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- Founder, VRMB
While editing next week's Unlocked interview with Theo Kracke (who sued the City of Santa Barbara for the right to operate short term rentals -- and won) I learned a neat trick that Theo uses to get the owners (of the properties he manages) to contribute money to the fair regulation fight. Listen to this...
"The Presumptive Close" is when you intentionally assume that the prospect has already agreed, and wrap...
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Latest reply by - Karla
SScurlock, thank you so much! I think I’ll condense my Presumptive Close to one simple gesture: The person who makes the reservation will be given a one year membership ($30) to...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA
Some marketing activities -- like listing sites and email newsletters -- are common. But other activities that generate equal (if not BETTER) results are far less obvious. I spent the last week with over 500 vacation rental virtuosos at the Streamline Summit in Scottsdale, AZ. And one of my most salient takeaways is that there is massive ROI in baked goods.
Yes, you read that correctly. In a handful of...
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Latest reply by - CareySue
We own the local donut shop and put donuts in our arriving guests units... they LOVE it! Mentioned in almost all the reviews...
- Founder, VRMB
***UPDATED NOVEMBER 2, 2021***
I’m departing the last few conferences with a lot to report back. My theme for this conference season is “first mover status” because that’s what all the attendees (advanced owners and managers) seem to be enjoying as a result of their choices and hard work. I've come to think of first-mover vacation rental leaders as "quintessential waveriders" who, with the right positioning and...
- Founder, VRMB
Evelyn Badia is a New York City based, five-star, Airbnb superhost. Through her online community and podcast she helps people become better hosts and use those hosting skills to build better financial futures.
Evelyn and Matt have a history of banter when it comes to professionalism and the vacation rental industry and in this final episode of season 7, they dive into a less dependent future and explore the...
- Founder, VRMB
Disclaimer: This may sound stupid simple but it really works. I recommend you try.
IDEA
To solve a fellow VRMB Community member's very important messaging question, we recently spent $700 for one hour with a copywriting consultant. Yes, this is a huge amount of money. But I had been following this particular expert for many years, have listened to every one of his podcasts, admire his expertise and business...
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Latest reply by - jlynnmoscrip
As usual, right on target @Matt Landau. Yes: I was worried about telling guests the same thing in an...
The latest research from Booking .com makes for compelling reading if you are interested in sustainability in our industry. Sustainability both for the environment and the future success of YOUR business.
In summary
83% of global travelers think sustainable travel is...
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Latest reply by - BobG
Building on my post above about Google travel listings now we have an interesting development on flights.
Check out Google Flights planner. You can see the carbon emission...
- Founder, VRMB
Travelnet Solutions Co-founder and CEO Ryan Bailey has been working since the early days of the internet to provide technology solutions for the hospitality industry. Their property management software Track has twice been named the software of the future by the VRMB Keystone awards.
In this episode, Matt sits down with Ryan to talk about building enterprise platforms, the rollups shaking the industry, and how...
- Founder, VRMB
Theo Kracke is a true vacation rental advocacy avenger. Fed up with unfair regulations in his home town of Santa Barbara, he sued the city and spent a great deal of his time and money to create precedent setting law that benefits owners and managers up and down the California coast. In Phoenix at the recent Streamline conference, Matt sat down with Theo to get his story.
VRMB Communities
STRSantaBarbara.org...
Thought this might be useful for other property managers to get ideas on how to present property results.
- Founder, VRMB
Sallie Mitchell, formerly of Casa Mar Azul vacation rental in San Pancho, Mexico knows what it's like to plan for a dream, live with the realities of that dream, and ultimately exit the dream in a positive fashion. Onwards to the next chapter.
In this episode Sallie and Matt explore the idea of finding your guest type and catering to them, action items to build an exit strategy and dip into Sallie's fears of an...
- Founder, VRMB
(OK so I apologize about the title: it's something that early-marketer-Matt would have written. But I couldn't resist the cheesy sensationalization on this technique because it's worth the hype.)
If there was one technique that I wish more owners and managers would try, it's talking head video.
