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- Founder, VRMB
Last week I had the pleasure of stopping through Savannah, Georgia to meet Corey Jones of Lucky Savannah, a boutique vacation rental fleet of 200+ restored properties in the historic downtown and nearby Little Tybee Island.
Upon checking in to The Metropolitan -- easily one of the most limited edition vacation rentals I have ever seen -- Corey told me about Mrs. Wilkes, which is maybe the most iconic restaurant...
- Founder, VRMB
There are certain people in our industry who, when you meet them, you just kinda get excited about everything. Christine Saba is one of those people. Christine is technically the Head of Growth at Noiseaware, which is the fire alarm for noise. But her roles and responsibilities tend to spill over into all kinds of areas. I had the chance to visit NoiseAware's headquarters in Dallas, Texas and the irony that we...
- Founder, VRMB
In this experimental podcast format, I am to address one subject matter that has the industry buzzing and break it down for our listeners.
[Note: Our normal interview podcast schedule sponsored by our friends at PointCentral will not be interrupted.]
This episode addresses Vacasa's recent acquisition of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, effectively doubling their inventory to more than 20,000 homes.
Here are some...
- Founder, VRMB
A keystone is the architectural term for a wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch or bridge that locks the other pieces in place. We believe this is the perfect metaphor for the right property management software in a vacation rental business.
Using data from 100+ hours of demos, 750+ completions of our Property Management Software Selector Tool and qualitative feedback that has come in by the droves...
- Founder, VRMB
Cliff Johnson was the first icon interview I ever recorded: it's fair to say that Cliff was the reason behind the whole icon series...I was talking to him at lunch, fascinated by his background and his attitude about life, and basically just really curious to learn more about him.
Cliff is one of the more recognizable names in the vacation rental industry. He can be seen at most of the top conferences on panels...
- Founder, VRMB
[Note to Self: "Tuesday Afternoon Motivation" doesn't sound nearly as good as "Monday Morning Motivation.]
Think Differently
Today Inspirato announced a new "netflix-style" travel service offering travelers unlimited access to 60,000 Luxury Villas and Resorts around the world for $2500/month. No extra taxes or fees. Just $2500/month for unlimited stays in luxe villas and five-star hotels with no nightly fees...
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Latest reply by - JPrugh
According to the Inspirato website, their board of directors includes the founders and some venture capitalists, of course. Meanwhile feel...
- Anna Maria Island Rentals
This post by Nancy McAleer of AMI Home Rental is for anyone thinking about starting a listing site. Nancy is also the Co-Founder of Florida Rental By Owners an online vacation rental listing website, designed to allow owners and managers full control advertising of their...
- Founder, VRMB
Lee Zeller is one of my besties in the vacation rental space. Her company Vacation Telluride is a mainstay in Colorado and her position on how to utilize each property for good is equally forward-thinking. This concept could be applied to pretty much any vacation rental business -- in fact, if you're not doing it, you're missing out on lots of goodwill. If you want to innovate like Lee, consider a demo with...
- Founder, VRMB
Megan McCrea is one of the most impressive leaders in the vacation rental industry. I get the chance to meet a lot of experts and ambassadors and people who are really good at what they do -- but Megan has one of the most unique blends of vision, standards, discipline, and hard work that I have ever come across in vacation rentals. Really, in any industry: she is just a veritable rockstar. I flew to Nashville...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA: One single piece of management software sits at the core of all great vacation rental businesses. From 1 property to 1,000, put lightly, the right property management software can help grow your business. In stronger terms, you simply cannot grow your business to its full potential without one.
However, because different PMS softwares do so many different things, it is very easy to make the mistake of...
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Latest reply by - RichardC
We have found a problem with support. Our business in one timezone and our HQ in another. The tools we use...
- Founder, VRMB
Guglielmo Scarpa is a young Italian businessman who embodies the vacation rental pioneer spirit for me. He fell into the business somewhat accidentally, has successfully build a brand around his company Canguro properties in two countries, and he looks at everything through a realistic yet optimistic lens: if something works, he does more of it. If something doesn't work, he considers carefully whether or not he...
- Founder, VRMB
Mike Copps is the Executive Director of the VRMA which aims to be the singular voice of vacation rental owners and managers throughout the world.
Any industry needs a trade association, but for a young and emerging industry like vacation rentals it is especially critical.
Take a chance to meet Mike and learn about his background and the experiences he uses to make his leadership decisions today.
If you want...
- Founder, VRMB
In this experimental podcast format, I aim to address one subject matter that has the industry buzzing and break it down for our listeners.
[Note: Our normal interview podcast schedule sponsored by our friends at PointCentral will not be interrupted.]
