The Vacation Rental Key with T and T
This is a podcast for professional vacation rental managers. Whether you manage 5 properties or 500 properties you can gain insight on how to run a successful vacation rental business by listening to T and T give their Keys to being the best.
The Vacation Rental Key with T and T
Episode 4 -Shrimp, Ships, and Vacation Rental Tips VRMA Foundations Report
Ever wonder what happens when you gather 200 vacation rental professionals in one of America's most charming historic cities? Our latest episode takes you inside the VRMA Foundations Conference in Savannah, where operational excellence takes center stage against a backdrop of Southern hospitality.
Tim returns from Savannah overflowing with insights (and possibly too many shrimp and grits) after immersing himself in this intimate industry gathering. Unlike larger conferences where networking can feel overwhelming, Foundations created an environment where deeper connections flourished. The innovative track-based structure—office operations, frontline staff, and team management—kept attendees with their cohort throughout the event, fostering meaningful relationships and problem-solving.
Through exclusive interviews captured on-site, you'll hear diverse perspectives from industry veterans to newcomers. VRMA Executive Director Ann Gardner shares how the conference exceeded expectations by attracting new attendees "positively on fire" about training designed specifically for them. Marco DiDimizio, former owner of TripAdvisor's #1 ranked B&B in the United States, offers premium hospitality insights that translate perfectly to vacation rentals (including why you should never use the word "discount"). Supplier representatives reflect on the refreshing engagement levels, while a property manager attending with his team reveals how their dinner conversations buzzed with implementation plans before the conference even concluded.
What emerges is a portrait of an industry embracing operational excellence while maintaining the personal touch that defines exceptional hospitality. As one attendee put it, the conference reminded them of "VRMA from years ago, when the footprint was small and the interaction was high"—proving that sometimes the most valuable industry events aren't the biggest, but the most focused.
Whether you're contemplating attending future VRMA events or simply looking to level up your vacation rental operations, this episode offers both practical takeaways and inspiration. After all, in the vacation rental business, sometimes the best ideas come from conversations over pralines in Savannah.
You're listening to the Vacation Rental Key with TNT, the podcast for vacation rental managers by vacation rental managers. I'm Tim Cafferty and I manage two companies, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. I'm one of the two T's.
Speaker 2:And I'm the other, T Tiffany Edwards, born and raised in the vacation rental business. I help manage our family businesses from Key West all the way to Kauai.
Speaker 1:In the next 30 minutes, we're going to give you our keys to success in the vacation rental business.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone and welcome back to Vacation Rental Key with yours truly Tiffany.
Speaker 1:And the guy who had way too many shrimp and grits in Savannah I'm Tim.
Speaker 2:Tim eating your way through Savannah. Did you get any work done? I know that you love it over there in the Southern Cuisine.
Speaker 1:I did get a lot of work done. I'll tell you. It was just overflowing with ideas, overflowing like the Savannah River after a good rain. It was a fantastic event, so much packed in just two days and for those listening who couldn't make it picture a beautiful historic city, warm temperatures, rooms full of passionate property managers and enough educational session to make your head spin in the best possible way.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and, speaking of those sessions, we wanted to give you the lowdown on some of the hottest topics and most popular takeaways. Think of it as your personal cheat sheet to the VRMA Foundations. So, tim, let's dive into all of the details, shall we? What were some of the major nuggets that really stuck with you from this conference?
Speaker 1:Well, first of all, you must be beyond the fact I was asked about 50 times where's Tiffany? We love her.
Speaker 2:No, that did not happen.
