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- Founder, VRMB
In my 2022 Predictions Piece, I explain how big money and roll-ups will fuel the one-of-a-kind or Limited Edition players in the vacation rental industry. Said another way, the small businesses that accelerate in the direction of family/local/specialized/surprises will not just enjoy new-found demand -- the sector's tailwinds will satisfy their wildest business dreams.
Here's a prime example: I visited Mike...
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Latest reply by - Katie Bien
We require a contract, but like many here, we do have an "out" for either party. While the relationship...
- 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...
- Founder, VRMB
Here's some thoughts on this commercial....
What are your thoughts?
Link
Netflix: World's Greatest Vacation Rentals Show Hot-take
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Latest reply by - lisafrank
A few thoughts…
While it's really great and sexy to feature bmw, cadillac and porche properties, most people are driving Toyotas and chevys. They strive to be inclusive in the people they show, but not in the properties. I think...
- Founder, VRMB
Five years ago, one of my favorite online business leaders (and actually the inspiration for VRMB Communities!) James Schramko published what became his signature marketing strategy, Own The Racecourse.
The general gist...
Your business is a racehorse.
The platform atop which it generates sales is a racecourse.
Until you own the racecourse, your racehorse is forever competing on someone else's track.
Own the...
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Latest reply by - Christina
and, if it is free (except for your time), you might be the product
- Founder, VRMB
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 itself.
I Am...
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Latest reply by - SScurlock
When we started living in our vacation house in Mexico for six months a year, I never suspected our dog would open the door...
- 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...
- Founder, VRMB
This message from a guest gave me the chills.
It made me wonder, have any members of this community had any supernatural reviews?
Here's the full Twitter thread...
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
That's an amazing review!
We have one house. I know it was one of the originals in our little Oregon Coast town. it was probably the home to many salty fisherman. We're a newer culture so the homes aren't that old..it probably dates the the 1950s. We...
- Founder, VRMB
Lately I've found myself especially drawn to hotel and vacation rental photography that uses props or staged items to evoke a warm, welcoming scene or aspirational vignette.
With our exploration of "first mover" marketing plays, I have to think staged photography is right up there at the top of the "What doesn't currently exist in your market, but will become ubiquitous once someone starts doing it?" list don't...
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Latest reply by - RuthM
I have battled it out with a few of my team over the years about staging a photo to set the scene, vis. a more conventional real estate style of photography, which some are more used to seeing. These images are beautiful and resonate with how we stage ours. It's worth every dime and 10...
- Founder, VRMB
This week's tip is inspired by our interview with @ambercarpenter of DemandIQ (full interview below). It is aimed at anyone who has a website and a basic property management software.
"Unconstrained demand" is the traveler demand for your vacation rental property(s) without the constraints of availability or rate rules. Including beyond 100% occupancy. Your 'unconstrained demand' for nights is much greater...
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Latest reply by - Robin
Unconstrained demand! What a great concept and such an intelligent way to view the opportunity that is out there for vacation rentals. The podcast is a must-listen-to and...
- Founder, VRMB
From last week's discussion about marketing the word "boutique" (which has evolved like a beautiful living document 🌱) I was inspired to share a lesson I learned from a $795/hour copywriter.
Tell ‘Em What You’re Going To Tell ‘Em
Next, Tell ‘Em
Next, Tell ‘Em What You Told ‘Em
OK so this isn't the exact lesson (it's famous advice for public speaking presenters) BUT it communicates the lesson from the...
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Latest reply by - Karla
I wonder if it's part of this concept that relates to the ubiquitous emails I get wanting to redo, refresh and re-polish my website or engage in google analytics at a great cost. They first criticize, then tell me how great they are and then demand that I set aside...
Most owners and managers respond to the same inquiries and questions frequently. And the more advanced folks use automation such as canned messages and auto-responders.
