VRM Intel Magazine Winter 2017 by Amy Hinote

Winter 2017

Gatlinburg Fires A Guestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Story

A New Empire?

Vacation Rental Pros

Improving Website

Ocean Isle Beach's

Create More

The Need for

Conversion Rates

Repeat Business

Vacation Rental Pioneer

Competitive Intelligence

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Lead Management Xtreme + Integrated Phone Control Trust Accounting Distribution Channels Auto Responders Custom Guest App Housekeeping Mobile App Maintenance Mobile App Owner Mobile App Responsive Websites Website Map Searching Electronic Signatures CRM / Guest Marketing Home & Lock Automation Yield Management Wordpress Plugin / API Dashboard / Advanced Reporting Guest Reviews / Surveys Social Media Automation Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Coupons / Gift CertiďŹ cates Concierge QuickBooks Integration Travel Agent Portal Point Of Sale

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Contents On the Cover

Winter 2017

34 Create More Repeat Business 44 The Need for Competitive Intelligence

Gatlinburg Fires

A Guest’s Story

A New Empire? Vacation Rental Pros

57 A New Empire? Vacation Rental Pros 62 Gatlinburg Fires: A Guest’s Story 76 Ocean Isle Beach's Vacation Rental Pioneer

Airbnb vs. HomeAway

Who's winning ?

Improving Website

Conversion Rates

Create More

Repeat Business

Ocean Isle Beach's Vacation Rental Pioneer

The Need for

Competitive Intelligence

CUSTOMER SERVICE | HOUSEKEEPING | MARKETING | TECHNOLOGY | AND MORE..

Business 27 Aloha Spirit In Memory of Penny Bennington

30 The Coming Wave of Vacation Rentals 40 VRMs Give Back: The Feed NC Project 57 Vacation Rental Pros: A New Empire 62 Gatlinburg Fires: A Guest's Story 76 Rae Cox Sloane: Vacation Rental Pioneer 85 It's the Relationship, Stupid 89 In Memory of Brian Buck 92 What's New at VRM Intel 8

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Contents Technology

Marketing

22 The State of Software in 2017

68 The Mobile Web on Steroids

44 The Need for Data for Revenue Management

72 Improving Website Conversion Rates

80 Streamline CEO Carlos Corzo Tells All

75 Planning Your Digital Strategy for 2017

Customer Service 34 Create More Repeat Business 50 The Value of Follow-Ups 52 Guest Reviews: A Treasure Trove of Information 54 Certification and Accreditation for Vacation Rentals

Distribution 66 Pricing Shifts Across Airbnb and HomeAway

Human Resources 42 Is your business structured for optimal performance?

Regulations 24 Tools to Fight The Short-Term Rental Battle 88 Airbnb Neglects Vacation Rental Safety

Housekeeping 90 Cleaning Up with In-House Laundry

Education and CommunityÂ 48 VRM Intel Live! Comes to Kitty Hawk, NC

94 Calendar of Events

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

34 44

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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Dear Readers,

2016 is in the history books, and what a year it was! With hurricanes, wildfires, currency fluctuation, the election, regulatory battles, and big changes at OTAs, the vacation rental industry proved its resiliency once again, and thankfully, early booking activity is indicating a much stronger 2017.

As vacation rental managers, you have numerous hats to wear in order to be successful. Consequently, in this winter issue, we decided to shift the focus away from OTAs and towards the internal functions within vacation rental management companies. While there are still major changes occurring among the mammoth OTA booking channels, as industry veteran George Volsky is famous for saying, “This industry is still about cleaning toilets and taking care of the screaming guests.” In the pages that follow, you will read about guest reviews, organizational structure, vacation rental safety, increasing repeat business, following up with leads, and building an in-house laundry facility. You will also find a series of website marketing articles to help increase your online visibility and convert more visits into bookings. We had the privilege of interviewing one of the industry’s first vacation rental management company founders, Rae Sloane Cox, who started Sloane Realty Vacations in 1955, and is a true pioneer in the industry. We also sat down with Steve Milo, founder and managing director at Vacation Rental Pros, who has recently acquired several large property management companies and is rapidly extending his footprint across the US. Additionally, there are some new things going on at VRM Intel. Here at VRM Intel, we launched a new website, created a job board for our industry, began hosting VRM Intel Live! events across the country, and started building a reporting tool called VI Reports which provides unbiased competitive market reports to help VRMs make fact-based revenue management and marketing decisions (You can read more about this tool on page 89).

While doing this, we observed a noteworthy shift in the way in which technology providers are internally viewing your data. While some are continuing to provide you with high levels of data protection and choice in whom you wish to work with, some large software providers (one in particular) are beginning to limit those options and start collecting your data within their larger platform to help homeowners and hotels compete with your properties. As we move forward in 2017, I believe we will see an important conversation arise about vacation rental software companies and their agendas regarding your customer and booking data. Stay tuned. Coming up in the Spring issue, we will be writing a special feature about motherdaughter led companies and how they are shaping destinations. As always, we are continually looking for feedback from you. If you have any suggestions about topics or how we can improve the VRM Intel tools, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Thank you for reading and supporting this magazine. For you and our industry, we hope that 2017 is the best year yet.

Amy Hinote

Director of Design and Production

Donato Berbelja Contributing Writers Heather Bayer

Doug Kennedy

Susan Blizzard

Doug Macnaught

Ali Cammelletti

Ian McHenry

Carlos Corzo

Joe Refosco

Rae Sloane Cox

Brandon Sauls

Rod Fitts

Natalie Stone

Brynn Flaherty

John Suzuki

Greg Holcomb

Cliff Vars

Sue Jones

Heather Weiermann

Mike Harrington

Julia Whipple Justin Ford

Copy Editor Kelly Mutual

Advertising Amy Hinote, amy.hinote@vrmintel.com

Address VRM Intel Magazine LLC

1222 Chicago Avenue, Suite 604, Evanston, IL 60202 To subscribe to VRM Intel Magazine to request additional copies, contact info@vrmintel.com or go to www.vrmintel.com

Sincerely,

Amy Hinote Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

© Copyright 2016 VRM Intel Magazine LLC. All rights reserved. We cannot accept responsibility for any mistakes or misprints. Reproduction in part or whole is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher. We cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs damaged in the post. Material sent on speculation, unless enclosed with a stamped addressed envelope, will not be returned to sender. VRM Intel Magazine LLC reserve rights of ownership.

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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| From Our Partners

The State of Software in 2017

By Cliff Vars, General Manager, HomeAway Software

t’s shaping up to be a banner year for vacation rental properties. According to Phocuswright, the number of travelers who have stayed in a vacation rental has more than tripled since 2010. While this is certainly a blessing, it is not without its challenges: this increased demand puts pressure on the technology you use to perform at scale. This technology has seen significant change in the last few years that better allows it to scale from cloud-based property management systems to smart-home technology. As these technologies are developed and released, they move through a framework known as the Technology Adoption Lifecycle (TAL). As Geoffrey Moore explains in his book, Crossing the Chasm, the TAL is made up of five stages:

Guest Management Mobile Apps: According to the latest adoption data, guest management mobile apps are just breaking into the Early Majority stage. There are two distinct advantages to being a member of the Early Majority:

B The technology has already been tested and vetted by Early Adopters. C The technology is still new to guests. In this case, guest management apps aren’t commonplace enough that guests expect them, which gives property managers the opportunity to surprise and delight.

Smart Home Technology: Interestingly, smart home technology falls into different stages of the TAL. Keyless entry systems have seen widespread adoption, placing them somewhere in the Early Majority or Late Majority stages, but energy monitors, smart thermostats, and smart lighting are relatively new to the market and still in the Early Adopter stage.

B Innovators are the first group to adopt new technology, often as soon as it’s available. Think of this group as the people who snag tickets to the pre-release screening of a new movie and are so excited to see it that they’re probably going to show up at the theater in costume.

D The Early Majority is the group that follows. While these people may not wait in line for hours to get good seats or show up in costume, they’re going to see the new movie within the first few weeks. They’re willing to pay for a movie ticket and are excited to talk about it with their friends. E Next is the Late Majority. The people in this group will see the movie, but they’re not in any rush. A convenient weekend matinee before it leaves theaters is more their speed.

Adoption Rate

C Early Adopters, the second group to adopt new technology, are the type of people who camp out for hours to see the first midnight showing of the movie. They’re still ahead of the crowds, and they brag about having great seats at one of the earliest showings.

F Laggards are the last group of adopters. These are the people who avoided the movie until they had no choice or had no excuse not to see it. They were the ones who said, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get around to it at some point.” And they did . . . although they waited until it was released by Netflix or Redbox.

Where does vacation rental property management technology fall in the lifecycle of adoption? Property Management Software: Property management software has been around for decades, so established companies only just now adopting a dedicated property management system are in the Laggard stage. Even cloud-based property management software, one of the more recent innovations, has reached the Late Majority stage. Now that the main property management tools have been developed to take advantage of modern information technology, the industry is likely to turn its attention to developing ancillary tools that improve maintenance workflows, owner management, or guest experience. 22

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Time (in years)

What does this mean for property managers? The full TAL takes years, and it doesn’t tell you when you should adopt a new technology. After all, adopting technology as an Innovator doesn’t guarantee your business will perform better than others, just as adopting technology as a Laggard doesn’t mean you’ve been underperforming. Every property management company is unique, and not every company has a genuine need for every new technology.

What the TAL does do is help property managers more objectively make decisions that keep them competitive. The TAL is a scientific model that feels far removed from day-to-day operations, but it’s actually a great tool for anticipating the expectations of customers and owners. For example, both of these groups may assume you’ll have keyless entry at your properties if the technology is in the Late Majority phase. It can also help you speculate on what technology will be developed further and if the industry is ready to explore new, innovative technologies.

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| Regulations

The Short Term Rental Battle The VRMA Develops Tools Needed to Combat Proposed Regulations

hort-term rental regulations are swiftly spreading around the world. There is a misconception that rules for vacation rentals, as pertains to the vacation rental industry, are the main issue, but the real problem lies with the current trend to ban non-owner occupied homes. There is no silver bullet or one-size-fits-all plan to protect the industry, but there are uniform strategies and tools that are being implemented to assist in the fight. The Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) is dedicated to helping the industry work with policymakers to fight off burdensome rules that are greatly restricting the ability to rent vacation homes. Over the last year, the VRMA has significantly expanded its role and advocacy efforts to defend the greater marketplace. During the first half of 2016, the VRMA developed a comprehensive approach to fighting off restrictive regulations nationwide. This approach was compiled into a strategic plan that develops cross-organizational relationships and addresses our public policy agenda with engagement tools and enhanced member and non-member communication.

The first step in creating a uniform strategy to combat over-reaching regulation was to develop local and state issue tracking tools. These tools allow members to become informed on rental regulation proposals that may impact their states and communities. This tracking also allows the VRMA to notify members of larger scale impending regulations and better engages members and the public with our advocacy tools.

When issues arise, the VRMA notifies members and others who have signed up to receive advocacy alerts on the VRMA website. Posts are also shared on social media: @VRMAadvocacy on Twitter and Facebook. As needed, advocacy tools are deployed that allow the public to sign a petition or write letters directly to their public officials. These tools convey a unified message within the industry. The advocacy also easily provides users a forum to add their own arguments to the message. Thus far, alerts have been deployed for Seattle, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Arizona, and two dozen other states and communities. These alerts produced several thousand responses from members and allowed the VRMA to contact over 2,700 public officials in 2016. Responses from these alerts also assisted VRMA staff in conducting follow-up meetings with the offices of Senator Feinstein (CA) and Senator Schatz (HI) to discuss their requests for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into the vacation rental marketplace. The second phase of the VRMA Advocacy Toolkit saw the release of new educational offerings. These included a webinar, new sessions at all VRMA in-person conferences and an advocacy video 24

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

By Greg Holcomb Senior Advocacy Coordinator Vacation Rental Managers Association

library. These offerings feature industry and political experts that provide you with a variety of perspectives on how to get involved locally and regionally to fight restrictive short-term rental regulations as well as communicating with policymakers. In addition to the expanded educational opportunities centered around advocacy, the National Policy Agenda was unveiled at the 2016 National Conference. This document, which is publically available in the advocacy center on the VRMA website, is the official policy platform of the VRMA on issues related to short-term rentals and other national policy considerations that affect the vacation rental industry. The policy tenets conveyed in the National Policy Agenda are based on best practices that members and the VRMA staff have identified throughout the world. These include the protection of property rights, a reasonable registration program, the collection of appropriate taxes, and penalties for those who do not comply. The National Policy Agenda is designed to be shared with policymakers to demonstrate solutions that are reasonable and enforceable. It also demonstrates that the industry is not opposed to regulation but rather believes in solutions that protect property rights and the tourism economy.

Moving forward in 2017, the vacation rental management industry must continue to organize itself. There are several state-level opportunities in the US that protect property rights and prevent outright bans. The only way to make these efforts successful is to organize into groups with other property managers, local business communities, property owners, and the guests who utilize vacation homes. Our efforts to organize will complement the efforts of other organizations who are fighting on behalf of the industry, including the Beacon Center, Goldwater Institute, NetChoice, and the Travel Technology Association.

Looking ahead, the VRMA is working to build lasting relationships with other industry associations and public policy groups. These connections will assist ongoing efforts to create statewide standards to protect the rights of property owners by prohibiting communities from outright banning short-term rentals or creating overly restrictive rules. The vacation rental industry has seen its fair share of setbacks over the past few years. However, as the marketplace continues to evolve, there are signs that policymakers are starting to recognize the changing nature of private accommodations and their impact on their stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s travel and tourism sector. An organized strategy to fight short-term rental bans and push for economic opportunity and protection of property rights is essential to allowing the vacation rental marketplace to grow.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Aloha Spirit

In Memory of Mary Margaret "Penny" Wallis Bennington Founder, Bennington Properties Sunriver, Oregon

1946-2016

“We use the word ‘hug’ or ‘hugging’ to refer to the role we play in our relationships with our community and our customers. In the simplest sense, a hug is anything that expresses sincere care for another and has a positive impact on our relationships. A hug can be as commonplace as a smile or eye contact. It could be a firm handshake. It could be remembering someone’s name even though it’s only the second time you’ve seen him. It could be asking about a person’s children and knowing their names and ages even though there are five of them. It’s remembering where they

work, their dog’s name, where they are from, or what they love about Sunriver. It is knowing who THEY are and what is unique about them. Hugging is a way of thinking about people, not as a job to get done, but as people, real people who at their core are just like us.”

his philosophy is the foundation upon which Mary Margaret "Penny" Wallis Bennington and her family built Bennington Properties in Sunriver, Oregon. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

“Penny grew up in Hawaii, and she exuded the aloha spirit of love and kindness,” said Michelle Marquis, vice president of sales and marketing at NAVIS. Penny’s “aloha spirit” is a characteristic she was known for throughout the vacation rental industry.

According to her son Robert Bennington, CEO at Bennington Properties, “My mom was raised in a culture and family that loved to show hospitality to others. Her father was a prominent doctor on the island of Kauai and was known for the warmth he and his wife showed to others. It was in her nature. They started Bennington Properties as a real estate company, but it quickly became a vacation rental company as well. We were all surprised about how passionate we were for hospitality, and it was as much a part of my nature as it was my parents’.”

Like most property managers, Penny did not begin her career in the vacation rental industry. Penny was born and raised in Lihue, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. After graduating from the University of Hawaii, she married Marine and fellow student, Gene Bennington, and joined the medical field as a technologist. In 1978, Penny gave birth to her only son, Robert, and in 1981, the family moved to Tualatin, Oregon. “My parents fell in love with Sunriver when they first visited Oregon in 1980,” said Robert. “It was actually the reason they chose to move from Hawaii to Oregon. [However,] jobs were scarce in Sunriver, so they moved to the Portland area instead. Eventually they were able to buy a second home in Sunriver.” After their move, Gene and Penny spent the next 15 years in Tualatin where Gene worked in real estate and Penny worked as a medical administrator for Kaiser Permanente until she obtained a master’s degree in business from the University of Oregon. She then joined Gene as a licensed realtor.

In 1997, after Robert went off to college, Gene and Penny decided it was finally time to move to beautiful Sunriver, and one year later, Gene and Penny founded Bennington Properties, LLC with only one vacation home. With the Bennington’s attention to community and service, the company grew quickly—they currently manage 160 vacation homes in the area.

“I had the great pleasure of working closely with Penny, her son Robert, and the employees of Bennington Properties,” said Shannon Roberts-Magenheimer, client advocate at NAVIS. “I got to see, firsthand, the legacy that she created in her business and the vision that surrounded her.”

Magenheimer continued, “Bennington Properties doesn’t only have employees, but a family of associates that has a passion for the success of an exceptional product and happy guests—all built on Penny and Gene’s vison and guidance. The office is focused on a warm welcome, family, and even the family pets. Her heart and love shows in all that is touched, and the business flourishes as a result.”

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Penny became a recognized pioneer and leader in the vacation rental industry and in the community. She was extremely active in local organizations and served as president of the Sunriver Women’s Club, treasurer at their local church, and elected board member of the Sunriver Owners Association, the Sunriver Service District, and the Central Oregon Visitors Association. “Penny was an inspirational leader and business owner in Sunriver and Central Oregon, and well respected by colleagues and peers alike,” said Sherri Niemeyer. “Practical, direct, analytical, and strategic, Penny loved a business challenge and approached obstacles from a positive, anything is possible, let’s do this position. I loved her collaborative nature and could spend hours talking with her about all facets of her business.” Robert added, “She loved owning and running a business and leading the way, trying new things, [and] never saying, ‘never’ or ‘impossible.’ She believed success came when you took care of others and treated them with kindness, honesty, and fairness.”

According to Betsy LaBarge, president and CEO at Mt Hood Vacation Rentals, “Penny was a treasured business friend to me for at least a dozen years. Even though we work in similar and sometimes competing markets in Oregon, she was always open to talking shop with me and sharing ideas and best practices.”

Penny was also known for her analytical acumen. “Penny never saw a spreadsheet she didn't love,” said Marquis. “She was a savvy mathematician who loved data and really enjoyed analyzing the numbers to guarantee that no opportunity was overlooked,” added Magenheimer.

But as Penny’s illness progressed, she turned over more and more of the business to her son Robert. “Penny was winding down professionally as she was handing over the reins to son Robert and spending more time with her five grandchildren,” said Betsy LaBarge. “As passionate as she was about her business and the vacation rental industry, she was more passionate about her family and grandkids.” Robert agreed, “More than anything, her most important legacy she wanted to be known for was as a wife, mom, and grandmother—my kids called her Tutu, which is the Hawaiian word for grandmother. She loved her grandkids.”

“The grace and grit with which Penny faced her illness was admirable,” said Niemeyer. “I will forever remember Penny’s vast and unlimited love for her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. They were her pride and joy, and we can all learn so much about the importance of family from the Benningtons.” The large church in which Penny’s memorial was held overflowed with many friends and family who held amazing stories of her power,” said Magenheimer. “We were very blessed to have known and worked with her.”

“The love for God and others is what defines the Bennington family today,” said Robert. “It is our family purpose. In the Hawaiian language, the way we show our love for others is through what we call Ho’okipa. Ho’okipa means to welcome all with unconditional love—aloha. It is the complete giving of oneself—unselfishly extending to others the best that we have to give.” Penny’s aloha spirit lives on in her family and the business she worked so hard to build, and like so many, according to Marquis, “I will think sweet thoughts about Penny each and every time I see or smell a plumeria flower.”

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

The Coming Wave in Vacation Rentals

By Amy Hinote

e had an opportunity to chat with John Suzuki, who gave the closing presentation at VRM Intel Live! in Destin, Florida, last month. Suzuki is HomeAway Software’s former vice president of sales and has recently moved into a new role as HomeAway’s “Evangelist” for property managers in North America.

