Tech, Travel, and Twang!
Come for the thoughts, stay for the tea. The co-founders of Destination Innovate, Jennifer Barbee and Kristen Cruz brew up the latest industry tea every Tuesday - diving into simmering issues, hot trends, and special guests. Grab a cup and let’s spill the tea!
Tech, Travel, and Twang!
Monday Momentum Ep. #3 | The Future of Destination Marketing with John Flanagan
Discover how Destination Marketing Organizations are stepping into the future with Amplify's John Flanagan as our Monday Momentum ignites a discussion that could redefine your next adventure. Amplify isn't just changing the game; they're reshaping an entire industry by merging the prowess of Online Travel Agencies with DMO websites and other online platforms—think of it as the ultimate travel hack for your local explorations. As we unravel the knots in short-term rental taxation and pinpoint ways for DMOs to tap into this goldmine, you'll find yourself at the intersection of innovation and practicality, where every bit of untapped revenue is a missed opportunity for enhancing tourist experiences.
Strap in for a journey through the dynamic landscapes of One West Tourism Alliance and Visit Mesa, where marketing is not just a strategy but an art form, painting destinations with vibrant strokes of ingenuity. We're not just talking shop; we're redefining the traveler's roadmap by advocating for the presence of compliant short-term rentals on DMO sites. It's about painting a complete picture for the traveler, showcasing the vibrant tapestry of local stays and attractions. As we dissect the evolution of DMO and OTA relationships, we'll reveal the once missed chances now captured in our quest to bring you the full spectrum of travel possibilities. Tune in and let's set the stage for your next unforgettable escapade.
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The Tech, Travel, and Twang Podcast is hosted by Co-Founders, Kristen Cruz and Jenn Barbee with Destination Innovate. Learn More! https://destinationinnovate.com/about/
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Well, hi there, welcome back to Tech Travel and Twang, our Monday Momentum Edition, and Kristen and I have a special guest with us today, hi, john.
Speaker 2:Hello, glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Hello, it's great to be here. Hello, it's great to have you.
Speaker 2:Thanks.
Speaker 1:John Flanagan with Amplify. John, do you want to tell us a little bit about Amplify?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah. So we work with DMOs to help them add to their existing websites transactional OTA functionality. So our company has our background in short-term rentals, which is a space that we feel like in the DMO world can use better representations. We're trying to add to the professionalism of the short-term rental industry and bring the power back to the destination. So that's what we do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, kristen, and I talk a lot about the short-term rental and how that connects with the DMOs, and we're finding there's a lot of DMOs who are never even seeing the benefit of the short-term rental taxes.
Speaker 3:So that's, you know, it's a huge conversation, yeah, and not only seeing the benefit but not knowing what steps do I need to take to begin to realize a benefit from all the short-term rental business. So it's a huge conversation, very, very important.
Speaker 1:And what's also really important is John and I are here at DMA West in Mesa Arizona right now. So conference this week, great stuff. We're actually doing a little this little Monday momentum before I get on stage and talk about digital destinations, so that's going to be a lot of fun, and then we're all headed. Just so happens, we are synced up on the conference circuit right now. We're all headed to eTourism next week.
Speaker 3:Yes, gearing up for that, but, more importantly, jen, going back to the MUS so you have what like less than a couple of hours before you take the stage for your session. How are you getting, like, how are you motivating yourself and like getting yourself pumped up for that? That's what we want to know.
Speaker 3:Oh, a great question, and I will say, after a couple hours of gangster rap this morning, I'm ready to go, I did, I did john, I did send jen my uh pre-game playlist, which is how I get myself like prepared gangster rap it's very, it's very hood, I will say. And I told jen, I said please be prepared.
Speaker 1:She was like oh girl, you know, I listen to all that gangster rap I think I think I was listening to um neil young last night, so super like all over the board.
Speaker 3:But remember our first website when we had our little playlist. In there we used to always talk about like who do we, who do we like, who gets us like riled up, and it was like ludicrous Dolly Parton, like the list was crazy random.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. But as far as like motivation goes, really, when it gets to, you know, having a talk, this is the most comfortable for me, the most comfortable for me. You know these are my people. This is just, you know, imparting some information and you know just opinions on where digital destinations are going. So, like this is, this is where I do my thing, so I'm super excited, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you're speaking at a good time during the conference, because yesterday was was really cool. I think there's a rebrand happening at.
Speaker 2:TMA West. It's now One West Tech Alliance and it's under some new leadership, ultimately Very exciting. A lot of momentum, a lot of positive vibes. The show and the gangster rap thing in my head made me remember yesterday Visit Mesa. The hosting DMO had a really really cool music video that they put together promoting the destination of Mesa. It was so tastefully done but it was I think it was a local artist and it was a rap song about Mesa and it was awesome and the whole.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love that, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Everybody kind of kind of head bobbing during a conference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that I'm so glad you mentioned that about the new brand to Melissa Reeves, the new CEO, the first, since they're not in a, you know, not managed by a management company anymore. So I'm excited to see what's going to happen with DMA West Tech, or sorry, one West Tech Alliance. I'll say it right now, no, it's going to be. I think that's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds here at the host city. Visit Mesa really is kind of a cut above, yeah, in their marketing yeah, we always talk about that too, jen.