This episode addresses an article on Amy Hinote's VRM Intel site titled, titled "GSV Initiates Technology Rollup in the Vacation Rental Industry including...
- Founder, VRMB
Sarah Nie is based in Asheville, North Carolina. And after she began her property management business, she began to be approached by owners all over Asheville. But this kind of growth came with a caveat: the city’s short term rental rules which were fluctuating and restricting business left and right.
What Sarah shares with us, now years after this journey begun, is the big lesson she learned: the lesson for...
- Founder, VRMB
Today's MMM celebrates the inaugural episode of Season 3 of the Unlocked podcast. This episode titled The Biggest Lesson of My Career features Steve Milo, one of the biggest (and some might say most controversial) property managers in the US. I would encourage you to listen to this interview: it includes some harsh realities but also some deep lessons in survival no matter how passionate you are. Here's my big...
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Latest reply by - Flo
@Matt thanks! It is 40% total direct bookings all of which came through our website so far for the summer, and 60% listing site bookings. Compared with only...
- Founder, VRMB
NOTE: This MMM was inspired by @Mark's recent post: Mining Reviews for Marketing Gems
IDEA: As independent vacation rental professionals, our instinct is arguably our greatest advantage over bigger hospitality organizations: it keeps us agile, different, and focused (by following our intuition). Because our instinct is mostly internal, any tools that can help us channel, systematize, or articulate should used...
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Latest reply by - Catherine
Hi Catherine, when I say “cache” I am referring to store away — this could be copy/paste, it could mean exporting a file...
- Founder, VRMB
Kristi Kautz used to work in the digital entertainment space, so she was familiar with the world of influencers before her property manager Brad Klopman of The CoHost Company suggested offering a few free nights to some instagram influencers in exchange for a fresh set of photos. The tactic ended up becoming a way to unlock their vacation rental, Starship Landing Retreat, to the right kinds of travelers.
If...
- Founder, VRMB
Phil Minardi is the Head of Public Affairs at the Expedia Group which owns HomeAway and VRBO. His job entails a lot of travel so he has a great perspective on the vacation rental regulatory landscape throughout the USA. But what I like most about Phil is that he always speaks on behalf of the industry. Not about any one owner or manager or company, but on the movement as a whole. I think a lot of problems can be...
- Founder, VRMB
Bradie Beagley-Reiner went through an incredibly stressful process in the crackdown of vacation rentals in San Diego, California. And in hindsight, she realized that a whole new kind of sharing economy sits within just beneath the surface: something we can all begin doing before it's too late. The instinct of independent vacation rental professionals is not always to get together with their competitors or...
- Founder, VRMB
I only met Steve a few years ago but he's been leading the PM charge for eons with his company VTrips and he can also be spotted on the speaking circuit at conferences around the world: shooting straight and saying some of the things that others may not like...but need to hear.
I had the chance to sit down with Steve in Barcelona, Spain this month after we bumped into each other at the airport en route to the...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA: All great vacation rental marketing materials need to be freshened up once in a while. Said softly, out-of-date marketing means you are not benefiting from of all improvements since. Said more strongly, out-of-date marketing could be false or misleading.
ACTION: Eliminate old or stale marketing from your portfolio by setting a reminder once a year to freshen up your listing site descriptions, blog posts...
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Latest reply by - Mark
I love the concept of “fresh eyes”. What does a person that sees your property for the first time see?
@BrendaS - This was precisely my motivation for digging deeper into the Reviews. After four years, none of it is new...
- Founder, VRMB
Danna Kittell is the founder of Starfish Luxury Rentals on the coast of Oregon. Her enthusiasm and positivity for the industry is eclipsed only by her hard work.
After doing some rehab to her family's vacation home, she and her husband Jeff realized the potential of having a renovation aspect to their management services: upgrading a diamond in the rough has now become Starfish's secret weapon.
It's not a...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA: If you want guests to actually read what you write, make it pleasing to the eye.
ACTION: I challenge you to use these four rules in all of your writing for the next week. If you're like me, once you start doing it, you will never look at text the same way again.
Keep your paragraphs short (2-3 sentences max)
Bold the important words or phrases or headers or titles
List things using bullets
Use numbers...
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Latest reply by - RuthM
@Matt Landau I think this might be the MOST powerful thing you can share with us. WHAT and HOW to communicate is KEY.
Write, read, EDIT, EDIT, and EDIT some more. Practice makes perfect. I am in the process of creating our new website and I keep trying to go...
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.
Spotlight
Discover "Unlocked: The Intermission" - a captivating 6-part podcast series featuring the individuals who have shaped Matt Landau's horseradish in the past 6 months.