OUR NEWS
Vacation rental listings are a property manager’s most powerful marketing tool. These days, though, listing rental properties on Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, Tripadvisor, and Vrbo can be daunting: short-term rentals are booming on all the top travel sites, so how do you make your rentals stand out? The good news is that even though […]
READ MOREIn recent years, the growing popularity of channel managers in the short-term vacation rental industry has led to: > A robust marketplace with more channel manager products than ever before > More vacation rental property managers scratching their heads and wondering, “What is the best channel manager for vacation rentals?” Before we answer […]
READ MOREVacation rental property managers who want to get more bookings on Expedia and Booking.com have numerous different strategies at their disposal. Unfortunately, though, many of these tools get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day responsibilities as property managers juggle time crunches, pandemic concerns, and staff shortages that are affecting the entire hospitality industry. But […]
READ MOREVacation rental property managers and short-term rental hosts have a growing number of tools at their disposal, and perhaps none is more impactful than vacation rental channel managers. The best channel managers for vacation rentals simplify everything: they make it easier for property managers to manage listings across numerous platforms, all while boosting revenue, […]
READ MOREPromotions for vacation rental property managers aren’t just a great way to make vacation rental listings stand out—they’re a great way to drive bookings. VacayHome Connect, the industry’s leading vacation rental channel manager and distribution company, helps property managers implement promotions so you can earn bookings more effectively and improve conversions. Still, one question […]
READ MOREIt’s always been important for vacation rental property managers to keep up with the latest travel industry trends. These days, though, that’s probably more true than ever. As the leisure and hospitality industry rolls into summer 2022, there are promising signs that the short-term rental boom that occurred at the height of the […]
READ MOREThere’s a lot that goes into a single vacation rental listing. For vacation rental property managers, putting together a perfect listing is like putting together a puzzle: each piece is important, and in order to get more bookings, there can’t be any gaps. Vacation rental listing headlines (or listing titles) might seem insignificant, […]
READ MOREOn April 11 and 12, people and businesses from around the vacation rental industry descended upon Chicago for the annual Vacation Rental Management Association (VRMA) Spring Forum. VacayHome Connect was in attendance—our team had a wonderful time! The two-day event buzzed even more than usual: everyone was extremely excited to finally gather in person […]
READ MOREVacation rental property managers and their guests should be able to communicate freely. Right? Reservation and guest transparency is very important! For instance, when a booking occurs, a property manager might ask: Who is my guest? Can I contact my guest? How did this booking come to me? What are the financial details of […]
READ MOREAs a vacation rental property manager, you undoubtedly understand the necessity of two things: Listing your vacation rental properties on the major OTAs (such as Vrbo and Booking.com) Making sure those listings are visible—that they are front-and-center for the world to see You also understand the complexities and difficulties that come with vacation rental distribution. […]
READ MOREEven before the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work was trending upward in a big way. Roughly seven million people in the U.S. worked remotely prior to March 2020. That number had spiked 44% in five years, and now that remote work is as much a necessity as it is a luxury, we can expect those […]
READ MOREPicture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes And she’s gone… On their 1967 album Sgt. […]
READ MOREAs a vacation rental property manager, you’ve got a lot of questions to answer: Should I decorate my vacation rentals? (Yes.) Should I name my vacation rentals? (Also yes.) How do I respond if I get a poor guest review?! (Like this!) But once you’ve answered all of those big questions—and […]
READ MOREThe leisure and hospitality industry loves a good trend. Every year, new trends emerge while old ones fade, but since the start of the pandemic, trends have taken on new importance. They’ve kept us informed on what travelers want during COVID-19, and critically, they’ve shed light on the industry’s direction from one season to […]
READ MOREAt the beginning of 2021, travel trends were murkier than ever. Data collected throughout the pandemic-stricken 2020 made it clear what travelers want during COVID-19, but it was tough to say with any certainty which trends would or wouldn’t carry into the new year and beyond. Some of the travel trends identified at […]
READ MORELet’s say—in a perfect world—someone invented a special tool that vacation rental property managers could use whenever they wanted to: > Book more effectively > Improve conversions > Secure long-term success Would you use that tool? Of course you would! What if we told you that tool already exists? Below, VacayHome […]
