting models to make sure you are not stuck in old patterns that don’t reflect new trends. Acknowledging that you won’t solve your current hiring challenges by applying past solutions is the first step to breaking out of traditional and market norms, and it is key to finding talent. In today’s employment market, it’s important to understand who your best recruits could be and find creative ways to attract them. 

In this year’s summer issue of VRM Intel Magazine, I wrote an article about competing for talent that offers many thoughts on how to attract and retain a seasonal workforce. I recommended you start by identifying one employee to take responsibility for managing the recruitment process to ensure timely communication with applicants and prospects. 

The second recommendation I have for you now is to start hunting for talent where others are not. Like fishing, if you want to land the big one, you can’t always fish in the same pond as everyone else. 


1. Focus your efforts on benefits that are attractive to female employees because women were the hardest-hit demographic during the pandemic. 

Studies show that nearly 60 percent of the jobs lost in the United States as a result of COVID-19 were held by women because these workers became less available due to childcare needs. Consider the following to attract more women by implementing creative benefits for this demographic: 

Offer staggered shifts with earlier or later start times to allow for childcare before and after school. 

Partner with local daycare providers and offer to childcare services for employees. 

Provide transportation services for children before and/or after school. 

 

2. Shift your focus to recruiting a more diverse workforce. 

Many organizations are overcoming the talent shortage by speeding up their recruitment processes and focusing on a more diverse pool of applicants. 

Change hiring practices to remove barriers to entry such as education and experience requirements. 

Remove pre-employment drug screening or consider the trend of removing cannabis from the panel of drugs tested. To date, 48 of 50 states allow for some form of medical marijuana (18 states have legalized recreational marijuana, and 37 have legalized medical marijuana), providing a majority of applicants with legal access to cannabis. 

Conduct on-the-spot interviews by texting and video conferencing with applicants. Consider changing your availability to coincide with your applicant’s availability. The key is making it easy for the applicants to speak with someone in your business. 

Work with local high schools and guidance counselors to educate students about career paths and opportunities in hospitality and the vacation rental industry. Companies are no longer waiting to recruit college students; they are now recruiting high school students for internships and on-the-job training opportunities to build a pipeline of talent. 

Tap into diverse recruitment pools. Looking for talent outside your normal channels and pipelines is a great approach to successfully hiring talent in today’s post-pandemic world. Reach out to veterans and their spouses, partner with local businesses supporting disadvantaged workers, or seek out family members reentering the workforce and retirees. These untapped demographics make up a significant portion of the workforce. 

Widen your searches to consider individuals with criminal records. Today one in three adults (70 million Americans) has a criminal record. Many employers are willing to consider candidates with criminal histories if they have relevant skills, good references, and a solid performance record. A recent survey conducted by Second Chance Hiring from the Consumer Standpoint stated that 79 percent of employees would feel comfortable working for an employer if a few of their coworkers had a nonviolent criminal record. The survey also stated that 82 percent of respondents would be comfortable patronizing a business that hires people with criminal records. 

 

3. Embrace remote workforces. 

Another trend to capitalize on is talent relocation. In 2019, less than 10 percent of the population moved, whereas recent studies show that 35 percent of the population moved during 2020, and 56 percent of the population has moved or plans to move during 2021. It’s time to be intentional about the work that can be done remotely as part of your talent strategy for attracting, engaging, and retaining your workforce. 

Identify which responsibilities and tasks can be completed remotely, even if it means reassigning responsibilities or redefining roles. 

Focus less on experience and more on capabilities by grouping similar responsibilities and tasks together (e.g., problem-solving, collaboration, agility, and adaptability). 

Explore off-shoring and near-shoring resources through PEO (professional employer organizations) and international workforces. 

Accepting that remote work must be a large part of your ongoing talent strategy. 

 

Show Me the Money 

Struggling to find talent is not new. However, the pandemic’s widespread effect on entry-level, hourly employees has resulted in companies paying higher starting wages. Companies are recognizing that there is no way around paying more in areas where the demand is greater than the supply. 

Compensating employees today requires focusing on groups of jobs mostly filled by hourly workers and key professionals, including: 

 

1. Jobs that are difficult to fill or jobs that have high turnovers such as housekeeping, maintenance, dispatching, and guest services 

The hospitality industry has seen an average increase of $1.00– $3.00 per hour for entry-level and hard-to-fill positions. In addition to raising wages, companies are starting to provide pay increases at specific intervals based on the length of time in position, known as skill-based pay. Creating more transparency for workers with pay increases every three or six months during their first two years demonstrates opportunities for wage and skill growth. This practice is key to attracting talent to your business. 

 

2. Jobs that are key to achieving business results 

Think about revenue management, business development, property services, and sales. Working remotely during the pandemic created options for higher-skilled professional employees looking for new career opportunities. To retain these key employees, employers are bringing back retention bonuses, mid-year salary adjustments, and increased paid time off. To offset increasing fixed costs, some employers are using one-time payouts for special bonus awards or equity payments. 

 

3. Jobs for which wages have experienced considerable inflation 

Review your compensation and think about how much the position is worth to your business, then adapt that to local market factors. Your compensation strategy requires a new focus on internal equity to ensure that your entry-level wages are not bumping against your current “engaged” workforce. Transparency with pay rates is key to attracting and retaining your team. Pay close attention to local market factors for your direct workforce because employees are less prone to move or commute long distances for a new job. 

 

Keep Me Challenged 

Providing employees with the skills they need to grow and develop is fundamental for keeping employees engaged, focused, and happy. It’s about creating a culture of learning and development, so you can train for the skills you need today and in the future. 

One year ago, I wrote an article, “Employee Retention Ideas for 2021 and Beyond,” for VRM Intel Magazine that spoke to creating flexible ways to manage your employees’ performance, the value of investing in training and development opportunities, and increasing remote-work capabilities as a way to engage and retain talent. The article addresses several ideas that are still relevant in today’s marketplace. When it comes to engaging and retaining talent, it’s important to consider the following actions: 

 

1. Create career pathways to inform your employees what is required for them to move from one position to another. 

What skills do they need to develop that will equate to additional pay and responsibilities? Utilize career paths to connect the dots for employees so they can easily see what they need to learn, how much experience they need, and what the salary ranges are for the new skills. 

 

2. Develop the talent you can’t find by reskilling your workforce. 

The best employees are made not found. Start by identifying the skills you need, and find employees interested in learning them. Provide employees with education assistance and time to obtain the skills. 

Understanding your costs of hire and termination is key to developing your talent. The cost of reskilling is considerably lower than the cost of hiring and terminating employees. For example, if it costs you $5,000 to hire an employee and $2,500 to provide additional training and education to a current, engaged employee, it’s a win-win. You retain your employees’ institutional and subject matter expertise, and they bring more relevant skills to your business. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that the workplace is not limited to physical workspaces and has opened up broader environments for workers to contribute from. A significant percentage of the workforce is working from their home environment, car, or coffee shop while juggling personal and family responsibilities. Employees are looking for personal well-being, a sense of belonging, and a culture in which they can contribute their full potential—in a physical or remote workspace. 

The war for talent is being won by companies that are proactive. Business leaders who define how the “new normal” might affect their work, workplace, and workforce are adapting, flexing, and adjusting their resources to create resilience and thrive-not just survive-during times of uncertainty and instability. 

 

 

Know Before You Grow: Measuring Homeowner Satisfaction before Growing Inventory

By
Amy Hinote
-
0

As competition heats up for supply, vacation rental managers are investing heavily in homeowner acquisition. Throughout the industry, our mantra is “This industry is all about relationships.” However, when building strategies to add new homes to their inventory, property managers often target the home instead of the homeowner. For example, companies might set goals to acquire homes with private pools, homes in certain subdivisions, or condos in specific complexes or buildings. 

Yet a successful business relationship between the homeowner and management company is determined by much more than property specifications or location. When crafting an inventory acquisition strategy, a better place to start might be evaluating relationships with existing clients. 

The logic behind examining current relationships before executing a costly homeowner acquisition plan is simple: the best predictor of future success is relevant past success. 

Each company has something it does better than its competitors. It could be its high-touch service, powerful marketing, in-market brand recognition, property care, financial management, transparent communications, revenue optimization, flexible contracts, personable relationships with staff, or some combination of these. 

The truth is that property managers may not know why homeowners choose to contract with them. By measuring satisfaction among homeowners already in their rental program, managers can better identify and articulate their unique selling proposition (USP) and target the homeowners who are most likely to be successful in their specific property management program. 

 

Owner Objectives 

Why did homeowners in the rental program decide to rent out their vacation home in the first place? And then, why did they choose one management company over another? The obvious reason for renting is money. However, revenue expectations vary widely among homeowners, so grouping these homeowners by their primary objectives is a good starting point. 

 

Example: Second-Home Owners 

Many homeowners purchased their vacation property as a second home or a place to retire later in life. They chose to rent out the home to make money while not using it, but the preservation and enjoyment of the home are their primary motivations. For these homeowners, making sure every vacant night is filled using aggressive revenue management techniques doesn’t align with their objective of having a nice, well-maintained home their family can enjoy because a continuous stream of back-to-back reservations causes damage and increases wear and tear on the home. In addition, selling at low rates to book every vacant night brings in a different type of guest who is less likely to care for the home. 

For second-home owners, having repeat guests who treat the home as their own is valuable, and they place a premium on property care, maintenance, and guest management. 

 

Example: Investors 

Investors purchase vacation homes with the objectives of short-term revenue optimization from rentals and long-term appreciation from the property as a real estate asset. For these owners, annual rental income and market appreciation are the drivers, and they’re attracted to companies that provide professional marketing, revenue management, and financial management. 

In contrast to second-home owners, investors would like to see every night on the calendar generating income, and they put a premium on professional marketing and revenue management. For investors, a professional asset-management approach, which includes financial projections, cost-benefit analyses, and detailed reporting, is appealing. In addition, investors are attracted to property managers who provide standardized kitchen packages and linens and have operations and technology that lower the cost of maintaining the investment property. 

 

Changing Objectives 

A homeowner’s priorities often change during their time in a rental program. A death in the family, health issues, loss of job, or any change in their financial position will shift their objectives. 

