Barefoot Technologies Blog- Vacation Rental Industry News

Vantage Resort Realty of Ocean City, MD launched their new website yesterday (http://www.vantageoceancity.com) .  The website was developed by InterCoastal Net Design. (ICND), a Barefoot Technologies preferred web company.  ICND and Vantage collaborated on the new website and utilized the API integration provided by Barefoot’s vacation rental software.

“This is one of the advantages of working with Barefoot,” notes Ed Ulmer, CEO. “We have fifteen years of development with a comprehensive set of API’s that allow our web partners to get the data that they need to create compelling websites. We are excited to see how Vantage’s new site will bring increased bookings and revenue. Great job ICND team!”

One of our newer customers is really taking a hard look at Airbnd as a marketing portal for his vacation rental management company. He has been nice enough to share some articles that have impacted his research. I thought I might summarize these articles and provide you with links to them so you can continue your research as well.

At the annual PhoCuswright conference last week, HomeAway’s CEO Brian Sharples made several announcements about additions to their mobile app, Glad to Have You, aimed at improving the customer experience.

The Franchise Herald reported last week that in a study conducted by the New York Attorney General’s office, 72 percent of rentals under Airbnb between early 2010 and June 2014 were illegal.  Citing that they many local and state laws, one of the stand out violations was that “an estimated 200 units were booked as short-term rentals for more than 365 days in a year, meaning multiple transients rented the space at the same night.”

Booking vacation rentals online via an online travel sites like Airbnb and others can be risky as everything is done online.  It is essential to remind property owners about the advantages of working with authentic, brick and mortar vacation rental management companies rather than a company on a cloud. 

Whether in the business for many years or just now beginning to dabble in it, the vacation rental management industry is growing by leaps and bounds.  No matter the size of your company, it is vital to stay on top of the latest technologies, trends and ways to effectively run your rental management business.  Let’s face it – this industry is one that requires more attention to detail than most any other business – except maybe accounting or medicine.