Questions or comments welcomed below...
Questions or comments welcomed below...
Well said Matt. Airbnb is both a challenge and an opportunity and VRMs need to be reminded that our singular mission beyond taking care of guests that come to us through Airbnb, should be to do everything in our power to make sure that the guest leaves with an understanding that they will get a better deal and have a better experience if they book with you direct the next time they stay in one of your homes.
- Mark up your rates on Airbnb. They do not require price parity.
- Explain to your guests that Airbnb charges them a fee to book on the platform.
- Make sure you reward loyalty and repeat bookings with discounts or special services.
- Add your guests to your email list and send them regular engaging emails (not just a sales pitch) about your destination and your services or your business to keep the relationship growing.
If we all take on this task, some guests, maybe many guests will book direct with you when they return, but also if they go to a new destination they may use Airbnb for research, but book direct with a VRM, taking Airbnb out of the loop.
- Mark up your rates on Airbnb. They do not require price parity.
- Explain to your guests that Airbnb charges them a fee to book on the platform.
- Make sure you reward loyalty and repeat bookings with discounts or special services.
- Add your guests to your email list and send them regular engaging emails (not just a sales pitch) about your destination and your services or your business to keep the relationship growing.
If we all take on this task, some guests, maybe many guests will book direct with you when they return, but also if they go to a new destination they may use Airbnb for research, but book direct with a VRM, taking Airbnb out of the loop.
I would add communicating your professionalism. We sometimes take this for granted -- or just assume guests know we're not some fly by night hobbyists. But articulating the fact that we do this for a living, are ready to solve any problems, and take their vacation seriously, we forge an important differentiator from the average / unprofessional Airbnb host.
Great stuff Matt. Thanks for distilling the information down to key takeaways.
As always, well said Matt.
Interesting to me that you did not mention VRBO. Are they no longer a player or has AirBnB completely taken them over in your mind? Strange question to ask for a 20+ year veteran in VRs, but as you know I've been LSI since early 2000. I use my own website and a hyper local regional directory site.
Maui has been bust (March 26, 2020 - Oct 14, 2020) and then boom! Though we are still missing all of the Canadians that typically make up about 1/2 of the travelers.
This said, I've taken to my newsletter to steal an idea from Pat Flynn (SmartPassiveIncome.com) and am asking my past guests and those that inquired but did not stay what they want (from an amenities list) in a VR. Do they want the highest of speed internet for zoom meetings or video streaming? Drip coffee and / or Keurig, do they want full beach cabanas, SUPs, surfboard and boogies boards, black out blinds, softer pillows, an Alexa or similar, guided tours, private surfing lessons, etc. The list goes on. Pat Flynn would then tell you to take the ideas you got from your fans, and turn those into blog posts or digital products, etc. I'm going to turn the VRs into the dream location hopefully.
We all know you can learn a lot by listening, and that is what I'm doing now. I'm listening to the wants and needs of my past guests, so I can help to make their next "memory making trip" more enjoyable. Adding these to all the units, listening to their wants and most of all allowing them to realize once again that I care in their trip and want it to be as good as it can get!
Aloha - Matt
Interesting to me that you did not mention VRBO. Are they no longer a player or has AirBnB completely taken them over in your mind? Strange question to ask for a 20+ year veteran in VRs, but as you know I've been LSI since early 2000. I use my own website and a hyper local regional directory site.
Maui has been bust (March 26, 2020 - Oct 14, 2020) and then boom! Though we are still missing all of the Canadians that typically make up about 1/2 of the travelers.
This said, I've taken to my newsletter to steal an idea from Pat Flynn (SmartPassiveIncome.com) and am asking my past guests and those that inquired but did not stay what they want (from an amenities list) in a VR. Do they want the highest of speed internet for zoom meetings or video streaming? Drip coffee and / or Keurig, do they want full beach cabanas, SUPs, surfboard and boogies boards, black out blinds, softer pillows, an Alexa or similar, guided tours, private surfing lessons, etc. The list goes on. Pat Flynn would then tell you to take the ideas you got from your fans, and turn those into blog posts or digital products, etc. I'm going to turn the VRs into the dream location hopefully.
