Blog Posts From HomeAway Insights Tagged With homeaway

Introducing Insider Guides

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:08:29 GMT

Today, we’re very happy to announce the immediate availability of Insider Guides. Launched in partnership with Gogobot, this new, free product enables vacation rental owners and managers to create custom online guides that enable authentic, local experiences for travelers.

Most of us are familiar with the binder of “things to do, nearby restaurants, and helpful information” found in almost every vacation rental in the world. Because owners and managers are familiar with the property and the area, they can save travelers time, point them at the best restaurants, and highlight hard to find “off-the-beaten-path” experiences that really make a vacation rental stay special.

However, the binder approach does have a few drawbacks. They take a lot of work to assemble, usually involving printouts, or menus, or handwritten notes and maps. They are hard to keep up-to-date as new restaurants and attractions open (or close). Your guests can’t see it before they arrive or access it on a smartphone because the guides are not online.

Insider Guides make it easy to build a visually compelling, online guide that is rich with information (like addresses and locations) and enhanced with reviews submitted by one of the most passionate travel communities on the planet: the 2.5 million-strong Gogobot community.

What is an Insider Guide?

There are two key elements to an Insider Guide: The first is a list of points of interest (POI) on your VRBO.com or HomeAway.com listing. These POIs have thumbnail photos, distance to your property, and your star ratings and reviews. All POIs are displayed on your map creating a quick and easy way for you to market your property and the activities, attractions, and restaurants around it. This is designed to entice travelers with exciting and fun attractions and search engines with SEO-friendly reviews. See the screenshot below to see how POIs appear on your listing or visit a listing on VRBO.com or HomeAway.com.

The second is the Insider Guide itself. On this page, there is more information about each place (the address, for example), larger photos, and more interactive and social features. This guide is designed for the traveler to use when planning their stay or while they are on vacation.

Travelers can view the Insider Guide on a mobile device, tablet or PC, or download it into the Gogobot iOS™ or Android™ smartphone app. There are map views, a print view (very handy for your binder!), and options for travelers to create their own trip plan or share it with friends or fellow travelers.

The screenshots below show the various views of the Insider Guide or see an example of one here <link>

List View:

Map View:

Mobile Version:

Creating a Guide

Creating a guide is simple. As an owner or a manager, you simply head to the listing editor in your dashboard to get started.

Dashboard View:

Once you’ve named your guide and uploaded a photo, you can quickly add places from Gogobot’s extensive database, write your own review, provide your own ratings, or upload photos. Only your ratings and reviews will show up on your listing - so make sure you take the time to add your personal and local knowledge. Gogobot built this part of the product, and it’s really slick because they provide you with suggestions that can really get your creative juices going.

Since there is no one who knows your property quite as well as you do - each guide is as unique and special as you make it. Some owners and managers will curate a list of popular attractions, while others will add “off the beaten path” attractions like the blueberry patch, flea market, coffee shop, or hike. These unique and special attractions are what unlock the deep local knowledge that will make for truly delightful and relevant experiences - which in turn will result in great reviews, happy travelers, and more bookings.

How can you take advantage of an Insider Guide?

Once you’ve created your guide, it’s up to you to determine when to share it with your guests. Some of you will include it in all of your communications from your first inquiry response onward. Others will want to provide the link to travelers only after booking. We’ve provided a helpful “shortcut link” to make it easy to embed the link into your inquiry or ReservationManager™ response templates or any email you send to your guests.

Not only does an Insider Guide allow you to market your property, but it also reduces the time you have to spend answering those frequent questions guests always ask: where is the nearest grocery store? What activities do you recommend? What are the best restaurants? With an Insider Guide, the answer is simple: check the link!

How do I get started?

You can get started building your guide right now. Many owners and managers have already started (see below for some examples) so don’t delay. Here are a few tips: Make sure you add reviews and ratings! Use the photos that Gogobot provides, or add your own for that personal touch. Send it to your friends who live in the area to get them to comment. And best of all, since you have a VRBO.com or HomeAway.com listing, Insider Guides are included free of charge.

Here are some resources to help you create a great Insider Guide:

http://help.homeaway.com/articles/en_US/Solution/Insiders-Guide-FAQs?knowledgeHome

And here are some examples to inspire you:

Enjoy creating your Insider Guide, and make sure you send us your thoughts and feedback!

