Does anyone have any experience with VRMA?

Question

Is VRMA a viable organization for small VR players? Or is it intended for the big cats in the game? I was looking at their website and it appears that they offer a lot of good info for the industry as well as some conventions/conferences with exhibits, etc.

Monika Haebich · Answer

Here are the VRMA membership dues. What you pay will be dependent on how many properties you manage.

I'm assuming that part of @Bill Higgins's costs were those associated with attending the Phoenix conference.

@Michael Greenberg, yes, the VRMB is a great resource as well, and it tends to be more useful for self-managing homeowners. For vacation rental managers, I'd still recommend joining the VRMA (if you're looking to network and learn more about management operations, technology, etc.).

Monika Haebich · Answer

@Michael Greenberg, here are a few others that might be of value:

Blogs:

• Lodgify's blog: Covers everything from marketing to guest experience
• 1chicretreat: Vacation rental blog that focuses on increasing ROI through interior design
• Mashvisor: Great for learning more on investing in short-term rentals (& real estate in general)

Forums/Groups:

• SmartHosts: Definitely my favorite site & newsletter. Great place for discussions with other managers & homeowners, and a really good way to stay up-to-date on industry happenings.
• AirHostsForum: Primarily amateur Airbnb hosts. This may not be as useful (there's a lot of venting in there) to you, but if you ever need advice in relation to guest relations, etc., it's a great place to go. 
• LinkedIn: There are a number of really great LinkedIn groups, and I've found the the VRMA group & Vacation Rentals group particularly engaging. Here are also 12 others that you might want to join.

Conferences:

• Vacation Rental World Summit: An independent event held in Florence this year, smaller group (attendance capped at 200 people)
• Rezfest: Hosted by HomeAway, primarily for homeowners
• Vrtech: Another one that's primarily European, has a focus on technology
• Phocuswright: Travel conference (not specific to vacation rentals)
• Vacation Rental Success Summit: Another independent event primarily for homeowners, held in Toronto

Bill Higgins · Answer

Hi John.  I agree with @Monika Haebich.  I'm a small PM and member of the VRMA, and I find the biggest benefit of the VRMA to be networking.  You'll find a few larger PM's (Vacasa for example) to be a great resource for sharing operational advice such as legal agreements, cleaning practices, insurance, etc.  I learn more about the PM market and their strategies in these sessions than I do anything else.  Just like the STR Owners, many of the PM's in the industry are reluctant to change and tend to be very risk averse, limiting their ability to grow.  I'm a big proponent of knowing your competition and seeking ways to develop a competitive advantage!

If you're not managing properties for other owners I wouldn't recommend becoming a member.  You should also consider how else you can use the money you would invest in a membership/conference.  I invested a total of ~$5k in 2016 in VRMA memberships and attendance of the conference in Phoenix.  I'm investigating other areas to invest that money in 2017.  It's good information, just not sure if attendance on a yearly basis is necessary.

Bill

John Arendsen · Answer

Lot's of good stuff @Monika Haebich and I really appreciate it. I'm particularly interested in the, "1chicretreat: Vacation rental blog that focuses on increasing ROI through interior design", as one of my daughters is a World Class Designer and voted among the 100 best ID's in the World for 3 years in a row.

John Arendsen · Answer

That sounds very interesting. I'm looking forward to learning more about it. I know what you mean about BP's censorship policy. I'm beginning to wonder about the significance and value of maintaining my PRO membership. Seems like they always delete my posts and I thought the whole idea in paying for a membership was for just that. LOL!

John Arendsen · Answer

@Michael Greenberg I did in fact check out the VRBM blog/site and for a newbie and little guy like me new to the VR arena it looks like a plausible resource as does VRMA. At this stage of our learning curve I'm all ears needless to say.

My daughter actually manages our rental portfolio and she's actually the one who convinced us to pursue the VR biz. She's done a wonderful job as CFO of all our businesses and I am going to leave the management decisions on her plate. However, she's very open minded and eager to learn and explore anything that will further our gain in the VR industry.

Can't believe all the great folks I've been meeting on the BP site thus far. It has been a very useful resource for all of our real estate and construction concerns. I'm looking forward to aggressively growing our VR biz.

I'm also interested in the possibility of creating some possible joint venture, limited and/or general partnerships and/or LLC relationships in the San Diego area. If anyone cares to explore that more please let me know via PM. My personal email address is surferjohnarendsen@gmailcom.

Monika Haebich · Answer

My pleasure! :)

Michael Greenberg · Answer

Wow!  Thanks so much @Monika Haebich!

John Arendsen · Answer

Big thanks for that @Bill Higgins and very timely as I was just about to reach out to them. I'm very familiar with the overall aloofness of large organizations as I was a member of the Manufactured Housing Institute for a few years and paid handsomely to attend their annual Las Vegas Convention only to realize that they cow towed to the big park community owners and didn't give a hoot about the little guys or the affiliate members who were some of their major membership contributors.

I will be reaching out to @Matt Landau soon. It looks like he has a pretty good core group and is still small enough to make every member feel welcomed. It also looks like he has a lot of valuable information and knowledge that can be very useful to the smaller players.

Bill Higgins · Answer

Hey @John Arendsen - sorry for the slow response.  Yes - the $5k investment was the enrollment in VRMA (seems like it was ~$1200 for 3 people), tickets for the VRMA conference (I think this was another ~$1500), plus the travel and other expenses for 3 of us.  If you don't intend to attend a conference then I don't see where it's worth the investment.  I don't find their community to be very engaging and the news content alone (free to members) isn't worth the enrollment cost.

I agree that Matt Landau has some great content.  He's very focused on becoming independent of the channels, but overall he's got great advice for providing great service.

Does anyone have any experience with VRMA?

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