VRMA 2026 Recap: Big Conversations, Bold Predictions & a Few Rumors

Alex Husner 0:02

Welcome back to Alex and Annie. We are back from Nashville VRMA 2026. And as usual, there's a lot to unpack from the biggest conference of the year.

Annie Holcombe 0:12

Oh my gosh, there is so much between the conversations that were had about, of course, AI, OTA changes, which lots of stuff happened right before we went to the conference. So there was, there were conversations had about that, industry consolidations and kind of like the look forward into 2027. There was no shortage of things to talk about. But I think this year we decided to have a little fun. Show floor can get a little boring sometimes, but we wanted to have a little fun with all the operators and all the suppliers. So we mixed it up a little bit.

Alex Husner 0:41

Yeah. And we actually we went around to all the partners that we have through the podcast and a couple other ones, but mostly our partners for the show that we've worked closely with this year. And we asked them three burning questions. And Annie, do you want to take the first one?

Annie Holcombe 0:56

Yeah. So this one I thought was a really fun because we never really we talk about it all the time, but it's like, you know, we all go on vacation. So we asked everybody is like when you go on vacation and you're in the vacation rental industry, where do you actually go?

Alex Husner 1:07

It was funny, a lot of people just said beach, just like beach any any beach. So we kind of drilled down, uh, you know, selfishly, we want to find uh other places that we can go on vacation. So that was eye-opening to get everybody's responses. The second one, this was kind of fun. We asked, if your company were a band, who would it be? And it would there was a resounding answer of a lot of different 80s bands. So we are for sure looking to incorporate that into our 2027 planning. Stay tuned for more on that.

Annie Holcombe 1:37

Yep. Hair bands are hair bands are the new, the new cool, apparently. And then I think this one was the most fun because you really just did not know what you were gonna get. So we went around and asked everybody who was like, finish this sentence. Rumor has it. And the answers were stunning, they were consistent in some levels, and then just a little, little fun, what people thought the rumors were that were floating around the industry.

Alex Husner 1:59

Yeah, yeah. And there were quite a few swirling around in Nashville. So it was definitely an entertaining part of that segment. And beyond uh those interviews, we also did three core interviews at the show. We started with Jeff Hurst, who is the CEO of Furnish Finder, previous very high-level chief commercial officer at Verbo back in the day. So he had some interesting takes on what's going on in the industry and with some of the channels right now. And then from there, we moved to Ian Ackland for booking.com, and we finished up with Joel Schoen from Escapia. So three different interviews at the end of our little fun segment that you're gonna hear next.

Annie Holcombe 2:37

And I have to share a little funny side note. I had a meeting with Ian Auckland and then Glenn Fogle after he spoke on the keynote on that Tuesday morning. And Ian shared with me that he thought he was coming over to our booth to do a photo booth appearance, not the podcast. So he did not know he was gonna be interviewed. So uh kudos to his team for hiding that from him. We always have a lot of fun with him, and he shared some great stuff. Oh, totally. Yeah. Well, he was a good sport about it, so it was all worth it.

Alex Husner 3:05

But enjoy everybody, and we will see you at the next VRMA. But tune in, this is a good one. Before we get back to today's episode, I want to share something that we believe matters for the future of this industry. Every property manager wants more direct bookings. You invest in your website, your brand, your guest experience, because owning that relationship matters. But travelers still need a trusted place to discover vacation rentals before they decide where to book. That's why Savvy exists. It's a direct booking marketplace built exclusively for professionally managed vacation rentals, and it's not just another OTA. When a traveler books

Three burning questions: industry rumors, rock bands, and dream vacations

Alex Husner 3:40

through Savvy, you remain at the center of the relationship, so there's no platform standing between you and your guest. You communicate directly with the traveler, receive payment, set your terms and conditions, and nurture the ongoing relationship. Here's what really got our attention. Since launching in early 2025, Savvy's monthly booking growth has averaged nearly 40%. Travelers are finding this option and fast. We love what the team at Savvy is building for property managers and the direct booking movement. If you're looking for a distribution partner that's actually built for you, not around you, check out savvy at savvy.com slash Alexandan. Okay, we're here with Savvy. We have the DeLorean behind us, the amazing booth, always the best booth, guys. The best way. So we've got some hot tech questions for you. Michelle, Eric. First question is this is very appropriate. If your company were a band, who would it be? Huey Huey Lewis in the news? Separate answer. I was gonna say the same thing. Huey Lives in the News.

SPEAKER_24 4:38

Yeah, uh, if it's not Huey Lose in the news, uh it would be Hootie and the Bofish, because time knows on time. I don't know.

Annie Holcombe 4:45

Okay, okay. Good Woody and the Blowfish. That's a second one. Finish this sentence. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Rumor has it that uh property managers are sick of Airbnb Burbo.

Annie Holcombe 4:54

Good one, good one.

SPEAKER_19 4:55

Rumor has it. Rumor has it, we're traveling back in time and we're giving travel or we're giving travelers the actual direct book rate, and we're giving property managers the ability to showcase their brand. Love it. Good one. Okay. We're going on vacation. Yeah. Back to the future, my friends.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Yeah, it depends if I'm going, if I'm going forward in time or back in time, but often it involves mountains and snowboards.

SPEAKER_19 5:21

Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna have to after the coffee air. Although lately we've been going on uh direct bike trips to uh Cresty Butte, Colorado, and Park City, Utah.

SPEAKER_24 5:32

Water's also good. Anything with water so you can foil or get in the sun is it's awesome.

Alex Husner 5:36

Okay. Oh we went to Cancun, so I'm gonna say Cancun because we had an epic boat trip in Cancun.

SPEAKER_19 5:43

All right, thank you.

Alex Husner 5:45

Okay, thanks. Okay, guys, we're here with Cyrus. We've got Vinny and Josh, and we've got some hot tech questions. The first one is where do you go on vacation? And we want individual answers on all these questions. Tokyo. The Bahamas. Okay. Okay. If the company were a band, who would it be?

SPEAKER_17 6:03

The Beatles. Metallica.

Alex Husner 6:06

All right. This is the good one.

Annie Holcombe 6:07

Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_18 6:10

Uh you can edit this. I have no idea what you want to know.

Annie Holcombe 6:19

Is there any what what is it? What's a rumor? What's a rumor in the industry that's going around?

SPEAKER_18 6:23

Oh, uh, rumor has it, Cyrus is out of business.

SPEAKER_17 6:27

That's the same rumor I heard.

Annie Holcombe 6:30

No, you've heard it here. They're at not they're here at the show, they're not out of business. We're still here. We're still in the company.

