World's First Multiple Listing Service for Vacation Rentals

The every increasing cost of advertising on the mammoth impersonal vacation rental listing websites has spawned innovation. On April 6th, the Vacation Rental Industry Association, with the help of Plumbob Publishing is unveiling the first every Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for Vacation Rentals.

The Vacation Rental Multiple Listing Services (VRMLS.org) allows guests from around the world or around the corner to find short-term vacation rental lodging in their own backyard. "Searching through hundreds of thousands of rentals is a pain," says Salman Arshad, chief programmer on the websites. "We're offering micro sites for specific areas which will actually have far more listings than the big guys, because it is so much more affordable."

This MLS service is, "The only ‘Open-Listing' and 'Open-Distribution' service in the industry," says William May, president of VRIA and it is going to make lodging advertising cheaper and easier.
Open Listing means that all industry participants including Owners, Managers and Resort Operators are entitled to list their properties on the MLS. The fee is modest and used primarily for the maintenance of the VRIA database.

Website publishers to can then re-publish rentals from the MLS on their own sites as service to guests as well as managers. Publishers too pay a small price and secure a large list of available properties.

After submitting listings, Owners and Managers can then select those publishers on which they want to display their rental offerings. Penny Taylor, co-developer of the website says, "Instead of spending hours submitting a single property to multiple websites, on the VRMLS it is all done with a few clicks."

The first website to utilize this revolutionary concept is www.VacationRentals.ws. The WS stands for Washington State and the site features cabins, condos, homes and villas for rent in the Evergreen State only.

One enthusiastic supporter is Dan Graham, operator of Mount Baker Lodging in Washington State. "I track hundreds of Vacation Rental listing sites and buy a great many ads per year. But this service is going to make it far easier. I wish we had had it years ago."

And the site offers applets that allow non-traditional websites such as local merchants and activity providers to embed listings onto their websites and include only lodging in their immediate area. These same applets can be used by managers and owners for the same purpose.

William May adds, "Paying for advertising is a hurdle to marketing of course, but the expense of labor to publish multiple properties to multiple websites has become overwhelming." We've solved that problem by putting control of vacation rental advertising into the hands of the people who should control it - owners and managers.

"Because we operate Vacation Rentals ourselves in Washington State, we can't wait to place ads on VacationRentals.ws," adds May. "I just wish the site had been created years ago."
What about the mammoth websites that now dominate the industry? "We will be happy to cooperate with them providing they act like good citizens and serve the owners and managers responsibly." says May.

The Vacation Rental Industry Association was originally started by people in the industry as the Vacation Rental Owners Association (VROA.org) but recently changed to VRIA. "We just felt there was too much conflict between Owners and Managers," says Taylor. The problem, she says, is that "Folks need to cooperate to better compete with traditional hotel, motel lodging, because they still have the lion's share of the market."

"Starting the VR-MLS is just one step in working together for mutual benefit." adds May.

ABOUT VRIA: Membership in the Vacation Rental Industry Association is open to all owners, managers and the vendors who supply them. Guests too can join to participate as consumers. VRIA sponsors the Vacation Rental MLS which was created by programmers from Plumbob Publishing. Plumbob was started by the principals of Sunspot Vacation Rentals headquartered in Seattle. For more information contact William May 206-734-4507, or William@Plumbob.com

You Can Still Go On Vacation

What will happen if unemployment hits 8% in the US? If you passed remedial math in school you know that means 92% of folks are still employed.

While the 92% may be holding back on expenses but life goes on. The employed will continue to buy groceries, clothes, cable TV, phone services and - make no mistake - they will continue to go on vacation.

Human beings know one thing for sure - Life is short. Remember that old adage "Eat desert first, like is uncertain?" Well going on vacation is like that.

And while the employed may feel bad for their unemployed neighbors most take a Homer Simpson attitude. In one episode the owner of the Kwik-E-Mart, the convenience store that Home frequents, confides in him saying "This is terrible terrible. My visa is a problem and I am going to get deported, and lose my store and won't be able to come back."

Being the considerate person he is Homer laments, "Oh that is terrible, I feel so bad for you. And for your family. That is really bad news . . . Well good luck in the old country. bye"So the employed go on vacation, spend money at restaurants and enjoy themselves while they are feeling bad for others.

You would be hard pressed to find a employed neighbor who has cut their overhead 50% in order to give money to a friend or even family member.So should all of these people do more or feel bad about not doing more? In the long run no. Because during this economy those folks are actually benefiting. For example: homes have become more affordable, gas prices are down and even basic commodity and stables have gone down.Vacation Rentals are no different.

