Independently owned lodging such as private vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts, small boutique hotels, AirBnB nightly rentals, Ecolodges, guest ranches, etc., share a pressing need to address their most challenging business obstacle: achieving and maintaining high occupancy rates. Ultimately, this goal requires an integrated and multi-media approach using the most current information. Essential Marketing Tools for Independently Owned Lodging provides just that – tools that owners, aspiring owners, and hospitality students need to address the ever-changing challenge to fulfill vacancies and maintain profitability. Independent properties make up more than half of the lodgings in the United States. In the rapidly changing digital environment, many legacy managers find themselves struggling to create and oversee a diversified marketing platform that will ensure enough “heads in beds” to sustain the enterprise. As new areas of lodging have opened up in the sharing economy, especially vacation rentals and informal host accommodations such as AirBnB – and as these segments of the industry mature – they too need assistance in moving beyond one or two distributions channels (i.e., AirBnB, VRBO, HomeAway) and broadening their reach. This book can be used as a textbook for students of hotel and hospitality management, for aspiring owners and their real estate representatives and by individual owners and managers already in the market.