Alex Husner 6:36

Still here. Thriving, thriving, actually. Rumor have it. Rumor has it. You were thriving. It's not a rumor, it's true.

SPEAKER_17 6:44

It's true. It's been our best year in about four years, actually.

Alex Husner 6:46

Thank you. Okay. Thanks, guys. Okay. We're back with Michelle Bird from Booking Pal, and we have some hot take questions. Number one, where do you go on vacation? I like Isle of Palms. Love it.

SPEAKER_07 6:58

So for the come up visit me in Myrtle Beach. I do. I do.

Annie Holcombe 7:03

Okay, second one. Finish this sentence. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_07 7:07

Is gasty-buying in habit?

SPEAKER_13 7:10

We don't know. Try to get to the bottom of it.

Alex Husner 7:13

And third question: if Booking Pal were a band, what band would Booking Pal be?

SPEAKER_07 7:18

I would say like Rolling Stones. We like to keep it pretty classic. Like we're fun, but we're also nice, you know? I like that. I like good. I like good solid. Right. Love that. Perfect. Thanks, Michelle. Thanks, Michelle.

Annie Holcombe 7:30

Okay, so Justin, we've got some hot take questions for you. Yeah. So, rapid fire. If Breezeway were a band, who would they be?

SPEAKER_23 7:36

Oh, we would definitely be men without hats. Safety dangers. I've never safety. Okay.

Annie Holcombe 7:42

Jeremy may not agree. Jeremy may not agree, but Justin and I firmly believe it.

Alex Husner 7:47

Okay. Okay. Next one. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_23 7:50

That Breezeway will be the long-lasting software in the industry. We will be, in fact, the apocalypse will happen and we'll still be here.

Alex Husner 7:58

I think it's rumors. The rumors are true. Third question: where do you go on vacation? I know the answer to this and it's amazing places, but where's your favorite place?

SPEAKER_23 8:08

Wherever there's hot springs. Oh. Natural hot springs for us. Yeah, I like natural hot springs.

SPEAKER_13 8:14

Interesting. Okay. Awesome. Well, I can't really got taller than Justin. It's a great day.

Alex Husner 8:17

Yep. And we're back with Vanessa Hughes of ICND. We've got some hot take questions for you. Okay. First one, where do you like to go on vacation?

SPEAKER_11 8:25

Well, since I live at the beach, I usually like to go to the mountains or maybe like Disney World. Okay.

SPEAKER_08 8:30

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_11 8:31

Okay. But ultimately, honestly, I love a cruise. Oh, okay. Yeah, no one said cruise yet. Yeah. Because, you know, um, living and breathing hospitality and a mom, when I go on vacation, I want to like be passenger myself.

Annie Holcombe 8:46

Yeah, you want somebody else to take care of you. That's completely understandable. Okay. If I C and D were a band, who would they be?

SPEAKER_11 8:53

That's a great one. Aerosmith comes to mind. But that's because I love Aerosmith. Well, but that's a that's a long-standing, stable band that every generation likes. And they can always reinvent themselves. Yeah, what's new? And you guys are very innovative and you're always reinventing.

Alex Husner 9:10

You too. Yeah, you too would be a good one for us. Yeah. Okay. U2, IC and D. All the letters and numbers. Perfect. Perfect. Okay. Okay. And the last one, finish the sentence. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_11 9:21

Rumor has it that I'm going to leave IC and D and start an Etsy to do all these hats that I've been doing here.

Annie Holcombe 9:29

Is that an iron? Yeah. Like a many.

SPEAKER_11 9:36

So yeah. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. All right. Thank you.

Alex Husner 9:39

Thank you. We're here with Maria Nevis from Hospitable, and we got a couple of quick questions for you. So if Hospitable were a band, who would you be?

SPEAKER_07 9:48

Let's go with Metallica, because they've been around for a really long time. And um, they're pretty like known globally. And yeah, we'll stick around for a really long time and uh we'll have global dominance. I like that.

Annie Holcombe 9:59

I like that. Okay, so where do you vacation?

SPEAKER_07 10:03

Oh, all over the world. Uh I like to explore a new country every time uh I I travel. And I I've been trying to go to last travel places, like Uzbekistan has been one of the recent destinations that I went exploring. Yeah, nice. Very cool. That's a great answer. Okay, finish the sentence. Rumor has it that Verma is the Mecca for short-term rentals. Oh my goodness, love it. Is it a rumor or is it a fabulous? All right, yeah. Fabulous.

Alex Husner 10:29

Thank you. We've got Nick and Roy with Sun Squared. We've got some hot take questions for you guys.

Annie Holcombe 10:34

Okay, first question rumor has it your booth was stolen last night.

SPEAKER_22 10:37

Yeah, I we just we don't know what happened, but um competition isn't it? I don't know, right?

Alex Husner 10:44

Okay, next question. If Sun Squared was a band, who would it be?

SPEAKER_22 10:49

Def Leppard.

SPEAKER_13 10:51

Oh, two bands. Okay, same company, two bands.

Alex Husner 10:54

And this was your question idea that you gave me the other day at Top Golf. Where do you go on vacation? What's your favorite place?

SPEAKER_22 11:00

I would say actually Australia.

SPEAKER_08 11:02

Good one.

SPEAKER_22 11:03

Anywhere with a beach.

SPEAKER_08 11:05

Sunny beach. So I won't see you in Myrtle, then I guess.

Alex Husner 11:08

So Panama City Beach is not in your agenda this week. Thanks, guys. All right, thanks, guys. Okay, perfect. We're back with Chris Walker from Direct Booking Tools. Chris, we have three questions. All right. The first one is this is the softball. Where do you go when you go on vacation?

SPEAKER_20 11:22

My backyard.

Alex Husner 11:23

Oh.

SPEAKER_09 11:24

Fair enough.

Annie Holcombe 11:25

Fair enough because you travel a lot. You like to stay home.

SPEAKER_20 11:27

Oh, well, I live in Hilton Head Island. So where else would you want to go? That's true.

Annie Holcombe 11:31

Fair enough. Okay, finish this sentence. Yes. Rumor has it. That I'm a wonderful guy. Well, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I mean, that's a fact. Rumor has it. Rumor has it. That it's always best to book direct.

Alex Husner 11:44

Yes, yes. That is a good rumor. That's a very good thing.

Annie Holcombe 11:47

Rumors are growing in strength, though. I think so. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Alex Husner 11:53

Last one. All right. If direct booking tools were a band, who would you be? Van Halen.

SPEAKER_08 11:59

Oh, that's a good thing.

Alex Husner 12:00

Van Halen.

SPEAKER_13 12:01

Van Halen. All right.

Annie Holcombe 12:02

June, maybe. I like that. I like that. Awesome. Do you notice everybody's choosing like 80s, 90s classic rock? I think we need to have an 80s theme. I do.

Alex Husner 12:12

Absolutely. Thanks. As always, Chris, we appreciate you. All right. We've got Shahar Goldboy, Sab Mulligan from Boom. We have three questions for you guys. Okay. Quick questions. First one is if Boom were a band, and we want separate answers. If Boom were a band, who would Boom be? Rolling Stones.

Annie Holcombe 12:30

Very nice. Can I say a Maltese band? Yeah. Yeah. Red electric. Red electric. Okay, now we have to look that up. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Okay, next question. Finish this sentence. Okay. Rumor has it. That BAM is the best layer of agentic AI as a VRMA. Well, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Soul to guest.

Alex Husner 12:55

Very good. Okay. Okay. We're trying to find out. And the third question: when you go on vacation, where do you like to go? Bali. Bali.

Annie Holcombe 13:03

Bali is my place. Yeah. I'm coming on vacation with Sab next year. Yeah, I know. And you? Where do you?

SPEAKER_03 13:09

I would also say Bali, because Bali in Hebrew, it's like I feel like. So it sounds good. Oh. Bali.

Annie Holcombe 13:15

Interesting. Bali means I feel like.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Bali, yeah.

Annie Holcombe 13:18

Oh. Oh, we will learn something. Not a surprise.

Alex Husner 13:21

We learned a lot at home. All right, perfect. Thanks, thanks. Okay, we're back with Koala and Priya from Track, and we've got three burning questions. First one: if track were a band, who would you be? Individual answer. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:35

What was your answer?

Alex Husner 13:36

Rolling Stones.

SPEAKER_05 13:38

That's a good one. I like Rolling Stones, but I'm going to go ahead and go with Aerosmith. Okay.

Annie Holcombe 13:44

Finish this sentence. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_05 13:49

Guess he's buying Streamline.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

We've heard that a couple times.

SPEAKER_13 13:55

What's your rumor?

SPEAKER_04 13:56

Well, it's not a rumor, it's a fact. Trust accounting matters a lot if you want a high valuation when you exit. Oh my God.

Alex Husner 14:03

Probably the best question we've got. I think that's a really good answer. Good answer. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Last one. When you vacation, where do you like to go? Beaches all the way. Which ones? Anywhere and everywhere. Mexico. I've traveled a bunch in Asia. I will look for sun and water every time. Okay.

Annie Holcombe 14:20

What about you, Colin?

SPEAKER_05 14:21

Myrtle beach, Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach.

Annie Holcombe 14:25

We've done that forever.

SPEAKER_06 14:28

Bye five. All right. Thanks, guys.

Alex Husner 14:31

We're back with Dawn from Dormacaba, and we've got three burning questions. The first one is where do you like to vacation?

SPEAKER_10 14:36

Anywhere that I get a good deal and can get in the door.

Annie Holcombe 14:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 14:40

I like that.

Annie Holcombe 14:43

That sounds okay. We need to help you. We need to help you get a good deal and in the door. Okay. No, that's good. If Dormacaba was a band, who would they be?

SPEAKER_10 14:51

Definitely a rock star. Let me think about that one. Somebody loving touching and squeezing Elvis.

Annie Holcombe 14:57

Oh, that's we haven't heard that. You haven't heard that one. That's a good one. Last one.

SPEAKER_10 15:02

Finish this sentence. Rumor has it. That we are the best team on the planet. We know how to work with you and become a strategic partner. And that's not a rumor, actually. So I'm not on the bottom. That's true.

SPEAKER_06 15:14

That's the truth. That's true.

Alex Husner 15:15

We know that. Thank you. We've got Ryan with Beyond. Hello. Ryan, we've got three burning questions for you. Three.

SPEAKER_20 15:22

Okay.

Alex Husner 15:22

The first one is if Beyond were a band, who would you be?

SPEAKER_20 15:26

Ooh, that's a great question. I'm gonna go with let's go, the pussycat dolls.

SPEAKER_13 15:31

Ooh. That's a new one.

Annie Holcombe 15:33

That's the best, maybe one of the best answers we got today. Okay. Finish this sentence. Rumor has it.

SPEAKER_20 15:40

Rumor has it. Uh, there's much more to revenue management than just dynamic pricing.

Alex Husner 15:45

Ooh, okay. True, true. Okay. And last one, when you go on vacation, where do you like to go?

SPEAKER_20 15:51

Ooh, I'm a beach. I'm always a beach. There has to be a beach, water, honestly, any beach. Okay. Ryan is beach. I am beach. I am partial to really just Gulf Coast, but floor aside.

Alex Husner 16:03

Okay. Anyone coming to see any of the things? In Hadal Lord, yeah. Good seeing me.

SPEAKER_20 16:07

And I was born in Tampa, so literally the whole Gulf Coast.

Alex Husner 16:10

Yeah, Ryan, Ryan is beach. Thank you. Thank you. We've got Orly Benjamin from Lasso. Orly, we have three burning questions. The first one is rumor has it. Finish the sentence. Something happened at the bar last night.

SPEAKER_15 16:24

Oh, you're sure.

Alex Husner 16:25

That was a good one. That was a really good one.

Annie Holcombe 16:28

We'll answer that at the bar later. Yes.

Alex Husner 16:30

And I want to sit with you because you'll tell me everything. Yes. Okay.

Annie Holcombe 16:32

You know how we do at the bar.

SPEAKER_15 16:34

So if Lasso was a band, who would you be? Probably Miley Cyrus. She's not a band, but I don't feel like I don't feel like she uh follows any of the rules. Yeah. And she does it her way. And uh she's been doing it since the beginning. Okay.

Alex Husner 16:49

Party in the OSA. Yeah. There you go. And last one, when you go on vacation, where do you like to go? Well, we go to Greece every year's every year.

SPEAKER_15 16:56

Yeah, well, and you're married to a Greek, that's the only option. Okay. There's no other thing. Luckily, you can throw something else in, but it's it's minimum Greece. Grease cash rolling. You're throwing dollars everywhere. There are hundred-dollar bills. The reality is, is if people aren't marketing to their guests, they're leaving money on the floor. Oh. And it's hundred-dollar bills. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of Benjamins. Yeah. I like to know what kind of people walk by. And they're not looking at the money on the floor. They're not the right thing. Some thoughts. Some thoughts.

Alex Husner 17:23

It's some counseling.

SPEAKER_15 17:24

All right.