We all know you can learn a lot by listening, and that is what I'm doing now. I'm listening to the wants and needs of my past guests, so I can help to make their next "memory making trip" more enjoyable. Adding these to all the units, listening to their wants and most of all allowing them to realize once again that I care in their trip and want it to be as good as it can get!
Aloha - Matt
Matt Landau you were beaming and looked extremely happy - glad you had such a good time connecting with other vacation rental owners and managers!As I listened to your points, I had a couple of thoughts. I love that demand is greater than supply now. I hope that means that a lot of people will be trying vacation rentals for the first time, and if we show them great hospitality and give them that limited edition stay and experience, we will have converts that will never want to go to a hotel again!
I am in the second group you discussed in your second point - the hospitality creators. I am fortunate to live on the farm where my rentals are and I get to meet them. I have noticed one really interesting thing during the past 8 months we have been open after being closed 6 months due to Covid. Pre-Covid I gave guests tours in a Polaris, mule, off-road vehicle - people call them different things, and guests loved the tours.
However, because I had to pivot when I could no longer give tours in the Polaris due to being in such close proximity to guests, we began giving tours via a hay ride. When I have the chance, I always ask children what there favorite thing they did while visiting the farm, and without exception, it has been the hayride. It has proven to be such a hit we will continue giving the hayride tours when children are involved, and will give adults-only guests the choice.
This month returning guests booked the larger home and asked if they could have a birthday party for their son that is in college in Georgetown and 5 of his friends. They had the hayride and when I gave them the tour I told them to feel free to use driftwood on the wide limestone banks of the river and have a bonfire that night. They did and made S'mores and had a wienie roast. They had a blast and apparently some of those college kids had never had a hayride or bonfire, and memories were made!
I still use Airbnb and get quite a few bookings from them. As long as they help fill my calendar on my way to listing independence I will continue to use them. I always tell my guests to always try to find the owner when they find a home they want to stay on in Airbnb so they can book direct and save the fees. They are appreciative and say they had never thougtht of that.
Thanks Matt. This is great. I always thought it's that rare combination of professionalization or hospitalization with a very personal touch that makes our industry such a unicorn. Interested to see how the those bigger companies you mentioned maintain that. Conversely, excited to see how the smaller companies and RBO's really stretch themselves to provide that. Could we possibly be in a more pivotal time? Craziness. Beautiful craziness indeed.
Opinions from an Outlier: Lines of Drift, Placeism, Build to Sell (Observations, not Criticisms)
Many, if not most, of the Inner Circle members are located in attractive destinations near the ocean, in the mountains, close to a theme park or just a real great place to visit. While in Gatlinburg,
Matt Landau mentioned the "lines of drift" that this and the aforementioned destinations embrace. This "line of drift" certainly helps bring in more than enough tourists in this post-pandemic time. Vacation rental owners and managers (VRO/Ms) with properties near the ocean, mountains, theme parks, etc. may not realize just how extremely fortunate they are: potential guests already know to go there! Think of it as a 100-yard (or 30-meter ) race for guests. These VRO/Ms are starting on the 90-yard line. For locations in Kansas (and America's Heartland), we're way back at the starting line wearing ski boots. That's why we have to market and advertise consistently and persistently that 1) we exist and 2) there are things to do here. I doubt that any Inner Circle member in Destin had to convince potential guests that, yes, there are things to do there.
Sadly many potential guests don't have even the first clue that America's Heartland is a bona fide destination*. Kansas, like Nebraska, the Dakotas, much of the Midwest and even parts of the South, works very diligently to attract visitors. But Kansas is quickly dismissed as flat, boring and full of wheat. Even Kansans have a negative view of traveling here. Since potential guests don't know what to do there, it's easy to assume that there is nothing to do - hence the "flat and boring" opinion. So why is this?
