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We’ve had great success with our marketing for Book Direct Day. Thank you to all our homeowners for your support.

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news with you regarding our recent book direct marketing campaign. We’re pleased to report that the campaign has garnered a highly positive response, resulting in increased bookings and heightened engagement from our valued guests.

Book Direct with White Rose Villas

Through targeted efforts to encourage guests to book directly through our platform, we’ve seen a significant uptick in reservations, showcasing the effectiveness of our strategy. By emphasizing the benefits of booking directly with White Rose Villas, such as exclusive offers, personalized service, and streamlined booking processes, we’ve successfully captured the attention and trust of our guests.

We’re proud to announce that our campaign has propelled us 47% ahead of our target, surpassing our initial expectations and demonstrating the immense potential of our direct booking initiatives.

Bypass third-party booking platforms

The success of this campaign not only reflects our commitment to providing exceptional service but also underscores the importance of our direct relationship with guests. By bypassing third-party booking platforms, we’re able to offer a more personalized experience and build stronger connections with our guests, fostering loyalty and satisfaction.

We extend our sincere gratitude to our dedicated team for their hard work and dedication in executing this campaign. Their efforts have truly made a difference in driving our success and reinforcing White Rose Villas as the preferred choice for discerning travellers.

Thank you

I’d like to extend huge thanks also to our wonderful homeowners. You have been so receptive to our marketing campaigns. Thank you for being so open and flexible while working with us.

As we continue to capitalize on this momentum, we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering unparalleled experiences and exceeding the expectations of our guests.

Thank you for your continued support and partnership.

Today is Book Direct Day!

In a world dominated by online travel businesses like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com, it’s easy for vacationers to believe that the best deals and experiences are to be found on the websites of these big platforms.

However, the truth is that often the best deals and the most treasured experiences are to be found by booking direct.

Here’s just a few reasons why the next time you book a vacation, you should book directly with the vacation rental company managing the property.

1.  Price Transparency

When you book directly, there are no hidden service fees or surprise charges. What you see is what you get, allowing for better budgeting and planning.

2. Best Price Guarantee

Vacation rental companies offer the lowest price when you book direct because they won’t be subject to third party charges levied by the big booking platforms. They can pass these savings on to you, so you get the most competitive rates available.

3. Exclusive Deals and Discounts

Vacation rental companies – like White Rose Villas – have special promotions and loyalty programs for direct bookers, offering exclusive discounts or added perks. Get in touch with us to find out more!

4. Personalized Customer Service

Direct communication with a rental company means a more personalized service. You’re dealing with a small business that cares about your experience – not a megalithic booking platform on which it’s hard to get in touch with to a real person. This means that when you book direct you benefit from personalized assistance, from pre-booking inquiries to on-site support during your stay.

5. Local Expertise

Vacation rental companies are often local experts, providing insider tips and recommendations for an authentic and immersive experience. For example, you can read through our blogs to discover many tips and recommendations about making the most of your stay in Central Florida. Or ask about local events and activities directly – we’re always happy to share our experience and advice.

6. Access to Additional Amenities

Some vacation rental companies offer extra amenities or services – such as a welcome basket on arrival or concierge services – exclusively to direct bookers. This enhances your overall vacation experience.

7. Faster Issue Resolution

In case of any problems, direct communication with your vacation rental company means faster issue resolution. That’s because there are no third parties or unnecessarily rigid processes slowing down response times or resolution.

8. Repeat Booking Rewards

Loyalty pays off! Vacation rental companies, like White Rose Villas, often offer rewards programs that are only available on direct bookings.

9. Enhanced Privacy

Booking directly keeps your data with a single provider. Your personal data and web browsing behaviors won’t be shared across multiple platforms.

10. Direct Feedback Loop

Your feedback directly influences the vacation rental company’s operations. In this way, you can contribute directly to the continuous improvement of guest experiences.

11. Support Local and Small Businesses

By booking directly, you support the local economy. You can contribute directly to a more sustainable and community-centric approach to travel. Many vacation rental companies are small businesses. Booking directly with them helps us to thrive in a competitive market.

12. Feel Like a VIP

Direct bookers are often treated like VIPs, enjoying a more personalized and memorable stay compared to the standardized experience offered by the big online platforms.