READ MOREDepending on the data you’re viewing, the number of travelers who read vacation rental reviews before booking a property is anywhere between 75% and 90%. No matter the exact number, the takeaway is simple: reviews are really, really, really important! Reviews are one of the few universal must-haves across the hospitality industry. Online travel […]
READ MOREContext: Before travelers can book a vacation rental property, they have to see the property on vacation rental listing sites. Roughly 75% of bookings go to the first 15 listings in search results, so yes, where vacation rental properties rank in those results definitely matters! Put simply: when you improve your vacation rental listing placement […]
READ MORENot all travelers are the same. That’s an obvious statement at face value, but when you stop to consider all of the Who? What? Where? When? and Why? variables, well, the equation gets a bit complicated. These days, online travel agencies (OTAs) and all other travel websites are a critical part of that […]
READ MOREThe vacation-rental marketplace is extremely competitive. No doubt about that. There are a number of tried-and-true strategies that lodging providers use to set their portfolios apart from the competition. Some utilize promotions for property managers, while others rely on superior content—especially photos and virtual tours—to stand out in the crowded space. As an […]
READ MOREOnline travel agencies (OTAs) are their own galaxies. Each one has a unique collection of perks, nuances, and offerings, from promotions for property managers to specialized strategies (like clustering) and everything in between. Keeping track of all those nuances can be a dizzying task—trust us, we get it. But not keeping track of them can […]
READ MOREAs summer fades into the rearview mirror, the travel industry finds itself in a bit of a flux. On the one hand, things are much better than they were this time last year: travel rebounded in a big way during Spring and Summer, and many of those positive travel trends appear primed to carry […]
READ MORECleanliness is next to godliness, or so the saying goes. It also happens to be the mark of an excellent vacation rental host. Research conducted in the last year has shown that roughly 9 in 10 travelers are making accommodation decisions based on cleaning protocols. Of course, that number is slightly inflated due to […]
READ MOREBecoming an elite partner on the channels you list on is one of the best ways to maximize your visibility and revenue. The major travel websites give high-performing hosts and property managers opportunities to climb the ranks: if you meet or exceed certain criteria on a given channel, chances are, you’ll automatically get promoted […]
READ MOREThere are numerous ways to grow your vacation rental business. Many property managers aim to maximize exposure and revenue by adding more listing sites to their channel management strategy. Multi-channel distribution is certainly an effective tactic, but so is earning “elite” status on the channels you’re already listed on. On Vrbo, that means becoming a […]
READ MOREIn 1974, industry pioneers Jon and Christel DeHaan broke new ground when they developed a vacation-rental network that allowed property owners to exchange stays at each other’s resorts. The DeHaan’s company, RCI, has since become one of the industry’s leading private vacation listing sites (also known as “Private Channels”). Today, there are more than […]
READ MOREThese days, vacation rental property managers have many options when it comes to rental distribution and boosting production. From expertly optimized content to promotion and merchandising strategies and everything in between, the number of different tools out there is actually a bit staggering—especially once you start breaking them down channel by channel. With so […]
READ MOREEven the best hosts and vacation rental property managers wrestle with a poor guest review from time to time. Some poor reviews are easy to see coming due to issues during a guest’s stay; others, though, can totally catch you by surprise. Either way, the most important question is: If and when it happens, […]
READ MOREVacation rental industry news has been a rollercoaster ride for the past 12 months. This time last year, travel news updates were focused on shutdowns and ever-evolving safety measures. Now, though, the cycle has a decidedly more encouraging demeanor. Check out a quick springtime roundup of vacation rental industry news below: Vacation Rental […]
READ MOREAs the world slowly but surely emerges from the pandemic, the travel industry has experienced promising gains in recent weeks and months. Expedia Media Group Solutions—the advertising organization of Expedia Group—is playing a big role in the ongoing surge, and recently, they released details about three effective campaigns they’re running in the Caribbean. From […]
READ MOREMarketing your vacation rentals is more important than ever. But like any type of marketing, vacation rental marketing is more effective when you do your homework and target a precise audience. Placing your listings in front of as many travelers as possible is a good start; placing your listings in front of the appropriate travelers, […]
READ MOREA successful short-term rental business has a lot of moving parts. From implementing promotions to writing listing headlines and everything in between, the list of tasks for vacation rental property managers never seems to end. But short-term rental managers don’t need a degree in vacation rental interior design to make their properties look […]
