CEO Notes
Changes
we’ve made in our operations and business:
My wife & Co-owner, Malissa Winget has come
out of retirement to help me manage the day to day operations with our maintenance
and housekeeping teams. With our homes nearing 5-10 years old in Southern Utah
& much older in SLC, this has become more and more challenging and requires
a team effort between UBVR & all our owners.
My brother “Marky Mark” used to help us with
Marketing and recently retired to attend to his own business after 10 years.
After months of searching for the right replacement, we are excited to announce
our newest marketing team member who sits right next to me and has been a huge
blessing. Her name is Nimrah and she joined our team back in September '23 and
has proven to be a valuable member of our talented marketing team. Nimrah
assists me in many things, but her primary focus is to ensure our home listing
accuracy and assist in pricing, photos, headlines, reviews, overall website
management, SEM, SEO, text & email campaigns and many others.
We’ve hired a new sales and ops manager in
Michael Greenberg who joined our team 5-6 months ago and has helped us
rebuild our sales & guest services team while implementing crucial policies
and procedures that needed to be updated. He’s been instrumental in helping
Malissa and I with many different managerial tasks and is a great salesman
who’s had extensive experience in vacation rentals, real estate, software, operations,
and business. Michael likes to stay behind the scenes but has played a key role
in our company’s restructuring.
As a result of Michael, we are grateful to have
our Owner Liaison in Jenn Greenberg who is also doing an amazing job with all
our social media needs on Facebook and Instagram to highlight our homes and all
the 5 star reviews we receive. I can honestly say that her social media content
for all our pages, has never looked better & been more consistent. As a
result, your homes are being seen by more people than ever and we’ve gotten
countless reservations as a result. Collectively, we have well over 8 pages she
manages with over 1 million followers which is far greater than any other
vacation rental company in Utah, much less the country. We’ve never had 1
person dedicated to our owners who wasn’t wearing multiple hats which made it
challenging to give you the attention you deserve & help us with everything
else we need to do. Although she is very busy, she always makes time for our
owners and has loved getting to know all of you since she joined the team 4-5
months ago.
We’ve restructured our entire maintenance
department and have trained multiple teams who are independent contractors vs.
employees. They do what they say, give us a volume discount and only bill for
the things they do. We were having challenges in getting our employees to show
up sometimes, invoice for work performed and do quality work consistently. With
all the increases in material, labor and challenges associated with day-to-day
management, our maintenance department was losing too much money and our homes
were not being kept up to the standards we need in order to bring our owners
the much needed revenue while preserving and protecting these beautiful homes.
Malissa and I have flipped over 700 homes in our career and have a long history
of working with contractors. Prioritizing all the needs of our homes and making
sure things get done right the first time for a great price is the key. We have
formed a lot of amazing new relationships with vendors, suppliers and
contractors who are giving us the best prices as we leverage all our homes and
volume together.
We launched a brand-new incredible website last
month that has been amazing so check it out: www.UtahsBestVacationRentals.com.
This was a huge undertaking and a big team effort. We will be working hard to
improve it every day but man, it’s incredibly fast, easy to navigate and is
being very well liked by Google and other key search engines. We hope you like
it!
A huge shout out is for the only team member we
kept in St. George who has been a rockstar with an incredible attitude. Her
name is Lo. She is in our St. George office quite a bit overseeing our daily
operations but has been a huge blessing for us in doing anything we have asked
and helping us onboard new cleaners, maintenance techs, working with our
inspectors, compiling inventory reports, restocking, handling all laundry and
inventory while also solving any pressing issues. She is very hard working and
sweet and just gets stuff done. She has worked around the clock with Malissa
and I, which at times has been 7 days a week some weeks including nights,
holidays and whatever it takes. We have been so anxious and excited to build an
amazing team around her who we have hand selected, met with for hours and days
and personally trained and managed.
We are building our office/warehouse in
Washington near Costco to do all our own laundry in house yay. We are acquiring
more equipment to make our linens sharp and preserve them longer while saving
our owners and cleaners money and time from doing laundry in our homes with
residential washers and dryers that are older and less effective.
We are excited to see how all these things are
paying off as our online reviews have improved drastically and our average
nightly rates have increased as well with more demand.
We have created crucial relationships with
local vendors across the state in all locations to keep preferred pricing and
the highest standards of workmanship for our homes and owners.
