We are all so busy these days, often lamenting that we need at least six more hours in every day, and that frenetic pace often has us considering the easy way out. We get it, and we often do the same. But when it comes to your biggest investment, the vacation rental property you purchased in Southern California, choosing easy may be choosing more complications, decreasing your ROI, and short circuiting your financial plans, especially if you choose to only advertise on Airbnb or VRBO. Today, we at Vacation Rentals by Kimberly want to talk about just 10 reasons we feel you should list your vacation rental property beyond Airbnb and VRBO, offering up some solutions as well, including choosing our property management services for all your vacation rental needs!
Reason #1: Your Rental May Offer Something Unique
We’ve all watched the shows that explore the most unusual homes in the US, and if your property is carved into a cliff, offers a widow’s walk, or is one of those mushroom looking retreats that were so popular in the 60s, doesn’t it make sense to choose a listing service that specializes in the unique and unusual? Or, and this is more likely, what if your Southern California investment is a luxury one that offers bells, whistles, and the kitchen sink? This is where Vacation Rentals by Kimberly enters the picture, specializing in the higher-end properties that make guests feel pampered and spoiled, and offering a market of guests that wants the best. Our collection of return guests that only consider our company when choosing vacation rentals will offer up yet another demographic of people you wouldn’t be targeting if you only advertised on Airbnb or VRBO.
Reason #2: Don’t Get Lost in the Crowd
Remember the last time you looked through the listings on Airbnb for your vacation accommodations? There were so many listings, so many words, you eventually gave up and chose the first property that was large enough for your needs and didn’t appear to be a total mess. Well, that act right there is being reenacted thousands of times daily on Airbnb and VRBO, and your sweet investment may be lost in the crowd. A smaller, more intimate, listing service makes it easier to find a dream vacation rental come true and that may just be your California property that you have sunk so much of your funds into. You made an investment in hope and utilizing a boutique vacation rental property management service such as ours will help your investment be a successful one!
Reason #3: Increasing Your Exposure
By now you may be wondering how smaller can be better, and that is a question we have an easy answer for. Yes, Vacation Rentals by Kimberly is a smaller company with perhaps a smaller reach and yes, you need as many eyes on the prize as you can get to ensure success. If we just limited the marketing we use to our own platform, our own mailing list, it is quite reasonable to expect less bookings, but that isn’t what we do at all. We understand the need to get your property seen by all eyes, and we do that by utilizing the big websites, the small, websites, and all the ones in between. Listing your property on MULTIPLE platforms, including Airbnb and VRBO, increases your exposure and puts your property out there in front of a much wider range of potential renters.
Reason #4: You Have More Control
Unlike some companies, we consider our homeowners important, and their needs are our rules of business, meaning you have more control when you choose Vacation Rentals by Kimberly. With the bigger companies you may just be a small fish in a big sea, limited to setting your prices at what they think is best and offering less flexibility in your marketing choices. We have been in this business for more than a few years but that doesn’t mean we think we have nothing left to learn and because we work with our owners not against them, our owners are generally the happiest and most satisfied in the area!
Reason #5: Flexibility Is a Good Thing
Flexibility is vital in this business, and if you also want to use your investment for vacation purposes, we will always work with you to give you that option, something larger, more rigid companies may not understand. Life is too short to forego relaxing pleasures, and because you have chosen Vacation Rentals by Kimberly for your property management needs (or will be after reading this article!), you know that your investment will always be in prime rental condition, ready to give you a weekend, week, or even longer of relaxation and good times. The other platforms may not be as flexible, and since they don’t provide cleaning services (that falls on your shoulders), your luxurious rental may not be ready to be used. Generally, our owners tell us at the beginning of the year when they want to set aside blocks of time for their use, but the flexibility we show means if you happen to have a last-minute vacation and we haven’t already booked your rental, it will be ready and waiting for you and your family to fill it with love and laughter.