Tom Hale

Chief Product Officer

Online Booking is Live

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:57:46 GMT

As you probably know, HomeAway’s mission has always been to make finding and booking a vacation rental as easy as booking a hotel. With our latest product release, I believe we’ve made great strides towards achieving that goal and am pleased to announce the introduction of online booking on HomeAway.com and VRBO.com.

With online booking, travelers have the convenience of paying securely online, and the booking process is more streamlined for both you and your guests. While we are aware that this particular release isn’t a “win” in the innovation category, it is a relatively new offering in the vacation rental industry and will indeed be a game changer for some guests.

As we’ve posted in the past, the Internet has fundamentally changed the way we do business. We demand speed and convenience, and the ability to pay online by credit card makes booking a vacation quicker and easier. Plus, it enables travelers to finance vacations, accrue credit card reward points and feel confident in their purchase. Online booking delivers this to the vacation rental category.

Because we know conversations between owners and travelers are so important to the reservation process (in fact, 70% of travelers said it was the best part), we made sure to include a review period so there’s time to answer any questions they have about the property or questions you have of them.

The product is an extension of ReservationManager™, which enables you to accept credit card payments and eChecks through our secure interface. Online booking is a free service, but because we understand you demand choices in terms of how you want to manage your rental business, it is not automatically added to your listing. However, you can easily sign up through the owner dashboard.

The Nuts and Bolts of How it Works

With online booking, prospective renters click the “Book It” button on a listing, which instantly generates a detailed quote and enables travelers to agree to your rental contract (which you store ahead of time). Travelers then submit their payment information directly from your listing and you are notified about the request. You have up to 24 hours to accept or decline it.

When you accept a reservation, the payment is processed immediately and your availability calendar is updated accordingly. Any additional payments are automatically scheduled and invoiced, reducing the manual work involved with confirming a guest.

If you aren’t able to confirm a booking within the 24-hour period, ReservationManager will automatically decline the reservation request and the traveler will not be charged.

To learn more, check out the video below:

Again, while it’s not a required service, I highly encourage you to take a look at the product and see if it’s for you. We know travelers want a simpler, easier way to book a vacation home and online booking solves that problem. Ultimately, we believe it is the right choice to delight travelers, simplify the booking process for you, and make the entire vacation rental category more efficient and competitive. As always, we welcome your feedback.

HomeAway.com & VRBO.com Join Forces

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:24:25 GMT

I know my blog posts generally begin with me saying how excited I am to announce our latest news, but this time, I’m not sure if excited truly captures my emotions.

At the end of the day, the word that best describes how I feel is proud. Proud to tell you all that after years of operating HomeAway.com and VRBO as two separate sites, our team has made it possible for the sites to join forces – giving travelers more choice when they want to find a vacation rental and you all the opportunity to have an even more efficient way to manage your vacation rental businesses. The changes won’t go into effect for another month or so, but we couldn’t wait to tell you all about it!

What does this mean for you?

While the sites will continue to operate as independent brands, the changes will make it possible for you all to update your HomeAway.com and VRBO listings simultaneously, using one interface. For you HomeAway old-timers, the idea is similar to the calendar function we introduced with HomeAway Connect, a few years ago, but now your listing will be identical on both sites making it easier and faster to update photos, rates, etc.

Also, by popular demand, we’re introducing a new “bundled” pricing structure so you can have listings on both HomeAway.com and VRBO.com for $80-$750 less per year than before. We are even offering a global bundle so you can have a listing on 15 additional international sites. The goal was to give you more flexibility and choice with your marketing needs.

We’ve created a microsite dedicated to explaining this change in further detail and how it affects each of you. You can check it out here: http://network.homeaway.com

Finally, as we’ve said before, we value customer feedback and speak with hundreds of customers about our plans prior to releasing a new product or service. I’d like to share with you the feedback we received from THE pioneer of the vacation rental industry and original for-rent-by-owner customer, VRBO.com founder, Dave Clouse:

“This will be a huge time saver for both owners and property managers and will increase the accuracy of listings. Renters can now have more confidence that listings on all sites have the most current information and photos. It's a win-win situation for everyone, and makes both VRBO.com and HomeAway.com even better!”

We hope you’re just as pleased with the news.

