Vacasa/Getting Bookings on ABB/VRBO

[Stacy Edwards]

TLDR: Can anyone provide input that supports my theory that discontinuing management with Vacasa won't hurt the booking rate/may actually help the booking rate?

Hello!

I am a vacation rental assistant and help owners with a variety of tasks related to their rentals but generally don't take on the full manager role. 

I have worked with a handful of rentals - mostly in tandem with the owners - to do random things, respond to messages, provide in-person support for people who live out of town, etc. 

I had a client last year who used Evolve and I thought it was pretty terrible. Though they say that they're amazing at SEO, I didn't really see any benefit of using them - in fact, I think the fact that the process was so depersonalized may have hurt the booking rate rather than helped it.

I currently have a client who is using Vacasa and is considering switching to self-management, which I would assist with. Their main concern is not being able to get bookings without Vacasa, however, if it were me, I wouldn't be concerned with that for a variety of reasons:

1. Because Vacasa is a company, the experience is depersonalized and people don't feel as connected, which may result in lower reviews. As I understand, the big part of getting bookings is having good reviews.

2. Vacasa isn't always as responsive as they should be, which would, again, affect reviews.

3. The listing could go on AirBnB and because we would have more control, it would be easier to make changes and tweak things to improve upon them as time went on and we learned what works and what doesn't.

4. If bookings on AirBnB weren't enough, the property could be listed on VRBO as well.

5. Some renters may actually avoid Vacasa properties because of their reputation

My question is: can anyone else provide input that supports my theory that discontinuing work with Vacasa won't hurt the booking rate/may actually help the booking rate?

Thanks!