HomeAway Evangelist John Suzuki Talks 2017 Trends, Service Fee, Best Match, and More. 30

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

AH: We are all curious about your new role. What exactly is a HomeAway Evangelist, and what about the role has you so excited? JS: My job is to inform our property manager clients about the great things that are happening and how they can take their businesses to the next level of success with HomeAway. Most of my time is spent sharing the latest products, news, and developments from HomeAway and learning about what’s important to our cli-

much. Now imagine that number going up dramatically in a very short period of time. So check this out: while HomeAway receives 110 million visits a month, Expedia sites receive about 450 million, and we believe that half (or more) of those visits are guests new to vacation rentals. When our clients’ vacation rentals get listed on Expedia, we expect the results to be pretty exciting.

AH: You also spoke about HomeAway’s new service fee to travelers and the new Best Match algorithm. What has HomeAway learned from those experiences? JS: First and foremost, it’s all about providing the best experience for travelers booking their vacation rentals and giving our property managers the best services in the industry. Our PM clients have asked us for three things consistently: (1) keep me competitive in my market, (2) broaden the global awareness of vacation rentals and open new markets for me, and (3) generate more bookings for me.

All of these things cost money, and we could have simply raised our prices. However, we knew our customers would not be happy with higher pricing because we know they are constantly under pressure to lower their costs of doing business. So instead of raising our prices, HomeAway decided to reduce commissions on our payper-booking program, and simplify our subscription offering with significantly lower costs to our clients, which pleased a lot of our clients. The other big change on the Internet was Google, which changed its algorithm to reward paid advertising. We now have to pay for the highest placement, which is no longer based solely on free organic search results. The result of all this was for HomeAway to implement a service fee to travelers, which helps to fund many things, including the efforts to broaden the vacation rental category and the exposure, drive more bookings for our clients, and enable our transition to eCommerce.

AH: There were a lot of folks upset about the service fee. What do you tell them?

ents. I spend the rest of my time communicating back to the senior leadership team at HomeAway. So I get to evangelize HomeAway with our clients and advocate for those clients with HomeAway all at the same time. While it is a new role for HomeAway and me, so far it’s the best job I’ve ever had, next to selling butter toffee peanuts for the YMCA when I was ten years old.

AH: In Destin, you talked about the coming wave of vacation rentals. What are the new trends that contribute to this “coming wave”? JS: We expect some really great developments coming in 2017. One such wave we are looking forward to involves a jump in demand and traveler awareness of the vacation rental category. Today, HomeAway receives about 110 million visits to its websites every month. And that’s the reason many of our customers like us so

JS: When I explain the service fee and why we did it in terms of meeting our clients’ needs, investing in the future, and enabling more eCommerce bookings, virtually everyone understands and appreciates the explanation. A handful are still not necessarily happy but appreciate the reasoning behind the change. I’ve also been told that we have a lot of room for improvement in communicating these kinds of changes, which we are working on actively to improve every day.

AH: What about HomeAway’s change in the sort algorithm from subscription levels to Best Match? JS: That is another big change we are making as we transition from a listing site to an eCommerce marketplace. Until September 2016, our clients were able to buy their way to the top of sort with subscription levels, which often led to bad traveler experiences because we were not able to surface the most relevant results. Moving forward, our goal is for vacation rentals to be booked with the best possible traveler experience based on expectations shaped by other great eCommerce sites such as eBay, Amazon, and others. The good news is that, unlike Google (which doesn’t tell you how to optimize your results), we have a specific playbook that we share with our clients that they can get by calling HomeAway. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

AH: You also gave us some very interesting highlights on HomeAway’s plans for data-based recommendations. What’s that all about? JS: We are hard at work ironing out this feature at this time, but we plan to bring a lot of travel data to our clients to help them manage and maximize their revenue—information and recommendations based on actual HomeAway data that have never been made available before. I believe this alone will catapult property managers to levels of success they’ve not experienced before. But there is much more to come on that, perhaps in a future issue of VRM Intel!

AH: What do you see as being some of the biggest challenges for VRMs in 2017? JS: Off the top of my head, I see two. The first is the spread of burdensome government regulations. We continue to see threats of vacation rental restrictions across the US and around the world. As an industry, we must all get involved and support our regional communities where these restrictions are being proposed. We see the same playbook happening all the time: somebody falls in love with an area after renting a vacation rental, decides to buy a place there to retire, does retire, and then takes exception to vacation rentals in that neighborhood and takes NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) action with the local legislators to prohibit vacation rentals in the neighborhood.

This action can happen in an instant, and we must all do our best to stay informed and educate those property managers, owners,

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

employees, etc. to get ahead of these discussions. Again, everyone needs to get involved somehow—form a local association, collect information on the positive contributions vacation rentals make in the community, and meet with city council members.

The other big challenge for the industry is to keep up with accelerating change. Admittedly, we at HomeAway will be driving some of that change, so our charge will be to communicate effectively with everyone on a very timely basis, and we are working hard to put those processes and tools in place.

AH: You seem really excited for what’s happening. Any closing comments on your view of what’s coming? JS: Oh my gosh, I am so excited for the new year! There is so much going on, and as excited as I am for our clients with the waves of business opportunities that lie ahead, I am mostly excited for all of us to make a difference in the lives of millions of vacationers around the world in helping them connect and reconnect with their families and friends.

I personally have my own stories of my last vacations with my mom and mother-in-law (who are both no longer with us) that involve vacation rentals. It’s those precious moments, memories, and experiences that we in this industry can help enable for people all over the world. After all, we’re in the vacation business, right? So yes, we all have opportunities to help make life-changing differences in the lives of so, so many people. By that definition, don’t you think the world needs all of us? In the final analysis, we can all enrich the lives of others through vacations. How cool is that?

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

Creating Repeat Business

What Really Drives Guests to Want to Vacation with Your Company Annually? 34

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

By Ali Cammelletti Cammelletti Consulting

The Enjoyable Experience

y husband and I found a vacation rental on the McKenzie River in Oregon that we have been enjoying for six years now. We love it because of the rushing water that you can hear at all times of the day, the outside lounging area where we watch and listen to the river, and the large stone fireplace inside that we sit by and play games. We have taken friends and family there over the years and always look forward to our next visit. However, a large part of the reason we continue to frequent this rental is the caretaker Randy Morrow. He has a way about him that makes us feel relaxed and comfortable, like when he tells us stories about the home, about his mother’s antique collection stored there, or about how the home offers a retreat for him whenever he needs a fishing fix. Each time we visit, I am amazed by his demeanor, and I always tried to pinpoint what it is about him that just makes us feel so “at home.”

Finally, after a few visits, I came to realize that what keeps us coming back year after year is his soft tone and his choice of words that makes him so authentic. Each time we arrive for a visit, Randy welcomes us with open arms (despite his hour commute, he always insists on being there for our arrival) and a warm fire. When we go through the initial walk-through, he reminds us of the quirks of the 1924 home. When he talks to us, he uses phrases such as, “If you choose to enjoy the hot tub, the temperature stays warmest when the cover is on during times that it isn’t in use.” He doesn’t use phrases like “you must,” “you need to,” or “you have to.” His tone is gentle and his words are calming and respectful. He also extends our check-in and checkout time if no other vacationers have reserved the home on our arrival and departure days.

The Underwhelming Experience The vacation rental experience that we had in New Orleans, however, was a stark contrast to our experiences with the home in Oregon. We rented a nice apartment on the edge of the French Quarter with easy access to the attractions we wanted to experience. Here, we had spotty Wi-Fi and multiple hardline policies. We were told (yes, told) about the policies and about what we could and could not do; nothing was suggested to us in the manner that Randy uses. We did not have any parking options, we could not check in earlier than 4:00 p.m., we had to arrive at 4:00 p.m. sharp to meet the housekeeper (who didn’t speak any English, so we weren’t able to ask questions we had regarding the apartment), and we had to be out of the property by 10:00 a.m. sharp. These firm policies were communicated at the time of booking, a week prior

to our arrival, and on the days of check-in and checkout. Although the apartment itself was nice, the repeated mentioning of the policies and the lack of hospitality were not nice at all. Since then, we have not gone out of our way to suggest this place to friends and family, and if we return to New Orleans, we won’t go out of our way to rent from this particular vacation home owner again. The firm policies set in place and reinforced time and time again affected our vacation as well as our overall experience in New Orleans.

Little Things Make a Big Difference For both guests and employees, little nuisances make a big difference in perceptions of and experience with a company or organization. It is important to pay attention to the words you choose. You can either use warm words or cold words. Randy doesn’t use cold words such as “you must,” “you need to,” or “you have to.” Instead he uses warm words such as “if you choose,” “if you’d like,” and “would you please.” After all, no one really likes to be told what to do.

I have noticed that when employees are new, they tend to focus on making sure they know the company policies and are quick to state and reinforce them. After employees learn these policies, the next level of their education and training should be to outline the gray areas of the policies and to refer to them as guidelines, using soft and gentle tones, when speaking to guests. When can guidelines be bent or broken? How can you turn someone’s bad experience into a good experience with the little things that make people smile? The gray area in customer service is very large. Another cold word I hear often is “property.” This word is like nails on a chalkboard. Going on vacation is supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Vacation rental managers are selling private home accommodations to people for a couple of days and even up to a couple of months, and guests want it to feel like it is their home for that time period. The tips in Start Your Own Business, a book where the staff of Entrepreneur Media Inc. outline the importance of focusing on repeat business, tell how to keep your business at the top of the customer’s mind by doing the following:  Let customers know what you are doing for them to ease their worries.

 Write personal, handwritten notes—frequently—to stay in contact.

 Keep it personal by picking up the phone to talk instead of relying on email.  Send cards for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, or other holidays.  Pass on information you think they will value, such as an interesting article or book.

 Consider follow-up calls to be business development calls for leads on new business. Notice that of these six points, half are personal touches. We are in changing times with a new generation that is quicker to text rather than pick up a phone and struggle with relationship building, as pointed out by Simon Sinek in his video Millennials in the Workplace. That is why it is important to educate this generation on the importance of customer service and relationship building. And although millennials are the up-and-coming generation of customers, there are still multiple generations of consumers who want the personal touch and prefer to do business with people, not companies. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

The main challenge for front-line service staff is making an emotional connection with potential guests. Having been in customer service for over 28 years, I was raised with the mind-set of relationship building and emotionally connecting with customers to build trust and long-term relationships. I use different techniques to impart my knowledge to my employees, educating them on why it is important and what emotionally connecting with a consumer sounds and looks like. It can be as simple as bonding over owning the same breed of dog or growing up in the same small town.

Technology has made it easy for us to track customer preferences and their rental history. But it’s so much more important to simply slow down, take time with customers, and genuinely care about their needs and desires. This is an important tool to build successful businesses as well as to make positive connections and feel good about experiences with people.

A good interview question for your front-line service staff is, “Describe a customer service experience where you feel you really connected with a customer and created loyalty?” If you hear and see them get excited when they share their story with you, it’s a good indication that they understand the value of great customer service and should be your newest employee. Here is an example of one of eight positive reviews an owner of a small vacation rental company shared with me where her staff was highlighted:

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Dream come true! A special thank you to Faye. She went above and beyond all expectations. Thanks to Faye, we will have a memory that will always be cherished, recommended, and told to friend’s future kids. Love the beautiful Sandy River home and plan on going back once a year! Notice the customer didn’t mention the company name; she used the employee’s name and referred to the home, not the property. This is what real customer loyalty sounds and looks like. After all, people enjoy doing business with actual people and want to feel special. Imagine what your company would look like if a high percentage of your customers who rent from you year after year received the same personal touches and attention.

Ali Cammelletti of Cammelletti Consulting has more than 28 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She has served in many capacities within the industry, from the front-lines in restaurant and lodging services to the creation and management of a successful event planning business to, now, running a consulting company. She currently coaches and trains front-line staff as well as managers to grow their leadership skills. Visit www.cammelletticonsulting.com for more details.

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IF IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU’VE SEEN BAREFOOT, IT IS TIME TO LOOK AGAIN. 877-799-1110 | WWW.BAREFOOT.COM VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

VRMs Give Back North Carolina Vacation Rental Managers Band Together to Fight Hunger to show the big hearts of the North Carolina Vacation Rental Management industry with something we all could get behind.”

he professional vacation rental industry is unique in that vacation rental managers (VRMs) all over the world are heavily invested in their communities and work tirelessly to improve the destinations in which they reside. In the new series “VRMs Give Back,” we will be sharing stories of programs that vacation rental managers have created to help others in their communities. One of these programs is the Feed NC Project, started last year by Mike and Holly Harrington of Topsail Realty Vacation Rentals in Surf City, North Carolina.

“The Feed NC Project started as an in-house idea with my wife, Holly, and myself at our company, Topsail Realty Vacations,” said Harrington. “A local food bank group called Share the Table, has been around for years and lives off turnover-day food donations from vacationers staying in vacation rentals. While it has been successful, there really wasn’t a great way to logistically maximize donations. Our experience is that guests are very thoughtful and absolutely willing to help if they can, but we needed to find a way to make it easier for them to do so.” The Harringtons reached out to their good friends, Jim Wallace of Intracoastal Realty and Tim Cafferty of Outer Banks Blue. Like others, Intracoastal Realty and Outer Banks Blue had been asking guests to donate unused food over the years in a similar fashion but had been challenged by logistics, processes, and reporting.

According to Harrington, “We thought a cohesive brand and communication strategy might help boost the visibility and importance of the real issue of lack of food for folks in our areas. We wanted 40

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

With Wallace and Cafferty on board, Harrington reached out to other colleagues, including Stuart Pack at Resort Realty, Jim Kitts at Carolina Beach Realty, Whitney Sauls at Sloane Realty, and Kevin Futral at Bluewater Real Estate. “This group is a real force of professional managers representing over 1,700 properties. As we continue to fine-tune our efforts and put our logistical expertise behind [the project], we feel good that we can really make a difference in our areas,” said Harrington.

Through the initiative, each company determines how food is collected and donated, and the Feed NC Project acts as the collective brand and mouthpiece for the group to promote their efforts and provide education and awareness of the hunger issues facing their communities. The participating VRMs are all committed to the Feed NC Project and are making concentrated efforts to improve it each year. “We really hope to see more professional North Carolina VRMs get involved and participate. We know everyone kind of does their own thing now, but just like the vacation rental industry, it is very fragmented and hard to really gauge how much we all do for our local communities and North Carolina as a whole,” said Harrington. “Because we are still feeling out how we want to proceed, we’ve been a little slow to really approach everyone, but we are certainly open to anyone interested!” Harrington added, “Ultimately, we’d like to show the public how big of a force for good our industry is within North Carolina.” The Feed NC Project serves as an inspiration to other VRM companies that are looking for new ways to give back to their communities. Is your VRM giving back? We would love to hear about it at amy.hinote@vrmintel.com.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

Organizational

Structure By Sue Jones

Is Your Business Structured for Optimal Performance?

very business has an organizational structure. Sometimes it evolves haphazardly, and sometimes you design it deliberately. However, most of the time structure is a blend of the two. Regardless of how your structure came to be, its effect on your business is huge. At every stage, your organization’s structure will either enhance or hinder your business’s movement forward. Well-designed organizations foster communication, improve productivity, encourage innovation, and create environments in which people can work effectively. Many productivity and performance issues can be traced back to poor organizational design. A company can have a great mission, great people, and great leadership, yet still not perform well because of poor organizational design. So how do you know if your organizational structure is working?

It is easy to identify an “out-of-whack” organizational structure when you know what to look for. Misalignment leads to confusion. There isn’t a clear sense of direction or focus. There is a lack of authority and accountability. And employees display doubt, frustration, and a lack of confidence and become disengaged. The causes are many. Some of the more common red flags that indicate misalignment include the following: 42

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Inertia The strategy is clear, yet the company gets set in its ways. This is the most common indication of misalignment. People settle into their roles, grow accustomed to procedures over time, and ask fewer questions because “it is just how we do things around here.”

Confusion When there is no clarity of individual responsibilities or the types of decisions employees are allowed to make, confusion arises about roles, responsibilities, and authority. This leads to misunderstandings, duplication of efforts, and a lack of efficiency.

Turnover When new hires repeatedly fail, it is often a sign of structural imbalance rather than poor hiring decisions. If you have a high turnover rate, then it is time to look at your organizational structure and identify how the structure can better support new hires.

Organizational design is the process of aligning your organization's

structure with your company’s mission. This means looking at the relationships among individual tasks, processes, accountability, and levels of decision-making and making sure that they each support the objectives and goals of your business. How closely are the following five areas aligned with your business strategy?

B Business Functions C Job Tasks D Workflow Processes E Position Responsibility F Position Authority If you want to improve your organization’s performance, change your design. How your organization is designed determines how it performs. Think about a flock of geese. What happens when they need a course change or when a goose falls behind? They adjust and course correct, just as you should. When your business strategy changes, your organizational design should change as well so that functions and positions align with your new goals and objectives. Designing an organizational structure is much the same for buildings, clothing, and vehicles—it involves a plan. A good design takes inventory of all the tasks, functions, and goals of a business and then develops groupings of positions, departments, and individuals to best and most efficiently achieve those ends.

Once you understand what functions need to be performed by your business and where authority will reside in these functions, you can work on an organizational chart for your business. When creating your structure, start with a blank piece of paper. Try to ignore naming the people involved but rather identify the core business functions. As you create your organizational chart, it is important not only to identify a position’s key responsibilities and tasks but the types of decisions the person in the position has the authority to make. Be clear and intentional with your team about the types of decisions you expect them to make. Here are five types of business decisions you can use to further clarify your positions’ responsibilities:

B Programmed Decisions Standard decisions that always follow the same routine.

C Non-Programmed Decisions Non-standard and non-routine decisions. Each decision is different from any previous decision.

D Strategic Decisions Decisions that affect the long-term direction of the business.

E Tactical Decisions Medium-term decisions about how to implement strategy (e.g.,

what style of marketing to use or how many extra staff members to recruit).

F Operational Decisions Short-term decisions involving day-to-day operations. Finally, it is important to identify key metrics that are tied to performance for each position. This provides a clear line of sight on the outcomes the position is responsible for achieving and how the individual is performing toward those goals. As you create or restructure an organization, be aware of the following mistakes that commonly lead to a structural misalignment that will impede business performance:

• The strategy changes, but the structure does not. Your organizational structure must support your strategy. Different strategies require the use of different structures. Closely align strategy, structure, and the environment; otherwise, your organizational performance will suffer. • The organization is structured around people. Structure the principle first, then add people. Start with a blank sheet of paper—focus on functions, roles, and responsibilities. Design the organization as if you had no people currently involved in the business. Once you arrive at the right structure, then, and only then, start placing people. • Avoid shared seats/responsibilities. Shared accountability never works. Always place a single name in each seat: one seat, one title. When an issue arises, there should be one individual who calls the shots. The buck must stop at one single seat. • Don’t hang onto the past. Focus on functions, roles, and responsibilities. Go back to your blank sheet of paper. Bottom line: if nothing changes, nothing changes. Resistance is often minimal if the team sharply focuses on functions, roles, and responsibilities. • The right seats need the right people. Assess employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities. Evaluate and assess your employees’ skill sets and competencies for positions. Place the right people in the right seats. Gracefully exit the wrong people. Some people are like clouds; when they disappear the day becomes brighter.