Recommendations:
To-Dos
We want to eliminate all blue recycling cans
from all our homes as they have never been used by our guests properly despite
all the signs and threats of fines and have caused all kinds of unnecessary
operation challenges as the trash companies aren’t picking them up and they are
too expensive operationally. We need your help to get these picked up and
replaced with a normal black can which people will only use as trash
regardless. Santa Clara charges $2.50 per blue can and unfortunately, they will
continue to charge that. The black cans are a little more expensive at
$8-10/month but will significantly reduce one of the biggest expenses and problems
we have on a weekly basis, so we don’t have to pass those costs onto you like
we have paid for and managed to this point, but it has gotten too time
consuming and expensive and need your help. Blue Cans just don’t work in
vacation homes despite everything we have tried to do over the many years.
We are building a maintenance schedule and
calendar for each of our Utah locations with our preferred vendors and pricing,
so your homes are immaculately maintained year-round and investments preserved.
We plan on being able to provide anything your home will need for maintenance
as well as any future improvements you are interested in adding.
For owners who like doing handy man work to
improve your homes and save some money on the maintenance costs, we continue
encouraging that. We have all kinds of different owners, some like to do some
things and others don’t know how or even use these homes EVER for personal use.
Regardless, we are here to help you either way and have everyone in place to
keep providing everything our homes need.
For some of us, Malissa and I included for our
PVZ 33 home, it’s about time for your homes to swap out some furniture, replace
the carpet and get fresh new paint. These homes have been used like hotels and
were not equipped with high end carpet, paint, appliances, and furniture/décor
in most cases. We are here to help you with that as we offer wholesale
furniture and design or anything at all you need because we only make money
when you make money and the condition of your homes and everything in it is
starting to become a challenge. People have been staying with us for 10+ years
and over time, they expect to see the maintenance and condition of everything
in these homes to still be great. The older they get, the harder that becomes
without your help. Even though we feel the responsibility to maintain your
homes like our own, they aren’t our homes and we can’t do some of the things
that are long overdue in some cases, without your approval and understanding.
We do have everyone on stand by though with discounted prices ready to help you
and us.
We have also been recommending to all owners
who are interested in increasing revenue to add hot tubs which the data has
proven, will increase your homes revenue by 18% on average. We have great
partners who can get us wholesale pricing and install them for you. Please let
us know if you are interested and we can discuss costs and options.
For those of you who are considering selling
your home, that’s totally fine and has always been something we have dealt with
in our business. I want you all to know that I am still a real estate broker
and an expert at selling nightly rentals. Not only do you get a discount when
you list with me and Utah’s Best Real Estate Group but we have the entire
rental history of your home and in some cases, more knowledge of your home than
some owners do. We manage the calendars and know what needs to be done before showings
to make sure they are perfectly presented and ready for the best results. I am
also a huge believer in this business model and as an owner in every location
myself, I can relate to these buyers and help them see the vision of why these
homes are still a great investment and add quality of life. Not everyone expects
to cash flow these homes and truthfully, that ship has sailed for the most part
due to doubling prices and higher interest rates, taxes, utilities, and HOA fees. We have a pool of buyers we work with that want to buy homes we manage. I
know realtors are aggressive and will say anything they can to get your listing
but if you truly want to sell your homes, I have and always will be here to
help you get that done and will do a much better job than any of these other
realtors who don’t have my experience and abilities in this arena. I know we
all have friends and family in the real estate business and some of you may
feel guilty if you don’t use them which is totally understandable.
However, these homes are not the typical
residential homes as they are like a commercial business and having all of this
information and experience can make all the difference in the world. Plus, it
gives us the best opportunity to retain these homes in our rental pool which is
also a big motivation for us as we’ve worked so hard building their individual
brands and history. With that said though, I will never put my own interests or
the benefits of our business before your own and understand how best to do
that. If you want to talk to any of our past owners, I’ve helped sell their vacation
homes to get an unbiased opinion on all of this, I am happy to send you their
contact information as I’m confident they wouldn’t mind speaking to a fellow
Utah’s Best owner. I’m making a point to say all of this to you because we have
5+ of our vacation rental homes on the market right now and often times they
sit for a long time and don’t have as favorable of an outcome when they do
sell.
Market Updates
& Important Things to Consider:
People in general are feeling the impact of inflation
and saturation in the vacation rental industry. When we started Utah’s Best in
SLC, we were listings 4,5,6,7 and now there are more than 4,000+. In St.
George, Paradise Village was among the first of its kind for single family
homes from 3-9 bedrooms in a resort community. Now there are 50 developments across
the county. There are amazing new projects like Black Desert, Desert Color and
Arcadia that are the “shiny new objects”. People will want to try them out and
have. These communities are trying hard to steer our loyal customers their way
and all of of these renters, even end up buying homes in these places like we
all did. There’s never been a more important time to make sure our homes are
pristine and feel comfortable to share about your vacation home with your
friends and family. Again, we only make money when you make money and while we
want you to enjoy your homes, we also ask for you to be conscious of what it
takes to prepare them and take care of them for you and your personal guests.