Look out for an email announcing the launch of these changes and the opportunity for you to take advantage of them. Also, if you have any questions feel free to contact our customer support team here.

Thank you all for your business and continued support of HomeAway and VRBO.

Sincerely,

Brian

*Dave and Lynn Clouse founded Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO.com) in 1995.

Phighting Phishing

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:43:07 GMT

The phishing storm is brewing

The vacation rental industry gathered in Austin, Texas last weekend for the HomeAway Summit. Owners, Property Managers, HomeAway staff, and HomeAway partners discussed the state of the vacation rental industry, saw old friends and made new ones, and compared notes.

But this year, a new word entered the conversations in the halls, over drinks, and in the content of the Summit: phishing. Phishing, loosely defined, is the attempt by criminals to steal your online identity, most frequently via accessing your email account. While our industry continues to thrive, the threat of hackers gaining access to owners’ or property managers’ email accounts continues. If we do not pull together to fight this threat, it will affect the way travelers feel about the vacation rental industry, and ultimately, about booking your property. A storm is brewing.

For some, the storm has already come – just ask anyone who has had their email password phished. Scammers have intercepted inquiries, and ruined vacations by stealing money from trusting vacation rental travelers. Owners and property managers have had to scramble to re-secure their email accounts and protect their reputations. And the reputation of the vacation rental industry is in question.

For most, the HomeAway Summit marked the first time that they ever heard of phishing, but they understood how both owners and travelers are at risk because of our industry’s reliance on trusted communications via email. (If you are not familiar with phishing, click here for an overview of how it happens, or read Carl Shepherd’s post on phishing.

Today, losses due to phishing are small: in Q1 2012, phishing scams affected less than 0.1% of travelers who found a vacation rental via a HomeAway website.

But even one ruined vacation or theft of an owner or property manager’s identity is totally unacceptable. Everyone in the vacation rental industry – from owners to property managers to HomeAway – has a role to play in stopping phishing scams. While phishing may be a relatively small problem in absolute numbers, recent activity tells us that the phishers are getting smarter and more travelers, owners, and managers are being affected. It is clear that scammers and criminals have figured out that the vacation rental industry is a great target.

Why? Because:

the standard practice in the vacation rental industry is for travelers to pay large amounts of money for vacation rentals, long before the stay and sight unseen;
not everyone understands or uses safe and secure payment methods;
many people conduct their business in email accounts from email providers that have been repeatedly compromised; and
cybercriminals are good at exploiting communities that rely on trust and a personal connection.

Phishing is not new; vacation rentals are not the first industry to be targeted by cybercriminals. Phishers have attacked many online industries ranging from online auctions, banking, social media, travel, e-commerce, even medical and government institutions, impacting major brands like eBay, PayPal, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Bank of America.

Everyone of us in the vacation rental industry has a lot at stake, and we will all need to work together to stop phishers. You can do your part by guarding your email password with the same care as you protect your social security number, your bank account, and your most valuable possessions.

Our vision on how to fight phishing

So what can HomeAway do to fight phishing? To be clear, we’ve been fighting scammers ever since HomeAway was founded. But as we look ahead, we have come to the conclusion that HomeAway needs to take a strong stance against phishing.

We believe that we can fight phishing by:

safeguarding the traveler’s money by providing safe payment methods protected by strong security, such as ReservationManager™;
protecting owner and traveler email addresses so that phishers cannot readily target those accounts;
continuing to provide secure authentication so that HomeAway can ensure that only legitimate owners, travelers, and managers can access information; and most critically
moving interactions between owners or managers and travelers into a secure environment where everyone can be confident they are talking to each other, not a crook.

Our vision is that we can create an environment where we can protect owners, property managers and travelers with something we are calling “HomeAway Secure Communication.” This would be a new system, envisioned only in the last few months, and which is now in development. We plan to make it available starting in the second half of this year.

This proposed system is similar to sites you may use, like Facebook, LinkedIn and others, where authentication is required by both parties before they can connect. On these sites, once two parties have decided to “trust” each other, they can converse via email. But until trust is established, they CAN still communicate keeping key elements of their identity protected.

In our vision, owners and travelers would still receive notifications and messages from each other via email and text message, but they need to reply via a secure system that does not disclose their email address. This way, HomeAway would be able to ensure the legitimacy of the owner or property manager and the traveler.