Next time: Book Direct!

Next time you plan your vacation, consider booking direct to benefit from all of these fantastic advantages and more. It’s time to rediscover the joy of travel, one direct booking at a time!

Did you know that more than half of the villas booked by our rental partners have Grade A status?

Our booking partners tell us that a home’s quality, condition and amenities all play a part in the overall customer experience. By bringing your home up to Grade A status, you can maximise the likelihood of our booking partners booking your home.

But what makes a Grade A home? In this blog, we’ll outline exactly what our booking partners are looking for, so you can think about any changes you might need to make to achieve Grade A status.

What makes a Grade A vacation home?

There are fourteen important factors that our booking partners look for in order to grade a vacation home as Grade A.

They are:

Without all of these things, your home can easily drop down to a Grade B status. This makes it imperative to keep your home at tip-top condition, to replace towels and linens when needed, and make replacements to damaged items quickly.

Once your home starts showing signs of wear and tear, it will drift down to a Grade C status – and these homes will only account for ten percent of bookings. Once things obviously need replacing – whether linens or appliances or anything else – the home drops to a Grade D status and it won’t be booked by our booking partners.

That’s one of the reasons we’re so excited about the recent kitchen renovation we completed for one of our homeowners. Check it out here!

What next? Get in touch with our team

If you have concerns about any items in your house or if you’ve had any feedback that you’d like looking into, please get in touch with our team. We can also work with you on a plan to upgrade your home, if you feel it necessary.

We’re very happy to share more information about the grading criteria for homes. If you’d like to discuss our booking partners’ criteria or find out more about the way our booking partners grade homes, please contact the White Rose Villas team.

New year is typically a time of reflection and new starts.

For us, here at White Rose Villas HQ, we’ve been working hard over the holiday period to bring all accounts up to date as part of our start to 2022 so we can go into the new year with our best foot forward.

Like most of the travel sector, we’re hoping that 2022 marks a new beginning in the state of international travel. The good news is that, thanks to vaccines and our growing understanding of the virus and the way it spreads, nations around the world are beginning to learn to live with COVID-19.

Fluctuating cashflows over the last two years

The bad news, from our homeowners’ point of view, is that all the cancellations and re-bookings we’ve had to manage have taken their toll over the last two years. Cashflows have fluctuated much more than normal.

As a result, we’ve tried to be as flexible as possible with all our homeowners as we work together to support each other through these difficult circumstances.

However, even allowing for the changes and cancellations that have been disrupting all of our cashflows, we need to remind you that it is absolutely vital to maintain your escrow balance at all times.

Why keeping funds in escrow is important

Keeping your escrow account topped up is vital because it gives us instant access to funds we can use on your behalf. If your home requires emergency repairs, we will need these funds to be able to act quickly. Even in normal times, we need these funds to cover the ongoing housekeeping bills that keeps your house looking great and your guests happy.

The difficulties with escrow funds

During the pandemic, some homeowners have relied on us to undertake vital work and continue with ongoing housekeeping without ensuring these funds are available to us. This means that they are effectively using us as a free credit service.

Of course, this isn’t a sustainable business model for us and, as such, we’re taking this new year period as an opportunity to remind everyone of their responsibilities as a White Rose Villas homeowner.

Homeowners must keep at least $1,000 in their escrow account at all times (unless you have agreed a different minimum amount with us due to the size of your home). You’ve already agreed to do this when you signed your contract with us.

New rules around escrow

If you do not abide by your side of the contract, we are going to have to start passing on overdraft, interest and admin fees. Although this is our standard procedure as outlined in your contract, we have tried to avoid doing this until now.

We know it has been a difficult few years, but we do have to maintain efficient operations for everyone’s benefit – and this means that everyone needs to operate on the same basis. We simply can’t allow a few homeowners who want to use us as a free credit service to increase the costs of operation for everyone else.

We thank you all for your cooperation in this matter. And we look forward to a fantastic 2022 with you all.

New for 2022: we’ve recently completed a kitchen renovation and we’re excited to share the results with you. It’s a different, cheaper and greener way to keep your home at Grade A status.