Speaker 3:Like we love kind of following their. You know what they're doing out in the industry and it's very. They take some really fun innovative approaches to like getting in front of a new audience, which is really refreshing for sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, you're headed out with me to e-chism next week. So what's your momentum? Your Monday momentum for getting ready to do the next conference.
Speaker 3:I think eTourism well for eTourism specifically, I really enjoy that conference because it doesn't feel like you're going to conference. It feels like you're joining a group of people that you know, that you work with consistently, that you follow throughout the year. It's almost like a little reunion. But at the same time we learn so much from that conference. Like we, that's one of the conferences I feel like I get really jazzed about, because I can go to sessions and I walk out of there with pages and pages of notes and ideas and you know those light bulb moments that you get in the middle of those really great sessions, and so I like I'm jazzed up for that.
Speaker 3:I'm also like because our clients and a lot of our industry people know where we're going. They're like, hey, make sure, if they talk about this, go see what they're doing over here. Like, bring back more intel. So it's also like a gathering for us of like what can we bring back and what knowledge can we dig into there at the conference? That benefits those that we can't go, those that don't get that same experience. Like what can we really bring back?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm super jazzed to go in general, like this is one of those conferences I don't really have to like. Oh it's conference break. Like I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely, and for those who can't be in the room, that's you know. I think what we want to do is be able to bring back those learnings and you know just some great sessions have happened here as well, at OneWest.
Speaker 1:I have to keep reminding myself how to say it now, because I've said DMA West for so many years, but no, just some really good stuff. And what I love about these conferences this one and the upcoming eTourism is what you find out from the vendor perspective, which is like a kind of a whole other perspective, right is we kind of get down the competition a little bit and we have real conversations and we learn from each other.
Speaker 1:So the vendor as a lot of people don't know like we have our own little tribe, our little helping each other out, and it's not always so much business to go around. There's no reason to scratch.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely, and I mean in complete transparency. There are conferences where that collaboration isn't, you know, as collaborative with you. I'm trying to be polite when I'm saying this, but you know what I mean. It just doesn't feel like you could go and have those like deeper conversations and talk about things and really like dig into what's working, what isn't like. I feel like in e-tourism you can bring all that, you can bring your, you know what's worked, you can bring your failures you could talk about you know things that you're doing and not feel like you have to be like get into the proprietary talk. It just feels way more collaborative and I feel like it's one of the conferences one of the very few, I think where you go into that feeling that way.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and I always get to john to because john's kind of new to the DMO conference market, but you've been in the short-term rental conference market for a while. What are those like?
Speaker 2:It's such a wildly different experience coming to a DMO conference for me today versus going to a traditional vacation rental conference, where I've been fortunate in my career to have made a ton of friends along the way, whether they be competitor vendors or property managers.
Speaker 2:And one thing that's really fun in the short-term rental space is that when you get to know vendors, you find out that they are also just trying to do what is in the best interest of their clients. And then, collectively, if we push each other, then competition is a good thing. The beneficiary is the client at the end of the day, and so, as we've tried to make our way into this new DMO space where when I go to a conference no one knows who I am, it feels like I'm on day one of my career all over again. But what has been fun is going and introducing myself and ourselves with the Amplify team to vendors, whether they be competitors or just you know the elephants of the space, like SimpleView, for example, who everyone knows and knows everyone, for us to be able to piggyback on some of those relationships and, uh, make friends with folks like like you guys as well, makes it a bit easier.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I didn't we, we didn't we meet at a tourism conference, like didn't that? Isn't that where the conversation started, or no, before that I've known jen for for a bit longer.
Speaker 2:we have uh some mutual friends, uh ann Holcomb, of course, yeah yeah, we met virtually.
Speaker 1:I will say. The first time we met in person was with features in last year. Yeah, but John and I you know he was doing the very first Destacon with us, with Alex and Annie- you know, really, really found that John's voice from the vacation rental market but also talking to DMO market, was really imperative for us to have in Destacon, and so he's now a Destacon veteran.
Speaker 2:He did year two as well, and I'll never miss one. I love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, coming back around for year three.
Speaker 2:But I think it's important, like if there's a single message that it would be a takeaway from short-term rentals, and like the actual professionals in this space and is that regulation is a good thing and we want regulation and it pushes the industry forward. And we're trying to do and amplify as we enter the DMO space is not necessarily elevate short-term rentals above hotels or quote-unquote traditional lodging. That's not at all what the goal is. But it is about providing some equal representation for short-term rentals and specifically the ones that are doing everything right, that are properly licensed, that are remitting taxes the way that they're supposed to be doing, and empowering a DMO to reward their stakeholders or lodging partners locally that do everything right and then not reward the ones that don't. And so that's that is what we are all about, and hopefully it creates an environment where a destination has full representation of all lodging options that are available to travelers.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Rewarding the good players. I love that piece that you you double down on, because I think that we talk about momentum. We talk about how we get our Mondays. We also think about our DMOs and their stakeholders, and there's so many good partners on so many different levels, not just the lodging levels, but, of course, the eateries, the restaurants, the makers, the mom and pops, the shopping, like. That's where we really try to think about. You know, how do we create value for those good actors?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. And if we think about just the user experience side of it just being able to do a much more thorough planning job with the DMO website, when you're able to see hotels, short-term rentals, you're able to see a mix of, like all the opportunities within the destination too to be able to plan. And also, I think it definitely elevates the idea of what the destination brings, like we I mean there are some DMOs elevates the idea of what the destination brings, like we I mean there are some DMOs that we work with that have like a handful of hotels but hundreds of short-term rentals. And if you're looking at just the hotel inventory as a new, like potential visitor, you're thinking, well, they only have a few hotels. What's really there to do? You know, like what am I? What's the like entire, like perception of the destination. I feel like that just elevates the experience and elevates the perception of what your destination brings when you're able to see all of that together.
Speaker 3:I think that's one of the one of the like connections with DMOs and I think just getting them to understand the value in it is really that user experience Cause. Didn't we learn was it last year, jen, where we learned that only 16% of visitors utilize the DMO site and they're planning to a city. There's so many other and it's like, okay, let me pop out to this short-term rental site, let me pop out over here to go check out what's going on with these reviews, and so it's like bringing again, like bringing that DMO experience back under the umbrella that they can control, um, giving them more of that inventory. So I that's that's a huge thing, it's a huge again, another big conversation. So absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I will say, uh, john and his friends really brought me back around to that thinking because obviously, naturally, I was not a fan of OTAs, because I come from the days where we had to fight the OTAs back from taking the tax from the city and demolishing the DMO. So now that it's evolved and that's a lot, because DMOs didn't take advantage of having their own OTAs or getting on the board of an OTA really early because you can't put a credit card online, so they missed that risk spot and so it kind of now we're back around where you really can't travel without talking booking and that's why you know people like John in the industry makes so much sense, because it's, you know, it's elevated, it rewards the good actors, it rewards the regulations that are followed and it creates just a much more symbiotic tourism economy.
Speaker 3:Oh, it really does and I'm in it. I think we can credit a lot of the social media uplift to giving DMOs a space again in being relevant in the destination as a planning tool. For so many years it was like, well, what's the CBB? What is the tourism site do Like? Why do I need to go here when I have all these other places that I can go to plan? But it really, now that cities are really like becoming the voice for their visitors and potential visitors again, it makes it's that we're in a new era.
Speaker 2:so, yeah, definitely I think there's a. There's another angle of this too. That, uh is going to involve traveler education over time. And, at the end of the day, if you, the DMO, is not the authority on short-term rentals and hotels, on lodging in general, on your destination, then who is? And if the answer is Expedia or Airbnb or Vrbo or anyone else that has no real local skin in the game for your destination, then that is a failure on the part of the DMO in my opinion. Obviously, I'm super biased in this, so let's let the disclaimer for sure.
Speaker 2:But a perfect example is if you search for condo in Gulf Shores, for example, obviously you get all the paid ads first, but then the top result, that is organic, goes to gulfshorescom.
Speaker 2:And if a traveler clicks that link after searching condo on Gulf Shores, they do have some commercial intent, and if there's a tool there that is optimized for conversion, that makes it easy for someone to book and then at the first glance it's a little bit cheaper than whatever it is on Vrbo or Airbnb, then that person will book with the dmo and that benefits not only the destination, because you control the whole experience. It benefits the actual local lodging provider as well, because they actually can influence the, the traveler's experience in a more direct way instead of having to go through an airbnb, for example, to try to communicate. So there's pros on every level and this is a one of those win-win opportunities, I think, in our industry collectively, where we can really drive collaboration between DMOs and their lodging partners.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And there's something you said about intent that I really want to kind of throw a Jenga on for you and that is you know, and also just for our listeners as well, like the intent and where they are. As well, like the intent and where they are and I hate the word funnel anymore or flywheel, both of those, forget those words but you know where they are in their intention in their travel planning makes a lot of sense in what you're serving up and you know we're in a concierge type environment. Now we expect more personalization, right, right. So at least make sure that where they are in their intent cycle, wherever they're searching, you know, solves their problems, like the booking for John or you know, like looking for specific itineraries or family friendly things. It's just all in that intent process. Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 3:That was a good little deep dive into the short term rental need like that. And again, like we're taking, these are conversations that are you're seeing now at the conference you're at we're going to see the next week.
Speaker 1:they're going to continue to evolve, so this is continuous conversation for us, absolutely, absolutely, and we're always so, so we don't really need a lot of motivation for Monday, cause we're going to see John and his buddies next week. We'll call our friends next week. We're excited. I think that's the biggest part of our momentum.
Speaker 2:Vegas is fun too.
Speaker 3:It's hard to not yeah, that is very true.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. Well, we hope you guys have a great week and thanks for tuning in to our Monday Momentum Edition. Thanks Kristen. Thanks guys. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John Thanks.
Speaker 3:John. Thanks, john, thanks John.
Speaker 1:Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John. Thanks John.
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