We’ve already started: we showed one early prototype of HomeAway Secure Communication at the Summit during the HomeAway Sneak Peeks session. We demonstrated how the system will enable owners and property managers to:

communicate safely with travelers and only reveal their email address when they choose to;
have a persistent record of the conversation, payments and other events that have occurred;
manage their conversations, bookings and payments via mobile app; and
reduce manual and repetitive work for responding to inquiries, sending information about properties and managing bookings and payment.

We recognize that many of our customers rely heavily on email to manage their interactions with travelers. We also know that a system like this will represent a significant change for many owners and managers.

But it is precisely because your email account is so critical to your business that it must be protected.

We are highly sensitive to the needs of our customers and are aware of the scope of change that this solution represents. We are also laser-focused on making this solution as convenient and beneficial as possible; but we are counting on you, our customers – property managers and owners – to help us design and implement a solution that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of responding to inquiries and managing communications with your customers – the travelers.

We’re doing something different than what we normally do. We are announcing our intentions and inviting our community and customers to participate in the process of creating a solution because we believe it is critical to your future success as an owner or property manager: if travelers don’t trust, they will not rent.

And if you have ideas, you can give us your feedback directly by emailing us at secure-feedback@homeaway.com or via the feedback links on all of our sites. While we don’t respond to every email we get, we do READ every one.

If you want to learn more about our vision for HomeAway Secure Communication, check our FAQ here.

And please sign up for the Secure Communication group on Community from HomeAway to join the discussion – we’ll post updates there as we go forward.

What can I do now to fight phishing?

We all have to pull together to fight phishing. HomeAway has worked hard to educate the industry via emails, messages on our website, and via the Security Center. We continuously invest in technology to actively monitor fraud, to surface suspicious activity, and to harden our systems and protect our customers. More recently, we have introduced new products, such as ReservationManager and Traveler Profiles, and processes such as Phone Verification to support safety.

Here are a few steps you can take now to join in the fight:

Educate yourself – visit our Security Center to learn about phishing
Read our FAQ to learn how to spot fraudulent inquiries
When you receive a suspicious inquiry or email, please let us know
Accept safe payment methods like those offered through ReservationManager
Include an up-to-date phone number on your listing. We recommend that travelers call the telephone number published on your property listing page to confirm their reservation and payment details
Use two-factor authentication on your email accounts. See this article on how. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/04/make-your-email-hacker-proof.html
If you list on vrbo.com or homeaway.com - log into your dashboard to check your inquiries to make sure you (and not a phisher) are receiving your inquiries.
Never enter your email password on any webpage via a link sent to you by email, or even if a login page that looks like your email provider’s website pops up unexpectedly. Always go to the email provider’s website to log in
And don’t ignore warning signs or red flags - if you have a bad feeling, it never hurts to double check

Together we can fight this threat to the vacation rental industry, and we’re counting on you, just like you count on us.

Sincerely,

Tom Hale

Chief Product Officer

I’m Proud to Introduce HomeAway’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ Campaign

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:03:23 GMT

I have to say I am REALLY excited about our new ad campaign that launches on January 15th during the 69^th Annual Golden Globes! Kudos to our advertising team and new agency of record, GSD&M, for really nailing the essence of HomeAway’s business with the new tagline, “Let’s Stay Together.”

This time I feel like we’ve really got it RIGHT! Truth be told, we’ve resorted to some pretty gimmicky stuff in the past couple of years, preying on the hotel industry and trying hard to stand out in the pack of Super Bowl ads with something shocking and memorable.

Two years ago it was the Griswolds, an award-winning campaign starring the one and only Chevy Chase. It received a ton of buzz and even won an EFFIE (for most effective ad campaign), and we sure had fun making it! But for the most part that ad was a way to simply introduce the brand and poke fun at hotels versus vacation rentals. And with only 30 seconds at the Super Bowl, we had little time to really highlight the positive benefits of renting a home.

Last year we stayed with the “Why hotel when you can HomeAway” theme and introduced the “Minister of Detourism” as a character tasked with saving family vacations. In the process, we made a major faux pas when a (fake) baby was flung into a window during the ad. That caused quite a stir, and in retrospect rightly so. We quickly pulled the ad and apologized.

This year is very different! We’ve decided to skip the Super Bowl – it forces you to try and be provocative to stand out. Rather, we have a much longer and broader campaign, and have really taken the time to focus on what our business is really about – promoting togetherness with families and groups.

