Then & Now: RMS in Vacation Rentals with Sarah Franzen.
Whether it’s developing a RMS from scratch, talking about the evolution of tech in the STR industry, or even singing professionally, our new guest can do it all. We chat with Sarah Franzen, director of revenue management at Natural Retreats.
Director of Revenue Management, Natural Retreats
Maeva CifuentesHost, Founder and CEO of Flying Cat
Hello hello! Welcome back to another insight-filled episode of the Flying Cat interview series. This week, we’re joined by Sarah Franzen, director of revenue management at Natural Retreats.
Natural Retreats is a luxury vacation rental management company operating in some of America’s most iconic destinations, from Palm Springs, California to Sea Islands, South Carolina.
Sarah started her career in the hospitality industry in the sales department of a hotel, and through that journey, she discovered a passion for revenue management. She moved from sales to revenue management and also jumped ship from the traditional hotel industry to the growing and innovative world of vacation rentals.
In this episode, Sarah shares her thoughts on the evolution of revenue management tools in the vacation rental space over the years, the advancements of technology in the short-term industry, and more.
Sarah Franzen
Director of revenue management at Natural Retreats
“My start in the vacation rental industry was six years ago. In my initial days, I wasn’t really introduced to reporting and other things.
Soon enough, I started wondering where the system was and that’s when I realized that there wasn’t one…and it wasn’t my company’s fault, it’s just where the industry was at the time.
Aside from knowing the term ‘revenue management’ there wasn’t a lot of knowledge behind it. So I got the freedom to figure out what that was.”
She also touches upon the importance of tech stacks to property owners and the differing levels of buy-in across the industry. Some owners take an active interest in the tech being used to get their properties featured whereas others aren’t as curious and focus only on revenue generation. Sarah talks about catering both these types of audiences.
This episode is an eye-opener for those interested in learning more about revenue management in the vacation rental industry. We got a lot of takeaways from it and are excited to share the full episode right here!