For example, an owner who purchased a vacation home with the primary goal of optimizing revenue may find—with the increase of damage and wear and tear on the property—that they are now interested in a company that more closely manages guest activity. Or the homeowner who puts the property on a rental program to cover a few costs may find themselves in a different financial position and now needs to maximize revenue. 

The important thing is to not make assumptions. An annual assessment of each homeowner’s objectives provides insight into why that homeowner is choosing to remain in the rental program and gives the company an opportunity to manage a new set of expectations. 

 

Finding Common Attributes 

Beyond defining homeowner objectives, property managers should understand why homeowners chose them in the first place, what homeowners value about the rental program, and what they would like to see improve. 

By evaluating homeowner satisfaction, property managers can go beyond homeowners’ objectives and find out what aspects of the rental program are most valuable to its clients. Although revenue matters to homeowners, other factors do as well, including property care, guest management, communications, and service. 

During the process of assessing objectives and discussing how satisfied clients are with elements of the rental program, it doesn’t take long before managers begin to identify common attributes among their most satisfied homeowners. They can then articulate what a “good” client looks like. 

In addition, they will discover commonalities in what sets their company apart in the eyes of their most valuable clients, giving them the information they need to clearly identify their competitive differentiators and build their USP. 

Now, instead of targeting homes, the company can target the homeowners who are most likely to be successful in their rental program with messaging and marketing strategies that appeal directly to their priorities and personas. 

 

Local Advantage 

In the competition for supply, large, multi-destination vacation rental companies are pouring money into aggressive marketing to homeowners. However, they make broad assumptions about owners’ objectives and values, and we see the same messaging from these companies being sent to homeowners around the country, whether the properties are in the mountains of Colorado or on the beaches of the Carolinas. They target the masses and are not interested in homeowners’ individual values and goals. 

However, when measuring homeowner satisfaction, independent, local vacation rental management companies have an advantage over these large multi-destination companies because a local company has a more direct relationship with the homeowner client. A large company must rely on static survey-oriented metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge satisfaction. They simply don’t have the ability to process and communicate subjective information to decision-makers. 

Although NPS is important, local management companies are able to dive deeper and gain more meaningful insight through annual satisfaction reviews with each homeowner, giving them a better idea of what drives the homeowners in their market and in their program. They are able to pull this information together and communicate it to the company’s leadership and marketing team. 

Besides creating a foundation for inventory acquisition, taking a deep dive into homeowner satisfaction spotlights company and team strengths, reveals areas for improvement, and helps in client retention. 

Relationship-based growth builds a stronger—and happier—company for years to come. Before embarking on costly inventory acquisition initiatives, property managers will find it beneficial to remember once again that “in our industry, it’s all about relationships.” By identifying common attributes among its current homeowners—in their objectives and what they value about the company—managers can identify their USP and create a marketing plan that attracts homeowners that are most likely to be successful in their rental program. 

 

The Importance of the Guest Experience within Vacation Rental Operations: From the Back of the House to the Front

By
Jeremiah Gall
-
2

The concept of vacation rental property operations has evolved tremendously over the past few decades, developing from a collection of loosely defined tasks into a complex system of programs used to coordinate, communicate, and verify detailed work. When orchestrating these operations correctly, vacation rental managers can positively influence many aspects of short-term rental management, thereby enhancing their brand’s reputation.

 

Defining property operations in 2021 

So, what exactly does the term “property operations” mean? 

Let’s examine the events that generally occur when a guest checks out of a property at 10 a.m. and a new traveler checks in at 3 p.m. the same day. There are many operational tasks that need to be performed:

ensuring that the guest checks out of the property on time
scheduling internal housekeepers and possibly inspectors (or outsourced teams) to perform work at the property
giving instructions to staff, so they perform work that complies with internal service standards
triaging any issues that arise during the cleaning and inspection and alerting the appropriate department
getting notified by your teams that work has been successfully completed
and announcing the property’s readiness and communicating check-in instructions to the incoming guest. 

Of course, the work doesn’t stop when the next guest checks in because the sequence of operational tasks also include the following:

communicating to ensure the guest has everything they need for a great stay
coordinating the delivery of in-stay offerings and concierge services, and
consistently showcasing value to homeowners.

Furthermore, managers must perform all of these tasks across multiple locations with a portfolio of unique properties. 

These challenges put a lot of pressure on vacation rental managers, and the ability to automate property care at scale is a distinguishing feature of successful hospitality operators (in fact, Breezeway’s 2021 operations survey found that 43 percent of managers are now using purpose-built operations technology tools). 

According to Ben Edwards, president of Weatherby Consulting, “The organization of property operations and workflows is critical. Tracking how your team spends their time and how your resources are allocated ensures you work efficiently and purposefully, and helps minimize the complexities of property management.” 

 

Operations was once far removed from the front of house 

Decades ago, a traveler’s experience was disconnected from property operations. Whether staying in a property rented directly from the homeowner or through a professional manager, guests weren’t aware of what went on behind the scenes to prepare the property for their arrival. 

At the time, the vacation rental “experience” amounted to a simple transaction between the property manager and the renter. Guests did not expect a true home-away-from-home feel, and their accommodations didn’t come with amenities, personalization, or concierge services. Beyond the obvious expectation that the property would be clean(ish) upon arrival and supplied with beds and a roof, the consumer was largely on their own after booking. 

With such low guest expectations, it’s no surprise that property preparation wasn’t nearly as comprehensive as it is today. Properties were simple, and the norm was a quick clean between reservations, as guests did much of the cleaning before checking out. Independent inspections to verify the property’s readiness were unheard of. Personalization was also out of the question for clients, and in-stay experiences were considered the business of the traveler. Believe it or not, in many markets, guests actually brought their own sheets, blankets, towels, and toilet paper. 

Exchanges between vacation rental providers and guests were minimal and old-fashioned. Communication channels traditionally were limited to mail and phone calls (and later email), used almost exclusively prior to check-in. Guests only brought up issues to the manager when urgent. For example, managers would have never gotten a phone call asking for more toilet paper or towels. 

A similarly hands-off approach was taken with homeowners. With far fewer companies for owners to choose from (as well as a void of technologies or marketing channels to pursue the self-management route), property managers had a lot of power in the manager–owner relationship. As long as the homeowner’s property was generating adequate rental income, owners were rarely inclined to question the value that managers were driving. The frequency and depth of communication between owners and managers was minimal, and the idea of capturing data to share with owners in asset management reports was not an expectation. 

 

The nexus of property care and guest interactions 

Today, purposeful guest communication is one of the hottest trends in vacation rental management. Building and maintaining a strong brand is a top priority for professional vacation rental managers, and consistently delivering and communicating about service is key to the guest experience. What leading managers have realized is that the most effective way to accomplish these goals is by integrating operations data and notifications into their communication programs. 

The possibility of leveraging operational data for proactive communication is shaping how managers communicate with guests, a process that now lasts from the time they book their stay to the time they arrive at the home. 

Let’s look at a few examples:

attending to signals from completed tasks to programmatically send property-readiness messages
using property-specific details to send instructions with check-in codes and information about amenity access
receiving maintenance and concierge requests & updating guests on the status of each job

Guest texting represents one of the biggest opportunities for short-term rental businesses, and it’s no surprise that our survey found that two out of every three managers are actively improving their guest texting services. Amber Carpenter, CMO of ACME House Company, is one such example. “We use guest texting to drive higher satisfaction, and it’s made a huge difference,” Carpenter said. “We used to do in-person meet-and-greets, but we’ve found that our guests prefer to text us on a whim if they need something. They really value the texting, and we try to use it to drive a five-star hospitality service throughout the rental experience.” 

In addition to guest texting, contactless check-in has increased the likelihood that your field staff will be interacting with guests. “Especially now, your housekeepers might be the only people whom the guests encounter face to face, and you can’t expect your housekeeping staff to know what to do when a guest wants to check in early before they’re done with the clean,” said Cliff Johnson, vice president of new homes at Realtor.com. “Preparing your staff for customer service interactions is very important, and managers should eliminate stress by helping them understand the resources available to them when a guest asks them a direct question.” 

 

The role of PROPERTY operations in marketing and revenue 

Ten years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to argue that vacation rental operations could be a profit center. Now, it’s hard to argue that it can’t be. For starters, leading managers are using operations-led texting to upsell offerings to guests. This takes the form of

monetizing early check-in when properties are prepared well in advance
coordinating grocery delivery and other concierge services
offering stay extensions when there are vacancies between reservations
soliciting reviews to boost search visibility
capturing repeat stays.

“It’s much easier to get people to rebook when they’re currently in the vacation home,” Carpenter said. “We use guest texting tools to capture these repeat stays well in advance.” 

Furthermore, it’s becoming more common to showcase cleaning and safety operations (and the value they provide guests) within property listings. According to ICND, managers are highlighting the rigorous preparation procedures they conduct by detailing areas of the property that were inspected and the date of the most recent inspection. Marketing such dedication to property care boosts search engine optimization, attracts eyeballs from prospective guests who prioritize quality experiences, builds trust between the brand and the consumer, and drives more reservations. 

 

Conclusion 

High-quality experiences are central to the growth of vacation rentals. The industry has shifted from a transactional give-and-take to a service-based and experience-oriented relationship. The push for more customization and personalization has forced managers to adopt a smarter approach to maintaining properties and delivering service. 

And for many, that smarter approach means leaning on technology to do the heavy lifting. “In the wake of the pandemic, there are clear winners in each market,” said VRMB founder Matt Landau. “The ones who are winning are those who are embracing technology to thrive.” 

 

 

YOUR Memory Factory: Creating Lifetime Memories for Guests with those They Cherish Most

By
Doug Kennedy
-
0
photo collage happy parents with children on holiday

Instead of manufacturing a physical product, your factories create something more important to most humans—lifetime memories with those they cherish most.

[vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/z2-UC17KzBc” el_width=”80″ align=”center”]

Recently, while presenting hospitality training for a cabin rental company in the mountains of North Georgia, I had a participant in my class whose job it was to take the after-hours calls from in-house guests. Knowing that these calls are usually from distressed people who have encountered a problem or quandary, I remarked something like, “Wow, now that must be a hard job.” She immediately replied, “Actually, not at all, Mr. Kennedy. Before this, I spent 30 years as a supervisor on the assembly line in a broom factory. That was a hard job!” 

At that moment, it occurred to me that every professional in the vacation rental industry still works in a factory. But rather than making a physical product, our factories create something that is much more important to most humans than just about any product we could possibly buy—vacation memories that will surely last a lifetime. 