Speaker 1:I know, shocking, I know, but let's just say, the next time I go to a conference without you, I'm taking a life-size cutout of you. So people will talk to me more. But beyond that, and enough about you I think we should first set the scene. The event was at the Savannah Convention Center. It's located right on the Savannah River. I did not know maybe you already knew this, tiff that Savannah is one of the busiest ports for container ships in the world, number two on the East Coast, behind the Port of New York, new Jersey, and number four in the world Number two on the East Coast, behind the Port of New York, new Jersey, and number four in the country. I cannot tell you how many of these massive container ships I counted moving up and down the river where we stayed. I sent you pictures, tiff, and you can post them on our social media so people can get an idea of what we're looking at.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'll post them. Remember anyone listening to follow us on the Vacation Rental Key with TNT? I'll make sure I get those pictures. I think you sent a few action shots too of you running around with people, so I'll make sure I add those to the list. It sounds like some massive ships. I love Savannah and I've heard great feedback about that convention center. Such a wonderful city, great hospitality, great food and top shelf experience is what I've heard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they just finished Get this a $276 million renovation on an expansion project to the convention center. It's absolutely stunning. At any rate, the conference was named Foundations because it was focused on the keys of operational excellence in your company. There were three tracks One was office, one was frontline and one was team. What was cool about it, tiff, is you got to choose which track you wanted to follow. You got a little dot on your name tag. You were the yellow person, a blue person or a red person, and then you stayed in the room except for breakfast and lunch, and you got to know the people for two days, like the maintenance and housekeeping folks stayed together. The team people talked about forming and training your team, and the office track covered all things related to reservations, guest relations, your brand communication and maybe even leaving a little welcome gift that isn't just a logoed koozie Think locally sourced goodies like Savannah Pralines anyone.
Speaker 2:Tim, did you go to Savannah Candy Kitchen without me?
Speaker 1:I 100% did. Yes, I went there Sunday night. I went there Monday night and. I stopped in again on Tuesday before I left town. I was going to bring you something, but I ate it, sorry.
Speaker 2:I'll wait in the mail. Hopefully there's, you know, maybe another trip on the calendar for you to go to Savannah and make it up for me. Another thing I heard was a big theme was the fact that an event was purposely smaller. It was more intimate, and so there was great conversation and feedback and opportunity for even better networking with a real free flow of education.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Like I mentioned, I was in the team track, for instance, and shout out to VRMA's favorite aunt, sue Jones. She started us off. She just has such a great manner about her. She immediately engaged everyone. She made it really easy for people to speak up and offer their view of things. And then we had some really interesting discussions about onboarding staff, with some real life examples of what works, and some people spoke up and said what doesn't work, which is great. And on the team side of things, justin Ford, mr Safety, scared the pants off of people talking about safety and what we're not doing. Dave Roberts, from right here at Blue, led a discussion about not just having the latest gadgets for maintenance but also having the right tools to deliver excellence in your customer service. And of course, dirk Johnson, the cleaning guru, did his thing on housekeeping. That group was really vibrant. They got a lot of talking done because they were consistently the last group to get to lunch because I guess they couldn't stop talking.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love a good working lunch and you said that there was a track on office and keeping things running smoothly for that aspect of your company, right? Tyann Marsink-Hammond led that right.
Speaker 1:Yes, the queen of guest experience was on fire. Oh girl, I think the only thing she missed on the whole conference was, at the beginning of the conference, the two of us run up on stage to get everybody fired up and the opening session, and we came up on stage to give each other a high five and she missed.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think someone from the audience sent me a action shot of that that I'd be happy to share on social media. Oh, good, good.
Speaker 1:Well, anyway, tyen pulled off a huge surprise. She always likes to delight people and she did again. She had Marco DiDimizio come on from Cape Cod, massachusetts. Anybody recognize that name? Marco was the former co-owner of the number one bed and breakfast in the United States. It was ranked by TripAdvisor and it was number two in the world. You will hear from him in a few minutes, but let's just say if you think you deliver great service to your guests, he will make you rethink.
Speaker 2:And it sounds like you might have found our keynote-worthy guest for a future podcast.
Speaker 1:Maybe so, and let me tell you, savannah was the perfect backdrop for all this learning. Between sessions, we got to soak up some of that Southern charm, wander through the historic squares and, yes, indulge in a few delicious meals.
Speaker 2:Great. Well, all right, buckle up, folks, because we've got a special treat for you. After soaking up all the knowledge at VRMA Foundations in beautiful Savannah, tim managed to corner a few attendees and snag some insightful interviews. We turned Tim loose out on the streets of the Savannah conference halls and, you know, could be unpredictable at best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, an opportunity knocks and somebody is willing to share the wisdom, you grab your microphone and you hit record. We managed to get about 11 minutes of fantastic perspectives from fellow vacation rental professionals, and we thought you'd love to hear directly from them about their takeaways and experiences.
