How to Re-Open in 5 Easy Steps

Michelle Marquis, Chief Revenue Officer of Lexicon Travel Technologies
Jason Sprenkle, CEO of Key Data Dashboard
Brandon Sauls, President & Owner of InterCoastal Net Designs

Panelists:
Claire Reiswerg, Owner/Manager of Sand ‘N Sea Properties
Amy Gaster, President & Co-Owner of Tybee Vacation Rentals
Whitney Sauls, General Manager of Sloane Realty Vacations
Michelle Hodges, President of Meyer Vacation Rentals 
Durk Johnson, Executive Director of Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professionals
Jodi Taylor Refosco, Owner/Partner of Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales
Jeremy Gall, Founder & CEO of Breezeway

President and Owner of ICND, Brandon Sauls, began the webinar by briefly discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the vacation rental industry using available web data. With Google trend search terms, Sauls found that the term “vacation” had calmed down within the last week. “Vacation Rentals” searches started to climb out exponentially, as well as “beach vacations”. “They are booking the moment they hear beaches are opening up,” stated Sauls. ICND’s server data has also climbed significantly since April 5th, exceeding the traffic they had before COVID-19.

CEO of Key Data Dashboard, Jason Sprenkle, provided a multitude of graphs with booking data to show the increase in bookings for many markets. Sprenkle showed that bookings for arrivals within 30 days still outperforms longer arrival dates. For booking activity in Europe vs. North America, Europe has not shown any signs of recovery for bookings while North America bookings have bounced back. “For the first time this week, we passed last year’s numbers in terms of overall bookings for North America,” stated Sprenkle. Open markets, such as North Carolina, are performing extremely well while closed markets, such as Florida and Hawaii, are struggling to meet revenue goals.

Chief Revenue Officer of Lexicon, Michelle Marquis, introduced a variety of property managers from different markets to discuss how they reopened along with any tips they could provide. A major topic of concern between the leaders was cleaning and safety policies. Many of the property managers expressed that their companies have increased the level of cleaning for their rental units and document it so their reservations department can assure guests that many precautions were taken while preparing their stay. Jodi Taylor Refosco, Owner/Partner of Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales, explained that her company updated cleaning policies and provided additional training for all employees on cleaning techniques. “Having those policies in place is always important, but now is a great time to go over and review them,” said Michelle Hodges, President of Meyer Vacation Rentals. While some companies are planning to test employees before letting them come back to work, other companies are allowing their employees to choose if they want to wear a mask or work remotely. Despite the varying actions, all companies plan to increase cleaning in their office areas along with adding additional policies for employees that feel sick or don’t feel safe enough to come to work. 

Along with updating policies, these property managers revealed how their marketing strategies have changed since COVID-19 affected the vacation rental industry. Many found that their websites were out of date, still showing information for events, amenities, and old policies. COVID-19 pages have been added to direct guests towards new policies that address safety and cleaning guidelines, along with information on if certain amenities will be open during their stay. A great way to promote your company’s cleaning policies would be to add additional cleaning steps to OTA ads to assure safety and comfort for your guests. Each property manager revealed that call volume, website activity, and bookings have increase significantly for those with open markets.

For more information on “How to Reopen in 5 Easy Steps” – including web/booking data, detailed graphs, and an abundance of tips from a variety of property managers – watch the recorded version of this webinar to learn more.