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HomeAway Infographic: Why Vacation Rentals?

Our partners at HomeAway have created a very cool and informative infographic about the vacation rental market, guests and their preferences, and market trends.

At Bookt, we love Vacation Rentals and the global InstaManagers who book them.

Thank you for this meaningful information HomeAway!

Travel Ideas infographic from HomeAway

InstaManager Interview: Matt Landau, Property Manager Entrepreneur in Panama

In addition to his thriving vacation rental business, Matt Landau is the Founder of the Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, a free resource for vacation rental owners looking to increase their profits, and VRLeap, the vacation rental industry’s first marketplace offering tools from 50-90% OFF. People have asked about Matt's background so this month we interviewed him about all of his business interests.

So Matt, tell us all about your history and why you became a PM in Panama?

When I first moved to Panama with no PM experience in 2006, the capital city was on the cusp of boomtown. Panama City's historic district was, back then, still experiencing some social problems but I met a handful of inspiring visionaries, among them the owners of a fleet of 4 luxury apartment rentals. Having stayed in their flats and sort of fallen in love with the neighborhood -- this bizarre Latin pastiche of old and new, rich and poor, cool and gross -- I acquired their business 2 years later and became, officially, the owner of the only (nice) place to stay in town. Having gotten in so early, Los Cuatro Tulipanes has become a fixture of the Casco Viejo tourism scene. So I guess you could say the reason I got into rentals was not actually a taste or preference, but a neighborhood.

How's business? What is Panama like as a VR Marketplace?

Business is booming. Panama's one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it's safe, democracy is strong, and tourism numbers (while just budding) are insanely high. More specifically, our historic district is so small and intimate, that we've sorta cornered the market on upscale rentals. If a traveler comes to town, I could tell you 20 different business owners who'd point them down the street to my office. We're situated amidst a bevy of gorgeous new boutique hotels but our price point (around $125/night) and our location (dead smack in the center of town) set us apart. Without fail, every guest that stays with us is intrigued first by our neighborhood: this makes offering lavish apartments easy and, well, fun.

Now, you are what I would call a "thought leader" in our industry. It seems like every day you have another good idea. Why orient your activities to sharing what you learn and know? Why not save it for yourself?

The answer I'm "supposed" to give is that I want to share this powerful information with the world. And honestly, throughout the process, I've found great joy in helping other owners and property managers succeed in the same way we have. Researching techniques now for the better part of a decade, my ability to save others time and money (literally, I'm shaving years off their learning curve), is quite a satisfying and gratifying thing that has acted as the fuel for my blog (www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com) and store (www.vrleap.com). Perhaps the more immediate answer as to why I share my information (cough cough) is because as a one-of-a-kind online consultancy, it generates good income.

What kind of products and services do you make available? Who are they geared towards? Who would be the perfect candidate?

My blog is comprised of more actionable and concrete advice for marketing rentals than anywhere on the web. I write just about every day and produce enough eBooks and courses to keep you plenty occupied. While it's often a byproduct, my real goal isn't to have my subscribers replicating my exact techniques: rather I want to give them the inspiration and motivation to develop an effective marketing portfolio of their own. I want to get their creative juices flowing. The ideal candidate for my content would be, quite simply, any owner or PM who wants to generate more bookings without necessarily spending more money. No age limit or property number here.

As a thought leader, where do you see the market for vacation rentals going in the next 5 years? Why?

I see the vacation rental industry surprising people in the next 5 years. In the scope of the history of hospitality, vacation rentals are so new that to overlook a significant period of growing pains would be naive. The problems you see rearing their heads now (phishing, scams, regulation...etc.) I see these getting worse before they get better so buckle your seat belts. But most importantly, I see the next 5 years as a very influential period for owners and PMs: with more and more competition, now' is the time to be proactive and establish your online brand. Developing a healthy stream of organic leads every single day does not happen overnight and in my opinion, those who get a head start now will be the ones thoroughly prepared for the real meat and potatoes of this industry's growth trajectory. That is to say, you will all make a lot of money.

Thank you Matt! We hope that property managers everywhere connect with you. You definitely know what you are talking about and have proven how your ideas can turn into revenue.

New Bookings Tomorrow thru Smarter + Personalized Auto-Responders Here Today

Like pretty much every industry, Auto-Responders are underutilized in ours, thus… all you Short-Term Rental Marketers out there – listen up. If you use Auto-Responders wisely, you will engage more prospects and get more guests to book with you. Can ya hear me now!

In his article Auto-Responders: Why Trigger-Based Email Will Increase Your Conversions, Chris Hexton reminds us why emails that we send that are connected to “activity” by a Past Guest or Prospect are going to be more effective and will get more opens, clicks and conversions. Why? Because they are contextual.