Alex Husner 17:24

Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely guys. Hey guys, real quick, let's talk about your direct booking website. Because for a lot of vacation rental companies, it's still stuck in 2019. It may look okay, but it's difficult to update, expensive to rebuild, and it wasn't designed for how guests search and book today. That's exactly the problem Gilchan set out to solve with Crafted Stays. This isn't a generic WordPress template with a vacation rental booking engine bolted onto it. Crafted Stays is a hospitality-specific e-commerce platform built from the ground up to help operators get found and turn more website visitors into direct bookings. And it's working. More than 200 operators are already using the platform, and Crafted Stays connects directly with major PMS providers. This AI build solution can build your site in minutes instead of months. And the platform keeps improving after you launch. Gil and his team have shipped more than 200 product updates since last September, and those improvements automatically roll out to every Crafted Stays website. No expensive rebuild required every few years. Wow. Their natural language search is also made for the way people book and how they search for vacations these days. A guest can type, we want to go to Gatlinburg, we're traveling with two kids, we need a pool, and Grandma can't do stairs, and see the properties that genuinely fit their needs, not just a list of keyword-matched properties. Whether you manage 20 properties or 200, go to craftedstays.co slash Alexanney to schedule a test drive. They'll connect your PMS and show you what your own properties could look like on the platform. This is a quick, no commitment call to show you what's possible. Now

Jeff Hurst on Furnished Finder and the growth of midterm rentals

Alex Husner 18:57

let's get back to the show. And we're back. We're here day one of the 2026 VRMA conference. And we have Jeff Hurst here, who is the CEO of Furnish Finder. Jeff, so good to see you.

SPEAKER_21 19:09

So good to be back. I think this is my 10th verma, but it has been five years since I went to one. The last one was San Antonio.

Annie Holcombe 19:15

Oh my gosh. San Antonio was the last one. Oh wow. Yeah. That was when we kicked up our show, actually. That's when we decided we were going to do this. So this is coming full circle. Yeah. But um, we had you on the show not too long ago, and actually we asked you if you were gonna be here, and you didn't think you were well, you didn't have any plans at that time to actually be here, but things changed and you guys have just been moving quickly. So why don't you give us an update on where you guys are at and you're actually here, so it must be some pretty big movement.

SPEAKER_22 19:40

Yeah, so we've had a terrific year and we are seeing tenant demand grow a lot faster than supply. And so for those that don't know, Furnished Finder is a 30-day plus furnished rental site, annual subscription, mainly Ferbos. But with tenant demand growing 35% and supply less than 10%, we've started integrating with all the software providers here. And so this is the first time we're really introducing ourselves to the property manager market. And so we've launched with host fully, launching soon with barefoot, and then I'm optimistic. We'll have PostClay, Guestie, Streamline, everyone else in the next four to six months. Yeah. And you know, most of property managers' leisure inventory is not a fit for Furnish Finder. I think probably 10 to 15% is really interesting. And I think it'll help managers start to grow what they do to reach new markets.

Annie Holcombe 20:24

Yeah, yeah. And I I think, I mean, I coach a lot of property managers that are in urban areas, but also in some traditional markets. And Alex works a lot in traditional markets, and people are looking to diversify how their distribution works and really kind of rethinking what it means to actually rent their units. And I think that there are people that are seeing in specific markets. Mine is a great example of the pain handle of Florida. We are rebuilding a military base. There's so there's a lot of people coming in that are needing accommodations four months at a time. And that was something that the market, you know, beach market you wouldn't think of, but you're looking at off-season now, it's a perfect time for people to consider putting their units out on these midterm markets.

SPEAKER_22 20:59

Yeah, it's a, you know, there is we see it a ton with data centers. And so a lot of people are building that infrastructure out, and we're increasingly seeing it with just like skill trade moving all over the US, and there's not enough of them. Right. And so they've got to be mobile. They've got to be chasing these jobs, and we're the platform where most of them find housing.

Alex Husner 21:15

Yeah. And so how much has AI sped up this whole process for you?

SPEAKER_22 21:19

I think we're very reasonably going twice as fast as we were nine months ago. Wow. And so, in terms of qual in terms of the features we're shipping and how quickly we're able to adapt, I'm really mind-blown.

Alex Husner 21:30

Yeah. I'm just mind-blown. Yeah. Well, that's that's amazing. And the big topic this week is adjacent to what you do, but there's a lot going on at the OTAs

Vrbo's fee changes and the evolving OTA landscape

Alex Husner 21:40

right now. And your history, you've been part of this for a long time. So we wanted to get your hot take on the Virbo news.

SPEAKER_22 21:47

Yeah. And so, you know, taken together, I think Verbo had to do this because Airbnb traveled. And they're not going to be the last site that's got a 10% traveler fee and have that disruption. Out there for how they white tennis.

Annie Holcombe 22:01

I don't think they nailed the timing and not a 10.0 on the land, right?

SPEAKER_22 22:08

Yeah, I I'm really unsure. I know they're going to 12%, but I'm really unsure of the mechanics of it and what they are going to do with the service fee. I think it would have been a lot cleaner to just be a cheaper version of what Airbnb does. Yeah. And maybe not have a traveler fee, come out, own it, and maybe price of 14 or 13 and a half. Sure. And try and see some shift there. And maybe that's what it'll end up being, but like I don't know enough about where it's landed. I do know that when we got off the subscription model when I was a chief strategy officer in 2015, we chose to go into the split fee model we called it so that we could be cheaper for managers and cheaper for travelers to try and drive some basically disruption that way. And I don't think it ever works.

SPEAKER_08 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 22:46

Like, I don't think we really got enough credit for managers for being a little bit cheaper. And I don't think we got enough credit for travelers for being a little bit cheaper. And so I think they're going to be better off being in closer to a single field world. And it'll help them get more distribution on uh the speedier for business partners like Jason Ameth. It has been murky. And I think, you know, when I think about it as harness finder, it makes it more obvious that you're paying 12 to 15% on these. Yeah. And when you pay $199 a year, like it's just a lot cheaper.

SPEAKER_08 23:17

Yeah, a lot more cheaper. To do the job.

SPEAKER_22 23:19

Yeah. Anybody from 2007, like Virgo used to cost $249. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta use it.

Annie Holcombe 23:26

Yeah, yeah. Well, speaking of just kind of OTAs and sort of where the OTA sort of segment is right now, there's going back to the AI, there's a lot of conversation. And I think it was the CEO from Hilton talked about the fact that AI is really going to be the game changer for hoteliers, for operators away to get a move away from OTAs.

Will AI transform vacation rental distribution?

Annie Holcombe 23:45

What do you think, kind of in your crystal ball, that you is going to happen?

SPEAKER_22 23:49

My crystal ball is that it won't be as profound as people think it's going to be. AI will need to make money.