Since that day I have often used the “memory factory” analogy during our workshops and webcam events, and people seem to relate to it. 

I think back on my own heritage and remember that my father grew up in Braddock, Pennsylvania in the 1920s and 30s, when it was the steel capital of the world. Nearly everyone there had a family member responding when Carnegie’s steam whistle blew to signal a shift change. My own father escaped the factory-worker track only because he turned 18 in 1942, six months after Pearl Harbor; he enlisted in the US Navy and became an electrical engineer, designing electrical panels at the Square D factory. 

When you stop to think about it, many vacation rental companies are located in what were once manufacturing locales, from the heavy equipment manufacturing belt of the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, through the rolling hills and textile factories of North Carolina, to Cannery Row in Monterey, California. 

Although most of the traditional factories have long since gone, manufacturing continues every day at vacation rental companies. The final product is now an intangible experience, but the “assembly line” works in largely the same way as it does in a factory. 

Just as on a traditional assembly line, every staff member plays an important role in manufacturing our guests’ memories. 

It starts with maintenance to ensure that all the components of the complex homes most of us rent are in good working order. So many others on the “line” touch the experience too, from the IT and website team members who ensure that bookings come through accurately to the reservations and guest service staff who correspond with each individual guest. Let us not forget laundry and housekeeping, because cleanliness is almost always number one on any survey in which guests are asked to rank important qualities. Depending on your inventory and location, there may be many other workers on the assembly line including pool and hot tub staff, concierges, transportation workers, and accounting personnel who send the owner statements and collect guests’ payments accurately and on a timely basis. 

When I took a bit of time to research manufacturing for this article, I learned even more terms that apply, such as “delayed differentiation,” also called “last-mile manufacturing,” which refers to the final steps to customize a product near the end of the assembly line. 

For automobiles, this step refers to the choice of upholstery or sound system, and for clothing, it means that the apparel may be dyed at the last stop before distribution to the stores and warehouses based on what is selling the most. In our vacation memory factories, the final customization is likewise conducted at the end of the line. 

[vc_custom_heading text=”Your Memory Factory” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1634817228923{padding-top: 50px !important;padding-right: 35px !important;padding-left: 35px !important;}”]

Just as on a traditional assembly line, every staff member plays an important role in manufacturing our guests’ memories. 

Although the accommodation experiences themselves are the same, the delivery can and should be based on each individual guest’s vacation vision and customized for the specific life experiences playing out. Examples of customization might be personalized, handwritten welcome notes (at least for those booking high-value stays) and authentic local welcome amenities specific to the region or personalized to the guest’s reason for travel (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, and reunions). 

In the hotel industry, Four Seasons is one of the finest hotel chains in the world, and it uses another word originating from a different type of manufacturing—tailor-made clothing such as men’s dress suits. The word is “bespoke,” for which Google offers a modern definition: “Made for a particular user or customer.” 

Granted, there are currently plenty of high-volume, low-touch, well-funded vacation rental companies that are trying to “manufacture” vacation rental experiences in the same way that Henry Ford’s assembly line pushed out Model A’s. Time will tell how well they will do over the long run. 

I have my concerns, mainly because of their seeming obsession with forcing guests and homeowners to use technology to communicate with their rental companies, making it more difficult to reach a live, dedicated, local-area staff member when you really need one. 

Likewise, these companies seem to have a similar obsession with automating relationships with the homeowners, which I hear is already causing inventory slippage when they acquire new companies. 

So, unless these companies also buy up most of the vacation home inventory, I think this presents an opportunity for those who recognize that many, if not most, homeowners are also emotionally invested in their vacation homes. 

Over the long term, I predict that guests will stay loyal to the locally owned and branded vacation rental companies that truly understand that the vacation home rental industry has little to do with vacation homes and a lot to do with manufacturing vacation memories. Those who take a bespoke approach at the last mile will manufacture memories that will cause guests to do the three things we want most: come back next time, book directly, and tell others good things about us. 

I hope you will share this analogy of a memory factory with your team and get their feedback. Besides initiating a relevant dialogue and brainstorming session, I find that it gives new meaning to the hard work we do and the long hours we endure. 

The memories your vacation rental company manufactures will be shared by your guests around dinner tables, captured in pictures and videos, and cherished during difficult times. And these memories will live on as a part of family and friendship folklore for generations to come. 

2021 Summer Review: Leisure Vacation Rentals Surpass Expectations

By
Melanie Brown
-
0

For many US vacation rental homeowners and managers, the 2021 summer season was likely the most profitable they have ever experienced. Although 2020’s summer performance varied greatly between destinations—luxury, drive-to leisure markets prospered while urban areas continued to struggle—Summer 2021 brought growth to almost every US destination. 

In 2021, pricing power grew as demand surged, and rates increased accordingly. In the most popular leisure-based destinations, every canceled reservation was soon replaced by a new one. 

As is always the case, the extent of growth varied by region and city. Whereas some key performance indicators (KPIs) —like occupancy and average daily rate (ADR)—followed similar trends across most of the country, other KPIs—like the average booking window—differed. 

Let’s recap 2021’s summer season using data from professional property managers around the country. The following data sets represent approximately 391,000 properties managed by 2,360 vacation rental management companies. 

 

 

Adjusted Paid Occupancy: June 1 – August 31 

The adjusted paid occupancy rate (occupancy) measures the number of guest nights out of the nights not taken up by owners or holds. 

In the US, the national average increased by 22 percent between 2019 and 2021, and 2021’s summer’s occupancy rate was 72 percent. 

Of the regions featured here, California experienced the largest increase at 43 percent. Even more exciting is the recovery and growth of rentals in Hawaii, where occupancy was extremely low last summer (2020). 

Mountain destinations like those in Colorado (+27 percent) and the Southern Appalachian Mountains (+26 percent), a region that includes North Georgia, Western North Carolina, and the Tennessee Smokies, also performed well. 

The Gulf and South Atlantic coastal markets saw slightly less year-over-year growth, but that is most likely a factor of summer occupancy usually being quite high in those regions. 

The growth in the overall occupancy rate reflects the increase in demand for vacation rentals that has occurred in the last year and a half. 

 

 

 

Average Daily Rate (ADR): June 1 – August 31 

The increase of the average daily rate (ADR), which is the average rental revenue generated per guest night, has been one of the most astounding trends of the summer. 

A variation of +/-5 percent in nationwide ADR can be considered normal. For example, between 2018 and 2019, the summer ADR increased by 2 percent. Amid the COVID recovery, the summer ADR fell by 2 percent from 2019 to 2020. But from summer 2019-which we use as our last “normal” year-to summer 2021, the nationwide ADR increased by 16 percent. 

Although rates were almost uniformly higher than in 2019, the extent to which they increased varied. 

The Southern Appalachian Mountains saw the largest year-over-year increase of 36 percent over 2019. 

Their beach counterparts on the South Atlantic Coast, which stretches from the Florida Keys through North Carolina’s Outer Banks, experienced a more moderate increase of 13 percent. 

In much of the country, vacation rental managers and hosts were able to capitalize on increased demand and raise their rates dramatically. 

 

 

 

Adjusted RevPAR: June 1 – August 31 

Due to the increases in both occupancy and rates, the average rental in the United States earned 41 percent more revenue this summer than in 2019. Adjusted revenue per available rental (RevPAR) combines occupancy and ADR to measure the average revenue earned per night not taken up by owners or holds. 

California was the region with the highest growth in occupancy, whereas the Southern Appalachian Mountains had the largest increase in ADR; both ended the summer with an adjusted RevPAR 71 percent higher than in 2019. 

The South Atlantic Coast was the lowest performer, despite having an impressive 35 percent increase. Increases in RevPAR should signal a positive future for markets like Hawaii and cities, where the recovery has been delayed. 

 

 

 

Average Booking Window: June 1 – August 31 

Although the rental performance indicators for most destinations around the country trended in similar directions, booking behavior has been less uniform.

The average booking window, or the time between a guest making a reservation and arriving, decreased from 86 days in 2019 to 77 days in 2021. However, this is much closer to normal than the 56-day average booking window in 2020. 

California and Oregon experienced the largest decreases in the average booking window, at -21 percent and -17 percent, respectively. 

Interestingly, the Gulf Coast and Southern Appalachians had longer average booking windows in 2021, despite sharp decreases in 2020. 

The shorter booking window has allowed revenue managers to keep prices set high until the travel date, but the average booking window is slowly returning to normal for most markets. Vacation rental managers will need to continue to stay on top of demand and booking data and adjust strategies accordingly. 

 

 

Average Length of Stay: June 1 – August 31 

Nationwide, the average length of stay dropped from 5.1 days in 2019 to 5.0 in 2020. 

With the exception of Hawaii, where the stay length almost doubled in 2020 due to travel restrictions, most markets have not seen significant changes in the average length of stay over the past two summers. 

Colorado saw the largest change from 2019 at +21 percent, but this was still only a 0.7-day increase. These numbers imply that the average guest is taking the same length of trip they always have, although the average could smooth over the outliers. 

 

41% Increase in US Rental Revenue 

Taken together, these trends highlight just how remarkable the 2021 summer season was for rentals around the country. Hosts, homeowners, and property managers likely made it through very uncertain times last year by dreaming about the light at the end of the tunnel. The national 41 percent increase in revenue was an even brighter light than most of us expected. 

However, the market is still in flux. As the pandemic drags on, regulatory battles heat up, and other lodging sectors recover, staying on top of the trends continues to be crucial for all involved in the vacation rental industry. 

 

 

Simon Lehmann and Nicolas Galantini: Harnessing Industry Recovery

By
Simon Lehmann
-
0

After 19 months of an unprecedented global pandemic, the travel industry—as a whole—has deeply suffered. However, recoveries across the travel industry have not all been equal; and as we now know, leisure vacation rentals with drive-to feeder markets significantly outpaced all other travel verticals—a trend we expect to continue in the near term.

According to the recent Vacation Rental Barometer survey by Generali Global Assistance, 71 percent of US and European travelers are planning to book a vacation rental by the end of 2022. Compared to previous research shared by Phocuswright in 2019, showing that 34 percent of travelers booked a vacation rental, this is a huge shift. Sustaining this booming interest in vacation rentals once travel resumes to pre-pandemic levels would more than double the accessible market for vacation rental managers.