Many managers and owners see the wisdom in lower rates in order to increase occupancy. There is evidence this is exactly what is happening. Lodging prices have always been more flexible than most consumers know. Buy online and you might get a deal. Call direct to get the senior, military or other discount.Travel in the shoulder season - when temperatures and weather are sometimes actually at their best - and you can save money. Stay longer for lower rates and you may actually spend less than insisting on the high season.

So if you are one of the lucky still employed, stable jobs folks take this opportunity to get out and enjoy your travels. Visit some great places, try out a new restaurant and do all this while helping that friend or family member by taking them with you.

In most Vacation Rentals you can usually squeeze in a few more people for no more rental cost. As always, its a deal and there has never been a better time to go on vacation in a Vacation Rental.

HomeAway Pillaging Vacation Rentals

Somebody has to say it I suppose. The era of vacation rental home ownership has been taken over by people hell bent on dominating the industry and sucking the profit out of it from all other participants.

For the last 10 years or so the market for vacation rentals has grown faster then any other kind of lodging. At first, during that time, owning and operating a rental by managers or owners became an enjoyable and profitable experience.Some homes actually make a cash profit after all expenses including mortgage. But many simply help to offset the costs property owners experience in holding a wonderful family asset in highly desirable locations.Now, however, the fun is over.

A company by the name of HomeAway has brought big finance to the small industry. They are offering website advertising and other services to owners and managers but they are doing so without consideration of the effects on those people.The reason for their mistakes is clear. They've raised a purported $450 million dollars US to buy vacation rental advertising sites promising investors the kind of astronomical returns that were common in the pre-dot com bust and now in the pre-mortgage bust era.

HomeAway managers have no choice but to wring out every possible dollar in profit immediately in hopes of satisfying their overly ambitious promises.Bringing rentals into a centralize database for easy website distribution makes selection seemingly easier by guests. Anything that streamlines the buying process should serve to increase consumer awareness and the market size.

Unfortunately, HomeAway is followed a path common for companies hell bent on growth. They are instituting monopolist practices to limit competition and adding features which may sound good to owners and guests but which are leading to the demise of the customers (owners and managers) who actually by the bills. Here are some examples:

Search Engine Optimization - In the travel industry, getting your website to appear high on Google, MSN and other dominant portals can mean the difference between success and failure in any industry. But the technology and diligence required to do so are daunting. Google changes its ranking algorithm 500 times last year alone. The only way to stay on top is to have expert staff to manipulate the system.

HomeAway has the people to do it and no one else does. They constantly appear high on listings but it is a position they do not deserve. Consumer use search engines to find businesses not businesses that list other businesses.

Can you imagine newspapers allowing radios to appear in the first article on the first page of every issue? Google has lost its mind to allow this kind of manipulation. But HomeAway has been happy to capitalize on Google’s failure.

Pay Per Click Dominance - Another way to appear high on portal sites is to buy Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads. When Google solidify this opportunity PPC's were a god send for owners and managers. It allowed commercial sites some opportunity to get their ad and website noticed. Providing you were in a unique location with unique key words such as "Kitty Hawk", "Kapalua Maui" or "Deer Valley UT" advertisers could figure out how to be found and pay reasonably affordable rates.

Google didn't get blasphemously rich by being stupid. Their PPC system (now copied by pretty much all portals) allowed competitors to bid for position to get higher on the page and gain more attention. Of late Google has been killing the fatted cow by making their ad placement system more and more complex. All of these present several problems for Vacation Rental Operators.

First, Google may couch their overly ambitious ad system as allowing advertisers to buy only what they want and where they want it. But manipulating the PPC console has become arcane. Even knowledgeable operators find the time necessary to manage their ads simply not worth the time.

Second, the end result of Google's endless tinkering has, surprise, only served to increase the per click price and decrease the cost effectiveness of the ads. Most operators no longer find PPC’s of adequate benefit.

Third, and here again we come to HomeAway. Guess who is the only company large enough to employ staff to constantly monitor and manipulate the PPC system?

But HomeAway also have a known habit of picking and choosing where they advertise on the portals to keep their listed operators happy. One day an advertiser thinks they are doing you a favor and the next day their inquiries plummet because they moved their ad money elsewhere. Of course HomeAway won’t tell them but is happy to keep the listing fee.

