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- Founder, VRMB
Welcome back to the How to Save Your Vacation Rental Business show! To tease the impending launch of Season 3 and to get a sense of the state of advocacy right now, Dana and Matt sat down with a panel from across the industry for a live recording session on where we are and whats coming in Season 3.
This was recorded a few hours ago as the 2022 VRMA International Conference came to a close.
The first episode...
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Latest reply by - JanS
@Dana just wanted to say I have heard from several people (most recently @JanS) who all are beginning to think about advocacy in unique new ways because of these...
- Founder, VRMB
In the first episode of Season 3, Dana sets off on a journey with Matt Landau and Jamie Lane to find the questions that will define our advocacy scorecard and shape our advocacy efforts moving forward. From housing data to OTA scraping to quantifying the unquanitifiable...we go deep with one of the best data minds in the business.
This season is made possible by Minut and TrackHS as well as our thought...
- Founder, VRMB
Sometimes, great initiatives need to be shut down because they are not sustainable.
Which is a difficult pill to swallow, especially when you're passionate (read: stubborn) about something and you badly want it to work.
But it's the truth: as vacation rental innovators we test out lots of ideas...some work, others don't...and then some (the really "special" ones LOL) are both amazing and unsustainable.
What...
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Latest reply by - DeborahL
I love this. I love what you guys have done, I love the lack of a plan (and the honesty to say it, but that is the...
- Founder, VRMB
Lauren Madewell found her calling when Vacation Rentals unexpectedly became the family business. In this episode Lauren and Matt discuss finding that calling, how a passion for the family business can unlock tools to work with guests and staff and what the future holds for our industry.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral: https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ the leaders in smart home automation, and...
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Latest reply by - RuthM
Amazing podcast. Our industry is full of great stories and good people. Thanks Matt for shining a light.
- Founder, VRMB
Tiffany Edwards grew up in the vacation rental business and has become one of its foremost goverment affairs experts and fundraisers. In this episode we dig into what our industry is doing well and what it needs to do better for a fair regulatory future.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral: https://www.pointcentral.com/vrmb/ the leaders in smart home automation, and Breezeway...
- Founder, VRMB
@Steve Schwab went from living in the back of a bar in Puerto Peñasco Mexico and helping out with HVAC systems to building Casago into a major property management company with thousands of properties and franchises all over the US and Mexico. He's featured in our second episode of Homerunners and he's become a thought partner to Matt in tackling some of the deepest questions of our industry.
This episode is...
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Latest reply by - Steve Schwab
What a great experience working with Matt and Stuart on this project. I am always available if any of you ever want to talk about the industry, how to find your own values and principles or need anything else.
- Founder, VRMB
Our scheduled epsiode for this week was interupted due to uncertainty around Hurricane Ian. Everyone involved with the show is fine and we'll be back next week with regularly scheduled programming, but for now we're going to archives and resharing Episode 19 with you, where Mike Harrington gives us a big business takeaway from Hurricane Florence in 2018. These are lessons we all need to be mindful of in the...
- Founder, VRMB
Miriam Ramsey is a key player in the VTrips model of growth through local brands and a star of our first Homerunners episode which premieres worldwide on October 23rd at VRMA International in Las Vegas.
In this episode Matt and Miriam discuss what it takes to make it in this industry, how to handle getting bought and how to nail it as a Homerunner.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral...
- Founder, VRMB
Michelle "MJ" Boyle is a patented inventor, the Hostess of the Tiny House Podcast, founder and creator of My Tiny House Village, Oregon Teardrop Rentals, and My Tiny Creekside Retreat. In this episode Matt and MJ explore the rushes and reversals inherit in Homerunning...from hitting a niche market at just the right time to real adversity shutting you down.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral...
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Latest reply by - Debi
Great podcast, Matt! Michelle is one of my favorite people! It was she who introduced me to the artist who created the mural on our beach house. I have been fascinated watching her grow.
- Founder, VRMB
Welcome to Season 9 of the Unlocked Podcast! Lukas Krause is part of a new generation of industry professionals bringing superpowers from other industries into our own. He’s running a large company in the space but focusing on small hospitality details. In this episode Matt and Lukas dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of our current high paced acquisitions cycle and talk about what it means to be a...
- Founder, VRMB
Prior to launching Season 9: Homerunners this week, Matt sat down with Breezeway founder and perennial Unlocked sponsor Jeremiah Gall to discuss highlights from last season and the state of the industry moving forward.
Episode One of Homerunners featuring Lukas Krause of Skyrun Vacation Rentals drops with the VRMB newsletter Thursday September 8th.
This episode is brought you by PointCentral...