A couple years ago, I came up with the word "placeism" only to find out that it already exists. It means "discrimination against a locality or geographic location." Of all the -isms out there, this is far down on the list. Like all of you, I'm placeist. Visit NYC? Ugh, no thanks!!
For quite a while, I suspected that placeism was inherent just within the vacation rental industry. In reaching out to the ancillary add-on services, I came to believe that they are much more interested in supplying their expertise exclusively to VRO/Ms in very popular destinations. Guesty wants to talk with me, but I'm going to grill them under a heat lamp regarding their services. On a side note, I may be making some headway with PriceLabs.co.
More recently, I came to see that placeism is simply part and parcel of the entire vacation industry: guests, hosts, hotels, theme parks, travel magazines, tourism boards, etc. Guests only know what they know. Media outlets are national in scope, so they always suggest the obvious: national parks, oceanside beaches, camping in the forest, kayaking on a river, visiting Disneyland, etc.
Along these lines, I sent correspondence to Airbnb's Help line regarding their search for hosts. In this letter to Brian Chesky below, I strongly suggested that there are plenty of hosts already - in America's Heartland. (And by extension the Heartland of every other country and region worldwide.)
During today's excellent video,
Matt Landau suggested that we build our businesses to sell. I definitely try to run my business that way. But simply put, I can't imagine any circumstances where my vacation rental business would be attractive for purchase**. Fortunately many of my properties are hosting professionals are temporary work assignments in the area - a niche that I've never seen mentioned anywhere. Hmmm...is the vacation rental industry too focused on guest vacations only?One last thought: I briefly entertained the idea of asking VRMA is they would like to publish my complaints, I mean, observations on the vacation rental industry as an outlier. But again, I can't imagine a circumstance where this might happen.
* Keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of regional destinations across America's Heartland that are covered almost exclusively by Midwest Living Magazine and its website.
** Keep in mind that my vacation rentals are one of a handful of real estate related businesses in Lindsborg. My goals there are more altruistic than for profit - simply put, I want to work with the small town to ensure that it thrives and thereby avoids the fate of too many small towns.
I think if anything they've remained the most consistent. Albeit for some glips, they still seem to be pretty focused and attentive to pro vacation rental managers. Don't know if you saw but they have launched a new campaign each around these distinguishing trends:
I actually really like this distinguishing of platforms. Pretty consistent over the years if you ask me. Here's another one...
We are in a very competitive area. We are in the resort community of Sunriver OR. My family has run this business for 35+ years and it seems sad to think it one day wouldn't be in the family, however I do agree that there will be a right price that comes along. We haven't used Airbnb since last May when they totally went against their contract with us and did their own thing. I have 2 owners that love it and they want to use it. I told them that is absolutely fine, but I have no control over what Airbnb does, if they want to cancel day before arrival and give the guest money back or decided the guest didn't have wifi so that is worth $500 of credit regardless of what our normal procedure is for when an amenity we have no control over isn't working I will not pay them it will come out of their share. I get an email weekly from Airbnb begging to come back, but when the CEO keeps spouting who he cares about I have no interest. Now if I find myself in a position where I need help booking my homes I will put my tail between my legs and go back into the belly of beast.
First, I love how ENTHUSIASTIC you are about meeting other owners and managers. 🙂 Next, thanks so much for your nuanced and easy to follow "reporting" from the VRMA Connect. As you know, we are slowly opening back up in Italy so it has been slow. We are hoping for a coming boom in travel to Italy. The best time to prepare was probably 5 years ago or last year. Next best time? TODAY. Every Inner Circle member with properties should be building or reviewing their website, thinking through processes and ease of booking online.