This also means the consumer is ill served. When he types in a town to find a vacation rental, he doesn't get a listing of the managers and operators in Orlando. Instead he gets links to HomeAway websites which, in turn, have listings to that town. A link to a link to a link. Anything that makes finding director operators more difficult harms the entire industry.

Surely Google and HomeAway know that consumers want easy to find products and services and don’t want to be clicked from one portal to another to another. But they have an unspoken collusion to force consumers through the hoops, to justify their existence and extract ever heavily ad costs from owners and operators.

Unaffordable Pricing - When VRBO.com was started ads were affordable, the number of properties was manageable and the service was cost effective. The prior owners of VRBO.com held out a long time but eventually succumbed to HomeAway's huge offer to buy the website. But assets are hungry investments.

The only way to service the debt or profit demands of investors is to crank up gross income. HomeAway has found insidious ways to do that. Like charging for extra photos – which no other site does.They have been raising rates relentlessly, while at the same time increasing the number of properties rented. They DO NOT publish the kind of statistics traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and T) but surely the number of inquiries per home has plummet. A business built on hidden deficiencies has something to hide.Less

Efficient Cost - In the end HomeAway's lust for increasing revenue will be its undoing. They probably know that already. But HomeAway management will not relent from its assault on operators. They have no choice but to squeeze every dime out of its advertisers at the same time that the economy falters and owners and managers are failing. Small publications have always adjusted rates to compensate for the benefit delivered.

Heavy Handed Policies - Recently HomeAway has been promoting a seemingly advantageous problem of guaranteeing the quality of vacation rentals on its site. That must sound good to consumers especially first-time vacation rental guests who worry they are dealing with smaller companies of unknown capabilities.

Surely there is nothing wrong with HomeAway guaranteeing anything it chooses except that they are doing it with the advertisers’ money in an underhanded method. A Maui owner recently reported that HomeAway demand he refund a large rental fee to a guest. Seems the guest was charged with damage and filed a claim with HomeAway, who demanded it anyway. No trial, no jury just a hanging judge.

HomeAway has no sense of due process. To protect its franchise, they find it easier to just give away the advertiser's money even to dishonest guests. Great deal of HomeAway, Great for the consumer and terrible for operators, who are obligated to comply with HomeAway's dictates even if they don't sign up for the program.

Hidden Failures - HomeAway is not without its failures. In the investment world, buying various businesses and combining them under a single shingle is called a "Roll Up." It can make good sense in the proper forum. But HomeAway failed to understand that advertisers duplicate their efforts on various sites.

They have tried various schemes of combining listings on the various websites they have bought. Often the advertiser's results go down while their costs go up.It is safe to say that HomeAway is very lucky they were able to buy VRBO.com which continues to be its stellar producer because many of the other sites simply do not produce sufficient results for advertisers.

Disingenuous Advice - One of the smartest things HomeAway did several years ago was to hire Kristine Karpinski, about the only person who had written about on how owners could operate their own homes without assistance by managers. Some of the suggestions in Ms. Karpinski's book made reasonable sense some years ago.

But as home prices sky-rocketed and the economy has faltered her observations have become out of date. Unfortunately, she is obligated to continue her mantra that owning a vacation rental home is a great investment. An investment, of course, which requires operators to pay big bucks to her employer.

Prior to the last 10 years, the reason families bought vacation homes was to share and enjoy them with family and friends. They were respites from the hum-drum of our regular lives. Renting an unused home was a good way to offset some of its costs. Families that owned such homes for long periods surely benefited when the property was resold, but covering all costs or even producing a yearly profit were not in the cards.

HomeAway's need to continually promote vacation rental homes as the next get rick quick scheme is off the mark. They know so but remember again they have investors to pay and offering more prudent advice is not something they can afford to do.

No Customer Service - The sure sign of a monopolistic intent is when a company fails to offer reasonable customer service. Remember when Ma Bell was accused of the slogan "We don't care. We don't have to". HomeAway has now earned that dubious honor.

Owners and managers constantly report being unable to reach HomeAway on the phone, emails that don't get answered and employees who take a less than understanding approach to problems.

On occasion HomeAway calls with discounts and offers on advertising and sometimes provides better pricing to new operators than to long-time customers. This is a common mistake in the ad world, one that traditional media no longer make. Taking care of your best customers always makes more sense than fishing for new ones.

The End of the Road - HomeAway is beginning to reach the end of its road. It won't die of course because too many people have too much money invested. But they have made a great many mistakes and have been able to gloss over them for too long by injecting money as a salve for all wounds.

