Author: Richard Dunbar

With nearly 15 years of professional experience in the hospitality space, Richard has a wide range of experience spanning revenue management, e-commerce sales, systems integrations, consumer loyalty, and building brand advocacy. Born and raised in the Carolinas, Richard flew south to Florida and launched a career in hospitality with Starwood Vacation Ownership. With a solid foundation of property-level experience, he switched gears and joined the folks at EZYield to explore hospitality technology and to help hotels operate more efficiently. From EZYield, he joined Stash Hotel Rewards and now Flip.to where he spends his professional time pulling this all together to make some sense of this industry. He holds a degree in economics and political science from the University of Central Florida and spends his free time running, reading, and learning all about life from his incredible wife and children.

OPMA Summit: On knowing your audience and your industry

This May, we attended our second OPMA Executive Summit since becoming members.

Aside from industry insights, one of our favorite aspects of both OPMA membership and events is the chance to meet up with like-minded industry partners and friends who are also committed to advancing travel.

We reached out to a few for their thoughts on the spring summit and received some great thoughts on the event and OPMA’s advocacy network.

Take a look at their insights below:

Alex Husner, CMO, Condo-World Resort Properties on OPMA:

“The purposefully small group atmosphere allowed for great conversations and networking, and the ability to meet almost everyone at the event. The attendees represented many of the most well known and respected brands in the industry, traveling from as far east as Vermont to as far west as Hawaii!

One of the key takeaways I noticed with this group was an abundant support of collaboration between members…from sharing marketing successes to tackling legal challenges and homeowner relations—no topic was off limits!

This is a group of like-minded, innovative business owners and C-level executives that are all supportive of helping each other succeed. I’m excited to attend more events and learn from our industry’s best and brightest.”

Stuart Butler, COO, Fuel Travel on the vacation rental industry and the organization’s role in shaping travel:

“The condo-hotel space faces several unique challenges. Firstly, the fact that the management company has to juggle the priorities of the two stakeholders (the owner and the guest) means that there are constant decisions that have to be made that may benefit one party, while negatively impacting the other.

Having homeowners maintain the quality of their units also poses unique challenges in terms of the quality of the product and the guest experience. This can lead to negative reviews, which impacts ADR and occupancy. Finally, the lack of awareness that the consumer has regarding the differences between on-site and off-site renters is a major problem — one that is exacerbated by the fact that the OTAs and TripAdvisor don’t distinguish between the two.

OPMA is a very special and unique organization. The members—both managers and vendors—seem to have a genuine desire to want to work together to help drive the industry forward. OPMA has introduced us to a lot of new people with whom we can collaborate and solve the problems that the industry is facing.”

Maurice Arbelaez, Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing, Millenium Management on the summit:

“OPMA explored common issues and challenges we share with other management companies and condo resorts operators, working to improve collaboration with other members to benefit both of us.

OPMA creates a vehicle to share and exchange ideas and best practices with other on-site management companies that experience similar challenges. Members also benefit from services that offer solutions to those challenges, enhancing the guest experience to surpass expectations.”

What are your thoughts on the challenges for the vacation rental industry? Join the conversation! We look forward to continuing to advance this dynamic industry together.

NAVIS Leaders Conference 2018: Hidden treasures

Earlier this month, we got to participate in the NAVIS Leaders Conference 2018 at the Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach—just a short drive from Flip.to’s home base in Orlando.

From on-point presentations to opportunities to connect with some pretty amazing people, NLC left its attendees with incredible insights that truly got to the heart of hospitality marketing. Thanks to NAVIS for a fantastic event and the chance to take part!

Check out the video below for my highlights, including the winners of our Hidden Treasures story contest—thank you to everyone who shared stories!

We love shaking up the hospitality marketing scene alongside folks like NAVIS (and in beautiful locations like Tradewinds). We can’t wait for next year’s event!

Better together: Fueling great partnerships

Here at Flip.to, our place in the industry is pretty unique. We get the chance to work with some incredible travel brands—and more importantly with the talented people behind them.

