HomeAway Transforms its Marketplace for Partners; Invests in Technology, Marketing
HONOLULU (PRWEB) November 08, 2017 -- HomeAway® today unveiled new tools and technology designed to help its owners and property managers meet their goals.
Attendees at the HomeAway Partner Summit in Honolulu heard about HomeAway’s new ranking system for search results, new tools that give owners and managers access to the information they need to make the best decisions, and the company’s plans for more targeted marketing.
HomeAway’s Premier Partner Program recognizes owners and property managers who consistently provide exceptional traveler experiences by having great listing content, responding quickly to inquiries and booking requests, honoring reservations, receiving great traveler feedback, and more. Each Premier Partner property is identified on HomeAway.com with a badge that indicates to travelers that they can expect a great stay.
“It is our goal to provide the best traveler experience with the help of our trusted partners,” said HomeAway President John Kim. “The Premier Partner program highlights owners and managers who consistently deliver exceptional traveler experiences.”
Being a Premier Partner also means owners and managers are eligible to be featured in HomeAway’s new marketing programs, such as the Moment Makers video series, expanded social promotions, segmented traveler emails and other promotional campaigns. They’ll also receive priority customer support and early access to beta programs to test and give feedback on new products and features.
“Not only are we bringing more travelers to our sites through marketing, but we’re also trying to take the guesswork out of what it takes to be successful on HomeAway,” Kim said. “To do that, we’re committed to sharing as many data-driven insights as possible, and to highlighting those owners and managers who are delighting travelers.”
HomeAway’s new ranking system will better match travelers with the right properties by considering travelers’ preferences and past searches. A property’s rank will be determined by factors that are proven to attract travelers: available amenities, positive reviews, a property page with high-quality photos and detailed descriptions, and more. Rank is also influenced by the experience owners and managers provide, and by their performance in the marketplace.
In addition to explaining how the HomeAway ranking system works, executives showcased several new tools that will help owners and managers improve their rank and achieve their financial goals:
1. Ranking Metrics help owners better understand the factors impacting their ranking and how they compare to others by displaying data such as total page views, decline rate, property rent potential, search position and more, providing insight into a listing’s performance within a market.
2. Win and loss posts show owners and managers the other properties travelers viewed while considering their listing. Lost booking posts compare the owner’s property to the one that secured the booking, helping them understand what might influence a traveler’s decision. Once the differences are identified, owners and managers can improve those areas and potentially improve their ranking. These posts also help identify the potential reasons why owners are securing bookings, encouraging them to highlight the property’s best selling points through things like the title, description and photos.
3. MarketMaker™ is a revenue management tool that taps into real-time data powered by traveler behavior and provides a view of a market’s overall demand and occupancy. By analyzing billions of data points, MarketMaker provides a holistic view of major factors that affect a property’s potential and puts data into the hands of owners and managers so they can make their own informed business decisions.
What HomeAway partners are saying:
“The new HomeAway tools help me set more competitive rates and attract the perfect traveler,” said Jeff Means, managing director of Dove Rest Cabins in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas. “Meanwhile, things like the win and loss posts provide powerful insights. These resources are something you would expect to receive with an expensive, overly technical stand-alone system – instead, it’s intuitive and easily accessible in my HomeAway dashboard.”
“You tend to look at revenue management based on your own clientele but that doesn’t tell the complete picture,” said Lee Ann Leonard, general manager of Royal American Beach Getaways. “Instead, you should consider the whole supply of a destination. The ability to do that with MarketMaker means we won’t leave money on the table.”
About HomeAway
HomeAway, based in Austin, Texas, is the world’s leading online marketplace for the vacation rental industry with sites representing more than two million unique places to stay in 190 countries, and is a part of the Expedia family of brands. For more information about HomeAway, please visit http://www.homeaway.com.
© 2017 HomeAway. All rights reserved. HomeAway, MarketMaker, and the Birdhouse Logo are trademarks of HomeAway.
Jordan Hoefar, HomeAway, http://www.homeaway.com/, +1 512-505-1857, [email protected]
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