But very rarely do we realize that not all guests are equal, and that responding in the same way to...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA: New Years resolutions or goals are great for business. But the fact that they are plural means that they're likely to blur together and the fact that they're wordy sentences or phrases gives us all kinds of room to wiggle out and escape accountability.
ACTION: Take some time over the next few days and decide on ONE WORD that sits at the core of your vacation rental marketing goals for 2020.
The best way...
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
Negative people are viral in a bad way...
I want this on a T-Shirt!
- Founder, VRMB
A robust all-in-one PMS solution doesn't really exist for smaller operators. But new tools are popping up with some innovative alternatives. This is an excerpt from VRMB's 2023 Trends Report: The Roadmap.
For years I’ve referred to those who don’t view STR hospitality as a business (but rather a hobby or side gig) as “Lifestylists.” Lifestylists typically hold down separate jobs, rent for the cashflow, and use...
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Latest reply by - Terry
Hi Terri,
Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying...but I'm pretty sure I'm one of these 'lifestyle' operators. I own a small portfolio of homes and manage them myself. I am not intimidated 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...
No matter how much we plan, prepare, maintain, improve, innovate or do, we can’t control everything.
Construction noise, power outages, severe weather, medical emergencies, road closures, and land crab migrations through the shower can spoil our guests’ vacations—yet are...
- Founder, VRMB
Sarah Bradford (of Sarah & Tim fame) recently shared with me I Illustrated National Parks In America Based On Their Worst Review And I Hope They Will Make You Laugh.
I'm an illustrator and I have always had a personal goal to draw all 62 US National Parks, but I wanted to find a unique twist for these poster designs. When I found that there are one-star reviews for every single park, the idea for Subpar Parks...
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Latest reply by
- Karla
I have been thinking about this recently on a "review" level, based on reading about this Chinese restaurants responses to bad/dumb reviews I read awhile ago...
- Founder, VRMB
Trust comes when a vacation rental host is genuinely more interested in ensuring that the visitor has a great vacation than in getting them to book his or her property. The vacation rental business that builds the most trust, wins.
Question: What are the best ways to earn trust with future and former guests?
(I’ll begin posting other responses that come in from non-IC members below)
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Latest reply by
- Matt Landau
Hi folks, I'd like to try to do these kinds of MMMs more often in which we take a deep dive into one particular technique or factor or idea throughout the week, use as much input as we can to produce something actionable (or at least consolidated)...
- Founder, VRMB
With shrinking margins becoming a real concern (it seems like every new service takes a piece of the pie) owners and managers can compensate by either increasing profit or decreasing costs. This post is about decreasing costs in the form of a "profit center" -- a strategic way to leverage economies of scale.
A profit center is a division of a vacation rental business that reduces a previous cost by effectively...
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Latest reply by - Nancy
I absolutely hate leakage especially when it affects my guest's experience.
Looking for ways to increase your dollar per transaction by looking outside...
- Founder, VRMB
Over the last five years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you around the world — sometimes only for a few minutes after a presentation, other times at length over meals, walks, car rides..etc.
And although our industry is so diverse and all our businesses goals so unique, I began to notice a pattern about your businesses (no matter the size/age/location) when compared to others in our industry. Some may...
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Latest reply by - Crafty
A suggestion re. the idea of Golden Ratio calculation: simplify it by calling it Earned-to-Bought index of revenue...
- Founder, VRMB
IDEA: This past week I had dinner at Red Rooster in Miami: the chef Marcus Samuelsson (from tv show Chopped) channels his Ethiopian roots, making for a most remarkable blend of spice and flavor (said in my best food critic voice).
The waitress seated us and before getting our drinks pointed out that one item on the menu (the 3-day braised ox tail) was almost out. As seen on ‘the best thing I ever ate,’ this fire...
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Latest reply by
- ToonTownRob
P.S. There is one call to action that is more powerful than just about any other. Click here to find out what it is!
So what is the one call to action that is more powerful than any other? It's something that the prospect doesn't have to do business with you to gain benefit from. Put another...
