After severing ties in June, the Vacation Rental Managers Association and Pegasus Solutions have come to terms on a vacation-rental switch for professionally managed vacation properties.
VRMA says that in the lead-up to its annual conference last month, it signed an agreement with Pegasus Solutions, which is renowned for its hotel-distribution switch.
Pegasus had been developing a vacation rental switch for VRMA, but the two companies broke off talks in June when they couldn’t come to terms on issues such as who would foot development costs and various volume thresholds.
In an email a couple of days ago about its October conference, VRMA says the two companies will jointly develop the switch over the next 150 days and it will “allow vacation rental managers to distribute inventory across multiple channels, including listing sites, CVB/destination portals, online travel agencies and more. ”
VRMA adds: “Participating software companies will provide a feed to the Switch, and vacation rental managers will select which channels to distribute through, allowing for full control of inventory, rates, blackout dates, company branding and more.”
Pegasus is believed to have done a considerable amount of development work on the switch earlier in 2011 and had vowed to proceed with it without VRMA’s participation when a stalemate ensued in June.
The switch will launch on VRMA’s DiscoverVacationHomes site, the association says.
The VRMA-Pegasus switch is seen by some as a hoped-for alternative to HomeAway, which has been trying to make inroads into the professionally managed vacation rental market.
Vacation homes is a notoriously fragmented market, with much of the booking activity taking place offline.
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Oh boy this is going to hurt HA.
Is that said in jest? This will only help HomeAway, if Pegasus and VRMA do it right, providing seamless inventory from professional management companies into HomeAway and all of their sites, HomeAway gets that much stronger as a single source for vacation rentals including the managed and for rent by owner inventory.
Bruce: If Pegasus and VRMA are able to distribute to OTAs and other sites, how does that help HomeAway?
Dennis:
I’m a consumer looking for a sweet vacation rental in Aspen. On the “Pegasus switch” I’ll only see homes/condos from professional management companies. On HomeAway, I’ll be able to see all of that (there will certainly be a direct feed from Pegs to HomeAway) as well as all of the “For rent by owner” inventory that HomeAway dominates. As a consumer I may/may not care about the professional management aspect. That will make HomeAway a full source vacation rental OTA, keeping them well ahead of other OTAs as far as revenue from vacation rentals, and more of the “go to” source for vacation rentals don’t you think?
Bruce: On the other hand, HomeAway is already making professionally managed properties a priority — with or without the Pegasus-VRMA switch. I have no doubt that HomeAway is kicking butt already in vacation rentals, but wouldn’t a VRMA switch, if it can be successfully done, be somewhat of a counter-weight to HomeAway? At least there would be another sheriff in town.
Also, I think consumers may indeed care whether the property they are renting is from an individual or a professional management company. Especially with the occasional horror story from the likes of AirBnB etc., the trust factor would be an advantage for professionally managed properties.
Hey Dennis,
First, don’t get me in trouble with all my Property Management friends, I never said consumers don’t want professional management, I said they “may/may not care”, I know I prefer it! Second, anything that continues to raise the profile of Vacation Rentals is good for HomeAway, the 2000 pound gorilla in the space, so I’m guessing they are in full support of the Pegasus/VRMA switch as it will only lead to more overall vacation rental bookings, and they’ll get more than their fair share. I assume you’re chasing the down now for their perspective on this…?
Bruce: In the past HomeAway has been fairly noncommital about it, but yes, I’m trying to get an update on their position.