Vacation Rental Management Association Seeks New Allies and a Stronger Voice
Photo Caption: The Vacation Rental Management Association looks to broaden its partnerships. A vacation rental in Riverside, New York that was offered on Airbnb. Source: Skift/Dennis Schaal
Skift Take
The VRMA is known for its conferences and networking. Kimberly Miles is trying to broaden its partnerships and make it more relevant.
Kimberly Miles, the executive director of the Vacation Rental Management Association, acknowledges that there is a "new normal" for the sector this year as demand softens or over-supply takes hold in certain markets, but there is also a reset for the association in terms of unlikely allies and members.
Miles, who marks her second anniversary leading the property manager-oriented VRMA this month, noted in an interview last week that she previously worked for 19 years for the American Hotel & Lodging Association, and departed in 2020 as its senior vice president of operations.
That's the same hotel association that praised then-Hawaii Governor David Ige in 2019 for vetoing vacation rental legislation that might have eased the path for hosts and property managers without permits to rent to vacationers in residential areas, and targeted "commercial investors who use online platforms like Airbnb, resulting in depletion of housing options, fracturing of communiti
