Now, I am not thinking of the harried 2 night trip to Dallas, or the overnighter to Boston.  I am talking about two very specific categories:

1. The long-term business traveler
2. The business meetings & awards

The long-term business traveler is the consultant, or the person assigned to work with a different division or on a remote project.  These prospects can be all over the map, young & old, white collar & blue collar, high paid & low paid.  Finding them requires some creativity and some info gathering about what companies and projects you have in your area.  Is anyone bringing in lots of contractors, anyone starting up new business unity, anyone building a power plant (you would probably notice that one).

Business meetings, offsites, and award trips are being scrutenized like never before - by the government, the public,a nd the accountants.  An opportunity to offer companies an alternative to the high-flash vacation resorts.  The business meeting and awards will require you to do reasearch into companies as well.  You can look at what companies have done events at local hotels in the past, and you can start a marketign campaing directed at the HR and Executive groups.  Also think about going after the Marketing departments, maybe they want to give away some vacation time at one of your vacation homes as part of a promotion.

Hope this can help you get some more bookings.

Ralf
www.LiveRez.com

Beginning of the month I attended the Eastern VRMA conference in Myrtle Beach.  The weather was encouraging to stay inside an attend sessions.  Below is a list of some of the topics discussed.

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.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Atlanta Vacation Home Expo in Atlanta.  It was a great success to see the industry come together at a regional level and promote vacation rentals to the general public.  As an industry, the vacation rental market has a tremendous amount to gain in establishing itself as a more formal industry and as a major force in the hospitality industry.

Unfortunataley, the vacation rental is still a specialty type of vacation and not something that is considered along side of hotel chains and resorts.  This is a gap we can bridge with the newest vacation rental units, services, and amenities.  It is critical for us to present ourselves and our industry in a new light and to join forces to promote ourselves to the hospitality consumer.

 What I saw in Atlanta was exactly that.  A joining of forces to promote the vacation rental industry.  Kudos to Rick and Paul, the drivers behind the show, and to all those who cam from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and other parts of the country to participate.

On a bit more dry of a note than usual.  Some interesting news coming from the IRS.

Good news is just around the corner for owners of 2nd homes, vacation property and seasonal rental-units. The Internal Revenue Service will soon unveil a new safe-harbor rule for investors that own (or want to own) vacation properties. This new procedure will allow owners who primarily rent out their vacation homes, but occasionally use them for some personal use, a way to defer all their capital gains taxes by using a 1031 tax exchange.

Read all about it here:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/vacation_homes/1031_exchange/prweb718714.htm

Ok, on a more humorous parting shot from a recent vacation to the beach: