Well, people have been asking me to do it for years and now I have finally done it. What am I talking about? As you know, I’ve been helping people buy second homes and vacation rentals here on the island for years. Each time we go through the process, at some point the buyer turns tells me they’ve had a really wonderful experience with me and my team, and they would like me to take on the property management, including the sales and marketing for the short-term vacation rental. In the past, I always had to politely decline because I wasn’t in the property management space. I’m happy to tell you I have now purchased a property management company. Today I’m excited to announce the debut of “Big Island Stays”. We are currently managing about 40 short-term vacation rentals up and down the Kona-Kohala coast. The company has been around for a long time (under a different name) and has been very successful with an incredible track record, and I’m honored to be its new owner. The people we have on our staff, both in administration and managing the individual properties, are the very best in property management and do a phenomenal job taking care of our clients.
In my first meeting with my staff, I told them there’s only three ways this could go very badly for the company and for the owners we represent. The first way is if our communication is poor. And what I mean is not only our communication with our owners, but the communication that happens with all the guests. This is the first and foremost important part we must excel at. The second way this could go badly for all involved is if the properties are in disrepair. Nothing’s worse than a consumer coming in and seeing a property that’s not been taken care of. That is an ROI (return on investment) killer. The third and final way this could go badly is if the property is not clean. Currently our property managers are physically going in and checking the work of our cleaning people every single week on each of our units. We are sticklers about having clean properties in good working order. And we will not fail on communication. We find if you follow these three basic tenants of property management the company will do well and you, the owners of the property, will do even better.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing more articles in the newsletter about ways in which we are different and the ways we help our clients succeed. For instance, in the month of January, our rental units had a 78% occupancy rate while the broader market was at 72%. In February, we are currently at an 82% occupancy rate representing our owners and the broader market is at 74%. How is it that we turn out these incredible results? There are a lot of factors that go into our sales and marketing and it’s not a passive system of advertising, but rather a very active system of advertising. Again, I’ll be sharing more of the details on this as the months go on.
Finally, we’ve been very successful at representing homeowners in Kona, and now we are expanding into the Waikoloa Beach, Mauna Lani, and Mauna Kea resorts. We have very dynamic, proactive property managers who are ready to serve these areas. So, if you have a short term, vacation rental in one of these resorts and you’re contemplating either making a change from your current property management company or are just getting started for the first time, we would love the opportunity to earn your business. If you’d like to find out more about us, feel free to visit our website at bigislandstays.com. As always, you can call me on my cell phone at 808-987-3306. I think you’ll find we provide the same white glove, concierge level of service in property management that we have provided for years in real estate sales. You’ve heard me say before that when my clients ask me if we can do something…the answer is always yes (as long as it is legal). We look forward to hearing from you and maybe you’ll give us a try.
Mahalo
Dan