In other words, if you thought that the rise of Airbnb in the previous decade had a massive impact on the vacation rental industry, buckle up for the years to come.

As we consider this significant shift in consumer behavior, here are some questions we should collectively ask ourselves:

  • How can we retain these first timers once staying in a hotel is not deemed as risky as it is right now?
  • How can we implement a regulatory framework that will enable vacation rental businesses to thrive and to be considered as a legitimate hospitality vertical and not simply as a hobby for those with second homes to make an extra buck?
  • How can vacation rental managers capitalize on this upward trend, become more profitable, and build sustainable businesses both financially and operationally?

Of course, none of this will happen overnight, especially when everyone is overwhelmed servicing the increased demand. However, these questions are necessary to raise the bar in the vacation rental industry.

 

1. A Scream for Revenue Management

Revenue management—the process of establishing the right price for the right property at the right time—is still in its infancy in the vacation rental industry when compared to hotels or airlines.

We have already been quite vocal about this topic and have developed our own algorithm to tackle this problem with the AJL Profitability Solution. Nevertheless, if you are not doing any type of proactive revenue management or using any of the tools on the market, you are simply missing out on a lot of revenue.

COVID-19 has created a tremendous change in the demand for vacation rentals. First, the volume of guests interested in vacation rentals as a lodging option has increased. Historical data sets are almost irrelevant now, and every vacation rental management company must make the best decisions they can with the pricing and performance data they have access to.

Additionally, pent-up demand must be considered because the booking pace will change dramatically as any restriction is lifted in a region. For example, Awaze—the largest property management company in the world—saw one booking being made each second in its UK cottage portfolio right after the announcement of easing restrictions by the UK government. If you do not have a solid strategy in place with automated rules and some capacity to anticipate activity as restrictions ease, you will miss out on a lot of potential revenue when such a booking frenzy emerges.

Another factor to consider is the origin of the guests. With international travel partially halted and some important source markets still restricted, it is crucial to consider this aspect when determining rates, the minimum stay requirement, and distribution and marketing. In Europe, for example, property managers who decided not to fall back on their domestic market are and will still be negatively affected by the consequences of the pandemic. Companies that shifted their strategy to target domestic drive-to markets still have a business and are even growing as their strong performance is bringing new homeowners into their property management programs.

Another important consideration―even if it is now normalizing in some markets because of higher consumer confidence―is the booking window (i.e., the time between the reservation date and the arrival date). Indeed, the booking window has shortened for most markets compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, and we can expect continued variation because we are still far from returning to normal.

Finally, market seasonality may have changed. Not because of global warming (although this is a growing concern in several destinations), but simply because the guests who were coming from farther away simply might not be able to come. At the same time, guests coming from regions closer to the destination might not follow the same booking patterns, avoiding what is still perceived as high season in tourist hot spots.

Because of the lack of international travel and the increased appeal of outdoors after months of being locked inside, some winter destinations are offering activities during the summer and are experiencing a highly lucrative summer season for the first time ever. This leads to operational challenges but is also a fantastic case study in adapting your revenue management strategy to capitalize on emerging trends.

Last but not least, remote work and remote learning are enabling families to book outside of the typical holiday weeks and allowing them to stay longer. This dynamic should influence the revenue management strategy as well.

 

2. Standardized Uniqueness

Unlike hotels or serviced apartments, most vacation rentals are unique. Hotels have long- and well-established standardized operating procedures and standardized inventory, whereas vacation rental managers have built their businesses with few best practices and often with little hospitality experience.

Operationally, these challenges might be daunting because of the nature of the inventory and because of unit density, which is lower for vacation rentals. Property managers who have not yet started to implement well-defined procedures and quality control processes in their operational management workflows should consider this—we all must cope with escalating guest expectations and an emphasis on cleanliness and safety.

A common viewpoint from pre-COVID-19 “hotel-only” travelers booking a vacation rental for the first time is the expectation to find lodging standards resembling their previous experiences at hotels. A Marriott Bonvoy member booking on Homes & Villas by Marriott International expects some continuity in the experience. Larger spaces are not an excuse for lower cleaning standards, especially when—unlike hotels—there is a substantial cleaning fee charged on top of the rental price.

As with many pain points in the industry, technology will play an important role in making standardization a reality and streamlining processes in an era of staff shortage. For example, companies like Breezeway are supporting property managers in this endeavor to improve their efficiency and standards in property care operations and communications

Let alone the effects of the pandemic on people’s definition of clean, the expectation is very real. According to Booking.com, use of the words “hygiene” and “clean” when it comes to a question related to a property has increased by 60 percent.

For those who want to raise the bar and get closer to hotels in the way they address cleaning and maintenance, there are several different options to achieve this.

First—although this might sound cliché—knowledge is power. Educating oneself about hospitality operations is a great way to understand where the benchmark should be. Then build procedures and teams to get closer to that standard.

After all, the barrier of entry in vacation rentals is quite low, and everyone with access to one property can start building a business. There is no diploma or degree offered in vacation rentals yet; however, the vacation rental community has attempted several times to build this knowledge base. Associations like VRMA are building certification programs, tech companies like Breezeway are offering both templated property checklists in their software as well as a certification on safety, and AJL Atelier has recently collaborated with Hotel.school to build a vacation rental curriculum with experts in the vacation rental field (hotel.school/vacationrental).

Those who proactively go the extra mile to reach a new level of standards and professionalism will not only create efficiencies in their business but also reap the rewards of a larger pool of customers looking to book a vacation rental for their next holiday.

 

3. Direct Booking Growth

As everyone is talking about direct booking, the chance to convert these first timers into repeat customers is also something not to be forgotten. It is the best way to reduce your distribution cost, achieve more freedom from OTAs, and increase the profitability of your business.

At the end of the day, a relevant question to be asked is this: Am I willing to give half of my gross margin to an OTA forever, or shall I invest into my business with the goal of building a sustainable repeat business?

Everyone who read Airbnb’s S-1 filing should understand the importance of repeat customers and brand building in the vacation rental space. The latter goes way beyond a logo stamped onto a towel or placed in the header of an email—it is embedded within the standards upheld and the experience provided to guests.

Compared to the online giants, the main advantage property managers have is their direct interaction with the customers who will spend time in their property. This creates many touch points from which you can position your vacation rental brand and build direct dialogue with your customers.

Providing a great experience to customers is the first step in building this relationship; however, we are seeing companies of all sizes succeed at building a strong repeat or direct channel. It takes time, focus, and resources, but the reward is worth it. Some companies we work with, even with an inventory of just 50 properties, were able to build a direct channel providing 50 percent of their bookings in only a few years. This is a timeline that all managers should set for their business.

 

It’s Not Time to Throw in the Towel

Looking at the different trends we are experiencing industry wide, vacation rental managers can now tackle many new opportunities in their respective markets. The vacation rental product has gained a tremendous amount of traction and visibility with a mainstream audience, and the perception of the entire industry has shifted quickly in just a few months.

It is by far not the time to throw in the towel. After so much uncertainty, the light at the end of the tunnel is extremely bright. Although some might not know what to do with this—like a deer in headlights—others have a very clear understanding of what is ahead.

Asking the right questions and having a candid assessment of your business can help you make the right strategic decisions and execute a clearly defined road map to improve business performance and to become more sustainable.

The entire travel industry is looking at vacation rentals with a mix of envy and surprise, and it is up to all of us to ensure that what took place during COVID-19 was a stepping-stone and not a glass ceiling.

Being part of this journey is our mission, and if you ask us, vacation rentals are only getting started on this road to the top.

 

About Nicolas Galantini

Nicolas is an expert in vacation rental online distribution and has helped property management companies adopt channel management technology and maximize the potential of their inventory. A forward thinker with an in-depth understanding of the tech ecosystem, his focus is to help short-stay businesses expand by automating and sophisticating their operations and distribution.

About Simon Lehmann

Simon Lehmann is one of the world’s foremost experts in the short-term rental and vacation rental industries. He founded and leads  AJL Atelier, a specialized vacation rental and business consultancy while also advising multiple companies as board member and executive chairman. A sought-after speaker, panelist and moderator, Simon loves to broach high-level and technical topics alike, from future trends to the specifics of online distribution in the top five OTAs. Notable among his many achievements, Lehmann was the cofounder and chairman of Vacasa Europe, former president of Phocuswright, and former board member of HomeAway.

STR Investor Sascha Hausmann Sentenced to 10 Months for Domestic Assault

By
Amy Hinote
-
0

Sascha Hausmann, partner at Howzat Partners, has been sentenced to ten months in prison for assaulting his ex-partner. According to the release from Barcelona’s Criminal Court Number 28, the assault took place on April 23 of this year. Photos of the abuse and the emergency call recording were released to the public. 

Through Howzat Partners, Hausmann has invested in multiple companies in the vacation and short-term rental industries including Rentals United, Lodgify, Hello Here, Stasher, and SuitePad. Howzat is also an large investor in ByHours, the platform built to book hotel rooms by the hour. 

Hausmann was removed from the Rentals United board of directors immediately the day after the attack. 

The day before the trial began, Hausmann was also removed from his board position at Donkey Republic, the Danish bike-sharing company recently listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Copenhagen. 

Key Data Raises $5M Series B from Ballast Point Ventures

By
Amy Hinote
-
0

Ballast Point Ventures announced a $5 million Series B investment in Key Data Dashboard (“Key Data”), which provides benchmark and comparative market performance data for the vacation and short-term rental industries. Key Data’s platform integrates directly with property management systems to collect real-time reservation and booking data from 400,000 properties around the globe.

“As a former property manager, I understood firsthand the difficulty of obtaining accurate and real-time pricing data across a varied property portfolio,” said Key Data Chief Executive Officer, Jason Sprenkle. “We were determined to solve this problem for property managers with comprehensive and accurate real-time data.”

Sprenkle continued, “We are excited to bring an institutional investor into our company and are eager to get to work with Ballast Point Ventures. We look forward to this next leg of the journey and to continue to deliver a comprehensive solution to our many customers.”

According to a press release, “[Key Data’s] benchmarking and business intelligence dashboards aggregate proprietary, directly sourced data, providing historical, real-time, and forward-looking market data for customers seeking to understand hospitality trends for any given global market. Key Data will use the investment to accelerate development of its technology and product platform, add to its sales and marketing efforts, and for general corporate purposes.”

