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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Are Guests Getting More Difficult These Days? Or Is it Just Rosy Retrospection?
By Douglas Kennedy | 8/13/2024
As I make the rounds as a vacation rental industry conference speaker and trainer, and as I monitor vacation rental groups on social media, I often hear and read people commenting that today’s guests are more difficult, rude, angry, and conniving than ever before. In recent years, these comments are also attached to a statement such as “Ever since the pandemic ….”
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Train Your Vacation Rental Team to Use the Language of Hospitality
By Douglas Kennedy | 5/14/2024
I believe most of us would agree that interpersonal communications is always a challenge, especially for anyone who is married, engaged, or who has a domestic partner, significant other, boyfriend, girlfriend, parent, child, siblings, or roommates! (In other words, basically anyone you live with other than a dog, because we all know that dogs are great listeners and never judge.)
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