Last week, Peter, Braeden and I packed up the BTM Mobile and headed home on the 9 hour trek, exhausted but gratified, from Las Vegas to Basalt after attending HomeAway Software’s annual conference. RezFest 2012 was my first trade show in the vacation rental industry and what a great experience! The three days went by in a whirlwind and a week later, I’m still processing everything I learned. A true highlight was being introduced to so many great clients and partners who I often email but had yet to have the pleasure of meeting.
Throughout the week, HomeAway created a seamless progression of events keeping vacation rental owners as well as vendors engaged and involved. Since there were three of us from Blue Tent, we all took advantage of attending various sessions and panels highlighting progress and developments in vacation rentals. These were very beneficial for me as I learned an enormous amount about the vacation rental industry as a whole, in particular: the future direction of HomeAway products, upcoming changes in mobile strategies, and new technology.
From our team, Peter presented quite a few times. The first was a session on how to leverage technology to optimize guest, owner and operational experience. Additionally, he joined the keynote speech with HomeAway’s CPO, Tom Hale, and sat on a discussion panel about embracing the power of technology to grow your business. Over the course of the presentations as well as at the BTM booth, we provided an overview of the newest Blue Tent, vacation rental products:
- MVP: My Vacation Planner – Utilizing responsive technology, MVP allows guests to access three important vacation planning tools from their mobile devices.
- OPS: Owner Portal Services – Gives owners the information they need to succeed with simple owner access from your website.
- ACE: Automated Custom Email Program – Provide unparalleled service to your customers throughout the entire booking experience with customized email triggers using your branded templates.
All three are designed to complete a 360 degree solution for vacation rental managers to improve both the guest experience as well as the owner and are optimized to work on mobile devices including iPhone, Android phones and tablets. If you would like to hear more about the products or discuss any of your marketing initiatives, give us a shout.
Ultimately, RezFest was a huge success and I’m already looking forward to RezFest 2013!