Related: Key Data Raises $2.4 million in Series A

“As BPV has gotten to know Jason over the last several years, we’ve been very impressed with the growth and success that Key Data has been able to achieve with minimal outside investment,” said Ballast Point Ventures partner Robert Faber who will join Key Data’s board of directors. “Given our focus on partnering with rapidly growing private companies with great management teams in the Southeast and Florida, in particular, Key Data is a great fit for us.” 

“We are excited to partner with Jason, Scott McLeod, Dan Haligas, and the entire Key Data team to drive continued growth and solidify the platform’s position as the leading provider of accurate, real-time vacation rental data,” Faber added. “Given some of the dynamics brought on by the pandemic, we believe that the work-from-anywhere trend is likely to make short-term rental data an even more important part of the picture for travel and hospitality markets.”

Key Data has raised $7.4 million to date and recently won the 2021 Technology Innovation Award sponsored by Expedia Group at the 3rd Annual Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference.

VRMA partners with Vrbo to expand membership to include individual hosts and homeowners

By
Amy Hinote
-
4

Today the Vacation Rental Management Association announced to its membership that it is partnering with Vrbo and “expanding its membership to include rental property owners, many of whom self-manage bookings through platforms such as Vrbo, part of Expedia Group.”

The entire announcement is below:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 27, 2021)—The Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA), the leading voice of the professional vacation rental community, announced today that it is expanding its membership to include rental property owners, many of whom self-manage bookings through platforms such as Vrbo, part of Expedia Group.

The move is part of a strategic decision to open doors to thousands of individuals who both directly own and manage less than six properties made available to guests and travelers for short-term stays. By connecting this growing market with VRMA’s community of property management and supplier members, the association will lead the way toward enhancing professionalism, expertise and the consumer experience across all facets of the vacation rental industry.

“We’re working toward the ultimate goal of driving industry growth and professionalism,” said VRMA President Toby Babich, and owner, Breckenridge Resort Managers. “By welcoming owners into our expanding community of management companies and suppliers, we can accelerate the exchange of ideas, information, knowledge and expertise to benefit the guests and communities we serve.”

Kevin Locraft, VP Partner Success, Vrbo, Expedia Group, adds, “We are excited to work with VRMA on this important initiative. For our platform partners who manage five or fewer properties, VRMA membership will provide them access to industry-leading resources to help solve everyday challenges with renting their vacation properties, and the added know-how to provide safe, clean, professional guest service.”

In addition to gaining resources, education, networking and data intelligence, owners also will benefit from VRMA’s advocacy efforts that work to protect vacation rentals and the industry. Together, owners and property management companies play a critical role in localized advocacy discussions that directly impact them and the communities in which they operate.

VRMA represents the full industry spectrum—from large management companies with properties throughout the world to individual owners, and also includes supplier companies that provide products and professional services.

About the Vacation Rental Management Association

Founded in 1985, the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) advances and advocates for the vacation and holiday rental property management and hospitality industries.

Headquartered in the United States, membership includes professional vacation rental managers, owners and suppliers in countries throughout the world—in addition to housekeeping professionals through our partnership with the Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals (VRHP).

VRMA provides news and research, education and networking opportunities, certification and accreditation, promotes the value of the vacation rental experience and drives industry growth and professionalism. To learn more, visit www.vrma.org.

About Vrbo

In 1995, Vrbo introduced a new way for people to travel together, pairing homeowners with families and friends looking for places to stay. We were grounded in one purpose: To give people the space they need to drop the distractions of everyday life and simply be together. Since then, we’ve grown into a global community of homeowners and travelers, with unique properties around the world. Vrbo makes it easy and fun to book cabins, condos, beach houses and every kind of space in between.

Vrbo is part of Expedia Group and offers homeowners and property managers exposure to over 750 million visits to Expedia Group sites each month. To learn more, visit www.vrbo.com.

FVRMA is now the Florida Alliance for Vacation Rentals (FAVR): Executive Director Denis Hanks discusses FVRMA’s rebrand

By
Amy Hinote
-
1

The Florida Vacation Rental Management Association (FVRMA) announced last week during its annual meeting at the Xtravaganza conference that it is rebranding and changing its name to the Florida Alliance for Vacation Rentals (FAVR). We caught up with Denis Hanks, the association’s executive director to learn more about the rebrand and what it means for the association. 

What brought about the name change and rebrand to FAVR?

Denis Hanks: The change for our association and for the industry was imminent. The Florida vacation rental market continues to grow and evolve (especially post-pandemic), and the association is adapting to these changes and market conditions. Our Florida market is unique, setting records and trending with the latest industry standards and advancements consistently. Vacation rentals are taking their rightful place as the premier hospitality sector in the Sunshine State.

Over the last 12 months, over 70,000 new listings have emerged on the major platforms in Florida alone. Inventory is growing, and the industry is diversifying with mergers, buyouts, and entrepreneurship. FAVR (Florida Alliance for Vacation Rentals), under its new branding, will take its 27 years of experience in the Florida vacation rental market to new heights.

One change will be growing our current base to unforeseen levels as a professional alliance of owners, managers and vendor partners that are working together for the advancement of the vacation rental industry throughout Florida. FAVR is also well positioned to advance our goals as we usher in our new association president, Nykkie Rizley from Royal Shell Vacations who will lead the association during its FAVR launch. Nykkie is a seasoned veteran in the vacation rental space and serves as director of operations at Royal Shell Vacations based in Ft Myers.

Does this help to distance FAVR from VRMA?

Denis Hanks: Over the years, FVRMA has been confused with being a chapter or subset of the Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA). The fact is that the two organizations are separate and distinct operators and not connected at all. Crossover membership in both organizations is very small. Florida VRMA, now FAVR, has always been a stand-alone 501-C6 non-profit corporation, solely dedicated to the Florida vacation rental industry.

Florida VRMA is actually larger (1,400 members) than VRMA in both membership size and programming due to the sheer size of the Florida market and its inventory. Confusion has always existed with the two organizations having similar names. With the FAVR rebranding, our organization looks to clarify that we are the premier vacation rental association representing just the Sunshine State.

Are there new objectives or goals for FAVR that come with the rebrand?

Denis Hanks: FAVR will pick up where Florida VRMA left off, but with an all-inclusive focus and by forging partnerships and building relationships with travel and tourism partners, as well as with non-traditional partners. This has been the key to our growth and success as a leading Florida hospitality sector over the past 5 – 7 years.

While we will continue to seek growth in the membership and in sponsorship support, we are also hyper-focused on vacation rentals gaining the respect they deserve in Florida’s hospitality industry as a major contributor to the economy and as a supplier of superior lodging. This only happens with engagement, relationship building, and industry education. Our partnerships with tax collectors, elected officials, and destination marketing partners statewide is the most unique nationally. This is all in addition to attracting major suppliers, like Publix for example, the largest grocery store chain in Florida, which now provides vacation rental food-delivery services across the state. Our technology partners are also adapting programs specifically for the Florida market as we speak, and these will roll out in 2022. FAVR and our alliance partners will continue to break new ground in Florida and lead the way as the US market leader in vacation rentals with 26 percent of the inventory in the entire US.

What challenges in the industry are you working to address?

Denis Hanks: Without a doubt, our most time-consuming and important initiative is our local government affairs activity. This, in and of itself, accounts for one-third of all that we do. No other organization like FAVR has the depth of engagement and participation in legislation and government affairs in Florida.

Every dollar that Florida VRMA has raised for advocacy—and every dollar that FAVR will raise—stays in Florida. it is never used for out-of-state consultants or distributed to efforts outside of Florida. FAVR has just established its eighth regional chapter, and this continues to attract participation from our local members and partners to address issues on the ground locally. The end game is to establish one set of fair and comprehensive rules implemented statewide, just like all other lodging sectors enjoy throughout Florida.

One thing that has always set us apart is our education and certification. Florida’s vacation rental market has over 1,500 vacation rental management companies, but this also includes 70 percent of Florida’s inventory that is is managed by owner/managers with less than five homes in their portfolios. This segment of our vacation rental industry is a targeted audience for us and is in dire need of operational standards and education. FAVR will continue to expand programming and benefits with an all-inclusive focus on every operator, regardless of size and hospitality product being offered. We have expanded our educational curriculum and will continue to advance our MBA certification program under FAVR.

Do you have dates set yet for the next Xtravangaza conference?

Denis Hanks: Currently, we are anticipating a September 2022 Xtravaganza and Annual Meeting. Coming off the heels of a successful 2021 Xtravaganza with over 500 attendees, we look forward to celebrating our next Xtravaganza as FAVR and rolling out many virtual and in-person regional events leading up to next year’s conference.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Predicts Travel Revolution: “Travel as we know it is never coming back.”

By
Amy Hinote
-
2

At this week’s Skift Global Forum, Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky told an audience of travel providers that the world is experiencing a “travel revolution” and “travel as we know it is never coming back.”

“There’s a whole new game,” Chesky said. “And I think it’s a good thing.”

Chesky explained his theory, sharing that “hundreds of millions of people”—a phrase he used often during the interview— are working remotely; have more flexibility without being tethered to an office; and are now combining living, working, and traveling by staying in “Airbnbs” for longer term stays. “This revolution is really about flexibility. You can live anywhere. You can work anywhere . . . so imagine hundreds of millions of people now all flexible.”

Watch Skift founder Rafat Ali’s interview with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.

20% of Airbnb’s business now for stays longer than 30 days

“A fifth of our business, by room nights, is 30 days or longer. And we think this is going to stay and probably go up,” Chesky said. “So that means that one-fifth of our business—and growing—is not even travel. It changes our entire identity.”

He went on to describe how hundreds of millions of people can now “live in Airbnbs” as people are no longer tied to a place because they are able to work remotely.

At first blush, it seems—in order for Chesky to make this proclamation—that an insignificant portion of Airbnb’s revenue is coming from traditional vacation rentals. According to Key Data, the average length of stay for vacation homes booked on Airbnb is 4.1 nights, consistent with the prior year. However, the average length of stay for vacation rental bookings coming from Vrbo is 20 percent longer, and the average length of stay for direct bookings is 44 percent longer than stays booked on Airbnb. 