Sue Jones, Founder and Managing Director of KLS Group, is passionate about creating strategic human resource programs and services to effect positive change in organizations. She is an innovative HR leader experienced with both large and smaller businesses. Sue has worked in many different industries and is adept with transferring her knowledge, skills and abilities across business channels. An experienced HR professional, Sue brings a fresh approach to her clients, addressing their needs in a personalized manner. Sue is a Veteran of the US Navy, holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and is both SHRM-SCP and SPHR certified. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Customer Service

Do You Have the Right Data? Is it Finally Time H for Vacation Rental Managers to Have In the Beginning the Data Needed for Revenue Management?

aving spent my career with one foot in the hotel side of the lodging industry and the other in the vacation rental management space, it has been quite interesting to see how each sector has evolved its processes and practices over the years. One such example is the process of revenue management.

When I started my first hotel training company in 1989, the process of managing revenues was a core function of hotel marketing, and the director was responsible for setting rates and restrictions, such as minimum stays and “closed to arrivals.”

These executives had limited data points from which to set future pricing strategies. They performed competitive rate shopping by spot checking to see what other nearby hotels were charging and how often they were sold out of rooms, and they looked closely at historical booking pace trends for their own hotels.

By Douglas Kennedy, President Kennedy Training Network KennedyTrainingNetwork.com

Their ability to use what little data they had was limited by the bias of their paradigm. While some executives focused mostly on building occupancy with a “heads in the beds” paradigm, others wanted to be leaders in room rates, therefore gambling on filling up rooms when last-minute travelers grew desperate. Either way, pricing decisions were made on gut-level intuition. Does this sound familiar my vacation rental friends?

Uniform Metrics Coincidentally, around the same time I started my training business, the entire industry started to look at a new metric, popularized by Eric Orkin, the founder of the early revenue management automation system called OPUS 2 Revenue Technologies. This metric became known as RevPAR, which was short for Revenue Per Available Room. This system truly revolutionized hotel pricing because now there was one metric that showed how to optimize profits by focusing on both rate and occupancy.

The foremost factor holding back revenue management in the VR space is a lack of trend reporting on occupancy, rate, and revenues of the “comp set” needed to advance its processes. Although there have been attempts by both associations and private companies, there has not yet been a report available on a large enough scale for the majority of VR companies to benefit. Without this information, most VRMs are stuck (like hotels were in the 1980s) in trying to determine trends by a patchwork of processes, such as spot-checking availability at a competitor and benchmarking against themselves.

Competitive Intel

Why has no one succeeded in offering this type of report?

Almost simultaneously, another business was launched by Randy Smith, founder of Smith Travel Research (now known as STR Global). His company started a subscription service called the “STAR” Report. Having previously worked at a top-tier financial consulting company for the hotel industry, Smith had enough credibility and C-suite level contacts to do something that had never been done before: convince most of the major hotel brands to report their Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Occupancy Rate on a monthly basis, thus enabling calculation of their RevPAR.

B One factor is that in many markets there are simply not enough VRM companies to allow for blended data: you cannot have a blended “comp set” report if there are only two competitors. However, in these instances, this is solved by offering data on a larger, regional scale. For example, in a small market such as Crystal River, Florida, there may be only two participating rental companies, so their data could be reported with a larger region, such as Florida’s Nature Coast, instead.

For each subscribing hotel, Smith combined the results from a self-selected list of competitors in the subscriber’s area or region and reported the performance data as a blended number. Put simply, if you were Holiday Inn and your main competitors were Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Radisson, the report showed how you performed against the combined numbers of all five of the “comp set,” with STR maintaining confidentiality on the performance of any single competitor.

C A second factor has been that those who have tried to offer trend reporting services to the VR industry have, for the most part, been doing so as a side business; maybe they were just not focused enough.

D A third factor may simply be trust. To provide important confidential performance data for one’s own company requires a great deal of trust in the integrity of how that data is to be used. This is something that Randy Smith was able to uniquely accomplish due to his connections from the 1980s.

The Birth of Revenue Management

So What Can We Do?

Next, a whole new profession took off. Marriott, and later several other hotel brands, had their Reservations Managers apply for a new position called Revenue Manager, and soon upgraded this position to an Executive Committee level option parallel to the Director of Marketing.

When the right organization that offers data privacy and an unbiased approach comes along and offers the VR segment of the lodging industry trend reporting similar to STR, embrace it fully. It is way past the time to add this to your tool kit.

Not long after, technology systems started to evolve, using algorithms to determine the best rate to charge based on predicted demand. This is when the training company I co-owned at the time began offering revenue management training as a public venue training course throughout North America. When I sold that company, I helped Bob Gilbert and the HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) found the Revenue Management Advisory Group, which is now the largest group within the eighty-year-old HSMAI association. It has been interesting to see the once rudimentary methodologies of hotel pricing evolve into a new hotel career path and simultaneously a whole new industry of revenue management automation companies, all of which run parallel to my own evolution as an entrepreneur in the training business.

The Path to Revenue Management for VRMs I have often dreamed of offering a revenue management training program for the Vacation Rental (VR) side of the lodging industry, just as I have successfully transferred other topics, such as reservation sales and guest service excellence, from hotels to VRMs. However, I have never been able to do much to train VRMs on revenue management because this area of the VR space has been stuck in its infancy.

Important Note from VRM Intel: At VRM Intel, we have begun building the type of reporting that Doug Kennedy describes. While there have been attempts in the past to provide competitive market reporting to the vacation rental industry, the providers (1) have not been objective, (2) have not found a way to pull together uniform data and metrics, and/or (3) have been offered by technology companies looking to use the data to sell other products. We believe that VRM Intel can-and should -provide an unbiased data source that seeks to provide VRMs with the quality competitive market intel necessary to make fact-based revenue management and marketing decisions. See page 92 for more information. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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Ben Edwards, President, Weatherby Consulting, Past President, Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA)

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| Customer Service

The Tremendous Value of the Follow Up Lifecycle W

Campaigns that Drive

Revenue By Heather Weiermann, NAVIS

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

e considered calling this The Lost Art of the Follow-Up, but in truth, it's unclear whether companies ever understood the art well enough to say that it’s been lost. Perhaps the Little-Known Art of the Follow-Up is more appropriate. Here’s what we know: follow-ups substantially increase sales. They are necessary, and they are profitable. In business at large, 80 percent of sales require five follow-ups after an initial meeting.1 When it comes to hospitality, this number is more like nine follow-ups. Let that sink in for a moment.

The truth is that most salespeople, reservations agents included, throw in the towel after just one follow-up. In a recent study of the vacation rental industry, our team made 4–5 calls each to 84 different properties that don’t currently use NAVIS systems. In the course of our research, we discovered that just 15 percent of agents offered to follow up with the guest. We took this same data to the VRMA National Conference and surveyed the audience in one of the sessions. Out of 30 respondents, just 50 percent said they follow up 2–3 times, while 37 percent reported that they either don’t follow up at all or follow up just once.

So, if you find yourself aghast at the idea of nine follow-ups, you’re probably not alone.

We weren’t necessarily surprised at the data, but it’s worth noting that highly profitable opportunities are being missed. Every. Single. Day. According to Forbes, businesses that respond immediately and persistently to leads can see a 341 percent lift.2 It’s not a question of whether follow-ups produce, it’s a question of at what point? and how much? And the how much is substantial: nurtured leads make 47 percent larger purchases.3 Fortunately, not every follow-up has to be a phone call. In fact, we would go so far as to say that they should not all be phone calls. Email marketing can prove to have higher ROI than traditional methods and can reduce the overall cost of the sale.

generates more than $28 per email on average. When you send messaging promptly after an inquiry, the relevance to your recipient is much stronger than a cold, ad-hoc marketing email and can generate much higher engagement. As an example, Burr White Realty’s agents found themselves without time to make follow-up calls, and they needed a plan that would assist with reservation follow-up without creating more human resources needs. Using a custom program, we created a campaign that would automatically send a follow-up email within 48 hours of the agent’s call to ensure no leads fell through the cracks. In the first three months, the campaign generated more than $37,000 in revenue.

Bringing Them Back into the Sales Funnel There are also many ways to keep a prospect or a previous guest in the sales funnel:

Let’s look at a few examples of NAVIS Reach LifeCycleTM campaigns we’ve seen many hoteliers and vacation rental managers use to create massive value from follow-ups:

B Lapsed leads, in which a guest inquired last year but hasn’t reserved, can automatically be targeted at the same time of year as their initial inquiry. For many properties, this lead would end up in the dead pile and the lead and the revenue it took to generate the lead the first time are lost. With lapsed lead campaigns, we see a high 26.5 percent open rate with a 15 percent click-through rate and more than $5 in revenue per lead.

Not-Booked Leads 37% OPEN RATE

21.5%

$48.02

Click-Through

Revenue/Email

Rate

Using NAVIS NarrowcastTM data in which the agent tracks the reason behind the decision not to book, a targeted campaign can be launched based on those reasons: the stay wasn’t long enough to meet your minimums, you didn’t have vacancy on those specific dates, you didn’t have the suite they wanted available at that time. Regardless of the situation, a follow-up with, “We’re sorry we missed you!” referencing the reason they weren’t able to book can be very effective. In fact, this type of campaign yields the most revenue-per-email of any campaign at $48.02.

Follow-Up Trigger

39.5% OPEN RATE

18.5%

$28.15

Click-Through

Revenue/Email

Rate

Another of the most successful campaigns is the follow-up trigger, which is triggered within 24–36 hours after a lead has inquired but hasn’t made a decision. These are especially helpful during high-demand times when your reservations agents may not be able to call undecided leads back. For reference, the industry standard for email open rates is less than 25 percent and for click-through rates is below 10 percent. However, our follow-up trigger has an eye-popping 39.5 percent open rate, 18.5 percent click-through rate, and

C Many of our clients have a booking anniversary email campaign that targets guests in the two weeks prior to the time they booked a stay the previous year. The messaging looks like, “It’s coming up on a year since you’ve visited, and it’s time to make more memories!” Typically, the campaign includes a special offer. On average, booking anniversary campaigns bring in more than $19 per email. D There are lapsed guest campaigns to past guests who haven’t stayed in the last year or so, Online Travel Agency bounce-back emails to encourage direct bookings, and much more. The key is that they are simple messages, often with an offer, and they are delivered with precision timing so that the lead, depending on where it is in the funnel, is either still hot or being returned to active status.

When these tools are used in conjunction with training and incentives, hotels and vacation rentals find that reservations agents are driven to gather meaningful data and to be accountable for the sale. The Woodstock Inn & Resort, which uses NarrowcastTM and ReachTM, says of NAVIS, “[It has had a] huge impact on the calls we had been missing! [It] keeps the reservation agents accountable and drives them to follow up. [NAVIS] makes the res. agents so much better at their job with better phone skills, customer service skills and ability to provide feedback that is heard.” Ultimately properties benefit most from a customized program that is based on their specific needs. Moreover, LifeCycleTM campaigns can be running at the same time, simultaneously driving engagement and profit from your CRM.

Ultimately, any aspect of creating a program that gets the number of follow-ups to an average of nine and targets those leads that might otherwise get lost will start to show improvements in performance almost without fail. 1 2 3

Why 8% of Sales People Get 80% of the Sales. Marketing Donut. Why Companies Waste 71% of Internet Leads. Forbes. July 2012. What’s Worth More. Annuitas.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Customer Service

Guest Reviews

A Treasure Trove of Information “It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.” (English Proverb)

or any owner or property manager who has ever received a negative review, these are wise words, and just to take this a little further, muse on these words by Benjamin Franklin in a letter sent to the 1735 issue of The Pennsylvania Gazette on the topic of fire safety:

“In the first Place, as an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, I would advise 'em to take care how they suffer living Coals in a full Shovel, to be carried out of one Room into another, or up or down Stairs, unless in a Warmingpan shut; for Scraps of Fire may fall into Chinks and make no Appearance until Midnight; when your Stairs being in Flames, you may be forced, (as I once was) to leap out of your Windows, and hazard your Necks to avoid being oven-roasted.” What we can extract from the analogy is that sloppiness in any form can have dire and far-reaching effects. Putting measures in place to prevent a poor outcome is by far the best way of eliminating the potential of an incident, serious or otherwise, that could lead to damaging feedback.

This is not to say that you’ll never again get a negative review. We’ve all had the guests who surprise us with a damning testimonial for things completely out of our control:  “The power went out in a storm and I couldn’t charge my phone.”  “I should have been warned the road might be icy in winter.”  “My baby was bitten by a mosquito and we had to leave.”  “I know the pool was unheated, but it was too cold to use.”

What we can glean from these and thousands of others is that every review, whether it’s good or bad, contains nuggets of information we can use to predict future satisfaction. They often arise from completely preventable scenarios. Taking steps to avoid them can save you time, stress, and the potential for negative reviews. 52

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Reviews are also an indicator of trends and patterns in the guest experience. What you learn from this reservoir of suggestions, recommendations, and ideas can help you change and improve the services and amenities you provide, and ultimately help you rise above the competition.

Take some time to explore not only the reviews of your properties, but those of your competitors too. With some thorough research, here are twelve insights you will discover: B What Guests Really Like About Their Vacation Home You may be surprised that it’s the little touches that mean the most, from the way the place smells when guests arrive to having their names written on a chalk board. C

What Could Have Been Done Better

See a negative review as a gift to let you know how you can get it right next time . . . then make the change. D

How Your Competition Might be Winning Your Clients

Reviews allow you to be a spy in your competitor’s camp. They give you a glimpse into what they are doing that is pleasing their guests . . . and what you can do too. E

The Amenities that Guests Find Important

Pinpointing the favorite amenities and features helps you to keep up to date on your guests’ preferences. You might be surprised to find that the most helpful feature in a winter property is the ergonomic snow shovel and the heavy-duty extension lead. F

Whether Your Photos are Doing Their Job

The comment you don’t want to see is, “The photos didn’t do the place justice.” That just means your photos are not good enough. From your research, compile a list of potential issues and create a prevention plan for each one. Here are some examples that are listed in the last six insights:

G Property Was Not as Described “This was described as having views of the water, but it was one block back with only a partial view from the porch–very misleading.”

a schedule for replacing furniture and furnishings and move the schedule forward if there are early signs of wear. K Facility Was Not Available and Things don’t work

Being economical with the truth of a situation will generally come back to bite you with a complaint that the property was not “as described.” Nobody wants surprises, and if the reality doesn’t match the description and photos you’ve provided (because you have omitted a significant feature), a complaint is bound to follow. Being transparently open about the shortcomings of a property can bring you more satisfied customers because people appreciate honesty and candor.

“Many problems with the refrigerator not working, showers that leaked from second floor, hot tub that was dirty. When you pay 10,000 per week you should get top quality experience. I would not recommend this property to anyone else.”

H Beds are Uncomfortable

Prevent this by: Being proactive and letting future guests know promptly if there is a potential of a feature or facility being unavailable.

Prevent this by: Avoiding superlatives and being upfront with the negative as well as the positive aspects of the property.

“The twin beds were squeaky and not terribly comfortable.” This is a prime cause of complaint–just read a few poor reviews and this will probably be mentioned at some point. There really is no excuse for uncomfortable sleeping options in any room–and that includes the twin-bedded rooms that you might think will be used only by children.

Here’s a rule of thumb–if you wouldn’t sleep in any of the beds in your vacation rental, don’t expect your guests to be happy about sleeping in them either. Prevent this by: Testing out every bed in the home personally, ensuring all mattresses are new or nearly new, and not settling for cheap mattresses in the secondary bedrooms. I Guests Run Out of Stuff or Expected Items are Not There “There was no backup toilet paper, no washcloths, or absorbent bathmats.” Being clear on what is provided and what is not is crucial, but it’s equally important to ensure that if an item is to be supplied, it is there when your guests arrive. That way, if they are to purchase their own replacements, they are already aware of this. Setting expectations is key to satisfying guests.

Prevent this by: Sending guests a list of the provisions that will be there on arrival. Ensure a complete check is carried out between rentals and resupply when required. J Place Was Not Clean “I was very disappointed in the cleanliness and how worn out everything was. The fans have so much dust built up on them I don’t believe they have ever been dusted, and there was long black hair in the bathroom and master bedroom (obviously not mine).” Don’t ever give a guest cause to complain about cleanliness. By doing a thorough clean at the beginning of the season and allowing enough time on changeover to cover the areas that can cause issues through the busy months, complaints can be avoided. Prevent this by: Using a checklist on each changeover to ensure nothing is missed. Use block capitals on your checklist to say “LOOK UP,” “LOOK DOWN,” and “LOOK UNDER.” Have

Things happen during rentals that will make a facility unavailable for the next guests–perhaps damage to a hot tub or sauna, a damaged boat, or an appliance that breaks down unexpectedly. However, if you don’t let the incoming guests know, they will be upset at the loss of a facility they were expecting to have available– and it’s amazing how great the impact on them can be.

L Teflon and Other Worn Out Stuff! “The pots and pans were not usable. Teflon peeling off and not very appealing. They need to change the toilet seat, shower curtain, and bath rugs. Would make a big difference.” Even in top dollar properties, complaints of this nature are common. They usually relate to small items that have seen a long period of wear in homes that are consistently rented. Swapping Teflon coated pans with stainless steel can make the difference this reviewer was referring to. Prevent this by: Not allowing anything to wear out before replacing it. The cost of a bad review is far higher than the expense of buying new equipment and furniture. M Construction and Neighbor Issues Your guests arrive for their peaceful vacation and are greeted by construction going on at a neighboring property or a wedding taking place over the weekend. Although situations of this kind are not preventable, the surprise element certainly is. Letting guests know about things that may happen during their stay reduces or removes the surprise altogether, and the honesty you deliver creates a higher degree of trust and confidence.

Prevent surprises by: Asking your neighbors about any planned events or building plans before the season begins so you can forewarn your guests.

Reviews are so much more than an opportunity to pat yourself on the back and bask in the glow of compliments about your home and the service you give. They deliver the information you need to be proactive and to create an environment almost impossible to complain about. Heather Bayer is co-founder of The Vacation Rental Formula and host of the Vacation Rental Success podcast. She is also CEO of CottageLINK Rental Management, a property management company based in Ontario, Canada. She will be speaking at the VRMA Europe Conference in Amsterdam in March and at VRSS17 in Toronto in May. See page 14 for more information.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Customer Service

Certification and Accreditation The Opportunity for Guest Assurance

he Internet reset the Vacation Rental (VR) market’s product life cycle as it took what was once a simple cottage industry and exploded it into a multibilliondollar business that spans the globe. A guest in Peoria, Illinois, can now rent a private home in Stockholm, Sweden—in minutes. The advantages that technology has brought to the VR industry are incalculable, but one of the most glaring shortfalls has been in Guest Assurance.

While many people believe that OTAs should play a larger role in Guest Assurance, I think they are not well-suited for the job. Inevitably, the pursuit of investor profit will conflict with any effort to manage standards of practice, which is why I am such a strong believer in the role of associations. When managed correctly, trade associations raise the level of professionalism, increase profits, and improve customer satisfaction, no matter what industry they serve.

I had only one answer: “None.”

B Certification: Protecting Our Industry’s Brand Certification is the process of documenting that the Owner, Manager, and Property are real and setting standards of truth in advertising. In an age of social media, the growing awareness of VR scams is a threat to our guests’ perception of the VR industry’s integrity, and we need to have a response to it. Vacation rental scams work two ways: either a new, fictitious listing is created or an existing listing’s information is copied and the payments are directed to a different place. The reason scams are possible today is because, even with all the advantages the Internet has brought to the VR industry, we have lost things, one being a physical place of business.

