The launch of a new vacation rental website experience – NorthwestStays.com
– has attracted a local professional to its association.

NorthwestStays was created to unite regional vacation rental managers under
the single mission of increasing awareness and tourism specific to the
vacation rental industry throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Hawaii
and British Columbia.

“Travel and tourism are booming and yet the market is more diverse and
challenging than ever, particularly for individual property managers,” said Dan
Eby, president of Northwest Vacation Rentals which has launched the new
website. “It’s our job as property managers to find new and innovative ways
to showcase properties and support the industry as a whole.”

Betsy LaBarge, president and CEO of Mt. Hood Vacation Rentals, attended a
few conferences in Seattle and was attracted to the members representing
smaller boutique companies in the Northwest – a group which grew into the
association that would better represent its members.

“I joined the association this year and a benefit of membership is to have the
privilege and opportunity to list our vacation rentals at NorthwestStays.com.,”
LaBarge wrote in an email to The Mountain Times. “The main goal is to
showcase the best property managers with the best vacation rentals in the
Pacific Northwest to the traveling public and to offer them a way to find
vacation rentals in several areas that they can have confidence in knowing
they will be clean and well-maintained and the visitor will be treated well.”

LaBarge added that the cherry on top is that visitors will pay less through the
new site than by using other resources like HomeAway or Airbnb which add
service fees, or Booking.com where the rates may be increased by the
property manager to cover the 15 percent commission that is charged.

Besides being cost effective, the website allows visitors to explore and
compare multiple websites in one place and click over to learn more
information or to book directly via member websites.

The association requires unique qualities in its members.

“The company must be professional and represent high quality homes that are
clean and safe,” LaBarge said. “The company also needs to engage in ethical
and legal business practices.”

Besides Mt. Hood Vacation Rentals, the Mountain community is also
represented in the association by All Seasons Property Management.