Welcome back to Rev Up with the Brett/Robinson Revenue Management team!
We know how important maximizing your rental property’s income and revenue is to you, and we appreciate that you picked Brett/Robinson over any other vacation rental property manager in Gulf Shores or Orange Beach to manage your investment property.
As the old saying goes “There’s lies, damned lies, and statistics”. You’ve likely started receiving flyers, postcards, or letters from these companies, and each one likely comes with a really compelling piece to tell you why Company A will make you more money than you currently make. We’re here to help you understand and evaluate some of these statements, and to understand with a more informed viewpoint.
We want to take some time to explain what to watch out for as you start seeing these postcards or letters arrive. Let’s discuss some of what we (and you) are seeing:
Claim 1:
“Our company outperformed the market by 20% (or some other crazy number) in occupancy for 2023!”
Reality Check 1:
Does this sound like anything you’ve seen? If it does, we can relate. Many of the companies who make such claims include part-time or single-room rentals in surrounding Baldwin County areas such as Foley, Summerdale, Robertsdale, Fairhope, or Daphne. When you see an occupancy snippet that feels too good to be true, take a look at the comparative set. Does it say “Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Gulf-Front Properties”, or does it say “Baldwin County”? Gulf Front condos or homes achieve much higher occupancy (and revenue) than inland Foley or Summerdale homes. When Brett/Robinson compares to market revenue, we compare ourselves to similar Gulf Shores or Orange Beach properties.
Claim 2:
This one’s specific to companies with large property inventory: “Our revenue and occupancy are significantly higher than the rest of the market for the next 2 months!”
Reality Check 2:
Large (5+ bedroom) homes and condos have a much different purchasing pattern than smaller condos. A company with large homes that doesn’t have most of their bookings on the books at least 90 days prior to arrival is in very bad shape. Next time you receive a postcard that makes this claim, take a look at the company’s website. If you don’t see anything that indicates that a company is comparing to similar inventory, they’re probably not comparing to similar inventory. At Brett/Robinson, any comparison you see for your units will be on similar inventory. We do not compare our 4-bedroom properties’ revenue to competitors’ 1-bedroom property revenue.
The bottom line: we’re the largest revenue management team in town, and nobody looks at nearly as much data to ensure you are maximizing your property’s revenue as we do. Our full-time team is 100% dedicated to maximizing your rental’s revenue, and we cannot do that if we pick dishonest market comparisons. We hold ourselves to the highest standard possible, because you deserve it. After all, you trust us to Rev Up your revenue so you have the best revenue possible, and we take that responsibility very seriously!