What If They Shut Down Your Business Overnight?
If you rely heavily or solely on listing sites to bring you business and bookings I would strongly recommend that you read this open letter to AirBNB written by a SuperHost who saw his business literally go bust overnight without any explanation.
It will compel you to really consider regaining control and seek independence from the big companies and pursue the path to freedom of choice for your rental business.

The reason is helping you getting more bookings, streamlining your workflows and maximizing your rental income.
And with all the turmoil, rules and impositions created by external players to limit the power to manage our own business, there is no better time than this to ensure no corporation can pull the trigger and shoot our hard earned rentals to death overnight, like they did with Kelly Kemper.
Rebel For A Good Cause
Richard Vaughton is a long term rebel for the independence cause and I’m honored he’ll be joining us this year at the Vacation Rental World Summit.
Those of you who are active on LinkedIn Communities, in associations like AVROA and in several forums such as Lay My Hat or The Inner Circle have surely come across Richard’s wisdom, sound advice, constructive critiques and correct forecast of where the industry has been heading.
As one of the top advertisers on HomeAwayUK for years, with over 200 properties paying top dollars to appear on the market, Richard witnessed first hand how there is no worse deaf than those who don’t want to listen to a big crowd of unhappy customers. He warned big corporations several times on the risks of manipulating the industry to their sole interest, but it seems like he went unheard like all of us.
So like most of those determined to make a change to a beautiful industry that risks being spoiled by narrow-mindedness, Richard is planting the seed of a truly disrupting platform that will put control back in our hands.
Build websites. Take Payments. Manage Bookings. The world’s most flexible vacation rental platform, built for you.
This is what Richard is currently involved with. And I’m an eager early adopter and supporter of Rent Property Direct by Rentivo, Richard’s ultimate project.
If you are as forward-thinking as I am, take a moment to fill in the application form. It’s short, quick, easy and most importantly it’s FREE!
That being said, I mentioned how Richard will take part in the Vacation Rental World Summit this year.
Here is what Richard is going to share:
Money movement and management in the vacation rental industry are becoming increasingly important. Global changes, the arrival on non-mainstream banking services, government regulations and dominance of online booking companies mean all owners and managers need to be aware of the issues and opportunities.
Matching the correct payment method with the guest, controlling cash flow and maximising margins are what we will be looking at in this workshop.
- Statistics
- Cash vs. Non-Cash globally. A sign of the economy, the countries and the attitude.
- Mobile payments
- Drivers for Change
- Regulatory & Industry initiatives
- VR Drivers
- Economic conditions
- Payment Types and Options
- Challenges for owners and guests
- Your options
- Fees for services
- Fraud and prevention, pitfalls and pointers
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I’m sure you know how offering multiple ways to seal the deal with your prospective guests is becoming increasingly important, especially now that millenials and mobile interactions gets stronger every day.
And I’m sure you’ve seen and are maybe taking advantage of the offers your listing sites of choice give you to collect payments. Great thing yet they control a pretty important aspect of your business once again.
How do you take payments for your bookings? Wire transfers, PayPal, credit card? And do you have your own, independent payment system or do you rely on the ones provided by those who may shut it down overnight?
Share Kelly’s story and this update on your preferred channel on the left to help spread the word and make more Owners and Managers aware of how to protect themselves.
Leave me a comment below and we’ll discuss this together with Richard at the Summit in a few weeks.