Instant Software Blog

Instant Software Partners With RentExpert, Adding Additional Marketing Programs Through ISILink

Instant Software, Inc. (ISI) announces its partnership with RentExpert, a website that provides only “professionally managed” vacation rentals for popular destinations worldwide.  RentExpert offers free branding on their website for Vacation Rental Managers and promotes their properties through affiliate sites such as Yahoo and AOL, growing mobile device market, email campaigns, and on RentExpert.com.  RentExpert also has increased search engine optimization compared to Rent-By-Owner listings sites and a Hot Deals program to help Vacation Rental Managers sell their inventory at a discount with no commission to RentExpert.

RentExpert will be integrated with Instant Software’s ISILink, the largest web distribution system for the Vacation Rental Industry.  Through ISILink, RentExpert will have the ability to access over 200,000 vacation rental properties running on ISI’s market leading business management systems for real-time automated availability and reservations.

RentExpert is dedicated to promoting the advantages of renting professionally managed homes and firmly believes that professional vacation rental managers are the best in the industry when it comes to taking care of guests.  Some threats to the continued growth of the vacation rental industry are unmemorable guest experiences, poorly set expectations, and properties that are not well maintained. RentExpert enhances what managers already do well and helps grow the vacation rental business by properly setting the expectation of a guest’s vacation experience.

“Vacation goers are looking for professionally managed properties and our partnership with Instant Software gives us the ability to offer the greatest number of integrated properties,” said Ganapathy Krishnan, CEO of RentExpert. “Instant Software clients consist of first-class vacation rental managers and we are thrilled to send vacationers to them for bookings.”

“We welcome RentExpert into the Instant Software Channel Partner network because of their capability to work with the unique elements of the Vacation Rental industry and ability to guarantee great guest experiences,” explains Dave Hopcroft, CEO of Instant Software, “this partnership is yet another advantage that ISI offers our property managers through ISILink and adds to the growing dominance that ISILink represents as the Vacation Rental Industry’s only true Global Distribution System.”

RentExpert is a member of VRMA and only works with vacation rental managers who maintain high standards of cleanliness and hospitality. To learn more about RentExpert, please see this video:  http://www.rentexpert.com/video_intro.

ISI Announces Partnership with One-of-a-Kind Vacation Rental Website, ParadiseHunter.com

Instant Software’s relationship with ParadiseHunter.com brings together technology, property management companies, and vacation travelers for a new and unique travel planning experience.


Instant Software (ISI) proudly announces its partnership with ParadiseHunter.com, a vacation planning search engine that offers a variety of resources  to help  vacationers plan the perfect trip. By combining Detailed Destination Information, a television series, and the ability to book travel directly on their website, ParadiseHunter.com is unique in its ability to connect travelers to the people and services who will create their memorable travel experience.

ISILink, ISI’s global distribution system for the Vacation Rental industry, will provide ParadiseHunter.com with the information needed to seamlessly create and maintain Vacation Rental listings, including property information, rate cards and up-to-date availability calendars.

ParadiseHunter.com’s President, Dennis Kambeitz is excited about the benefit this relationship will have for their customers. “ISI’s property management solutions manage more than 250,000 properties throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean.  Our affiliation will increase the number of destinations represented on our website, as well as provide an influx of top-rated and quality rentals for our website’s visitors to choose from.”

ParadiseHunter.com is a comprehensive website for travelers, inspiring and educating them with information, videos, and photos on destinations worldwide.  It features a powerful search engine for Vacation Rentals and International Real Estate, making it enjoyable and easy for visitors to find the perfect destination.  In addition, website visitors can watch the Paradise Hunter TV Show online to learn more about the different locations and activities.

“Paradise Hunter brings a unique and  wide-spread approach to the marketing of Vacation Rentals, which we feel will greatly benefit our clients,” said Dave Hopcroft, CEO of ISI.  “With the economy still sluggish in the United States, Paradise Hunter’s popularity with Canadian travelers will help our clients tap into a growing customer base of thirty million people, resulting in increased occupancy rates.”

New Webinar Series: Get More Bookings!

Instant Software announces a new webinar series - Get More Bookings!  Learn about book-ability ratings, utilize distribution channels, connect to ISILink for free, market your distribution options to gain new listings, and meet your channel partners.

