Latest news with #propertymanagers
Hospitality Net
15-07-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Big Bear Lake Named America's Sunniest Lakeside Destination
TORONTO, ON – July 15, 2025 — Vacation rental marketplace has unveiled a new national study revealing Big Bear Lake in California as the sunniest lakeside destination in the U.S., based on the latest solar radiation data. The insights offer property managers and vacation rental hosts valuable cues for marketing lakeside stays—particularly for travelers prioritizing sun-soaked escapes. The ranking is based on average Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), a metric used to measure the amount of direct sunlight a surface receives, with data sourced from the 2023 National Solar Radiation Database. analyzed over 100 popular lakeside destinations and identified the top 10 sunniest cities across the country—many of which present promising opportunities for hosts looking to maximize occupancy and guest satisfaction. Top 3 Sunniest Lakeside Destinations Big Bear Lake, California – 335.02 W/m² – 335.02 W/m² Lake Havasu City, Arizona – 314.13 W/m² – 314.13 W/m² Santa Rosa, New Mexico – 296.73 W/m² 'Sunshine isn't just a perk—it's a driver of vacation decisions,' said David Ciccarelli, CEO of 'For property managers, these insights can inform everything from pricing strategy to amenity offerings. Travelers tend to stay longer and book earlier when they anticipate great weather.' Why This Matters for Property Managers Longer Guest Stays: Guests are more likely to book extended trips to sunny destinations, especially when they plan outdoor activities. Guests are more likely to book extended trips to sunny destinations, especially when they plan outdoor activities. Marketing Potential: 'Sunniest destination' can serve as a strong property differentiation and an ad hook across platforms like Airbnb, VRBO and 'Sunniest destination' can serve as a strong property differentiation and an ad hook across platforms like Airbnb, VRBO and Improved Guest Experience: More sun equals more outdoor fun, which enhances reviews and repeat bookings. Top 10 Sunniest Lakeside Destinations in America Big Bear Lake, California – Big Bear Lake – 335.02 W/m² Lake Havasu City, Arizona – Havasu Lake – 314.13 W/m² Santa Rosa, New Mexico – Santa Rosa Lake – 296.73 W/m² Clearlake, California – Clear Lake – 287.86 W/m² Carson City, Nevada – Lake Tahoe – 278.27 W/m² Hanford-Corcoran, California – Tulare Lake – 271.16 W/m² Klamath Falls, Oregon – Klamath Lake – 253.46 W/m² Marble Falls, Texas – Lake Marble Falls – 242.54 W/m² Lakeland, Florida – Lake Parker – 240.48 W/m² Ogallala, Nebraska – Lake Ogallala – 240.34 W/m² If you use these insights, please credit and link to: About specializes in lakehouses and vacation rentals within a 15-minute drive of lakes, bays, rivers, canals, and coasts. Focusing on family, friendship, and caring for the natural world, blends tradition with technology, offering a return to the simple pleasures of life for families vacationing in the great outdoors. For more information, visit Stephanie Ciccarelli Chief Marketing Officer 226-794-5744 View source
Forbes
06-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
3 Trust-Centric Strategies For Today's Leaders
Trust is given—until it's not. That's true in many industries, from real estate to restaurants to SaaS. An organization's ecosystem of customers, partners, and end-users often inherently trusts that organization to safeguard data and maintain security. However, as cybercriminals become increasingly sophisticated, leaders have their work cut out for them to maintain that trust. And once trust is lost, it can be very difficult to earn it back. Within real estate, concerns around fraud and security are top of mind. The majority of property managers have seen an increase in fraudulent renter applications, payments fraud and data security issues in the last year, according to AppFolio's survey of 2,000 property management professionals. As a result, 40% of property managers are more concerned than they were one year ago about online fraud incidents and 37% are more concerned about data security. This mirrors broader fraud and security trends that every business leader should be paying attention to. Seventy-nine percent of organizations experienced payment fraud attacks in 2024, while data breaches continue to increase. In the current environment, leaders must work across their ecosystem to foster trust and prioritize security. Here are three key areas to focus on. Prioritizing trust starts with your own internal company culture and employees. It's important to create an environment where employees feel comfortable raising concerns and asking questions. One way to do this is by taking a rewards-based approach to employee cybersecurity training, versus a punitive approach. The goal is for employees to speak up if they, for example, spot a phishing attempt—and especially if they think they've fallen for one. Rather than shaming employees, leaders should positively recognize those who bring attention to security or fraud issues. I've seen everything from thank-you emails to a paid lunch used as positive incentives. Thumbs Up Another important part of this strategy is creating channels for employees to report issues quickly and effectively. Anonymous reporting channels can make employees more likely to report concerns and enable security teams to identify potential issues before they turn into major breaches. What's more, this type of channel supports a wider culture of trust and transparency. Many trust practices are nearly invisible when they're done right. This means customers often only think about cybersecurity and fraud protection once something's gone wrong. One thing the AppFolio team has been working on recently is more outward-facing trust initiatives that allow our customers to 'see' and 'feel' our security measures. This is especially important in real estate. We're supporting high-stakes processes like payments, insurance and resident applications every day. Small steps can go a long