We Need A Change!
If you are the kind of person who likes to have control over your Vacation Rental Business, then you may want to follow us this year.
We’re putting together the second edition of the Vacation Rental World Summit! And we aim to making it even more impactful and successful than last year.
We’ll focus again on the 3 core pillars of the Summit:
- Getting More Bookings
- Streamlining Your Workflow
- Maximizing Your Rental Income
And we’ll be showing new ways to achieve these three goals, and add to the ones we presented last year.
Since things in our industry are changing dramatically fast and we don’t like how they’re affecting our profitability, this year we’ll look at your business from a broader, long term perspective and in doing so we’ll focus on what is possibly the most important pillar of all…
Regaining Control Of Your Own Business
This is probably the biggest goal of the Vacation Rental World Summit.
Some call it “Listing Site Independence”, others call it simply and more broadly “Regaining control”…. whatever you want to call it, we’re in for something bigger than last year this time!
Let me tell you how it all begun…
In 2014, we hosted the Vacation Rental World Online Telesummit: a 3 day virtual training for Owners and Managers from around the world.
Every training session was given by a successful property owner, a property manager or a professional with a proven track record of success in the industry and addressed a specific need of the VR owner and manager’s community.
The aim was to teach owners how to get more bookings, streamline their workflow and maximize their rental income by sharing some of the most successful best practices, best kept secrets and innovative ideas developed by fellow peers, who happen to be ahead of the game and run extremely successful businesses.
15,000 owners and managers from around the world watched the event online and engaged with their fellow peers, to put in practice what they learned over the weekend. And chances are, you were among them, like Lisa.
Antonio! Thanks again for your wonderful VR summit and personal Skype session. A quick update: we closed the year with $30,000 in revenue! This may not seem much I know, but it’s quite a feat for a 30 year old, 2 bedroom condo one mile from the beach. In comparison, a brand new, half-million dollar condo in our area directly on the ocean is expected to bring in $45,000. Other condos in our range advertise “amazing rental income” at $17,000/year. Here’s to a great 2015 for both of us!
My Big Why
I’m a property owner just like you and when I started, I knew nothing about vacation rentals, I hadn’t even owned the property I lived in, in fact my wife Cristina and I bought our first property some 800 miles away on a dream island!
And we wanted to use it as a Vacation Rental, so it could pay for itself if not even generate some revenue in view of our future retirement or a big change in life.
So I started looking around and I was absorbing whatever piece of information, advice and idea I could get to fill up our vacancies as fast as possible. Of course, the first thing I did back then was the same everybody did: I advertised my home on a listing site, then on another and so on.
Then I built my own website and started marketing the property like crazy.
I also understood that in order to succeed, we had to:
Stand out from the crowd
Build a powerful brand around our property
Provide a 5 star unique service
which would build our reputation for success and would bring in more and more guests, in a virtual circle where everyobody wins.
Results came in quickly and what started as a vision of a dream house in paradise that could provide for our future freedom, became a solid reality that to our surprise changed our life pretty fast. To the point that Cristina and I felt we could take the leap and invest in a second property, that we bought ten months after purchasing the first one.
By replicating the same exact steps we followed for our first property and improving on new ideas, we also replicated the same success. And this pushed us to invest in a third property and repeat the whole process one more time.
We may have done a thing or two right, if we were soon approached by a major listing site that wanted us to speak at their first European Owner Summit to share our secret formula for success and tell the audience what we made different that was so impacftul and unique.
From Excitement to Disillusionment
I still remember the excitement and the joy of being called on stage to share our story with 300 fellow peers and the high expectations my wife and I had from such a conference.
We thought we were going to learn new tactics for improving our business from so many other people like us, but it didn’t really go that way. And not because there were no other attendees like us….simply because the format of the event, didn’t really allow for a true, actionable education of useful tips, sound advice and solid information anyone could instantly use to make their business better.
So that was the first time I realized that something better could be done to address my needs and those of property owners and managers like me, willing to thrive with their business.
