Across the board the severity of the current economy has put a dent in the ability for businesses, individuals, and families to allow for excess spending.  Travel, being a luxury, is naturally sensitive to these kind of fluctuations.

Compete.com analyzed year-over-year online activity in the air and hotel industries for August, September, and October to observe trends or shifts in consumer interest in travel. What they found was a decline in overall online travel research.

Many might point out that the Y-O-Y decline in October is less pronounced than expected given the severity of the economic situation.  However, it’s worth noting that these are ‘online’ demand indicators.   As more and more consumers shift their travel research activities online there is a natural inflation of online travel behavior.  Therefore any decrease in year-over-year online travel demand spells a more severe decrease across the online and offline travel market.

Common feelings are that November 2008 has experienced similar year-over-year declines, and though the upcoming Holidays present opportunity for a step back in the right direction, trends point to further decline in the industry for the upcoming months.

From apartments to mortgages, credit scores are already heavily utilized in real estate. Since owners/property managers are always trying to mitigate their risk against bad guests, perhaps it is time we leverage them in the vacation rental market as well.

While credit scores are a great indicator of financial risk, the truth is that credit has predictive power across many industries. For example, according to Insurance Information Institute, people with higher credit scores are much less likely to file an auto insurance claim and their claims and are lower when they do.

As demonstrated by their financial patterns and insurance data, people with good credit scores are generally considered more responsible suggesting they will be more responsible guests as well.

But how do you target or verify guests with good credit scores?

Target Advertising on Sites That Attract Consumers With Higher Credit Scores:

According to Credit Karma MSN and Google attract visitors with higher average credit scores compared to sites like AOL.

Ask Guests to Take a Screenshot of their Credit Karma Score

 

Second home owners are always concerned about ‘who’ is staying in their home, so why not deliver some piece of mind.  If you are a detailed oriented owner or represent owners that are keenly interested in ‘who’ is staying in their homes, why not offer guests $10 off if they share a screenshot of their Credit Karma score?

CreditKarma.com is a relatively new service that offers completely free credit scores, no strings attached, in return for displaying targeted ads to its member base. Unlike other “free credit score” sites, CreditKarma is truly free, so as long as your prospective guests have two free minutes and want to save a few dollars, why not give them a small discount to pass on some piece of mind to yourself and/or your owners?

We are excited to announce the release of online booking functionality on FlipKey.com.  Vacation rental guests will now find our Online Reservation widget in the right-hand column of any vacation rental property accepting online bookings on FlipKey.com. Properties not offering online bookings will continue to feature email reservation forms and phone numbers that will allow guests to contact the reservation manager.

Why we are excited: 

The combination of guest reviews + online booking functionality is the holy grail of establishing trust in the vacation rental industry.  FlipKey guest reviews help prospective guests learn from the experiences of past guests, so they can select the right home and feel comfortable and confident in their decision.    Once the guest has found the perfect home, the booking process is straightforward and as simple as booking a hotel online.   Although many guests may prefer to call your reservation number or send you an email inquiry, simply knowing that your operation offers the ability to book online helps the consumer understand the professionalism of your operations….

The powerful combination of guest reviews and online booking functionality has several tangible benefits.   Most relevant to FlipKey, is FlipKey’s RepScore (short for Reputation Score), a scoring system that determines promotional listing placement on FlipKey and TripAdvisor (coming soon!).   By simply offering online booking functionality on FlipKey we can determine a more confident user experience compared to a similar property not offering online booking, which improves your listing placement on both FlipKey and soon on TripAdvisor.

If your software company supports online bookings and you’re interested in (i) collecting guest reviews and (ii) accepting online bookings through FlipKey contact us at myreviews@flipkey.com for more information.

FlipKey currently accepts online bookings for property managers using any of Instant Software’s services (V12, PropertyPlus, First Resort, Entech) or Escapia’s online distribution service EscapiaNet.

Over the years vacation rental managers have become intimately familiar with the value and importance of their website.  With 80% of consumers using the internet to research and purchase their travel plans, our websites become our most important marketing front.

Over the years we have observed vacation rental manager sites becoming more sophisticated, easier to use and overall a more enjoyable experience. Whether managers are making the investments internally or leveraging industry experts, such as Blizzard Marketing or Blue Tent Marketing, the message is clear, “vacation rental websites are REALLY important.”

As such, I wanted to emphasize one basic, but critical recommendation:

Your website needs to be browser compatible.

What that means, is that your website must, at a minimum work properly for all supported versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox. 

To the geeks out there, this is a no brainer, but for many of us Firefox is still a fairly new name. Without getting into the details, Firefox is the #2 browser in the market and as of today has officially laid claim to 20% markets share based on a report from Net Applications.  

There was a day when only the technophiles used Firefox, but at 20% market share you can safely assume the average consumer is also using Firefox.  So, whether you manage your website internally or use an agency, be sure to require that your site work seamlessly with all supported versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer…. In addition, given Apple’s continued rise in popularity we would suggest adding Safari to that list.

(Browser market share graph taken from Wikipedia).

Vacation rentals have often promoted themselves as a more economical and personal lodging option compared to hotels. Often these claims are backed by hard daily rate data and thus it’s not a stretch to conclude the current economic climate may have less of an impact on the vacation rental market compared to more standard travel and lodging categories. In general I would agree that vacation rentals are more insulated from the economy compared to hotels, but like most things in life “it depends.”

Aspen Feeling the Effects 

I was able to attend an educational session held by Liza Hogan of Resort Rating Specialists at last week’s Annual VRMA Conference. Liza helps VR managers institute rating programs that help accurately market vacation rental units, but also provide structure and guidance to help owners invest appropriately in upgrading/maintaining their properties. As such, Liza is a recognized expert in the space and has collected data points and case studies across the country. During her presentation Liza mentioned Aspen, CO was preparing for a “down” season and was only at 50% occupancy for the holiday season as of mid-October. Typically, premier ski destinations, such as Aspen, are nearly completely booked for the holiday by the end of October. 

With most Colorado ski resorts within a 2 hour drive of Denver, Aspen’s western location (4 hours from Denver) doesn’t play well to the regional market.  Instead Aspen is a magnetic for the out-of-state family…. Thus, tack on a plane ticket, extra baggage charges (over $100 if you bring your gear on most airlines) and a car rental and suddenly you have a pretty expensive trip, vacation rental or no vacation rental.  Destination markets like Aspen are inherently vulnerable during these times.

Regional Markets Seeing an Increase in Bookings

In contrast, I had a separate conversation with a reservation manager in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire who indicated they had seen a year-to-date 9% increase in bookings. Apparently, many of the folks in Boston and New York are still planning on going skiing, they just aren’t going to fly anywhere to do it. As such, ski areas like Loon, with its proximity to several large cities, is yielding an increase in vacation rental demand.

Ultimately, vacation rentals, in general, will fare better than most travel categories in the current economic environment.  However, for every two markets that are benefiting from a change in travel plans/preferences there is likely another market struggling.

We’re happy to announce another winner of the FlipKey Guest Reviews Monthly Contest.  Congratulations to Dave and Becky from Las Vegas on winning a $200 gift card to Amazon.com!

Dave and Becky vacationed in Hawaii in July and took time to share their vacation experience staying with Great Vacation Retreats by writing this guest review for Whaler’s Cove Unit #212.

Dave and I spoke on the phone and he was thrilled to hear they had won the contest.  He wrote in to add:  “We were already a winner when renting Whaler’s Cove #212, so to hear we won the review contest is just added icing on the sweet Kauai cake.”  First a fantastic Hawaiian vacation, then $200 to spend as you wish at Amazon.com.  Yes, like Sir Rod Stewart sings – Some Guys Have All the Luck – perhaps that’s why they live in Vegas.

We love to hear about the personal travel experiences and tips of vacation renters.  Dave and Becky provide a great personal tip to visit Joe’s on the Green for breakfast and many agree on this recommendation.  Even when writing in October, three months after their vacation, Dave and Becky say “we still talk about our vacation multiple times a week” and “can honestly say, we still miss it.”

Thanks to Dave and Becky and all the folks who submitted guest reviews with FlipKey recently and participated in our contest.  Mahalo.

We are excited to announce that FlipKey will be a featured speaker at this year’s VRMA Annual Conference & Showcase next week in Phoenix, AZ.

 
Each year the VRMA Conference and Showcase seeks to unite those involved in the vacation rental industry by providing cutting-edge information to its attendees, as well as the opportunity to network and share ideas. The Conference draws light to the evolving industry and has proven to be a valuable resource for those actively participating in the industry.

 To see some pictures of last year’s show click here.

At this year’s VRMA Conference and Showcase, TJ Mahony, CEO of FlipKey.com will offer insight on “How Guest Reviews Can Boost Business,” and  “Social Strategies to Convert Prospects & Motivate Owners,” ultimately sharing experiences and highlighting new services and strategies that are available in the market.

Throughout the five-day conference, there are a number of interesting topics scheduled for discussion including:

All Things Not Google

Travel Insurance for The Vacation Rental Industry

Vacation Rental Managers Media Preparation Workshop

Reservation Phone Calls: Best Practices That Build Revenue

Google Advertising for Vacation Rental Managers

And More! We hope to see you there.

A few months ago my friends and I were planning a trip to Las Vegas. Being in the Vacation Rental industry, I decided to float a crazy idea out there about where we should stay – in a vacation rental! The reaction from the group was consistent and discouraging, “Renting a house in Vegas? Not staying on The Strip? Blasphemy!”. I had inadvertently touched a nerve that exemplifies one of the industry’s major challenges – how do we educate people to understand that vacation rentals are a preferable option to hotels?

