Answering your Questions: Employees, Cancellations, Trust Accounts, Assistance, and More
Amy Hinote is the founder and editor-in-chief of VRM Intel Magazine, which provides news, information and resources for the professionally managed vacation rental industry.
With a background in finance and over 14 years in the vacation rental industry, Hinote has worked with property management companies, technology companies, intermediaries and investors, and provides insider information about the growing vacation rental industry. She also founded the data company, now known as Key Data Dashboard, which provides aggregated market intelligence and reporting for vacation rental managers. Hinote resides between Alabama’s Gulf Coast and Evanston, Illinois.
Co Authors :
Sarah Bradford owns Winter Park Lodging Company and Steamboat Lodging Company with her husband, Chris. Both companies focus on higher-end luxury vacation rentals, and they are currently updating several to bring them out of 1999. Sarah also is the cohost of the popular professional vacation rental podcast, Sea to Ski with Sarah and T, along with Tim Cafferty, owner of Outer Banks Blue and Sandbridge Blue.
Tim Cafferty is the Owner and President of Outer Banks Blue Realty Services. He was born and raised in the hospitality and vacation rental industry starting his first job in 1970 carrying linens to the cars of incoming guests each weekend for his family’s business. Tim got his Masters in Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill, returned to the Outer Banks, and began working again with his family at their vacation rental management firm. Tim learned all the aspects of the real estate business including sales, property management, and vacation rentals while he began his path as a REALTOR(R) and decided to open his own company in 2005.

Michelle Hodges grew up in the real estate industry, recognizing and understanding tourism trends at an early age. She has extensive knowledge of the industry as well as a keen understanding of the challenges faced by vacation rental property owners and guests. Michelle is also a seasoned traveler, having visited more than 20 countries, and has gained a thorough understanding of guests needs and changing expectations through the years. Michelle worked at Meyer Vacation Rentals as a summer intern throughout high school and then attended Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, graduating with a major in international relations and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean affairs. Her hospitality experience and degree, fueled by her passion for travel and tourism, enabled her work experience to include Walt Disney World Resorts and the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau before returning home to the Alabama Gulf Coast. Michelle has also sat on more than a dozen boards, committees, and initiatives, always effecting change at every level of her community, market, and industry.