• News
    • VRM Intel News
    • Latest News
    • Sponsor News
  • COVID-19
  • Marketing
  • Tech
  • OTAs
  • Customer Service
  • Regs
  • Housekeeping
  • More
    • Education
      • Calendar of Events
      • Videos & Whitepapers
    • VRM Intel Live!
    • Reports Login
    • VRM Intel Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Authors
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
VRM Intel
  • News
    • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • VRM Intel_Christmas-in-New-Orleans
      That’s the Ticket! Register Now to Enjoy Big Savings and Convenient Payment Plans for the 2021 Vacation Rental Women’s Summit in New Orleans
    • Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division
    • VRM Intel News
    • Latest News
    • Sponsor News
  • COVID-19
    • Paycheck-Protection-Program-for-VR-industry
      Latest Round of Paycheck Protection Program Includes Up to $2 Million Loans for Some Vacation Rental Business Owners
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • Airbnb Goes Public. CEO Brian Chesky: “Travel is never going to look like it did in January”
    • Short-Term Rental Industry Giants Grapple with Building Brand Loyalty, Democratization, Regulations, and More at Skift’s 2020 STR Summit
  • Marketing
    • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    • Learn How You Can Unleash Your ‘Limitless Female Energy’ During VRM’s Thought Leadership Series Featuring Author/Speaker Amber Hurdle
    • How to Use Website Traffic to Gauge Demand for Your Market
    • Elements of a Property Detail Page: How They Can Make or Break Your Bookings
  • Tech
    • Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division
    • 2021 Social Media Game Changer
      Are You Ready to Ride the Wave to Becoming a 2021 Social Media Game Changer?
    • NDAs & Confidentiality Agreements: What to Include and When to Enforce
    • Selling Your Business? Know Your Tech Stuff!
    • Dynamic Pricing: To Adjust Rates or Not to Adjust Rates
  • OTAs
    • Airbnb Goes Public. CEO Brian Chesky: “Travel is never going to look like it did in January”
    • 6 Takeaways from Vrbo’s 2021 Consumer Travel Trend Report
    • Barron’s: Airbnb Set to Price December 9 and Trade December 10
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    • Airbnb is Finally Going Public: Takeaways for Property Managers from IPO Filing
  • Customer Service
    • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
      The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    • Dynamic Pricing: To Adjust Rates or Not to Adjust Rates
    • Repurposing Space: Broadening Your Vacation Rental’s Appeal
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    • New Customers Bring New Demands: Evolving to Meet the Needs of New Customer Avatars
  • Regs
    • Barron’s: Airbnb Set to Price December 9 and Trade December 10
    • Strategic Forecasting Beyond 2021: Are Vacation Rental Managers Changing Fast Enough?
    • Alabama’s tourism economy benefits from Florida Governor DeSantis’ shutdown of vacation rentals
    • Airbnb reaches out to city officials to influence “transitional travel reopening plans”
    • Jeff Paglialonga on FL Vacation Rental COVID-related ban: “We need your support to rectify what I believe is to be the illegal taking of property from Florida vacation rental owners.”
  • Housekeeping
    • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    • Q&A with Breezeway founder Jeremy Gall about company’s $8 million funding round and more
    • Gatlinburg-based Cabins For YOU acquires Chalet Village and is looking for more. Q&A with owner and founder Greg Plimpton
    • What is the cost of Airbnb’s recommended 24- to 72-hour “buffer” time between stays?
    • The Professional Vacation Rental Manager’s Crisis Playbook
  • More
    • Education
      • Calendar of Events
      • Videos & Whitepapers
    • VRM Intel Live!
    • Reports Login
    • VRM Intel Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Authors
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
  • RSS

Vacation Rental Technology

Millennials and Technology

Millennials and Technology
mm
Sean Miller
August 10, 2018

How VRMs Can Embrace Change and Ride Both to Success

Millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 34, are currently America’s largest generation, numbering 75.4 million and rising, passing baby boomers at 74.9 million and falling.

With such a large chunk of the population becoming bigger influencers, we are all curious about what makes millennials tick. The good news is that millennials love to rent! They have been key contributors to the rental market, with 36.6 percent of current US households headed by renters, the highest since 1965 when it was 37 percent. Plus, 74 percent of millennial travelers have used a vacation rental service such as Airbnb, compared to 38 percent of Gen-Y and 20 percent of baby boomers.

Technology is on a similar growth curve. There is more tech in our lives today than ever before, and it’s increasing exponentially. From desktop to mobile to “things,” technology is embedded in virtually everything we do. Consider this:

  • Of the entire world’s population, 46 percent have access to the Internet–that’s 3.4 billion people.
  • Over half of all web searches start directly on Amazon, which accounts for $4 out of every $10 spent online in the United States. Netflix, with 100 million subscribers, owns one-third of the home entertainment market in the United States.
  • Of all US households, 15 percent own at least one Internet of Things (IoT) device—a connected thermostat, a smart lock, or a light control. In millennial households, that number jumps to 24 percent.

Technology is growing at an increasing rate. It’s been ten years since Apple revolutionized the phone industry with the iPhone—the first smartphone. Now, 81 percent of US households own a smartphone. Until recently, technologies that revolutionized how we live and work took decades, if not generations, to penetrate enough of the population to change behaviors.