In an interview earlier this year, I was asked, “What real assurance do guests have that the vacation rental they are renting is real and that the amenities advertised are accurate?” This problem could easily be laid at the feet of the Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), and if you read the terms and conditions that guests automatically—and most likely unwittingly—agree to, you will find something like the following:

The site is a venue, and we are not a party to any rental agreement or other transaction between users of the site. While we do take certain measures with a goal to assist users to avoid potentially fraudulent or other illegal activity of which we become aware, we assume no liability or obligation to take any such measures or actions. 54

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A Practical Approach to Raising Guest Assurance: Certification and Accreditation

Before the Internet, establishing Guest Assurance was easier. Guests could contact owners and managers directly by calling them or walking into their places of business. Guests could see credentials hanging on the wall or confirm where they were calling. With the advent of Book It Now, guests no longer have these luxuries. So the question is, how do we make this information available to our guests on the Internet? The Association of Vacation Rental Operators & Affiliates (AVROA) has been doing work in the area of Certification and Truth in Advertising. According to AVROA, Certification is a two-step process:

Step 1: Give owners and managers a place to display their credentials on a dedicated certification web page.

educational efforts of associations and entrepreneurs around the world. These early efforts represent the industry’s first step in defining what our industry’s standards of practice should be.

I applaud these early efforts. Every day a new summit is offered or an online education platform emerges, we learn a little more about our industry’s education needs, but ultimately, education and Accreditation can only be effectively delivered through the collaboration of our industry’s associations with experts from higher education. I predict that you will be seeing more involvement by higher education. The VR industry is a great opportunity for study and for MBA or PhD candidates to do capstone pieces on setting standards of practice. I am sure it’s coming, and the sooner the better.

Step 2: Create a uniquely numbered certification seal that refers The Opportunity of Guest Assurance to that page.

Quality seals are recognized and relied on by millions of consumers for other products, and guests readily recognize the concept of a quality seal on a property listing or website (see Figure 1.). The concept of certification seals is a powerful branding tool that can distinguish certified properties from uncertified properties on the Internet and build sales.

Figure 1. Above is the seal from the AVROA—a good example of a quality seal. Managing Truth in Advertising is part of the Certification process. It is not possible to inspect every vacation rental and verify that its advertising is accurate, but it is possible to enforce a “Code of Ethics” that mandates Truth in Advertising. Mandating that Certification requires adopting association policy on Truth in Advertising as the final step in Certification.

and the VR Industry Brand When the Internet reset the VR industry’s product life cycle, it not only changed the way we do business, but it gave us the opportunity and responsibility to redefine ourselves in the eyes of our guests.

Until now, the majority of the VR industry’s effort has been in developing ease of use and awareness. Mysteriously, guests have been willing to send money to people they do not know and to rent properties they have no assurance are being advertised accurately, but that does not mean they wouldn’t prefer to reduce their risk or that they will continue to give the VR industry a pass. As the media continues to cover the growing problem of vacation rental scams, VR guests will gravitate to those platforms that do the best job of making them feel safe. You may have developed your brand over the years so that it represents the quality and assurance that you have built into your company, but there is another brand level—the VR industry’s brand that drives guests’ perception of the VR industry as a whole. There is an old saying that “rising tides lift all ships.” We all need to work together to define and promote the VR industry brand we want because regardless of how much we invest in our individual brands, our futures are inexorably tied to our industry’s image. All you have to do is bring to mind any industry with a poor reputation and imagine working with that type of disadvantage.

The need for quality branding and Guest Assurance is going to continue to grow, and it represents a huge opportunity for those who are the first to embrace it.

Because associations are more recognized for their ability to generate benefits members could never achieve on their own, associations will also gain more leverage to manage relations between members and their guests. Establishing standards of practice, along with methods of confirming and enforcing compliance, will be an ongoing task of all associations.

C Accreditation: The Role of Education Accreditation is the final step in building a robust VR industry brand. But it is impossible to enforce standards of practice without offering ongoing education. Granted, as an industry, we are a long way from a comprehensive Accreditation program. We need to define areas of concentration and offer owners and managers the opportunity to receive education and earn Accreditation in those areas. But there are also hopeful signs. Just as the Internet cobbled together thousands of individual rental platforms into a global tapestry, it has also brought visibility to the

By Rod Fitts President Association of Vacation Rental Operators & Affiliates

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

FINDRENTALS.COM

Vacation Rental Pros

A New Empire

Vacation Rental Pros expands rapidly across the US with a focus on profitability and efficiency By Amy Hinote

n 2002, Steve Milo, founder and managing director of Vacation Rental Pros Property Management LLC, purchased his first vacation rental home in Venice, Florida, and struggled to find a competent property management company in the area. He decided to self-manage and explore the opportunity in the market. By 2006, with a background in eCommerce, Milo owned or co-owned ten vacation rentals and was having great success renting the properties on his website. Seeing the opportunity in the marketplace, he decided to launch Vacation Rental Pros. By the end of 2006, he was managing 25 properties. Milo’s initial growth was organic. “I started the business in a recession. Many property managers had stopped taking new homes because they were having trouble getting bookings. In hindsight, the recession was an opportunity. It allowed us to take advantage of a tougher playing field. By running a lean organization, we were able to be profitable, and we used that profit for marketing. We ended up having more bookings than units.”

Homes and the vacation rental contracts from SmokyMountains. com in Gatlinburg, Waterfront Vacation Rentals in St. Petersburg, Condotel and Kokopelli Property Management in New Mexico, and Maui Condos and Car in Hawaii.

With his experience in acquiring companies and bringing them into the Vacation Rental Pros platform, Milo has had the opportunity to learn some valuable lessons along the way including more closely examining the market potential and the company’s viability. “The first thing we’re looking for is the ability for the market to continue to grow,” said Milo. “So any time we look at the market or a company within the market, we’re looking at how much potential is there to grow beyond the book of business we acquired. After that we’re looking at the company itself, its adjusted income, its overall operational efficiency, and any areas where we can create efficiencies from the Vacation Rental Pros model, as well as where we can create a revenue.” Milo also prefers to complete acquisitions at the end of a market’s season or before the beginning of the season so that they can move the acquired inventory into the Vacation Rental Pros platform. “Our platform is really the critical component of our success and its capability separates us from most of the other companies

Only ten years later, Florida-based Vacation Rental Pros now employs 120 and manages over 2,200 properties in 17 markets in the US with plans to grow to more than 2,500 by the end of the quarter. Milo’s company is currently one of the largest vacation rental management companies in the US with no plans of slowing its growth trajectory in the near future. “We run a tight G&A,” said Milo. “This doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because management buys into the philosophy of keeping expenses low and having productive employees.”

Armed with what Milo calls the “Vacation Rental Pros System,” the company has established a formula that provides a level of efficiency and profitability across multiple destinations on a large scale that the vacation rental industry has been slow to replicate.

Acquisitions In the last two years, Vacation Rental Pros has acquired 15 companies, including Five Star Vacation Homes in Orlando, Hilton Head Rentals and Golf in South Carolina, Jackson Mountain VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

in the space as we are able to work from the centralized platform and being able to gain the efficiencies of our central office and our satellite offices working on the same platform, and leveraging the talent within the entire organization.”

When Milo acquires a new company, he generally expects to see a 10 to 15 percent attrition in the transition. “We are realistic with the fact that Vacation Rental Pros has a little bit of a different model, and that model may not work for every single property owner. Our model is much less touchy-feely than some companies provide, and there’s going to be an element of owners whom—as important as revenue is—they also value this touchy-feely component of being able to talk to a principle that knows their life history.”

Milo added, “What we can do is provide a layer of professionalism to the organization that they may have previously not seen. We have a robust owner portal, detailed owner confirmations, and smart locks that we’re paying for as company. We have much more robust marketing and integration to OTAs that lends itself to drive to significant incremental revenue, and we have much more robust rate management. So we do expect some attrition, but in each market we’ve gained a significant number of new owners by the process of opening up solicitations to new property owners to offer our services, and we tend to believe that by having a local office and combining it with the items that Vacation Rental Pros does extraordinary well, we can be the best of breed in the market we enter.”

Vacation Rental Pros Secures $27 Million To support its future growth, Vacation Rental Pros announced the completion of $27 million in bank debt. In late 2016, Fifth Third Bank approved $20 million in commercial bank debt for Vacation Rental Pros, and Gladstone Capital invested $7 million in the company through secured second lien debt to support the company’s continued growth and expansion into new markets.

According to Milo, the ability of the company to raise a large debt round shows the strength of his business model. “While several of our high profile competitors continue to raise equity, Vacation Rental Pros is able to raise market rate commercial debt based on the strength of our financial statements,” said Milo. “The strength of our business model is what separates us in the industry. We are able to achieve both growth and profitability at the same time. As a result, we have been able to avoid equity partners and warrants and have all the options open to us for future growth.”

Business Model When examining the Vacation Rental Pros business model, the fact that Milo sought commercial financing, in an industry driven by equity funding, stands out. “The reason why Vacation Rental Pros business model is little different than some other high profile companies that are completing acquisitions is that we are inherently profitable,” said Milo. “And we’ve been inherently profitable from day one. When you make money—and you make money consistently—it allows you a lot of options in terms of how you grow your company. So, Vacation Rental Pros has not had to take on equity partners. We’ve been able to grow using our operating cash, and then we’ve also been able to get financing through commercial banks at commercial rates. Milo continued, “In order to borrow money from commercial banks, it means that you have to have a balance sheet that works within leverage and ratios that commercial banks find acceptable to risk their capital. And that also mean that you typically have audited statements and quality of earnings running reports. The 58

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fact that Vacation Rental Pros has operated in a profitable manner, has avoided having to go after equity, and has been able to get bank financing, should tell owners and other potential companies out there that it is possible to run a profitable business of scale in this industry, if you do it the right way.” As evidence of its lean organizational structure, Vacation Rental Pros has performed in an optimal manner of running profitable business while also growing 65 percent per a year, and that growth rate is increasing. Milo continues to invest money in technology that adds to the company’s efficiency and profitability margin. “It takes a platform, management, discipline, and leadership to drive a profitable business, and management needs to be numbers oriented, performance driven, and have the ability to really think through problems as opposed to throwing bodies at that problem, said Milo.” We tend to be very methodical about thinking through challenges, options, and solutions, and we avoid simply hiring a massive amount of people to attempt to solve the issues we face in our business. It’s a culture that starts from the top, and then spreads throughout the organization. And it’s one of the reasons why it is tougher to be an employee at Vacation Rental Pros, because we have higher standards, and we have higher expectations. But it is also one of the reasons why the people that are at Vacation Rental Pros, are extraordinary in terms of its productivity because the employee culture itself is one of excelling and buying into standards and performance.” Historically, Milo has not always retained all of the employees at the companies he has acquired. “When we get into a market where employees don’t feel that they have to work at the level and at the standards we expect, or simply do not want to align themselves

to the unit owner. And so, by doing all of those things, and doing them well, and having a platform that truly can scale, we’re able to grow our profits in a way with that margins continue to increase.”

The Vacation Rental Pros Marketing Strategy One of the unique aspects of Milo’s business plan is his approach to marketing. Milo uses a group of specialized freelancers to execute the Vacation Rental Pros marketing plan. These expert independent contractors have worked under the Vacation Rental Pros system for years and manage user interface, organic search, paid search, email marketing, CRM, and more. “Almost all of our marketing is actually external,” said Milo. “It’s a model we prefer as we think that the best specialized marketing talent are freelancers who have done this for a living in across multiple clients and across different industries.” He has found that the most effective marketing channel is email marketing. “There are two aspects of email marketing. First, there is acquisition marketing which would be to induce people who haven’t booked with you. We continue to mail them in hopes that they will eventually book with you.”

He continued, “Then there are the guests who have previously booked with you. And that obviously produces the best ROI for marketing. Everything else is going to increase in cost from there. Some of channels are far more efficient than others.” With third-party distribution channels, Milo tracks his performance closely. “I think HomeAway has publicly indicated that they believe their average advertising expense as a percentage of revenue is in the five percent range. We certainly have found that’s the case using a subscription model.”

with the Vacation Rental Pros process and procedures that we are expect from our employees, we make the decision to centralize the functions out of our corporate office,” explained Milo. “It is not the first option that we would prefer. We would prefer instead to continue to manage the properties with the local operational staff that is in place, but with our model, we have an option to simply reduce the local staff level. And we’ve done it at two locations, and it’s worked extraordinarily well.” Milo continued, “The vacation rental industry is interesting in that it is so fragmented, with many different companies and many different ways that people operate. In some cases, there’s a lack of talent in the industry as a whole because, in resort markets, you have limited options for resources. What some companies have done is overcompensate either by hiring more people than they need or by retaining and overpaying individuals who have a lot of legacy knowledge in their head but are inefficient. We’ve been able to enter those resort markets and disrupt some of these G&A issues by being efficient.”

Milo attributes much of the company’s profitability to the creation of a hybrid model, “On one hand, we’re able to grow revenue by being smart about fees, smart about margin, really dialed into OTAs and online bookings, and all of that different technology that really can move the needle in terms of revenue management and yield management,” said Milo. “In addition, we’re extremely good at managing G&A. Not just employees, not just salary structures, but also really looking at the underlining aspects of the business including housekeeping, maintenance and even the process for how those services are delivered, and ultimately how they billed back

“There are other companies out there like Airbnb that have a three percent fee, but there is a high manual component in operating on them,” Milo added. “Then, other distribution companies have a much higher fee. It requires discipline when building an OTA strategy.”

Milo also advises VRMs to closely monitor their spending on paid search strategies. “Paid search is really the area where companies have to be extremely careful because there are giant multibillion dollar companies that are competing in our markets,” he said. “HomeAway, Airbnb, Priceline, and even TripAdvisor are all spending money on AdWords in the vacation rental market. If you are not careful and smart, you could see your cost for distribution [reach] as high as 25 to 30 percent. You have to really be smart, you have to really target long-tail keywords and stay away from broader terms that are very expensive and provide low conversion rates.”

Milo also addressed Vacation Rental Pros’s SEO strategy: “We have spent lot of time and lot of money on content, photography, copy, and even captions for photos in an effort to better market our homes and provide better information to our guests about the properties they want to book. The additional benefit is that this content really helps with the search engines. We hope, at some point, that Google will start to recognize local and regional firms, as opposed to international OTAs, for some of these organic keywords.”

Revenue Management Steve Milo has also developed an internal revenue management system that has helped Vacation Rental Pros out-perform the market in pricing. “I have not found an external solution that can replace what I do right now,” said Milo. “We have built a platform where we are able to manage a number of different regions. It is VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

extremely powerful and gives us a competitive edge in every single market we enter because we can price per week, per day, and per weekend, in contrast to what we’ve seen in most platforms in our industry doing more flat pricing, low-level pricing, and less variable pricing.”

Milo added, “We typically excel in being able to outperform, or out-yield, our competitors during the season; and during the off-season, we typically come in a little lower than [our competitors] which allows us to drive high occupancy. This is an area of opportunity, and it’s really been an area where we excel.”

Growth “We manage over 2,200 properties right now, and we’d like to be around 2,500 properties, by the end of the first quarter,” said Milo. “However, unit count is the least important metric of growth because I think it is a little misleading, but it is one that most property managers and owners can relate to. We have a number of deals under a letter of intent and contracts that should close at the beginning of 2017. We’re looking to integrate these companies quickly into Vacation Rental Pros and our platform, so that we can enjoy a full 2017 of revenue.” According to Milo, the acquisition environment was buyer friendly from 2008 to 2013, and seller friendly from 2014 to 2016. Entering into 2017, he sees headwinds for sellers with an increased risk of natural disaster, the devaluation of currencies against the dollar, and the fact that there are some economic models that indicate the US may be headed into an economic slowdown.

“One thing that sellers need to think through is that it is not always a good idea to just wait and think that the market will continue to increase the valuation of their company. There is a cycle for everything,” said Milo. “That is one of the biggest things we see when we’re talking with potential seller. In some cases they think they can work another year or two and the value of the company will continue to increase. That is not always the case, and in the markets with the natural disasters, that will not be the case, and we’ll actually see the reduction of the revenue in 2017. So we think that 2017 will be a year where it will probably start to move more to buyer market than a seller market.”

Looking to the Future Milo predicts that the industry will see more acceleration on the distribution level for the vacation rental industry as OTA companies open the vacation rental business up to more of the mass consumer.

“We believe that the OTA space is another area where Vacation Rental Pros is uniquely qualified to accelerate its revenue and its occupancy over competitors,” said Milo. “There is a large digital divide in terms of the OTAs because so many of the OTA aspects require advanced knowledge and expertise for configuration in database management. It is not as simple as turning on a feed. It requires a lot of set up, database structure, and then configuration. Vacation Rental Pros is really dialed in on these aspects.”

Milo has found when he acquires new companies that they often have not had the staff or resources to set up and manage OTA distribution well. “I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect your staff in your local office to be able to understand complex configuration, setup and database aspects to maximize yield management on the OTA channels. That is not a reasonable expectation,” said Milo. Because we’re in an immature environment for OTA setup, and one 60

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

that’s extremely fluid, you need to have an advanced level of setup and configuration to be able to succeed.”

Milo also offered other VRMs some advice in understanding OTAs and how to best work with them. “I think any property manager who doesn’t believe [OTAs] have their own agenda should probably start to process of selling their business now. OTAs definitely have their own agenda, and they definitely are going to tell you what they think is in their best interest, which may or may not be in your best interest. You have to be careful, you have to be prudent, and you have to look at the data they provide you and really use common sense. Does it make sense to relax your booking rules for your primary season? The answer is no. Does it make sense to relax or test your booking rules, your cancelation policies, and your deposit policies for the off-season? The answer is yes.”

Milo added, “Doing business with OTAs is not as easy as everybody think it is because some of them are challenging to work with. Some have significant technical issues, some want to be the merchant of record, which causes tremendous heartburn because they control all the money, and some have policies that supersede your own policies, and may ultimately cause you to lose your entire revenue because you may have, for example, an Airbnb caseworker who provides a refund to your guest at their sole discretion. Property managers really need to think through where and how they’re going to distribute their inventory.” Over the next two years, we can expect to see Vacation Rental Pros begin to leverage its growth, scalability, and sustainability by entering into strategic partnerships. “Where we’re heading into the future is that we’re looking at a number different ways to continue to differentiate Vacation Rental Pros,” said Milo. “Part of that is looking at strategic partnerships. In 2017, I’m looking forward to a number of conversations with strategic partners, who now view Vacation Rental Pros as a national player and who are starting to hear about us from others within the industry as a company that has their act together and is going to be around for a long haul. Companies that are strategic want to do business with the companies that are going to be in business a long term, and those doors are starting to open to Vacation Rental Pros.” We’ve kept all of our options open for how we will best move forward in 2017 and 2018, partly because we don’t answer to equity partners, we have a clean slate, and we have an ability to map out the paths that are in the best interests of the company and our guests and our owners.

OPEN A CAN ON YOUR COMPETITION INCREASE RESERVATIONS & INVENTORY

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

Gatlinburg Fires: A Guest's Story By Amy Hinote

Alan Hammond Tells the Story of His Stay in a Gatlinburg Vacation Rental the Night of the Wildfires Wildfires swept through the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, area on November 29, 2016. The fires began with a small blaze, allegedly started by two teens, near the top of the park’s Chimney Tops Trail on November 23, according to a park news release. The fire expanded only slightly to six acres by November 27. Then, on November 28, winds reaching 85 mph assaulted the area, and burning embers jumped from ridge to ridge, some flying miles. The fire reached Gatlinburg, about five and a half miles from Chimney Tops Trail, and started fires wherever they landed. As firefighters heroically battled the fires, the city of Gatlinburg was placed under an evacuation order, and over 3,000 residents and guests filled the shelters set up throughout the county after the fire began.

The devastating fires resulted in 14 deaths, 191 reported injuries, and $850 million in damages. More than 2,460 structures were damaged or destroyed. Most Gatlinburg property managers have reported losing 10 to 15 percent of their inventory to the fires. Venture Resorts in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge reported that nearly 90% of its vacation cabins were untouched by the recent wildfires.