While that includes hotels, resorts, vacation properties, destination marketers, and the like, it includes the wide array of folks we call friends and partners.

So, what makes a great partnership? For one thing—some of the same things that make great friendships, and that’s great people.

Aside from that, we see partnerships as an opportunity to lean on our relative strengths in ways that everyone benefits. That means joining forces with forward-thinking vendors, agencies, and even individuals who embrace where we strive to take travel marketing.

Core to those values are the power of storytelling and authenticity. Combined, they unlock the ability to reach and inspire travelers, nurturing them along their journey to conversion (rather than flooding them with an overabundance of “book nows” and discount offers).

Ultimately, like us, they aspire to evolve the way hospitality marketing is done in a way that’s a win for travelers, great for business and incredible hospitality all at the same time.

So I’ll ask again—what makes a great partnership?

Look no further than Fuel Travel, a shining example of all of the above. We knew from the start that we’d be a great fit, (and not just because they’re gif-jedi-masters).

From adapting to improve guest experience and prioritizing relationships, to being vocal about marketing values like storytelling, they guide their customers down the best path for their hotel and guests. Fuel goes above and beyond to educate and provide value to the hotel marketing industry far beyond just their products & services thanks to efforts like their blog and podcast content, connection to industry contributors and more.

Fuel’s own COO, Stuart Butler, paid us a visit recently and shared some candid insight on partnering with Flip.to:

To learn more about Fuel Travel, hop over to www.fueltravel.com and be sure to check out Fuel’s weekly hotel marketing podcast.

If you’re as passionate as we are about changing the landscape of hospitality marketing and feel like we’d be a great match, let us know. Hospitality moving & shaking is always more fun when you get more great people in the room!

We asked: HomeAway boosts fees for 2018—but what’s the cost?

If you’re at all tuned into news circling the vacation rental industry, it was hard to miss HomeAway’s announcement on new 2018 fees making waves last week. We first came across it in Amy Hinote’s latest piece on VRM Intel.

The tldr:

HomeAway will increase subscription fees 25% (from $399 to $499 per listing)
In addition to this increase, for direct bookings from guests who previously used HomeAway in their travel research, they’ll charge a 10% transactional fee

In other words, for direct bookings made where HomeAway can attribute similar searches on their websites, they stand to take a piece of the pie—what they’re calling performance credit for “off-platform” bookings. Amy sums the cost increase in a way that puts it in perspective: this adds up to over $700k from an average vacation rental management company managing 250 properties.

But in the long term, what’s this big news really mean for rental managers at large?

Now that the initial story has had a little time to settle, we asked around to some of our friends (and foremost authorities in the industry) to see their initial thoughts, and recommendations for a path forward.

Take a peek at their insights below:

Alex Husner, CMO, Condo-World Resort Properties

“While I understand the reasoning behind wanting to prevent leakage of bookings off HomeAway’s platform, the most recent announcement has the potential to be a paradigm shift for what is deemed acceptable in vacation rental/OTA partnerships. HomeAway is learning from Expedia’s early days and is working to apply this hindsight as quickly as possible. Had technology been as advanced years ago as it is now, Expedia would have asked to match back email addresses/dates and to be paid a commission for any bookings that originated from a search on their site. Could Expedia do that now with their hotel clients? Sure…but the hotel/OTA relationships are far too involved and strained at this point to attempt something like that. HomeAway is still at a relatively new stage in their relationships with VRMs, many of whom are highly vested in the company from both a software and advertising perspective and consider themselves at mercy to any changes the company wants to make.

Between the addition of the booking fee a couple years ago, to removing the ability for VRMs to communicate with guests during the booking process, and now implementing a match back process to automatically recoup any bookings made off platform — HomeAway is making it hard for both guests and VRMs to want to do business with them. With this newest announcement, VRMs could potentially pay double commission and LOSE money if a guest searches on HomeAway but then books on another OTA. (Example: 10% to HomeAway and 15% to Booking.com = 25%… which is well above the average commission fee for most PMs).