Armed with a bevy of insider facts and figures I diligently went to work at swaying the group. I found a few great housing options and explained the benefits.

My home for the weekend 

Cost

Eight of us were going on the trip. For five nights we were looking at four hotel rooms at about $200/night on The Strip. Total cost = $4000.

The house I found was about $1500 for five nights. It contained ten separate beds across 6 bedrooms. Total cost = $1500.

Food & Beverage

My chosen house had a full kitchen and a 6-foot long grill out back. A quick trip to Costco on the first day and we’d be eating an assortment of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and late night snacks at the house. Compared to the Strip’s exorbitant food prices and $7+ drinks, this was another significant area for savings.

Socialization

The reason we were going to Vegas in the first place was a reunion of sorts. We all went to college in Virginia together and have become scattered across the country over the last 10 years. Thus, it’s rare that we all get together and this trip was an opportunity for us to catch up. The rental house offered ample space for relaxation and entertainment. It included a beautiful pool, hot tub, pool table, poker table, big screen tv, and a patio with a gorgeous gazebo out back.

Location

This was the final barrier to entry for everybody (self included). The house was about three miles off The Strip. However, we decided that the rest of the benefits outweighed the location, and we took the plunge. Having just returned from the trip, I can now safely say that the location was not as big of an issue as we thought. We rented a van for about $300, and it was only about an 8-minute drive to The Strip. When the occasional taxi was needed it was a reasonable $20 trip. The van even paid for itself with all the airport pickups and drop-offs that would have otherwise required taxis.

Ultimately, we ended up spending more time at the house than anywhere else and everybody felt it was their best trip to Vegas ever. Vegas can be a grind of long hours with minimal sleep, but the vacation house offers a much-needed respite from the indulgences of The Strip.

While heading to the airport on our last day, my friend said it best: “You know, in a year I’m not going to remember the hundred bucks I won or lost at the blackjack table. But I will never forget how much fun we had at that house.”

The following is an excerpt from a recent Instant Software client newsletter.  To read the full article click here.

——————- ISI Insider Newsletter—————–

ISI Clients are Increasing Booking Conversions with New Integrated Guest Review Service Powered by FlipKey

Instant Software and FlipKey launched an integrated seamless guest review service during RezFest 2008. In less than three weeks since launching, 35 property management companies have successfully begun integrating guest reviews through ISILink. Over 4000 reviews have already posted on 1500 properties with an average rating of 4.32 out of 5. Getting started with guest reviews is quick and easy…and it’s also FREE.

WHY COMPANIES ARE USING FLIPKEY / ISI GUEST REVIEWS

Research shows that recommendations from prior guests have a dramatic effect on booking conversions. According to Compete, Inc., 78% of vacationers say they are significantly more likely to book a vacation home if they can read reviews from past guests. TripAdvisor notes that hotel websites have doubled their conversion rates after incorporating guest reviews into their websites. Why? Because they remove the uncertainty and unpredictability often associated with a potential accommodation.

Not only will guest reviews likely increase your booking conversions, but through FlipKey, you will also increase your marketing distribution. In 2009, TripAdvisor will begin promoting vacation rentals that feature FlipKey reviews, giving you the opportunity to promote your properties to more than 24 million visitors per month.

MANAGE YOUR REPUTATION – NO REVIEW IS A BAD REVIEW

Some property management companies have expressed concern about potentially negative ratings. However, 81% of guest reviews are positive to very positive with an average rating for ISI clients of 4.32 out of 5. In fact, only 4% of guest reviews are negative and these minor cases are critical in establishing the credibility of all your positive reviews. Research has shown products featuring at least a few critical reviews convert better than products featuring only positive reviews. 

To read more click here.

A few weeks ago, several members of the FlipKey team attended the 4^th annual RezFest, a 2-day conference for Instant Software users, in lovely Snowmass Village, Colorado. Hundreds of property managers from across the country attended.

The event, held at The Silvertree Hotel & Snowmass Conference Center was centered on informative class sessions, which provided property managers the opportunity to hear about the latest trends in the vacation rental industry, learn about Instant Software’s latest offerings, and those of their partners. A special thanks to the Instant Software team for their dedication to making the event a great success — you did a fantastic job!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the FlipKey booth and learned more about our service.  In many cases started managers activated their FlipKey account and began collecting guest reviews during the conference!  It was great to meet plenty of new folks and re-connect with all of the property managers who are already using FlipKey.  We look forward to continuing to work with you.

Please enjoy some of our favorite shots from the weekend.  Note: We’ve spared several people, mostly ourselves, by not including photos from the evening festivities.  We’ll see many of you at Annual VRMA in Phoenix in a few weeks!

Beautiful views along Independence Pass

Team FlipKey at 12,095 Feet

Bryan helps Barb from Lahaina Island Accommodations activate her integrated FlipKey Account

Koryn spreads the good word about FlipKey

Bryan speaks with Jenny from Alpine Lodging

Koryn working at the FlipKey booth