Wednesday, January 20th 2:00-3:00pm MST

Attention all Hawaii property managers – Get More Bookings presentation by Katie Kratzig, Business Development at Instant Software, and meet our newest Hawaii-focused channel partner Exclusive Getaways www.exclusivegetawayshawaii.com
 
Register Online


Tuesday, January 26th 2:00-3:00pm MST

Need help marketing your high end homes?  Join the Get More Bookings presentation by Katie Kratzig, Business Development at Instant Software, and meet Mike McFadden, Co-Founder of The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts, our featured channel partner guest www.thesociety.com.

Register Online

Instant Software to Provide Technology for RockyMountainVacationRentals.com

Instant Software (ISI) announces strategic partnership with Rocky Mountain Vacation Rentals to power their network of websites by integrating ISI’s V12.NET with ISILink


Instant Software (ISI), announced a partnership with RockyMountainVacationRentals.com, formerly known as VailSkiVacations.com, where ISI will provide the technology and infrastructure to integrate multiple technologies managing over 5,500 vacation rental properties for real-time reservations.  RockyMountainVacationRentals.com selected ISI’s market leading technology because of its unique ability to aggregate vacation rental property data from these multiple technology platforms and enable real-time reservations on their new website.

The website will have landing pages for each resort destination specifically, Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen, Snowmass, Breckenridge and Summit County, Colo. After opening offices in these locations, it has strategic plans to follow them by Telluride and Steamboat Springs, Colo. and Park City, Utah this summer. Thirty additional destinations, designated on the newly launched website, will follow in the Rocky Mountain region.

RockyMountainVacationRentals.com has operated as a vacation rental company, concierge service, and real estate company better known as VailBeaverCreekLuxuryProperties.com, working exclusively in the Vail and Beaver Creek markets. There will be seven total websites aggregated under the name RockyMountainVacations.com to book vacation rentals in these destinations that generate over $1 Billion in annual Vacation Rental business.

"Instant Software views this partnership as a major step in the consolidation of winter vacation destinations.  We have seen a significant increase in guests taking multiple vacations,” says Dave Hopcroft, CEO of Instant Software. “Many of these vacations are weather dependent, and the immediacy of the Internet allows bookings to be placed with more confidence when the unpredictability of the sun or snow is removed.”

RockyMountainVacationRentals.com has integrated ISI’s leading browser-based property management system V12.NET and ISILink, the leading web distribution technology for the vacation rental industry, to manage and integrate properties from multiple vacation rental sources, creating the largest single supply of bookable vacation rentals in these top markets of Colorado. 

“ISI is the only solution provider in the industry that could help us manage our aggressive expansion into the top vacation rental markets of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains,” explains Tommy Z. Hoffman, Owner and Founder of RockyMountainVacationRental.com, “V12.NET is now the most robust browser-based property management system in the vacation rental industry, and ISILink is unparalleled in its web distribution capabilities.  It was the only combination we could find to successfully power our hyper growth businesses.”
 Through ISI’s web marketing and global distribution system ISILink, they are able to seamlessly bridge vacation rental marketing information, rates and availability to prominent consumer travel sites and web portals.  By consolidating, normalizing, and interpreting data from several vacation rental reservation systems ISILink is able to provide seamless real-time bookings between Vacation Rental managers and a network of travel-related web-sites. 

V12.NET is ISI’s browser based property management system that helps property management companies manage all aspects of their vacation rental business.  It is the most robust and feature-rich hosted solution in the vacation rental market.

Generate Revenue and Streamline Operations with First Resort Modules

by Linda Hess - Business Consultant, Instant Software

There is more functionality to FRS, the industry leading, legacy software solution, than many users realize.  In challenging times, modules such as Work Orders and Report Generator can be used to streamline operations, create revenue streams and track every aspect of your business.  Shrewd property managers have been relying on the tracking and reporting capabilities of these modules for years and say that they are even more valuable today.

Report Generator offers a plethora of reporting tools in key areas of business needs.  Forecasting reports give information on revenue and ADR while Monthly reports focus on occupancy by state and source code.   Reservation and Revenue reports hone in on where bookings came from, the dollar amount and lead time of the booking – relevant information to help make important marketing and advertising decisions.

On the operations side, there are a number of helpful reports for tracking owner stays, occupancy and arrivals.  Comparative reports give year over year statistics that can be sorted by date ranges.  Additional reports include activities reports; rate groups; source codes, labels and an exportable guest list.  There are a number of work order reports that will help you manage maintenance as well as any other tasks associated with the properties.

