Lodgify was thrilled to get to attend, sponsor, and speak at the Vacation Rental World Summit (VRWS) in Porto last week!
If you didn’t get the chance to attend this industry-leading conference yourself, this blog post is for you: Keep reading to learn what the event is all about and check out the biggest highlights from VRWS 2024.
What is the Vacation Rental World Summit?
The Vacation Rental World Summit is a conference that brings together hosts, property managers, and industry professionals every year to connect the global rental community. Presentations led by industry experts as well as invaluable roundtable sessions enable attendees to find out about innovative new tech solutions, learn about best practices, and network with their peers.
On top of all of this, VRWS has become known for its unique setting as well: Every year, it’s held in a different beautiful European city—this year, in Porto!
Highlights of VRWS 2024
Sponsoring with pride (and pasteis de nata)
Lodgify was proud to be a Gold Sponsor of VRWS 2024—both to give back to an event that does so much for our industry, and to be able to represent Lodgify with a booth!
Four Lodgify team members manned our booth and handed out a host of goodies, including branded tote bags, pens, notebooks, pins, stickers, key trackers, power banks, and—everyone’s favorite—delicious pasteis de nata from a local bakery.
Connecting with attendees
But swag and Portuguese baked goods weren’t the only things we shared at the event: Members of our Sales Team offered product demos to anyone interested in learning more about Lodgify, and our SEO & Content Manager Alberto Fernández gave free SEO consulting sessions to anyone curious about how to optimize their website.
We were also happy to be able to connect with attendees and answer any questions they had, both throughout the event and during “speed dating” sessions, in which attendees quickly got to know all the event sponsors.
Sharing our expertise
One of our main highlights of the event took place on Friday, when our very own SEO & Content Manager Alberto Fernández gave a presentation on optimizing short-term rentals with SEO and AI.
During this 30-minute presentation, Alberto shared practical strategies to help hosts and property managers increase the visibility (and thus direct bookings) of their vacation rental websites, including:
- Keyword optimization
- Local SEO strategies
- Content creation
Congratulations to Alberto on an informative and engaging presentation!
Participating in roundtable discussions
Finally, it wouldn’t be the VRWS without its characteristic roundtable sessions. There were four of these 50-minute discussions: an opening, a closing, and two core sessions (our favorites).
During the core sessions, attendees were able to share their biggest struggles related to topics such as growth, operations, technology, marketing, safety, and the guest experience. Lodgify team members were lucky to get to facilitate a table of attendees at each of these sessions, giving us a unique opportunity to hear about hosts’ and property managers’ pain points.
So, what were attendees’ biggest challenges this year?
Unsurprisingly, the topic of legislation came up at every table we facilitated, as vacation rental owners struggle to navigate this complex and changing landscape. But what did surprise us is that attendees almost unanimously named fake Airbnb reviews and scams as a top pain point as well.
In both cases, we appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from our community, and will keep their insights in mind in our future product and resource development!
Until next year!
We’re already counting down the days until VRWS 2025 and can’t wait to reconnect with everyone—in Rome of all places!
In the meantime, you can soon catch us at the VRMA International Conference in Phoenix, Arizona (October 14-17) and then at the Short-Term Rental Conference & Trade Show in West Dover, Vermont (November 1-2)! If you aren’t able to attend these events in person, don’t worry—we’ll be back soon with recaps, photos, and highlights to share.
