Comments on: PhoCusWright Travel Innovator: LiveRez.com

By: Gareth Thomas

Gareth Thomas — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:30:30 +0000

I’m a little late to comment on this, but just spending a Friday afternoon catching up on some blog posts. There’s been a related post over at Travolution (http://www.travolution.co.uk/blog/2008/12/holiday-rentals—the-next-big.php) that may be of interest to anyone reading this.

For me there has been some highly relevant points raised here, namely (in my mind) the massive fragmentation that currently exists and also the importance of online booking. If this industry wants to compete with alternative forms of accommodation (namely hotels) then I feel it needs to operate on a level playing field. Instant online booking is a very big part of that. And it comes with a new set of complications.

By: Dylan Peterson

Dylan Peterson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:39:17 +0000

Yes, ClearStay.com offers online bookings as well as ratings & reviews. There are a number of other sites on the market as well that have online bookings. They make this happen by integrating with back-end software lilke Escapia.

By: McFads

McFads — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:58:04 +0000

I concur that this summit is heavily weighted with vacation rental companies. It’s a fascinating, highly fragmented industry that has great companies and minds working on solving key problems.

It’s also important to note HomeAway is not presenting today but will be on a panel tomorrow. For those unfamiliar with HomeAway and the recent news, check out:
http://thesociety.com/blog/2008/11/big-news-in-the-vacation-rental-industry-homeaway-raises-additional-250m/

Cheers, Mike

By: Stephen Joyce

Stephen Joyce — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:05:53 +0000

Hi Ralf,

Thanks for the clarification. I’ve made some updates and fixes based on your comment:

1. I’ve updated the name to RezSecure, sorry about that. Although at the time I wrote the post, the site did go to a directory listing page. It does happen and I’m happy it has been updated. I have updated to show the screenshot.

2. VacationRoost.com seems to offer “Request Information” but Clearstay.com (which is an Escapia B2C) offers booking as well.

3. I can see your RezSecure program being very attractive. That definitely seems like a key differentiator.

Best of luck with the presentation and I look forward to meeting you at PCW. Thanks again for providing more details. It is always nice to get corrections, clarifications, and more info from owners.

By: Ralf VonSosen

Ralf VonSosen — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:53:12 +0000

Stephen – Thanks for the mention. Here are a couple of points of clarification:
1. RezSecure is the service we are launching next week at PhocusWright. Not SecureRez – no affiliation with SecureRez. The website for RezSecure will be up soon. Please correct this in the above post.
2. LiveRez is different in that we only offer an experience that allows travelers to BOOK the property. Others in the market allow travelers to only Search, Shop, Email/Phone Call/Inquiry. That is not what travelers want – they want to BOOK. We are all about Search, Shop , BOOK.
3. Innovative – we have a partnership business model with Vacation Rental managers that allows them to take their business online for a minimal investment and then it is a pay-for-performance model for a complete solution, including online mktg services. This is the foundation for RezSecure which only provides certified vacation managers with the ability to take bookings, not just inquiries.
4. Our success depends on the success of our ‘partners’ (that is how we refer to our vacation manager customers). We do all we can to make them successful, providing them any services to help drive bookings is important to us.

(not clear about your comment on the Info and Company tab)

Feel free to contact me directly with any questions or comments. Ralf@LiveRez.com

Ralf