So this year it is all goodness, togetherness, and happiness – and emphasizing where you stay is as important as where you go while on vacation. As an added bonus, we got Al Green to agree to license his classic song “Let’s Stay Together” for our campaign. The end result is a beautiful and artistic scrapbook montage of families and friends having the time of their lives while on vacation, and of course staying in rental homes!

Most importantly, this campaign is as much about the industry as it is about HomeAway. If we can simply get people to associate vacation rentals with better togetherness, then we will have succeeded with the campaign. I think it is going to be a real winner for our industry; I hope you enjoy it too.

You may read the press release and view the 60-second ad here: http://www.homeaway.com/info/media-center/press-releases/2012/lets-stay-together

I look forward to reading your comments.

Best,

Brian

RezFest 2011 – Wow!

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:28:38 GMT

When HomeAway Software for Professionals™ was born in late 2010, we decided to continue the Instant Software® tradition to hold RezFest® as the premier software user conference in the industry. In doing so, we had a simple goal in mind: to make RezFest 2011 bigger, better, more fun and more professional than ever! Thanks to all of you showed up in Vegas for RezFest 2011, we surpassed expectations on all fronts!

Now that we have rested for a couple of weeks, gathered our thoughts and received survey feedback, I can share why RezFest 2011 was so successful. On a year-on-year analysis, conference attendance increased by 60%, with 80% more individual companies and 78% more sponsors attending than last year - thank you! We also provided more networking opportunities. Check out some of the fun photos from the opening night reception featuring the Blues Brothers impersonators to hitting the lanes on bowling night. Was that fun or what? Many clients thought RezFest was the best industry event they have attended and several of them were hugging us by the end of the conference! Here are a couple quotes from actual attendees that capture the moment:

“This was our first time at RezFest and we are now making sure that event is in our budget from now on. Worth every penny spent.”

“If you only attend one convention next year, it should be RezFest. It is the premier event for the vacation rental manager. You will meet wonderful people and learn so much. At RezFest you work hard, and play just as hard. Don't miss it!”

With 76 track combinations, we tried to offer a diverse and interesting agenda. Presenters did an amazing job and your appreciation was reflected in your survey responses. The large computer lab manned by the customer support team was also a tremendous success, giving clients the opportunity to be trained and/or ask questions about your particular software. Again, based on your feedback, the software lab was regarded as a valuable addition because it provides staff members from all levels of your organization a chance to work hands on with our team of experts. The agenda was so packed with engaging material that some of you asked that we make the show a day longer next year! Wow, that is a first where attendees ask for more time at a trade event!

During HomeAway CEO, Brian Sharples’ keynote, he explained why HomeAway acquired Escapia® and Instant Software and addressed industry fears to demonstrate how committed HomeAway is to the PM segment. By the end of his presentation, everyone seemed to have understood HomeAway’s strategy and felt much more comfortable with HomeAway’s acquisitions from about a year ago. Throughout the show, clients were able to mingle and with HomeAway’s executive team. I think customers were surprised by how accessible and down-to-earth Brian Sharples, COO Brent Bellm and the other executives were in person.

Peter Greenberg, the other RezFest speaker, was an energetic and informative speaker as he emphasized that the “personal contact” property managers provide to their guests 24/7 is key. He also focused on “selling value to the right demographics,” particularly to Boomers. Greenberg’s bullish perspective on the travel industry in the coming years was encouraging and the 2011 performance of many PMs in the room this year prove that he may be on track with his predictions.

I hope HomeAway demonstrated our commitment to your success and have your interests at heart. We will continue to operate in a professional and straightforward manner, with the 120 employees in HomeAway Software for Professionals dedicated to building the best possible software solutions and keeping dialog going with you and the Support and Relationship Manager staff. To use a construction analogy, we feel 2011 has been focused on building the foundation of a great house of the future. Next year will be a year of INNOVATION that will add marble counter tops, state of the art light fixtures and simple details to save you time and money. Our goal is to take your software solution to extraordinary levels of efficiencies using a modular approach that builds on top of your existing platform. It is not an easy and it takes time but like we said in late 2010, “judge us by our actions.”

Thank you for attending RezFest! For those of you who could not attend this year, please join us next year. You will not regret it!