The Work Order Module is a very helpful tool for managing, tracking, assigning and expensing work orders through FRS.  If you are not currently handling maintenance for homeowners, this may be an opportune time to create a new revenue stream!  From assigning a job to billing the owner, this program manages it all.  You can enter labor, materials, mark-up costs, status, notes and more. To save time, policy codes can be applied to control labor, mark-up, taxes and accounting.  In addition to saving time, setting up policy codes can  help to prevent errors in data entry and to control costs internally.  Specific information can also be entered manually.   Three categories -- work orders, tasks and no charge orders -- give even more flexibility to the system.  A number of reports in the work order module allow you to quickly and easily see the status of ongoing projects and history reports are available as well. 

If you are looking for ways to increase revenue in this challenging economy, look no further than the work order module to help you provide services for your guests and owners while having an easy and seamless way to track and bill these services.   As an added bonus, providing maintenance services will give you greater control over the condition of your properties resulting in happier guests and owners.

For more information about Report Generator and the Work Order Module for FRS, contact the FRS client care team or Linda Hess at 866-746-6347, ext 4007.

Instant Software Expands Into the Web-Design and Hosting Industry

By Amy Regnier, Director of Marketing

Instant Software, Inc. recently completed its acquisition of a majority holding in TravelStorm, further positioning Instant Software as the largest player in the Vacation Rental industry offering an unmatched suite of technology, services and marketing solutions.

Instant Software, Inc. (ISI), the leading supplier of technology for the Vacation Rental industry, announced today that it has completed a strategic  acquisition of TravelStorm Website & Marketing Company, an online development and marketing firm specializing in the travel industry, to bring the most powerful and all-inclusive property management and marketing solutions available worldwide. 

As the Vacation Rental industry continues to focus on the importance of gaining National and International exposure as a mainstream travel option, vacation rental managers around the country are eager for a property management and website solution that gives them a competitive edge and unique online brand.  ISI’s market dominance and TravelStorm’s leading edge make joining the companies a natural fit and can together, offer clients the services they need to both compete and prosper in this difficult environment.

“This is an extremely important move for both companies. TravelStorm will allow us to enter an arena where we have long been a spectator, with the ability for us to offer a total suite of services our clients need, from comprehensive PMS software through web design, marketing, and analytics to best practices with increased reservations,” said Dave Hopcroft, CEO of Instant Software. “I am extremely pleased that TravelStorm has become an Instant Software company and very excited at the prospects of what we can achieve for our clients.”

ISI is the leading provider of technology solutions to the Vacation Rental industry. Offering diverse products with flexible options based on client needs including Entech, First Resort, PropertyPlus and V12.NET, which produce powerful, organized databases and operational interfaces to optimize the capabilities and profitability of its client portfolio, ISI has kept the pulse of the industry as the cornerstone of development and partnerships.

TravelStorm is the result of an eight year journey and the brainchild of two business partners, Joe Scurto and Amber Leto.  Both have extensive hands-on experience in the Vacation Rental industry in property management, online marketing, website development and Search Engine Optimization.  With the unique perspective of the day to day needs and challenges of the typical Vacation Rental company, TravelStorm has created a revolutionary booking engine and content management system; Rezolution. Rezolution seamlessly integrates with ISI’s business solutions and provides clients with powerful tools that are intuitive and simple to use so vacation rental manager’s can reclaim control over their marketing future and website presence.  Current TravelStorm clients on the Rezolution platform dominate their respective market and have industry leading website technologies.

The inertia created by this significant partnership provides endless possibilities to harvest the unparalleled power of ISI’s five software platforms.  TravelStorm’s budget-conscious Rezolution sites outperform any other product on the market and has capabilities to create fully customized website solutions.

For more information on Instant Software, TravelStorm or Rezolution, please visit www.InstantSoftware.com. 

Vacation Rental Bookings Increases 20% Over Year-to-Date 2008

By Amy Regnier, Director of Marketing

Instant Software leads the way to increasing reservations in the Vacation Rental Industry by helping clients generate over a quarter of a billion in year-to-date online reservations through ISILink.

Instant Software, Inc. (ISI) clients have experienced record breaking growth for online bookings of vacation rentals through the strength of ISILink. Despite the downturn in the economy, through the end of August, online reservations of vacation rentals through ISILink represented over $250 million, a 20% increase over year-to-date 2008.

Although total revenue from bookings across the vacation rental industry is down 15% in the first half of 2009, total online reservations year-to-date exceeded 2008 by 20%. This is evidence that more vacation rental companies rely on ISILink connectivity and internet distribution to drive business. ISILink, the Vacation Rental industry’s largest distribution system for suppliers and distributors of online vacation rentals, is becoming the industry’s most powerful Web Distribution System, and by far the best way to connect to web distribution channels.

