Bill's Bountiful Blog

May I keep you posted on my thoughts, ideas, observations, and silliness?. Am I serious? Is it relevant?. Does anyone care? Probably not much.

But in today's age of everyone has something to say, why not me? And who can blame me for jumping into to the pool? For speaking up For laying it out?

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." - Thomas Wiley, Journalist

Join Email List

Keyword

Topic

Date

Lodging Newsletter 20240229 Noel Coward Snake

By Wm, May
Published: 02/29/24 Topics: Advertising, AirBnB, Marketing, Self Improvement, Selling Comments: 0

Sir Noel Coward, the playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, was known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise."

When asked his advice for young actors, he said, "Speak clearly, move about the stage gracefully, and falling back on the playwright is always a good idea."

Why is it that in some careers that some people just do the basics, some become reasonably competent and still others become exemplary, like Sir Noel?

In lodging management, vacation rentals in particular, the playing field is now littered with managers and individual hosts at every level. And all feel they are successful. Mostly because they don't know the facts, because they don’t study.

AirBnB and VRBO enticed people by proclaiming how easy it is to buy a vacation rental, get some bookings and live happily every after. That pitch works because, indeed, if a home is listed on a single website, it will get some bookings. Not necessarily a lot, but at least some bookings.

Unfortunately, that gives every participant confidence that they are doing things right. But in fact, if a home is only listed on one or two advertising websites, it is leaving money on the table.

The rule we were taught in college is that advertising is a matter of reach, frequency, consistency and messaging. It is a simple formula.

To get more sales, get more inquiries
To get more inquiries, get more visibility
To get more visibility, advertise every way you can afford

There are hundreds of duties necessary to achieve maximum income. The most fundamental is to advertise everywhere always. If you don’t know how, you need a professional full-stack manager.

- - - - - - -

Lodging Newsletter

by Wm. May, for February 28, 2024

Property owners hire professional vacation rental managers to do the work they don't have time to do, or don't know how to do, or that they may feel uncomfortable doing.

A recently retired Colorado manager explains to owners that managers take on sophisticated tasks to propel vacation rental success, (such as guest services, wide ranging advertising, personnel training, and guest services) but often they pay managers "to scrape poop off toilets."

Over decades of managing homes in various locations, from beaches, to lakes, to cities and mountains, our staff have invested tens of thousands of hours mastering every duty, from the lofty to the mundane.

SNAKE OIL

As the vacation rental industry has grown (and as happens in every popular topic - think Pickle Ball!) the industry is now rife with so-called experts.

These "experts" speak at every conference, author bland blogs, write never-ending articles on websites (like LinkedIn), pontificate on podcasts, and own paid, member-only forums. Some of these have some good information, but many have the kind of headlines that have always come with get-rich-schemes.

"Get rich working only 4 hours a week!"

"Become a manager in just 30 days!"

"Make your vacation rental a money machine!"

"Slick ways for easy rentals!"

And all these riches will be yours by buying their product, book, or seminar from people with insufficient knowledge and experience. If you think this sounds like a late-night infomercial for hair-growing vitamins, you are correct.

Unless you spend many hours every week mastering the industry, you will never maximize your income. The trouble is that snake oil sales people are providing 10% facts and 90% nonsense that harms readers by promising far more than they can deliver.

Benjamin Franklin said "Freedom of the press should be restricted to those who can afford one." But now the internet has made everyone a author, broadcaster, editor and publisher. How can you know who is really an expert? You can't.

The American Idol TV show is famous for promoting tone-deaf singer auditions, because the signers believe they can sing. How sad for those contestants. And how sad that homeowners are being led astray by experts who aren't.

It was once said, "That those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." But today those who can't, just say they can.

Better advice for vacation rental home owners is to heed dear old Sir Noel Coward, rely upon the author. For vacation rentals, that is to hire a competent, consistent, always learning, full-stack, professional manager.

Author: Wm, May, Vortex VIP
Blog #: 0982 – 02/29/24

Sponsor: Vortex VIP – – VortexVIP.com

Continuing Versus Continuous Education

By Wm, May
Published: 02/29/24 Topics: Education, Employment, Government, Lodging Management, Lodging Newsletter, Vortex VIP Comments: 0

How would you rate the teachers you had in school and professors in college?

Like all professions, there are people who perform well and those who do not, with the majority sitting somewhere between those extremes and with most doing well or good enough.

After formal schooling, most workers find there are continuing education requirements for their chosen career. Doctors, Dentists, Accountants, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents and many other professions require participants take courses to learn fundamental skills and periodic classes to brush up or learn new and improved methods.

Long ago, formal requirements for continuing education were unusual. Today, Federal, State and even local governments, along with professional organizations (such as the Legal "Bar") set standards and demand practitioners take classes and pass exams. States have hundreds of licenses. You'll need a training to operate a cemetery, sell cars, or operate campground sales.

