Escapia Blog - Vacation Rental News and Trends

Helping VR owners prepare for generational change

 by Bill Furlong, CEO

A Seattle-based family practice lawyer I know recently sent along their quarterly newsletter.  They included a link to a Seattle Times story (that was syndicated via the Minneapolis Star) about what owners of vacation homes should do as they think about the family cabin changing hands to their kids some day.  The story may be a useful resource for vacation rental managers and the owners of homes they manage.

On caveat...my lawyer-friend notes that the story quotes Minnesota attorneys and that you should get legal advice from someone based in your home state.

This Week on the Web...

By Kris Lande, Product Marketing Manager

Here's my round-up of interesting travel industry tidbits and links from the Web this week.  It seemed like a quiet week in travel & vacation rental news - let me know if I missed something by leaving a comment.

Forbes lists the 10 most 'kid-friendly' cities.

Are there now too many choices for online travel shopping, causing overwhelm for consumers?  CNN wonders if travel agents could be making a comeback. 

Everyone is talking about JetBlue's 'All You Can Jet' pass: $599 for a month of unlimited travel from September 8 - October 8.  Will you be partaking in this deal?

This weekend is the last 'fee-free' weekend at national parks, even Obama is taking advantage!

Press Release: Escapia Exceeds Funding Goal; Raises $1.6 million To Expand Vacation Rental Software Platform and Online Distribution Network

Escapia (www.escapia.com), the leading provider of web-based management and marketing solutions for vacation rental managers, today announced the completion of a $1.6 million round of funding.  The new funding allows the company to extend its leadership in web hosted software for vacation rental managers and to capitalize on the breakneck growth in its consumer bookings business.  The round, which exceeded the company’s goals for the amount of new capital raised, is being led by existing investors including Steven D. Murch, Buerk Dale Victor, and Atlas Accelerator.

Escapia’s web-based vacation rental software platform simplifies how professional vacation rental managers market and manage their vacation homes.  Escapia streamlines reservations, accounting and property management, enables online reservations, provides fully integrated distribution reaching tens of millions of online travelers each month, delivers agencies world-class website solutions, enhances security and provides unparalleled flexibility in running vacation rental businesses.  Today Escapia powers the back office and websites for hundreds of vacation rental agencies, providing them with online availability, booking and direct integration with their reservation desks.  The Escapia web-hosted software platform has powered over half a billion dollars worth of vacation rental bookings.

The new funding allows the company to build on an impressive track record of growth.  Over the past year Escapia has dramatically expanded its consumer business, added to its client base, and expanded its suite of services.  Consumer bookings driven by the Escapia platform to vacation rental managers has increased by over 400% compared to a year ago.  The number of vacation rental agencies using the leading Escapia web-hosted vacation rental software platform has increased by 25%, even in the midst of a sharp recession.  And the company has released innovative technology including the first integrated yield management system available to vacation rental managers.

The company’s CEO Bill Furlong said, “We’re thrilled to have closed additional funding to accelerate development of our software platform and expand the breadth and sophistication of our online distribution.  Our investors see the opportunity to dramatically improve the ability of vacation rental managers to serve travelers looking online for vacation homes.  We’re focused on expanding what is already the most advanced property management and online distribution capability available to vacation rental managers.”

Don't Quit

By John Suzuki, VP Sales

To you who are challenged in these tough economic times,
To you who have been beaten up by stressed out owners,
To you who seek solutions to help those you serve, don't give up.
The answers to your challenges may be within your grasp at any moment. This is one of my favorites. Enjoy.

Don't Quit
When thing go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with one more blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver lining in the cloud of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.
                    -Anonymous

It's easy to give up. Just don't.

EscapiaONE Webinars

 

 
By Kris Lande, Product Marketing Manager

Want to take a peek at what Escapia has to offer vacation rental management companies?  For people looking for a quick overview, Escapia holds webinars every other week demonstrating the powerful, integrated EscapiaONE system.  The webinar lasts one hour, includes an overview of EscapiaVRS, EscapiaWEB and EscapiaNET, and is free to attend.

Visit our site to learn more about the webinars and to register!

Standing Out in a Sea of Beauty

By John Suzuki, VP Sales

It's tulip season in the northwest! We took the one hour drive north of Seattle last weekend and found blazing fields of tulips, all in their countless rows of brilliant colors: reds, yellows, pinks, oranges, purples and more. It was yet another reminder of the beauty we are all blessed with.

