Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

I know that most Vacation Rental and Property Management Companies are just starting to get into their summer (and possibly busiest) season.  Working long hours, trying to keep customers happy, getting the most out of employees, and overall just trying to keep your head above water.  So why should you start thinking about the shoulder season?  Because the people that are renting out your properties now and visiting your website are the ones that are going to come back in the off season.

As you know, internet marketing strategies are constantly changing. Two of the largest players in the industry, Google and Facebook, have recently announced some changes that may impact your Vacation Rental business.

In case you missed the announcement earlier this week, Microsoft has reached an agreement to purchase LinkedIn’s business social network for over $26 billion dollars. This is Microsoft’s most expensive acquisition to date and one of the largest acquisitions in the industry. Hear me out while I suggest that this may have significant benefits for the vacation rental industry.

We all know the Vacation Rental Industry is competitive especially in your specific market.  It then gets more competitive between the properties within your management company.  Unit owners are demanding that their unit be rented, but they don’t realize the 1970’s wall to wall lime green shag carpets and dark paneling with the low popcorn textured ceiling aren’t in style anymore.  I realize that my example is probably an exaggeration, but there are plenty of properties out there that are dated and in need of some TLC.  Getting owners to realize this is another story and getting them to invest in their investment can be challenging.  Some upgrades that can be offered to owners are not too financially painful and usually can be accomplished in the offseason. 

One of the best parts of my job is being able to talk to so many vacation rental companies and their employees, whether they are using Barefoot Vacation Rental Management software or another competing product. This industry is changing so fast for so many of you, with more and more costs, margins that are being squeezed, and the absolute mandate for you to look for additional sources of revenue.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

I attended the Mountain Travel Symposium in Keystone, CO the week of April 4^th.  There were many great presentations and interesting things to hear about in the mountain resort industry and the vacation rental industry, but one presentation stood out to me. The sharing economy and millennials.  As you can imagine the ramifications that come with this are deep, but I wanted to take a closer look at how this generation impacts the workforce.

Being in the service industry we all know how important your paying guests are to your business.  Barefoot also recognizes that our clients are much more than Property Managers in fact we recognize that our clients are Vacation Managers.  With that distinction of being a Vacation Manager a lot of responsibility comes with helping to provide an amazing experience and create long lasting memories for families and friends.  In most cases people that stay in a vacation home have planned and saved for that very special trip for a very long time.  Expectations are very high and that is why it is important for all Vacation Managers to have a plan in place to handle social media complaints. 

I recently had the opportunity to do a tour of the Balsams Resort, which is Les Otten’s (formerly of American Ski Company) new project. For those of you not aware of the resort here is some background. The historic resort, first opened in 1866, has been closed for the last 5 years.  It is basically its own town in New Hampshire and is the site of the first in the nation voting in Presidential elections and primaries — there were nine votes cast in this year’s primary.  The Balsams Resort is an ambitious project to revitalize one of the grand, old resorts in the country.  It is truly a beautiful setting, with a world class golf course, hiking, biking and potential to create the largest ski area in the East.  Historically, the Balsams, for any of you lucky enough to have ever stayed there, was also known for its cuisine, formal dining and cooking school.