Industry Spotlight: FlipKey Helping Lift the Tide of Vacation Rentals
Jill Trujillo | 19 October 2009 | Be the first to write a review »
Industry Spotlight Guest Post By: Jeremiah Gall, COO and Co-Founder, FlipKey
The annual VRMA Conference taking place in Washington DC in a few weeks will mark the 2nd anniversary of FlipKey and its industry leading guest review service. Since that time FlipKey has emerged as the industry standard for vacation rental guest reviews, represents the largest collection of authentic guest reviews in the industry and now powers vacation rentals on TripAdvisor.com – one of the largest and most influential consumer travel sites in the world.
To gauge the impact of our service and general satisfaction we recently surveyed our clients via an anonymous email survey and asked a simple question:
We were thrilled to find FlipKey yielding high satisfaction levels, but, to be honest, it does not hold a candle to the satisfaction ratings our clients are receiving from their guests.
FlipKey has collected over 150,000 reviews among vacation rental guests and over 90% would recommend the home and company they stayed with:
What we found most interesting in our study was that FlipKey guest reviews tend to be associated with high levels of satisfaction across the vacation rental ecosystem. Many of FlipKey’s clients are able to seamlessly collect reviews and promote their properties through their property management software. Companies like Instant Software, FlipKey’s first and largest partner, and more recent partners such as Rent One and Barefoot, have provided clients with innovative and early access to get the most from FlipKey guest reviews and the marketing and owner management benefits these reviews provide.
When we asked how satisfied our clients were with their software systems we again found extremely high levels of satisfaction.
Beyond the obvious marketing benefits of collecting and publishing reviews of past guests, clients are also beginning to leverage FlipKey guest reviews to better improve relations with their owner clients. FlipKey’s recent study found 71% of managers were interested in motivating their owners to upgrade their units this season. Managers always find it difficult to deliver the message that an owner needs to invest more in their home. However, when the message is delivered through the verified reviews of guests who stayed in an out-dated home, managers are finding the conversation more amicable. Suddenly asking owners to replace the patio furniture on a beach side rental in Destin, or upgrade the bunk-beds in their Gatlinburg cabin is a bit easier.
In a difficult economic year, 46% of the survey participants indicated bookings were down in 2009 and FlipKey is hoping to help reverse the tide in 2010. By helping our clients leverage the marketing benefits of guest reviews and extending their marketing to powerful travel sites like TripAdvisor we are all looking forward to a great year for vacation rentals.