- Founder, VRMB
I first learned the phrase "creative destruction" from my co-founder in Esperanza Social Venture Club (gang intervention program).
Brief Aside: Building a demobilization program was new and uncharted territory. No one had done anything like this in Panama. So with little experience, we assembled a team, raised money, planned a pilot intervention program with Gang #1 and it went surprisingly well. So well in...
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Latest reply by - Lauren Madewell
Creatively destroying my homeowner acquisition process as we speak. Up until Summer of 2020, onboarding a new owner was like meeting a new friend- I met the seasoned OWNERS in person, this was their vacation home that they...
- Founder, VRMB
I recently came across an insightful case study (attached) titled "From Niche to Movement to Mainstream" about the rise of the food truck movement (and hip hop).
Reading it, I couldn't help but see the parallels with our work (and think about a similar discussion Can we copy the craft beer movement?)...here are some of the interesting nuggets I gleaned from the food truck PDF (attached):
The catalyst for the...
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Latest reply by
- Lauren Madewell
@Dawn what a wonderfully relevant moment for the Hedgehog to make its return to the community.
@TomG and @Lauren Madewell -- I'm curious (been thinking about your family businesses this week as you have both endured centuries of...
- Founder, VRMB
I recently came across a scene from 'Sense of Place' Blue Ridge that I wanted to share because I know a lot of our members are thinking about staffing and team building.
When I asked @CJ how he plans to grow, he says, "I'm going to invest in people."
Watch it first...
Investing in your people is one of the most impactful ways to allocate funds as a modern day vacation rental professional.
If demands of the...
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Latest reply by - SScurlock
Here's the full episode in case anyone wants to see me jump off an abandoned boat after drinking moonshine:
@Matt Landau this is my favorite Sense of Place! I laughed out loud several times at your antics - especially slipping off the sunken houseboat...
- Founder, VRMB
I've known Matt Hoffman for what feels like an eternity. I remember talking to him back when I was running my vacation rental business in Panama in 2008 and his passion and enthusiasm for vacation rentals has not faded since...if anything they've sharpened.
Matt is the Senior Vice President and Product Leader at Kigo, which is a vacation rental management software company.
Our conversation about Matt's...
I am currently visiting @Godfrey in Sun Valley, Idaho where the supply of vacation rental properties is so limited (and the demand for this destination so great) that property owners and managers need to be extra intentional about how they spend their time. To a degree, I think this focus is increasingly playing out across the world.
Every activity falls somewhere on the profit spectrum, but which activities...
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Latest reply by - Catherine
Here's a full interview so you can understand better:
Thanks, as always, Matt! 👌
- Founder, VRMB
This week's podcast episode (embedded below) featuring @TomG of Mt. Laurel Chalets in Gatlinburg, TN includes a very special segment (starts at 11:05) about an idea Tom calls Hometown Heroes here's how it's described on his site:
Every hometown has its heroes. The unseen caregiver who is called to serve. An unlikely achiever who tackles obstacles with a can-do spirit. Perhaps it's the unsung champion who runs...
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Latest reply by
- Debi
Matt and I had a discussion about our Hometown Hero Contest on his podcast Unlocked back in May. We launched this pilot...
- Founder, VRMB
Dana Young is one of those people who is just unyieldingly passionate about technology. But so are a lot of people. What makes Dana unique is the way he is applying that obsession -- specifically with voice activated devices -- to the vacation rental space. He got started in our industry managing a property with his mom. But the ramifications of his singular and relatively straightforward "Unlocked" tactic reach...
- Founder, VRMB
Good property names stand out and inspire.
Even cooler, good property names drive repeat and referral bookings!
But bad property names disappear from our memories the moment we depart.
Settling on great property names is tricky.
I am recently going through this process with @MeganM about her new property in Cocoa Beach, FL.
It's located on the Space Coast where Megan grew up (she had friends whose...
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Latest reply by - Sherry
Whatever you do pick something that is easy to spell and easy to pronounce. Our property name is a marketing blunder. The name is French, Mais...
- Founder, VRMB
Hospitality is one of the few sectors that customers touch, feel, experience, walk-into.
Which makes us hyper-connected to our local communities.
(We should really have a code of ethics, but I digress)
And hyper-connected means disruptive: for better and for worse.
Good disruption: guests spark the local economy, managers/hosts are closely tied to local causes and issues, business contributes as much (if not...
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Latest reply by - Curated Stays
I posted this recently in a local FB STR group.
Advocating for Short-Term Rentals: Keeping a Good Local Reputation
The best defense is a good offense and we are our best advocates.
There are so...
- Founder, VRMB
I recently came across this quote (above) and realized how many of the most successful vacation rental pros I know are masters of leverage AND how many of the most knowledgable vacation rental pros I know could use leverage in fun new ways to thrive (however they may define that).