I kept on speaking at that same European Owner Summit for a few years, moved on to give seminars on key strategic aspects of successful VR management to fellow property owners and was lucky enough to find myself in a position where I could sneak into the back door of one of the biggest marketplace’s out there and see how this whole Industry was taking a direction that was not exactly the same we, owners and managers were expecting, were aiming to go for nor were willing to accept. I wasn’t for sure and I was determined to make a change.
I started talking to a few peers I knew in the industry, who were on the same wavelength, who had gone through the same frustrations and had found brilliant ways to succeed. And I asked them to jump on board with me. They all said “Yes!” on the spot and the Vacation Rental World Summit was born. A disruptive event for 3 simple, yet so obvious reasons:
1) It’s made by property owners and managers for fellow peers worldwide. People who’ve been in the trench for years and know how to thrive in a highly competitive and increasingly difficult market. It was not made by those who set the rules they want you to obey while taking the reins off your business.
2) It listens to you, the owner and the property manager and provides you with valid answers, actionable tools and proven strategies that help you get more bookings, streamline your workflow and maximize your rental income.
3) It was conceived as something that could reach you wherever you are, not something you have to go to at your own expense, so it’s an extremely cost effective solution for everyone involved, able to reach a truly global audience, as opposed to the small fraction that attends ‘in person’ events.
That was just the beginning…and 15,000 peers worldwide made us believe it was an encouraging start.
Time To Get Back In Control
So we are now ready to start preparing this year’s edition of the Vacation Rental World Summit!
What would you like to learn that could impact your property’s performance?
What do you struggle more with when dealing with your rentals?
Let us know below and please share this with your peers. The more replies we get, the better we can craft a Summit that’s just what you’re looking for.
Oh, and if you haven’t signed up yet to be notified about the topics, the speakers and the agenda, do so below, right now!
Hi Antonio, I can’t wait for this year’s Summit!
Last year Summit was mind blowing and it was amazing to learn so many relevant and actionable tips session after session.
I’ve seen the recent trend of channels such as Airbnb and Booking to obfuscate the guest’s email even after booking confirmation. They (airbnb and Booking.com) say it’s to protect our privacy, but it’s clearly a step further to tighten the knot even more and put us, property owners, further away from the control of our bookings and our guests.I believe you nailed it with this year’s Summit theme “Regaining control”. I look forward to learn how to loosen this knot!!
Regards, Olivier
http://www.olivierapartments.com
Olivier, we’re aiming big this year too and we’re getting quite excited to unleash the tips, tools and strategies that can help you regain control. It’s a process, not an overnight thing but everyone here willing to commit a little time and effort will reap the rewards. Aren’t we already doing so after all? Time to get things back the way they were…
Hi Antonio, looking forward to the Summit in order to learn more skills that I can apply to the business.
My personal experience with Antonio and Vocational Rental Secrets it is a completely success, I started following all his advices and making some changes early January this year, and so far we are making 30% more.
Antonio is very professional person, and has advised me during the all process, every time I had a question or a doubt he has been there to help. All his tips and instructions are very intuitive and easy to learn and follow.
Best regards, Rafael
http://www.cortijolahoya.com
Hey Rafael! Thanks for your praise 😉 I’m glad things are going well, you and Fabiola deserve it all! I may well think about transitioning from ‘Vacation’ to ‘Vocational’… makes quite good sense, doesn’t it?
Hi Antonio, I can’t wait to attend this second Vacation Rental World Summit! Last year it was pure energy! I met fantastic leaders who brilliantly transferred a lot of usable knowledge! My bookings in 7 months activities of 2015 reached the level of 12 month activity in 2014. I have developed a solid online reputation with 22 reviews of which 21 are 5 star and these are the only reviews we want as property owners! And as much I like to think I am a good host and my Casita Sitges is beautiful, there is also a technique behind to get 5 star reviews that I learned with Antonio. Thank you Antonio, I am truly looking forward the second edition of the VR summit! 🙂 Paola
I love the vibe you’re transferring Paola! And the results too 🙂 While I don’t claim to hold the keys (who can?), I do my best to empower people like you to make the most of their VRs. Happy to see it’s paying back.