The wildfires burned approximately 23 square miles within Sevierville County and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. However, Parris pointed out that Sevierville County and Great Smoky Mountains National Park are over 1,400 square miles in size.

“If you think about it, less than 2% of the land area burned,” said Billy Parris, general manager of Venture Resorts. “Depending on where you stay, you may see little or no evidence of the fire, and all of the major tourist attractions in the area are open and doing fine.” Insurance claims from the Gatlinburg wildfires are approaching $1 billion, double the estimate officials released in December. According to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and 62

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Insurance, approximately 4,000 claims have been filed, totaling $842 million.

Steve Milo, founder at Vacation Rental Pros, who recently purchased Jackson Mountain Homes and the rental contracts at SmokyMountain.com in Gatlinburg, said, “We think that in 2017 we’re going to [have] a negative impact, for sure, in first quarter, but we hope that by the spring, most of the cabins that are damaged would be back close to the way they were.” Milo added, “The one thing that is pretty clear is that there is lot less inventory in the Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge market than there was on November 30. There are, accordingly, 700 cabins, that no longer exist. We think that short-term, we are going to see a reduction of revenue, but in the medium term, we’re going to actually see higher occupancy. We also hope to see cabins coming back in the market and rebuilt from the fire in 2018.”

Alan Hammond, president at Holiday Vacation Rentals, was staying in Gatlinburg with his wife at the time of the fire. Below, Hammond shares his unnerving experience in Gatlinburg that night:

As the owners of a vacation rental and property management company, each year we take road trips, staying in vacation rentals and visiting other professional managers to learn best practices that we can use to improve our operations and services. This year, while en route to the VRM Intel Live conference for managers in Destin, Florida, our trip included a visit to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was an experience that we will never forget. After arriving and checking in to our cabin in the Wears Valley near Pigeon Forge on November 27, we planned on “secret shopping” a few vacation rental companies, meeting realtors, and getting some all-important Christmas shopping done. On the eve-

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

ning news we learned there were wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During the newscast, the national park rangers did not express any danger about the fires spreading outside of the park. And the following day, a smoke smell was present throughout the area. We learned that Gatlinburg had been placed under a voluntary evacuation due to air quality concerns caused by dense smoke settling into the valley from the national park. As we drove to Sevierville to shop that afternoon, we could see dark plumes of smoke over the mountain ridges, but we were not particularly concerned since there were no reports of fires spreading out of the national park. As we shopped, there was an almost dismissive

were relieved that the road was not closed. As we drove toward the cabin, we were still unaware that high winds had spread fires out of the national park throughout Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and the Wears Valley as well. While the firestorms were still unknown to us, the road closures should have been our first sense that there may be danger waiting as we headed back to the cabin.

As we drove into the Wears Valley, I noted a red glow in the sky over several of the mountain ridges. At first, I thought the glow was caused by light bouncing off of clouds. But as we turned off the highway onto the road leading to the cabin, we were struck with the unimaginable reality of the landscape on fire. Instantly our focus became to attempt to get to the cabin to retrieve our luggage and, most importantly, our laptops. We prayed for the safety of the cabin and ourselves and hoped we could get some of our personal belongings—if the cabin had not yet caught on fire.

As we approached the last stretch of road before the drive into the cabin, police and emergency vehicles had the road blocked. Large trees and power lines that had fallen across the road because of the high winds had just been removed. Maybe it was a temporary state of unbelief, but for some inexplicable reason, we were allowed to pass and head towards the cabin. As we drove up the road through an open area that had not been affected by fire, we were hopeful that our cabin, which was in a small valley a short distance ahead, might be reached safely. That thought quickly changed as we rounded the last corner in the road before the drive to the cabin. The valley was ablaze with homes and cabins burning on each side of the road. The road was still clear and we drove on, passing the burning devastation. The cabin was just a few hundred feet ahead as we turned onto the drive. While I do not endorse foolish decisions, our prayers were answered as we pulled up to the cabin, still standing in midst of fires around us. The cabin was dark with no electricity, so I pulled up to the porch and front door to use the vehicle headlights to help see our way.

calm as the smoke conditions worsened throughout the area. The smoke seemed to be perceived as a temporary inconvenience that would soon pass. Weather forecasts for that evening called for rain and wind. With rain in the forecast and the wind direction away from our cabin’s location in the Wears Valley, there was no apparent reason for concern. So we returned to the cabin that afternoon, and the smoke smell seemed to have diminished. There was no forewarning of the firestorms and imminent danger that would occur later that evening.

We had decided to go out to the Opry Stage Show for an evening of entertainment after having dinner in Pigeon Forge. When we arrived at the show, the weather was calm, and there seemed to be no reason for concern—little did we know that firestorms would soon rage through the area. All seemed fine—until the end of the show as we were exiting the auditorium. An announcement was made that roads in the Pigeon Forge area were being closed. We assumed the road closures were from the continued spread of dense smoke. There was a light rain falling as we started the drive back to the cabin. We reached the Parkway turnoff to Wears Valley and 64

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We used our cell phone lights to locate belongings in the smokefilled rooms. While locating laptops and luggage, we heard popping and small explosions nearby. Suddenly, we were overcome by the sense of danger and urgency to get out of our burning surroundings. I called, “Let’s go!” to my wife Kathie as I turned our vehicle around and realized that we had become separated. Thankfully she was safe, having done a quick sweep inside of the cabin trying to find belongings we may have missed. Encircled by fires around the cabin, all we could think about was how our cabin escaped burning—we then began our escape. Upon arriving safely back in Pigeon Forge, we found a motel and began to gather our thoughts on the night’s events. Our clothing and vehicle were permeated with the smell of smoke. Many homes and businesses were destroyed. It wasn’t until later that evening that we checked our voice messages and learned that the cabin rental company had tried to reach us to check if were safe and instruct us to evacuate. For many people, there was little notice or time to prepare for evacuation. The high winds had rapidly spread the fires and, in many cases, without warning.

The night was surreal. As we learned more about the fires and loss of homes and businesses in Gatlinburg, we were grateful that we were safe. We met other guests at the motel who had lost all their belongings, but all remarkably retained their composure. As we witnessed the incomprehensive loss of property, we reflected back on the danger that could have turned out much differently for us. Dazed by the events, it was not until the following days, as reports about the loss of life surfaced, that the real tragedy of the Gatlinburg fires became known.

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Distribution

Pricing Shifts

Across Airbnb and HomeAway

By Ian McHenry CEO, Beyond Pricing

ith Airbnb and HomeAway pushing more and more into each other’s territory, we are seeing an increasing overlap in listings appearing on both platforms. As VRM Intel explored in the Winter issue, this overlap is coming both from Airbnb pushing deeper into vacation rental markets currently dominated by HomeAway and from HomeAway attracting Airbnb hosts in urban markets who have started to professionalize and list on more platforms.

As property managers and owners start to test Airbnb and as hosts look toward listing on HomeAway, we thought we would explore the common misconception about the two platforms, that Airbnb is full of cheap, unprofessional listings while HomeAway’s listings are more professional and garner higher prices. Anecdotally, two years ago we found this to be true. Beyond Pricing users who started on Airbnb and then decided to also list on HomeAway saw a surge in bookings. Whereas the market-clearing price on Airbnb might have been $150 per night, because of the glut of underpriced competition, when listed on HomeAway where there was less low-priced inventory, properties would quickly book and hosts were able to raise their prices. A lot has changed in two years, so we wanted to explore 11 different vacation rental markets to see how Airbnb prices and occupancy stack up to HomeAway. Here’s what we found. 66

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Airbnb VS HomeAway PRICING Note:

prices are average nightly rate excluding taxes and fees

Airbnb 1BD

1BD

2BD

3BD

4+BD

Park City

$256

$235

$395

$389

$559

$451

$1,207

$960

Kihei

$237

$193

$381

$260

$796

$517

$1,246

$1,235

Breckenridge

$226

$223

$305

$307

$394

$356

$690

$577

Gatlinburg

$221

$151

$266

$170

$344

$207

$571

$405

Miami

$183

$185

$304

$317

$429

$428

$1,255

$1,328

Los Angeles

$164

$155

$279

$259

$547

$531

$1,368

$1,374

San Diego

$157

$150

$244

$236

$386

$366

$754

$722

Hilton Head

$154

$151

$221

$193

$325

$257

$795

$622

Panama City Beach

$148

$146

$209

$181

$320

$211

$490

$281

Myrtle Beach

$122

$117

$235

$146

$268

$183

$448

$321

Orlando

$118

$150

$151

$155

$153

$145

$249

$240

Average for All Cities

$181

$169

$272

$237

$411

$332

$825

$733

Note: prices are average nightly rate excluding taxes and fees

So whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on here? And what should vacation rental owners and managers take away from this? According to our research in these markets, homes on Airbnb are now priced higher, on average, than homes on HomeAway. In fact, for the sample markets we examined, Airbnbâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s listings were 15 percent higher priced than HomeAway listings. The difference was more pronounced in traditional vacation markets like Myrtle Beach and Kihei. In markets with bigger population bases like San Diego and Los Angeles, the difference was much smaller and often HomeAway listings were higher priced on average.

We should note that, as VRM Intel reported in their last edition, HomeAway still does have a greater proportion of homes that are on the larger side. For instance, in San Diego, 50 percent of HomeAway listings are 3+ bedrooms compared to only 34 percent for Airbnb. As a result, potential guests will find a wider selection on HomeAway when they are looking for bigger homes.

First, Airbnb is no longer the place where irrational owners dump underpriced inventory. In fact, it appears the opposite is true. Hosts may be listing their places for far too much. Because many homes on Airbnb are not second homes, often the inventory is only casually available. For these casual hosts who list their primary residence, they are often simply unwilling to leave their house for the weekend or take off for vacation unless they can garner a high rate for their place. So a lot of this high-priced inventory sits on the market, not getting booked. On the other hand, on HomeAway, many homes are investment properties and second homes so owners and managers are pricing their places to maximize occupancy and income. Moreover, they are likely more sophisticated than the average Airbnb host when it comes to pricing to match the market.

For managers and owners who have been holding off listing on Airbnb because of the pricing environment, now may be the time to give it a try. And for guests looking for the best-priced homes, it might be time to reconsider HomeAway as the place to find a good bargain. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Marketing

The Mobile Web on Steroids By Susan Blizzard, CEO, Blizzard Internet Marketing 68

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

ost people are tired of people preaching about mobilefriendly websites. If you are one of them, the good news is that there are many quietly occurring changes that will rock the mobile web. That’s why we at Blizzard are calling it the “Mobile Web on Steroids,” and there are so many important changes happening right now that if you don’t take action, your website and online marketing will be left in the dust.

As a result of the onslaught of mobile devices, Google, Facebook, Bing, and all the other search engines have made radical shifts in their search results because  Mobile usability is vastly different from usability on a laptop;

 Page speed, especially on mobile devices, is critical;  Voice search capabilities are increasing rapidly and are here to stay; and 

Your phone is a GPS tracking device that pinpoints your location at all times.

These shifts are dramatic and have developed a significant dependence on mobile devices. It is so easy to get things done when you have your phone with you. When was the last time you went out and left your phone at home or even in the car? How comfortable did you feel without it? Just look around in any public place, and it’s crystal clear that the majority of Americans have smartphones with them and use them frequently throughout the day. Mobile device usage will only continue to increase; in fact, major publications predict that soon your smartphone may be your only computer. Because the shift to mobile devices is so dramatic, your website and your online marketing also need to shift dramatically. Here’s why:

Mobile Usability Is Vastly Different from Usability on a Laptop Being finger-friendly is important.

As we like to say internally, “we give your website the finger.” If your webmaster has not designed your website to be easy to click on a phone, it will receive poor scores on Google’s mobile usability test, which will actually hurt the website’s performance in mobile search results. And yes, Google displays different search results on a mobile device than it displays on a laptop.

Structure is key.

No one reads anymore—they skim. The better the structure of your website’s text, the longer people will stay on your website and the more frequently they will return. The longer people stay on your website, the higher your website climbs in search results. Although a Backlinko study in July 2016 found that the most popular websites had an average of 1,800 words on the page, people who simply write an unstructured wall of 1,800 words are not likely to do well in search results. The key point here is that the more completely your webpage answers a question, the more likely it is that Google will direct people to your website. No one wants to wait while a new page loads. If you structure your content to easily answer any questions people have on a given topic, such as things to do in your area, your website will be better optimized for the mobile web. Ban the cute stuff.

If your website has pop-up forms, lightboxes, or any other techy features, it’s not likely to be easy to use on mobile phones. Google recognized this and rather quickly, considering Google’s speed, announced that having pop-ups on mobile view will hurt your website. If the mobile view of your website uses pop-ups, turn them off.

Page Speed, Especially on Mobile Devices, Is Critical If you don’t know the page speed scores of all pages of your website, take a look at the Site Speed section in Google Analytics or download free testing software, such as Screaming Frog. You can also test your website’s home page with testing tools, such as Google’s Page Speed Test. There are two very important and competing factors to pay attention to with regard to page speed. Photos

Especially for vacation rentals, photos are critical. We know this. However, photos are slow to load and can cause your webpages to fail to load if the file sizes are too large. If you have any doubt about the importance of good photos, consider this: The white paper, Disruption is Dead by Cogniance, states that “in 2009, Airbnb was on its last legs. Revenue was stuck at a paltry $200 per week. One afternoon, they made a discovery while reviewing their site with a colleague: the photos of their properties were horrible. People were using their cell phones to post images of varying (often lousy) quality. Airbnb was losing potential customers because they couldn’t see what they were booking.”

Although there are free tools to help you optimize photos and other images, there are no tools to fix all of your photos automatically. The process to fix photos is time-consuming and tedious, so it is often neglected. However, you absolutely need to complete this onerous task if you want your website to perform well. A couple of free image optimization tools are www.kraken.io and www.tinypng.com. You can also use Photoshop, but it’s still a manual process, and it’s not necessary to purchase Photoshop just to fix photos.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Google is so concerned about Page Speed that it developed a new scaled-down language called AMP, which stands for accelerated mobile pages. You may have noticed during the election that news results were coming up with this bar at the top of the page. For companies using WordPress, there is a free WordPress plugin that will fix blog pages. AMP pages automatically fix photos and VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Your Phone Is a GPS Tracking Device That Pinpoints Your Location at All Times One consequence of the rise in popularity of smartphones is that you now have a tracking device that pinpoints where you are at all times. Does that sound creepy? If you are like me, the answer is yes. If you turn this function off, however, don’t expect to find your phone when you lose it. “Find my iPhone,” for example, relies on your having Location Services turned on.

videos to be delivered quickly. You can see AMP pages right now on your phone by clicking any search result that has AMP next to it.

Voice Search Capabilities Are Increasing Rapidly and ARE Here to Stay We don’t just talk on our phones, we talk to our phones. Why would we type with our thumbs when we can simply use our voices? As a result of the increase in voice searches, the websites that perform best in search results are those that clearly provide answers to questions that people naturally would ask verbally.

Google transitioned its search results to voice search three years ago when it rolled out the Hummingbird update. Hummingbird represented the largest change in the delivery of search results that Google has ever made. The reason that Google gave for the change was “conversational search.” For example, if someone asks, “What’s the closest place to buy an iPhone?” Google wants to deliver search results that better focus on the meaning behind the words. In other words, Google wants to identify the actual location of your home; understand that when you say the word “place,” you mean a physical store and not a website; and recognize that the term “iPhone” indicates that you want to see a list of stores categorized as technology retail establishments. Specifically, Google said that Hummingbird pays more attention to each word to ensure that the whole meaning of the search request is taken into account rather than particular keywords. Google’s goal is for webpages that match the entire phrase’s meaning to perform better in search results than webpages that match just a few words. In contrast, prior to Hummingbird, Google would look for matches for particular keywords such as “buy” and “iPhone.”

In addition to the words on your page, the code behind your website can give it a boost. In Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools), there is a section called Structured Data. This section shows you how much your website has code behind the scenes that quickly tells Google important information such as your business type and also your company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP). At the very minimum, adding this information to your website is essential. Do you have a question about how to write and structure your content for the Google Hummingbird update? Try phrasing the text on your page in a question-and-answer format.

Voice technology is improving. In five years, we may be asking our phones, our cars, or even Amazon Echo or Google Home not only to research places to stay in a particular area but also to actually make the desired reservation. 70

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You also may find it useful to have Google know where you are because Google’s Paid Ads Division allows ads to be shown precisely where you are at any given time. These ads can appear on search results or directly on Google Maps. Want a Starbucks discount? Just open your phone the next time you are waiting in line. There might be a deal just waiting for you. Having ads appear on Google Maps may not be highly useful for the vacation rental industry because people are not often on Google Maps when they are looking for a place to stay. However, people in some regions of the country are more likely to look for lodging on Google Maps, so this feature is something to try. In AdWords, you need to enable location extensions and make sure your location is linked to your Google My Business page.

What’s Next? As the old Chinese saying goes, “May you live in interesting times.” And we definitely do. Although we can’t predict the future, it’s fair to say that we will use anything that makes our lives easier, more enjoyable, or more productive.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Marketing

Boost Your

Conversion

Rate

for Online Bookings By Brandon Sauls Owner InterCoastal Net Designs

Can you answer the following three questions about your company? B How many reservations does your website average per month? C How many leads do you currently have, and how many are still awaiting a response? D How many leads does your top reservationist currently have? How did you do? Chances are you had to do some digging to find at least one of your answers. However, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a vacation rental manager or marketer, these numbers should be at the center of your attention. 72

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Why, you ask? Because in the world of vacation rental marketing, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about the reservations. Regardless of the medium (your website, online marketing, channels, community outreach, or TV and radio ads), the idea remains the sameâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;more leads equal more reservations. When it comes to the digital medium, converting those leads into reservations involves more than just an aesthetically pleasing design. It involves a lot of design and marketing elements that you have learned about through your hard-earned experience, as well.

In my experience as founder and president of InterCoastal Net Designs (ICND), I have been able to identify several strategies (despite the ever-changing world of VR marketing) that I will share with you. One of these techniques alone drove more than $500,000 in bookings.

• Remove the navigation bar on this page only. This makes it more difficult for visitors to leave the page during the checkout process. • Make sure the form fits on a single desktop or mobile screen without the need to scroll. • Purchase totals should update in real time as the visitor selects or unselects add-ons. • The page should promote trustworthiness and security (i.e., make sure your “secure payment” badges are clearly visible). Now that the all-important checkout page is fully optimized, what else can you do to boost conversions? Here are eight of our favorite options: B HotJar: This Web application lets you record (for free) the screen of up to 100 visitors on your website. That way you can figure out exactly where your visitors may be getting stuck during their purchase journeys. C Urgency features: This includes bright colors on buttons to catch visitors’ attention. You should also include enticing calls to action like “Begin your adventure” rather than “Start your search.” D Easy-to-search inventory: An easy-to-find “quick search” option, the ability to search and filter results, and a navigation bar that includes the most popular searches on your website will help visitors navigate your website with ease. Also, having the ability to track website searches will give your company loads of free insight. For example, if you learn visitors are frequently searching for properties in a particular area, then you could consider adding more properties from that area to your inventory. E Related properties: Websites like Amazon.com use their “related products” section to suggest products similar to the item the visitor is currently viewing. In a similar way, we include a “related properties” section on each property page that suggests similar properties to the visitor. F Social sharing: Make sure to give visitors the option to share a property page easily on social media. This leads to increased brand recognition, and it also requires visitors to input their email address (a huge benefit we’ll discuss in greater detail shortly).