I like your idea about defining your goals. May I suggest that each of us write a mission statement (which you can share on your website). Just the process of writing the Mission Statement gives us more clarity on plotting our course.
I like your idea about defining your goals. May I suggest that each of us write a mission statement (which you can share on your website). Just the process of writing the Mission Statement gives us more clarity on plotting our course.
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Wish I knew you were in Gatlinburg and that I could have attended the VRMA Connect in San Destin, but a college graduation for my daughter was cause for great celebration. I appreciated your words and insight as well as how you are such a clear communicator. It's been boom here in Gatlinburg as in so many other drivable destinations. I find that in times of crisis that is is crucial to lean into your core values and emphasize your brand and your story to your guests and owners. This past year has been a gift of sorts to focus on what we do best and address the needs of these two audiences. I find the symbiotic nature of guest/owner relationships fascinating. What you value in one relationship usually shows up in the other and over time that brand and culture begin to define your business. The third relationship (employees) also dovetails off of these two, and has been no doubt the biggest challenge this year. It has required quick agility, re-imagining team, and distilling key roles and staff needs. We have never accomplished so much with such a lean team. This year has pulled us together, and I can only compare it to the fires here in 2016 which prepared us for this past year. Our employees are the real champions. I'd love to hear from other how they are expressing appreciation for their loyal staff that remained employed and contributed above and beyond this year.
This education — explaining to guests what it means to book direct and how — is a real feat.
LynnG and I were talking on the phone yesterday about the role of educating guests (and homeowners) in general. We can all be better educators!
JPrugh what you’re really describing is the role of destination ambassador in an up-and-coming place. I met this role firsthand when I moved to the historic district of Casco Viejo in Panama in 2006. It was completely off the beaten path: no newspaper or magazine or blog articles. Only the occasional tourist.Wow the big challenge is that you need to create your own demand, I’d also argue that less obvious, more isolated and quirky destinations like Lindsborg are ripe for traveler pickens.
Let me know if you need a contact there. There are some new thought leaders involved.
Millertime
Cannot underscore this hard enough. Now might be the single best time in the history of our generation to restructure. So much so that I’m creating the next Inner Circle workshop around the theme. Hoping for you and
BobG that Italy is going to follow our trend.
Wow what a beautiful sentiment. It really all is a cycle: one good link (or feedback loop as
Christina would call it) leads into the next.On your point about adversity bringing out the best and bringing us together, this is a theme for sure about the vacation rental industry. It reminds me of the old Mr. Rogers bit...
I’m Looking forward to this feedback too.
Wow what a beautiful sentiment. It really all is a cycle: one good link (or feedback loop as
On your point about adversity bringing out the best and bringing us together, this is a theme for sure about the vacation rental industry. It reminds me of the old Mr. Rogers bit...
I’m Looking forward to this feedback too.
I love that you provided Mr. Rogers (and then mentioned my name). Look for the helpers!
Fantastic summary!
I still list my two homes on Airbnb and VRBO. Until they "do me dirty" personally, I will continue listing with them as long as I get rentals. it is funny how over the 11 years in the business, the numbers have changed. VRBO used to bring in many more bookings than Airbnb. Now the exact opposite is true - very few RBO bookings and lots of Airbnb bookings! I actually prefer the Airbnb guests as they currently pay the booking fee. I switched to pay-as-you-go with VRBO last year, so it costs me more for those bookings.
Wow the big challenge is that you need to create your own demand, I’d also argue that less obvious, more isolated and quirky destinations like Lindsborg are ripe for traveler pickens.
Let me know if you need a contact there. There are some new thought leaders involved.
Matt Landau - I may take you up on
Millertime. HodgePodgeHippie visited during "Lindsborg in Bloom" and created a wonderful video review of Vetehuset: https://fb.watch/5DzwqCeMRO/ And our most recent recognition: Most Hallmark Movie-Esque Small Town and a nice write up in TravelAwaits.Attachments
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