Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

Communication is becoming more and more key in today’s vacation rental marketplace.  Companies like Glad to Have You and others provide tools for the traveler to make their experience as easy as possible.   The vacation experience is one of information regarding the reservation, areas of interest, restaurants, activities, etc. and there is more and more competition than ever.  Companies like Home Away are making it easier and easier for the owner of a property or condo to utilize a complete vacation rental system with online booking, credit cards, travel insurance, and they are moving towards providing these  owners with names of people that can clean and maintain their home.  Timeshare units are beginning to get into this mix also, with Home Away recently signing an agreement to work with a timeshare resort in Orlando that will bring over 9,000 time share properties into their inventory.  For the professional property manager, that means lower income, and higher vacancy.     

Almost a year ago we wrote an article discussing the policies in Las Vegas regarding short term rentals.  To avoid having homes in otherwise residential neighborhoods being turned into hotspots for one night parties, legislation was passed eliminating any rental under 30 days.  To back that up, a $1,000 daily fine was placed on those reservations that existed under 30 days.

We know it is early in the year but that doesn't mean we can't set the bar high for 2013. An article was recently published 0n a Barefoot portal partner, Perfect Places about an optimistic view on the year for vacation rentals.  This January, Perfect Places reported a 32% increase in online bookings compared to the same month one year ago.  Based on a previous survey, Perfect Places found that property owners had a better 2012 than they did 2011.  Furthermore, these owners had an optimistic view on 2013 as well.  If this survey is any indication of future success, then 2013 should be a huge year for the industry.

 If you are using a Customer Relationship Managent (CRM) system there are many things you can do to make the most of the time and energy you put into it.  CRM is becoming more and more popular in today’s business.  No longer is the client simply looking for the absolute lowest price, they are now considering much more when looking into making a purchase.  So what can your company do to gain these clients?  The answer is simple if you read below

 Written By: Mike Mueller

As ed and I grind through another tradeshow, I am beginning to see trends.  Not long ago I wrote some tips for attending tradeshows and this blog builds off of that.  In that blog, I wrote about making the most of your time by attending classes, but what happens when the class is not a great one?  This blog will remain on the shorter side as it is late and has been a long day but when a blog strikes, one must write!

Customer demographics is a rapidly expanding practice.  It used to mean knowing where your customers came from, how old they were and other basic information about who your customer was.  Today, this data and its collection is rapidly evolving into a science that needs attention.  Are you aware that user’s of a specific phone platform were likely to spend more per night on a reservation.  The ever increasing “Apple Demographic” is becoming more and more relevant.  Recently, Orbitz has begun changing its presentation based on what platform the user is visiting from.  A mac user will spend up 30% more on a hotel room for a night than a PC user.  Yielding this knowledge, Orbitz has started showing more expensive rooms in the initial search results according to reports.  Now any user can still sort by price online but research has also shown that 90% of users will not get past the first page in order to book.

     With the holidays coming around some vacation rental companies are moving into their busiest time of the year, others are moving into their down time.  One thing that everyone is taking note of is the holiday travel trends.  No matter what rental season you are in, there are ways to turn more leads into reservations.  By knowing the trends that are occurring in the booking process, you can set your company up for success.

Last week Barefoot packed up and headed to Phoenix Arizona for the National Vacation Rental Managers Association Annual Conference.  Being relatively new to the Barefoot team and the industry, this was my first national conference.  Needless to say, there were some things that I learned and hopefully you can learn from them as well.  Some of them are specific to the VRMA conference, others can be applied to any conference or business trip so be sure to take it all in.