Website Design Elements We’ll begin with the overall design of your website. Be aware that a beautiful design won’t necessarily make your website successful. Plenty of websites are aesthetically pleasing but don’t convert whatsoever. At ICND, we refer to these websites as “all flash and no cash.” So if you can’t improve conversions with a pretty design alone, what can you do? Begin by perfecting your “money” page—the checkout page. This, the most important page of a website, should be the page that receives the most focus, but often the checkout page isn’t given the attention it deserves. As a result, we’ve learned to maintain focus on the conversion rate of the checkout page and have found ways to consistently improve the conversion rate through several design choices:

G Abandonment banner: This feature shows up at the bottom of every page on the website when a visitor leaves the checkout page without completing the process. H Mobile/desktop visibility: It is extremely important to make sure that every page of your website can be accessed through both a desktop and mobile screen. We’ve found that visitors typically shop on their mobile devices and then book on desktops (although mobile bookings are up 200 percent in the past few years). I Discount visibility: Many companies create a “specials” page that displays all the properties currently offering discounted rates. However, they may forget to make sure that each property is properly discounted on any other page where it may be listed. What happens when a visitor encounters one of these properties while not on the “specials” page finds a rate difference? To avoid confusion, we make sure the discount is visible anywhere on the website VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

that the property is listed. (This usually includes a “discounted rate” banner that goes across the main property image.)

Marketing Elements We’ve shown you some of our favorite ways to boost conversion, but so far those only include design, which is just the beginning. It’s all well and good to have a perfectly designed website, but you need to get customers to visit the website in the first place. That’s where marketing comes in. ICND has several top marketing strategies for getting more leads: B Put a banner with email opt-in either near the bottom of the page or in the footer. This will place the banner on every page of the website, making it easy for people to find without distracting them from the actual intention of the website (conversions). C Have a “send to a friend” option. Make it possible for visitors to share any vacation property directly from the property detail page. This is a great way to boost brand recognition, get social shares, and even capture more e-mails (to convert them in the future). D Track your lead points. Use Google Analytics to track the conversion rates of different contact points on your website. You can then make the best converters more prominent and optimize (or remove) the underachievers. E Place a “more information” form on every property detail page. This is another way to reach visitors before they book somewhere else because it allows them to get more specific details about a property. F Place an “ask a question” section on every property detail page. This is essentially a comments section. Visitors can ask a question about a property that other visitors can then respond to publicly on the page. G Include a “contact us” page. Make sure this page is extremely easy to find (in the navigation). H Use email modal pop-ups. Okay, these pop-ups have a history of being widely misused, so they’ve gained the reputation of annoying visitors like crazy, but that’s because marketers aren’t using them correctly. On our client websites, this email capture form will only pop up if a visitor has viewed a few pages on the website already (and it never appears on the homepage). Also, our pop-ups don’t simply ask for emails—they offer discounts or some other incentive in exchange. As a side note, we always use dollar amounts on our discounts instead of percentages (since customers tend to hate doing math). This is an amazingly effective conversion booster when implemented as previously described. In fact, this is the tactic referenced at the beginning of the article that generated more than $500,000 in bookings and collected thousands of e-mails. I Have a “checkout abandonment” process in place. This feature allows you to retain visitors’ information, even if they abandon the checkout process before it is complete. It also sends visitors an email with a link back to the property so that they can easily come back when they’re ready to book. J The more “lead capture” points you have, the better. More capture points equal more leads; it’s really that simple. To recap, here are the lead capture points ICND places on our clients’ websites:

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• Email footer opt-in on every page

• “Send to a friend” form on every property detail page

• “More information” form on every property detail page • “Ask a question” form on every property detail page • “Contact us” page • Pop-up modal

• “Checkout abandonment” process There you have it. These are the time-tested strategies that consistently boost bookings for our clients in the vacation rental industry. In this digital age, a little information can truly go a long way, and we know from our own experience that the techniques in this article can turn your website into a conversion machine. We hope that you’ve gained some valuable insights and that you’re itching to implement what you’ve learned on your own website. To download this article’s companion presentation, please visit www.IcoastalNet.com/Convert.

Planning Your Digital Strategy for 2017 Collaborators: Brynn Flaherty, Director of Marketing Services, Natalie Stone, Sales Manager, Julia Whipple, Director of Marketing

s the vacation rental and travel industries continue to evolve, we are more excited than ever to help guide our clients to digital success in 2017. Bluetent is committed to building innovative strategies that place vacation rental managers at the forefront of this fiercely competitive industry. Campaigns that inspire travelers, drive brand loyalty, and create emotional connections, will be essential in the coming year.

the guest stays, we can create a curated experience. Travelers are immersed in choices when planning a vacation, so it’s important to consider each touchpoint along the journey and be there when and where travelers need you.

Throughout this article, which is an excerpt of an extensive white paper detailing a comprehensive marketing plan for 2017, we’ll share some of our team’s insights and approaches for the new year. To view the full white paper, please visit www.bluetent.com/white-paper-downloads.

While we cannot compete with the enormous marketing budgets that OTAs have at their disposal, we can appreciate the leads we receive from them and create memorable, celebrated experiences that emotionally connect guests to your brand and keep them returning for years to come. When we focus on the entire traveler experience from beginning to end, we start to build trust, provide brand consistency, develop customer loyalty, and ultimately raise the lifetime value of the guest.

The Industry is in Flux; Disruption is Happening

Traveler Journey

We all recognize that the vacation rental industry is ever-changing, yet a few substantial shifts in the last year have created new challenges and meaningful conversations. Several high-value mergers across hotels and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have changed the game for smaller vacation rental brands. Additionally, hotels and resorts are feeling the effects of vacation rentals becoming more mainstream. And finally, OTAs are changing the rules when it comes to who owns the guest experience.

Adaptation Leads to Growth The brands that find ways to adapt to the evolving industry and those that work diligently to own their guest experience are the ones that will find real opportunity.

This progression is what makes this industry so exciting. At Bluetent, we are inspired by the challenges our clients face, and it moves us to innovate, create, and push boundaries. When we welcome shifts, we can adapt and build lasting brands with enormous possibilities.

Travelers Expect a Curated Experience When creating a successful digital strategy for 2017, it’s essential to acknowledge and embrace the changing paradigm in how travelers plan their vacations.

We are presented with countless opportunities to make an impact with travelers online while they dream, research, plan, travel, and reflect. By providing relevant content, personalized messages, targeted advertising, reservation recovery mechanisms, and communication before, during, and after

In thinking about a well-rounded, immersive experience, we must consider each aspect of the traveler journey and how we can create the feeling of trust and authenticity. To achieve this, we suggest brands ask the following questions throughout each phase of the journey:  Dreaming: What are guests dreaming of throughout the year? When are they beginning to consider their next trip?  Researching: What questions are prospective guests asking? What content would help them better research and plan?

 Reservation and Planning: How can we streamline the reservation funnel? Are there vacation package options or features that would make booking more convenient and informed?  Preparing for an Upcoming Trip: What might they ask about the check-in procedures? Are there activities they should plan in advance?  Departure and Follow-Up: How do you communicate your appreciation of their business? Can you recognize past guests with special incentives or future booking reminders?

To appropriately answer these questions, you must know your guests. Guest expectations differ significantly across different properties, regions, and destinations, and the data you’ve collected and the knowledge you’ve gained about the guest can be used to inform your marketing decisions. This is where your team can shine brightly by sharing local information to create curated,

authentic experiences, which is a truly powerful tool to generate direct bookings.

Emotional Loyalty Knowing your guest is an essential step in creating a competitive advantage, and we must build on that knowledge to appeal directly to your guest’s emotional state. What do you provide that sets your brand apart and will keep guests returning year after year?

Many times, we plan initiatives that generate a short-term sales boost, but for long-term growth, we must also consider initiatives that build lasting brand loyalty. Transactional loyalty happens when a consumer purchases for points or perks, but emotional loyalty is when a traveler makes a decision, not because of the reward, but because it is a reflection of their values. It includes tactics that add benefits to the overall guest experience, focus on building rapport, and gain deeper knowledge of the guest that lead to loyalty and increase profitability.

Strategy and Tactics for 2017 With our understanding of this dynamic industry, thoughtful consideration of the progressive traveler and their online behavior, and with the importance of building emotional loyalty, we can develop a diverse marketing mix that will achieve the goals set forth while mitigating the risk of relying too heavily on one channel. To discover how to develop a successful marketing mix and the comprehensive strategy for 2017, please download the full white paper at www.bluetent.com/white-paper-download.

We realize that creating and implementing a robust digital marketing plan may seem daunting; which is why our team is here to help. Across the country, Bluetent’s digital marketing team helps professional vacation rental managers expand their inventory and partner with ideal owners. If you would like help with your strategy, please don’t hesitate to reach out: sales@bluetent.com or 970.704.3240. About Bluetent: Bluetent is a digital agency providing strategic consulting, brand design, web development, mobile solutions, SEO, digital advertising, email, social media, and content services to the vacation rental, resort, and travel industries. Rezfusion, by Bluetent, is a powerful ecommerce platform that will process over $150 million annually in direct online reservations across our client portfolio, supporting more than 125 vacation rental and hospitality sites. Bluetent is dedicated to creating sustainable growth and delivering measurable results to clients through innovation and quality in the digital space.

| Business

The Original Vacation Rental Pioneer

ae thought her husband George Sloane, Jr. had lost his mind when, in 1955, he asked her to move with their two young children to live as the only residents on a small island off North Carolina’s mainland. After all, George had steady work in Columbus, South Carolina, and the thought of picking up everything to move to an island that was accessible only by ferry and had no power and no family or friends was a lot to ask of any young wife.

Rae’s uncle Odell Williamson had been buying tracks of land on the island since 1947, and he was in need of someone to sell lots for development. In 1950, Williamson partnered with Mannon Gore to launch and run a four-car ferry from the mainland to Ocean Isle Beach. Three years later, Williamson bought most of the island for $218,000.

“In 1955, when we came down to the island for a family get-together, Uncle Odell talked my husband into moving to Ocean Isle Beach to sell real estate,” said Rae Sloane Cox, founder of Sloane Realty Vacations. “George had a great job in Columbus and we had two babies in diapers. I thought he had lost his mind, but when your husband is taking care of you, you follow him wherever he goes. George had always wanted to live on the beach, and I loved him so much that I would have followed him to the moon.”

On June 8, 1955, Rae and George Sloane packed up their children, drove onto the ferry with what little they had, and never looked back. “We had the whole sky and the whole ocean. We had it all,” said Rae. 76

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The Sloanes used money they had gotten after George’s mother’s death to build a house on the island. “When we started, we were selling ocean front lots for $500,” said Rae. “Odell paid us two percent, and we sold hundreds of them. If people knew what we lived on they wouldn't believe it. We ate a lot of fish, oysters, and crabs. We were so monetary poor, you wouldn’t believe it, but we were young and in love and were very wealthy in every way that mattered.” “The only way we survived was that my mother lived out in the country and had a big garden,” said Rae. “She would gather food and had peas fixed, and she would bring us cornmeal and grits. Way back then, there were also groups of men who fished with nets, and they would give us so much fish.” After realizing there was a need to have a place for guests to stay when on the island, Rae and George enclosed the downstairs of their home and the next summer began renting the space to outof-towners. They also rented the one house on the island that was still standing after Hurricane Hazel.

“In 1956, we had the two rentals, and we ran an ad in the Charlotte newspaper,” recalled Rae. “We only got one postcard back that said, ‘Where is Ocean Isle Beach?’” However, it wasn’t long before travelers discovered Ocean Isle Beach and began spending their vacations along the peaceful sandy shore fishing, walking the beach, crabbing, oystering, and lying in the sun. With more and more visitors coming to the island, the couple decided it was time to build a place for the visitors to stay. According to Rae, “In 1957, we started building a small motel. We had six units and we lived in one of the apartments.”

Slowly, George and Rae took on more homes to manage as vacation rentals, and they booked their rentals using mainly postcard communications. “Most of it was word of mouth,” said Rae. “They would send us a postcard and tell us when they wanted to come down, and we would send a postcard back and tell them to come on down. There was one phone on the island four miles away. It was an old crank phone. We would have to get in a car, go back over there, and return any phone calls.”

The business required hard work. “We had a well with a pump in the backyard. I did all the laundry, and I would fold the sheets when they were still a little damp so they would look like they were ironed. You learn to do whatever you can to make it work. I primed many water pumps and scrubbed many bathrooms.” “As we grew, our biggest work was on the weekends and on the holidays. At that time, the turn day was on Sunday, and it was such a burden on me because you couldn’t get any help on Sunday. I worked myself to death. I’m the one that changed the turn day to Saturday, and pretty soon, everyone followed suit.”

By 1965, the Sloanes were managing 25 vacation rentals in addition to the inn. In the late 1960s, lots were selling for $4,000, and the island saw significant development which brought much needed infrastructure including streets, water lines, sewer, and the Ocean Isle swing bridge.

Tragedy Strikes George and Rae’s hard-working, yet idyllic life together came to an abrupt end in 1971 when George Sloane, Jr. was killed in a car accident while returning home from Shallotte. A heartbroken Rae was now facing life on the island as a single mother of three, burdened with multiple mortgage payments, and facing the unfathomable workload required to keep up with their business.

“If I had not had three children to consider, I would have tried to work out some way to go with him,” Rae said as she recalled those dark days. “But I told myself a thousand times a day, I have got to think about these children, not me. My youngest had just turned eleven. I had to think of them.” In addition to her grief, Rae had to face the bank and their mounting mortgage payments. “My husband had bought so many pieces of property that he believed he could buy with a little down and make payments, so we had a whole lot of debt. We had so many mortgages at the bank, I just told him I can’t pay any more. Our banker said, ‘Rae, you sign it because I know you are going to try.’”

Almost immediately, Rae was tempted with an offer to sell her business.

“I had some men that brought me a contract for $1.5 million,” said Rae. “I looked at it, and to me it looked like $100 million. I had grown up in the country very poor. I asked them to let me think about it. I figured out what I would have to pay off to the bank and what I would have to pay in taxes, and I realized I would have so little left after it was all said and done that I would still have to get a job. So I decided not to take it, and it is a miracle that I didn’t.”

But soon after, her local bank president was killed, and a new bank manager took over. Rae said, “He and two men in suits from the bank came over, and they wanted to know what I was going to pay. I looked straight at them and said, 'I can't pay you a thing because I don't have anything. But if I can make the money, you will be paid on time.'” The bank president told Rae, “I pulled all the files, carried them to the big home office, and they said we are going to have to take all these mortgages back because there is no way a woman can pay all of this.” However, the bankers eventually decided to give Rae a few months to see if she would be able to make the payments, and from that point on, every one of her payments were made at least two days in advance.

“My Lord was really good to me. After George was killed, for the next two to three years everything was selling like crazy, and I was paying off the mortgages. They didn’t think a woman could handle the business.”

Building the Destination Throughout the 1970s, Sloane Realty Vacations exploded, and Rae’s sister Sonya came to the island to help her with the business. Rae recalled, “I remember during that booming time, four men came in from Lake City, South Carolina, and I showed them the eleven lots I had. They came back to the office and wanted to buy all eleven VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

lots. As they were signing the contracts, one of the men said, ‘I thought I’d be on damned fire before I did business like this with a woman.’”

In 1978, Rae married Connor Cox, a retired high school principal from Tabor City, North Carolina, who had purchased a house from Rae and put the house into her rental program before losing his wife to cancer. Rae recalled, “Our children joked that I was marrying him so I could get the rent, and he was marrying me to get the commission.” The country experienced a recession in the 1980s, but people were still buying property on Ocean Isle. “We were so established by that time that it didn’t kill us,” said Rae. “I found out that people will go on vacation when they don’t do anything else. And if I believe in it, I can sell anything. The prices for several years were going up too fast. I’ve never had anyone fuss at me for selling them something, but I’ve had dozens of people mad at me for not making them buy more.” In the late 1980s, the family expanded the Ocean Isle Inn to seventy rooms. All three of her children, Tripp, Debbie, and Pam got their real estate licenses and joined the business. “My family members have been the ones I depended on to help run my business.” Eventually, Rae and Connor Cox wanted to travel, so Rae turned over the business to her children. “I ran that rental business. I was the boss until everything went on computers. Then my husband wanted to retire and travel, so I did.”

Rae’s Legacy Rae Sloane Cox was a true pioneer in the vacation rental industry, and her legacy is found in the close ties within her family, the building of a successful real estate and rental business, and the shaping of a destination. The island’s population has grown from four people in 1955 to approximately 600 current permanent residents including a seasonal population of 25,000, and Rae and her family have been instrumental in molding the entire island community.

Today, Sloane Realty Vacations has 35 year-round employees and manages over 150 long-term rentals and 375 vacation rental properties from Ocean Isle Beach to Sunset Beach. The company is co-owned by Rae’s children, Tripp Sloane and Debbie Sloane Smith. Debbie is also now serving in her fourteenth year as mayor of Ocean Isle Beach. Pam, the youngest of the siblings, no longer works with the company, but still lives locally and is married to Robert Yoho, Ocean Isle’s fire chief, and most of Rae’s fifteen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren still live in the area. Three of her grandchildren are also working in the business: Whitney Sauls (General Manager), Chris Bryan (Sales Manager), and Leah Peterson (Accounting). “Everywhere I go, someone is hugging me. I just love people,” explained Rae. “I've always just loved people. I worked hard, but I enjoyed what I did. I’ve had a good life.”

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| Technology

Spotlight:

Streamline

Vacation Rental Software

he professionally managed vacation rental industry has witnessed the fast growth of Streamline Vacation Rental Software over the last few years, and we are currently seeing several of the industry’s largest companies begin to use their software. At VRM Intel, we reached out to Streamline’s founder and CEO Carlos Corzo to learn more about their growth, their development goals, and the direction they are moving in the coming year.

real-time bookings on our site. Rocky Point was well behind the times, allowing us to be one of the pioneers with online bookings. As time went on, we became a travel agent for all of the condos in town—then hotels—and finally homes. I also worked at Motorola at the time, but would also have to send faxes, emails, and field nonstop phone calls to get confirmations in my spare time. Finally, it became too much to handle with a full-time job, so we hired our first part-time employee.

The Birth of Streamline Vacation Rental Software

I became great friends with local property managers, and we would discuss our frustrations as owners, travel agents, housekeepers, maintenance workers, website developers, and property managers. And it soon became clear that it was time to build a larger, more comprehensive vacation rental system. Then, Steve Schwabb, a large area property manager, approached me to build such a system; his vision was ahead of its time—when you speak of pioneers in this industry, Steve is your man.

Below, Corzo shared exclusively with VRM Intel, the story of how he got started in the vacation rental technology sector and how Streamline came to be.

By Carlos Corzo Everything started in my senior year of college at Arizona State University when I ran into an old high school friend. After reliving our high school years, he suggested that I purchase a condo in Rocky Point, Mexico (Puerto Penasco, Mexico), a location often referred to as Arizona's beach due to its proximity to the USMexico border. At that time, condos were 89 thousand dollars, and the thought of risking my life savings was not an option, but I kept thinking about the possibilities. A few years later, I went back to ASU for my MBA, and after working on a project about real estate investments in Mexico, I felt more comfortable investing and decided to take the leap and buy a condo. After purchasing the condo, we built a website to try to get bookings. Suddenly, we started to get email requests, and as time went on, we just kept getting more and more. We had so many excess leads that the resort’s property manager allowed us to book other units at the resort for a ten percent commission.

From there, things started to grow exponentially and we were advised to become an official travel agency. This was a scary thought at the time. We pulled the trigger and signed up with a credit card processor, purchased a virtual phone system and eventually added 80

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As we continued to grow, we built our first system that helped reduce the number of mistakes made by our phone agents. This was the start of a great adventure. Every few minutes, we would log in to see leads, bookings, nearly everything—it was so exciting!

