A View From the Road Part 2
Initial Observations From Around the Vacation Rental Industry
November 16, 2020
Xplorie President and CEO Matt Loney hit the road this summer for a 6-month road trip across the country in order to see first-hand how the vacation rental industry was adapting during the pandemic and to gain some insight on how to best navigate the new industry landscape. Here is Matt’s continued view from the road…
(In case you missed it, check out A View From The Road Part 1 – Travel with Xplorie Across the New Landscape of the Vacation Rental Industry )
In a previous post, I described my experiences with trying— and failing— to work remotely during the pandemic. As a textbook extrovert, the lack of human connection was starting to wear on me. And as the CEO of Xplorie— a company that specializes in travel and adventure— I was struggling to get a hold of the new challenges my clients were facing. And how could I offer solutions when I didn’t have a firm grasp on the problems?
So I decided to stock up on my face masks and take a road trip. My goals were to visit as many of Xplorie’s amazing partners as I could and get first-hand intel on the state of vacation rentals across the country. It’s an epic undertaking that I hope will provide clarity for the future of Xplorie and for the vacation rental industry.
While every market has its own specific obstacles and opportunities, here are three things I noticed across the first of my many road trips.
A Staggering Wave of First-Time Renters
There’s never been a bigger time for growth in the vacation rental industry than right now. Thousands of people that have historically vacationed at traditional hotels are now seeing the safety and benefits of renting a single-family home.
Families that originally gravitated towards resorts or hotels before the lockdown are finally experiencing the comfort and peace of staying at a private home. Having a fully-equipped kitchen, access to laundry facilities, and perhaps even a private pool during these socially-distant times is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity. First-time vacation renters are also understanding and appreciating the safety of not sharing a crowded lobby or elevator with other guests.
The result? A truly massive amount of first-time home renters, which while fantastic for our industry, also poses some challenges. More on that in a minute.
We’re Feeling The Strain
Or as I like to call it— the “corona whiplash.”
In March and April of this year, vacation rental managers saw the bottom of their business drop out. They were flooded with refund requests and lost millions of dollars in revenue over the span of a few short weeks. It was breathtaking. Then in June— almost as suddenly— their loyal guests returned along with a wave of new renters. Stay-at-home orders were easing and people were jones-ing for a getaway.
But these new guests didn’t want to fly. And they didn’t want to stay in a cramped hotel room. So they rented a vacation home that was about a 2- to 5-hour drive from their home, and they hit the road. As a result, vacation rental managers in popular driveable locations— like the Florida Panhandle, The Smoky Mountains, the North Carolina Coast, and beaches along the Delaware and Maryland coast, to name a few— were inundated with brand new customers and hundreds of new reservations.
Eureka, right? Well— sort of.
That sort of jarring snapback for a business is difficult in even the best of times. We went from contemplating losing everything to having more business then we dreamed of in a matter of weeks. And now we were working with a skeleton crew— having furloughed a number of workers in March— and were struggling to keep up with the new guests. We started to see a lot of frantic “We’re Hiring— Right Now!” ads pop up. And the staff that was still on board was working around the clock.
Everyone is kinda tired. And rightfully so.
Growing Pains— And Defining Moments
The final thing I’ve noticed first-hand is that these new guests are a bit— ahem— high maintenance. Perhaps it’s because they are used to a sterile hotel environment when they travel. Or perhaps it’s just the strain of the quarantine and everyone’s fuses are a bit short. Whatever the reason, the first-time renter is proving to be a challenge. In fact, the experts at Breezeway just came out with a study showing that 97% of VRMs think these new guests have an “increased sensitivity to cleanliness and safety.”
So although there are some growing pains, there’s also a feeling in the air that this is a revolutionary time for our industry. Time to seize this moment and this influx of brand new vacation rental guests and convert them into lifelong renters. And to do this, we must rise to the challenge and meet their expectations— not seek to lower them.
By providing an exceptional guest experience during these extraordinary times, we have an opportunity to catapult the entire vacation rental industry to a brand new level.
This is truly a pivotal and defining moment for our industry.
Stay tuned for more Xplorie updates as I share my view from the road. I’ll be providing first-hand updates from Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas.
Matthew Loney, President and CEO at Xplorie
