Why MGVR? Unpacking the Gold Standard of North Lake Tahoe Vacation Rental Management

MGVR is an excellent vacation rental management company in North Lake Tahoe and while we serve some of the most successful homeowners renting vacation homes in the region. We’re certain that you’re on top of the management of your own home and know everything you need to know. You surely don’t need our services, but if you know someone who’s not as keen on property management, or dislikes answering phone calls and emails and at all hours, please pass our contact information along.

So what makes us different than any other vacation rental management companies; Why MGVR and not others?

But, like we wrote, you don’t need our services because you already know the following:

1. You already have a reliable cleaning crew. 

You already know that cleaning is the most important component of managing vacation rentals that make money and get good reviews. So you already know that cleaners are hard to find because certainly you’ve gone through the process of searching for and hiring a team. And, this team utilizes technology to manage a tight schedule, takes before and after photos of your home, reports lost items during every visit, and you trust them completely to use their time wisely. Here is how we do the cleaning.

2. You already have a dedicated home care specialist.

Surely you’re not doing this work yourself. Someone who will be able to check on the house between each guest’s stay as well as when your property experiences periods of vacancy. Confirming the water heater is lit, the electricity is working, the home is secure are essential, regular tasks. They need to be done every few days and require a home care specialist, which you certainly already employ.

3.You understand the immediacy of guests’ expectations. 

This is a service-based industry and that means being glued to your phone at all hours, including holidays. Ratings on communication are almost always rooted in how fast you provide a response, even if it’s not the news the guest wants to hear. And, a low rating means lower revenue. A poor review forces your communication rating down… and if that happens more than a handful of times, your superhost or premier host status is at risk along with 20-40% of your revenue. 

4.You know good home care professionals and vendors and their schedule is yours to manage. 

No one can fix everything; that’s why we have vendors and professionals who are willing and able to service your home needs and repairs whenever you need them performed. You know these people are essential to running and renting your home, so you’ve got them in your favorites list and they’re always willing to hurry over whether it’s to fix your home’s A/C, repair the over, or replace the screen door.

5.You’re skilled at advertising your home for short term rentals on multiple platforms. 

Most homeowners start with airbnb, but the vacation rental industry is bigger and broader than that. You also already know that guest demographics change widely between the varying platforms and as a result, you’ve honed your communication and messaging to suit each different type of guest. This includes utilizing technology, using language that compels varying age groups to action, and more.  

6.You’re an expert on dynamic pricing strategy.

Since you’re doing this work yourself, you’ve got a handle on how the pricing varies and fluctuates throughout the seasons. You are used to being constantly nimble and changing your pricing based on North Lake Tahoe’s seasonal spikes and holidays. If you do not have the below pricing periods in your pricing matrix, you will be probably losing money. 

North Lake Tahoe Pricing Periods

And, you likely already know there are multiple “seasons” in the vacation rental industry. Take a look at the list below. It’s long, right? Yes. And each of these seasons warrants its own dynamic pricing only for North Lake Tahoe. Owners who have homes rented using dynamic pricing strategy in mind make more money. Much more.

7. You know the hundreds of nuances you’re up against and how to stay ahead of potential issues. 

If you don’t, we do. We can and want to help you. We are excellent at doing what we do. Most owners know a lot, but are surprised at what they don’t know once they dive into self-management. Hiring a North Lake Tahoe vacation rental management company means having a partner who is looking out for you, your home, and your income. We understand the ins and outs of how reviews work and will manage them for you. We will hire and manage professionals who make your home welcoming, clean, and working efficiently. We can even recover you from a blacklist abyss. 

As noted, we know you’ve got this covered, but in case you don’t, now you know who does.

Finally! What do we charge? 
We only charge 25% of the rental’s nightly rate. This includes:

1. Professional photos. When we onboard, we take professional photography of your home so it appears beautiful and attractive and stands out among the many options people see as they page through possible listings. Check out some examples here. 

2. Linen service. This means all the sheets and towels in the home belong to us. This matters because your personal linens won’t ever get ruined or lost. More importantly, we replace items as they wear or soil as we need to rather than having to ask you to do so. 

3. Full service guest communication. This includes answering the frequent and numerous guest questions and needs that occur from the moment of first contact (usually way before booking) until after they’ve checked out. This includes everything from what fees cover, answering whether they can check-in early or check-out late, can they bring their dog, and telling them where to find things in the house. This also means when things go wrong, we deal with reminding the guests of policies and neighborhood expectations, not you. 

4. Check-in and check-out inspections. Before a guest enters your home, we perform a check-in inspection. This includes, making the heat is, ensuring the wifi, TV, and fireplaces are working, the house is fully cleaned, the hot tub is full and heated, and more. After guests check out, we ensure items aren’t missing, report damaged or broken items, and collect left-behind and mail them to the guests.  

5. General, light maintenance. Changing light bulbs; changing batteries; fixing common items such as door handles, hinges, leaky toilets, and broken screens; replacing propane tanks, and etc. These types of tasks, most people have the ability to perform but seldom have the time or willingness to do them at the drop of a hat. 

What’s not included in the above-mentioned 25%:

1. Snow removal. This is different from regular, routine snow removal. For example, shoveling the walk and plowing the driveway of your North Lake Tahoe cabins or home(s) can be done for $35 per hour. 

2. Trash removal. It’s essential that you realize the amount of trash and garbage produced in a vacation rental tends to far exceed that of a “regular” home. Most homeowners pay a local company to do local, regular trash removal like you pay for at the home in which you live. But, in high-demand times and in the high seasons, you will need to pay for additional trash removal. We do this for $35 per trip. (Note: the one-off fees of Tahoe Truckee Sierra Disposal are $80 per trip.)

Additional requests and tasks. Essentially, we’re willing and able to do many things for a low rate per hour or per service. Common requests include, picking up and storing boxes from Amazon, installing a new clothes dryer, hanging a ceiling fan, and so forth.

Finally, what do we charge:

The reason we want to be this specific about fees is because most management companies aren’t this straightforward. They’ll answer you generally, and usually quote you the lowest possible option and then squeeze things in later that feel like a surprise. This isn’t us. We want to be transparent because this building of trust is the best way for us to start our business relationship with you. Essentially, if you can’t see on their website very specifically where each of your dollars will go, you should scrutinize that. 

Your typical property management company will quote their service fees between 15-18%. This rate will just never work for a North Lake Tahoe vacation rental management company for a multitude of reasons. It simply doesn’t scale or work in this area. The reality is too often that they charge you this cut on the surface, but once you actually get a bill, the list of additional fees puts you far beyond that.

So now what?

If you’ve stuck with us this long, take the following away with you. We recommend three things to look at when choosing a vacation rental management company:

1. Management fee. Know EXACTLY what that includes and what it doesn’t. 

2. Homeowner reviews. It’s very easy to find what their current clients are saying about them. Scour the web; these types of reviews are pretty easy to locate. Here are ours. 

3. Guest reviews. This is easy; just go to the Airbnb or VRBO profile and take a look at what people think about the service they’ve received. Here are ours. 

PS: “While you are reading this article you have to look up some of the words such as  (inquiries, vrbo or homeaway or superhost) then you will definitely need Vacation Rental Management Company .. Trust me, do yourself a favor and call us so we can help you.