Why should I use a property manager in general, as opposed to renting my vacation home myself?
Most people that rent their homes themselves use HomeAway and/or Airbnb to advertise their properties. We recognize that these are great listing sites, but they cannot “take care” of your home. Besides checking the house multiple times during the process of check-ins and check-outs we are also always monitoring the homes during the tenant’s stays.
Your Island Connection, LLC was founded in 1982, and we remain locally owned and operated. Heather Allen purchased the business in 2011 after working four years with the company founder. Since the purchase, we have more than doubled the number of our reservations and continue to increase by at least 10% each year. We also have 50% of tenants that return year to year and another 10% who return every couple of years. In fact, rentals from 2017 increased by 15% over 2016. Our knowledgeable crew of friendly, hardworking area natives has over 50 years of combined service in the hospitality industry. We are proud of our fishing community and enjoy sharing its hidden treasures with our owners and renters alike. We take great pride in providing excellent, and timely service to both our owners and renters.
We are constantly continuing to educate ourselves about the industry. We attend local, regional, and national meetings/conferences which keep us up to date on market trends, legislation, and new technology. Heather is the current President of the NEVRP (Northeast Vacation Rental Professionals) which is an association of Professional Rental Managers from around the Northeast that focus on current Legislative issues. This group has been successful in making sure regulations at the state level (specifically Maine) will not put the vacation rental industry out of business, this would have impacted both companies and individuals rent properties.
What are the benefits of using Your Island Connection as my vacation rental agency?
Hire Vendors – Which includes but is not limited to trash collectors, cleaners, window washers, carpet and upholstery cleaners, lawn care, contractors, plumbers, electricians, and appliance repair. We have great relationships with local vendors and because of that we can get quicker than normal response time from them and in most cases, receive discounts should they be billed through us.
Small minor repairs or problems – We assess every issue that may happen at your vacation home before calling any vendors to fix or troubleshoot. If we can fix it ourselves, we will! We do not like spending unnecessary money and feel you shouldn’t have to either!
Follow up on vendor work – We are happy to check the work being done at your house and make sure it is done up to your standards. Should you want any pictures of the work we are also happy to send them to you.
Preventative Maintenance – Every time we go to your property, we are constantly checking to make sure there are no leaks, no insect activity, etc. If we find any issues, we will take preventativemeasures to make sure those problems do not get larger.
Replace or repair items that may be needed in the house– We will make the extra trip to town to be sure the coffee pot that had broken is replaced ASAP or the ripped screen is repaired in a timely manner.
24/7 Customer Service! We make ourselves available 24/7 to you and your guests. We check email constantly, even outside of our business hours. We also carry a cell phone for after-hours emergencies to ensure if something has happened, i.e.; water leak, lockout, etc. it can be handled immediately.
Please click on a category below for more information!