So I wanted to begin a thread about using subject matter expertise as a "force multiplier" -- giving members the potential to lift...
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Latest reply by - TeenaNH
Happy almost Independence Day everyone,
First of all - I had to look up the word leverage as it pertained to business.
Verb
Leverage: use (something) to maximum advantage...
- Lindsborg Vacation Rentals
I just agreed to lease one of our long-term extended-stay rentals to a local family who live about a one-minute walk away from Skönhuset (Swedish for "the nice house"). Our neighbor's son is terminally ill with four to eight weeks to live. Hospice (and a hospital bed) will be...
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
This week's discussion thread is perhaps more validation than motivation.
On the heels of my friend Leyla's passing this week, I found myself reflecting on how often it is vacations...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode you'll get a taste of what's to come in the next season of Unlocked themed "First Mover Status" in which we'll interview owners and managers who are gaining HUGE advantages by being first to market with new innovations. But until then, enjoy this brief audio essay from Matt's visit to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Where he visited Robin Craigen of www.movingmountains.com
Link's Mentioned in...
- Founder, VRMB
This week’s discussion all about niche marketing ideas comes directly from the golf course! @CJ sent me the following photo of a vacation rental owner who scatters golf balls with contact information around the backyard of his golf course-front vacation home in Georgia. This is a cheap, creative, and focused way of speaking directly to his target audience.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
Where are your niche guests...
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Latest reply by
- SScurlock
What a great idea! A previous guest painted encouraging messages on small rocks and left them all over the...
Report of Survey results - includes questions. Can be used by VR managers to better understand guest behaviour in order to tailor property amenities / services to them.
- Founder, VRMB
Storm Watching is a creative marketing strategy by the destination of Tofino on Vancouver Island in British Columbia...turning lemons into lemonade...taking a low season and turning it into something new and aspirational.
Stoke the fire, pull a chair up to the window, and snuggle into a down comforter to watch Mother Nature assault the land and sea outside your hotel window. Gale force winds whip the ocean into...
As a follow up to my April 20 post.....we opted to play up all the wonderful amenities inside our property and let this sell itself. The property, with or without higher water levels in our surrounding lakes, is still a magical, mystical place to stay...
- Founder, VRMB
As a follow-up to the popular discussion 8 Deep Adjustments To Your Listings, in this week's podcast featuring @Heather we talk about what is simultaneously the biggest challenge AND the biggest differentiator (when you solve it) for independent vacation rental marketers: standing out in a crowd. You can skip forward to 12:15 to hear that part of the discussion:
Heather talks about the classic graphics like...
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Latest reply by - Robin
We Zigged - Moving Mountains is not a conventional name by any means, and this has served us well...
Our niche is Luxury -...
- Founder, VRMB
Hey @EBadia -- what do you think about the word “boutique” to describe what makes vacation rental companies great? Used in all of our marketing materials and in our day-to-day, could "boutique" successfully convey what makes vacation rental companies great in ways that other words (we've come up with) can not?
Side Note: For those of you who haven't listened, Evelyn and I are on a mission to define the word...
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Latest reply by
- Debi
I added the word "boutique" to my listing title on Airbnb when this thread first came out. My summer is filled. However, Airbnb has recently ELIMINATED titles in their listing search. I understand this is a new AI standard...
- Founder, VRMB
In this final episode of Season 8 we speak with the godmother of vacation rentals, Heather Bayer of the Vacation Rental Success podcast, which has featured more than 440 vacation rental innovators and given an enormous wealth of knowledge to our community. Heather recently sold her vacation rental business after twenty years and we dig into that process, the state of the industry, and how well she has been...
- Founder, VRMB
Upon just visiting @Debi @MichelleR @Megan C @Matthew and @BrianO in Oregon, I have settled on fresh local coffee as one of the lowest-hanging Limited Edition welcome gifts you can invest in.
Consider approaching a local coffee shop about a partnership for the following reasons:
Function: More than 50% of adults (ie. someone in almost every stay) will otherwise need to go out and buy coffee anyway.
Fit...
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Latest reply by - Bruce
I tried reaching out to a local roaster but the smallest bags they produce is 1/2 pound - way too much for a weekend stay for a 2 bedroom. Instead, I tried buying in bulk (5 pounds) and putting enough into individual bags for about 2 pots worth. I even went as far...
Welcome to VRMB!
I’m Matt Landau, the founder of this forum. It was created in 2016 when a group of us wanted a safe space to discuss our growing STR businesses.
Today, you can join our community of 1,000+ creative, thoughtful, and generous members who believe in a better future.
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