In a prior career as a mergers and acquisitions intermediary selling mid-sized companies, having a real estate brokerage license was required. Taking the classes was not a burden, but provided zero instruction on how to market, structure and sell corporations.

Unfortunately, the by-product of excessive licensing implies that people who have a certificate are qualified to do the work for which they have a license. For example, it implied that someone who has taken only 60 clock hours, is qualified to help a corporation sell out. That is dangerous for business sellers and buyers. So such a requirement deceives consumers.

Lodging operators of inns, resorts and vacation rentals have no such requirements for continuing education. But meetings, seminars, and conferences have sprung up where participants can hear from experts, learn techniques, and even argue about best practices. Like many other industries, lodging education has become dominated by vendors to the industry, who have something to sell, rather than the people who are actually out running properties.

So how is a property owner to know which managers are qualified and which are not? The answer is to look for managers who are committed to continuous self-education, not just continuing education. This month's newsletter provides a guide for doing just that.

- - - - - - - - - -

Lodging Newsletter

by Wm. May, for March 31, 2024

There are vast differences in the competence of lodging managers. Education is helpful, but does not reveal the manager's commitment. Technology affects income dramatically, but do they have the correct tech? Experience is helpful, but not if the manager does not apply lessons hard learned.

In recent years, AirBnB has suggested owners could just hire a nearby neighbor to manage their homes. Or find another self-managed owner and entice them to take on your house. Unfortunately, using amateurs is risky because they know not the whole picture.

Ours is a seemingly simple industry, but saddled with hundreds of tasks, and requiring knowledge that has changed dramatically almost every month for decades, and should be expected to continue to continue to morph forever. Think of these things when interviewing prospective lodging managers.

Needs: Fully outline your expectations and needs. Do you want a manager to hold your hand on a daily basis or one who performs their duties well and reacts swiftly to changing demands like rates, competitors and, even, the weather.

Knowledge: Admit what you already know and what you do not know. Ask managers about their procedures for each and every little thing. Then, let the manager perform.

Questions: Ask manager candidates deep questions. Require that they have proven policies and procedures for most anything you can imagine. If its not written down, they do not.

Continuous: Ask how they learned their craft, how long they have been doing it, and how they continually educate themselves and staff members. Without that your house is at risk.

Commitment: Are they are available 24-76-365 for guest and property needs? While after-hours requests are rare, you want leaders who always step up and take charge. Most managers do not.

Attitude: You may find this idea unusual, but in a consumer facing business, managers who are up-beat, unflappable, and happy to serve elevate your property above the rest. (It is not easy.)

Managers who are newer will be unable to answer every question, and may be unable to answer most questions. Experienced, leader-type managers will have seen about every possible scenario when it comes to managing homes. Such as:

Guests who arrive early before the home is re-cleaned or leave late, cutting cleaning time. Storms that flood roads. Counties that fight rentals. Advertising websites that act irresponsibly. Guests who try extortion a free stay. Credit cards that bounce.

Professionals who already know how to handle those situations are primed to take care of them without fuss. These are the managers who will produce the best possible outcome for your property.

Cost: The first question that most property owners ask managers is, "what is your fee?". While that is important, there are dozens of other questions that will affect the property's profit even more. Rates, advertising, reservation staffing, accounting and, even, legal staff. Balance them all to get success.

Author: Wm, May, Vortex VIP
Blog #: 0986 – 02/29/24

Sponsor: Vortex VIP – – VortexVIP.com

Vacation Rental Politics - Lodging Newsletter April 30, 2024

By Wm, May
Published: 02/29/24 Topics: Education, Employment, Government, Vortex VIP Comments: 0

Politics and Vacation Rentals make strange bedfellows. That makes sense for lodging where providing "beds" is the name of the game. But for politics, the operative word is just plain "strange".

Politicians have been known to praise tourism as good for local economies, all while they are hand cuffing travelers with excessive taxes, lodging promotion contributions, and repugnant regulations.

The latest incursion on travel is where naive local politicians attempt to circumvent the traveling public's wants, by profiting from vacation rentals or burdening them with unnecessary and poorly conceived regulations

Marketing of any product is simple - "Ask consumers what they want. And then you give it to therm." Businesses don’t tell consumers what to buy. They give it to them. That is especially true for travel.

Politicians like to ignore that undeniable truth, by dreaming up more ignorant ideas, all of which will cut travel in their areas and, thereby, cut those locals jobs that support their constituents.

The latest stupidity is how Chelan County Washington fabricated laws that add costs for visitors and saddle homeowners with unnecessary costs. Worse yet "Drop Dead" clauses permanently strips owners of their Constitution bundle of real estate rights for any imagined violation.

Washington State lawmakers want to allow cities and counties to add an additional whopping 10% to the sales and lodging taxes. They figure if consumers are stupid enough to pay the current 10 to 14% tax, they are dumb enough to pay 20 to 24%.

