For a vacation rental manager, the competitive landscape is rapidly changing. Acquiring new home inventory into a vacation rental program requires strategic and proactive planning. This presentation provides a guideline to create a successful home owner acquisition plan for your vacation rental program.

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Amy Hinote
Founder and Editor, VRM Intel
Owner Acquisition Planning
For Vacation Rental
Managers

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Owner Acquisition Planning
Based on combining Business-to-Business (B2B)
and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) strategies
and tactics used in the vacation rental
industry.
• Background in media buying, market research, consumer tourism,
and vacation rental management
• B2B technology marketing for Instant Software, HomeAway,
Vacation Storebuilder, TruPlace and more.
• In last 18 months, interviewed vacation rental managers in 20+
markets about what is and what is not effective in attracting and
retaining new owners.

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B2B + B2C = B2O (Business-to-Owner)
Based on combining B2B and B2C strategies
and tactics used in the vacation rental industry.
• B2B: Rational, logical, based on revenue and service needs,
want education, want demonstrated expertise, cost-benefit
analysis.
• B2C: Emotionally triggered, want to enjoy themselves, want to
be happy with their purchase and have it adequately fulfill their
needs.
For homeowners, choosing a property manager is driven both by
expertise and emotion.
Therefore the strategy should connect on both levels.

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Homeowner Perceptions
Why small local companies (<50) do well:
1. Lower commissions
2. Owner-level attention
3. Hand-holding service
4. Not nickel and diming homeowner
5. Expectations managed (because communications
are customer driven and reactive)
Is this perception or reality?

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Owner Acquisition Strategy
1. Be Proactive and Intentional
2. Assign Ownership of Strategy
3. Formulate a Plan
4. Allocate Systems, Technology and
Resources
5. Measure Performance

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Owner Acquisition Plan Components
1. Analysis
2. Targeting
3. Messaging and channel
identification
4. Goals
5. Implementation
6. Evaluation

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1. Analysis
Area
Analysis
Size of your market
Your market share
Economic
conditions
Government
regulation
Tourism behavior
Pricing
Historic changes
Your market
position
Inventory
Revenue
Management
Internal
Analysis
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Current Messaging
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Competitive
Analysis
Top competitors
Your competitive
position
Competitive pricing
VRBO
Competitive
advantage

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1. Analysis: Market
8
Market
Size
Market Share
Economic
Conditions
Government
Regulation
1
How many
vacation rentals
are in your
market?
2
How many
properties do
you manage
and what is
your market
share?
3
What are
the
economic
conditions in
your area?
4
Are you
facing any
regulatory
issues?
5
Has tourism
behavior
changed in
your area?
Tourism
Behavior

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1. Analysis: Competitive
Top
competitors
Competitive
position
Competitive
Pricing
VRBOs
Competitive
Advantage
1
Who are your
top
competitors?
2
What is your
competitive
position?
3
How is your
pricing
different from
your
competitors?
4
Are you
competing
against
VRBOs?
5
What are
your
competitive
advantages?

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1. Analysis
• Pricing and Inventory:
– Identify Profitable Types, neighborhoods and
communities, and recent losses signifying an
area of bleeding
• Internal:
– Current Messaging and Strategy
– SWOT

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SWOT
Your company
STRENGTHS
For example:
Awareness
Market Share
Longevity
Technology
Service
WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
For example:
Types
Competitive Advantage
New buildings/communities
For example:
Awareness
Market Share
Technology
New company
For example:
New business models
Economy
Regulation

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2. Targeting
Based on analysis and information from
team members, software and data
sources.
• Property type, size
• Amenities
• Location
• Specific buildings, developments or
communities
• Competition

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4. Messaging
Messaging: Instead of telling homeowners “WHAT
WE DO” tell homeowners “WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU”
• Identify the problems that your target homeowner
experiences.
• Present your USP as a simple cure for all the pain and
suffering the homeowner is feeling.
• Identify all the benefits of your solution and how
those benefits will improve the life of the
homeowner.
• Present the results you've produced for other people
in the same situation (Results, Projections,
Testimonials)
• Explain what makes you different from your
competitors.

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3. Messaging and channel identification
Channels: Like any marketing plan, the
program used multiple frequency-based touch
points, based on proposed strategy and
budget approval:
• Email marketing
• Direct mail
• Digital marketing
• Content Strategy
• B2B Channels

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ONLINE MARKETING CHANNELS
Website PPC Content Creation
SEO Social Email

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OFFLINE MARKETING CHANNELS
PR Collateral Partnerships/Referrals
Print Ads Direct Mail Sponsorships

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How to find owners for outbound
marketing
• Public Records Online Directory
• Courthouse Public Records
• Realtors
• HOA’s
• Offer free rental projections to realtors
The national companies (e.g. Vacasa and
Wyndham) have lead generation, sales and
marketing teams who do nothing but target
homeowners.

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MARKETING -TECHNOLOGY
CRM Social Big Data
Email Lifecycle Mobile

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4. Implementation
1. Combine elements and research
2. Submit and present written Owner
Acquisition Plan
3. Make any edits from your team
4. Get sign-off/buy-in
5. Execute

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5. Evaluation
1. Metrics and ROI by channel
2. Communications
3. Leads generated
4. Status of leads
5. Contracts signed

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Amy Hinote
Founder and Editor, VRM Intel
Owner Acquisition Planning
For Vacation Rental
Managers