When friends find out we own a Vacation Rental, there are always a lot of questions. One of the first questions is how much do you make, off of the rental. Many of our friends are real estate investors, and they are always looking for new opportunities. One of the things we help them

with is where to buy and what to buy. If you buy in the wrong place you will not make the money needed to run a successful Vacation Rental business. If you buy too high that will also limited your profitability.

One thing that rarely gets asked, is how do I outfit the Vacation Rental. What things will make for a comfortable stay. What kinds of things will a guest remember and want to return. Here are some of the things we suggest.

1. After you have purchased your property in the right place, make sure it is outfitted correctly. If a property sleeps 8, there should be room in the living room for 8 people to sit and relax comfortable. If the property sleeps 20, there should be room, in the living room for 20 people to sit and relax comfortably. Many times owners try to pack in as many beds as possible, but forget people will only sleep 8 hours out of 24. The rest of the time they will be living on your house. If they don’t have the seats, it will be very hard on your home. The house will also break down very quickly. In our business we get the see the homes when they have just been remolded. We also see them months later when they have been lived in. For the ones that did not have adequate seating, they receive a lot of damage.
2. Stock your bathrooms with toilet bowl cleaner, Toilet bowl brush, tub and shower cleaner. Remember, your vacation rental does not have daily maid service. So if some one has diarrhea, the toilet will need to be cleaned by the guest. As for the tub, no one wants to shower, after some one when the tub has not been cleaned in between. Small things like these will set you apart from other Vacation Rentals. You also want to buy regular size shampoo and regular size body wash. You do not have to spend a lot of money. There are some well know brands found at the dollar store. Once the guest has departed, for sanitary reasons, trash the shampoo and body wash.
3. When buying appliances, buy a large capacity washer a minimum of 4 cubic feet, with a quick wash settings. For the Dryer, buy gas with a minimum of 7 cubic feet. A gas dryer will cost you less money to operate and it dries hotter than electric, so the linens dry faster. Your house keeper can not change the laws of physics and make your machine go faster. The longer the stay the more the cleaning will cost.
4. Buy lots of white sheet sets, neutral colored blankets and 2 bedspreads per bed. Just because a bed spread looks clean doesn’t mean it is clean. When we pull out the black light we see all sorts of things on all sorts of surfaces. That’s why we like to wash everything. Remember you only have one washer and dryer, so you will need that second bedspread.
5. Make sure you have games, books and local magazines for your guest. To help them have a pleasant stay.
6. Any finally, provide a welcome gift that is branded. We always provided a gift box with our properties name, address and phone. The guest were appreciative and we received repeat bookings that came straight to us.

Now that you have followed the directions above, lets talk about reviews. If you can’t get 5 star reviews each and every time, you might as well sell that vacation rental or go buy a mutual fund and hope for massive growth. Every week a get a call from a frantic vacation rental owner or upset vacation renter guest, needing emergency cleans. This past week it was a guest who was staying at a rental for 2 weeks. The place she was staying at was very dirty. She complained to the owner to no avail. I can only imagine what that review is going to look like. If you take care of your guest they will take care of you with great reviews. If you use a company that is not focused on excellence you get what you get.

I have pulled some of the reviews from one of our larger clients Sky Run Vacation Rental in Galveston, TX, https://galveston.skyrun.com/properties/1-asher-house They get 5 stars all the time because the home is beautiful and very clean, thanks to our team.

We all know facts about cross-contamination, yet in so many homes, contaminants are spread by the very devices used to make a home clean.

Nearly everyone  uses some sort of a mop, for cleaning surfaces. The proper cleaning procedures must take place, not only when cleaning, but also when caring for your cleaning tools.

Proper washing, drying and disinfecting of mops, brooms and rags is key to the prevention of disease. A mop or broom can easily spread germs and bacteria all over a home. The same can be said for a used rag.

With that said, we recommend soaking your mop and broom in a 50% bleach solution for 20 minutes, after every use. Studies have shown mops were shown to transfer bacteria within hospitals when not handled properly. That’s why we recommend this for your home use.

At Maid in Galveston we use this same formula for every home we clean. We do this to ensure we do not bring contaminates into homes. As for the vacuum, we use a solution on it as well, to ensure no contaminants are brought into the home.

Because of COVID 19 everyone is now thinking about disinfection and cleaning more than ever before. When you run a Vacation Rental, your are running a mini hotel. I have a good friend who is General Manager at a major hotel. Before we opened our Maid Service, I consulted with her Director of Housekeeping. One of the things I asked, was how do they handle disinfection in their rooms. I found out, they use a hospital grade disinfected on all surfaces including soft surfaces.

At Maid in Galveston we keep this in mind with our services. When you think about it, it’s not about COVID 19, it’s about being prepared for the next thing on the horizon. It’s about knowing your home is virus and bacteria free for your guest. When you have guest in your home you have no idea about their medical status. Weather it’s HIV, SARS/Coronavirus, Avian Influenza or Rhinovirus, etc… Our Antibacterial Disinfectant cleans a number of fungus’s, bacteria, viruses and even COVID 19.

At Maid in Galveston 1836, we have developed a service that will fog your entire home, and touch every surface. This will ensure your place is germ free for you and your guest. Call us today for a free estimate.