Looking forward to it Antonio -the 2014 summit was the highlight of the year and sure 2015 will be equal and better. Using some [only a few] techniques we have seen a significant up-tic in bookings this year, particularly in Nice. My only hope is that the summit doesn’t clash with our vacation in Italy early October.
thanks
Ralph
http://franceapartmentrentals.com/
Glad to hear that, Ralph, and congratulation on your new website! Just saw it the other day and well…it goes a long way ahead in comparison with the previous version. I hope it’s bringing in better results too.
Yes its better BUT results are the same “0” and thats what my target is to change – via improved visibility {SEO], blog. So look forward to new gems from your VRWS 2015!!
I think we’ll get you covered on this, Ralph! At least we’ll try 😉
Hi Antonio, I was able to attend only one day of the summit and got alot from it but wanted to get more. I am waitng for the next summit and hopefully I will be able to attend more days this time or at least review the sessions prior to the closing of the summit. I had to replay some of the sessions i saw since there was so much information to process. These sessions are great..Looking forward to the 2015 VRWS. I do have a question..I rent in an area where they have just built over 900 new suites, not rooms (if they were rooms I would be ok). They contain kitchens and separate rooms, more like timeshares, but they aren’t – I suspect if they don’t fill up like they hoped that’s what many will be, which may be good for me. I have a small 3 bedroom house, not great views but it’s cozy surrounded by bigger homes (4 – 5 bedrooms) with better views of the mountians. I haven’t turned a profit yet and have the property for 10 years now. I am very selective of the renters, I don’t max over 8 people (not enough room for comfort and too much wear and tear). I haven’t raised my prices in 7 years, In fact with the economy downturn needed to lower the prices 8 years ago. The only saving me is I am pet friendly which I really would rather not have all pet owners staying at the house, the 2 new resorts the built with those 900+ rooms aren’t pet friendly but they do include free passes for all to the NEW indoor waterpark. How do I compete? The area is the Poconos…
Let me know if you are able to have a talk around how to compete when there is alot of BIG hotels in the areas now biuilding suites instead of just rooms.
Silvia
.
That’s a tough one you’re describing, Silvia, especially if you’ve struggled with profits for so long and the situation is so competitive. Lots of food for thought here and probably there ‘d need to be a little research on the area you mentioned to make an evaluation of how your peers perform compared to you and whether the place has still an appeal for VRs.
I don’t know the Poconos, so I can’t tell…if that is the current development of the area, you may have to consider among the viable options selling at some point to reinvest somewhere where the situation is more favorable. But that doesn’t solve your problem now and I’m aware that this may not be what you’d like to hear. Maybe someone here is more familiar with the situation in the Poconos and can give us sound advice?
Hello again Antonio, nice to see you again.
I am so glad to see more of us taking up the cudgels against the brutish style of the majority of the listing companies. Most of us can see that they are fast developing their “Big Brother” personas. The business models they seem intent on pursuing are totally at odds with the individual owners, who provide the backbone of their business. While we all know that “Hospitality” is our main keyword, it seems the primary listing agencies are totally oblivious of that fact! Antonio, I hope the summit will follow a similar format as last year.
PS: Both you and Matt Landau have become the Gurus of our industry and I hope that as “Standard Bearers” you guys will continue to provide a cohesive focus to assist us all to undermine the corporate players. Or at the least, provide a loud and clear voice, that will force them to change tactics & lessen their lust for power and greed.
Best wishes from us in Asia.
Hi Peter, Totally with you on your comments and well done Antonio for organising this. Not only are the advertiser’s business models taking the money whilst the owner’s take the risk, they are faliing to add other value aside from providing the platform advertising. Their listing algorithms deny choice of advertising control (e.g. forcing to take online payments and to respond immediately to enquiries) and make it difficult to manage bookings if you don’t accept their defined best-practice (e.g. when you tell guests that they’ll have to pay for the advertiser’s premium if they do insist on paying online through the site). Coupled with that, Holiday Lettings’ (Trip Advisor) customer service has been outsourced and is now abysmal.
