Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

I am always interested and looking to see what the new trends and best practices are for Vacation Rental businesses related to technology.  As we all know this has changed so much over the past 10 – 15 years that it is hard to keep up.  Some of the obvious trends that are the new norms in the VR world are using social media as a platform to get your message out and get reviews back.  Think Facebook, Twitter, Google, TripAdvisor/FlipKey, YouTube, etc.  Also, what seems to have been around forever is the ability for guests to book online.  When you think about this technology it is only about 15 years old.  However, there are so many avenues a guest can go down.  (directly on your website, OTA’s, Channel Managers, Individual Owner Sites, and the list goes on). 

Being a part of the Vacation Rental industry for the past 15 years or so I have seen many changes and the growth is amazing.  However, there are some constants that I feel will always need to be part of a vacation rental home.   

For those of you who have been using legacy products that were purchased by HomeAway for a long time, we understand that the time has come to make a change. You may feel that you don’t have other options, but you do. Now is the time to experience what it is like to work with a software company that understands that you are unique and will work with you to meet your business goals.

Each March – May and September – October I know I can count on two things to happen in the Hospitality Industry…The seasons change and Tradeshows occur.  I won’t go into detail about the seasons, but I thought I would talk a little bit about tradeshows. I have been attending many types of tradeshows since 2005. The first one I attended for the Vacation Rental Management Association was the National VRMA in Atlanta.    

We all know the saying, “The Customer is always right”.  We also know that this is not always true, and being vacation rental and/or property managers I am not sure of another industry that puts you and your staff more to the test with this age old saying.  Not only are you facing this expectation from paying guests but there is also the double whammy of working with owners who can become just as challenging as a difficult and demanding guest.  I wanted to highlight a few areas to think about when evaluating the types of customers and owners you all have the choice of working with. 

In November I attended the VRM Intel conference in Destin and came away with a new-found interest.  Advocacy for Short-Term Rentals (STR).  Most of the participants attending were from Florida and in attendance was Dennis Hanks, Executive Director of Florida VRMA.  I listened to Dennis and others talk passionately about being united and taking action in the fight for fair legislation and representation for the STR industry.    This really inspired me and I felt that I wanted to get a bit more informed to see how I might be able contribute to the cause.  Keep in mind my perspective is a little different in the fact that I am coming from the Vendor side of the business.  However, my livelihood is indirectly affected by VRM’s being able navigate the many hurdles of running a successful business which includes Short Term Rental Regulations.  I also recently moved to Asheville, NC, which has a STR ban within the city limits.  

Like most of you, I have seen a few expectations articles for 2017. While I agree with them on most of the trends, I feel they should go further to suggest to you how you might be impacted or to position yourself to take advantage of the current market conditions.

This week we are happy to have one of Barefoot's Business partners, Andy Francis of TruPlace write aboutThe Evolution of Photography Technology to improve your vacation rental images. This is one aspect of vacation property management where looks do matter! Start your new year off in evaluating your listing photos to see where you may need to change your photos to improve your listing quality.

I have recently been talking to property managers about things that are concerning to them and one that keeps standing out is Owner Acquisition.  With the larger companies like Vacasa and Wyndham acquiring Vacation Rental Companies and large numbers of vacation rental properties it can seem a daunting task for independent Vacation Rental Managers to compete in an ever changing market.  Property Managers are also facing the challenging task of owners trying and in many cases succeeding in self managing their properties through VRBO or AirBnB.  The other area that makes this industry challenging is the competition property managers have against other property management companies.

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