Hello, welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Karakaian. I'm Annette

Grant and together we are Thanks for visiting.

And this is the hosting hotline. If you would like to get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, go to hosting hotline. com. Ask your question and we'll answer it here on the podcast. And today we have a great question from a woman with a really incredible name.

Hi, ladies. Thanks for all you do and for sharing all the information. My name is Sarah and I own two properties in Missouri, Happy Oaks Retreat and Happy Stay Chalet. And one of my goals for 2025 is to attend an in person event. I would love to meet other people in the industry and other property owners who have short term vacation rentals. But I was hoping you could lead me in the right direction as far as which event might be the best for my needs. So I do have a property manager because I also have a W 2 job. But I am fairly hands on with my properties. I'm the guest contact when they check in so I like to know what's going on with the guest. So I'm wanting an event that not only has really good different workshops, maybe that I can pick from, I'm most interested in learning about social media marketing, midterm rentals, taxes, but also one that has good vendors. I would love to meet vendors in person, like I know you guys talk a lot about Minoan and, um, in places like that, that I could actually meet in person, so I'm trying to figure out how to find the best. event in person. Do you have any tips?

Do we have tips? Annette and I also love to travel and I love conferences. Yes. Love them. You will find me in the educational sessions and then you will find Annette E net? Annette. Did I say E net? I think you did but I liked it. You'll find Annette. With the vendors chatting it up.

Yes networking. Yeah. No, we we just so appreciate this This question and it being on your goal list. Well done because you're Investing in yourself investing in the industry and we are excited for you. So we have Six events and this is for everyone listening we've kind of Targeted six different events, um, three of them we have personally attended, and we'll highlight the three that we have, um, participated in, and three of them are actually, um, we haven't attended, but one of them we're hoping to attend, uh, potentially this year, but let's just start, um, And Sarah research all of these because for everybody out there, the way that Sarah and I look at events, let's start there and then we'll get into them. First of all, we always look at the dates. That's the thing that normally is one of the biggest hindrances is do the dates work with your calendar. Secondarily, Where they are located, we like to kind of position ourselves in places that we want to be during certain times of the year. So it normally starts with dates that work. Then isn't it a location that we're interested in? And then also. Of course, the content, but normally that the dates are what dictate most if we're able to attend. And last but not least, the pricing, the pricing does matter. Everything that we're going to share with you is a ticketed event. So not only do you need to buy a ticket to attend, you normally need to buy your airfare, a And accommodations. So for all of you out there, it really it is an investment because you're normally taking time away from your business, your life, your family, friends, and then added on those additional, um, investments. But,

uh, but also Sarah and everyone out there, if you are operating as a business, you could save your receipts and it could be a potential write off. If you have the you. ability to write off, um, these events and I also thought you were going to say this Annette, but Sarah, I love that you made the goal to go and then once you decide which one you're going to go to, you want to set one goal for yourself that would make the whole trip worth it. I think sometimes we can over either, I don't know if the word is complicated or Set us up for failure in terms of all the things you think you're going to do or learn. And truly, if you get one incredible thing out of an event, it is most often worth it. And then these other magical things happen after the event is done that you never even anticipated.

And the one thing could be meeting one person, learning one idea. You mentioned it, Sarah, meeting one vendor. So I just want to piggyback off that, Sarah. Just having a very, very open, um, openness when you attend these that it really, truly is. If you can have one incredible takeaway, that could be a game changer for yourself, your business, and it really just allows you to enjoy. Enjoy it. Be present there. That's the other thing to everyone. If you are going to make the investment, be there. Um, put the phone down, get coverage for your guest communication and get there. Like Get there when it starts. Stay till the very end. Like, that's where the magic happens. It's like, Oh, I don't know if I want to go to that. Like Sarah said, I'm networking stuff, but I'm definitely, I'm there. Like, we, Sarah and I always want to get there when it starts, um, till, till when it ends. All of the, the extras that are happening, because a lot of these events too, um, in our industry, there are a lot of after parties. So attend those, or try to connect with someone, um, and, and go out for, for dinner. And drinks after and continue that after the actual, um, into the show. So let's get in to the events that we want to share with you, Sarah.

And Sarah, because I know you're based in the U. S., these are all U. S. based events, but anyone who listens that is not U. S. based, there are incredible events happening in Europe especially. Yeah, we went to the Short Stay Summit in the U. K. in London last year and it was lovely. It was lovely. And I know, um, there are ones in, what, oh, Scale, right, is the name of the organization that does a lot of those. Yep. So, if you are, um, one of our listeners who is from, uh, is European, there are tons of events over there for you too as well, but we just wanted to give Sarah, um, a focused list. I'll kick it off. Number one, we've been to this event. We spoke at it in its inaugur inaugural year? Is that what I want to say? In its first year. Sure. I don't know. Um, level up your listing. It is, I believe it's for women. Mm, isn't it?

I think it is, but I think anybody, I don't know.

Anyone can go. Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's very much marketed towards women.

Mm-hmm

It is March 9th through 11th in Phoenix, Arizona. And the year that we went, Sarah, the content was great and there is a vendor hall, and this is not a bad thing, it is smaller. So if something if you have it, it's intimate. Yes. Yes, which is a good thing Sometimes because you can actually get to meet a lot of the attendees and see every single vendor Now we haven't been we didn't go last year and we don't have plans to go this year so I don't know if it's grown at all, but I do know the This, the place where they have it is really cute, the area is walkable, so that's one event, Sarah, that you can attend. Level up your listing. It's coming up though, so. Coming up, March 9th through 11th.

Alright.

Number two. Number

two, VR Nation. Uh, is April 27th through 28th, and that is in Austin, Texas. We have not attended this one. It's newer. So check that out. Those dates might work better for you. One thing to note here, we are going to talk about vacation rentals, short term rentals, midterm rentals, Airbnb. So, uh, Everyone out there, again, dig deep into it, but if things are, if things are called vacation rental, it still does, don't count yourself out if you think you're an Airbnb, you are a vacation rental. So VRNation. Um, next is, because you mentioned midterm rentals, this one coincides, same dates, uh, midterm rental summit, April 27th through 29th, so there's some overlap there. Um, and this one is in San Diego. And we have not attended this one, but again, if you want to go to San Diego in April, there you go. But this one would be midterm rental

focused. And I did hear actually from, uh, our friends at Minoan, they, they attended this last year and they said it was good, Sarah. So, and they go to a lot of shows. They do.

All right. The next up on the list is the VR Women's Summit, August 19th through 21st in Charleston, South Carolina. We have attended this summit. It was. Fabulous. Lots of vendors, lots of, so many, like, so many sessions to attend. Like, Sarah and I were dividing and conquering there because there were a lot of different sessions. Um, the one thing I can say like Level Up Your Listing and VR Women's Summit to compare them. Level Up Your Listing has one stage. Well, when we attended, so there was only one thing to focus on where some of these, um, like the VR Women's Summit the last time we attended, there could be multiple sessions happening at the same time. So you do want to peek into how you like to operate. Um, and a lot of times you can see who the speakers are and what the sessions are also ahead of time. So you can plan

ahead. Sarah, if you want to go and you happen to have a male partner, whether it's business, life, whatever. Men were at these events. Yeah,

all of them. Yeah.

So, um. But I do know that the VR Women's Summit the year that we went had a lot of data and taxes you mentioned numbers So you will definitely get that there as well Number five is one of my favorites. It's VRMA and Sarah. This is like the Probably the most expensive event probably It is the largest event, Sarah.

This is October 12th through 15th in Las Vegas. It's the Vacation Rental Management Association, their international event. Yes. It is giant, but what we love about this event is it is, will open your eyes to the enormity of the industry. And if, I mean, when we say vendor hall, it's a, it,

hall. It's a, I don't even, it's huge, Sarah. It's a true convention hall. And don't count yourself out because of the name of it. You know, Vacation Rental Managers Association. I like it as I want to see the conversations that are happening from the property manager and the co host and the owner and a lot of the vendors put on sessions and there are tons of sessions, tons of tracks, every single vendor, if they have, if they can only go to one event. They're going to VRMA, so if you want to see vendors, you want to meet all your favorite vendors, and you're not sure if they'll be at some of these smaller events, they'll be at the VRMA,

but this one, there's thousands of attendees, so it will not be as intimate as some of these other smaller ones that we're speaking of, and then last but not least, um, this is one that we have not attended, but we is on our hit list. We really want to. It is called Darm. It's December 1st through 3rd in Sandestin, Florida. And I believe it's like data and, and analytics for rental management. Is that what DARM stands for, Sarah? We're looking it up. I believe that's the term for it. So this is heavy, heavy, heavy on data. Okay. This is the number side of vacation rentals.

Yeah, it's data and revenue management conference and everyone listening, not just Sarah. Don't get scared by this one because it's data and revenue management because revenue management is what drives our success. You know Annette and I are obsessed with numbers. It's the lifeblood of your business. It is the lifeblood of your business and so if you kind of want to like eat the frog and do the thing that you mostly shy away from. And I've heard from countless trusted sources that D. A. R. M. is an incredible, incredible event to attend. Talk about data and, uh, stats and statistics and numbers and revenue management and pricing. This is the event to go to. But again, Sarah. Yeah.

Well,

Sarah,

I would say for you, Sarah, even though we went through all of these, I would think level up your listing, the Women's Summit or VRMA, well, all of them.

And actually in that order, I think level up your listing would be the most intimate. Then Vacation Rental probably has about double the women's attendees. Yeah, Vacation Rental Women's Summit has about double the attendees. And then VRMA is like the, yeah,

but again, VRNation, the Midterm Rental, and DARM, we have not attended, so we can't speak as, um, closely, but again, look at the dates, look at, look at your budget, see which one works, and also, everyone, please do not discount Local real estate events in your area. If you are not signed up for meetup. com, simply M E E T U P, meetup. com, just sign up, tell them what you're interested in and they will alert you when there's meetups in your area. So um, I always just want to let everybody know. to check that out. Um, and then if you haven't, please go to rent responsibly. org and take a peek at what they've got going on because they're normally, um, very in this, in the loop of local things that are going on in your area also.

All right. With that, I am Sarah Karakaian. I'm

Annette Grant and together we are, thanks for visiting.

Talk to you next time.