We have recently worked with one of our homeowners to update and modernise the kitchen in their home. To save time and money, they chose to trial a new finish for the kitchen worktops called Miracle Method.

If you’re not familiar with Miracle Method, it is a special surface refinishing treatment for kitchen worktops and bathroom countertops, splashbacks, tiles and floors.

Why we like the Miracle Method approach

Instead of ripping out the old counters and worktops, Miracle Method simply resurfaces the existing counters so they look (at least) as good as new. We really like this idea and our first trial with the system has gone really well. The home looks great!

Before (left) and after (right). The new worktops look beautiful, especially the new bullnose curved edges.

The homeowner here opted to paint the cupboards prior to refinishing the worktops, so the whole kitchen has enjoyed a modernising make-over. Instead of costing more than $10,000 for a new kitchen, the whole renovation cost less than $3,000. It’s a really affordable way to maintain your home’s Grade A status and keep amenities looking fresh and new.

For homeowners the advantage is obvious: the work is much less disruptive – so you won’t have as many days when your home is unrentable due to the refurbishment. You save money twice: first, because the overall refurbishment costs less and, second, because of the reduction in disruption means fewer unrentable nights.

We also love the concept because it’s greener. It means a lot less waste is going to landfill, so you can keep your home looking great without adding to problematic supply chains or excess wastage.

About Miracle Method

Miracle Method highlights the following benefits to its solutions:

It’s important that only approved cleaning products are used with the finished surfaces. Bleach-based and/or abrasive products should not be used.

We’re currently updating our guidance for housekeeping staff and guests for all homes that have Miracle Method resurfacing on their countertops.

Are you interested in refinishing your countertops?

Are you thinking about updating your kitchen or bathrooms?

If you’d like to know more about Miracle Method, please get in touch with our team. We’re very happy to share information and results with all homeowners who are interested.

The vacation rental market in the USA is looking far more positive, according to a new report. It shows that, despite a difficult 18 months, Florida continues to lead the rest of the country in terms of this year’s bookings.

A new report into the state of the vacation rental market in the USA has revealed some surprising changes to patterns of booking. It says “the off-season is looking a bit different this year”.

Let’s have a look at what it found.

Florida remains top destination

While the whole of the travel and tourism sector has taken a huge hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey shows that there are some really positive advantages to owning a vacation rental property in Florida.

Compared against the national average, vacation homes in Florida typically have:

In fact, Florida’s performance has helped to boost vacation rental performance in neighbouring states like Georgia and South Carolina.

The longer the booking window, the longer the stay

The report authors found that last-minute bookings tend to have a shorter duration that bookings made far in advance; they have a 25 percent shorter duration on average.

Typically:

COVID-19 has obviously impacted everyone’s ability to plan in advance. However, there is a clear link between advance booking and duration of stay, so this is one area where we will be focusing our marketing planning over the next few weeks and through 2022.

Weekend Warriors still dominate

As in most years, the majority of bookings have come from short stays. Over the year, short stays of between one and three days account for 70 percent of bookings.

However, the data also shows that there has been a small increase in the number of mid-length bookings, especially in July and September. In July 2021, stays of between four and seven days rose to account for 30 percent of bookings. While this dropped off during August, the proportion of mid-length stays picked up again, so it is a trend we’ll need to keep an eye on. If it persists, this is good news for vacation home owners.

The report does point to some changes in the short-stay market. Although short stays continue to dominate, they are reporting a greater number of mid-week short stays.

We think this is positive news. If the trend to mid-week bookings continues, it will help us to maximise occupancy rates during the off season when short stays dominate.

What’s changed?

One of the significant changes, according to the data in the report, is the shift in focus from urban to rural bookings. It has found that rural bookings typically had a 12 percent longer booking duration than urban stays. The authors say that this is because the success of rural bookings is less dependent on COVID-19 restrictions.

While we can’t claim to have rural properties, our homes do have a fantastic opportunity here. With private pools, plenty of space and year-round sunshine, your guests can enjoy a vacation whatever the COVID rules outside.

While changes to Florida’s COVID-19 rules will affect restaurants and theme park admissions, we think that by focusing on the other benefits our homes deliver we can capitalise on the “safe space” trend.

