Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Kristin Armstrong gave us some insight into the mindset needed to become the most decorated U.S. women's cyclist of all time in her keynote speech. The Boise native wowed the audience with her story of perseverance, hard work and dedication.
Vacation rental marketing guru Matt Landau of VRMB broke down the secrets behind creating viral stories, sharing the engagement signals he's compiled through his Sense of Place show.
LiveRez VP of Operations Tina Upson announced LiveRez's 10 Epic Acts project with the video below (more on 10 Epic Acts later).
Partners in the Coaches Track huddled up for the first ever Innovation Day, held on the fifth floor of JUMP. Participants were divided into different groups and paired with a facilitator. Together they collaborated to brainstorm solutions for common challenges vacation rental managers face.
Tuesday also included a host of classes on specific features within LiveRez's all-in-one system, including LiveTrust, LiveManager, CRM and more. A segment of partners even took and passed official certification from the Vacation Rental Housekeeping Professional (VRHP). And, a number of partners opted to sign up for some one-on-one time at the LiveRez Partner Hub.
The day was capped with the Celebrate Who We Are Dinner, which featured food and drink stations based on top vacation rental markets, like Hawaii, the Smoky Mountains, the Florida Panhandle and more.
Shaun Stewart, former head of vacation rentals at Airbnb and current Chief Business Development Officer at Waymo (Google's self-driving car project), came back to revisit the predictions he made in his 2015 Partner Conference keynote address (spoiler: he was right on the money), as well as offer some new predictions on the future of the industry.
LiveRez CEO Tracy Lotz gave a tear jerking speech that covered family, founding LiveRez and the future of the company.
And last but not least, the launch of LiveStay.com, a global marketplace exclusively for booking LiveRez partners' inventory.
LiveRez also unveiled a new look and feel with its 10-year anniversary. To learn more, check out the brand reveal video below.
At lunch on Wednesday, we were introduced to LiveRez's 10 Epic Acts project, which was spearheaded by Kelly Johnson. During the hour-long session, Johnson detailed LiveRez's plan to work with 10 different charitable organizations to give back in a big way (with one epic act for every year LiveRez has been in business). Seven of the 10 organizations were in attendance and spoke at the lunch. The remaining three will come from partner suggestions in the coming weeks.
Wes Melton of SmokyMountains.com inspired the audience with his keynote on Building Lasting Brands That Customers Will Emphatically Love.
The closing celebration at the Center on the Grove had all the makings of an epic party: awesome food, lots of drinks and great music from the likes of 80s cover band Pilot Error.
Check out our giant gallery of more than 250 photos from the 2018 Partner Conference.