Speaker 2:So we're going to start off with Ann Gardner, who's the executive director of VRMA, and ask what her expectations were of the conference and the experience.
Speaker 5:Well, our expectations were pretty limited. We knew we wanted to make a pivot and we knew we wanted to program along an area where we had direct feedback and requests for more focused, more dedicated training, really having deep learning opportunities, and that that's something that we just had some capacity to grow into.
Speaker 1:You've been watching over this. How have you think it's gone so far?
Speaker 5:It's been tremendous in many ways and I will say, first and foremost, we have seen new attendees, folks who've never attended a meeting, who are positively on fire that there's training that is for them, that they can come with their team. We are seeing great team camaraderie and networking and when we see them in the hallways comparing notes after a session before they go to the next one, that is a palpable energy and a new audience that we realize we're going to be leaning more into with foundational training and really providing that area that we know our vacation rental management professionals can use that support to help grow their teams.
Speaker 1:So if you had a message to give to a business owner or an upper level manager, that's, a VRMA member who did not attend this conference, what would you tell them?
Speaker 5:I would say that this was an undiscovered gem, that we started with the idea of just some really focused workshops, but we saw a need and it's grown quickly, and I cannot be happier or more grateful for our supplier community support. They are here supporting you, they are engaged and ready to speak to you in your specific area of your business and they came prepared at this meeting to talk to concerns that you deal with every day.
Speaker 1:As I continue to work the room. Now I'm here with the king of hospitality, marco. Introduce yourself to our audience.
Speaker 4:Hi there, I'm Marco DiDivizio with Inn Advisors, formerly the Candleberry Inn on Cape Cod. We owned the property for 10 years, took it from a sleepy little B&B to the number one inn in the US on TripAdvisor and Travel and Leisure. So some amazing results based on guest experience.
Speaker 1:And you are here about to speak. The crowd is going to be really interested in what you have to say. This is your first exposure to the vacation rental management people. What's the vibe?
Speaker 4:like for you. It is terrific. I didn't quite know what to expect. I thought they were going to be owners of properties. Instead it's real management companies and I love to see the passion that they have, which is shared with the traditional lodging side, that we have Focus on making those connections with the guests and the guest experience and how to elevate it and how to build those long-term relationships which then turns into loyalty and bookings money.
Speaker 1:Wow, and so give us a couple of key points that you hope the group will take away when you speak to them in just a little bit Absolutely Building that personal guest experience, making them feel seen, making them feel like they are a guest in your home versus an anonymous traveler.
Speaker 4:One important thing that I learned over the years particularly for the managers that provide a luxury experience or a premium experience Don't discount. Do not use that word because it erodes your brand. Now can you give a promotional rate? Yes. Can you provide a special guest credit? Yes, but don't use that word discount. Use a book direct rate versus a standard rate, so they think they're getting a deal. You can do last minute deals, you can do early bird special rate. Use those words. Do not use the word discount because it hurts you, particularly if you're positioning yourself as a luxury experience.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to listen to the whole thing here in a little bit. But welcome to our little group here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was a pleasure, love to have you back. I love the energy and the passion here. It's a great group.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've caught up with a friend from the mountains Rachel, all day is here, and you're not only here, but you have a whole crew here, that's fantastic.
Speaker 6:I have four people from my team here.
Speaker 1:And how are they enjoying this Foundation's experience?
Speaker 6:They're loving it. I've been asking them a lot and I feel like they're saying things like they like them smaller, so they're getting like more out of the sessions. They're having like lots of conversations because it's not like so massive. So just the fact that it's a little more intimate, not so overwhelming, that's what they're liking.
Speaker 1:I've noted as well. With the way it's set up, you stay on a track and so people are seeing the same people, they're engaging more. Maybe friendships are occurring, yeah, like it used to be in the VRMA. Yeah, yeah. But you have a little different story to tell about when you came into VRMA versus Helen Well, I didn't come in when it was smaller, I mean when I started.
Speaker 6:I can't remember what was my first year at International, but I want to say it was like maybe 16, something like that, when my husband and I first started coming.
Speaker 6:We didn't know anyone really and we didn't really make like any lasting relationships that first couple of times.
