When Steven Barbarich was working for a company as an inventor, he had the chance to travel and experience staying in different hotels. He also experienced using Airbnb’s platform. That’s when he realized that he wanted to start something that works almost the same as Airbnb.
Then he started his platform. Steve Barbarich VacationHomes365 is a unique platform even if it took some strategies from Airbnb. So what are the things that made Steven Barbarich VacationHomes365 stand out?
Focus on specific areas
One of the things that Barbarich realized when he started was that he can never make the same mistake before. If you’ll look at the typical Steven Barbarich review a few years back, you’d realize that these were mostly negative. The reason was that he offered bad service when he started his first business. That’s when customers started making bad reviews about him and his company.
For VacationHomes365, he doesn’t want to start big right away. Instead, he started in San Francisco. When he was in San Francisco, he had to make sure that he established his company in the area first. It was experimental but he was also hopeful that it was going to be successful. With the help of real estate agents, he learned that a lot of homeowners were also looking to have their property rented.
The difficult part was convincing them to optimize the property. Some were hesitant about the changes. Plus, some never thought that they'd be able to get the initial investment back.
Guide for hosts
Aside from having a platform, Barbarich guides the hosts. If you're new in the vacation rental industry, the last thing that you want is to be left on your own. Hosts who didn't have an idea are likely to quit after a short period.
And for Steven Barbarich, this was something that he expected. For this reason, he came up with the idea of supporting hosts. He offered cleaning services and even provided assistants who would be in charge of answering the messages for them. In short, Barbarich allowed the homeowners to earn passively from their property and not be too involved in their vacation homes.
Checking of properties
Since Steven Barbarich started small with his VacationHomes365, he was able to check each property that tried to become part of the database. He was able to set a standard that made guests happy with the properties listed on the platform.
Steven Barbarich created trust with guests. He made sure that they’d be happy with their stay. And even if it is a platform inspired by Airbnb, he made sure that customers are getting their money’s worth. By being strict with the admission process of properties, hosts also last for years on the platform. Here, they see the platform as a reliable source of income.
Steven Barbarich noticed that travel was changing. People's attitudes on how they travel also changed over the years. Nowadays, more people are paying less for their stay. On top of that, some are even considering vacation homes that offer something different. That’s what VacationHomes365 was all about.