Annie Holcombe 23:56

But I also think he said, I think he said that that was where the money would actually start transacting, is that once the shift happened where AI was actually these agents were doing it, that they would start charging people to be within, you know, embedded in the agents.

SPEAKER_22 24:10

I I think he's right. Yeah. And I think that was the promise of what Google was going to be.

SPEAKER_13 24:15

Sure. Once we know we're going to be able to do it. Yeah, we know how that's going to be a lot of people.

SPEAKER_22 24:18

There's just a lot of sophistication that's hard to replicate at the OTA layer. Yeah. And they're going to be earlier to this stuff. The real value, I think, is going to be unique content. And so I think the real question managers need to be asking is how differentiated is my content between the OTAs and my direct site? Sure. So that a L O M is going to know they should come here instead of there. Yeah. And I don't think that content buyer is very well built out. Yeah. I think there's a lot of price parity out there. And those are the harder decisions that's going to choose winners and losers in the future error. But anyone like, you know, the talk of that's all going to go away in two years and we're going to not buy it.

Annie Holcombe 24:55

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I mean, on that, how is how does Furnish Finder, because if you think about an apartment, you deal with a lot of apartments. I mean, apartments are apartments. There's not a big story to be told in an apartment. So you kind of have to like rethink how you're marketing that to a certain degree, right?

SPEAKER_22 25:09

When you look at our supply base, so we're 330,000 listings, which I think is 60,000 more than Airbnb in 20 day plus. Yeah. So we're the biggest player of the 330,000, there's 60,000 rooms, which is unique.

SPEAKER_08 25:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 25:21

But then most of the other 270,000 are two bedrooms in Swallowing.

SPEAKER_08 25:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_22 25:25

They're not really necessarily apartments, but they are smaller format single-family homes. Okay. They're duplexes, they're townhomes. It's actually probably minority apartments. Okay. But the the distinction, like how do you merchandise it? It's really that someone is there for a quiet night's sleep and to be comfortable.

SPEAKER_08 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 25:39

They're not playing pickleball. Yeah. They don't need spawn. They don't want a bunch of me on science.

SPEAKER_08 25:44

Right. They're an independent machine.

SPEAKER_22 25:45

You're really merchandising, like, I've got parking, I've got good Wi-Fi, I've got blackout curtains, it's a safe neighborhood.

SPEAKER_08 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 25:51

And so what does that mean? Like it's actually simpler to communicate the value because a lot of it is communicated at the price point. Yeah. And what we expect to see is that someone will shop Airbnb and then see a home on Furnish Finder, and it's 30% cheaper on Furnish Finder, and they'll go do a little bit more work to book it on Furnish Finder. Yeah. Because over the year, that's like two weeks of take home pay for traveling industries.

SPEAKER_08 26:12

It matters. Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 26:13

In a way that you might spend a little bit more money on 30A for spring break, because like you don't want to despawn your kids. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like, you know, I'm gone for four months to help build a base and you know, can't handle Florida or Georgia. Like, I want to keep as much of my stipend as possible. I want to be safe and comfortable and sleep. But I'm not trying to like, you know, wake up and use the barrel software.

Alex Husner 26:33

Right, right, exactly. As how are you guys driving traffic right now to be able to fulfill 330,000 listings is a lot.

SPEAKER_22 26:41

Yeah, it's it's overwhelmingly referral because if you're traveling on a stipend, traveling on a budget, and you find out you can save 30% for Airbnb, you tell your friends.

SPEAKER_08 26:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 26:52

And so we do a lot of uh advertising with uh amount of properties Instagram because that video helps communicate the value prop better. Right. And so we're helping people understand that the site exists, but it has low awareness. And most people who come have been referred to somebody who's just like, hey, I know you're looking on Airbnb, but it's hard to find a place with 90 days continuous availability. Right. And if it hasn't, like it's probably not a good place. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 27:15

Yeah, it's a bad thing.

SPEAKER_22 27:17

And it's also a lot more expensive. Right. And so, like, there's this, I think it's a really natural use case for people to tell other people about like go check it out. A lot like 2008 DRDO.

Alex Husner 27:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 27:28

Okay, exactly. You wouldn't believe this thing exists. You should try it. It's so much cheaper than a healthcare.

Alex Husner 27:32

Right. Well, and you get a lot of like traveling nurses and like people that are are traveling for work for different types of people.

SPEAKER_22 27:36

In order, it's about a third traveling for work non-medical of really skilled trades, people building filters. Construction work there's a good thing. And then um, after that, it's traveling nurse, relocating families fastest growing. Okay, you know, and it's somebody moving from Seattle to Austin who doesn't want to take a big risk on buying a house, right? Wants to try it in. That's a huge use case. Yeah. And then it's what I'd say academics and other. There is a big grad student, traveling professor, but increasingly we do see, we call them grandparent travel. You know, it's uh someone who's having a first-grain child. Yeah. The kids don't aren't sure they want them in the guest bedroom.

SPEAKER_06 28:09

Yeah, yeah. Grandparents travel. They want to be close.

SPEAKER_22 28:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They want to be three blocks away, but not three yards away. Right. And they want to be helpful and they don't want to book an Airbnb.

SPEAKER_13 28:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_22 28:21

They need a furnish finder to be in a townhome. Wow, and everything. It's a criteria. It's like there's a lot of interesting.

SPEAKER_13 28:26

Yeah, that's another segment that I would have ever actually thought about.

SPEAKER_22 28:29

It's a different take on Snowbird. Yeah, it's Jackson.

Annie Holcombe 28:31

And so for you guys, um, I worked in uh like group sales and stuff for properties that I worked at, then we worked with the military bases and the hospitals and the corporate stuff. Is that something that you guys are looking at from furnish finder from like a corporate level that you contract with maybe hospital systems or things like that?

SPEAKER_22 28:46

We work with a lot of the healthcare providers. Okay. You know, what's tricky about it, and the reason I don't think it'll be as big is like we charge $199 a year.

SPEAKER_08 28:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 28:54

Like there's not, yeah, there's not this commission I can go reps or back to it. Right, absolutely. Which is how a lot of corporate travel works. Yeah. Like it is your gray star who's got furnished apartments, and they're actually commissioning a lot of money back. Yeah. And so we need to find partners who realize that they're not going to make money from Furnace Finder, but they're going to save so much money by booking on a platform that they want to recommend it. Yeah. And so I do think we we have it with universities, we have it with some healthcare. I think we'll get there with corporate, but we had the same problem with uh Homo and DRBO in 2015. When you don't have enough economics to share, it's hard to get in the door. That's true. And so we kind of like are asking people to help feed down the door. Yeah. Because there is a way for everyone to make more money without paying for distribution. It's just that in order to do it, you've got to be creative in how you structure these.