Removing the ability to communicate with guests has also been troublesome for us—if HomeAway were to truly facilitate the booking from start to finish, we would have no problem with not being able to communicate with the guest. But to provide a lead—and then restrict what information can be sent, and how it can be sent—creates a customer service and operational nightmare.

Total OTA revenue only makes up 3% of Condo-World’s annual sales— but there are many in our industry who rely specifically on HomeAway/VRBO for up to 70% of their sales. All of our listings are pay-per-booking, so we are going to continue on with 2018 as normal and then evaluate the true effect of these changes at the end of the year.”

Stuart Butler, COO, Fuel Travel

“This is a greedy move and one that could backfire. There’s no way I will recommend that my clients participate in this new model. The notion that HomeAway claims 10% commission for bookings where a consumer at some point made a search on HomeAway is nonsense. We know that consumers shop around and look at the same property on multiple sites. What if they all did the same thing? Imagine if a consumer finds your property on the local CVB site, then shops you on HomeAway, TripAdvisor, and another local portal, before finally booking on your own website. Are you to give 10% commission to all four of those touch points? What if they also saw a retargeting ad for your property and that vendor also took another 10%?

My advice for rental managers is to boycott HomeAway. Spend your time crafting an amazing book direct strategy by creating a frictionless, mobile-first booking experience, applying psychological sales tactics through the funnel, and providing unique value and incentives to guests who book direct.”

Matt Raab, Director of eCommerce, Sterling Resorts

“I believe the move is intended to drive PMs away from their subscription program and onto their pay per booking program. When Expedia took over it was expected that the way HomeAway collects revenue would eventually mirror Expedia. The transition started with the introduction of pay per booking, then elimination of subscription levels, and now the latest changes. Within a year or two subscriptions either will not be economical anymore in comparison with pay per booking or be outright eliminated as an option.

Diversify and develop brand loyalty. We will be staying on the same path we began down long ago—with integrated software and connections partners most third party websites are easy to add as distribution channels. We utilize as many that make sense to us in terms of cost and rental policy.

With the right technology partners, there is not a manpower burden, and it makes a significant impact on the percentage of revenue that originates from HomeAway. Once the guest is booked, however—from any channel—the goal is to collect data, impress the guest, and rebook direct. This sector is where the most exciting new technologies and services are being developed.”

Even early on, the news is hard hitting. A vacation rental owner and manager in the Southeast went on to add this:

“Bold move for sure because they risk owners who will leave because of the increased pricing. Also, curious how they will access Vacation Rental Managers data to know who to “charge” other than Escapia and V12 users, as they can potentially access those databases because they are HomeAway PMS’s.

As a VR Manager, we are not, and will never be, in a position to pay websites which a guest visits prior to ultimately booking direct with us. That is ridiculous.

Our path forward will be to educate all homeowners as to why they should put their units with professionally managed companies who can help them better navigate the ever changing vacation rental market.”

We have a feeling this story is far from over. Got perspectives on this (or anything else bubbling up in the VR industry)? Join the conversation.

In the meantime, get the full scoop in the original VRM Intel article, and for more like this give Amy a follow here.

Flip.to on the road: property managers winning with OPMA

A big focus at Flip.to in 2017 has been better understanding the ins-and-outs of the vacation rental market. It’s a segment within our industry that faces all of the same, yet also entirely different challenges than other accommodations providers.

Issues range from regulations and split ownership, to homeowners’ associations and conflicting marketing messaging due to third parties. Navigating that space adds layers of complexity that any operator could easily do without.

When we learned about the Onsite Property Management Association (OPMA) and its efforts to advocate for property managers, we were immediately intrigued. Flip.to became members in short order and participated in our first OPMA summit in our hometown of Orlando this past November.

What we took away is that OPMA has made great strides for property managers—and are working hard on loads more to be done. Topics covered included recent legal victories, paving the way for a better guest experience, all the way to the importance of adopting a mobile-first approach, well, everything.