Actions for the future

Although the report was published before the discovery of the Omicron variant, of which we’re yet to understand the effect, there are some actionable insights here. For example, it found that Florida is averaging a 44.7 day booking window, which gives us important guidance about the optimum time to begin marketing stays and short breaks.

Things remain positive for the moment. We’ve recently been very busy taking bookings for Thanksgiving, the Christmas holiday period and New Year.

Although we started from behind where we would normally be for these busy periods, bookings have been very healthy. We’re already seeing high occupancy rates for the holiday and New Year weeks.

We will, of course, continue to work with you to run proactive marketing campaigns and promotions to try to continue these positive booking numbers into the traditionally quieter winter sun season.

Get in touch

If you would like to talk through any of these ideas, please reach out to our team.

What are we doing to navigate through this new uncertainty? And how can we protect the improvement in bookings we’ve seen lately? Here’s an update from our team.

With the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the uncertainty that had been waning over recent months has returned to the travel industry. Travel operators are waiting to see what the effect will be on bookings.

Booking rates around the world

Travel to South Africa feel dramatically – 750 percent – almost overnight. But with many European countries and the USA imposing travel bans on up to eight South African countries, including South Africa, this was inevitable.

Meanwhile, bookings to the rest of the world have remained surprisingly strong. The swift action of the South African authorities to share what they know has enabled many countries to take pre-emptive actions and identify the few instances of the variant within their borders. This has helped to maintain travel confidence.

Furthermore, so far, countries haven’t reimposed wider travel bans. Travellers are expected to take pre-departure tests in many cases, but this is a manageable inconvenience for most.

As a result, while there has been a small drop off in bookings to Europe and the United States, the fall has not been as dramatic as seen previously.

Latest news on flights into the USA

So far, President Biden has implemented stricter travel rules but not made major changes to who can travel. This is great news for European visitors who have only recently had travel open back up to them.

The new rules mean that, from next week, all international travellers to the USA – including American citizens – must take a COVID-19 test one day before travel. This must be completed regardless of your vaccination status.

Furthermore, mask requirements on planes, buses and trains will be extended until mid-March.

We will keep an eye out on updates to the situation. At the moment, experts are still working to understand what the variations in Omicron will mean in terms of transmissibility and the seriousness of the effects. Until we know more, it is hard to predict what will happen in the short term, either in terms of travel restrictions being ramped up or relaxed or in terms of any effect on bookings.

We will keep you posted!

Strategies to boost booking

In the meantime, we will continue to be flexible in our approach to booking, so that we can maximise occupancy rates and revenues for you.

#1. Communicating clearly about the cleaning procedures we have in place

We’ve always been known for our immaculate cleaning procedures and we continue to emphasise this to guests, including detailing the enhanced cleaning procedures we’ve implemented during the pandemic.

#2. Contactless check-in

As well as enhanced cleaning regimes, we’re doing a few other things differently at the moment to shore up guest confidence. We continue to highlight these standards to ensure guest confidence when they stay at your property.

#3. Marketing to customers within driving distance

Local bookings have been really important throughout the last two years and we are continuing to look at new ways to reach this market. These bookings held strong even when flight restrictions were imposed, so they are an important part of building resilience in your rental income.

#4. Discounts for longer stays

With the increase in remote work holding strong for many people, this is opening the door for travellers to stay for longer. And who wouldn’t want to work poolside? Travellers can take their families away without needing to book extra vacation, so offering discounts for longer stays can be a good way to serve this market and boost occupancy.

#5. Lowering minimum night stays

We know this isn’t for everyone but lowering the minimum night requirement can help to boost bookings. For one, you’ll show up in a greater number of searches in the listing sites.

#6. Adaptive pricing

We’ve seen over the last year just how effective dynamic pricing can be in maximising bookings and revenue. Thank you for working with us on this over the last 12 months. Options include lowering your minimum price, increasing last-minute discounts and offering some special deals. We’ll continue to tweak our activities on this to ensure that we are maximising occupancy without jeopardising maximum rates.

Reach out to our team

If you have any concerns, or would like to talk through anything raised in this blog, please reach out to our team as normal.