This guest post is by Inner Circle leader James Olin, CEO of C2G Advisors LLC, who has been involved in M&A activities in vacation rental industry since 1992. He is the only person to be CEO of both the nation’s largest privately owned vacation rental company (Abbott...
- Founder, VRMB
In vacation rentals we talk about listing sites.In the restaurant world, it's delivery apps like Grubhub, Door Dash, and Post Mates. These tech companies have taken a sizable bite out of restaurant economic models and margins -- especially in the wake of the pandemic as demand for delivery surges.
To discourage the use of delivery apps (aka. "book direct") Domino's Pizza got creative. Domino's franchisees (in...
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Latest reply by
- RuthM
Just seeing this now. WOW. What a powerful choice for an advertisement. Makes you want to order Domino's, right? Doing the right thing in your community is always the right idea. Each...
I had a guest who had booked us through VRBO a few years ago, had a great time, left a great review. They then rebooked the same way 5 years later. It dinged my ego :confused: . I worried if they didn't trust us. Turns out they didn't realize they could have booked directly...
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Latest reply by - Sherry
With online agencies like AirBnB and VRBO dominating the vacation rental space, owners trying to develop independent properties face an uphill battle.
We asked the question: How comfortable are...
- Founder, VRMB
Crowdsourcing means collecting information from other vacation rental people. It allows you to save time and money while tapping into lessons from owners and managers with different skills or perspectives from all over the world.
Crowdsourcing works best at early, pivotal stages of your vacation rental growth: believe it or not, many other VR pros have been through that challenge before. They may even have a...
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Latest reply by - AshleyK
Hi Ashley, I'm happy to share my pack with you and let you know how I do this.
I would be so grateful for anything you can share with me! You can email me at [email protected] Thank you!
- Founder, VRMB
Warning: What I am about to share with you holds little weight in a formal business setting. It's not something my professors ever covered in business class. It never shows up on the profit loss statements at the end of the month. You won't find it in any formal contract and it's certainly never mentioned at "Disruptive" tech summits or conferences. And yet it might be our greatest secret weapon of all.
When I...
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Latest reply by - MeganM
Megan, How is the diffuser received? I love one in my own home, but am concerned that tastes vary so much, and people are sensitive to smells, that it might not be a good option in our rental.... thoughts??
Very well. Only do VERY LIGHT drops of lemon and lavender for...
- Founder, VRMB
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 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 a good...
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Latest reply by
- ToonTownRob
If I could challenge this idea...I think inherent to the big changes is the understanding that there is no...
- Founder, VRMB
I'm currently in the process of purchasing the townhouse I have rented since moving to South Beach, Miami in 2020.
Back then, I wrote this article about moving to the epicenter of the pandemic and I should really write an update soon.
But purchasing this townhouse is lowkey a pretty big deal for me personally:
My first home: decades of entrepreneurship and carving my path capitalized!
But it's also causing...
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Latest reply by
- RuthM
First of all, congratulations! A new purchase is always worth celebrating! Next, I absolutely agree with...
- Owner & Hostess
The short term rental industry has exploded over the past decade. This post examines the deep shifts in real estate, technology, and labor that have forged a new definition of "mixed-use" and opens the discussion with insight into the direction it’s heading next.
Part 1. The...
- Founder, VRMB
The single most valuable skill a vacation rental entrepreneur can develop is curating special experiences for guests.
Done successfully the rest of the dominoes fall into place: special experience = 5-star reviews + repeat bookings / referrals / PR. Oppositely, if you don't do this (no matter how good the rest of your business is) guests won't remember, return, or refer.
"Curating special experiences" starts...
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Latest reply by - Will Franco
The first thing that comes to mind is tailoring the experience(s) to their love language.
Speaking...
- 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 farm - it was fun to find them. I always left them for another guest to discover, and some made their way to the houses. There are certainly...
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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