VRS062 – The American Vacation Rental Owners Association with Founder Rod Fitts

I’ve been interested in the AVROA for a few years – the fledgling organization that aims to unite vacation rental owners in a common goal to support each other and become more independent of the behemoth listing sites.

The founder, Rod Fitts, is the owner of several Gulf Shores condos and has a passion for the vacation rental industry that matches mine, so we had a great conversation about the Association and how he feels it will benefit owners and managers alike.

Rod describes AVROA as:

“an association of individual vacation rental owners founded on the belief that when owners come together they can develop their own management services which are focused solely on increasing owner income instead of the shareholder value of some third party.”

tweetAmazing! @CottageGuru @RodFitts of The American #VacationRental Owners’ Association #avroa

In this episode Rod tells me about:

  • How he turned a $16K deficit from his condos into a solid income-generating business
  • The changes he made in rental practices to achieve maximum occupancy
  • Why he felt an Association of owners was necessary
  • The evolution of AVROA
  • The benefits of owner involvement and sharing
  • AVROA Property Certification and what it means for creating credibility
  • How owners can get involved – membership is free
  • What charter membership is and how to join
  • The origin of the name and why AVROA is open to all owners worldwide

American Vacation Rental Owners Association


Where you can find Rod:

avroa.org

Website

@RodFitts

Twitter

facebook.com/rod.fitts

Facebook

Google+

About the author

Heather Bayer

  • Julia

    @RodFits initiative to advocate for owners is a huge plus! Thank you for the interview. He’s another one of the many generous individuals in the VR business. Paradise Found Florida is certified with AVROA. It’s all about connecting the dots! Love my/the VR business and being in a part of the happy guest business. #vacationrentalsuccess #AVROA #professionalvacationrentalowners

  • As Rod mentioned the AVROA site does not have availability calendars, but I have a free service that lets you embed your availability calendar fed from any iCal source (like HomeAway/VRBO, Flipkey, AirBnB, Google, Apple, etc) into your AVROA page by pasting some embed code when you setup your page.
    More info here
    http://strongenging.com/vrwt/index.php