VRWS Leadership Interview of the Day
In approaching the 11th edition of the Vacation Rental World Summit, we’re releasing a series of interviews to leaders, key players and highly motivated people in our industry whose companies make a deep impact in our space and will be present at VRWS.
The aim is to get you some insight into these leaders and the company they founded, manage or work for, as well as getting some behind the scenes on their thinking, their motivation and their drive.
SALLY HENRY
- What do you do for a living and which part of your job do you enjoy the most?
I’m Vice President of Business Development for Key Data which means I am speaking to a huge spectrum of the industry to help internationalise and grow Key Data outside of North America. I work with property managers, PMSs, Associations, tourist boards and media platforms on a daily basis across EMEA, Australasia and South America. We attend many conferences around the world and I can often be found delivering data key notes at conferences or delivering webinars or panels on data trends and helping educate property managers on how to use data to optimise their business. The variety is huge, which I love and I get to speak to masses of interesting people!
- How does your company innovate or adapt to the evolving needs of the vacation rental space?
We continue to invest in our product. The business intelligence and benchmarking tools we provide property managers via our dashboard has undergone a huge transformation. We have just released the All New Key Data, meaning our clients can now access a dashboard which is fully customisable, 3 times faster, uses AI to assist users and is now mobile friendly. In addition we are working hard to deliver the dashboards in more languages and support our clients with multi lingual Partner Success Managers.
- How do you view the various predictions about AI’s impact on society, ranging from dystopian scenarios to transformative advancements, and how does your company approach or integrate AI technology?
As a company we use AI extensively. Our teams of data scientists use AI and machine learning to help us deliver the best in class data in the industry. We handle vast volumes of data on a global scale, on a daily basis, and the machine learning models we have built, means that we can train our direct source data against our scraped data to get to the most accurate view of the short term rental market. Accurate data matters and we are obsessed with delivering the best for our clients and the industry. Machine learning allows us to do this at scale.
Personally I think AI used for the right tasks is imperative to adapt. The scary part is just how quickly AI is learning. It is already more powerful than the top 5% of human brains and we need to ensure that there are rules around its development and usage.
- What would you like to achieve by attending the Vacation Rental World Summit 2024 in Porto with your company?
We can’t wait to connect with the industry again. I love the format of VRWS as we get to sit down and speak to property managers and companies in the space and discuss the important matters within their business. The calibre of people attending is so high and I value the opportunity to meet with clients, connect with new people and network within the industry with our fellow vendors and peers. I can’t wait!
- What are your passions, including any hobbies or sports, that you enjoy discussing and sharing with others outside the professional setting?
I love all sports. This summer has been amazing with the Euros, Wimbledon, Rugby test matches and the Olympics to watch. I try to run 3 times a week with my best friends so we get to chat and keep fit at the same time. I take my 15 year old son to the gym in the evening as a good way to spend time with him and I drag my 10 year old daughter out on dog walks with our two crazy cockapoos at the weekend.
You’ll have the opportunity to meet Sally directly at VRWS in Porto
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