2009 - 2018 Listing Site Independence

Listing Site Independence (LSI) became the first ever marketing diversification framework for short term rental owners and managers who want to cultivate direct bookings over time.

Operating his vacation rentals in Panama at the time, Founder, Matt Landau foresaw listing sites Airbnb and HomeAway becoming addictive partners to property owners and managers. He believed it would become TOO EASY to equate results from listing sites like Airbnb & Vrbo with "success." And that doing so would become dangerous: defining an independent creator's success to the ebbs and flows of a monolithic (now-publicly traded) company has plenty of caveats. 

So what was the solution?

VRMB identified the four primary Stages of marketing diversification.

Each Stage is comprised of time-sensitive activities. And the activities are prioritized based on ROI and speed of implementation. New LSI students begin at Stage 1 and work their way to Stage 4. One of the most important lessons is prioritizing in order to avoid overload. Once students identify what Stage they currently fall into, the 4 Stages of Listing Site Independence guides them with individual steps needed to get to where they want to go. Many active members see upwards of 50% direct bookings. 

2018 - 2022 Limited Edition

LSI was all about marketing and branding techniques. Limited Edition is a branding strategy: one-of-a-kind by design as your greatest defensive moat. 

Most vacation rental stakeholders want to build high-quality, profitable, and meaningful business, not publicly-traded companies. 

Inspired by the world of collector's items and antiques, Limited Edition acts like a prism through which any vacation rental professional (or small business really!) can build a one-of-a-kind moat around their business.

The pillars of Limited Edition are the core differentiators which help us stand out from commodity and hotel competition. Repetition of these pillars in all copywriting and interactions is key: almost to the point of exhaustion. 

By channelling what makes your business Limited Edition, you distinguish yourself and attract like-minded guests.

And not unlike collector's items, guests who are attracted to limited edition offerings tend to be like-minded humans: they form connections among themselves! What an extraordinary thing!  

Limited Edition cuts through the noise of commodity vacation rentals and branding nonsense: it encapsulates the things that make our cottage industry unique: the inherent features that empower a vacation rental professional to achieve our own individual versions of success...on our terms.

2022 to Present "Parlay"

Hospitality gestures are the new marketing. 

Limited Edition positioning set the stage for Parlay: the method of taking new leads from listing sites like Airbnb and Vrbo and transforming them into repeat and referral guests through hospitality gestures. 

Listing sites have become so proficient at generating new inquiries for owners and managers. So we let them do that. 

We then re-focus time, energy, and extra resources on the activities within our control: setting expectations, then meeting and exceeding those expectations in-stay. 

The center of the Parlay universe is the actual home: this is our unique chance to interact with guests and build relationships (the social capital of Parlay). 

Parlay breaks the guest journey down and addresses the most important inflection points for you to step in and deliver character, trust, and ultimately memories that last a lifetime. 

Parlay is proactive and round -- as opposed to linear. By taking a look at the entire journey (as opposed to isolating it in parts) we see interrelationships and patterns and main drivers for change.

Note: Parlay even has its own artistic hand movement that you can't unsee.