Speaker 6:Which is funny because now I feel like I know everyone and I love it, but at the time I felt like, oh, this is interesting and there was so much good information, but I didn't feel like I had an easy time meeting people. And I feel like now that I just joined the board recently, like that's a huge focus for me is like how can we do better as an organization? To number one, like bring more people in the industry to the table, because there's the vast majority of people in our industry don't even know about VRMA, which I didn't for a long time. It's operating for years and years not even knowing that it was here and then knowing that when they finally come and they want to attend a conference or get involved somehow, that we make an effort to bring them into the circle Because there's so many cool people. But it can be harder than maybe some of us realize to feel like you're part of things and have a relationship that lasts beyond just a chat during a session, right?
Speaker 1:So it's really incumbent on us more experienced members to reach out to those people and don't let them get away without needing somebody.
Speaker 6:Or maybe we just need to find some more ways of creating events or gatherings or doing stuff that can allow for encouraging more personal relationships that you could keep communicating after the events. That's where you really get so much more. As you start to develop a relationship with someone, you can ask questions, not just when you see them that one time a year, but like all throughout the year when your little questions come up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all you got to do is look around the room. It's happening folks. Yes, right now, really cool. Thanks, rachel. Yeah, okay, now moved over here to the supplier area. And Okay, now moved over here to the supplier area. And I have the group I affectionately call the Verbo Girls.
Speaker 5:And you have a Verbo hat on right now.
Speaker 1:I do that's pretty awesome Tim. And you are.
Speaker 7:I'm Alex Van Ness and I'm Ora.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 7:I'm Jenny Davis.
Speaker 1:All right, jenny, you're the spokesperson here. Oh gosh, you've been seeing a lot of folks, a lot of new faces here. Yes, you've been seeing a lot of folks, a lot of new faces here. What's been your perspective as a supplier member about the success of this event?
Speaker 7:We love the opportunity to talk with different people from these organizations and I think there's been a lot of value added getting some face time with people that we don't normally have face time with.
Speaker 1:So you're seeing more back of the house, folks.
Speaker 7:I would guess the operators, the people that get it done, Absolutely A lot of people that are boots on the ground that are normally too busy to meet with us, so it's nice to have some face time with them, along with the GMs, the COOs, the CEOs of these businesses so that we can collaborate together.
Speaker 1:So often we come to these events and they're huge 2,000 people, 1,500 people. We have about 200 or so here. What do you think of the smaller setting?
Speaker 7:I personally love a smaller setting because I think it gives us more time to have more in-depth conversations.
Speaker 1:Okay, and another one of our supplier members here that you will recognize the name, brian Butler from Easy Care. You have been a busy man the last two days.
Speaker 3:I have been. It's been a great show. It really has been a great show. I will tell you that one of the nice things that VRMA has done is done the regional show, specific to the type of function that is more oriented towards operations. We've got great participation. It reminds me of Verma from years ago, when the footprint was small and the interaction was high, and we've seen that interaction in this and I'm loving it and we're sitting here off to the side, you may hear there are murmurs.
Speaker 1:There literally are about 20 tables full of people in a problem-solving session and it appears there's not one or two people talking.
Speaker 3:I love it. I think the roundtable is really exciting, it is true. Interaction of peers it's facilitated, so you get the shy people going too, but everybody's full of knowledge. It's a cross-pollination of decades of knowledge and to me this speaks to exactly why you come to this show, so it's great. I think everyone out here will walk away with something from a competitive company or non-competitive, but certainly another property management company that they can take away. It's the best way to do it.
Speaker 1:We're going to wrap this up with my new friend, Alex from Johnson City, Tennessee, so you're one of the new folks, if we will. You've come to this event in good faith. How was it for you?
Speaker 8:It's been great for me and my team. I came with four of our core team members who helped me manage 33 properties that we host guests in every day 33 properties that we host guests in every day and I think bringing the team was arguably the best decision I made in this whole process of deciding to come, because all the people that I'm here with are frontline team and so operations, the cleaning, the maintenance, the training all that that we're trying to figure out how to continue to be more efficient with this has given us a lot of really good tools and a lot of good concepts for us to take back and to talk about. Even just last night after the conference, we were sitting around dinner and hashing out hey, what did you learn from this part of the conference, what'd you learn in this session? And I was taking tons of notes and we're like a little bit overwhelmed with everything we're learning and so trying to take the fish, leave the bones, what is the key things that we can take home with us and hopefully help the rest of our team Like that's the goal with this conference is learn, so we can be a better team, we can be a better company, we can treat our guests better, we can treat our fellow teammates better, and so, yeah, I think honestly, we could have wrapped up yesterday and I would have been like, oh, this was worth it.