Our resident video-documentarian and fellow Flip.to contributor to the blogosphere, Hunter Garrett, joined me at the OPMA conference and put together these highlights of our 2-days at Reunion Resort. Enjoy!

JAPEX 2017: tackling tough challenges in the Caribbean

At the moment I’m writing this article, I’ve just returned from the JAPEX conference in Jamaica. Now, I’ve traveled to the Caribbean islands a number of times, both for work and fun. The hospitality, the people, the energy are fantastic (as we’ve shared ourselves first hand.)

But this trip was different.

Javier Morales, Co-founder at Social Caddie, talks to the audience at JAPEX 2017.

Not in the way you’d think. The hospitality was still top notch. The people? As friendly and welcoming as ever. And the speakers and attendees at JAPEX were all incredibly insightful.

But it was also grounded.

What I took away from JAPEX went well beyond the usual micro-level discussions that typically embody an event like this. It was the broad spectrum: an impressive (and sometimes sobering) macro-level look at challenges in the Caribbean that took the stage—from competing on a global scale to the recent hurricanes and more.

Working together to compete globally

Over the last several years, the Caribbean has excelled at marketing itself as a highly accessible, dream destination. And this is a good thing. My fellow panelist at the event, and Co-founder at Social Caddie, Javier Morales chimed in nicely as to why:

“It’s important for the Caribbean to be identified as a region. Organizations like the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association have been created as a major resource for all the islands. By pooling their resources, coming together as region helps them all have access to information and programs to succeed as a whole.”

This has helped introduce more travelers to the region, raising awareness on the global level up against other warm climate destinations. But it poses a unique dichotomy: the need to make known that the Caribbean is more than the sum of its parts.

A recent example? Hurricanes Irma and Maria—both which have come and gone, leaving effects that will linger for years.

Not surprisingly, that poses a problem for the unaffected islands as well as the entire region. Some destinations in the region won’t be visitor-ready in the foreseeable future, and the perception is that the Caribbean isn’t quite as attractive for that dream vacation it’s known and loved for.

Except that it is.

The Caribbean is comprised of more than 30 destinations with thousands of islands totaling over 95k square miles, making it an eclectic mix of unique and independent travel locales. In fact, CHTA partners with 1,000 hotels and allied members plus 32 National Hotel Associations to help shape the future of tourism in the region.

You can’t minimize the devastation for some of the island nations. But it remains a small percentage of the total area—with tourism in many of the areas continuing to grow. (And the others working diligently to bounce back.)

Putting out in force that in spite of the storms, the nations of the Caribbean are open for business is a must. Javier had a few more adds on the steps every island nation can take:

“Nearly every island has a tourism board or association to help market their destination. Islands should showcase their unique features to stand out in the group. Destinations and their hotels can work together to highlight these features and compete against other global destinations.”

Diversifying your marketing—at the regional, destination, and hotel levels

Another challenge that surfaced is one that’s more relatable for us mainlanders: OTA dependency. The core of this issue is a tough one to overcome.

The United States is a key feeder market for the region as a whole, and in the US we love to drive. It’s as much a part of our culture as baseball and BBQs. So when we visit our friends in the South, there’s more to the travel planning process. This is an arena where OTAs excel, making it incredibly easy to book an entire trip in one sitting.

We know dependency on any one channel can be risky. And while OTAs help put heads in beds, they don’t help in the long term to build relationships with your travelers to keep them coming back again and again.

Diversifying where and how you’re winning business is the first step to becoming less dependant on any single channel. The goal? Reach new travelers, and reach them in a better way.

Javier offered a few tips to start:

“The online world has changed and small destinations and hotels can now compete with the big guys. A well-developed website, strong SEO plan and social media strategy can help brands of all sizes get their fair share of the market.”

Another way? Advocacy. Arguably one of the most compelling ways to make an introduction, advocacy lets travelers to your region or hotel deliver an authentic perspective to a like-minded audience—by the thousands.