This is such a dynamic industry that it is our main duty – as owners and managers – to stay on top of our business at all times. It’s a process, not an overnight fix, so it takes time. Besides, constant changes force us to stay always up to date so we can’t let go or we risk to see all our efforts vanishing in the long run.
I trust that this industry will see more and more people standing up for their rights to ‘simply’ run their own business the way they’ve always succesfully done for years. And this will sooner or later lead to a refinement of the rules. Without stepping on anyone’s feet while protecting the result of honest hard work.
Matt said it right recently, we shouldn’t bash listing sites (after all, in good times they’ve been our #1 source of bookings and still are for many people), however we shouldn’t even hand over the reins like many of us unconsciously did because we’re seeing where this is all leading.
So the future leads to a more conscious approach and management of our business, that in turns brings back freedom of choice and put things back where they used to be and where I think they should be.
HI SIt,
I am just so sure that if Antonio and the rest of us, can keep the flame burning on the profoundly disturbing aspects of the listing companies, then at some point they must take notice. The points you raised (and then some) are the ones affecting us all, guests included. Make no mistake, their clipping service is delivering these comments and threads to the corporations, so it is surely a beginning to get their attention right here!.
We own and operate 5 apartments and have done so for 6 years. We are very fortunate that our website does list within the top 3 for generic searches on Google, so we are not significantly affected by the big listing sites, but we are still happy to resist them as there is a matter of principle which affects our industry. Best wishes.
I really want to find a booking system that doesn’t cost the price of my sons university that will streamline my workflow. The busy booking season January – May, 5 months, I do not have a life and I only have 5 properties. Online rental agreements where the guests really do have to read them would be helpful, again affordably priced.
Great points Jan! It is indeed in the radar, and I’m striving to find a good solution.
Looking forward to the Summit again…………so worth my time and more. What are the exact dates in September? I want to schedule my life around the Summit!!!
You rock, Jan! your words and support, together with that of all those who thought the same is the fuel that gets my engine going. Thank you so much. The Summit will be in October, still to define the exact dates. Question for everyone here: would you prefer a weekend or would it be fine during the week too (consider that you can always watch the recordings at leisure and engage with all speakers and fellow peers like last year)?
Quick Poll here: Would you rather watch/attend the summit (online) over the weekend or during the week (Consider you can always access recordings at leisure and engage with speakers and peers well after the event)?
weekend
Great, thanks Ralph! Everyone else keep them coming. Weekend seems to be winning in preferences so far.
Weekend for me.
I prefer weekend..
Thanks for sharing my testimonial above, Antonio! Still going strong in 2015. I also launched a new website using the free Stay theme from WordPress (http://larkobx.com). Highly recommended for VR owners. Greatly looking forward to this year’s summit. Weekend works best for me!
Way to go Lisa! I just looked at your new site and you did a great job! I’m going to talk about effective web design this year, so I’m going to share some golden nuggets I found that help conversions a lot 😉
Hi Antonio,
I look forward to the summit as I am really keen on helping my father increase his revenue from his Vacation Rental in Algarve, Portugal. The peak season is too short in Algarve and we need to get it larger as you have done with your property. Having experts telling us how to do it will be great.
Best,
Nuno
Thanks Nuno, looking forward to sharing our advice.
Sooooo looking forward to this years summit Antonio! For me, the week is better to watch but I’ll be purchasing the recordings like I did last year no matter which day of the week it goes live on (I hope you’ll still offer that!). I’m growing as a vr owner each day and I’m learning that if you re-watch or re-read something that had meaning to you, then you will find a deeper meaning in all those ‘golden nuggets’ (that you probably originally missed!) the second, third and fourth time around. After all, it’s really about applying what you’ve learned, not just theory. Can’t wait to apply more!
Wow Amy, you are the prototype of the perfect attendee 🙂 You understand all the implications of an educational experience like this one and you are committed to do what it takes to reach your goals. I’m very happy to help you along your path to success, together with 12 other awesome speakers. Look for my first weekly update in your inbox today, it’s going to be interesting.