How to Be a Lightning Rod and ‘Ground’ Guest Negativity
By Douglas Kennedy | 2/11/2025
As part of our pre-training preparations for vacation rental clients, I get to look at the various service recovery training that our clients have in place, and I find they nearly always focus on showing empathy and apologizing. The ability to empathize is a big component of emotional intelligence and is surely a good quality to look for in candidates for guest-facing jobs. No doubt, showing sincere empathy before offering an apology helps defuse tense guest encounters, whereas a lack of empathy and a scripted apology can ignite guests’ anger.
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How AI Is Set to Transform the Way We Interact with Guests
By Pierre-Camille Hamana | 1/21/2025
In an industry as guest-centric as short-term rentals (STRs), communication is the key to shaping positive guest experiences. Yet it has always been one of the industry’s biggest pain points. The necessity of addressing every guest inquiry almost immediately before, during, and after a stay has historically been a huge burden on hosts.
It only makes sense, then, that once the STR industry began adopting artificial intelligence, enhancing guest interactions was a top priority.
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Reservation Reconfirmation Calls Present Opportunities to Build the Brand and Cross-Sell
By Douglas Kennedy | 1/14/2025
As online bookings increase, the number of reservation inquiry calls decreases over time. Yet when you spend time in the reservations office, the calls continue to ring. Why? Many of those who book online still call directly to reconfirm their booking, especially if they originally booked at a third-party online travel agency (OTA) website and have managed to track down your company’s phone number. Inbound reconfirmation calls happen a lot more when guests are celebrating special occasions or booking larger homes (and thus travel with large parties), and/or when guests travel long distances to get to their destination. However, they also happen surprisingly often everywhere.
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Reimaging the Guest Journey with a Hospitality-First Mindset
By Koryn Okey | 11/19/2024
As vacation rentals have become the accommodation of choice for many travelers, property managers find themselves shouldering ever-growing responsibilities while working tirelessly to deliver five-star guest experiences with a hospitality-first mindset. For many, the term “unreasonable hospitality” has taken on new meaning since Will Guidara spoke at Amy Hinote’s DARM conference in December 2023.
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Podcast
Customer Hospitality Is Bigger than Guest Service
By Douglas Kennedy | 10/14/2024
In the lodging industry, we tend to think of our customers as “guests,” reflecting a foundational concept that many of us were mentored on long ago, which is “Treat our guests as you would those visiting your own home.” However, customer hospitality is the philosophical concept on which we should build our entire company culture, as this concept reaches far beyond our guests. Why?
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The Essential Guide for Property Managers: Why Offering Travel Protection Is a Must
By George Meshkov | 10/7/2024
As a property manager, your success hinges on providing an exceptional experience for your guests while protecting your properties and revenue. In an increasingly competitive market, one of the most effective ways to achieve this is by offering travel protection to your guests. This simple addition to your service offering not only enhances your guest experience but also helps safeguard your business from potential financial setbacks.
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From Guests to Superfans with Brittany Hodak
By Brittany Hodak | 9/24/2024
Brittany Hodak, a customer experience expert and keynote speaker at the 2024 VRMA International Conference, has made a career out of helping brands turn customers into lifelong advocates—or, as she calls them, “superfans.” With a background in entertainment and a deep understanding of fan loyalty, Hodak brings a fresh perspective to the short-term vacation rental industry.
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Improving the Guest Experience
By Hal Conick | 9/3/2024
There’s a movement of vacation rental industry professionals who have grown tired of the industry’s reputation of inconsistency. They’ve heard from guests who have been disappointed by short-term rentals and believe that the future lies in providing guests with thoughtful, unique experiences during every stay.
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