READ MOREIn 2019, the Travel and Tourism sector was a dominant global force. It enjoyed 3.5% growth, and for the ninth consecutive year, it outpaced global economy growth by 2.5% according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). All told, Travel and Tourism contributed a whopping $8.9 trillion to the world’s GDP in 2019 and […]
READ MOREIn 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic flipped the travel industry upside-down. Navigating 2020 meant learning about what guests want during COVID-19 and tracking important travel trends in order to keep pace, such as the increasingly vital role of online travel agencies. Now it’s time to look at what lies ahead, including COVID travel trends and popular […]
READ MOREAt the end of the day, what matters most? Production. Your production is not just a full booking calendar, though that is certainly a big part of it. Your production is also not your reviews, or your content, or your listing placement—though, to be sure, that’s all a big part of it, too. […]
READ MOREBranding is an important part of vacation rental distribution. That means vacation rental property managers should do their best to establish a sleek, consistent brand with their content on whichever travel sites they’re listed on. Great visual content is a huge piece of the branding puzzle, but other things like well-written listing descriptions, unique color […]
READ MOREThe travel industry looks a lot different today than it did a year ago. And it will look a lot different a year from now than it does today. Recent estimates from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) show the global economy will absorb a $5.5 trillion loss from the travel and tourism […]
READ MOREWhile browsing vacation rentals on Vrbo, Airbnb, Booking.com, and other vacation rental listing sites, travelers click on certain properties for the same reason they skip past others: visual content. Visual content builds trust. Research shows that within a 30-day shopping window, vacation rental shoppers flip through an average of more than 400 photos while browsing […]
READ MOREFlexibility has always been a necessity in the short-term vacation rental industry. In 2020, though, that’s been more true than ever as vacation rental property managers and travelers have been forced to reevaluate what really matters. Months of uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic eventually gave way to stabilization; restrictions loosened in […]
READ MOREThe income your vacation properties generate has a floor and a ceiling: how much money you should be making is a lot different than how much money you could be making The vacation-rental market is more competitive than ever, and the data necessary to determine the possibilities on that spectrum can be downright dizzying. […]
READ MOREThough it can be an extremely complicated arena, the short-term rental industry really boils down to a pair of critical metrics: exposure and revenue. Property managers can’t simply open their doors and expect bookings to flood their calendars. Rentals need to be listed on travel sites, of course, and those listings need to be […]
READ MOREWith parts of the country opening up piece by piece, travelers are hitting the road in search of adventures outside their homes. But they’re not being reckless: safety, trust, and flexibility remain top priorities as families and friends try to navigate the still-uncertain landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can learn more about what guests […]
READ MOREExpedia has worked diligently to become the most well-known, most powerful marketing machine site for travel packages. They offer a full suite of bundle options called Expedia Travel Packages (flight/accommodation, flight/car, hotel/car, and flight/accommodation/car). Their consistency of pricing, global coverage, and ease of use make Expedia the favorite site for package travelers. Vacation […]
READ MOREVacation Rental Property Managers: Do you want to perform better on Airbnb? Follow these tips & best practices! Reviews, Reviews, Reviews (both ways) – it is extremely important not to only receive and actively solicit reviews (i.e. at check-out, etc), but properties that provide traveler reviews receive higher rankings. (Learn how to handle poor guest […]
READ MOREAs the saying goes: you never have a second chance to make a great first impression. While photos can convey the look of your properties, virtual tours provide the guest an immersive experience of what it’s like to walk through your property. Virtual tours have been the standard in the real estate and traditional hospitality […]
READ MORE"In order to be competitive in the vacation rental management space, you need to have your rentals listed in the top rental.."
READ MOREView our Trends Report directly from vacation rental industry professionals that could help increase revenue and bookings in the year 2019 and beyond!
READ MOREVacayHome Connect introduces their new membership and loyalty redemption programs available exclusively to their partners...
READ MOREPartnering with SiteMinder enables mutual customers to capitalize on the booming $100 billion vacation rental market
READ MOREVacayHome Connect announces agreement with Diamond Resorts International to provide vacation homes to members and ...
READ MOREThis partnership will provide significant benefit to professional property managers by combining VacayHome Connect’s full-service...
READ MOREOur partnership provides professional property management CiiRUS’ customers access to new exclusive distribution channels ...
READ MORE