Digital Transformation in the Vacation Rental Industry
October 11, 2021
Short-term rental industry trends show that technology is the driving force of the future providing innovative systems and solutions to solve the many challenges faced by property managers. COVID-19 accelerated these challenges and changed the way we do business forever, forcing companies to review their strategies overnight to adapt to the new norm of travel, the rapid evolution of remote work, and the high expectations of guests cautious to travel during a pandemic.
The Future of VR Tech
The demands of the pandemic showed us all that we can achieve more in a single day than we ever dreamed possible. Property managers responded to the pandemic with agility and resilience implementing new technologies almost instantaneously to meet these new demands.
Fast forward to the future and industry insights show that a personalized guest experience, sustainability, and smart technology solutions will be key growth factors in the vacation rental industry. David Jacoby, President of Hostfully shares his view on the future of the guest experience.
“Once connected to the wifi, the property manager will get a notification as well as their email. When they are having a party, they’ll get a call. When they check out early, the cleaners will know and can head over right away. From insurance and background checks to upselling services and special discount coupons, the vacation rental industry is becoming more sophisticated. As the industry grows up and continues to play in the same sandbox, the guest will benefit from ‘personalization at scale’.”
This level of guest experience is made possible only by the integration of digital technology and a strategic long-term plan ensuring you make the right technology decisions to stay competitive, meet the increasing demands of your guests and grow your business.
Making the Right Technology Decisions
There is a stronger focus on technology in the vacation rental industry with a diverse menu of innovative, cutting-edge technology options that never existed prior to the pandemic. Digital transformation has accelerated and research by Flexera shows that the top three initiatives for companies are digital transformation, cybersecurity, and cloud migration, with 56% of companies stating digital transformation as the top initiative for their business and 79% planning to increase spending on their IT staffing to ensure they make the right technology decisions moving forward.
Making the right technology decision for your business starts with a solid IT strategy, investing in and implementing new software, as well as understanding your current technologies and using them to their full potential. This can be overwhelming but old-school, manual processes prevent scalability and reduce efficiency, and climbing on board the technology train is essential, opening up infinite possibilities for your vacation rental business.
Who’s Driving Your Technology Train?
You’ve climbed aboard but do you have the expertise to drive a high-speed train? Vacation rental property managers are gifted at wearing many hats (and often all at once!) but this is one chapter of your success story that is more likely to succeed in the hands of an IT professional.
Modern technology can be complex and often difficult to implement, integrate with existing solutions and understand. A trained IT professional has the skills to take a comprehensive audit of your entire IT ecosystem, guest journey, determine areas for improvement and work with vendors to integrate new technologies into your existing tech-stack, technologies that support your daily operations, and drive growth. In addition, you’ll have a skilled set of eyes monitoring the performance and accelerating the ROI on your technology investments.
With a sudden push for vacation rental companies to modernize, technology talent is in high demand. The right recruit needs the skills, knowledge, and expertise to drive your business forward and a personality profile that aligns with the core values, culture, and goals of your company.
Whether you identify a high-potential employee already on your team, use the services of an industry-specific hiring platform or outsource to a technology consultant or virtual CIO, a skilled driver makes for a better journey.
