From the Desk of Vickie Storm: April 2026

Franchisees,

We continue to make meaningful progress across the business, and I want to take a moment to share several important updates and what they mean for you as we move forward together.

The short-term rental market has clearly transitioned into a more mature and competitive phase. The post-pandemic surge has leveled, and success is increasingly being driven by pricing discipline, operational efficiency, and an elevated guest experience. We are also seeing shorter booking windows, continued last-minute demand, and increased price sensitivity. At the same time, larger homes and group-oriented properties continue to perform well, and guest expectations around amenities and overall experience continue to rise.

Against that backdrop, we are making significant investments across iTrip to ensure you are well-positioned to compete and grow.

We have expanded our Marketing team by 100% and increased our Development team by 50%, with a strong focus on AI and automation. We have also introduced a dedicated Unit Acquisition function to support property growth across the network with more targeted, data-driven strategies. Overall, our marketing investment is up approximately 90% year over year and will effectively double compared to 2025 with the inclusion of the rebranding and new website. These investments are already translating into new collateral, enhanced digital marketing efforts, with brand guidelines targeted for August and the new site launching in September.

Our product and technology roadmap continues to accelerate as well. We are leveraging AI to significantly speed up development cycles and introduce new capabilities within the HUB. In Q1, we delivered key enhancements across channel integrations, reporting, and operations, along with more than a dozen franchisee-requested improvements. Looking ahead to Q2, the introduction of the Unified Inbox, amenity remapping across channels, and Apple Pay integration powered through Lynnbrook will further streamline operations and improve the guest and owner experience.

Twenty-one HUBs are launching their unit acquisition focus with Rentalz with another 7 HUBs close by.

We are also making strong progress on the Franchise Agreement, with the goal of finalizing by the end of May. We appreciate the thoughtful engagement and feedback throughout this process and will continue to keep you informed as we move toward completion.

One of the most important updates is the rollout of our enhanced Limited Damage Waiver program, which will go live on May 1.  The new program is required on all booking that provides a network-wide solution that will offer improved consistency and a better overall business experience. It includes flexible pricing tiers, an increased revenue share for franchisees, and professional damage reimbursement administration through Sedgwick to ensure timely and well-managed adjudication handling. The HUB will also support full tracking via a newly designed dashboard and streamlined reimbursement workflows. Additional documentation and a dedicated webinar will be shared to walk through the details and answer your questions.

We are also introducing a new Demand Channel through Stay by Inhabit. This is a two-sided marketplace designed to unlock incremental demand from strategic partners such as airlines, credit card companies, and travel programs. Importantly, this channel is designed to preserve your existing business rules and guest experience, and participation is optional. While early, we believe this has the potential to become a meaningful source of incremental, high-quality demand over time.

Finally, I want to highlight the continued expansion of our team. We have added new talent across marketing, development, and franchise support, and we encourage you to engage with these individuals and take advantage of the resources being made available. Be on the lookout for a number of webinars and training opportunities, including sessions on LDW, the new Demand Channel, and data-driven unit acquisition strategies.

There is a great deal underway, and all of it is focused on one objective: helping you grow more efficiently and operate more effectively in an increasingly competitive market.

The iTrip Town Hall meeting was held on Thursday, 4/16. Here is a link to the audio recording of the call and the slide deck is attached.

Please click here to access the Town Hall recording and slide deck

Thank you, as always, for your partnership and commitment to iTrip.

Hello iTrip Franchisees,

As we enter the 2nd month of 2026, I want to thank each of you for the continued passion, dedication, and excellence you bring to the iTrip brand every day. Your commitment to serving rental guests, supporting property owners, and strengthening your local markets is truly what fuels our success.

We are beginning the year with a stable and encouraging industry outlook. Travelers remain active, booking patterns continue to evolve, and disciplined pricing strategies are helping protect revenue even in a cautious demand environment. And while additional snowfall would be welcomed for our Rocky Mountain ski destinations, there is positive momentum as we move further into Q1.

