Table of Content
- How to get your own 'Vacation House For Free,' according to this HGTV host
- Are you a Visionary without an Integrator at Your Vacation Rental Management Company?
- ABC News
- What happens when you buy a vacation home?
- Expansion to Other Destinations and Purpose-Built Development
- “Stay Here” doesn’t tell the whole story of running a successful Airbnb
- Photos of T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach holding hands and on vacation surfaced online last week
It's unclear if the change of hosts will be permanent — or a temporary solution until backlash surrounding Robach and Holmes' relationship dies down. A source confirmed to PEOPLE that both Holmes, 45, and Robach, 49, will be temporarily removed from the news series following news of their workplace relationship. However, running the business side of a short-term rental takes more than just figuring out how much money you want to bring in. Branding and marketing strategies take a central role in “Stay Here.” All properties are professionally styled and photographed in order to show them in their best possible light. What “Stay Here” doesn’t show is that providing an exceptional experience takes consistent effort. Whether you take care of the details yourself or hire someone to help, that property must be pristine, fully stocked, and functional for every single guest that checks in.
Dr. Valvano told the court the daughters were not chronically ill and had been the victims of "medical child abuse." Oatman told friends that being on the show took away her family's privacy. With her boys' medical problems broadcast on television, they started being picked on at school. Kevin Oatman described verbal and sometimes physical abuse before and after the show.
How to get your own 'Vacation House For Free,' according to this HGTV host
Despite travel challenges related to 9/11, flooding in 2003, several hurricanes in 2004, and the Great Recession, ASVH continued to expand and soon became known as one of the premier vacation rental businesses in the highly competitive Orlando area. Another salesperson, named Robert, came over to check in with our undercover producers. When it became apparent our producers were not willing to sign up for the travel club, the sales team moved them to three different locations, to talk to three different sales people, apparently hoping to get them to sign up anyway. Should ABC have given families smaller homes, or should the families have not accepted the mansions? The St. Augustine Record reported the show built a six-bedroom, seven-bath mansion for a family of four, which many would say is more house than they ever needed.

For the next 20 minutes, “Thorne” appeared to dodge our questions and couldn't seem to explain why the “free” trip actually costs lots of money. We decided to track down PPV Elite Travel to find out why the complimentary tickets cost so much. We tracked them down in New Jersey, where they were about to host another seminar, and went in to try to talk to them on-camera. After 15 days, we received a package, but it wasn't tickets, it was more paperwork, asking us to pay a $79 activation fee per person, and a $158 fee to mail the club certificate back, along with a check or money order. He became the host of the talk show The Revolution while it was briefly on television. He has made multiple appearances on Rachael Ray and Good Morning America.
Are you a Visionary without an Integrator at Your Vacation Rental Management Company?
While the owners on the show do contribute quite a bit of money to the renovations, they literally walk away before work begins then come back to ooh and ahh over the final results. In 2012, ASVH expanded into Captiva, Florida, and purchased a company in San Diego in late 2013, which grew to the company’s inventory to 350 homes under management. The industry took notice, and Trover became a respected leader and passionate promoter of professional management. Trover joined the board of directors for the Central Florida Vacation Rental Management Association , the Florida Vacation Rental Management Association , and the Vacation Rental Management Association in 2008, serving as its president from 2011 to 2013. “I can’t say I ever had a love for operations, but I was laser-focused on providing the very best product and service, which I believe we did for many years,” he continued. When we first walked in, we saw some of the same salespeople from the previous seminar, but they quickly left the room, except for a man who said his name was Thorne Greene.