“These figures prove what we have long believed - efficient distribution through established websites with comprehensive content will yield results,” stated Dave Hopcroft, CEO of Instant Software. “Early results and visit trends for the next part of 2009 are showing that this upswing in reservations is likely to continue.”

Instant Software is the leading supplier of technology solutions for property management companies which manage and rent other people’s homes, cottages, apartments, and condos for vacation travelers. ISILink is Instant Software’s web distribution system that bridges suppliers of vacation rental properties with distributors, such as travel sites and portals. 

“Through ISILink, our clients can now compete with hotel chains in the same arena the hotels have long controlled. This is an extremely important milestone for the vacation rental industry,” Hopcroft says.

ISILink is a unique data hub that consolidates, normalizes, and interprets data from suppliers’ reservations systems and enables seamless real-time automated bookings between the different parties’ systems in North America, the Caribbean and Europe.  Distributors connect to ISILink and automatically pull information such as property descriptions, availability, prices, and guest reviews to market to potential travelers.  When a traveler books a vacation property, the reservation information is sent back through ISILink to the property manager’s reservation system and automatically confirms the booking in real-time.

ResortQuest Delaware Exceeds 2008 Reservations by August 2009 Through Online Distribution

ResortQuest Delaware, a property management company and Instant Software client, exceeds 2008 vacation rental reservations by early August through its online distribution and booking.

Instant Software, Inc. (ISI) and ResortQuest Delaware jointly announce a new booking record for vacation rentals, despite the economy and decline in travel. ResortQuest acknowledges one of the key attributes to this increase is its use of Instant Software’s ISILink, the Vacation Rental Industry’s largest distribution system for suppliers and distributors of online vacation rentals. 

By mid-day August 6, ResortQuest Delaware announced that it set a new record for the number of online bookings and guest stays. While only 218 days into the year, more reservations were made online than the total number of online reservations recorded in 2008. In addition, online bookings made in July 2009, by number and volume, were up approximately 45% over July 2008.

“To achieve success in online distribution and bookings, three things are key,” explains Cheryl Spezia, ResortQuest’s Corporate Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The ability of ISILink for direct and immediate availability, an effective website, and optimization [of the website] are all critical to the success of our online marketing efforts.”

“Our accomplishments online in the last few years, and especially now in this economy, combined with our dedication to customer service, bodes extremely well for our continued success in this market,” says marketing manager of ResortQuest Delaware, Tim Fisher. “We can not lose sight that each one of these online bookings is a family placing their trust in us to deliver a truly memorable vacation.”

Overall, ResortQuest has experienced a dramatic increase in online bookings since using ISILink at a majority of their destinations. “I believe that when a  buyer can easily view and reserve a specific home or condominium on a website, it only increases their confidence in booking a vacation rental online.” Spezia says.

“Instant Software is proud of its relationship with ResortQuest. This proves that increased reservations can be accomplished with the right technology,” explains Dave Hopcroft, Instant Software’s CEO.

Third Party Bookings...Where Are They Going?

By George Volsky, Instant Software - Director of Research

Third-Party Bookings: Where Are they Going? How Much Do We Need them? At What Price Point?
...and At What Cost to Our Future?

Hi!  Hope your holiday was pleasant, or at least not chaotic.  The weather on Hatteras Island was FANTASTIC, as was the beach, food and company (spouses included).

Everyone is looking for bookings, and managers look at any third-party agent who can supply them.  My view (as always, not necessarily that of Instant Software) is that third party bookings could end up hurting the industry more than helping it.  Whether this occurs may depend on how managers use third-party booking agents.

Third-party booking agents include Internet listing sites that cater to rent-by-owner and those who primarily serve rental managers (the latter being better for managers). They come with a variety of fee structures and services—lower fees are always best unless the agent books homes that would not have booked without cannibalizing full-pay customers.  

How Much Do We Need Third-Party Booking Agents? 

We are pressured to believe we need every agent that can bring a booking.  But our industry does not need booking agents that do not bring value.   They should bring:

• Customers who wouldn’t book directly through our own web sites; or
• Customers who will pay more rent than customers we book directly; or
• Enough extra bookings to offset their booking fees; or
• Bookings that will keep homeowners in the rental program; or
• Extra revenue that contributes to overhead when managers’ need to minimize losses for the year.

At What Price Point? 

Some listing sites don’t bring value because they cost too much, e.g., where they book:

• homes we could book on our own without paying a fee (cannibalization);
• discounted rents for homes that would attract a full-pay customer;
• by way of fee-based “referrals” that generate too few bookings.