Annie Holcombe 29:36

Yeah. Well, before we wrap up, is there anything that we should expect from your team here? Any announcements that you've got?

SPEAKER_22 29:42

We are doing a $10,000 giveaway, so 50 free listings for anyone who comes by the booth and signs up. Okay. So we'd love people to check that out. But more than anything, like any manager who's interested in getting more either 288 plus inventory or distribution for that use case, tell your software provider that you'd like them to integrate with Furnish Finder. Yeah, also. Stop by the Furnish Finder booth and get to know us. Uh, you will see a lot of familiar faces because all of us worked at LOAN XP. Yeah, I was supposed to go. So come by and uh catch up.

SPEAKER_13 30:11

Well, why not work with the people that already know how to do it?

Annie Holcombe 30:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did have one question. So I'm actually working with a group that does guest verifications. Yep. And theirs use case for apartments and and short and you know, mid-term and long-term ones. Is do you are you working with people in that to help?

SPEAKER_22 30:28

We we offer when you sign up as a landlord, we basically we're trying to teach you how to be a landlord, not teach you how to like build a listing. Right. And so for us, that means you need a banking partner, which we recommend baseline. Okay. You need to know how to do tenant screenings and we use transgene for that. Okay. You need a state-specific lease. Like people are gonna sign a real lease here. Yeah, yeah. It's not just like Jerry's gonna show up at your door and ask. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that lease is powered by Rocket Lawyer and you can customize it. And we have a waiver product with rental guardians, we have renter's insurance, and then we work with steadily. And so we're trying to get everybody set up with a suite of products so that they know how to do this. Because I mean, honestly, like the give is we're so cheap that you have to do a little more work.

SPEAKER_08 31:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_22 31:06

But in doing a little bit more work, you have a lot more control. You get to keep a lot more of your own money than we think everybody wants.

Annie Holcombe 31:11

Yeah. Well, it's smart that you've gone ahead and embedded all that in the process so people don't have to think.

SPEAKER_22 31:15

But yeah. If you want it to be easy, it's built in. And if you want to use something else, yeah, good on you. And so I might wait to tell you what to do.

SPEAKER_13 31:21

Well, there you go. Well, yeah, definitely. Well, thank you for it. Thank you. Great to see you.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

So good to see you guys.

SPEAKER_13 31:31

You too.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

My name is Miller Hawkins. I'm the president and broker in charge of Boo Realty, as well as the Atlantic Resort Group. Both are under the Monarch Collective umbrella. I was asked several years ago while I was on the VRMA board of what my exit strategy is. Kind of hit me of, you know, I'm approaching 60 years old at the time and I'm not ready to retire now, but at some point I've got to have an exit strategy. I was introduced to the Monarch Collective a little over three years ago. I did not want to sell and give them the keys and leave. I wanted to stay on board for three, four, five years. And that's what their MO is. They don't want to buy a company from somebody and automatically go in and assume operations. They basically said from the get-go that when we do partner with a company, we work with you and support you in your current role as president to uh make life easier for you. We will support you and work alongside of you until the day comes when you do decide to leave. Before acquisition to after acquisition, as far as the brand, nothing has changed at all. The only thing they've done is support it. They brought in the resources, what they brought in, the support team, everything on the back end marketing, revenue management, financial accounting, everything. They want to free up our time so we can grow our company, run our company like we've done without the burden of all the back office things. We have grown a number of owners. We've grown financially. The loyalty and the attitude with our owners, the attitude with our guests, the attitudes with our employees has done nothing but go up. The advice I would give to a vacation rental owner who is remotely thinking about selling their business in the next five years. Don't wait until that time to start the conversation with the Monarch Collective. Reach out to them now. They have an acquisitions team that will fly to your location. They will meet with you, they will get to know your business. I strongly suggest you reach out to the Monarch Collective now. The best business decision I ever made was to buy Bu Realty back in 95. The second best decision I have ever made was to partner with the Monarch Collective the way we did.

SPEAKER_12 33:37

If you're curious about what the next chapter for your vacation rental business could look like, Monarch Collective offers a free, no pressure conversation to help you explore your options. No strings attached, just a straight conversation with people who deeply understand this industry. Visit gomonarch.com slash partnerships to learn more.

Ian Ackland on Booking.com, trust, and industry partnerships

Alex Husner 33:58

And we're back. We've got Ian Ackland, who is the VP Managing Director of Booking of the Americas.

Annie Holcombe 34:04

Good to see you, Ian.

SPEAKER_17 34:05

Thanks for having me. It's great to see you too.

Annie Holcombe 34:07

We love having you on. You're always like just delightful, first of all, just fun to talk to. But you always like come with these really wonderful nuggets of wisdom about OTAs and how actually good it is to work with an OTA. And so let's talk about booking. Let's talk about what you guys are doing to work with the industry. We've got a lot of issues out there with trusting your partners, knowing your partners. And I think you guys are really working on solving a lot of those issues for people.

SPEAKER_17 34:32

Yeah, thanks. I think there's a couple of things there. The first one is trust in who you work with. The second one is trust in who is staying with you. And so uh booking.com has been uh at VRMA, a supporter of VRMA for at least the 13 years I've been with Booking.com. And thinking about this as we came into Nashville yesterday, genuinely thinking there will be people walking up and down the aisles of this uh exhibitor hall who are seeing the same faces at booking that they've seen for the last 13 years. So that level of familiarity, hopefully they walk past and think I recognize you and I've recognized you for a number of years, that builds that trust and consistency in who you choose to work with. The second thing, of course, then is the trust in who is staying at your property. Uh and so there's a number of things that booking.com's been working on for that. Um uh request to book enhancements are now live and scaling. Uh, we are also doing uh a number of uh provisions of uh guest verification data, booking in booker insight data. And of course, uh we have uh liability insurance for all hosts. And in the US, uh we have the million-dollar uh property insurance as well. So insurance plus booker insight, um, plus the request to book piece on there uh is all actually built specifically to address the need for hosts to feel that they can trust a partner like Booking.com on and the guests that booking.com is bringing.

Alex Husner 36:03

Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I mean I think it's a wonderful point. And I was just listening to something the other day talking about AI and how people are really going to be making decisions, not because you're an expert in something, because anybody can be an expert in just about anything right now, but they're choosing people they want to work with because of their experience, right? And so the experience of you guys, this is the team that's been here for a long time. You know the industry, you know the partners. I I think that's that's kind of what you're saying in a way.