Rather than relying on the consumer to discover your marketing (or vice versa), those who’ve lived the experience are sharing the most memorable aspects with people they know. Trust comes built in, so the message is delivered clearly and effectively.

Writing the stories of the Caribbean

Not only is advocacy a remarkable tool for telling the story, (rather the stories,) of every Caribbean destination, it piggybacks on what the market is doing as a whole: inspiring new travelers by giving those who visit an opportunity to share their dream vacation—and those best equipped to do just that are arriving on the islands by the hour.

Storytelling: how to win travelers at every part of their journey

Hospitality and travel are two of the most experiential industries we’ll ever know. And yet, a survey of the marketing landscape in these two areas reveals a shortage of content that reflects just that—experiences that inspire people through candid moments that they can easily imagine themselves enjoying.

This leaves would-be guests bouncing from site to site trying to piece together a narrative to which they can relate. Google has cleverly termed this “travel snacking” and the comparison couldn’t be more appropriate.

Snacks are great, unless you’re hungry for a meal.

The issue is more pronounced when you look at how this applies to the traveler journey at large. For simplicity’s sake we’ll condense things into three stages: pre-stay, on-property, and post-stay.

As a marketer, you can divide each of these further into micro-moments, but as a whole these experiences are what define the guest’s perception and are an opportunity to shape the guest experience with a meaningful narrative that inspires your guest at every part of their journey.

Storytelling is, without a doubt, the most effective way to do so. Marketing jargon aside, science is on our side with this one. (Take that!) But seriously, research indicates that the brain makes little distinction between reading about and experiencing something. That’s incredibly powerful information.

Pre-stay

Long before a stay, stories serve to build the foundation of the guest’s expectations.

Instead of pushing messages about deals and discounts, tell an interesting quip about your hotel’s history, or offer a unique perspective on the destination that may intrigue a prospective traveler.

Remember, people travel to destinations, not buildings. By telling a compelling story about where your property is located, you position yourself as the facilitator of great experiences in your area. This inspires would-be guests to not only consider the destination, but also your hotel.

By operating with this mindset, two things happen. First, a good narrative will help you influence travelers in the early stages of planning, where there is considerably less noise and big opportunity to make an impact. Anywhere from 45-66% of leisure travelers are undecided or have multiple destinations in mind at the start of the travel planning process.

Second, by employing authentic stories, your hotel will differentiate itself within the market early on. Remember, there are a lot of options available to travelers and no hotel wants to become a commodity.

On-property

It’s impossible to overstate the importance the hotel plays in actualizing the experience once the guest is on property. It’s the storyboard from which the memory of the trip can take life.

As the operator, the hotel plays a fundamental role in facilitating the experience and ensuring the guest has a great story to share.

This is also the ideal time to get to know the guest. Understanding the audience means it’s easier to meet guests’ needs and provides the necessary context for crafting a unique narrative.

Combining data and storytelling allows you to gain context and present a narrative that’s true to your brand while also effective at inspiring your audience.

Post-stay

After the guest has departed, the industry-standard for communication tends to be a “thank you,” a survey, and then chasing the guest with templated marketing messaging. This typically persists until the guest opts out.

Sadly, there is rarely any effort made to infuse the highly experiential on-property experience into the messaging following the stay—and that’s a real shame. As a marketer, you can use this opportunity to build a stronger relationship and long-term loyalty with that guest.

Not only that, but it’s the perfect time to pass the storytelling torch, letting your guests now become the purveyors of an authentic narrative about your hotel. The benefits of doing so are tremendous.

With the internet being the greatest platform for social connectedness, a single person’s voice can travel farther than ever before. Plus, as there’s a lot of noise competing for fleeting attention, individuals are better able to cut through the racket, becoming a more trusted source of information than brands.

Unleash storytelling at your hotel

Together, brands and guests co-create the best dialog about your hotel. By adapting a storytelling mindset that spans the entire guest journey, hoteliers put their greatest asset to its best possible use.