Leisure and Domestic Travel

Chesky acknowledged that domestic travel has increased in popularity. “The less people travel for business, the more, I think, they travel for leisure,” Chesky said. “It’s a little bit of a shift, and business and leisure will probably blur together anyway. I mean, when your home is your office, they’re kind of blurring anyway.”

“The reason domestic travel is going to stay really popular is—what’s one of the largest expenses in travel? It’s flights. I think a lot of long-distance travel is being replaced by short-distance travel.”

40% of Airbnb’s shoppers don’t know when or where they want to travel

Chesky told Ali that, previously, consumers would come to Airbnb and search for short-term rentals in a specific location and travel dates. However, since the pandemic, “that whole paradigm has changed.”

“40 percent of people come to Airbnb—now this is hundreds of millions of people—and they either don’t have a destination in mind or they don’t have a date range in mind,” he said. “What this means is that we have an ability to point demand to where we have supply.”

Airbnb’s role in directing consumers where they should travel is part of the company’s plan to combat overtourism, which Chesky defined as “too many people going to too few places at the exact same time.”

“The holy grail of overtourism is travel redistribution,” Chesky said. “More than 500 million people have used our ‘flexible date’ feature.”

Chesky told Ali that consumers’ indecision about where they want to travel gives Airbnb the ability to steer them in way that combats overtourism for destinations. It would be interesting to know how conversion rates for “flexible searches” on Airbnb compare to searches with a specified location and date.

Airbnb’s Significant Decrease in Marketing Spend

Ali asked Chesky about Airbnb’s reported shutdown of marketing during the pandemic.

“We were spending $800 million on a run-rate basis, mostly on Google keywords,” Chesky said. “And we got to do the experience that I think every CMO in the world wishes they could do: ‘What if we just turned off 100% of marketing? What would happen?’” 

Chesky continued,” Of course, we were forced into that experiment. So we shut off $800 million of run-rate marketing, and what happened was our traffic was still 95 percent of the year prior. So we realized that we don’t have to return to that spending, and we have not.”

“If you can get people talking about you, that’s the best marketing.”

Family Travel

After Chesky’s “travel revolution” declaration, Ali astutely asked Chesky about family travel, the historic primary driver of vacation rental travel. Chesky’s response demonstrates that—in spite of company’s narrative that hundreds of millions of people will be living in Airbnbs in the future— Chesky is clear-eyed about the high returns coming from large vacation homes and the importance of the established family-leisure travel sector.   

“A bigger opportunity [in the next] ten years for everyone is family travel. Even people with families—they can’t be totally untethered—but most of their kids are only in school 180 days in the year.” Chesky said. “The other 185, they can travel—a lot of them—so I think family travel is one of the greatest [opportunities], and it has benefited us.”

“I mean, why did our average daily rate (ADR) go up? Our unit economics improved, in part, because people started spending more money per night on Airbnb. Why did they do that? Because we were booking larger homes. And who were booking larger homes? Families and groups. So, I think family travel will boom, and the other thing that I think is going to boom is multiple families traveling together or friend groups traveling together.”

How is Airbnb stacking up for bookings in larger homes? The charts below show 2021 vacation rental KPIs comparing direct performance with Airbnb and Vrbo by bedroom size. Airbnb’s average stay value is lower, the length of stay is shorter, and the booking window is smaller on Airbnb than Vrbo and direct-channel bookings for professionally managed vacation rentals. The gap widens as the size of the home increases, and Vrbo is performing much better for larger professionally managed vacation homes. 

Subscription Model

Rafat also asked Brian what he thinks about the future of OTA subscription models.

“I think anything that’s used frequently is where a subscription model works,” Chesky said. “Some people have asked, ‘What is the most popular app in the world that’s never worked?’ And a lot of people say it’s a travel planning app. Like every engineer and every product person, their pet project is a travel planning app. Why do travel-planning apps not stick? It’s because they’re very complicated and people use them once a year. That’s a bad combination.”

“You need to have something that’s used frequently,” he explained. “And to be a travel app that’s used frequently, you need really big scale or you need to be something that’s relevant to people’s lives. That’s hard in an infrequent business. If you can solve the scale problem or the frequency problem, you have a great subscription platform.”

Whether he knows it or not, Chesky’s comments throw a bit of shade on TripAdvisor’s new subscription model. We’ll look forward to hearing from TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kauffer, along with Expedia CEO Peter Kern and Booking CEO Glen Fogel later in the show. 

One more Chart: Average Stay Values by Booking Source

Looking at average stay values (ASVs) for professionally managed vacation rentals, Airbnb had an ASV of $906, which was more than 53 percent below the ASV for direct bookings ($1,935). The difference in ASVs is the result of a combination of higher ADRs and longer stays for direct bookings.

Another way to look at it is that it takes 2+ bookings on Airbnb to equal one direct reservation. Even though Chesky is looking for a revolution, the company needs to close this gap in revenue per booking. 

Skift Founder and CEO Rafat Ali Discusses Upcoming Skift Global Forum, Sep 21-23

By
Amy Hinote
-
0

Tuesday kicks off the annual Skift Global Forum at the TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK Airport, September 21 – 23. However, this year’s conference is a “hybrid” event, meaning participants can attend the forum either in-person or virtually. In-person tickets are $2,495, and online tickets are $345.

The travel industry has been transformed by the pandemic, and vacation rental industry leaders are anxious to hear directly from executives at OTAs, hotels, urban short-term rentals, and destinations about how they view both the significant changes to leisure travel and the increased demand for vacation home rentals. Key interviews on Skift’s stage include Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano, Google VP and Travel GM Richard Holden, Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern, Sonder CEO Francis Davidson, HomeAway cofounder and investor Carl Shepherd, Family Travel Association founder Ranier Jenss, and Visit Florida CEO Dana Young.

Check out the Skift Global Forum agenda, and then use this link to save 25 percent on your online ticket. 

We caught up with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali to hear more about this week’s event, how he feels about getting his team back together at their NYC home base, what insights attendees are hoping to gain from the forum, and how hybrid formats are transforming B2B events.  

“This is the first time the whole team will meet since March 2020 last year,” Ali said. “We haven’t used this muscle in more than two years now, and it will take some doing to shake off those rusty muscles, so to speak. So much of the happiness is just meeting our team again—and so many people we have hired in the last two years we haven’t ever met in person! Also NYC is back, for sure, so there’s a little bit of that thrill of being part of the revenge of the big city.”

On Tuesday, September 21, the event kicks off by introducing human mobility to the dialogue followed by a discussion about its implications between Ali and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. “Brian will be talking to me about a big picture conversation on future of human mobility, with all the changes happening on climate change, immigration, global talent shortage, changes in future of work and living, and other larger geopolitical issues.”

Ali will also be talking to Chesky about how he envisions building out Airbnb for the next decade. “It will be less granular on the current business and financials, also because they’re coming to a quiet period because of their earnings coming up,” Ali added. “He is planning to give an update on some booking and host trends they’re seeing, so do tune in for that, but it’ll be smaller part of the conversation.”

In light of the many changes facing the travel industry, we asked Rafat what he thinks attendees are hoping to discover through these discussions.

“I think one of the biggest things people and our editors are keen on understanding is the shape of recovery as we enter winter 2021 and the obvious slowdown with the Delta variant,” Ali responded. “Yet it’s a very hopeful time, as the demand over the last year has been incredible for domestic [travel] and has benefited sectors like yours [vacation rentals] and others.”

“The other things everybody’s trying to figure out are when international travel will open—particularly to the US—and what’s the shape of vaccine mandates for employees of travel companies as well as for customers/travelers. The last part is particularly applicable to the airline companies,” Ali added.

We also asked Ali about his decision to host a hybrid event and if this hybrid format will be the future of B2B events. “How can we not have a hybrid future for conferences going ahead?” he asked. “It would seem like a big loss if we only do physical [events] when, if anything the last 18 months has shown us, it is that technologies like Zoom allow us to open up to the world, both in terms of where we hire our teams as well as in terms of our audiences and other stakeholders on events. It is more complex than just running a physical [event] or just running a virtual event, because you’re almost running two conferences at the same time with two different audiences that at times are at cross purposes. We are going to learn a lot of lessons the hard way in the next few days.”

To learn more about the event, check out the Skift Global Forum website, and then use this link to save 25% on your online ticket. 

Former Expedia and Airbnb Exec Shaun Stewart Shares Insight at Data and Revenue Management Conference

By
Amy Hinote
-
1

In a keynote presentation at the 3rd Annual Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference last month, Shaun Stewart discussed the recent “seismic shift” in the vacation rental industry over the last 18 months. 

“What’s clear is VR was already in the biggest seismic shift it’s ever seen,” Stewart said. “But pre-pandemic, we were all talking about how this was continuing to go from 1 out of 10 trips in the US, to 2 out of 10 trips, to 4 out of 10 trips. And what happened during the pandemic is that a level of fuel just got added to that fire that nobody’s ever seen before.”

In this keynote, Stewart explained how this explosion of demand during the pandemic has affected outside investment, current and future shifts in supply, and distribution strategies. He also addressed technology, Vacasa, and the future of rate parity. There was so much interest in Shaun’s presentation, that DARM emcees, Sarah Bradford and Tim Cafferty hosted him on their Sarah and T podcast to follow up on the concepts presented and how VRMs can capitalize on the current environment.

Although our intent was to offer this presentation exclusively on VRDARM.com as part of the paid video package, I feel strongly that all of our readers would benefit from hearing this presentation. There is a lot here, and Stewart shares valuable data. In addition, I highly recommend also listening to the Sarah and T podcast follow-up episode as they dive deeper with Stewart into several of the topics discussed in the presentation below. 

 

 

If you’re not familiar with Shaun Stewart, he graduated from Cornell University in hospitality and worked with Expedia from 2000 – 2010, mainly focused on negotiating deals with suppliers. He then helped to build Jetsetter, which sold to TripAdvisor in 2013. After working for TripAdvisor for 18 months, he moved his family to California in 2014 to join Airbnb as Global Head of Vacation Rentals, focusing on growing its performance outside of urban city centers and into leisure space. He was the first to explore and build integrations with property management systems for vacation rental management companies. In fact—this is the role he was in when I first met Shaun and heard him speak at the 2015 Liverez Partner Conference after Airbnb had successfully completed its first VRM API integration with Liverez’s PMS. In 2016, Shaun left Airbnb to join Google to develop Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company, after which he returned to New York as CEO of Newlab, an advanced technology accelerator which has raised 1.6 billion over the last four years to help 220 different companies get to market.

