Doug Kennedy
President
Creating Remarkable Experiences For Your Guests (and Owners Too)
Doug will open our conference with an exclusive presentation reminding participants that we are all in the guest experience business, not the “unit” or property rental business. Whereas most of national brands and franchise models focus on “out-teching” the competition, privately own, locally operated companies can harness our superpower, which of course is our people. In this new era of Bard and ChatGPT, human connections mean more than ever. Doug will then share practical, actionable training tips that participants who service in frontline service roles can put to immediate use, and that managers and owners can use to train and coach their staff when they return back home. Doug will also share the very latest tips and tactics from his monthly KTN Webcast series and the three training articles he pushes out each month.
***
Doug Kennedy is President of the Kennedy Training Network, Inc. the lodging industry’s best source for training programs and related support services in the topic areas of reservations sales, hospitality, and guest service excellence.
For over three decades, Doug has been a fixture on the lodging and tourism conference speaking circuit, having presented at more than 100 conferences, and having presented at his first VRMA session in 1996. It is estimated that over 40,000 people have participated in more than 2,100 small group training workshops he has presented for hotels and vacation rental companies.
Thousands worldwide read his monthly hotel, tourism and hospitality industry training articles in publications such as Hotelier Maldives, HotelNewsNow/CoSTar, Hotel-Online, Hotel News Resource, HTrends, HotelMarketing.com, VRM Arrivals, 4Hoteliers.com, and VRM Intel.
Amanda Martins
Director of Customer Happiness
Bad Stays and Bourbon Chasers: Your Worst Guest Stories
Like bourbon, your guest stays can be smooth or on the rocks. We know you've seen it all! Join the Safely team as we trade guest horror stories we have all experienced, from the bizarre to the scary and sometimes comical.
We’ll also share tips and tricks to prepare you for future shenanigans.
***
Amanda is the Director of Customer Happiness at Safely and has been with the company for a little over two years, leading new client onboarding and client initiatives. She is especially proud of her team’s efforts to successfully drive down annual churn to 3% with a trending net revenue retention rate of 130%. Outside of Safely, you may catch a glimpse of Amanda playing a nurse on TV, prepping for her next art show, or on a date with her husband of 16 years.
Kam Bain
Director of Strategy, Beyond
Modern Payment Processing for Forward-Thinking Vacation Rental Managers
Elevate your processing with a modern integrated payments solution and boost conversion with frictionless checkout and reliable support from vacation rental veterans.
Tally is a ready-to-use payment processing solution accepting all major credit/debit cards, ACH, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, with a behind-the-scenes product for your team to manage daily payouts and reconciliation, transactions, disputes, and more. Easy installation and no development needed.And with Tally, your guests feel the impact too - one-tap payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay on your direct website increase trust in your brand and reduce friction at checkout.
.png){kind=logo}
Ryan Saylor
Head of Partnerships
A Data Driven Future: How new & actionable data sets can influence your success in 2024
Join this session to learn what happened in key vacation rental markets during the peak season of 2023 and what’s already unfolding for 2024 peak seasons. Then, learn how you should be utilizing actionable data sets and new strategies to ensure you’re properly positioned for a successful 2024