Below is a brief snapshot of the latest industry insights to help guide your operational and strategic planning.

• Demand is gradually improving following multi‑year softness.
• Late 2025 occupancy strengthened, though early 2026 pacing remains mixed.
• ADR growth remains the strongest performance lever.
• RevPAR closed 2025 with meaningful year‑over‑year gains.

• Travelers continue booking closer to arrival.
• Stay lengths are shortening slightly.
• Flexibility remains top‑of‑mind for guests.

iTrip occupancy is pacing down (1.4%) in January but up for February (2.2%) and March (1.3%).

2026 revenue is pacing 9% ahead compared to the same time in 2025 and 32% ahead of the same time in 2024.

Shout out to St. Petersburg, Oak Island and Alabama Beaches for the most growth year over year, as of last Friday.

We have a working session scheduled next week with the goal of finalizing franchise agreement updates. George, Sofia, Joe Turitz, our legal counsel, and I will be traveling to Charleston for these discussions.

Given our normal cadence of issuing the next franchise agreement in early April, and our proximity to that timeline, the revised agreement will be released at that time. Franchisees with renewals scheduled through April 28, 2026 have received renewal extensions through April 30, 2026.

Across the industry, we continue to see more deactivations. Largely driven by elevated real estate values. This trend reinforces both the need for and excitement around the upcoming release of the Rentalz Program.

I am pleased to share that one Franchisee already running a Rentalz campaign has closed 4 units! The Rentalz Agreement is on the 1-yard line and the itroductory webinar is in review.

We are also interviewing candidates for two new roles dedicated to unit acquisition and the integration of Rentalz across iTrip.

Work is being completed on an adjustment to the Home Guardian product that will change the coverage period to 90 days from the current 180 program. This shorter coverage period will reduce the cost of the coverage. More analysis is being done, but this option can be offered within 4-6 weeks if we move forward. No ETA to announce yet.

The Rental Guardian PayNow system has been improved to offer enhanced filtering options.

The HUB month-end results reconcile now with the Rental Guardian invoices once we changed the timing for payments for month-end work.

Our beta test group of 6 HUBs is working through their first month-end processing. They are providing a few edge cases to the Dev team, all of which are being addressed.

Our plan is to release Breezeway the week of Febuary 9. Kick-off calls with Breezeway will start immediately afterward.

RFPs were sent out and questions from the agencies are pouring in as work is done to submit the proposals.

The first of 3 new Marketing team members has been hired. A formal introduction will be made following her arrival. Interviews for the remaining two positions are underway.

With the changes to comp set information – not being broken down to reflect specific fees like cleaning – we are working on an SOP and training for how to apply the data in its new form for the creation of property proformas.

We are in talks with Xplorie to discussed optimization improvement opportunities. The goal is to enhance the differentiation provided by Xplorie to attract bookings.

Work is being done on the GoHighLevel CRM. This is the tool that Rentalz uses. All HUBs have been created as companies within the CRM. Phase I is to use the Rentalz version as we roll-out our Unit Acquisition campaigns. Phase II is to create a HUB version of Go High Level to be used beyond unit acquisition components. Phase II is scheduled to start H2 2026.

Software version 15.14 was released on January 20. You can find the notes here.

Release 15.15 is scheduled for release next week.

The Franchisee Advisory Council (FAC) and the Marketing Council have been meeting regularly since being refreshed. Indeed, the FAC met yesterday, and covered the details included in this newsletter. The next FAC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3. The next Marketing Council meeting is scheduled for February 12. The Technology Council will be re-established and start meeting in March.

Thank you again for your hard work, heart, and leadership across your markets. I’m excited for the opportunities this new year brings.

Monday, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, foreboding 6 more weeks of winter. This could be great for our Rocky Mountain markets and call for layers of warmth for the sunshine markets.

Warm regards,

Vickie