White Rose Villas is introducing a new marketing contract and we’ll be approaching all our homeowners over the next few weeks about it. This blog explains the reasons behind this change.

We’re facing very challenging market conditions in what is traditionally a quiet season in the theme parks. We need to step up our game when it comes to marketing, to ensure that we are doing the very best we can to book your home.

To help us do this, we’re going to introduce a new marketing contract that we’ll be asking all our homeowners to complete and sign. This will help us to act faster when it comes to taking bookings – as well as being able to offer enticements to ensure enquiries convert into sales.

What will the new marketing contract include?

Essentially, the new White Rose Villas marketing contract sets out in black and white the lower limits that you’d be willing to accept on a per-night basis. It also establishes the rules around taking a booking for your home.

You’ll be asked to tell us:

Knowing this information in advance, spelled out in black and white, is really important. It will enable us to act quickly. Rather than doublechecking on rates and possibly losing a booking during that delay, we can act fast and secure the booking.

Furthermore, we’ve had a couple of instances recently where we’ve taken a booking, but our homeowner hasn’t wanted to accept it at the slightly lower rate. This creates a bad guest experience and costs us all money.

The importance of getting the quote right first time

The listing sites apply a penalty for cancellations. As well as any financial compensation, they also drop the listing further down their search results. And it doesn’t just do that for the property concerned. It drops every single property that we manage.

This means that a cancelled booking impacts all our homeowners. That’s why it’s so vital that we don’t find ourselves in a position where we’ve taken a booking at a reduced price which we later need to cancel.

Furthermore, because our customer-first business model succeeds in attracting a high number of repeat bookings, we really want to avoid anything that could compromise the guest experience. Not honouring a booking we’ve taken is really upsetting for the guest and there is the potential we could lose their lifetime of future bookings as a result. We obviously work hard to ensure this doesn’t happen, but it is still a risk that impacts all our homeowners.

Signing the new marketing contract

That’s why we’re now introducing a new marketing contract for all homeowners. We’ll be approaching you over the next couple of weeks to discuss your options and ensure that the contracts are all signed and that you are happy with them.

We’ll be asking all our homeowners to sign the new contracts – whether you choose to use the RevMax dynamic pricing platform with us or not.

If you aren’t familiar with dynamic pricing, please check out our earlier blog about this automated system. It uses advanced algorithms to run fluid strategies that enable your property to achieve the highest income during high-demand periods and stay at the top of productivity in the market during low-demand periods. Last quarter, the team behind the system booked 70% more nights than the market average and at rates that were 17% higher than most.

It’s even more important to be really clear about what you’re willing to accept in terms of per-night revenue when working with the RevMax system, because the pricing is automated.

As you’ll know from our previous blog, there is no charge for you to use the dynamic pricing system – that’s a cost borne by us. The only real change you need to make is to be willing to accept different per-night rental rates, based on market conditions.

Find out more about RevMax here.

The offer of free nights

RevMax has told us that one great way to boost revenue is to run offers of a free night when a certain number of nights are booked. They’ve suggested that each homeowner specifies a number of nights per year which you would be happy to allocate free of charge on a promotional basis.

This way, the RevMax team can use the free nights to attract new business and close more bookings more quickly, before the guest can look elsewhere. They’ve told us that they have good results with these tactics and have advised it would be useful for us to test them too.

If you’re happy to do this, then all you need to do is to specify the number of free nights per year that we or the RevMax team can use for your home. You can do this in the marketing contract.

We understand that some homeowners may be reluctant to agree to give away free nights – and that’s fine too.

Next actions

You’ll receive the new marketing contract from us by email soon.

Please have a think about the rates and promotions you’d be willing to accept. If you’d like to talk this over with a member of our team, please get in touch.

Complete the rates and promotions details, sign the contract and return it to us.

If you have any questions about this, please reach out to us.

N.B. If you aren’t yet using RevMax, but you’d like to start using it, then please drop us an email to the usual email address: admin@whiterosevillas.com

With bookings in Florida taking a hit from the pandemic again right now, we take another look at the RevMax dynamic pricing system with this guide for homeowners.

Have you signed up to use our dynamic pricing service yet? If not, this blog is for you. It explains how dynamic pricing works and why it can help you maximise returns on your vacation home.