At What Cost to Our Future?

Is our industry on a path where we will end up paying third-party booking fees for most of the reservations we used to take ourselves?  The answer may be “yes” if we help investor-backed listing sites achieve their goals.

Also ask, “Will the aggregate cost of third-party booking fees be justified by revenues from renters who wouldn’t have otherwise booked?”  I think not, unless booking fees fall considerably below the margins currently expected by venture-capital backed listing sites.  I think that aggressive advertising will divert hotel customers to vacation rentals.  But high booking fees could offset any bottom line benefits.

Assessing the Value of Third-Party Booking Services

• Does the booking agent merely hand an inquiry off to the manager?
• Do 3rd-party booking agents allow managers’ to employ fewer reservations staff?
• Do they allow managers to spend less on advertising and other promotion?
• Is there a reason for managers to pay more for bookings than airlines pay?

Booking on Rent-by-Owner (“RBO”) Sites

On Internet search pages, the face of vacation rentals is dominated by rent-by-owner listing sites.  Perhaps one-third of homes listed on these sites are managed.  The problem:

• Most RBO sites don’t differentiate managed from unmanaged homes;
• These sites charge too much to allow most managers to use them extensively;
• Managers’ fees help buy pay-per-click ads that promote rent-by-owners;
• By listing, managers help rent-by-owner sites attain even more dominance;
• If  RBO sites become more dominant, managers may need to use them more;
• There is no reason to believe that new renters will offset RBO site booking fees;
• If RBO sites succeed, the cost of vacation rentals may increase to cover their fees;
• Long term, this could make vacation rentals less competitive with hotels.

I think managers should insist that listing sites differentiate managed homes from rent-by-owner homes.  These are different products, and can be sold side-by-side as long as consumers understand the differences.  Most consumers don’t.  We need to work on this

Related topics
Friday Blog Posting: “Booking on Rent-by-Owner (“RBO”) Sites”
Next Week:  "What is a Third-Party Booking Really Worth and How Much Can We Afford to Pay?”

Partnership with FlipKey to Provide Largest Number of Vacation Rentals Properties Through TripAdvisor

Instant Software to provide travelers access to more than 300,000 vacation homes

Instant Software, the leading supplier of technology for the vacation rental industry, proudly announced that it is working together with FlipKey™ to build the largest collection of vacation rental properties available for travelers on tripadvisor.com® and flipkey.com™. TripAdvisor®, the world’s most popular and largest travel community, recently announced the addition of more than 70,000 vacation rental listings in almost 1,000 destinations in a new vacation rental experience powered by FlipKey.
Through Instant Software’s web marketing distribution system – ISILink – Instant Software is able to seamlessly bridge vacation rental marketing information, rates and availability to prominent consumer travel sites, such as TripAdvisor and other travel sites and web portals.  By consolidating, normalizing, and interpreting data from several vacation rental reservation systems ISILink is able to provide seamless real-time bookings between vacation rental managers, tripadvisor.com and flipkey.com.

Further bolstering the marketing potential of properties distributed through ISILink, Instant Software has successfully incorporated technology for Instant Software clients to automatically collect guest reviews through an integrated system with FlipKey.  In just a couple of months, more than 30,000 FlipKey reviews have been collected through Instant Software technology.  Properties with reviews are seen by more visitors on TripAdvisor and FlipKey, and positive reviews and photos are known to improve conversion rates.  “We’ve found that guest reviews have tremendous impact on the booking success of vacation homes and ultimately improve rankings on powerful sites like TripAdvisor,” explained Ted Miller, COO of Instant Software.  “Instant Software continues to lead the industry with technology that provides property managers what they need to get competitive advantage in this difficult market.”

“Instant Software’s advanced marketing systems provide its clients a seamless and easy opportunity to effectively promote properties on our network of web sites that reach more than 15 million travelers every week,” stated Steve Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor.  “Instant Software has proven to be a pioneer in offering its clients the broadest and most effective marketing opportunities available through TripAdvisor and FlipKey.”

The benefits to vacation rental operators through Instant Software’s integration and partnership with FlipKey are extensive.  As a result, nearly 70 percent of the current bookings (both offline and online) generated through FlipKey and TripAdvisor have been for companies running Instant Software technology. 

There are more than 200,000 vacation rental properties currently managed by Instant Software technology.  In 2009 Instant Software is expanding its platform to additional reservation systems and international partners with expectations of offering more than 300,000 vacation rental properties through its distribution system by year’s end.