  

As we walked the rows of uniform beauty, I came across a beautiful red tulip, exactly the same color as thousands of other red tulips. But this one was different: It was a red tulip in a field of thousands of yellows. There it stood, alone and seemingly lonely. But as I looked at this tulip I realized that it had found a way to differentiate itself in acres of equality. And while the yellows seemed to overwhelm it with their spectacular beauty, that little red flower stood tall and straight, and I imagined its flower pride in being different.

As businesspeople looking for that special something way to stand out among a sea of competitors, it occurred to me that a lesson could be learned from this little red tulip: It's not always necessarily a matter of really being different. After all, there were thousands of other red tulips. In this case, it was a matter of being different at the right time, right place, with the right "service." This little red tulip really stood out. I love tulips.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Escapia!

By Kris Lande, Product Marketing Manager

When I walked into the office this morning, I noticed about half of the Escapia team festively wearing green.  This definitely warranted a group picture...

 
Happy St. Patrick's Day from Escapia!

Here's a Tasty Idea

By Bill Furlong, CEO

Many of you in the vacation rental business know Escapia's Chairman, Steve Murch.  Steve was one of the early pioneers of the online vacation rental world when he built VacationSpot.com.  His interest in vacation rentals has continued for over a decade now as he continues to provide terrific guidance for us at Escapia.

Steve's latest brilliant creation has been BigOven.com.  The product of many years of work, BigOven is a destination packed with cooking advice, recipes and a rich community of foodies.  Clearly, Steve is onto something since BigOven is ranked as the seventh most frequently visited web site from a Seattle startup -- and as many of you know, we pride ourselves for having a vibrant online startup community here in Seattle.

Steve just did a big redesign and update to BigOven.  One of the things he added not long ago was a way for BigOven users to create custom recipe books from their favorites on BigOven or their own personal favorite recipes.

So here's an idea.  Vacation rental guests love having access to a kitchen where they can cook a dinner for themselves.  So how about including in your vacation homes a cookbook with recipes that are typical of your area.  How easy is it?  Well, a search on BigOven of Hawaiian recipes brings up 221 to choose from; "Cajun" delivers 430 results.  And to make it even easier, BigOven offers a custom publishing tool where you can create a custom cookbook in just a few clicks.

Helping the planet one binder at a time

By Bill Furlong, CEO

A local Seattle entrepreneur, Brant Williams, who is a friend of several of ours here at Escapia has recently joined a 5 year old business called Sustainable Group (www.sustainablegroup.net) selling green office products over the web.  I'm a big believer in doing as many of the "little things" as possible to help the planet.  Brant's company's products look like a very good and very easy everyday thing many of us can do to keep our home here on planet Earth as healthy as possible.  Check out his products and price list before putting in that next big office supply order.

Always Play Nice

By John Suzuki, Escapia VP Sales

I am truly blessed to have kids who are two of the nicest people I've ever known. Michael is 20 and Kristin is 17. I recently had a deep conversation with them about competition, and how to do well in an increasingly competitive and seemingly desperate world. Here's what I said: There is a right way and a wrong way to make yourself look better than your competitor. The right way is to work hard and be better. The wrong way is to make the other guy look worse.

We all have competitors whose tactics seem less than honorable. They disparage against you, spread unsubstantiated rumors, and try to sabotage you by spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). We at Escapia have several such competitors, and while it may be tempting to respond in kind, the fact of the matter is, we just won't do it not only because it's the wrong thing to do, but we're too busy focusing on the right way to improve our company and make our products and services better for our clients.

Thumper's mom on Walt Disney's Bambi said something profound that I will never forget: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." My corollary to that is "People who disparage against others don't have anything better to say about themselves." I believe that always doing what's right and living with integrity is the easy path in life, simply because you never have to keep track of what you said or did in the past. Frankly, it's a whole lot more fun, and a whole lot less stressful.

Winning the right way let's you walk with your chin up and a smile on your face. It sets a positive tone in your company and makes your work a whole lot more interesting and rewarding. Why? Because you're focusing on BUILDING something great, and not focusing on tearing others down. It's a whole different mind set.

So next time someone disparages you, or disparages others to you, just remember that whatever they say is likely a reflection of themselves. Of course, the most important thing to remember is that which ever path you choose, your actions will work like a magnet in attracting like-minded people to you.

The choice is yours. Choose wisely.