The counter-intuitive profitability

Let’s be clear from the outset: we have to acknowledge that it seems unlikely that by reducing the amount of revenue you get per night for your home, you can actually make more money from it.

However, that’s the starting principle on which RevMax works: by agreeing to be more flexible on the rates you achieve, you can boost your occupancy rates. Since the discounts per night are relatively small, the increase in occupancy rates more than offsets them.

In fact, in practice, RevMax is a bit more complicated than this.

That’s because on some nights – especially during peak season or busy periods – you can earn more per night for your home than you would at your standard nightly rate.  And that’s what makes RevMax so clever: it identifies the trends in the market and adjusts your per-night rate accordingly to ensure you achieve top dollar whilst also boosting occupancy rates.

Why do we need such sophisticated tools?

Your vacation home is great. It’s unique to you. No doubt, you’ve enjoyed many wonderful family holidays there. And you’re totally committed to making sure your guests have the same great Orlando experience.

We get it. Unfortunately, so do the big theme park hotels. And the big tour operators. And they’re doing everything they can to win those bookings instead.

To do that, they have the latest tools and technologies at their disposal. And they act fast: adjusting rates so that they dominate quiet markets and achieve premium pricing during peak periods. 

In fact, they are using similar technology to RevMax. They have their own advanced algorithms. That’s why some of the biggest hotels dramatically and suddenly dropped their rates two weeks ago – because they saw the market slowing.

That’s what we’re up against. And that’s why last year we started working with RevMax to implement dynamic pricing for you.

RevMax is already delivering great returns for some owners

Most of you will know that we’ve been working with the RevMax dynamic pricing system over the last difficult year. Some of you may already be benefiting from it.

The beauty of RevMax dynamic pricing is that it uses advanced algorithms to assess the state of the market and then prices your per-night rental rates accordingly. This means that your house is always marketed at a competitive rate, based on current market conditions. The main benefit to this is that you’ll see a big uptick in your occupancy rate – and, consequently, the overall revenue your home generates.

The main requirement is that you need to be really clear about the lowest per-night rate you will accept and what promotional tools (like free nights for certain bookings) you’d be willing to employ.

It’s only by having all this information upfront and programmed into RevMax that we can act as fast as the big hotels.

We’ve already seen some great results. It’s hard to comprehend that some of our owners have been able to increase revenues during this difficult period – but that has been our experience with dynamic pricing.

As we progress with the system, we’re continually refining and developing what we’re doing to try to maximise revenues for you, our homeowners, whilst also delivering the very best experience for your guests.

Could you benefit from introducing dynamic pricing?

If you’re not yet using RevMax dynamic pricing but you think you might like to, please get in touch with our team.

There is no additional charge for using the RevMax service. It’s a cost we are absorbing for the benefit of our homeowners. It’s completely up to you whether you want to use it.

Our advice? The key to getting the most from RevMax is to have a deep think and be really honest with yourself – and us – about what you want your home to achieve.

Our team will work with you whatever you decide. Our goal is to help you achieve your goals.

If you have any questions about this, please reach out to us.

If you aren’t yet using RevMax, but you’d like to start using it, then please drop me an email as soon as you can at the usual email address: admin@whiterosevillas.com

Cindy Miller and her husband own a fantastic family vacation home on the Indian Wells community in Kissimmee. Her home has received some wonderful reviews over the past year – and she’s kindly agreed to share her experience on our blog.

“The first time we stayed in our Orlando home we rented it – because we were visiting Disney. My husband and I lived in Florida and we’d been going to the parks for a while, but we really stepped up our Disney trips once we’d had our son!” explains Cindy.

Soon afterwards, the homeowners at that time decided to put the three-bed, two-bath property on the market. They emailed all the guests on their mailing list with details of the sale. The news came at just the right time for Cindy and her husband.

She says, “It was the right opportunity at the right time. We lived 45 minutes away at that time, so we felt like it could be a good investment for us. The family who owned it were renting it out for vacation rentals already. And we were familiar with the home. We knew it was really close to Disney, so it was perfect.”

Choosing to buy the property

Because Cindy knew the home and its location, she felt very comfortable about purchasing it.

