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  • Share one of your most creative business ideas ever?
  • How was it conceived?
  • What worked (or didn't work) in sharing/realizing that vision with others?
Here's one of my most creative ideas :)

As a senior in college in 2005, I reached out to an alumni from my university who had hit the dot com boom and the Costa Rica eco tourism boom perfectly.

Casey's company Costa Rica Vacations was (and...
A brilliant flash!
UPDATED: March 14, 2024

This past week Miami came out with the following commercial to dissuade partiers from choosing it for their Spring Break shenanigans. It was a brilliant example of the "Why our destination is NOT for you" messaging we've explored before...



****

"7 Reasons Casco Viejo is NOT For You" (original blog post from 2010 attached) was the single most impactful piece of content...
Interesting the we're not an Airbnb.. ohhh I remember those conversations you and I had about Airbnb
Challenge: Creativity is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more it strengthens your story and your vision for the future. I'd like to challenge members to share one short story that moved them emotionally (reference the feelings wheel for inspiration) in the last few weeks. It can be short. Or long. Great or lame. The mere act of sharing your quick story is the creative act in and of...
When we started living in our vacation house in Mexico for six months a year, I never suspected our dog would open the door to our becoming a part of our village. This is one of many of his stories...
Back in 2009, with the listing sites (and our category in general) starting to gain momentum, the members of this community and myself predicted that "listing site independence" (ie. marketing diversification for vacation rental pros) would be the north star to follow. In the years that followed, plenty of direct booking movements spawned and a legitimate trend was formed.

The theory of "Limited...
We are reading the book as a company and have our first meeting this Friday to discuss the first 8 Chapters! We will discuss what it means to deliver Unreasonable Hospitality at every level of our business. We are also doing a complete overhaul of our entire messaging...
MeganM
  • Owner & Hostess
I am at it again - after moving from Nashville where I ran the local Advocacy group for over 5 years, I am started efforts in my new hometown (Cocoa Beach, Florida). This is a MUCH smaller area than Nashville so I am working with a lot less resources (ie Airbnb and Vrbo...
Did you see my post on this other thread? Take a look, especially at the articles I linked to. Thanks, Rob. I hadn't seen your post. I did already have a link to the UCF article but since it was pre-COVID was trying to find...
This thread is for the general discussion of the Article Contrarian Perspective: Is there a VR Industry Bubble?.

If you're a vacation rental nerd like me, you probably follow every media site, blog (like VRMB!), Facebook group, etc. just to glean what you can about...
I wanted to revisit this discussion as it appears to me that we have definitely "burst" or at least is not thriving like the post-pandemic boom and has returned to pre-pandemic numbers. I know everyone has strong feelings on "airbnbust" but...
One of the big shifts I've made over the last year is in recognizing creativity is THE muscle all homerunners need to start exercising more consistently and pronto -- said another way, it is the LACK of outside-the-box thinking that gets even the most innovative companies stuck in their old/comfortable ways and in some cases sunk.

Side Note: I've become so enamored with creative pursuits that I have begun to...
For several years I worked with a printer for big jobs as well as small jobs. He was easy to work with...
My mother is a brain scientist who has earned an incredible array of accolades over the last few decades. Becoming a scientist wasn't common for women in her generation so (with the help of great mentors) she chose to blaze her own trail.

My father was a shopkeeper whose family business served as a keystone to the community of Princeton, New Jersey his entire adult life (he has since retired and the shop...
From the young age of two, my family begin hosting exchange students from all over the world. My mom was a HS teacher and my father was the friendliest human you could ever meet! I also recall many students hanging at the...
How do you consider whether you want lots of little improvements or one much bigger change? Is it possible to both simultaneously? Does it depend on the particular phase of growth?

Years ago ROster ROster introduced his formula for continual improvement and many members have shared examples of this thinking in all aspects of the business (and life). The gist? Continual improvement always.

If you are on...
If I could challenge this idea...I think inherent to the big changes is the understanding that there is no going back. For me, it's less...
K
  • Kitty
Not sure if this thread has been suggested, but how do you screen your guests? We live on-site and our villas/apartment are not suitable to guests under the age of 8. We also are wary of inappropriate guests or large groups turning up, or guests inviting families to join...
May have posted this previously: Finally got through to Airbnb’s Trust and Safety Adminstrator who is looking into this guest. Don’t expect to receive any followup from Airbnb.
Will Franco
  • Efficiency Manager, VRMB
In my exploration of AI, I asked Pi about Matt Landau and VRMB. Pi's response was insightful and nuanced (screen-recording below).



Pi's voice is about a 1-second delayed. That's why you see the lag time from when I text and Pi's voice starts.

What's your...
Very cool!
I wanted to start a discussion on this topic because teams are the piece of the puzzle that make everything tick ... however due to a convergence of forces, teams are distanced physically and subtly/mentally in new ways (most enabled by tech).

If our business' health is directly correlated to the strength of our relationships within our teams....how do we correct this course?

Doing things face-to-face...
Another way to strengthen team relationships is by emphasizing purpose. If you can draw a line between one's contribution and the bigger picture (happy/loyal...
Matt Landau
  • Founder, VRMB
Post of the Week
Disclaimer: I am directly swiping this from StaySavvy StaySavvy of https://www.savvytravels.co/ who (as far as I know) invented the phrase and explained it on our Accelerator call last night.

A walk-through is a protocol typically performed before (and sometimes after) a guest checks-in in which a knowledgable team member ensures that all other standard operating procedures (housekeeping, maintenance...
We do this with every property we onboard. Most of our homes have been through a major renovation and as...
From Phocuswright's STR study Through The Roof, 87% of travelers agreed or strongly agreed that they actively seek out properties with an interesting look and feel. "Character" was not a make it or break it moment of the conversion -- but definitely a big appeal.

Character is where a huge new wave of vacation rental entrepreneurs are investing: tree houses, tents, themed homes...etc.

So I wanted to start...
@RuthM recently shared this article with me "Why You’ll Be 750x Better Off Running An Airbnb Than A Vacation Rental Or Holiday Let"...

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