Speaker 8:So it felt like today was just a bonus day of bonus information, more tools in our tool belt. And, yeah, I'm excited to take everything that we've been learning and take it home with us and try to implement it. So, yeah, Fantastic.
Speaker 1:I met one of your colleagues, Lucy, who I think filled up a full notebook on the first session yesterday that I was going to ask you about her sharing. So that's great to hear. You guys got together and each shared what you learn, which is what this organization is all about.
Speaker 8:Yeah, and then also meeting you, meeting other people like you, is helpful for me as a business owner. I'm constantly trying to find people who are ahead of us and have solved the problems we're facing and are thriving, and it's really encouraging to meet people like yourself and to see like, oh man, like you know, we hang in there, like you know, we hang in there, hang it, we hang in there, maybe we can be. We'd be there one day, you know. And so, yeah, the personal connections that we've made and that you make in conferences like this is arguably my favorite part, fantastic look forward to hearing how the success builds for your company and tiffany, we have a new listener as well absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 8:I look forward to hearing it, or listening to the podcast more very good.
Speaker 2:Wow, tim, I'm pleasantly surprised. Those are some great Mike moments. Real great insights there, so different in everyone's experience and so valuable to hear directly from those that have involvement in the industry. And you got us a new fan, absolutely.
Speaker 1:A big thank you to all those who took the time to chat with me in Savannah Anne Gardner from VRMA, marco DiDAmuzio, the former owner of the Candleberry Inn in Brewster, massachusetts, if you wanted to look him up. Rachel Alday, you heard, from Adobe Luxury Rentals in Park City, utah, the Verbo Girls, alex Van Ness, flora and Jenny Davis, brian Butler from Easy Care and my new friend and newest listener to the podcast, alex of Johnson City, tennessee. And, by the way, special shout out to my new friend, lance Baptiste of Sun River Resort in Sun River, oregon, who sat with me at the team's track and gave me some insights and help which helped me with just one conversation with Lance. It helped me pay for the entire cost of the conference for all four people I brought, with just the one tip he gave me. So that's what it's all about. I'm hopeful hearing the perspectives of those folks gives you an even better feel for the VRMA Foundations Conference.
Speaker 2:Pam, you know to add into that. This makes me so excited and it reminds me and I know it said we talked about this in one of the interviews reminds me of the old days of VRMA, the times where you're intimately networking in smaller groups. When I talked to our team members who had gone, they said they loved the extended time. They felt like they got so much more information. But I think the really inspiring part is for you who've been in this business for so long. For me, who's been in this business for so long, there's still so much we can learn from people who have even entered just into the business and I think we end up getting so busy that we lose that there's so much foundational knowledge out there. So I love that VRMA is doing this. I love to hear back from everyone and their experience and can't wait to hear more feedback.
Speaker 1:I think the supplier members were very happy as well. The conference room where we had all our meals and the food was fantastic, by the way, at the conference, so thumbs up to VRMA about that. It's not always been the case in the past, but they killed it this time. But, at any rate, the supplier members who are there I counted, I think, 26, maybe 30, somewhere in that. Every time I looked at a vendor table there was someone there talking to someone, so it was very engaging. Again back to your point. So wherever they pick next year's location, it is definitely an event to consider Level up your vacation rental game. Vrma Foundation is a place to do it.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, I can't wait to join you at the foundations next year. Hopefully I won't be on the road dealing with child care and baseball and lacrosse tournaments, because I missed out on this one.
Speaker 1:So that brings us to the end of another episode of the Vacation Rental Key with TNT. We hope you've enjoyed our Savannah deep dive and those fantastic attendee interviews and next time we get together we have another great podcast lined up for your listening pleasure and if you listen closely, you may know what's coming.
Speaker 2:Until next time, guys.
Speaker 1:By the way, I'm definitely bringing my stretchy pants next year.
Speaker 2:So long everybody. Bye and my pralines, we'll see you next time.