All products, services, or links mentioned on my website are for products and services that I have personally used and/or recommend. Some of the links are affiliate links. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
I’m Connie Johnston, a 40-something happy wife, proud momma of two teenagers and a life-long resident of central and rural West Virginia (as if parts of West Virginia aren’t rural – haha).
My husband, Ernie, and I own two vacation rental homes in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Ernie is the hands-on, jack-of-all-trades, maintenance/remodeler/plumber/electrician/envy of all honey-do list makers, you-name-it feller. Everybody needs one of those and I sure am happy to have him!
Like you, I leave pieces of my heart at our vacation rental destination every time we visit. Our plan is to someday move there and enjoy our happily ever after.
My 30 year professional career has always been in finance and accounting. Currently, I am the Chief Finance Officer at one of West Virginia’s largest healthcare non-profits.
Back around 2000, when the internet was really starting to take off (Remember when there were no pictures on the internet? Dial-up modems? Yes!), I started a side business building websites and doing some internet set-up consulting (I guess that’s what you’d call it – where someone calls and asks “How do I get on this internet thing everyone is talking about?”.
Seriously. For quite a while, I was the only person in my area who had internet. It’s crazy to think about.
I have been building websites and doing computer/technical consulting, desktop publishing, brand marketing and digital marketing for the last 20 years. Yes, this is my passion. It’s fun for me.
Aside from my professional career, I guess you could say I am a direct sales addict – I’ve sold AVON, Origami Owl, In A Pikle and now I am enjoying being a Scentsy Independent Consultant. The direct sales gig feeds my addiction to office supplies (no joke), provides a discount on the smell-good products I LOVE, and gives me the opportunity to hone my marketing skills.
Being in direct sales for the last several years is where I have really gotten interested in digital marketing and tech hospitality. Vacation rental and hospitality marketing requires many of the same skills as direct sales.
You’ll hear me mention again and again about how important it is to build relationships with your guests – just like direct sellers do with their customers.
Ernie and I have been vacation rental owners since January, 2014. Before then, we knew nothing about about it. Nothing. So, like you’re doing right now, I started scouring the internet for answers to my many questions.
Since then, we have pieced the puzzle together and feel like we now have a pretty good handle on how this whole thing works.
Originally, we were listed with VRBO. It was great – back then. As VRBO began to wrestle away control from the owners, I knew we had to find another solution. I begin creating our website while studying digital marketing techniques online.
It wasn’t long until we were in a position where we didn’t have to renew with VRBO.
A large percentage of our bookings are now from repeat guests. And new guests are finding us through each of our social media channels, print ads and Google searches.
Through trial and error; a ton of webinars and courses; and hours and hours of Google searches and late night reading, I have been able to piece together the formula to create an awesome guest experience.
So how did Trendy Hospitality come about? Well, I have been in several of the Facebook vacation rental owner’s groups for quite a while. I see lots of folks (maybe even you) asking questions about websites, social media, reviews, digital marketing, etc.
I thought, wouldn’t this be much easier if I could teach other owners how to be successful with their own digital marketing strategy? Of course! And so, here we are.
What IS the KEY to vacation rental success? I have given this a lot of thought and here is my conclusion.
The key to today’s vacation rental success is to provide a better guest experience by combining old-fashioned hospitality and trendy technology.
~ Connie Johnston
And so, Trendy Hospitality was born. If you want to understand more about why I chose this combination, read my post “What is Trendy Hospitality?”.
Well, that depends on how much effort you want to put into learning my method of vacation rental success. But, I can tell you, if you follow my system, I have no doubt you’ll provide a better guest experience that will then lead to more bookings.
As you know, when guests are happy, you’re happy! Not to mention the time it will save you once you get the right system in place!
This stuff works! And I can’t wait to show you how you can learn to use these same methods and techniques I have found to be successful!
Are you ready to get started? Great!
The first step is to take the Trendy Hospitality Survey and we’ll go from there to figure out your plan.
See ya,
You don’t want to miss any of my weekly vacation rental management and marketing tips! You’ll also get my FREE Download – 9 Steps to Preparing Your Vacation Rental Business to #BookDirect!
Would you like to take Direct Bookings for your vacation rental, but you don’t know where to start? Evaluate where you are and what steps you need to take to gain back control of your vacation rental business. It’s not as hard as you might think.
Learn what Trendy Hospitality is all about. And learn more about me and why I have such a passion for vacation rental management and marketing.
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All products, services or links mentioned on my website are for products and services that I have personally used. Some of the links are affiliate links. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
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