It took decades for the telephone to appear in more than 50 percent of households, while smartphones accomplished this in less than ten years. And with current IoT forecasts predicting 22.5 billion IoT by 2021, up from 6.6 billion in 2016, home automation is on a faster growth curve than the smartphone was.

Want proof? Voice assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home debuted in 2015, and 35.6 million Americans already use one at least once a month—that’s 27.5 percent of smartphone users in less than three years. Why are they catching on so fast? Voice recognition accuracy is over 95 percent, which enables better and more convenient control of lighting, temperatures, and favorite music.

By now, your brain is about ready to explode. You probably knew these trends were occurring, but you probably didn’t realize the enormity and acceleration behind the millennial and technology waves. The good news is that these changes are both disruptive and creative.

For vacation rental property managers, these changes present new questions and opportunities:

  • In the case of millennial renters, 86% are willing to pay more for a property outfitted with home automation technology. The same is true for 65 percent of baby boomers, not to mention the operational benefits of home automation technology for property managers. How are you embracing this demand to deliver a better guest experience (direct to house check-in, voice control of music, lighting, and temperature in unit, etc.) and better manage your properties (keyless work order control, HVAC savings in unoccupied properties, fraud prevention, etc.)?
  • How has the development of the mobile web and the importance of review sites changed your online strategy to attract guests?
  • Millennials and on-demand technology are driving new demand for short-term stays, but millennials aren’t driving most of the household decisions today (28m millennial HoH vs 35m Gen Xers and 43m baby boomers), so this trend is incremental to traditional vacation rental business that is already there. Depending on your occupancy and average rate, are these new opportunities right for business?
  • How are you engaging millennial or multigenerational renters with experiences (print vs. digital guidebooks, selfie location recommendations, etc.)?

The good news is that these changes are not doing away with business as usual but are instead presenting possibilities to further differentiate yourself while opening new opportunities. The responsibilities for vacation rental managers are to look at your business, identify areas you would like to improve, and then find ways to leverage these technology and demographic changes to enhance your business. Either way, it’s a win-win for the vacation rental manager.

Related Itemsairbnbamazonamazon echoapplegoogle homeinternet of thingsiotmillennial rentersmillennial travelersmultigenerational rentersnetflixpointcentralsean millersmart home automationvacation rental property managersVacation rentalsvoice assistantsvoice recognition
Click to add a comment

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Vacation Rental Technology
August 10, 2018
mm
Sean Miller

Sean Miller is the President of PointCentral, an Alarm.com subsidiary, which is the leading developer of enterprise scale smart-home solutions for short-term and long-term property managers and their tenants.

Related Itemsairbnbamazonamazon echoapplegoogle homeinternet of thingsiotmillennial rentersmillennial travelersmultigenerational rentersnetflixpointcentralsean millersmart home automationvacation rental property managersVacation rentalsvoice assistantsvoice recognition

More in Vacation Rental Technology

Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division

Amy HinoteDecember 18, 2020
Read More
2021 Social Media Game Changer

Are You Ready to Ride the Wave to Becoming a 2021 Social Media Game Changer?

Toni HenryDecember 8, 2020
Read More

NDAs & Confidentiality Agreements: What to Include and When to Enforce

Kristen PrinzDecember 2, 2020
Read More

Selling Your Business? Know Your Tech Stuff!

Wendy GloverNovember 25, 2020
Read More

Dynamic Pricing: To Adjust Rates or Not to Adjust Rates

Cliff JohnsonNovember 23, 2020
Read More

Building a New Website: Lessons We Learned While Rebuilding our VRM Website

Heather BayerNovember 20, 2020
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Sponsor News

  • Inhabit IQ Gets “Significant Investment” from Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division
    Latest NewsDecember 18, 2020
  • You Are Your Best Revenue Manager
    Revenue ManagementNovember 30, 2020
  • How Email Helped Save Vacation Rental Companies During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    AdvertisementNovember 21, 2020
  • Booking.com Affirms Commitment to Quality with Minimum Cleanliness Score Requirement
    Customer Service for Vacation Rental ProfessionalsNovember 18, 2020
VRM Intel
Calendar of Events
Videos & Whitepapers
VRMintel Magazine
Subscribe
Advertise
About Us
Authors
Contact Us

Recent News

  • 4th Annual #BookDirect Guest Education Day Is February 3, 2021
    EducationJanuary 24, 2021
  • Paycheck-Protection-Program-for-VR-industry
    Latest Round of Paycheck Protection Program Includes Up to $2 Million Loans for Some Vacation Rental Business Owners
    BlogJanuary 20, 2021
  • Timing is Everything: The Impact of Seasonality on COVID Recovery for Southeast Destinations
    BlogJanuary 18, 2021
  • Meredith Oskenholt-Meredith Lodging-Bend Oregon
    The Principles That Have Guided Meredith Lodging through the Global Pandemic, Raging Forest Fires and Personal Family Challenges
    BlogJanuary 12, 2021

View Current Issue

VRMintel Copyright © 2016-17 | Click HERE to Subscribe | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Copyright | Jobs | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Bluetent acquires Visual Data Systems
MyVR’s Series A Funding Brings Randy Sparks Back to the Vacation Rental Industry
We use cookies and similar technologies to recognize repeat visits, as well as to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and analyze traffic. By clicking "I Accept" you consent to the use of cookies unless you have disabled them.Accept