Question 1

1. Commission & Costs: Please explain your commission structure and any additional costs a homeowner might incur.

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations keeps it simple by charging 20% of the rent only. We don't mark-up any fees/expenses, such as channel commissions, cleaning fees, lodging taxes, etc. They are passed along to homeowners at cost.

Question 2

2. Marketing: Please detail the strategies you utilize to market properties to guests.

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations does an annual email re-marketing campaign in the off-season. In addition to that, we conduct several drip marketing campaigns to re-book guests as part of a follow-up campaign to each reservation. We also have a social media presence on multiple platforms, as well as a long-form blog on our website, which gets cross-posted to our social media. Finally, we occasionally run both Google Ads and Facebook Ads to drive engagement and bookings.

Question 3

3. Cleaning & Maintenance: Please outline your property management services, including but not limited to cleaning, inspections and maintenance.

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations pre-schedules the turnover with one of our approved cleaners as soon as your property is booked. We will develop and maintain a detailed cleaning checklist for your property. This checklist includes reference photos to ensure each turnover is consistent. We perform a remote inspection on turnovers to ensure that the turnover matches the reference and are working on adding AI to this step to make it more efficient.

Question 4

4. Communication & Reporting: How do you communicate with homeowners and what types of reports do you provide? Who will I be working with on your team? Will I have a dedicated representative or a team approach?

Accepted Answer

At Maine Coastal Vacations, your day-today contact will be Michelle. She manages all guest communications and responds to all issued raised by out cleaning team. She will also work with you regarding other service providers, ensuring that you are geeting what you need from them. Pat will work with you on your monthly financial settlement, providing you with a settlement statement and detailed reporting. He can also answer any questions you might have about market trends.

Question 5

5. Financial Management: Please discuss how you handle financial management for the properties you manage. Do you follow trust accounting principles?

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations partners with a fintech for it's trust accounting. By using their innovative technology, we are able to segregate funds by homeowner and leverage zero-balance accounts to automate the collection of funds to the right balance.

Question 6

6. Technology: What kind of technology do you employ and how does this technology provide benefits to both homeowners and guests?

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations We utilize several technology providers to make managing your rental more efficient, which allows us to offer our no-nonsense pricing. To deliver these results, we utilize the following:Property Management System that is also a Channel ManagerDynamic Pricing applicationBooking Funnel Optimization tool that work with both OTAs and our websiteElectronic locks with rotating codes and no ongoing feesHousekeeping Platform to manage all of our cleaning and maintenance tasksSeparate CRM tools for re-marketingFinancial Management platform to enable trust accounting and settlement

Question 7

7. Differentiators: What unique aspects set your company apart from other property management companies, especially in terms of advantages to homeowners?

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations' investments in technology allow us to focus our efforts into value-added activities that drive guest experience vs. basic activities that are required to manage a vacation rental. We stay connected with advances in these areas and pass along the benefits of these new tools to our guests, ultimately benefitting our homeowners as well.

Question 8

8. Guest Damage: What is your approach to managing damages caused by guests? Do you require a security deposit or offer damage insurance? If you opt for insurance, how do you establish the coverage details?

Accepted Answer

In order to deter bad actors, Maine Coastal Vacations does additional screening, requiring guests t provide a copy of their ID matching the reservation. We also reserve a damage deposit hold on every reservation and have the option of adding enhanced verifications and/or insurance at an owner's request. The basic screening and holds are provided at no cost. Enhanced screening and insurance is passed on to homeowners at cost.

Question 9

9. Revenue Management: Please explain your strategy for revenue management? How do you determine pricing to optimize earnings? Do you utilize dynamic pricing software, manage rates manually, or employ a combination of both methods?

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations uses a dynamic pricing application and reviews the pricing vs. average booking window each week for adjustments throughout the peak season to minimize vacancy without underpricing ahead of the window. In the off season, we adjust pricing to reflect overall demand, so we balance vacancy and price. We also have partnerships that provide corporate bookings in the off-season. In addition to these revenue management techniques, we also utilize a booking funnel optimization tool to drive conversion on impressions across channels. This helps us tune our listings to drive them to the top of the list on channels and ensures that once a potential guest views your property, they are most likely to convert to a booking. Finally, we mark-up all channels to equalize revenue and drive direct bookings as a savings to the guest without cost to you.

Question 10

10. Community Involvement and Reputation: Are you involved in the local community and do you support local initiatives?

Accepted Answer

Maine Coastal Vacations is committed to creating affordable housing in the communities in which we operate. 1% of our gross revenue is dedicated to this effort. In addition, we offer the ability for homeowners with whom we work to also donate a portion of their proceeds to these causes. We are constantly looking for partners that share our values in this area and make a real impact on the lives of people who live in the communities in which our guests vacation. We also ensure that all of our cleaners are able to earn a living wage from the work they do to turnover our properties. Finally, we refer all of our guests to local events and locally owned restaurants which contribute to the social fabric of our communities.

Maine Coastal Vacations

What We Offer

Property Manager Supplied Metrics

Contact Manager

Nearby Property Managers

Orcas 24/7

0 miles away

Maine Coastal Vacations

5 miles away

On The Water in Maine

20 miles away