She says the features that guests love most about the home are:

“This house was just perfect, very clean and had everything you might need. Cindy was extremely helpful and on top of everything. The location is unbeatable! Everything you need is close by, grocery stores, gas station, restaurants, and the neighborhood was very clean and quiet. The pool was amazing, we were able to enjoy it everyday throughout our stay. Overall experience was amazing. Thank you for letting us stay in your house!!!”

When Cindy and her husband purchased the home in 2016, they chose to stay with the existing property manager. The previous homeowners had used them, so it made sense not to change too much.

However, Cindy says, “We were with that property management company for three or four years. Over that time, the service depreciated. Changing property managers seemed like a huge risk because we’d been with the existing company for a long time. However, I didn’t feel they shared my commitment to the guest experience.”

 Switching property managers was a tough decision

“I am part of several Facebook groups dedicated to Disney and sometimes questions about accommodation pop up,” Cindy explains. “I reached out to people on those groups and got a few recommendations, including for White Rose Villas property management.”

The family began investigating local property management companies and talking to the companies that had been recommended.

Cindy recalls, “One of the homeowners I’d spoken with had been through the ringer with their property management companies too and he told me White Rose Villas are the most professional company he’s worked with.”

“I definitely had concerns,” admits Cindy. “I’d only worked with the one property management company, so I was jumping into the unknown. I spoke with White Rose Villas at length and going with them felt like the right decision. Even so, I was worried about the sales situation: could they live up to their promises? And would their service also decline over time?”

Despite these concerns, Cindy and her husband knew it was time to move on. The service from the incumbent property management company had declined so much, she knew she couldn’t stay with them.   The transition process away from the incumbent property management company was a hurdle that Cindy was nervous to take on alone.  Cindy and White Rose Villas created a transition plan together, which was executed with full support and guidance from White Rose Villas. In 2020, the family successfully switched to White Rose Villas for the management of their vacation home.

“It was a tough decision, but there’s been a huge payoff,” Cindy says. “I’m so happy I made the change.”

Alignment on the issues that count

The key differences in the property management service delivery have been in communication and the general ethos.

Cindy explains: “Overall, White Rose Villas are 100% more professional. I’d say the value they place on guest satisfaction and happiness is on a par with me. With my previous property manager, I felt like I had to fight for the guest. With White Rose Villas, it’s the opposite. They put the guest at the heart of what they do too. As a result, we work much more smoothly as a team.”

She says that the White Rose Villas team quickly helped her overcome any reservations she had about making the switch.

“They earned my trust. And they maintained that trust by keeping the lines of communication open. They tell me about issues. And they help me resolve them quickly. If I ever raise anything with White Rose Villas, someone will be over there the same day or the next day having that facetime with the guest and fixing it. They are attentive. They have the right staff to understand the issue and what needs to be done. And they execute on that plan and make sure the guests are satisfied.”

Managing from a distance

Cindy has now moved out of state. Instead of being 45 minutes away, she is now several states away. Not being able to attend the property herself in the case of an emergency has made the relationship with her property management company even more important for Cindy.

“The White Rose Villas service has definitely been consistently positive,” Cindy says. “If anything, I have more trust in them now. I turn to them for advice – and 99% of the time, I go with what they recommend.”

She lists the main benefits of making the switch as:

“Bringing money in isn’t part of the dynamic for me,” Cindy explains, “because I market the home myself on VRBO. I do a lot of my own bookings. Because they are mostly local, we’ve seen a steady occupancy, even through the pandemic.”

“It was a great stay! Our son loved the pool so much he asked if we could take it home with us! It’s very convenient to many shops and outlets and a very easy Uber/Lyft ride to any of the Disney parks! Cindy was wonderful in her communication and the house felt very Covid safe!”

Excellent feedback

Cindy is a super host on VRBO. Her home now has a 4.7 star rating on the website.

“I have 72 reviews and most of them are five star,” Cindy says. “It has been a turnaround from what I was hearing from guests prior to switching. Things are now perfect and kept to the standards I expect. I feel like I can sleep well at night, even though I live many states away. My guests are now free to focus on having a good time and creating great memories.”

See more of Cindy’s home here.

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