Wanted: Owners of online rentals
May 21—HIGH POINT — Finding houses for rent in High Point through websites such as Airbnb and Vrbo isn't hard.
But just try contacting the owners directly.
Melody Burnett has tried.
There are three reasons that Burnett, the president of Visit High Point, wants to contact them.
One is simply that Visit High Point constantly is trying to connect prospective visitors — whether they're coming for vacation, shopping or business — with short-term rentals.
Another is that many times people who book their own visits through those websites arrive wanting to find things to do and places to visit or eat, or they wind up wanting special services — maybe something uncommon, such as a chef to come cook on-site — and don't know where to begin looking.
"We don't want them to recreate the wheel," she said.
The third reason is to try to bring all of these property owners together to share information among themselves.
"We know a handful here in town, but we want to build that network," Burnett said. "We just want to connect with them. It's not as easy as you think."