We are like a grocery store in some sense and these homes are our inventory we
market and plan on selling all year round. Even when you stay in your home or
allow other guests or friends of yours to do the same, there’s a big financial
impact to our company and it’s grown substantially over the years. With the
drastic increases in labor, material, and everything in our business, it’s hard
to do everything we want and need to do unless we find that balance together as
partners. We want to help you better understand the financial impact to
yourselves as well. Some of our owners have no idea what we could rent your
homes for during the dates you block off with the intent to use them. If you
aren’t sure you want to use your home, please don’t block it off. If you want
to know how much more revenue you could be making, we have quick reports we are
compiling on each of our homes and owner use and you may be surprised just how
many days your homes are being blocked off and used. I know I was and when you
do the math of what revenue we all lose when we think it may not have been
rented, it’s staggering and has become a real challenge for us as we’ve been
working hard to counter all the things that are out of our control with the
economy, inflation, and saturation. We have the data to prove that we bring in
more revenue than any other property manager across the state, regardless of
your home’s location. With that said, we are in business to make a profit and
provide for our families and all the people, including our owners.
We need to work together to find ways to use
our collective voice for our HOA’s and ask questions and verify expenses and
demand more from everyone including ourselves. Together, we can make a
difference. Our communities need to be maintained well too. If we have a weight
room, it needs to be clean and everything in it needs to be useable and
functional. If we are paying to have contractors maintain our plants, grass, clubhouses,
and amenities, they need to be better maintained preventatively vs. reactively,
which is far more expensive. We all need to think this way on our homes and our
communities and do our part because when we do, things improve. I know this
because for the first time, I have bought tools and learned how to use them.
I’ve learned how to touch up my furniture and a lot of yours. I’ve learned how
to stain cabinets and furniture too wow. I can’t tell you how important it is
to keep matching light bulbs in your owner closets, and back up batteries and
other key supplies and materials that can easily be replaced when something
goes bad. We need to know where you bought some of the things in your home
because guests break them, take them and we want to replace them with similar
products vs. some of the stuff our prior staff thought may be ok at the dollar
store or wherever was most convenient and inexpensive. These things are very
easy to do but we all just need to make it a priority and have these crucial
conversations more as partners.
We are working on our accidental vs.
intentional damage policies because no one is talking about the big elephant in
the closet. Yes, not all guests are good and take things and break things
without admitting guilt or reporting them like they are supposed to do. Not all
cleaners and inspectors do a thorough job as we have a same day check in or
check out. Of course, we could block our homes out and allow the proper time to
inspect, fix and replace anything missing or damaged but it comes at a
significant cost of lost revenue and opportunity. We must be reasonable as
owners and understand we all can’t have our cake and eat it too. These homes do
need to be blocked out for scheduled maintenance and upkeep but if we are
consistent and schedule these things for the slower seasons and take ownership
over our homes and responsibilities, we can do this together and have a much
more rewarding experience. As I have been doing these things for my own homes
as well as a lot of yours personally, I have really gained a much bigger
understanding and appreciation for all the employees that have quit or been let
go over the years. It’s not easy work and they have their own personal lives
too. This is a very demanding business and can chew people up and spit them
out. We don’t want that anymore. We want to make sure our people feel valued
and appreciated. We want your homes to look and smell great and be shared with
love and care for all these amazing families coming to make lasting life
memories together. The biggest challenge is that all our holidays are not our
holidays. In fact, in this business, holidays are the most stressful and
difficult times as we are on the spotlight and man, if we miss one detail, it
can really cause problems for our guests and their families. We want them to
enjoy themselves just like we all do with our families in our homes. Without
your help and understanding, this won’t be possible. We all must work hard to
get these homes in great condition and I’m trying to find that balance myself
as I still have the same fridge, washer and dryer and dishwasher, stove that
came with my home In Paradise Village and others much longer that are all 10
years old or more. Normally, these mediocre quality appliances will last for
10-15 years under normal use if well maintained but man, they weren’t built to
last for more than 5-10 years in most cases when used commercially. So, instead
of waiting till they blow up while a family is enjoying their vacation, let’s
buy new stuff on Black Friday and be proactive and responsible so our guests
and their families have a great experience and want to come back. They really
do appreciate that and have learned to expect it from us as Utah’s Best.
I know this is a lot of information but it’s
important and long overdue. Thank you for being such valued partners and
entrusting my wife and I with your incredible homes.
Sincerely,
Brad Winget, CEO/Owner of Utah’s Best Vacation
Rentals
President of the Utah Vacation Rental Managers
Association