I highly encourage you to listen to both Shaun Stewart’s keynote presentation from the DARM Conference and the follow-up Sarah and T Podcast. It will help in understanding the current vacation rental landscape and give you insight and ideas about how to approach the future.

You can also purchase the video package from the DARM Conference at https://vrdarm.com/

Moving Mountains Acquires Breckenridge’s Paragon Lodging

By
Amy Hinote
-
2

Colorado’s Moving Mountains has expanded into Breckenridge with the purchase of Paragon Lodging. Founded in 1997 by Robin and Heather Craigen, Moving Mountains currently manages over 120 luxury vacation rentals in Steamboat Springs, Vail, and Beaver Creek, With the acquisition of Paragon Lodging, the company is adding 70 top-tier vacation rental homes in the Breckenridge area.

Paragon Lodging was founded by Johna Rice and Krista Rider in 2000. Although Rice and Rider are exiting the company, Moving Mountains is retaining all Paragon staff members.

“Our guests constantly ask where else they can stay with us, and with this expansion further into Colorado we can help meet their needs,” said Robin Craigen, president and CEO of Moving Mountains. “We have known Johna and Krista for over seven years and have long identified with the similarities in our approach to service and experience. They have a special team and spectacular homes—the perfect opportunity for smart growth different to what is happening elsewhere in the industry.”

Craigen continued, “The relationship with Johna and Krista makes this a natural fit. We had not approached any other business in Breckenridge because this was always our number one choice to grow into this market. After our success with expanding to Vail and Beaver Creek, adding another premier resort like Breckenridge just made sense.”

According to Paragon Lodging cofounder Johna Rice, “Krista and I are thrilled to be passing the torch to such a well-respected leader in our industry. We have developed a great friendship with Robin and Heather over the past seven years, and we have the utmost confidence that they continue to deliver the highest standard of excellence which Paragon is so well known for. We have no doubt that our staff, homeowners, guests, and business partners will thrive under this new ownership.”

By merging these two companies with complementary portfolios of luxury mountain homes, Moving Mountains looks forward to further solidifying its foothold in the top-tier ski destinations of Colorado. It is expected that Moving Mountains will bring disciplined financial management along with “the highest level of service in luxury mountain vacation home management” for both their guests and owners.

Paragon’s inventory will be marketed nationally on the Moving Mountains website but will be operating locally as Paragon Lodging by Moving Mountains.

Marketing Without Data is Like Boating Without A Motor

By
Scott Hahnert
-
0

Spoiler alert…you won’t get very far. Getting the most out of your marketing efforts means investing in data.

Come up with a tagline, use a beautiful picture of a vacation home and insert your contact information – easy as one, two, three, right?

In today’s marketing landscape – not so much. This approach to creating an owner postcard, homeowner landing page, or any other owner-directed marketing asset is known as “spray and pray” marketing. And, this no longer cuts it in the vacation rental industry.

Why?

Because your competitors are now doing data-driven marketing and are seeing better results.

How do we know?

We do data-driven marketing at Vintory for over 100 partners in the VR space, and this is also how venture-backed VR companies do it too.

 

Why Data-Driven Marketing Works

In a nutshell, data-driven marketing uses customer data to predict their needs and optimize marketing efforts for the highest possible return on investment.

Data-driven marketing will help you reap a number of benefits that traditional marketing doesn’t, including:

  • Access to more leads you currently aren’t reaching
  • Targeting higher quality leads that have a higher chance of converting
  • Personalized marketing outreach, leading to higher conversions
  • More successful, unbiased campaigns that remove the guesswork

 

How To Start Doing Data-Driven Marketing

There are a few ways you can begin to incorporate data into your marketing campaigns:

  • Pull data records yourself (not for the faint of heart)
  • Hire a data analyst
  • Partner with a VR marketing specialist like Vintory

 

What Does a Marketing Data Analyst Do?

As the Senior Data Analyst at Vintory, I will outline what our data team does for VR Managers to boost their marketing efforts and accelerate their inventory growth.

There are two main steps we take to do this:

  1. We provide customized data targets
    Here we dive deep into the specialized data VR Managers are looking for. Maybe it’s 3+ bedroom properties, has a pool, or an estimated property value of $800K+. Whatever the case, our goal is to find a healthy record count that corresponds to our VR’s criteria, resulting in highly qualified leads.
  2. We provide customized data purchases
    Here we compile a data set from a variety of sources, run this data through a series of data transformations, and load this data onto our CRM platform. We follow the data integration process called ETL, which stands for Extract, Transform, and Load. ETL provides the foundation for data analytics by standardizing raw data in a methodical manner. This process results in giving the clearest, consistent, and usable data possible.

 

Extract: We get our raw data from generally two sources: Public County Records and OTA (Online Travel Agency) data.

Transform: Next, we take that raw data and customize it for our specific needs. To do that, we need to clean and unify our data (known as data wrangling) as well as run the data through our standard data transformations.

 

Our standard transformations include:

  1. Skip Tracing OTA data and custom data with any & all owner information.
  2. Unifying our data from multiple sources into one.
  3. Removing duplicate owners.
  4. Removing current owners.
  5. Removing “do not contact” owners.
  6. Appending emails & phone #’s.
  7. Making custom A-B-C targets.
  8. Providing data visualization through tools such as BatchGeo.

 

Load: Once we complete these transformations, we review the file with our partner and then load it into Vintory – our CRM and marketing automation platform.

And once we’re done, that’s not an end-all, be-all data set locked in time. We get feedback from our mail campaigns for address changes and update our records accordingly on our CRM. We also periodically offer new data purchases as well since data decays over time.

 

So what separates Vintory and our data process from others that aren’t, well… so great?

  • We listen to our partners and come back with fresh data that align with their custom interests
  • The quality of our scripts to provide high-quality data is superb and unparalleled
  • We are detail-oriented, accurate, and ethical in how we source data
  • We work closely with our partners to explain how to best use their data list and create personalized marketing campaigns to these homeowner leads

 

Final Thoughts

This article only scratches the surface of how to acquire, analyze and use homeowner data for data-driven marketing campaigns. The real takeaway is to understand why data-driven marketing will provide you a higher return on your marketing efforts and is necessary in today’s competition.

Engaging in a single purchase of data can provide invaluable insights into your target market and enhance your marketing efforts, such that it’s worth the effort to give it a try.

If you’re interested in learning more about how Vintory acquires and uses data, feel free to learn more about Vintory’s services here. You can also send me an email at: scott@vintory.com.

VTrips Receives “Significant” Equity Investment. Will Use $250M+ to Buy More Vacation Rental Management Companies

By
Amy Hinote
-
4

One of the US’s largest vacation rental management companies, Florida-based VTrips, received a “significant minority equity investment” from Hudson Hill Capital. According to the company, “all capital will be funded to the balance sheet,” and VTrips will leverage the investment to speed up its acquisition strategy and further strengthen its technology offering.

With this injection, VTrips expects to spend over $250 million to acquire attractive vacation rental management companies in the near future.

Founded in 2002 by CEO Steve Milo, VTrips offers full-service vacation rental management with most of its current inventory located in the Southeast US. Steve Milo, founder and CEO of VTrips, shared, “Our new investors have placed a significant vote of confidence in our vision, our people, and our technology that will further enhance the customer experience. This investment, combined with Hudson Hill’s track record of scaling businesses like ours will help us extend our market leadership through a carefully designed acquisition strategy that will further build our category defining technology and service offering. VTrips possesses a very promising future.”

Related: Video clip from panel discussion with VRM Intel, May, 2021. Steve Milo: “We’re a unicorn, too; and we’re set to actually scale and be sustainable. . . . Profitability matters.”

According to Eric Rosen, managing partner of Hudson Hill Capital (HHC), “Steve has built VTrips into the leading independent vacation rental management platform and one of only a select number of operators with a multi-state footprint. Perhaps more notable about VTrips is its proven ability to operate effectively and profitably over multiple decades. HHC is excited to partner with Steve during the company’s next phase of growth and to use our collective experience to help build the company’s footprint both organically and through M&A, capitalizing on the tailwinds within the growing vacation rental market.”

Milo added, “This significant investment represents another key milestone for our company as the vacation rental resort market in North America continues to boom, especially in drive-to markets. There is far more demand than supply which has resulted in a more than 20 percent increase in average daily rates (ADRs) in many markets. COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of vacation rentals over hotels, and the sector also benefited significantly from social distancing, remote work. and remote learning which allows more flexibility for travel.”

VTrips has already completed three acquisitions in the first half of 2021, most recently acquiring Panama City, Florida-based Resort Collection with close to 800 units. The Resort Collection deal follows several other acquisitions in the Southeast region, including Distinctive Vacation Rentals in Ft Myers Beach and Resort Properties in Tennessee. The company has completed over 20 acquisitions since its founding.

According to Milo, owners of local property management companies are increasingly concerned about whom they sell to. “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 with pride. With this capital infusion, we are poised to accelerate our activity as a buyer and represent a unique landing place for an independent vacation rental operator.”

Milo will be speaking next week at the Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference in Charleston, SC, Aug 17 – 18. 

Vacasa Acquires Meyer Vacation Rentals, Doubles Footprint on Alabama Gulf Coast

By
Amy Hinote
-
4

Vacasa has purchased Meyer Vacation Rentals and Meyer Services from SH Enterprises, doubling its short-term rental footprint along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Starr Textiles and Meyer Real Estate will remain under the SH Enterprises umbrella and will be managed by president Michelle Hodges and CEO Les Williams.

Founded in 1967, Meyer began as a real estate company and moved into vacation rentals as the Gulf Coast witnessed an explosion in development in the late 70s. Meyer Vacation Rentals was the largest property management company in the area for decades, managing 2,200 homes and condos at its height before 2008’s recession. Increased competition slowly eroded its market share along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, and Vacasa reported today that it is acquiring 980 units at Meyer. 

Founder Sheila Hodges had recently transferred ownership to her daughter and Les Williams in March of this year. 