As times became tougher in Mexico, the competitive market began to get aggressive, and Steve decided to scrap the project. I was about 50 percent of the way through. Suddenly, we got hit by the four-headed monster: the swine flu, media hype of the dangers of travel to Mexico, an economic collapse in the US, and a new requirement for passports to visit Rocky Point. Times were tough!

Fortunately, I met Loren Worthington, a marketing expert and consultant to a local property manager. He felt that good things were coming for the area and he was looking for a customized software system. Since I already had the foundation of a property management software system and Loren knew exactly what was lacking in the industry, we worked (countless hours) to design the perfect system, which we named ResortPRO. (Little did I know that this would be the launching pad to where we are now.) After a year of building ResortPRO, Loren started using our software, but as hard times continued and we had more financial dif-

ficulty, I began to feel that it was time to close shop and focus on my family and full-time career. At the last minute, Betty Majors at RPR Mexico asked for a demo. She already had a software solution, but had heard through the grapevine that I had built something. I reached out to Brett Parry. He was a young man that I coached in soccer from the age of 11 years old. He had recently graduated college, and I knew he had the personality and perseverance to make things happen. I decided to include Brett on the demo to see if it would generate a spark, passion, or vision in him. On our drive back, Brett begged me to give him the opportunity to keep ResortPRO alive and Betty felt it was time for a change, so we decided to pull the trigger. Talk about times being tough. I financed everything myself. Life at ResortPRO was month-to-month, but I took a huge leap and decided to hire Brett full time.

At that time, my salary consisted of nothing because Brett and our programmer had to get paid. I even remember getting Brett a job as a soccer coach to help subsidize his income. I wanted to dig into the industry and learn about our competition, so we visited a VRMA conference. I then realized the easiest market to penetrate was private home property management, but we were referring to ourselves as “Resort”PRO. So, after much deliberation, we chose Streamline as our new name.

We continued to improve our system and kept growing. As money became available, we hired more employees. I had to learn more about the property management industry, and through a series of crazy events, I met Jim who would become my business partner in Park City. With his marketing acumen and property management experience and with my knowledge of wholesaling, we quickly grew to over 1,000 properties that were available for online booking—suddenly we were a business.

Now fast forward to 2017—we have continued to grow leaps and bounds over what we were when we began. Our strength lies in our ingenuity and our great relationships with clients. Ground-breaking ideas are constantly being created and adapted to this ever-changing industry. We are even in the process of building a 10,000 square foot facility to accommodate this tremendous growth.

Q &A AH: In building out the system over the last several years, what has been your greatest challenge?

CC: Money, money, money. Having surrounded myself with experts in every component of property management, the knowledge was there. It was a matter of money, patience, and time. The stress of payroll took its toll. Once I had people relying on me to care for their families, the pressure was on. AH: The industry is currently seeing a number of large companies making the decision to change software systems, and many are choosing Streamline. What are the primary reasons large companies are making the decision to switch? Are there any market conditions that are contributing to their decision?

CC: I have learned that these large Vacation Rental Management (VRM) companies are extremely unique. Using outdated software, they ended up building components around their existing software. After getting to know them and sharing my personal struggles in the industry, the synergy has been very powerful. Almost every challenge I have faced over the years resonates with them. I think the most important reason is that we are truly a custom software solution. We have a very powerful core, with the help of our amazing clients, but more importantly, we made our system flexible enough to adapt to the larger companies. By maximizing Amazon web services and a team of extremely talented programmers, we continue to break barriers. Our system is fast, reliable, and rich in features. The fear in changing software systems is the loss of historical data and existing connections to third-party vendors. With hundreds of API connections available, we have been able to make these transitions easy. I am a big believer in the power behind data. To be successful in this industry, you cannot afford to lose historical information. Everyone always asks how far back to go when importing data. but it never seems to fail that as soon as you don’t keep something, you will need it. At the end of the day, it is your data—so keep it.

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| Technology

AH: What new functionality are you adding to Streamline in 2017?

CC: A lot! We are launching a new and improved skin to make the user experience better. We are also adding a more intelligent marketing methodology and reporting for leads. As we introduced gap logic, I realized it was important to browse through existing warm, cold, or dead leads to see if converting these leads would ever help close gaps in our clients’ availability calendars. Our system will always look to see if an existing lead falls into a certain criteria or revenue opportunity, and if so, the system will automatically send a follow up with new pricing.

We released our first yield management solution in 2016 and are adding advanced yielding and rate management methodologies. These include the ability to yield by channel partner, season of the year, revenue pacing, revenue comparison, and much more. We are even adding intelligence to our logic that will notify you when there are sudden changes in price fluctuation. This often refers to the velocity of your changes in rates. Big jumps up or down indicate something unique is happening. In addition, we will continue to release great features to our guest mobile app. This quarter, we are launching a tool that gives customers the ability to pay and add activities and offerings directly through the mobile portal. We are also launching StreamShare, which has generated a lot of excitement among our clients. This feature allows property managers to share inventory at the click of a button. Companies can go from one hundred units in one location to thousands of units in multiple locations. Everything syncs automatically (unit details, pricing, availability, and taxes and fees). It is ahead of its time, but more importantly, it is giving control back to the property manager. Other developments include international capabilities (multiple currencies and multi-lingual websites), crystal reports integration, and the continued improvement of our phone system that allows clients to see caller info before answering, save all calls, listen in and coach employees, keep accurate tracking information, and route a call to the assigned agent automatically. This system even allows 82

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you to manage texts and chats. Our clients will see any lead details, booking information, guest traits, owner details, owner traits, open owner work orders, and owner revenue numbers prior to taking the call. To make life easier, for existing guests, we will be adding the ability to identify a guest who is in-house and route that call to guest services. The same concept works with homeowners. The list goes on and on, including additional channel partners, a traveler rewards program, a university, cutting edge website technology, the streamline marketplace (clients can add their own creations to share with other property managers), capability for background checks, and much, much more.

AH: Streamline currently has an "Open API" policy that gives VRMs the ability to use any technology supplier they choose for business needs such as websites, lead management, smart home, business intelligence, revenue management, etc. (including VRM Intel’s new competitive reporting). Other software providers have chosen to limit integration options for VRMs. Why did you decide to adopt an Open API policy at Streamline? CC: We offer an Open API, and we find ourselves constantly building API functionality to support many of our third-party integrations. We share this with our clients to give them maximum flexibility because we know that the data belongs to the client, and our online marketplace is driven by our clients’ ability to access their data to take advantage of any technology they choose. The more successful Streamline’s users become, the more successful Streamline will be, so we have no need to hoard their data.

The most exciting API development has been our advanced import REST API. Larger companies have been able to transfer nearly all of the data from their existing system without a problem. These import APIs allow property managers to enter user info, owner details, owner statements, seasons, pricing, taxes and fees, work orders, reservations, payments—everything! With yielding becoming a trend, many of these large companies have built their very own yielding systems. We also provide a very simple API that allows them to change pricing for individual nights at any time while using their proprietary techniques.

AH: Looking forward, what technology trends do you see having the largest impact on the way Property Managers do business?

CC: I would have to say the trend towards guest retention will have the largest impact. As a property manager, after being victim to the many changes at HomeAway over the past few years, we changed our entire culture in Park City to cater to every need of the guest. My advice is to be unique. Owners and guest are going to expect "cool" technology. A new property manager pops up every day. You will always lose a few owners to empty promises from competitors, but as long as you provide value, owners will not leave, so focus on the owners who stand behind you. I am also seeing a big shift and demand for API access to data. As the vacation rental industry evolves, companies want the ability to access their data, build proprietary solutions, and have freedom to get creative with their websites. Honesty, I am not sure how property managers can survive under a locked environment without a strong library of APIs.

I would also advise VRMs to test out channel partners. A booking is a booking. If your margins are very low, increase the price that you pass to a channel partner, but don't avoid advertising and exposure. Don't think of it as giving away money, look at how much a new booking costs for you marketing wise. Keep that in mind when determining how much commission you are willing to give. In addition, Google is going to continue to chomp down on organic results. Their shift is to promoting big brands to make sure the user experience is good. This leaves the smaller guys on the outside looking in. Focus on Google Local and optimize your AdWords campaign. Finally, this will be a big year for yield management and rate management. This is a trend that is growing rapidly. Most VRMs have realized that by using predictive occupancy and revenues, you can manage your base price to make more money.

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Decades of experience Hundreds of success stories Industry-speciﬁc consulting services for your toughest decisions. Software Selection  Buy/Sell Transactions  Accounting Services  Management Consulting 

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VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

“It’s the Relationship, Stupid” By Doug Macnaught

ith election season finally over, TV commercials have returned to advertising things like beer, drugs, and cars, but I still can’t seem to get a particular political phrase out of my head: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

When Bill Clinton was running against George H. W. Bush in the 1992 election, Clinton’s campaign phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid,” stands out as the single byline that encapsulated the fundamental difference between the two candidates’ campaigns. The fact that one candidate was able to tune in to the mood of the electorate, while the other seemed completely oblivious to what people were feeling, has some fairly poignant parallels to recent events. This is not a political article, but there is an interesting parallel between the 1992 presidential election to the current state of the vacation rental industry. VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Business

Back in 1995, I had the opportunity to visit two property management companies in Kissimmee, Florida, that were both managing approximately one hundred homes and made their money by providing management services rather than rentals. Reservations came from either owner bookings or from wholesalers. Commissions were minimal, and the bulk of these companies’ income came from property management and owner services. “This is an industry ripe for consolidation,” I thought.

Twenty years later, I was speaking with an owner of another technology company who said exactly the same thing. I simply smiled and remembered my thoughts from two decades before, but knew that it probably wouldn’t change in the next two decades either.

There have been a number of players that have attempted to disrupt the vacation rental industry in the last two decades. A few succeeded, but many either failed or had mediocre success. I would suggest that those in the latter category could find their answer in this adaptation of the infamous phrase: “It’s the relationship, stupid.” We are an industry based on relationships. It doesn’t matter who the relationship is between, whether it’s between managers and guests, managers and homeowners, managers and vendors, or anyone else. Let’s explore this a little further by segment.

Managers and Guests When I first traveled to the Delaware shore in 1999, I was astonished to learn that in many vacation rental agencies, guest loyalty was actually toward an individual rental manager. The value of the relationship with the guest was the top priority. In the traditional markets within the vacation rental industry, loyalty to a particular company is often strong, and repeat guests value these personal relationships, so they continue to stay with the same manager year after year when returning to an area to vacation.

Although it is still true that repeat business accounts for more than 50 percent of reservations in certain areas, this could easily be threatened by not focusing on the relationship. The success of third-party distribution companies in providing reservations for managers has increased significantly over the last ten years; HomeAway and Flipkey were the first major players in this space, although Flipkey has been eclipsed by Booking.com, Airbnb, and others in recent years.

The more enlightened Vacation Rental Managers (VRMs) use these channels as a way to acquire a new renter and then do everything in their power to convert the renter into a repeat guest—cutting out the middleman—for future stays. Many VRMs now offer loyalty programs to further secure the repeat guest relationship. However, with Airbnb now providing Delta SkyMiles on all stays, VRMs may have to up their game in the years to come. I do not see Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) as an imminent threat to the guest relationship. If used correctly, OTAs are a source of new client acquisition.

Additionally, consolidation is also not a significant threat. Remote, uneducated call centers, lack of front desk services, and insufficient boots-on-the-ground presence in local areas have not proven to be significant threats to well-established markets. The new companies in these spaces have not had the growth or penetration that they would have wished, and I question if their business models actually have a future.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Managers and Owners To describe the relationship between a VRM and their property owners as complex would be a massive understatement. VRMs provide both income and expenses through reservations and work orders, and they are the guardians of the asset by looking after the home. VRMs also must walk the fine line by serving as advocate for the homeowner and taking ownership of the relationship with the guests.

This relationship is the one with the largest history of attempted consolidation. About fifteen years ago, ResortQuest pioneered consolidation in the US with mixed success. Their model was acquisition and centralization, which was not popular with many homeowners who valued their long-standing relationships with their local property managers. In response, individual managers within the acquired companies left and started their own companies by leveraging their relationships with these individual owners to bring them over to the new company. Was ResortQuest somewhat naïve by not foreseeing and preventing this? As an outsider, I would suggest yes, but to be fair this is how the industry has grown over the last forty years.

Wyndham, who ultimately purchased ResortQuest back in 2010, and Vacation Rental Pros, owned and operated by Steve Milo, seem to have gotten much better at managing the acquisition model, but at the moment, the pace is not a threat to the wider market. Vacasa is a bit of a hybrid. They are actively acquiring VRMs, aided by their $40 million in funding during 2016. However, they also have an aggressive homeowner acquisition program and are leveraging their technology to provide more reservations to homeowners.

TurnKey uses a homeowner acquisition model based on lower owner commissions and technology to provide more reservations. They look for significant cost reductions to support this aggressive approach, and they do so by not maintaining full-service premises in the locations. This is not consolidation per se, but it is an attempt to disrupt the conventional model of local companies servicing owners and guests in the destinations. My opinion is that companies that maintain and support local relationships are the ones that succeed. They can leverage resources much more effectively in times when in short supply, and this makes a big difference to the owners.

Managers and Vendors and Everyone Else It is this category that has the greatest impact on both the guest and owner relationships. By cultivating relationships with the best vendors in an area, local managers have the ability to develop a reliable support system. New companies that use bidding systems to distribute work do not foster loyalty. When there are more vendors than work, bidding systems may be fine, but try using this system after a hurricane hits.

Local managers typically develop community relationships. They serve on local councils, and many even run for city, county, and state offices. They participate on CVB and tourist boards and generally do their best to enhance the local community. In many parts of the country, they are also active in local and state real estate associations.

By being able to get things done well and in a timely manner, local property managers tend to be appreciated by both guests and owners alike, and that is something that is invaluable to their success.

I am not suggesting that the new disruptors will not have an impact, but until they can develop and nurture the local relationships that are imperative to succeed in the community, they will be marginal.

My Own Experience One of the most successful things about Instant Software was the Client Relationship Management Team. Their job was to develop and maintain relationships with all clients and be the go-to people to get issues resolved.

They reported directly to the CEO and had the power to cut through all of the departmental red tape and get things done—and they frequently exercised this power. They were not on commission, and their only job was maintaining relationships. It was the key to client retention.

I firmly believe that you can excuse an inferior product with an exceptional service, but the reverse is not true. It doesn’t matter if you have the best thing since sliced bread, if you cannot deliver and support it, you might as well not have it. By investing in the maintenance of the client relationship, Instant Software has been able to retain existing clients and grow. Through a combination of our products and our reputation, we have been able to add value to our clients and make money for ourselves. In our minds, it’s all about the relationship, stupid! Doug Macnaught, President and Co-Founder of Instant Software, has worked in the vacation rental industry for decades to implement integrated technology solutions that allow large vacation rental management companies to operate efficiently and effectively. He is a founding member of The VRM Consultants.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Regulations

By Justin Ford

Airbnb's Lack of Safety Concern is a Danger to All

n January 22, Airbnb posted a photo on its internationally viewed Facebook page showing a large stone staircase with no railings and a child relaxing with his dad underneath. Even though the property is located in Es Llombards, Illes Balears, Spain, the message comes into the international vacation rental industry like a flaming torch. The property is being touted by Airbnb as a great home to stay in when traveling with families and little ones. While it isn't known what the local building codes are in Es Llombards, the fact that without railings, this house, by anyone's common sense, isn't safe for a child to stay in is problem enough. One of the world's largest OTAs has chosen to use this property and photo to illustrate a good travel destination which is disturbing. Airbnb, like other OTAs, claims that they are concerned about safety. They have posted on their website:

Your Airbnb experience begins the moment you embrace adventure. That’s only possible when you trust this community and feel safe. As a result, safety is our first priority—we require that you refrain from endangering or threatening anyone.

Airbnb that are being advertised and aren’t up to national building code standards.

People are, indeed, getting hurt in Airbnb vacation rentals that are not up to building codes. Last month, Michael Venci filed suit against Airbnb in New Orleans for alleged spine injuries he incurred after falling down stairs that didn't meeting building code. Both Airbnb and the property owner are being accused of failing to maintain proper lighting, failing to provide a guardrail, and failing to use reasonable care in the vacation rental. Venci is seeking $75,000 in compensation. So what? Why are properties that aren’t up to building code standards advertised on Airbnb or other OTAs like HomeAway, VRBO, and FlipKey? This is a serious problem for the vacation rental industry.

A quick Google search reveals that hundreds of towns and cities around the US are cracking down on vacation rentals. The number one focus of most local governments is on basic home safety. The most recent locality to put forth a referendum is the City of Palm Springs, California. Officials in Palm Springs said, "the proposed safety initiative would require short-term vacation rentals to comply with similar health, safety, accessibility, building, and insurance requirements that small motels and hotels are required to follow in the event the new ordinance is overturned." The key points of this statement are highly common. The hotel industry is aggressively pushing for the vacation rental industry to be required to follow the same safety standards that they are required to follow. This is their most useful tool to combat the potential takeover of the lodging industry by vacation rentals.

However, this statement falls incredibly short. On their safety page for property owners, Airbnb makes no mention of making sure local building codes are addressed. Not one comment is made about common sense safety items like making sure that stairs have railings or that there are working smoke detectors in the homes. Airbnb’s own Preparing Your Home for Guests checklist makes no mention of safety items at all. Unsafe properties in Spain aren't the only ones that Airbnb's sharing with the traveling public. Here in the US, it only takes seconds of browsing through their properties to find others that aren't up to basic building codes. One property in Maine has a lead photo that shows its deck (which is three steps high) with no railing around the deck or on the steps. Yet another rental, an apartment in Oregon, shows the same thing: a deck, not up to code, overlooking the ocean. Within minutes, I was able to find 20 properties on 88

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

In order for Airbnb and the rest of the vacation rental industry to move forward successfully, it must embrace safety. Cool houses like one on Airbnb’s website located in Yucca Valley, California may be what's helping attract new vacation renters to our industry. But if someone walks off of the concrete patio that is over three feet high, we will all end up paying for increased oversight and regulations. Airbnb, other OTAs, professional vacation managers, and RBOs need to set a standard that, unless their rentals meet national building code standards, they shouldn't be offered as vacation rentals.

I reached out to Airbnb and asked them to remove their post. Despite replying to others who commented on the post, and despite many others pointing out the irony of the property being advertised as a good property for children, the post remained “live” for at least 24 hours past post time. Justin Ford is the owner of On the Water in Maine vacation rentals in Maine. He has a background in safety that goes back to a four-year tour in the US Coast Guard where he participated in fishing vessel safety enforcement in Alaska. Later, he joined his local fire department where he is the training officer. Justin is also the Vice President of the Vacation Rental Professionals of Maine and presents regularly on safety for the VRMA. Justin also produces a Facebook community page on Vacation Rental Safety at www.facebook.com/Vacation-Rental-Safety-811465988927504.

