On August 15^th, an open letter was delivered to the CEO of Trip Advisor, Steve Kaufman, outlining a multitude of issues property managers were experiencing with the Flipkey/TA platform.

Endorsed by over 100 vacation rental managers the letter covered 5 areas managers were struggling with:

1. Technical issues of inaccurate listings, non-functioning API feeds, expired listings not being removed etc.

2. Lack of prioritization or follow-up on technical support requests

3. Inconsistencies in customer account management & general communications

4. Lack of commission parity between VRMs and RBOs

5. Policies for vacation rental listings inconsistent with TA philosophy

VRM Intel founder Amy Hinote has been witnessing the groundswell of dissatisfaction with Trip Advisor over the past few months and with the publication of a series of articles addressing the problems, brought it to the forefront of our attention.

Tweet: What's going on with @Tripadvisor and #VacationRental? @VRMIntel @Cottageguru discuss issues http://ctt.ec/5Pnvc+ pic.twitter.com/MCZ75zQFKn

In this interview Amy shares her thoughts on the problems managers are experiencing, why they have occurred and what TA will have to do to resolve them….if they want to that is….

We discuss:

• What’s trending in the vacation rental industry
• How regulations, new technology and the evolution of OTAs are impacting our business.
• How Flipkey evolved into a Trip Advisor company
• The difference in treatment of vacation rentals vs hotels, attractions, and restaurants
• Whether TAs corporate direction is favorable to vacation rental managers and owners
• What benefits TA might gain from chasing an Airbnb model that seems to encourage regulatory issues.

…..And much more

Links:

What’s Going on with Trip Advisor – Complete Article

Trip Advisor in Tiff with Vacation Rental Managers

Priceline Moving into Vacation Rentals

VRM Consultants

VRM Intel

Where you can find Amy:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIN