In the last installment of our “You Are Your Best Revenue Manager” blog series, we highlighted how vacation rental revenue management can start with managing owner expectations and how property managers are most in-tune with what their owners expect from their properties.
In this post, we will talk about assigning responsibility for revenue management strategy and the importance of expert market knowledge.
Revenue Management Strategy Owner
Before moving forward, it is important to acknowledge that property managers should have someone on their team that “owns” the revenue management strategy. There are a lot of aspects of a vacation rental management operation (outside of dynamic pricing) that fall under the revenue management umbrella.
This team member should at least be aware of owner management, operations, marketing, and more in order to help maintain a cohesive revenue management strategy that works for everyone. Property managers are also the most knowledgeable about what is going on in their market, from local events and seasonality to property supply and competitors.
Local Expert Knowledge
It’s important for vacation rental revenue managers to have detailed knowledge of each listing they manage and the specific market where those listings are located. There are characteristics and details that these managers need to be aware of when selling unique property listings. That knowledge—especially for larger portfolios—isn’t easy to communicate to new or out-sourced employees. The property management team already in place already has intimate knowledge regarding unique listings, historical context, its owners, and more. This is an added benefit to managing revenue in-house.
There are also added benefits to having a revenue manager who is familiar with, and may even live in, the same market where properties are being managed. Local market knowledge is priceless when it comes to revenue management, and knowing a portfolio backwards and forwards can add a lot of value to overall revenue management strategies.
Key Takeaway: Make sure your Revenue Manager has the skills and experience to own all aspects of revenue management and is intimately familiar with the listings and local markets they manage.
In our next blog series update, we’ll cover the revenue management toolkit that property managers likely already have to create and maintain their own revenue management strategy.
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