In Memory of Vacation Rental Industry Sales Veteran Brian Buck, 1963–2017

rian Buck served the property management community for 20 years by bringing new technology products to market which have shaped the growth and performance of the vacation rental industry. His sudden passing on January 2, 2017, was shocking news to all of us who worked so closely with him— and there were many of us. There are few vacation rental managers and vendors who did not have some interaction with Brian, or “Bri,” as many of his friends called him. He began his career in the vacation rental industry working for Milton Buehner at NAVIS, formerly known as Buehner-Fry. Brian traveled all over the US introducing new NAVIS technology products to property managers from Florida to Hawaii. He manned every booth at every industry conference and became widely known and respected for his sincerity, warmth, and integrity. “Brian was a good friend, a dedicated father and an overall great guy,” said Kyle Buehner, CEO at NAVIS. “He was involved and engaged in our industry and with the VRMA for 20 years. He created many, many friendships over that time and he will be greatly missed by all of us who knew him.” Ben Edwards, president of Weatherby Consulting and former president of the VRMA, echoed the sentiment, “He represented the best of our industry, continually advocating on the behalf of vacation rental managers while always operating with honesty and integrity.” Brian developed very close friendships with co-workers and colleagues. In the vendor community, teams have a way of getting to know each other extremely well, as we often get together to let off steam after grueling conferences. Brian excelled at bringing a calm and a fun-loving outlook to highly stressful situations and environments. Dawn Yeskulsky, vice president of business development and partner programs for Ascent Processing, said, “I was lucky to call Brian an industry associate, but more importantly, I was blessed to get to call him my friend, always there with a warm hug, a smile and some advice when you needed it.” Yeskulsky added, “He was a kind soul that genuinely cared for the people he worked with and the industry

we all care so much about. True friends are the ones who never leave your heart, even if they leave your life. We will miss Brian.” In 2012, Brian joined the Glad to Have You startup team, and helped to rapidly establish the company as a major industry player by selling the platform to hundreds of VRMs. Glad to Have You sold to HomeAway in 2014, and Brian stayed on with HomeAway during the transition. Regina Ebert, CEO at Ascent Processing said, “Although we never worked together directly, I never hesitated in recommending an account or lead to contact Brian. I was absolutely confident [that] his honesty, integrity, and expertise would provide them with the strongest solution available.” In 2015, Brian and his close colleague (and known partner in crime), Rob Johnson, joined the TruPlace team to bring its interactive floor plan system to the vacation rental industry. Suzi Cusack, CEO at TruPlace, was excited to add Brian to her sales team in 2015. “It was such a pleasure working with Brian because he was always so positive, calm, and genuine. He had a true passion for the industry and the relationships he built over the years,” said Suzi. Brian Buck understood the importance of relationships, and he built and maintained them with all of his heart.

“Bri was not only a colleague, but a friend, and more importantly, a true brother to me,” said Rob Johnson. “We shared so much together in the industry we both loved over the 27 years we knew each other. We have lost a great man way too early in life. It has been hard to comprehend his passing, and I think of him every day. To lose someone you were so close with over so many years is devastating. But knowing Bri the way I do, I know he is looking down on us and telling us to move forward with life and to remember the fun, the memories, and the successes we shared in our 27year journey.” “I miss Bri and know many of you do as well,” added Johnson. “Let's carry our memories of Bri forward and look back on those times we shared together and smile with a heavy heart.”

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Housekeeping

Cleaning Up with In-House Laundry By Joe Refosco

etting up an in-house laundry facility is a big commitment in terms of finances, resources, and management. And it can be a daunting task, but in the long run, it is worth every penny. An in-house laundry facility can reduce your costs by 50 percent or more per pound, and it gives you control over the quality of linens you provide.

It All Starts with Research Connect with fellow Vacation Rental Managers (VRMs) who already have in-house laundry facilities and attend industry events to learn about best practices. You will find that many VRMs are happy to share what they have learned about managing laundry in-house laundry and will even let you and your team train with them. I cannot stress that enough. I spent time with five different vacation rental companies and spent over a year researching linens and chemical suppliers before I started my first facility.

What You Will Need Not only do you need to learn how facilities are run in the industry and how equipment works, but you also need to have an itemized breakdown of equipment you will need. From washers and dryers to totes and carts, there are numerous items that are necessary to get the job done. At Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations, we started our laundry facility with one 70-pound capacity washer and one 125-pound capacity dryer to service up to 70 properties. We then expanded our operation into a larger space. The equipment listed below is what we currently use and is adequate for servicing about 300 homes:  Three 60-pound capacity washers With over 25 years in the hospitality industry, Joe Refosco has been involved with vacation rental management for more than 11 years. His experience is varied with focuses that include hot tub and pool service, laundry layout and daily functions, housekeeping, maintenance, general management, and property service programs with renting and non-renting homes.

 Three 75-pound capacity dryers  One commercial ironer

 One commercial laundry shrink wrapping machine  Instant hot water

 One 1,000-gallon storage tank

Joe has been instrumental in developing two different laundry facilities from the ground up both of which produced a return on investment within two years. A leader in efficiency, he has streamlined processes and services to better meet the needs of guests and owners. His efforts have made profit centers out of departments that normally see a flat or subpar performance.

As our company has recently grown to manage over 350 properties, we have plans to replace some of our current equipment with three 100-pound capacity washers and three 175-pound capacity dryers.

He started Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales with his wife, Jodi Refosco, and brother-in-law, Chad Taylor in 2008. Together, they have grown the company to become the largest vacation rental management firm in the Deep Creek Lake area with over 350 homes and 125 non-vacation rental homes. Joe is the President of the Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals and strives keep our industry on the cutting edge for housekeeping, maintenance, and laundry.

I suggest investing in a commercial ironer when purchasing equipment. It reduces drying time, requires only two staff members for operation, and creates that crisp, clean look that guests love. We also chose to invest in a shrink wrapping machine that keeps sheet sets together and free of dust while easing transport.

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Also, keep in mind that this list does not include other costly items like office furniture, signage, tile work, wiring, computers, phones, etc. And, if you are not on city water, you may also need to budget for water treatment equipment and service. Water that has too much iron can discolor your linens. So be sure to consider all of this in your budget as well.

The Right Location Finding the right space to house your facility is a critical piece of the puzzle. Your warehouse space needs to include an area that can act as a dedicated folding room and storage room for clean linens. You never know when you might go from managing 250 homes to 350 homes overnight like we did this year. I suggest about 1,200–1,500 square feet for a facility that services approximately 350 homes. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, and looking back, there are some things I would have definitely done differently. While our warehouse space has plenty of room throughout most of the year, during the busy summer season, when we have a lot of back-to-back reservations, I have to rent a storage space for dirty linens. Don’t underestimate how much space you will need just for linen storage— both clean and dirty. At Taylor-Made, our laundry facility meshes well with our housekeeping department. To help keep costs low, our housekeepers

transport linens back and forth from our laundry facility. Everything is bagged and wrapped, and linens and towels are packaged separately so that they can be efficiently distributed throughout a home. When housekeepers are doing deep cleans, they are able to bring comforters and blankets back to our laundry facility instead of taking them to a laundromat. This is a big timesaver that aids in completing a thorough cleaning of a home more efficiently. While this may seem like a lot of information, I have barely scratched the surface of all of the detail involved in an endeavor as large as adding an in-house laundry facility. But, I can tell you that what may seem like a major investment can quickly become a profit center for your company. For example, the current industry average cost per pound is about 55 cents, but by optimizing our in-house laundry facility, we are able to operate at an average of 6 cents below that. At the risk of repeating myself, I hope that if you take away any piece of advice from this article, it is that you should make sure to do your homework—and do it well—before you make any financial commitments. Utilize the experience that others have had in this same arena and take advantage of educational opportunities at industry events. Fellow vacation rental managers tend to be generous with sharing their experiences in order for you to learn the do’s and don’ts and pros and cons of bringing laundry in-house.

VACATION

JOIN

RENTAL VRHP

HERE ARE SOME

OF THE BENEFITS YOUR COMPANY RECEIVES AS A VRHP MEMBER

VRHP.ORG

HOUSEKEEPING PROFESSIONALS

è Certifications available for housekeepers, executive housekeeper and inspectors è Best practices for Housekeeping and Maintenance teams è Weekly housekeeping articles for vacation rentals è Access to over 70 archived monthly VRHP newsletters è Access to industry experts who can answer your company-specific housekeeping questions è Member discounts to VRHP seminars and the National VRHP Conference in November 2016 è Networking with other VRM companies who make Housekeeping and Maintenance a

number 1 priority

www.face

| Business

VRM Intel Update We Can’t Get There Tomorrow If We Don’t Start Today

ith the help of our readers and sponsors, VRM Intel has seen exciting growth over the last year, and we hope to continue to provide independent, unbiased industry news, information, resources, and education to help professional vacation rental managers stay up-to-date and grow their businesses. With that goal in mind, we wanted to give you an update of what we are working on now.

New VRMIntel.com Website On January 1, 2017, we launched a new and improved VRMIntel.com. The new site got a much needed facelift and now has an easy-to-navigate, mobile-friendly, responsive design. VRMIntel.com now has over 800 articles about the vacation rental industry, in addition to the following new features:

 Updated Calendar of Events and Webinars  New Category Dedicated to News about OTAs  Video Library of Online Classes  Archive of Digital Versions of All Past Issues of VRM Intel Magazine  New Comments Module  Upgraded Search Functionality  Polling About Latest Issues Facing the Industry

VRM Intel Magazine

We launched VRM Intel Magazine in the fall of 2015, and since then we have quadrupled our subscribers. We are now mailing to employees at thousands of vacation rental management companies in the US, in addition to conference distribution and online delivery to our international readers. VRM Intel Magazine is commitment to offering industry-specific articles on regulations, customer service, management, human resources, marketing, technology, and housekeeping, plus feature articles about vacation rental managers, suppliers, and industry leaders. We also added a new recurring section titled “VRMs Give Back” that spotlights initiatives being undertaken by property managers that help their communities and the world around them.

VRM Intel Live! In the fall of 2016, we introduced VRM Intel Live!, a series of educational and networking regional seminars. We started our first event in Wilmington in October with 123 attendees. Then we moved to Destin where we had 157 vacation rental industry 92

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

The workshops offer general sessions and two tracks designed for management and marketing. The speakers include many of the writers who regularly contribute to VRM Intel along with special guests. We provide a hot breakfast and lunch and time for VRMs to get to know our sponsors and each other.

ProVRM.com As human resource managers know, finding experienced candidates in the vacation rental industry is challenging. Currently, hospitality degrees focused on vacation rental accommodations do not exist, and there are no accreditation or training programs being offered to prepare individuals seeking a career in private accommodations. As a result, VRM Intel has created ProVRM.com, a job board and career planning resource for job seekers and hiring managers in the fast growing vacation rental industry. As the industry continues to grow, we anticipate an even greater need to have a hub for vacation rental career opportunities and training. We built ProVRM as a first step in establishing a place for candidates and hiring managers to meet and for job seekers to find training resources. ProVRM. com provides a job search tool through which hiring managers and companies in the vacation rental industry can post jobs and job seekers can search for opportunities. Candidates can also post resumes and reach out to recruiters. Our hope is to connect experienced, trained candidates with growing companies in the vacation rental industry so that our space is able to leverage its existing knowledge base to help build future products, services, and opportunities.

VI Reports One of the most exciting developments at VRM Intel is the creation of VI Reports that provides competitive market intelligence for VRMs. As Doug Kennedy stated in his article Do You Have the Right Data (Page 46), “It is way past the time that you should have had this in your tool kit.” Hotels operators have been successfully utilizing STAR reports provided by STR Global, and their revenue managers rely heavily on this intelligence to make pricing and marketing decisions. While there have

been attempts in the past to provide similar competitive market reporting to the vacation rental industry, the providers 1) have not been unbiased and objective, 2) have not found an automated way to pull together uniform data and metrics, and/or 3) have been technology companies looking to use the data to sell other products.

We believe that VRM Intel can–and should–offer you an unbiased data source that seeks only to provide VRMs with the quality, affordable competitive market intel necessary to make fact-based revenue management and marketing decisions. As a result, we joined forces with Ted Miller, former COO of Instant Software and visionary behind ISILink, to build a competitive reporting and dashboard platform that compiles market data in an objective, consistent way and with high sensitivity to data protection and privacy. These VI Reports will allow you to compare your performance with that of your regional market with uniform metrics such as Occupancy Rate, ADR, RevPAN, AUR, Length of Stay, and Advance Lead Time. As Doug Kennedy said, “When the right organization that offers data privacy and an unbiased approach comes along and offers the VR segment of the lodging industry trend reporting similar to STR, embrace it fully.”

Many of the software providers have been working directly with VRM Intel to make this available to you, and we hope to have the full scale reporting available by the middle of the year, but we need your help. If you would like to sign up as a beta client to test the tool and help shape its direction, reach out to us at amy.hinote@vrmintel.com. We know that—as an industry—we can’t get there tomorrow, if we don’t start today. At VRM Intel, we are making a commitment starting today to build affordable tools and resources that make your life easier and your businesses better. Do not hesitate to let us know if you have any suggestions for us.

And, if you get a chance, say a quick thank you to our sponsors who make it possible for us to provide independent, unbiased information and resources to the professionally managed vacation rental community. By Amy Hinote

leaders. The events were so much fun that we decided to continue with one in the Outer Banks on February 22 (see page 48). After that, we are looking at dates and locations in Colorado and Oregon.

 Ascent Processing  AVROA  Barefoot  Beach House Logos  Beyond Pricing  Bizcor  Blizzard Internet Marketing  Bluetent  Booking.com  BookingPal  BookingSync  Booktari  C2G  Ciirus  Design Made Easy  Elliot Beach Rentals  Florida Vacation Rental Managers Association  HomeAway  HomeAway Software  ICND  Intermatic  DormaKaba  Fetch My Guest  Geronimo  Kigo/RealPage  LiveRez  LockState  LSI Tools  Lynnbrook Group  Maxxton  NAVIS  NoiseAware  Onsite Property Managers Association  PMT Tools  PointCentral  Proper Insure  RealVoice  Red Sky Travel Insurance  Rental Guardian  Rentals United  Silicon Travel  Streamline  Tom K Consulting  TRACK  TruPlace  VacationFinder  VRM Consultants  Vacation Rental Managers Association  Vacation Rental Success Summit  Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals  Weatherby Consulting  Xotelia

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

| Education

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February February 15

Mind & Dine Workshop 30A, FL Watercolor Inn www.mindanddine.com

February 16

Mind & Dine Workshop Port Saint Joe, FL Sunset Coastal Grill www.mindanddine.com

February 22

VRM Intel Live! Kitty Hawk, NC Hilton Garden Inn www.vrmintellive.com

February 23

VRHP Outer Banks Seminar Nags Head, NC Ramada Plaza www.vrhp.org

February 28

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Destin, FL Four Points by Sheraton Destinâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Fort Walton Beach www.software.homeaway.com

March March 1-3

NAVIS Leaders Conference Scottsdale, AZ The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch www.thenavisway.com 94

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

March 2

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Orange Beach, AL Perdido Beach Resort www.software.homeaway.com

March 2-6

Vacation Rental Boot Camp Tulum, Mexico www.vrmastered.com

March 8

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Outer Banks, NC Ramada Plaza Nags Head Oceanfront www.software.homeaway.com

March 12-14

VRMA 2017 European Conference Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam Marriott Hotel www.vrma.com

March 26-April 1

April April 4

Mind & Dine Workshop Ocean City, MD www.mindanddine.com

April 5

Mind & Dine Workshop Bethany Beach, DE www.mindanddine.com

April 7

Mind & Dine Workshop Rehoboth, DE www.mindanddine.com

April 19

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Hilton Head, NC Westin Hilton Head Resort & Spa www.software.homeaway.com

Mountain Travel Symposium Banff & Lake Louise, Alberta, CA Fairmont Banff Springs www.mtntrvl.com

April 25

March 27-28

April 25-26

VRMA 2017 Eastern Seminar Savannah, Georgia Westin Savannah Harbor www.vrma.com

Mind & Dine Workshop Oahu, HI www.mindanddine.com VRMAWA Leavenworth, WA Sleeping Lady Resort www.vrmawa.org

April 26

Mind & Dine Workshop Maui, HI www.mindanddine.com

April 28

Mind & Dine Workshop Big Island, HI www.mindanddine.com

May May 2-3

FVRMA Xtravaganza Annual Conference Orlando, FL Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa www.fvrma.org

May 5-7

Vacation Rental Success Summit Toronto, Canada BMO Institute for Learning www.vacationrentalsuccesssummit.com

May 8-9

VRMA 2017 Western Seminar Anaheim, California Disneyland Hotel www.vrma.com

May 23

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Kauai, HI Kauai Marriott Resort www.software.homeaway.com

May 23

Mind & Dine Workshop Bradenton Beach, FL www.mindanddine.com

May 24

Mind & Dine Workshop Siesta Key/Anna Maria Island, FL www.mindanddine.com

May 25

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Oahu, HI Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa www.software.homeaway.com

May 25

Mind & Dine Workshop Sanibel/Captiva, FL www.mindanddine.com

June June 6

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Breckenridge, CO Residence Inn Breckenridge www.software.homeaway.com

June 8

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Aspen, CO, Limelight Hotel www.software.homeaway.com

July July 11-12

Blizzard University Glenwood Springs, CO Glenwood Springs Community Center www.blizzardinternet.com

July 18

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar San Diego, CA Four Points Sheraton San Diego www.software.homeaway.com

July 20

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Palm Springs, CA Riviera Palm Springs www.software.homeaway.com

August August 15

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Kona, HI www.software.homeaway.com

August 17

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Maui, HI Wailea Beach Resort Marriottâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Maui www.software.homeaway.com

September

September 23-24

Vacation Rental World Summit Florence, Italy www.vacationrentalworldsummit.com

September 12-14

Rezfest Las Vegas, NV https://software.homeaway.com/rezfest

October October 3

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Marco Island, FL JW Marriott Marco Island www.software.homeaway.com

October 5

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Bradenton, FL Courtyard Bradenton Sarasota/Riverfront www.software.homeaway.com

October 15-18

VRMA National Conference Orlando, FL Omni Championsgate www.vrma.com/2017national

November November 6-9

Phocuswright Conference Hollywood, FL JW Marriott www.phocuswrightconference.com

November 14

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Gatlinburg, TN www.software.homeaway.com

November 16

HomeAway Breakfast Seminar Asheville, NC Renaissance Asheville www.software.homeaway.com

September 21-23

Streamline Summit Scottsdale, AZ www.streamlinesummit.com VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Your Statewide Vacation Rental Managers Association The Florida VRMA represents the professional management of vacation homes, condos and resort units throughout the state of Florida. We are your statewide vacation rental management industry association dedicated to supporting and protecting the $31,000,000,000 per year economic impact realized through the Florida vacation rental industry. The new Florida VRMA continues to deliver the educational programs, legislative advocacy and member benefits to help you to grow your segment of the industry throughout the state of Florida and beyond. Explore what our new regional chapters can mean for your business as a professional in the Florida vacation rental industry. The Florida VRMA is the largest statewide association in the US market today supporting property managers with tens of thousands of vacation rental units. From major Florida attractions to local supporting tradesman, the Florida VRMA has various participation levels for all businesses and industry partners.

Find out what the new Florida VRMA can do for you at

www.fvrma.org or call us at 407-218-6600 THE OPMA DIFFERENCE Constant focus on the future and the shaping of the lodging industry Controlling our own destiny through leadership initiatives and not simply relying on advocacy and secondary support roles Targeted growth and strategy: Aggregating the most condo hotel rental inventory in the most popular vacation destinations. REPRESENTING

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

CONDO ACCOMMODATIONS

& HOTEL AMENITIES

877.870.6510 THEOPMA.ORG 96

VRM Intel Magazine | Winter 2017

Assisting our members in measuring and delivering their collective economic impact in the local markets they serve Develop and introduce training programs that provide uniform messaging and that enhance the sales and service levels and the proďŹ tability of the membership Minimize the number of suppliers in any product/ service category translating into more signiďŹ cant long-term relationships with OPMA onsite managers

OVER

100,000 PROPERTIES SERVED

Keep up with demand and grow your business with Kigo, the most comprehensive property management solution for vacation and short term rentals. • Reservation Management

• Channel Manager

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“The expanded Kigo product, especially the operations and management addition, has completely changed the way we operate and, ultimately grow our business.” — Jonathan Browning, Owner, BeachWalk Vacation Properties

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