With a growing number of multi-destination vacation rental managers reliant on external funding, it is tempting to jump into expanding new markets. Trover recognized the need for standards in the industry and studied the hotel model in which there are builders/developers, management companies, and marketing arms. ABC News' Rebecca Jarvis and two ABC News producers called the number and scheduled an appointment with the mystery company to try to claim the free trip.
ABC News
James offered vacations for a steal, but only if we were willing to hand over thousands of dollars to join the company’s travel club. We later asked Marriott and other "partners" that the company named whether they were really affiliated with this outfit. All declined to comment for this story, but said they were looking into it. Schneiderman said, in his experience, "We frequently find folks who ... have no qualms about abusing the names of legitimate businesses, so be careful." So two ABC News producers, who pretended to be a married couple, put on hidden cameras and went to the presentation, which was at a hotel in Brooklyn, to pick up the tickets. I refused to use vrbo because until recently, the host set the deposit policies and method of damage deposit often in cash upon arrival.
“People have to be OK with not being there during the season,” cautions Blashaw. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds, especially if you’ve never undertaken a renovation. Here, Blashaw provides his top tips for turning your vacation home into a free home. For that reason, Blashaw helps families on his show, “Vacation House For Free,” renovate under-the-weather homes into retreats worth renting out when the family isn’t in residence. ABC News President Kim Godwin shared the news with staff on Monday morning.
What happens when you buy a vacation home?
In reality, doing big renovations on your short-term rental property is usually a complex project that involves managing a number of people and typically takes more time and money than planned. For real-life owners, it is very much a hands-on situation, and short-term rental owners need to be realistic about the amount of work, hassle, time, and cost involved and whether it will be worth it for their bottom line. As Trover mentioned earlier, many members of his family were involved in the business and the effects of the company’s closure were widespread. However, they have held together in the hard times and stayed true to their love of the industry.
"We were promised a new home," explained oldest sibling Charles Higgins II. A vacation home is typically defined as a secondary residence at least 50 miles away from your primary residence. If it’s any closer to your primary home, you’ll have a tough time explaining that to your loan officer. It’s the feel-good renovation reality show that’s set to get a refresh for 2020, in its most challenging season yet. Depending on your area, Blashaw says, there might be a busy season of weeks — and you might need to rent during that time.
However, the best short-term rental marketing doesn’t stop once the listing is done. Marketing should be constant for any short-term rental host, using tools such as social media, blogs, partnerships with other local businesses, and more. Lorimer also recommends that owners define their niche and work to own it using marketing methods such as search engine optimization . Hosts can use a combination of stunning visuals, captivating descriptions, and glowing guest reviews on their websites or listings with Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO, or other sites to make sure potential guests look no further. Each episode starts with a property that just hasn’t been able to gain much traction in the short-term rental market.

Because most of the families on the show are barely scraping by, any new expense can put them over the edge. When their taxes and utility bills are doubled, tripled, even quadrupled, they simply cannot keep up. In 2005, the Harvey family was given a spacious 4,289 square-foot house, but the bank auctioned it off six years later. This pattern became common with many former guests of the show, who took mortgages out on their new, expensive homes to pay off old bills or start new ventures.
Airbnb Occupancy Tax Guide Managing occupancy taxes can be complicated for Airbnb hosts. By late 2014, ASVH was stretched thin with multiple business extensions, expansion into new markets, and large investments into Fullhouse. The diversification diverted focus from the core Orlando business, and with large resources committed to Fullhouse, cash flow became more of a challenge. So when “Nightline” was contacted by a company promising two free airline tickets and a free hotel stay, we set out on a mission to track the anatomy of a "free vacation" runaround. One of the best parts of Extreme Makeover Home Edition is seeing the community come together.

Amy Hinote is the founder and editor-in-chief of VRM Intel Magazine, which provides news, information and resources for the professionally managed vacation rental industry. She also founded the data company, now known as Key Data Dashboard, which provides aggregated market intelligence and reporting for vacation rental managers. When ASVH permanently closed its doors in 2017—and talk of owners who were not paid began to spread—the vacation rental industry buzzed as one of its most recognizable faces fell from grace. It is easy to tell a success story, but much more difficult to talk about the hard times. However, as many of us who follow the vacation rental industry closely know, there are more management companies struggling with changes to the business than we are able to discuss.
And the greatest benefit is for guests who then work with experienced managers who have established, solid businesses and guest services. In addition, markets that require trust accounting are far less reliant on OTAs for bookings. In addition, Trover consulted with a property management software company and rental management companies and hosted and visited hundreds of property managers to share information. In 1997, Steve Trover and his mother, Sue, founded ASVH as a vacation rental marketing company that worked with Florida property managers to obtain net rates and market Florida vacation rentals to a broader audience.

Another show guest, Victor Marrero, sold his makeover home, because his utility bills had soared to between $700 and $1,200 per month. Goals for short-term rental hosts are very individual, and it’s important to establish what those are and map realistic and actionable steps toward realizing them. The process in the show is to start with what the owners want to earn, study comparable properties, and create a plan and budget, which is a great way to go.