SPEAKER_17 36:29

Yeah, I think that's true. I think it's also, I'm not sure I would fully yet agree that anybody can be an expert in anything else. They're still not trying to profess it. There's there's there's still a there's still enough hallucination that comes out in AI results, that's for sure. Yeah. So yeah, that's uh that's the area that we're really focusing on there is about just again the consistency of relationship and the and and and the insight that we're able to give. I think last time we spoke, we were talking a little bit then also about the the value of loyalty programs and and and repeat book repeat bookers of a platform, right? And so part of that also when you talk about booker insight, something like our genius program, where we're able to say, hey, this this is a a very repeat uh travel of ours. Uh Genius tells us then what that what that book of behavior is. Leaning into something like that also helps in that that that trust space as well.

Annie Holcombe 37:22

Yeah, yeah. And uh in in terms of the US market, what are you seeing your growth? I mean, you guys have had a looking over the last 13 years. I mean, it's a huge, it's a huge leap, but it's it's very I look at the numbers and I think it's very slow, it's methodical, it's not these giant leaps, but I think what I see going on with that is is that you listen to the partners. And I think um we can, you know, without saying others, there's a lot of them that maybe aren't listening to people right now and they're and not they're not getting in depth deep conversations with the partners. And I think what booking is doing is taking the opportunity to really sit down with hosts and property manners to just say, like, what do you really want from a partnership? And I think you guys have done a good job with that.

SPEAKER_17 38:02

I won't talk about what other people are doing, let them do what they're doing, I think. But I I I will say that to your point, and again, maybe it even comes back to that consistency piece, right? So when we first started becoming very serious about vacation rentals, and remember we've had vacation rentals for 26 years now. Yeah. Um, but that that first level of being serious in there probably came about 13, 14 years ago, probably. And part of that was we operate on a very transparent commission basis. Uh, and that basis was at the time seen as out of line from what the industry's doing. Our point was we work on instant confirm, but instant booking and we work on this level of commission basis and structure and super transparent. Um, and I actually think that over time industry has shifted a little bit more towards that, right? So uh again, it's uh I won't talk about others from there, but I but but for me it's more about hey, we we set out to say what we knew and trusted we could do well, and we had to stick at that for a while, and we had to work through some of those friction points, and we had to to have very, very honest conversations with hosts, um, whether that's enterprise-style hosting or or or smaller hosting, but to say, well, this feels perhaps different or clunky in some way. Um, let's understand it, let's iron it out, and let's let's let's see how we can go. And now you only do that by talking to partners and by understanding what they need. I remember very early on, and now this is a this was an at-scale conversation, right? But I remember very, very early on, this would have been 11, 12 years ago, sitting in a room with at the time one of the leaders of the vacation rental space, and they them saying, uh, we've got a thousand listings that we want to put live with you. And your only option is to go onto your extranet and build listing by listing. Thousand listings. Oh my god. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So then we said, right, well, we need to we need to build APIs that can do that. We need to be able to do this at scale. And so when I when I talk about the reason I talk about that is because I think what the listening piece comes in that says there's a large population of hosts who want to be able to do stuff at scale. So how do we embrace the connectivity side of that and make sure that we've closed all of those API gaps to be able to make that function work? There's also a large number of hosts who have two, three properties and aren't at connectivity level scale yet, but just want to be able to host on a very easy-to-use app. Um, and so uh a lot of that focus has gone into how do we make that better. Uh, the connectivity piece, I think we've closed the gap really well. I think we're still going to do some more work around the the the extranet and the and the pulse app space to be able to address that. But to your point, it's about always improving that and it's about always understanding there will not be something which is I can't imagine there's going to be a time where any platform is is like so seamless that you don't ever touch it. You're always going to have to touch it. Our point is about understanding where are you touching

What's next for vacation rental industry consolidation?

SPEAKER_17 41:20

it too much and how can we solve those areas for you, right?

Alex Husner 41:23

Right. Yeah. Well, and if you were looking in your crystal ball and there's a lot of consolidation going on within the industry, where do you think this is going?

SPEAKER_17 41:31

I think there's still enough room for everybody to play. And I think that when you still look at the just what you have happening in the host landscape, again, anything from a single property owner, uh, I myself and a single I'm a single property owner, right? Uh, to a large-scale enterprise, we all have different needs. I'm not personally, as well as my job as managing director, I'm also a host of one property. I'm not going to scale that. I know I'm going to use my one property. So I I I don't know whether we talk about consolidation ever moving into a space where where everything just gets eaten up in some way. It doesn't seem that way. It seems like there's still going to be a need for the industry to serve everything from the single host to the large enterprise company.

Annie Holcombe 42:20

Yeah. Which I think also highlights the challenge for the industry because you cannot say there's a one-size-fits-all solution, right? Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_17 42:28

And so you have to just listen to the different segments and then be able to make sure that the the the big focus is usually on what scales well. Uh and I do I still think that that uh I would still use that analogy even for a single uh property host because scale means just something different in that space, right? So if you've got a thousand listings and you want to be able to just run those at scale, you probably look to connectivity. If you've got one listing, scale for you is that I don't spend too much time having to manage my listing. Exactly. Yeah, that's a different definition of the. I gotta I gotta make sure the housekeepers are there, I gotta make sure everything else works out. And I and so I'm just working it differently.

Alex Husner 43:10

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. As far as the the property management companies, so consolidation as far as a lot of the companies are being bought by these different groups. Where do you see that in five years? Like, are we gonna come here and there's only gonna be five key players that control all the inventory and you only have five customers?

SPEAKER_13 43:28

Or Which might make it easy for you.

Alex Husner 43:30

Yeah, we might not even need to have a big conference like this.

SPEAKER_17 43:33

I think I think competition is uh is always needed.

SPEAKER_08 43:37

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_17 43:38

Uh and I think competition makes us all better. Yeah, I agree. And healthier and hungrier. And so uh do I foresee a world where we would sit here and there would only be five booths? Uh no, uh, because I think the more the more the more that that happens, the more that that happens, the less hungry we we get, the less hungry we get, the more new entrants come in. In who are hungry. Yeah. And the ecosystem just spins again.

Annie Holcombe 44:03

It's a fulfilling prophecy right there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Ian, thank you for coming by. It's such a delight to be able to do it. You're a friend of the show. Yeah. A friend of ours. So we love it. And um we'll look forward to everybody going to your booth and we'll stop by and see you. And is there any like parting words you have about this show, the conference, what you guys expect out of ERMA this year?

SPEAKER_17 44:22

Uh I'm looking forward to seeing Glenn Fogle on stage tomorrow morning. Uh which uh uh so Glenn is uh CEO of Booking Holdings and CEO of Booking.com. Uh he brings a uh a very unique view of our industry uh and uh the industry at that point being the travel industry at large and how the vacation rental space fits into that. So uh I'm excited to see that. Um I'm excited to see what he has to say. Also great that he will take the main stage as well.