Armed with this knowledge, hotels can take advantage of their role as facilitators of incredible experiences from the moment the guest discovers the property, to rekindling the highlights of their stay. Storytelling conveys memories that trigger powerful and compelling emotions.

Flip.to and Fuel partner to uncover hotel website essentials in new 2017 study

It’s safe to say in 2017 that the importance of a well-designed and well-maintained hotel website cannot be overstated. A quick Google search will reveal ample research and data to validate that the website is arguably one of the most important weapons in a hotel marketers arsenal.

So much so, that it can be both informative and overwhelming all at once.

That’s why Flip.to teamed up with Fuel, an industry leader in hotel marketing, to reach out to thousands of travelers to better understand what it is about the hotel website experience that matters most. Because in the end, nothing trumps empirical data when it comes to managing precious marketing dollars. (And your website is not worth the gamble.)

Key insights you’ll gain:

First impressions matter. The travel buyer is willing to spend time searching but would prefer not to. The study reveals what those search patterns are and how the crafty marketer is addressing them.
Which sources are the most influential in the travel decision-making process?
What elements of the hotel website are the most important to the guest?
Are loyalty programs important and what program benefits matter most?
How important is price when shopping and, more importantly, how can hotels address this without giving away the house?

Click through to download the full summary of the findings here:

Download here

Plus, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to reach out to us at hello@flip.to with your ideas on the study—or anything travel marketing related!

Canning spam: Relevancy, graymail, and the path to better communication for hotels

Unwanted email is something everyone can relate to. We’ve all been on the receiving end of what’s universally labeled as “spam.” Spam has become such an issue that it’s received intense, global legislative attention. While this has benefited consumers, it’s led many hotel marketers to err on the side of caution—what is spam? Too much email? In reality, this should beg the bigger question, “How do I better communicate with my guests?”

First, let’s look at Google’s definition of spam:

“Irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients”

The key term in that definition is “irrelevant.” So, to try to prevent content from being flagged as spam, many marketers simply send fewer emails.

And sure, timing is important, but I’ll ask you this—when did relevancy come to be synonymous with quantity?

To some degree, what constitutes spam is ultimately the subjective opinion of the recipient. That makes it challenging for marketers to know definitively whether what they’re sending out will strike a chord or not.

Enter “graymail.” HubSpot defines graymail as “email you opted in to receive, but don’t really want.” (So blurred have the lines become that we needed a term for that in-between message that maybe you want, but not necessarily right now.)

Graymail isn’t necessarily spam, but it’s also not especially relevant to your customers either. In fact, email providers are often able to treat graymail differently from spam even though consumers are still not likely at all to engage with those messages.

For this reason, as marketers, it’s clear that how you communicate with your guests is equally important as what you’re saying.

For hotels this can be accomplished through real personalization, (more than just “Hi [firstname],”) and by considering where the guest is in his or her relationship with the property. For example:

Suppose you have a past guest from about a year ago that booked direct with you at a standard rate. From your post-stay communication, you know they enjoyed their stay. Here’s a common situation for hoteliers. Let’s take inventory of what you know:

Past guest = name, email address (possibly more)
Travel dates + booking dates = planning window
Standard rate = no discounting; they booked for intrinsic value
Overall a satisfied guest = no clear reason NOT to come back

We’ve learned a LOT— I’m only scratching the surface of what most hotels actually know. (Especially if you’re employing a CRM.)

However, what typically happens is this guest goes into a database, starts receiving the exact same emails as everyone else, and becomes progressively less interested until they eventually unsubscribe and start shopping around.

Instead, they could have been spoken to in a way that acknowledges the things they’ve told you and infuses them into your communication. And this is just a single example.

Whether it’s a past guest or a potential future guest, each may be at a different point in their relationship with your hotel. Once your messaging is on point, email volume doesn’t matter nearly as much because what you’re saying is relevant to your standing with the guest/prospect.

Understanding and expressing this through your communication is key to canning spam.