Skift Take
In the world of contactless check-ins and AI plugins, vacation rental veteran urges the industry to not forget the basics: Cleanliness and safety.
James Olin may be old school, but he’s no Luddite. He knows dynamic pricing and contactless services are the order of the day, but he still thinks safety and cleanliness are the most important elements of success in the short-term rental industry.
“You can use all the technology you want, but what will have people coming back is if the room is clean and smells nice.”
Olin got into vacation rentals in the late 1980s, and his major break was in 1992 when he ran Abbott Resorts. He also headed ResortQuest as its CEO from 1998 to 2004 and took it public. From there, he went on to join Sterling Resorts as the managing partner. He now runs C2G Advisors, which is an M&A consultancy for short-term rental and vacation rental businesses, as its founder and CEO.
Skift spoke to Olin to discuss his perspective on how the industry has changed in the past three decades and where he sees it going.
Below are the edited excerpts of what Olin said:
On Changes