Heather Bayer

Whether that’s to release capital to buy another vacation rental property or to get out of the business altogether, the dilemma is to get the value it deserves based on the income generated over the years. Once a price has been set, they’ll promote the property on their networks and if the price is competitive for the area and the market, it should sell within a short time. However, if you’ve spent years building a solid vacation rental business it’s likely you’ll want to benefit from the hard work you’ve put in, and have that reflected in the selling price. The person should know about current and pending legislation, have a good grasp on the seasonality of the area in terms of inbound tourism, and be willing to work with you on creating a sales package that reflects the business potential of the property.

While I feel privileged to have been an onlooker and active participant in so much change in the past 40 years, it can be exhausting, and I completely understand when I hear people lamenting the good old days of vacation rentals. That said, as vacation rental owners, we need to get used to even more change coming our way, because it’s going to be unrelenting. If independent owners don’t listen to guests, accept their demands for higher standard in both commodity and service, and bring their A game to every transaction, the writing may well be on the wall for them. This has been demonstrated recently in San Diego, where even the Mission Beach area that reportedly has 44 percent of housing stock available for short-term rental, has been given notice of a total ban on non-resident rental activity.

Last year it rained a lot and we had to deal with unhappy guests whose longed-for sunny and hot vacation turned into a washout. so for the majority of guests, the annual vacation involves a lot of swimming, fishing, boating and general cavorting in the water, followed by campfires, BBQs and ice cream. In cottages where a door may be held open for half an hour while a car was unloaded, or to get some air circulating, critters had an open invitation. We do this review each year because although we’ll have systems and processes in place to deal with the previous season’s issues, there are always new ones up and coming.

Amy Hinote is one of the top influencers in our industry and it was a huge pleasure to sit down and chat with her about the current state of the industry and to hear about some of her upcoming projects. Our discussion ranges from how homeowners may feel sidelined by Airbnb’s courting of property managers, to the challenges hotel chains face when moving into the vacation rental space. This will be an ultra-glossy publication filled with articles on the wider world of the second home market, from investment to interior design to create a profitable business from them. This will be unlike any conference we’ve seen before in the industry and will feature some great speakers including the Countess of Carnarvon (owner of Highclere House, otherwise known as Downton Abbey), and author of Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert.