Share VRS211 – Paying it Forward with Vacation Rental Owner Bob Garner Who hasn’t dreamed of quitting the day job and enjoying life in an idyllic location, following a passion of meeting people and helping create amazing experiences? This is what Bob Garner did in 2005 when, together with his long-time partner, Ian, they gave up their corporate careers in London, bought a derelict farmhouse in a […]
Share The Perfect Vacation Rental Welcome Making sure your vacation rental guests have the perfect welcome when they arrive at your property is very important. The first 5 minutes will determine their happiness for the next few days and that first impression lasts. You can read a little more about first impressions and the ‘WOW’ factor or maybe you want to […]
Share VRS197 – The Essentials of a Vacation Rental Guest Agreement with Bryan Geon of Vacasa We protect our homes in many ways with safety and security systems; video cameras; apps to prevent overcrowding or noise; monitors to prevent overheating or freezing; smoke and CO2 alarms etc., but how many vacation rental owners have a guest agreement? If my last few reservations are anything to go by, it’s not as common […]
Share VRS195 – Welcoming Vacation Rental Families in Style with Mary Ostyn Creating a family-friendly vacation home is challenging, not least because children of different ages have different needs. Unless you have recent experience of vacationing with a lot of kids in tow, how can you really know what is going to make the experience the best possible? Should you provide lots of baby stuff? What types […]
Share VRS192 – 10 Sure-fire Ways to Upset Your Guests at Check In In this solo episode I’m getting back to some basics as I talk about the first 30 minutes your guests experience at your property, and why that is so important to the overall enjoyment of their vacation and to the review they subsequently may write. There is a magic that accompanies arrival at a vacation […]
Share VRS188 – The Vacation Rental Adventures of Travelling Matt Landau – Part One Have you ever been a guest in a vacation rental in a location you are unfamiliar with? I’ve asked this question of many home owners to find that most have never experienced what it’s like to be a guest. And you should do this, at least once. Owners will often say they’ve stayed in their […]
Share VRS187 – The 2017 Vacation Rental Hospitality Survey with David Jacoby of Hostfully The death knell of property managers may be sounding if some vacation rental experts are to be believed. Martin Picard of VReasy talked of this at a VR Tech conference in Rome earlier this month. OTA’s are taking over much of what a property manager does, from marketing properties to an array of consumers; offering […]
Share YourWelcome – A Digital Vacation Rental Welcome Book We have talked at length, both in blog posts and on the podcast, about the importance of welcoming your guests to your property and how that first impression is invaluable to the outcome of a happy guest. One of our most popular blog posts (The Vacation Rental Welcome Book) covers the in’s and out of […]
Share VRS125 – What your Vacation Rental guests really want A few years ago, enquiries were simpler. They referenced a simpler way of vacationing and underpinned why vacation rentals were becoming so popular. People asked about the outdoors; the waterfront access; how good the fishing was, and whether there were any board games and videos. Fast forward to 2016 and the questions are changing. They […]
Share VRS122 – Handling Vacation Rental Complaints and Staying Sane Once upon a time, vacation rental accommodation was called self-catering, and that is what people did. They self-catered. They were self-reliant and generally looked after themselves. If a light bulb went out, the guests were happy to change it; if the toilet paper ran out, they would go out and buy some more, and if […]