Talking head video is you: in front of webcam: saying something meaningful to your guests. It's like a voicemail but...
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
@Matt Landau - Well, heck seems like me, Google, and Youtube will be holding our own classes?
Yes, I was a little disappointed but I think it's a direct sign that plenty of people have too much...
- Founder, VRMB
Matt Roberts is the CEO of Vacasa, one of the largest vacation rental companies in the world. Matt was previously the CEO at Open Table -- the app that allows you to reserve tables at your favorite restaurants -- but he’s not entirely new to vacation rentals as he was previously on Vacasa’s board: granted a very different vantage point than being CEO.
But as a disclaimer and a testament to the theme of this...
- Founder, VRMB
Ashley Kubiszyn is CEO of River Ridge Rentals in Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Keystone Colorado.
The company has been around for 20 years but Ashley took it over form her mother: conducting a full re-haul on systems and technology, while buttressing the aspects that make them market leaders like specialization, localization, and community involvement.
Most of the questions in this interview are framed...
- Founder, VRMB
Note: I learned this idea from Bryce Leonard of Key Data Dashboard at (where so much conference learning takes place) the hotel bar.
Perhaps Obvious Fact #1: Technology is the single biggest game-changer that propels today's vacation rental pros (compared to their hospitality predecessors) to entirely new heights: so taking advantage of all the new technology is a no-brainer to make more money (and have less...
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Latest reply by - Terry
@AFirmani, the most important piece of tech anyone possesses whether they have one property or a thousand is your PMS. You can't have a tech stack without a PMS. Find the right PMS for you and then build out from there.
A great place for you to start in no particular order is OwnerRez...
“Long before Walmart starting pushing into South Texas, H-E-B began studying the company’s success, and it adapted the productivity loop to its own business. They anticipated Walmart’s arrival and they cut the advantage that Walmart has over every other retail chain. H-E-B is...
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Latest reply by - JPrugh
A few years ago, Lindsborg’s family-owned grocery store stopped Walmart in their tracks and probably saved our town in many ways. Here’s what happened.
One of their brands is the Walmart Neighborhood Market - a smaller version that...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode, Matt sits down with Jessica Sheedy Black -- a neighborhood advocate and regional leader of the Texas Neighborhood Coalition -- for a sobering look at the other side of the vacation rental advocacy debate.
As a warning Jessica is not a short term rental advocate. So you may be wondering what’s she doing on this podcast? Our big mission of Unlocked is to challenge vacation rental pros to think...
- Founder, VRMB
Only after publishing this week's Unlocked Interview with Eric Broughton of InhabitIQ -- who is buying up various property management software companies -- have I (finally) come to (fully) understand the (irreversible) way our cottage industry is evolving:
Starts out fragmented = large number of small players
As popularity grows, a smaller number of larger players begin to consolidate the fragmentedness
They do...
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Latest reply by
- Karla
Two chairs @Matt Landau, what a great find. I have thought about those two chairs. What if you had found only a single chair? Would you have taken...
- Founder, VRMB
In this episode, Matt shares his big takeaways from Amy Hinote's Data and Revenue Management Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.
The first, data and revenue management is THE JUICIEST way for vacation rental owners and managers to make more money doing exactly the same job they have always loved. When you make more money, everyone has more fun.
Second, asking whether to use manual OR automation is...
I was asked to share my Kitchen Guide for VR Property Owners in another group on FB so thought I would share for our community also here.
I curated this guide to stocking a vacation rental kitchen from Guest feedback over the years. We're located in the mid-Atlantic at the...
- Founder, VRMB
Bruce Ikelheimer, a recovering rocket scientist, is currently at THE inflection point of vacation rental growth: profitable with his own 2 properties and now beginning to manage other homes, Bruce is now scaling his business Banjoe Vacations without scaling his workload.
The lessons he is learning as he approaches liftoff are valuable for listeners from all over the industry.
This episode is brought you by...
- Founder, VRMB
To me, there's something a little awkward about addressing the topics of bad guests (smoke, noise, parties) so bluntly.
It's like, these are real problems, and you shouldn't do them, wink wink.
I kinda like it. But not sure. Thoughts?
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Latest reply by - ToonTownRob
After some time for it to sink (there’s a pun there… get it?) in, I think the message of this ad is ‘cool’. As in, I can rent Scottie Pippin’s...
- Founder, VRMB
"Move fast and break things" (aka. MFABT for the remainder of this post) was originally coined by Mark Zuckerberg for his internal Facebook team regarding design and management. But it has since become a catchphrase for how many start-ups and entrepreneurs think about "disruptive" technology. More is better. Dominate at all costs. Worry about lines and red tape and protocol later. We'll address later what got...
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Latest reply by - AndyM
As small business Owners with limited resources our default operations are Move Slow and Fix Things. That being said I wish I had a magic...
- Founder, VRMB
I was out to dinner at Marcus Samuelsson's restaurant Red Rooster last week. (Yes, the same restaurant that was featured in "10 Oxtails.")
Trying to decide on an adult beverage.
When the waitress suggested a wine I had never heard of before.
"So two sisters, separated at birth, one raised in California and the other in New Zealand, eventually discover one another, learn about their mutual obsession with wine...
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Latest reply by - AlexC
So here's a story I heard recently. I thought I would share it here.
Apparently, in 1965 there was a Harvard psychologist...
- Founder, VRMB
This week Matt talks to Stacy Wesson of Cascara Vacation Rentals about the challenges of modernizing and running a family vacation rental business in an era of acquisitions and tech driven hospitality.
@Stacy is one of what I refer to as the new class of vacation rental managers: whose extraordinary planning and focus on what she wants (and fierce avoidance of what she finds toxic) leads to a sustainably...
Hey Inner Circle, Happy Friday!
It's not midweek but this section seems an appropriate spot for this to land.
There are lots of inspiring people out there (thank you Matt!) and I’m sure you have your own personal list. Rich Roll is on mine. He has an amazing story and a...
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
Wow, really love this sentiment.
The methodical nature of working focused and persistently for years to hone a specialty is...
- Founder, VRMB
In this special edition, we're airing a favorite episode from the Sarah & T podcast. Sarah and Tim are good friends and their show is a must listen for anyone in the industry. This week, they take a hilarious look at 6 key components to a successful welcome of your guests.
- Founder, VRMB
What is "enough" for your vacation rental business?
In this short thread, I'll argue why your ability to answer that question is synonymous with your keys to the vacation rental kingdom.
(And oppositely why, if you can't give an answer, you're missing out on perhaps our industry's greatest sweet spot for independent vacation rental entrepreneurs.)
In Spanish the word is "Bastante." Ya basta!
Or "suficiente."...
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Latest reply by - HeatherB
I have copied and pasted these action items into a document for me to review as often as I need...
- Founder, VRMB
Eric Broughton is the Chief Strategy officer of Inhabit IQ, which owns a number of vacation rental service providers and has frankly not always had the most forthcoming reputation in the vacation rental industry.
In his defense, Eric wasn’t in his position in those early days, he’s relatively new, so this conversation was originally designed to clear up some of the air.
But as you’ll hear, Eric has a very...
- Founder, VRMB
I love receiving notes from VRMB Community members and yesterday I got this one from long-time member and colleague, @JVozel:
It's getting more difficult as the industry grows to incorporate more facets (to our businesses).
Including bad actors who are not a net-positive to their environments.
The challenge is to keep up our ethos in the face of these sea-changes...I'm really working to figure out how to do...
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Latest reply by - Eric Thibodeaux
I remember reading this when it first came out. I wanted to think about it, as my response is hopefully thought provoking for you, your business and our industry. I enjoyed reading, reviewing and contemplating the many...
- Founder, VRMB
@AlexC is the Founder of Welcome Home Club, a vacation a vacation rental management company in San Antonio, Texas.
He's one of the more survival-oriented managers we’ve interviewed.
His background in the Military and working with Fortune 500 companies, give him a deep understanding of how things work, how things should work, and the conditions for when things fail and how to avoid these conditions with...
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.