The company has some bad habits: employees who don't take care of customers who have over-paid for websites that no longer produce the results they once did. They are no longer cost effective.HomeAway is promoting investments not in the best interest of the customers who support them. And is then sucking all the profit out of those customers.

It is not clear why industry leaders have allowed this to take place. They see the company pillaging the industry and have stood by and allowed it to happen.Independent associations are the heart of almost every industry. But the Vacation Rental business has allowed a for-profit and for-huge-profits company become too close to the center of the world.

New Ideas and Methods - The good news is that the industry will eventually respond and find new and better ways of advertising. It will find ways of assuming a more normal arrangement where participants decide the direction of the industry and no on company dominates.

Those who are the heart of the business - owners and managers - will innovate, cooperate and beat back this threat to their industry. More about that in future issues of this blog.

Google Shoots Itself in the Advertising Foot.

I can remember the first time I used Google. Up pops the browser there sits a simple single line search box. Type in what you are looking for and get some results.

Or use that "I'm Feeling Lucky" button which is still the dumbest thing they've ever done. I can't imagine why they hold onto it except that humans have a had time discarding bad ideas that they think are good.

But the simple page design concept was unique at the time. Even today most website publisher crowd their screens with so much flotsam the user has to spend previous time trying to find what he wants.

Actually the concept of good graphics and simple design are centuries old. The Advertising business has changed greatly in the last few decades but smart ad guys still know that you have to find one or two good propositions and push them relentlessly to consumers. I still can't figure out what the heck a gecko has to do with advertising but it is tough to avoid the messages.

Internet industry competitors seem to want to fight over the accuracy or relevance of the search results but I say Google rise to prominence was mostly because they kept it simple.Over the last few years Google has begun to destroy what it built. Customizing and adding all those gadgets, widgets and flotsam to your desktop may tickle the hears of the Google engineers who built them but the more the user clutters his own screen the more it detracts from that search bar.

Google is on the right track for services however. Can you imagine getting by without Maps, Images and some of the other tools? I hear their Documents and online office type applications have not zoomed into preference as they had hoped. But the services don't have to kill the simple desktop because you can just keep them in the simple menu.

ADWORDS: Every industry can have it picks and pans for how Google has affected their business. At first AdWords (the google paid advertising system) was a God send. For pennies we could get in front of users and onto the first or second screen. Cost versus financial return is the bible by which advertisers worship. At first AdWords were a religious experience.

But Google didn't get rich by giving away ads. Over the years they have devised intricate systems by which the advertiser could manipulate where his ads ran, when, how much he spent, and then could review the results based on Google analytics. All of that sounds pretty good until you realize it has resulted in an ever upward march of ad costs. I don't mean just the price per click (PPC), but I mean the cost to produce each and every inquiry.In short, the cost to benefit ratio on Google is plummeting.

The learning curse is jumping as well. Being proficient and having control of costs requires a PHD in Google University speak. Our firm spends time managing the process but we are coming to the end of the productivity road.That causes us to search out PPC ads elsewhere that can still be purchased at lower cost. It is easy to get lots of clicks at Google but we're taking more time to use alternate.

ALTERNATES: And we work on the premise, correct I think, that a click is a click is a click - no matter where it comes from. In traditional media like radio, TV, newspapers and magazines the forum in which the ad appears does affect the perception of the product advertised. But let's face it, Google, MSN and other portfolio websites are nothing more than glorified nickle want ads.It takes more time to manage additional ad serving services but the cost can be as much as 90% lower - a difference no advertiser can afford to overlooked.

DOWNFALL: Website advertising will be with us forever. Remember when people said Television would mean the end of Radio? Didn't happen and PPC ads won't ever go away. But I predict their current dominance is dimming and will continue to do so.The reason is that the text limits and bland appearance don't leave enough room for creativity.

As a former copywriter myself I love words of course. But let's face it Google PPC ad graphics are boring, bland and did I say boring?Yes Google has instituted the ability to utilize graphic ads and that is nice improvement. But they too are small and not lent to creativity.

The pundits will tell you that manipulating the message, headline, text and offer are heavily manageable factors and I agree. But only the giant companies can ever afford the kind of staffing necessary to stay on top of such factors literally on a minute by minute basis.

Google has made a pile of money by providing ads that small guys can afford and those small guys can't keep up. They have begun to search for alternate modes of advertising, promotion and public relations. And they'll find them too because they can't afford not too.

As Google tarnishes its golden egg other media will rebound.