Today, doing business online means that you must work hard to get visitors to your listings and then have a limited time to capture their interest and engage with them. Today's consumers are sophisticated and are not interested in being sold. They are looking for straight-shooting, information they can use to make an informed decision about where they should spend their vacation dollars. Here are a few tips to help you build trust and authority with prospects and former guests.

The vacation rental market has changed in staggering ways in recent years. Seeing the benefits of vacation rentals, homeowners have listed over 660,000 properties on Airbnb alone. As guests continue to move away from hotels and into vacation rentals, the industry today is projected to hit $170 billion by the end of this year. While this meteoric growth is good for the industry, more vacation rentals mean more competition. To compete, you need to keep up with the amenities and offer the experiences your guests expect or your piece of the pie will slowly evaporate. This is even truer as online travel agencies continue to grow and evolve. So how can you differentiate your property from thousands of competitors? Let’s take a look at some ways you can earn more from your vacation rental properties...

Today, people typically begin their vacation process by researching online. One of the most important factors when pursuing a potential destination are guest reviews. Peer reviews are often a good indicator of the guest experience and carry a lot of weight, especially in the beginning stages of research. As a property manager, you are often looking for ways to cut costs and maximize profits. However, it is important to understand that some amenities are simply too important to cut when creating a positive guest experience...

In a tight labor market, recruiting and retaining quality employees is difficult. In the last few years, this has been the case in many industries, especially hospitality. As unemployment rates have trended lower and tighter restrictions are placed on work visas, recruitment has become much more difficult. Add to this fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics findings that the turnover rate in the hospitality industry is two to three times the rate of other industries and you can see the challenges of staffing in today's market. However, there are several ways hospitality companies can attract and retain quality employees to help power a positive brand and an exemplary guest experience...