Because they are linked to client engagement rather than why are you bothering me?

Are you using Auto-Responders and, if so, how?

At right are the results of MarketingSherpa’s latest benchmark survey on the actual types of automated, event-triggered, lifecycle email messages organizations deploy today. The two most-common results? The old “welcome" email (used by 50% of those surveyed) and "thank you" (by 48%) meaning that half of companies don’t even do that.

Contextual Sells

Bookt keeps a keen eye on SaaS (Software as a Service) pioneers like Salesforce.com and it was no surprise this week when they bought Marketing Automation innovator ExactTarget for $2.5 Billion.

In a nutshell, ExactTarget is a SaaS firm that helps companies convert prospects through target marketing that leverages customer data and marketing automation via email, mobile and social channels. This idea will sound familiar to Bookt’s global InstaManagers who use our Lead Insight and Smart Response Email Marketing Tools, as will the ExactTarget graphic below (similar to what's available in the InstaManager App).

Know Your Trigger

For the rental manager, what happens when a prospect engages about a specific property or date is the Holy Grail so at Bookt we have concentrated HUGE effort on creating software that automatically delivers the correct response for this trigger... instantly. With Smart Response:

Property inquiries with travel dates receive instant quotes from your system.
Inquires for properties already booked receive equivalent available property suggestions with links to your website - automatically.
Steers your guests toward online booking, 24/7.
Follow-ups scheduled automatically, too.

Tapping into proven lead management and email marketing tools with automated smart responses comes standard with InstaSites along with these other benefits:

Can be launched in 1 day or less – looks great out of the box. Start selling and booking the same-day.
Adapts automatically to the user’s device – looks perfect on a smartphone, laptop or tablet.
Widgets for featured properties, specials, property details, availability calendars, property finders, developments, etc.
Built-In Channel Manager and seamless integration with FlipKey, TripAdvisor, HomeAway, VRBO, etc.
Works for Managers and Guests anywhere in the world, handles multiple currencies, languages and devices.
Content is delivered via CloudFront meaning high availability and high performance, worldwide.
WordPress framework means better-faster-smarter content management.
Unlimited Email & Phone Support and Comprehensive Report Suite
Is affordable. Part of the $1 Switch.

So, if you 1) want new bookings tomorrow through smarter and personalized auto-responders here today, and 2) have a dollar, then 3) please connect today with sales@bookt.com and you will see our latest Auto-Responder and why when it comes to our InstaSite – loving it is easy!

Latest Web Design Trends That Your Rental Site Can Accomplish Next Week

It is fair to say that there has never been a more important time for Short-Term Rental Managers to be paying attention to website designs trends. Simply put, if your site looks out of date, consumers will assume that your services are out of date. In addition, many of today’s design trends are critical as they concern removing a huge barrier for travel shoppers that prevents them from even seeing what you are offering.

As you can imagine, we pay a lot of attention to design at Bookt and continually keep up-to-date via feeds to articles like this one: Web Design: 20 Hottest Trends To Watch Out For In 2013 because if you want to be relevant today, you better make a good first impression.

Trends

Have a site with a Responsive Design is one of those critical design trends because only with a responsive design can your guests and prospects see and book all your rentals on their smart phones, tablets and/or computers – when they are on the go, or in their home. Because only with a responsive design can your guests and prospects see all the photos that are truly what merchandise and sell your properties – whatever device they are using and wherever they are.

Want to make navigation easy for your site visitors? Fixed Header/Footer Bars make steering a breeze and deliver a better experience to shoppers on your site. Makes it easier for them to find what they came for. And Large High-Quality Photos make a great impression and make you look like a contemporary company.

Want more Responsive Design Trends? How about Infinite Scrolling where more content gets loaded automatically as the user scrolls – just in time, with faster-load times to improve the user experience. We use this every effectively with Rental Search Results. Have you been on a site where each page is loaded in succession, pushing from left-to-right? We do this on the Bookt home page and it is called Sliding Webpage Panels; it is responsive and looks contemporary while being efficient. Bookt’s home page is also a good example of today’s fashionable and fresh Single Page Design for a more natural user experience.

Let’s end with the API and Open Source trend which Bookt has adopted by building InstaSites on the WordPress platform and especially with BAPI – the Bookt API.

In Summary, please take 5 minutes and scan the Web Design: 20 Hottest Trends To Watch Out For In 2013 article. And if you 1) wish to get onto the latest website design trends by next week, and 2) have a dollar, 3) please connect today with sales@bookt.com and we will make your Switch fast and easy.

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