Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

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. 

Choosing a Vacation Rental property management system (PMS) is a decision that requires time and commitment to the process. In a simple list of where to start, the one factor that must always be considered is time. The time spent on the process will be time well spent when you can look back on the time you wasted wondering why your competitors had more bookings, or managing manual reports/communication/work orders. With a new PMS you can now have the time to market your properties efficiently!

Here's another perspective from our internet marketing partner InterCoastal Net Design about the opportunity that might exist for vacation rental managers.

This is more in a series of responses to my initial blog about the new traveler's fees being implemented by HomeAway. In this reply, VacayStay Connect offers another perspective.

"Having worked with professional vacation property managers for many years, we understand why significant HomeAway business policy changes can invoke anger and frustration within the industry - a normal human reaction to change.

Last week I posted a blogabout the HomeAway traveler's fee that are now being applied to booking generated through any of HomeAway's US portals. There is an opportunity for the savvy vacation rental manager who looks to their internet marketing expert. This is the first blog in a series of blogs on this topic.

When HomeAway announced that it was being acquired by Expedia in November of 2015, one of the first things that was discussed was the plan to add traveler’s fees to their pricing model for the vacation rental management portal.

2016 is going to be a year of significant change in the vacation rental industry.

During the course of the day, I visit Barefoot partners to answer client questions or to provide links. Visiting websites, I can be distracted and I end up checking out their Blogs where I learn more about their company, vacation rental industry news and enjoy some of the fun “stuff” they have created.  Today’s search for a particular channel on a new partner’s website, Rentals United, led me to this fun poster of the Rental Guest Manifesto that they had made into a refrigerator magnet for the 2015 VRMA. The last part of the manifesto made me think about my vacation home rental experiences and what made them extraordinary.

Barefoot would like to thank their payment processing partner Ascent Processing for this informative piece about chargebacks.