Based in Portland, Oregon, Vacasa is set to go public this fall through a merger with TPG Pace Solutions, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), with a $4.5 billion valuation. Company information presented with the SPAC announcement (source: Skift) shows that Vacasa receives a 30% commission on rentals and then adds a number of fees resulting in a 49% take rate (fees and commissions that the company collects on gross rental revenue).

 

According to SH Enterprises president Michelle Hodges, “While l appreciate everyone’s kind words about me and especially Sheila (Hodges), what makes this team special are the people that get up every day and come to work. That’s not going to change, they are what makes Meyer special, they are the team that just landed us as one of the best companies in Alabama. They will also be what makes Vacasa special; it may be another name but they are the ones that Make It Happen. Those aren’t just words. Truly Vacasa could have acquired a few smaller property managers to pick up inventory but they chose this team and fought for it, and I believe the reason is the talent and professionalism of a world-class group of professionals who know vacation rental operations like no one else.”

With previous acquisitions of TurnKey, Wyndham Vacation Rentals, and Mandoki Hospitality, Vacasa already has a large operation in the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area outside of Meyer Vacation Rentals, and the company touts its ability to create synergies for scalability and efficiency. For example, when Vacasa purchased Wyndham Vacation Rentals, the company let go a significant number of Wyndham’s employees in Alabama within months following the acquisition. 

 

 

Impact to the Destination

The leadership at Meyer Vacation Rentals has served in critical roles with the state tourism department and the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, consistently advocating for promotional funding for the destination, beach renourishment projects, workforce development programs, and development of conference facilities and the airport. The company is a key supporter for shoulder-season events that bring people to the area, including Hangout Festival, Shrimp Festival, concerts series, fishing tournaments, and nation-wide youth and collegiate sports. In addition, Meyer Vacation Rentals funds area charities, schools, and community events and initiatives. Vacasa, historically, hasn’t invested as heavily in the destinations or communities it enters. 

According to Glen Kaiser, broker and partner at Kaiser Vacation Rentals, “When you begin to think about all the influence Shelia (Hodges) and Meyer have had in the community through her passion and entrepreneurship you can’t help but wonder how losing that presence will affect the business and community.”

Kaiser’s vacation rental division sold to Wyndham Vacation Rentals in 2013, and Vacasa purchased Wyndham Vacation Rentals in 2019. Earlier this year, Leonard and Glen Kaiser reentered vacation rental management with the relaunch of Kaiser Vacation Rentals. 

“Change is inevitable,” Kaiser said. “Those who are left after a change are left with a responsibility to ensure that whatever the change affects will result in a positive outcome. We at Kaiser Vacation Rentals have experienced and learned from the effects of change like this sale of Meyer, so we work every day to ensure our actions are dedicated to reach positive outcomes. Our approach to business is what has been the cornerstone of how Shelia and the other pillars of the industry in our community—Kaisers, Bodenhamers, Bretts, Robinsons, Bollers—work toward, and that cornerstone is relationships and family-friendly business practices. So change such as this can be a little concerning that we don’t lose what has been worked so hard for and for so many years.”

Kaiser continued, “I guess I’m being a bit nostalgic, but I am proud of our community and of the reputation this community is known for.  My hope is those of us still in the field working never lose what people like Shelia have worked so hard for so many years to build.”

According to Vacasa’s press release, “To support the portfolio expansion and continuation of service levels, Vacasa will maintain the Meyer Vacation Rentals Gulf Shores office and the Meyer Services office in Foley, Alabama, in addition to welcoming more than 200 employees to its field and management team.”

Vacasa expects that Meyer Vacation Rentals’ homes will be fully integrated and bookable on Vacasa.com by October 2021, with Florida units to be managed by Vacasa LLC and Alabama units to be managed by licensed subsidiary Vacasa Alabama LLC. 

Upcoming battleground puts a spotlight on revenue management technology in the short-term rental sector

By
Amy Hinote
-
0

Over the last two years, the short-term rental (STR) industry has exploded with increased consumer demand and a large amount of media attention resulting from Airbnb’s IPO, Expedia and Booking.com’s focus on vacation rentals, and industry-wide consolidation. Further, high growth and lucrative exits are attracting significant outside investment. The vacation rental industry is undisputedly the hottest sector of travel, with many vacation rental companies seeing 50%+ increases in gross revenue in 2021. 

As a result, professional STR management companies are swiftly becoming more advanced, technology-enabled, and efficient as they compete for both homeowner contracts and guests. In the traditional leisure-based vacation rental industry, older independent operators are weighing selling their companies as investment buyers flood into the sector seeking to capture market share via acquisitions. And the emergence of SPACS have allowed companies that haven’t achieved profitability (e.g., Sonder and Vacasa) to move toward public offerings with less scrutiny. 

Looking to the hotel industry as an example, short-term rental management companies have discovered revenue management strategies to help them take advantage of the influx of demand. No longer holding to static seasonal nightly and weekly rates, companies in the sector are quickly transitioning to dynamic revenue management strategies that mirror other travel verticals. However, the percentage of STR companies using tech solutions for revenue management is still small, and technology companies are racing to meet this emerging industry need. 

In Charleston, SC, next week, nine of these technology companies are entering an arena to introduce new functionality for STR companies at the Vacation Rental Data and Revenue Management (DARM) Conference Battleground sponsored by RevPARTY. Expedia Group is keeping an eye on the new industry dynamics and reached out to sponsor award recognitions at the conference, which will include a 2021 Innovation Award and a People’s Choice DARM Battleground Award. The DARM Battleground will be held on Aug 17 and 18, at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston. In addition to the battleground, Expedia Group is sponsoring the 2021 DARM Pioneer Award and the 2021 Vacation Rental Revenue Manager of the Year. 

DARM Battleground Presentations

Below is a preview of what attendees and judges will be viewing during the upcoming DARM Battleground sponsored by RevPARTY.

Art, Rented’s Automated Rate Tool with Andrew McConnell

Rented provides technology, tools, and services to help vacation rental pros optimize their portfolio of properties. Art, Rented’s Automated Rate Tool, is the only dynamic pricing software built for and by professional short-term rental revenue managers. With Art, your in-house specialists are empowered to set the right price for every property with intelligent rate recommendations and easy custom adjustments. For companies that need hands-on support, our Revenue Management Service provides a dedicated revenue manager who specializes in handling every detail: setting prices, monitoring performance, and making custom adjustments.

DemandIQ by Key Data with Melanie Brown

DemandIQ by Key Data is the lodging industry’s first product for capturing true, real-time, forward-looking traveler demand data. To date, we have all relied upon booking data to reflect traveler demand. While this tells the picture of the demand you captured, it doesn’t tell the full story about the demand you failed to capture or the market-level demand that never made it your way. With this new product, we will be able to offer clear insights into the full demand picture.                 

MarketMinder by AirDNA with Scott Shatford

AirDNA is presenting MarketMinder, its flagship platform for short-term rental data and analytics. In addition to its market intelligence tools, this battleground session will focus on two aspects of MarketMinder: My Properties, a tool where vacation rental hosts and managers can onboard properties, create custom comp sets, and benchmark themselves against the competition; and Smart Rates, a new tool to push automated pricing to their listings. 

Portfolio Analytics by PriceLabs with Oliver Marczynski

Portfolio Analytics by PriceLabs provides a convenient way to visualize internal booking data and helps identify opportunities to increase revenue. Intuitive charts make it easy to see portfolio and group performance at a glance without losing track of individual listings which might require additional attention. Pair Portfolio Analytics with our Market Dashboards to compare your booking trends against similar listings in the market and automate pricing adjustments to respond to patterns in bookings with our Dynamic Pricing tool for a full revenue management solution. Connect via our 50+ PMS partners or internal API and unlock actionable booking trends in minutes, free of charge.

RevMax with Desiree Garcia and Maureen Shilling

RevMax partners with data experts to offer market and business intelligence to help with pricing strategies. RevMax offers distribution channel management, nightly minimum management, as well as automated incremental revenue generation. Along with all of the tools to build an effective pricing strategy, the experienced RevMax team also offers consulting services for those companies that need some help to capitalize on the tools. RevMax is now open to non-Streamline clients, so it’s the perfect time to talk to the team to find out how they can help increase the bottom line.  

Shopping Cart Abandonment by NAVIS with Amir Rashid

The NAVIS Shopping Cart Abandonment (SCA) tool works behind the scenes capturing stay and contact details entered by guests as they search and explore options on your booking engine. Once a guest enters their email, all previously entered stay and contact data are sent to the lead form, even if the reservation isn’t made. With up to 80% of guests abandoning their shopping carts, SCA brings the lead data back to the vacation rental company and allows them to convert up to 30% of their abandoned web traffic leveraging highly personalized outbound emails and calling from captured data.    

Track Property Management Software with Michelle Marquis

Effective revenue management is about more than just unit pricing. In addition to giving PMs the ability to flexibly set and configure unit pricing and integrate with third-party dynamic-pricing providers, TRACK provides tools to optimize fees―the second largest revenue driver for most PMs. TRACK’s fee configurability gives PMs the power to overcome competitor commission-rate threats in retaining homeowners, package fees optimally to work within each channel’s limitations, and insulate against one our industry’s biggest negatives―being “fee’d to death” after choosing a home on rent alone. Once fees are built in Track, PMs establish business rules for automatically mass-applying them by unit type, location, reservation types, channels, etc., eliminating much of the manual work typically required to optimize this important revenue source. 

Trip Manager by LMPM with Sean Raftree

LMPM is next-generation property management software for vacation rentals. LMPM’s powerful Trip Manager can boost your revenue management strategy so you’re measuring RevPOR, not just RevPAR. Supplement your rate strategy by including additional services and experiences to generate ancillary revenue before and during the stay, monetize owner stays, and provide merchandizing benefit on channels.

Wheelhouse Pro with Andrew Kitchell

Wheelhouse will be introducing a few features from their newest platform, Wheelhouse Pro. Wheelhouse’s goal is to bring transparency and auditability to pricing engines in the accommodations space. Their newest toolset will demonstrate that ambition and illustrate the power and control that revenue managers can have with more transparency around how a pricing engine is working.

The Industry Needs Your Feedback in Phocuswright’s 2021 Short-Term Rental Survey

By
Pete Comeau
-
1

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. 

 Click Here to Take 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. 

Click Here to Take the Survey.

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

 

IMPORTANT EDITOR’S NOTE FROM VRM INTEL

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. 

 

1...567...73Page 6 of 73