Consumers know when they are getting ripped off. They disappear never to return. The gossip mill warns other visitors that they are not wanted in Chelan County.

On top of all that, Chelan County's egotistical Community Director fools spent $300,000 for a software system to encourage neighbors spy on visitors, only later to admit that any traveler fines won't be enforceable to offset the cost.

There are bigger problems in the world than what vacation rental owners face. But if governments approaches all problems as they have for rentals, is no wonder they fail to solve those bigger issues.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Here is an open letter to the Chelan County Commissioners. Sounds like they believe their super citizen role gives them the right to ignore fair play and smart thinking.

Dearest Commissioners & Bureaucrats:

If you myopically thought that soaking visitors with never ending taxes would not decrease tourism, congratulations - you have fooled even yourself. Why be surprised that County Lodging contributions have dropped hugely?

If your goal was - To decrease sales for every business that relies on visitors, you should be congratulated for crushing commerce in the county.

If your goal was - To increase unemployment by causing those companies to cut jobs, you should be congratulated for hurting the very people who you are supposed to be protecting.

If your goal was - To get rid of all those pesky out-of-town land owners, you should be congratulated. You did it and devastated those people who don’t get to vote in your election. Smart really.

If your goal was - To trick people into thinking second homeowners would rent them out as affordable housing, thereby prohibiting their owner's use, congratulations on an idea that has never worked anywhere else.

If your goal was to - Kick people out of the county, who have owned there and loved it (As you do) for decades, congratulations for that kind of apartheid.

If your goal was - To pander to those citizens who hate everyone and everything, you should be congratulated for creating your own kind of hate crime.

If you goal was - To make those people hate heavy handed government, you should not be congratulated for tricking and treating people like fools.

If your goal was - To rake in more unnecessary taxes and increase costs, adding layers of paper shuffling bureaucrats, congratulations, now you have more people sucking money for no valid reason.

Can you ever comprehend that responsible people are entitled to take care of their properties without more mind-numbing rules, regulations, risks and abuse? You should be congratulated for doing the opposite.

Can you admit - That right now is the time to cut the vacation rental regulations down by 90%. Have a simple form to ensure everyone pays taxes, has safety equipment and lists how to contact owners if there is an issue.

Of course, all the haters in the county will castigate you for prohibiting them spewing their hatred. But it is time to do the right thing, so that maybe you could be congratulated for standing up for fair play.

Author: Wm, May, Vortex VIP
Blog #: 0992 – 02/29/24

Sponsor: Vortex VIP – – VortexVIP.com

Outdoor Preschool Director Finds Classic Cabin

By Wendy Thomas
Published: 02/26/24 Topics: AirBnB, Cooking, Crystal Mountain, Interview, Mount Rainier WA, Vacation Comments: 0

Interview with Lindgren Haus renter Justin Way about his stay with his friends

Justin, the director of an outdoor preschool in Denver, stayed true to his likes when he and friends booked a trip to Mount Rainier. They wanted to be able to hang out together and ski, coming together from their homes across the United States.

______

Crystal Cabins: What made you choose Lindgren Haus and the Mount Rainier area?

Justin: The price was hard to beat for the weekend. It was an awesome location and had classic cabin kind of vibe. We wanted to go skiing at Crystal Mountain. That was the biggest driver of where we stayed. I’d been to Seattle a bunch of times, but never up to Crystal Mountain before.

Crystal Cabins: Did you and your friends enjoy the cabin?

Justin: It was great for hanging out with friends. It had a nice layout and everything was provided.

Crystal Cabins: Were the amenities ok? What you were expecting?

Justin: We were surprised by a TV and DVD player. We hadn’t realized that they would be there. We hooked up our Switch to the TV. The kitchen was well stocked and we were excited we didn’t need to bring in anything. Soap and towels were already there. That was great for those of us who flew in.

Crystal Cabins: Was your favorite part of the trip the skiing?

Justin: That was definitely part of it. It was phenomenal skiing. But all of us hanging out in the cabin at night was the best part.

Crystal Cabins: You skied and you stayed at the cabin. Sounds both fun and relaxing. Did you feel you had a good trip?

Justin: Yeah, we got everything we wanted and more out of it. It was an awesome stay. If we can get everyone together again, we’d like to come back.

Author: Wendy Thomas – Editor, Lindgren Haus
Blog #: 0979 – 02/26/24

Submit Your Blog!

DETAILS: Newsletters are published for the benefit of readers. Because information changes rapidly, content may be dated by the time it arrives and further out of date over time. Reviewing old newsletters should be done understanding when it was published. Authors are invited to submit news, articles and opinions by clicking on the Submit articles link. By doing so, submitters authorize the editor to publish such submissions additional news items on this and other websites without compensation, with and without credit to and naming of the author. Once submitted articles may can not be withdrawn. The publisher accepts no responsibility for mis-information or errors submitted to it. Please report inappropriate or undesirable linked news by emailing the website.