See a recorded version of the webinar via our site:  http://liverez.com/downloads.asp

LievRez Email Marketing Webinar:  Bookings with Email Marketing 10 Must Do’s (Plus – What NOT to put in your Subject Line)

Here is a list of 100 words that you want to avoid in your email subject line:
 

All the best.

Ralf VonSosen
www.LiveRez.com

Easy!  Bring on a guy who has been there, done that, and can use that experience to help me.  How lucky am I to have Gary Gigot joining our team and using his experience to help me in my decisions?  Very lucky.  Gary’s addition to our team has been significant already and established some fantastic plans of how we can grow our business and services to vacation rental property managers. 

Former Microsoft and Visio Marketing VP, Gary Gigot, Joins LiveRez Team in Creating New Brand in the Online Vacation Rental Booking Space

The bigger picture here is about making the most of experience.  Chances are that you do not know everything (assuming you are not my 13 year old daughter).  Finding the right resources that will complement your knowledge can have a tremendous affect on your ability to drive your business.  Not only because your ‘concilieres’ provide you great advice, but also b/c they allow you to focus your energy and mind on the things that you are really great at.  And that, what you are really great at, is what makes your business a reflection of you, different from anyone else, and something that customers value.

Ralf
LiveRez

Why the difference?  Because we believe that the property managers are our partners in meeting the needs of the traveler.  The traveler is the customer.  The traveler is the one who pays the thousands of dollars for a vacation experience that the property manager, the property owner, and all their partners provide.  So here at LiveRez, we dismiss the old-fashioned supplier-customer paradigm for a new partnership where we collaborate with property managers to to create the best shopping, booking, preparation, and vacationing experience.

This partnership paradigm is a principle I have also observed to pay dividends between property managers and owners.  Treating owners as customers is nice and appropriate, but how much more effective that relationship becomes when the property managers and owners collaborate as partners to create the best experience for travelers.

Our industry continues to evolve and make great strides.  I believe we are seeing the emergence of the next growth phase fro vacation rental homes as the industry collaborates in organizations such as VRMA, Discover Vacation Homes, and the Vacation Home Expo.

Ralf
LiveRez.com 

Check out the full article at the following link:  Idaho Business Journal – LiveRez Leading Vacation Rental Software

The point I really wanted to make with Zach, the reporter, is that this very fragmented vacation rental industry has been under-served by software solutions when compared to the general Ecommerce retail industry.  Our goal at LiveRez is to address this issue and provide vacation rental managers with the solutions and partnership they deserve to help us all grow this industry to new heights.

Ralf
LiveRez.com

This tool is a must have for your online vacation rental marketing and online booking efforts.  Keyword Spy will will show you exactly which keywords your competitors are bidding on in Google AdWords and how much they are spending.  It will also help you learn which worked work well for different players in certain parts of the country.  Helping you to design a more effective PPC strategy.

For example, enter the phrase “sun valley vacation rentals” and discovered who is bidding and who is coming up naturally.  When you click on a website name, it will show you what words they come up for.  The first 10 search results are free and a great source of some base info.

http://www.keywordspy.com 

This is a must-know reconnaissance tool for Internet search engine marketers.

Opening Session on Industry Trends – the following were discussed:

1.     CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – Improved and more detailed tracking of guest information, reservations, experience; Contact guests prior to arrival; Know past guest preferences, information on guest and on owners; Use surveys
2.     Employee relations – Retention, staffing, empower employees
3.     Disaster Recovery – Be prepared, have a back-up system, information, and operations plan
4.     Owner relations – Annual party, newsletter
5.     Operations – Managing partying kids, Expedited evictions with local police
6.     Marketing – Website:  search, online booking, add info on how to make a booking, Email mktg
7.     Competition – We are in the hospitality industry, Competition is broad, Mgmt companies that run hotels/condos

In the Closing Session, the following topics came up as ‘things that are keeping vacation rental managers up at night’:
1.     Cancellation fees
2.     Real Estate Commission fees
3.     Increasing call volume & Increasing closing rates
4.     Picking up more properties
5.     Picking up more business in shoulder season
6.     Contracts with owners re. renewal of contracts and reservations already made
7.     Marketing campaign budget allocation
8.     Marketing to younger generation
9.     Promoting less successful properties in the portfolio
10.  Staffing housekeeping – preventing problems, most common complaints

Next week I will be attending the Florida VRMA conference in Orlando.

Check it out:  http://www.liverez.com/press_releases.asp

I am excited to be on board here with LiveRez and thrilled to help the vacation rental industry grow.

 Ralf