Crystal Coast Vacation Rental Show

Back in the 1980’s when short term rentals weren’t even a glimmer in my eye, I learned a lesson that is still with me. And it’s pertinent as we start to roll into Spring and rentals are picking up.

I worked a variety of jobs as a very young man, to varying degrees of success. Even when I wasn’t as skilled at the jobs as an older me would like, there were things that I took from them. Among the variety of things I did, I spent a couple seasons working at a Boy Scout camp.

Campers would come in for a week at a time, replaced each Saturday with a new group. Tradition dictated a staff only campfire on the night before the first Scouts arrived. One year, as the camp director gave us a final talk, he said, “Remember, this will be your first week, but it will be their only week.” Somehow, this managed to stick in my brain and has become an important part of the way we view our rentals.

As the season starts, it’s easy to put off things. We’re all busy. Sometimes fixing that TV, replacing those pillows, or taking care of any of the many things needed can be easy to push off for another week. But let’s look at it from the perspective of the guest. Many of our guests will save for the entire year, or longer, for this time in our house. Many take a couple days to get here. Even if everything is right in the house, a stretch of cool weather or rain can dominate their vacation memories. We owe it to every one of our guests to make their stay as consistently great as we can. Whether in April or July.

How do we do this? We look at three things as being key.

• Handle things ahead of time. Use the natural ebb and flow of rentals to your advantage. If your latest HVAC check-up (you are doing annual maintenance, right?) results in you discovering that replacement is eminent, be proactive rather than reactive. Handle that in December when techs have more time and you can do it as a planned event. Replace certain things like pillows on a regular basis. Don’t make your guest ask for replacement pans because you try to “stretch it out one more season.”
• Keep common items close at hand. There are certain items that I know we will use regularly. I try to either have them on hand, or within easy access via Amazon, local stores, or whatever appropriate source. This may be housewares, filters, specialized light bulbs, or anything that you know you will need regularly. I use a certain solar powered light for a particular application and it dies every couple years due to the harsh climate. I have a box of them in my shed. When the salt air claims another, I’m ready. My preferred pillows are always a click away.
• Make sure your management partners share your attitude. This is the big one. It can gloss over your shortcomings in the other two, or it can wreck every preparation you have made. Does your management company have staff on call? Do they operate with a sense of urgency? 

My wife and I saw someone’s vacation wrecked due to an HVAC issue. All names and places will not be used to protect the guilty. These people left in the middle of a July vacation because of no air conditioning. There was no sense of urgency to repair the system or to provide temporary solutions. I don’t know if this was attributed to the management or the owner, but it was completely unacceptable. It did cause my wife to grill the maintenance manager for our PM about what would happen if it was our property. We saw the on-call process, the approved vendors, and the room of equipment ready to provide temporary relief. We became confident that it would be handled differently at our property. Ask the hard questions and demand the answers. Your property manager is the link between you and your guests. Make sure they reflect your values.

With a little preparation, we can do a lot to make someone’s only week as special as they deserve. Don’t let a multi-thousand dollar vacation be tainted because you were too cheap to replace a couple of hundred dollars worth of items in your property. In the long run it will pay off many times over, both financially and in pride in your property.

We will be at the Carteret Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours Expo April 29 at the Crystal Coast Civic Center. We will be promoting our exhibition spaces and are planning some great giveaways and promotions. See you there!

As always, if you are interested in the Vacation Rental industry or are already involved, we encourage you to join us at the Crystal Coast Vacation Rental Show October 18 and 19 at the Crystal Coast Civic Center. Subscribe and follow our social media links above and below to stay on top of what’s coming next.