Annie Holcombe 44:53

Yeah, we're very grateful that he agreed to come. Like this is, I think we've tried for many years to have someone from booking to be on main stage, and so excited to hear what he has to say.

Alex Husner 45:00

See,

Joel Schoen on Escapia's latest innovations

Alex Husner 45:01

he's always entertaining. Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_17 45:03

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Thank you. Thank you.

Alex Husner 45:06

We've got Joel Schoen, who is the GM, new GM of Escapia. So good to see you, Joel.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah.

Annie Holcombe 45:13

So Joel, we'll start off with first question. We're at BRMA, um, and everybody comes here to kind of showcase new advancements, new features, new things. What is uh Escapia doing to well, I guess, showcase new features or talk about things that are coming?

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Yeah, we've got three uh three things that we're showcasing uh during Verma. So one is we just released um our new reservation grid, which is the most used part of our platform. Uh allows our customers to go in there, create multi-quote, and much better ability for them to manage the reservations and to get much better visibility of their bookings. It's uh a much more modern interface that we've we've released. It's been really well received. The second thing, we distribution optimization, which uh improves our distribution experience for our customers. So it allows them to better manage their folios and commissions with all of the distribution with the distribution channels that we have through Escapia Connect and really get to be able to get much more granular in that management. Uh, and then lastly, we're a pilot partner with Virgo Payments, which allows for merchant record on Virgo. That provides a much better booking experience for travelers. It also provides fraud uh protection for our customers that are taking those bookings. And then lastly, it opens up a world of travelers through the one key program. So our loyalty program in Expedia Group.

Alex Husner 46:32

That's great. Yeah. And the one thing that we talked about this at dinner last night that really stands out when I talk to clients using Ascapia is truly the support, which we know we hear this from managers on all different types of tools. The support can make or break whether you stay or leave a software. So tell us a little bit about how you look at support and you know what what's you know, how how you how you make it so good because people want to know.

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Yeah, I mean, fortunately, I walked into a great situation. Uh Escapia has been known uh, you know, for providing great support for 25 years. Personally, that's that's my my philosophy is uh really leaning into that human connection and human part of the relationship. And obviously things are changing really rapidly in the industry with with AI. Uh, and I think for us we can really differentiate by being the the best technology provider out there when it comes to support. So we've got uh a large team, all located within the U.S. They're available uh every day till uh Monday through Friday till 2 a.m. And we have weekend hours, and we answer every call. About 80% of the calls are answered within 60 seconds. So that's impressive. Very impressive. Yeah, that's really responsive and the goal is to be completely reachable and accountable to our customers. I I'm been on both sides, uh having been an operator and understanding what happens when things don't go perfectly with your with your technology and want to be very mindful of that and uh really be there to be accountable and to help them through any difficulties that you

AI, customer support, and the human side of vacation rental technology

SPEAKER_01 47:58

may have.

Annie Holcombe 47:58

So on the the note of support, um, a lot of technology partners are using AI to kind of supplement or in some cases actually do away with support teams. Um I still think one thing we talk about on the show a lot is that we're in the hospitality business, and when you start removing the human component, it's like, what is that, what are we doing? You know? Um but so on that, what is what is Ascapia doing with AI? Like how are you deploying AI? Are you doing stuff um internally for customer support? And then what would it look like for a partner that uses the platform or uses your system with AI?

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Yeah, so on the on the customer support side, uh I mean, right now we really lean into the human part of support. We're looking at tools as well that can provide augmented with AI. So giving them quick answers to things, helping them self-service when they need to, but we're always going to be there reachable. They want to pick up the phone via email, support, you know, put a support ticket in. Uh and that's really always been the model for Scapia. And we are, you know, leaning into that even more so going forward. Uh, I think it's a great way for us to differentiate as far as this the platform is concerned. We're leveraging AI in a lot of different ways. So, first off, it's helping us to build faster. Right. There are a lot of tools out there uh on the coding side of things that are speeding up the process, so allowing us to release with more velocity.

SPEAKER_08 49:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

Second off, I think we're trying to be very mindful about what our customers want with AI. So really listening to them and understanding the direction that they're going in. I've seen some statistics that 80% of hospitality operators have looked at AI, but only 30% have actually adopted it and implemented it in their into their operations. So we're listening very closely to our customers. And I think the direction that we're going in is really about building a very open and flexible platform that allows them to leverage AI the way that best fits their business. And the great thing about AI is allows for a tremendous amount of customization. Uh, and every every operator has their own way of operating. And we want to be able to empower them and enable them to bring their own tools and use them the the way you know the best for their specific business. We're also very focused on looking at connectivity and ensuring that we are the best connected platform so that they can bring whatever third-party tools. There's a lot of different companies here at the show, and uh we're partners with with many of them, and we want to make it as seamless as possible for our customers uh to connect with those third party uh partners.

Annie Holcombe 50:21

Aaron Powell It sounds like you guys got a lot of work ahead of you. You've done a lot of work. And so my last question actually to you is that you just joined the organization recently. I mean, it's not been just it's a couple of months, right? So drink it from a fire hose. Um so what are your big what are your big takeaways? Like how has it been so far?

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Aaron Powell been great. I I've been in the industry for a while, 22 plus years or so, and had a chance to be on the property side, OTA's operator, and obviously on the software side of things. And having seen the business from the outside, I had a lot of admiration for for Ascapia over the years. And then joining the company and really seeing the team and how committed everyone is to the business, to our customers, uh, has been just amazing. And really enjoyed the conversations that we've had and putting together the strategy of what the path forward looks like. The other part of it that's been just incredibly exciting is just being a part of this larger organization, Xpedia Group and Verbo, and incredibly smart people, and our ability to really leverage the organization in ways that I don't think any of our competitors can. We've got access to resources and spoke a little bit about like one key.

SPEAKER_09 51:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

Uh just our ability to differentiate there and provide way more value to our customers is what's getting me really, really excited. I mean, there's so many tools and levers to pull within Xpedia Group, and I'm really excited to be here.

Annie Holcombe 51:43

Awesome. Well, that's it. That's exciting. And it's we're excited to see you. We love this group, uh, the XPD group, all of them. It's a great team, and so I know they're glad to have you and just welcome aboard. Thank you so much.

Alex Husner 51:52

I appreciate it. Yeah. Tim, we're sorry you're not here, but Joel, you did a great job today. Thank you for coming back. We actually had to record this twice because I didn't have the mic on. So he did a great job both times, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. One more time. All right. Thanks, everybody.