way here, like enabling two-factor authentication for sign-in so users feel that extra layer of security. On a larger scale, we also proactively communicate around our responsible AI practices, including how we keep customer data private and secure. Concerns around data privacy and security continue to grow amid the rise in generative AI tools, according to Deloitte. We take our responsibility to our customers seriously and follow a strict framework of Responsible AI Principles to evaluate innovation for Fairness, Reliability, Privacy and Security, Transparency, and Accountability. We make this framework available to our customers on our website. Organizations don't just have a responsibility to protect their customers, but to protect their customers' customers as well. Trust and user experience intersect in ways many leaders might not be thinking about. Protecting end-user data is always crucial. Within real estate, residents expect the software they interact with to be secure. Applying for a rental home, signing a lease and moving into a new home can be stressful and overwhelming. Residents deserve an experience they can trust, especially when providing personal and financial information. Here's the tricky part. While end-users expect a secure experience, they also expect a seamless one. Sometimes, fraud prevention and cybersecurity measures can get in the way of that. We've all felt the frustration of being locked out of an account after forgetting a password. In real estate, clunky verification processes can slow down residents' journey of finding a new home. It's important to undergo proper UX testing and take steps to balance security with convenience. Make sure security and fraud prevention tactics are paired with an efficient, frictionless experience for end-users. The Trust Chain The stakes are high for organizations that want to protect their customers, their end-users and their reputation. Fortunately, there are numerous tools and strategies leaders can use to establish trust throughout their chain of impact, from internal culture to customers to end-users. When in doubt, focus on transparent and open communication with all key stakeholders. Make sure employees can bring up potential fraud concerns without fear of reprimand, share clear and straightforward messaging with customers, and build secure end-user experiences without sacrificing usability. With these tactics in mind, leaders will be well equipped to maintain trust throughout their ecosystem and take on ever-evolving fraud and cybersecurity threats.
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE A Ray White real estate agency ran a competition for a week of free rent... but tenants were furious after learning what they had to do to qualify
A real estate agency has apologised after encouraging tenants to leave a five star review to go in the draw for a week of free rent. Ray White Rockhampton, in Queensland, informed tenants of the 'opportunity' in an email on Wednesday. 'We're thrilled to announce an exciting opportunity exclusively for our Ray White Rockhampton tenants!' the email read. 'We're giving away three prizes of one week's free rent, and entering couldn't be easier. 'How to enter: Leave us a five-star Google review; mention your property manager's name in the review. 'That's it! You'll be in the draw to win one of three chances to enjoy a week of free rent – on us. 'With only our tenant community eligible to enter, the odds are in your favour so don't miss out!' A screenshot of the email was shared to Reddit where social media users were quick to slam the real estate agency. 'Pathetic, and unethical way of conducting business,' one wrote. 'Makes you wonder how many of their reviews are even real from the past.' Since the email was sent, several have made the effort to leave one-star reviews on Google. 'Ray White is offering rewards of free rent to their rental tenants for five star reviews on Google,' one warned. 'Be aware five star reviews inclusive of property manager names from May 2025 are very likely the result of this.' 'Dodgy practices, offering tenants the chance for "a week's free rent" but must leave a five star review,' a second added. 'That is very unethical, and you should be ashamed.' The business has an average rating of 4.8 stars from 851 reviews on Google. Ray White Rockhampton principal Riley Neaton told Daily Mail Australia his company made a grave mistake. 'We have apologised profusely to our tenants for this error in judgement,' he said. 'None of the reviews we received are believed to be fake but we have asked Google to remove all reviews that have been received. 'We promise it will never happen again.' A Ray White spokeswoman said the competition was quickly reversed.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Lowe's reports smaller-than-expected drop in sales on steady demand
May 21 (Reuters) - Home improvement retailer Lowe's Cos (LOW.N), opens new tab posted a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter comparable sales on Wednesday, as shoppers spent on maintenance projects while holding off on big-ticket purchases amid higher borrowing costs. The company also joined rival Home Depot (HD.N), opens new tab in reiterating annual forecast. Atlanta-based Home Depot said on Tuesday it would not raise prices despite tariffs-led uncertainty, owing to its diversified supply chain and stronger hold in the professional customer base. Shares of the North Carolina-based Lowe's rose about 2% in premarket trading. The stock has dropped 6% so far this year. Lowe's has expanded its business that serves professional customers, such as home builders and property managers, to counter sluggish demand in do-it-yourself categories. It also added suppliers closer to the coast to avoid any delays in shipping. It expects comparable sales for 2025 to be flat to up 1% and earnings per share in the range of $12.15 to $12.40. The company reported a 1.7% drop in same-store sales for the quarter ended May 2, compared with analysts' average estimate of a 2% decline, according to data compiled by LSEG.
