Frequently Asked Questions from Potential Homeowner Clients

Q. Why should I select Beach-N-Bay Getaways over other property managers in the area?  Are you different?

A.  We feel that we offer a superior and unique service because we will only manage a very limited number of vacation homes at any time.  Most of the other vacation rental management companies in the area manage 30 – 50 homes!  We made this decision for our business model because we want to be able to deliver on our marketing promise of providing personalized and attentive services to our homeowners.  In property management, bigger is not always better!

If you or one of your potential renters calls Beach-N-Bay Getaways, only the owners, Nick or Maggie, will answer the phone, not some part-time employee.   We can make decisions and address any issues immediately and you can be guaranteed that the interaction will be professional and friendly.

Q.  What are your management fees?

A.  We charge the homeowner a 20% commission on the gross rental revenues of the home for short term rentals (30 days or less).  For example, if your home grosses $4000 in rental revenue for a single month (does not include monies collected for housekeeping, taxes, booking fees or insurance), you would pay Beach-N-Bay Getaways $800 for that month.  For long term rentals (31 days or more) we charge a 15% commission.

Q.  Am I allowed to use my home as much as I want?

A.  Beach-N-Bay does not restrict homeowners from using their homes at any time during the year.  In fact, this is the beauty of using your vacation home as a vacation rental.  You can make money on it and still enjoy the use of it!  However, if homeowners want to optimize the rental income for the property, it is best if they make it available for rental as much as possible during the high-season rental periods, which are Summer (June – August), Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, Easter and Spring Break weeks and any 3-day holiday weekends. 

Q.  You advertise that care of my vacation home is your top priority. What practices do you employ to ensure this?

A.  Nick or Maggie will perform frequent inspections of your property both during busy rental periods and when the home isn’t occupied as much.  We hire very competent and professional housekeepers that are diligent about identifying damage to the home after a rental.  We leave a feedback form for each set of guests so that they can report any maintenance problems and if any are reported, we address them immediately if possible.  We make an effort to get to know the neighbors and encourage them to report any issues at the home such as too many people or cars, loud partying,  rowdy behavior, etc.  We also make contact with each renter and do drivebys of the property when it is occupied.  Beach-N-Bay offers a damage insurance policy to all of its renters and on some properties, we require it.  Accidents do happen and this encourages the renters to report it and it provides a no-fault way of getting the needed repairs done.

Q.  How would you set the rental rates for my home?

A.  For each home we perform a competitive analysis of the vacation rental marketplace based on number of bedrooms and bathrooms, number the home sleeps, location and condition of the home.  From the results of this, we suggest low-season, peak-season and holiday rates to the homeowner.  However, the final decision is based on a consensus between Beach-N-Bay and the homeowner.

Q.  What type of marketing and advertising do you use to ensure maximum exposure and income for my vacation home?

A.  We use leading internet vacation rental websites and our own state-of-the-art website to present your home to the world via the internet, which is by far the most predominant way the public finds vacation housing now.  We periodically send email ad campaigns to our previous guests to encourage them to return.  We answer inquiry calls 7 days a week, 12 hours a day to ensure that we talk to the customers personally.  Using SEO methods, we make sure that people can find a specific home by entering the address in a search engine. 

Q. Do you require your vacation homes to provide linens and towels for the guests? 

A.  As this becomes a national and international destination, people expect a hotel-like experience when they come to stay, so we do require that good quality bedding and towels be provided by the owner.  Due to back-to-back rentals that frequently occur during the summer months, we require an 2 sets of sheets for each bed and twice the number of towels required for the number of people the home sleeps.  The housekeepers are responsible for laundering the used linens and towels after each rental.

Q. If I choose Beach-N-Bay Getaways as my property manager, how will you ensure that I don’t have a dramatic loss of revenue during the transition from my current property manager?

A.  Beach-N-Bay is committed to making it a smooth transition with minimal revenue loss (and hopefully revenue gain) for the homeowner.  We will work closely with you to determine the best time of the year for the transition.  We will get your home up on our website and other vacation rental websites well in advance of the date that you move to us so that we will have reservations for you starting as soon as we take over.  We will advertise it aggressively in the beginning and if you have a list of previous customers, we will contact them to let them know of the change in management.  We also like to put a sign on the property advertising it as a vacation rental (where allowed) so that anyone driving by who is interested in renting the home will see our contact information.