What is Machine Learning? …and How Can It Help my Vacation Rental Business?

Or said another way… WML!? What in the heck is this thing that is gaining traction and helping VRM’s grow their revenue predictably and connect to their guests in a more personalized way?

Download the overview one-pager here to learn about machine learning for vacation rental managers.

Let us demystify Machine Learning and provide examples on how this complex technology can solve business challenges, save time, and let humans focus on what humans do best.

“ML” is the study of software algorithms that learn by themselves automatically using data, statistics, and experience. We’ll explain each major component and how it can apply to your hospitality business.

Big Data

Historical data from any and all sources is ingested – huge data sets work best. This data input trains the machine on what has worked in the past – which allows the machine to predict what correlations can help drive future goals. More data means more power. Data is overflowing; ML can make full use of it.

Statistics

ML software uses statistical models to predict the likelihood of different outcomes based on all available data. Data sets inherently have many, many permutations – requiring intricate probability calculations; while humans use the most readily available data, ML takes every data point into account to predict the best ways to hit your goals.

Self-Guided Decision Making

Rather than If / Then, rule-based logic, ML is designed to make predictions or decisions by itself, without being explicitly programmed to do so. It trains on historical data to learn patterns, and then uses newly generated data in real-time to learn and adjust – creating a continuous feedback loop.

So how can this help vacation rental businesses?

Predicting what humans cannot

Each prospective guest – whether 30 or 3,000,000 – will get personalized booking experience. This drives conversions and revenue growth through brand/customer familiarity. ML models will use your business data to predict very specific and accurate recommendations based on guests’ different property and amenity preferences, different dates/times to book, different prices they will rent at, and different values to your company. Humans simply cannot accomplish this.

Machines don’t need sleep

An ML system is always watching and listening to raise the alarm when there is any meaningful deviation between real- time activity and what was precisely predicted. So when your email campaign is not on track to generate the expected $50,000 in new bookings for the long weekend, you can catch that moment on Friday afternoon to add tweaks – instead of noticing next Tuesday, with no way to save that lost revenue.

Hidden revenue opportunities

ML ingests and analyzes all data correlations – this includes seemingly unimportant trends that wouldn’t have ever been considered. It identifies areas where optimization changes can lead to huge revenue lift. ML will highlight trends, predict high-impact changes, and calculate expected revenue.

What is machine learning? In summary, machine learning software ingests data, runs statistical models, and figures out the best way to meet goals – all without explicit instructions.

Jarvis ML’s machine learning engine can be unleashed on your vacation rental business data to identify patterns and calculate paths to highly individualized guest experiences and undiscovered top-line growth opportunities.