Reason #6: Building Your Brand Is Easier
Your financial plans may not include another rental property, but we think that once you see how easy it is to fund your retirement coffers this way, you will want to consider expanding your investments across even more properties. And in doing so, you also want to be building a brand that is not just well known, but trusted and reliable, something that can be difficult when you are doing the heavy lifting all by yourself. There are a lot of details involved with vacation rentals, and the work that revolves around those details can take up a huge chunk of your personal time, if you are doing it yourself, and we know how valuable your time is. For the most part, these tips and hints have involved marketing, but you have probably already discovered that the vacation rental business involves so much more, sending you out on the hunt for a vacation rental property management company that can help carry the load, and aren’t you glad you found your way to our page? Your brand—in other words, the vacation rentals you provide—will become a trusted part of the rental world, and we love knowing that we were able to be a part of your successful branding journey.
Reason #7: We Do the Hard Stuff for You
As mentioned above, marketing is just one small item on the list of everything that has to be done in the vacation rental business, and Vacation Rentals by Kimberly doesn’t mind doing the hard stuff for you, including the data and analytics. We are constantly researching, studying the rental market for new trends that can help move your property into top position for most nights rented every year. And because rental costs are fluid, changing with the whims of the economy, you will know that you are always receiving the highest amounts without being so high that potential guests start to look in different directions. And in our studies, we have learned what paint colors to avoid and what colors make renters think, “Oh, that looks so wonderful, I must stay there!” Our jobs are a mix of hands-on experience, research, and instinct, and our owners think we manage the mix quite well, something you will get to decide for yourself if you decide our company is the one you are interested in for yourself.
Reason #8: We Know the Rules, Regulations, and Laws of the Short-Term Rental Business
The reality is that the neighbors on either side of your property are probably not going to appreciate a vacation rental in their neighborhood, and although they won’t do anything to sabotage your space, they will and do utilize community, city, and state rules, regulations, and laws against you if necessary. This makes it extremely important that you are following every single one of them; for instance, did you know that in Oceanside, hosts (owners) must obtain a permit from the city in order to be legal? Or that ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units, often used as mother-in-law suites) built after 2020 are not allowed to be used as short-term rentals? Every town, every community, and every state has its own set of rules that must be followed, and we at Vacation Rentals by Kimberly make it our business to know them all, ensuring that every rental we manage is compliant. This also avoids owners being assessed fines or being prohibited from renting out their properties altogether, and yes, this does happen quite frequently.
Reason #9: Reducing your Reliance on Airbnb and VRBO
The economy we live in today is kind of crazy, and well-established companies that have been profitable for decades or longer are suddenly closing their doors forever, and even though we aren’t saying that this could happen with the big-name vacation rental companies, we aren’t saying it won’t happen either. No one knows what the future holds, and if you are relying on Airbnb or VRBO to make your home a successful one and the platform takes a dive, do you think you could continue offering your property as a rental? When you diversify, spreading your business across a variety of platforms, one big company tanking will be nothing more than a speed bump instead of a devastating sinkhole swallowing your profits and any chance for success. And even though it may never happen, it is much better to have plans already set in place rather than having to scramble to put them all together after the worst has happened, which, if you think about it, makes Vacation Rentals by Kimberly a sort of insurance!
Reason #10: The Personal Touch
Airbnb and VRBO offer a service that does one thing: It provides a platform for you to list your rentals. Whether they do a great job of that one thing or not is not something we will discuss on this platform, but what we do want to talk about is the personal touch we offer to each and every one of our owners and our guests. A live person on the other end of the phone line when disasters inevitably happen will make your guests feel safe, a blog showing them all the ways they can have fun will show that you believe having a good time matters, and when your guests walk into spaces that are clean, luxurious, and oh so welcoming will show that you care to offer the best. We are your proxy and your guests’ voice, and we do both with the utmost of professionalism and respect, leaving you free to live your life knowing that your future is protected! Offering concierge type services, hiring local housekeeping and maintenance teams to keep your property in top condition, and responding to every email we receive are just some of the reasons guests love us and owners choose us.
The Bottom Line
The decision to purchase a property for vacation rental purposes is not one you took lightly, and neither is choosing the property management company you want to partner with. We at Vacation Rentals by Kimberly know the weight you have put into both decisions, and when you choose us, you can rest easily each night knowing that we don’t consider ourselves successful unless our owners are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. Our mission, aside from making sure that you enjoy a maximum return on your investment, is to ensure that you never feel alone or over your head or worried that your investment isn’t doing as much for your future as you hoped. Give us a call today and let’s talk more in depth about all the ways we can help you be a successful and happy vacation rental property owner!
