Vacation Home Property Management Services

Hello! We’re Third Coast Vacations, a local vacation rental business operating in the heart of Harbor Country, Michigan. Our name may be new, but our team has decades of local experience managing vacation homes.

What We Offer

Our goal as a team is to use our talent and experience to help you market, maintain, and profit from your second home. When you (or your guests) walk through the front doors, we want you to kick back and relax knowing that we’ve got you covered. 

We like to think we’ve thought of everything, here are just a few of the resources and perks we provide to our homeowners:

• Advertising & Booking on all major platforms- Airbnb, VRBO & other channels as well direct bookings on our website.
• Dynamic pricing- No ‘set it and forget it’ pricing structure for nightly rates. We are highly adaptable, staying on top of local & national market conditions, giving guests competitive pricing while making you more money in rental revenue. 
• Full time maintenance staff- We have a full time team dedicated to our portfolio of homes.
• Owner’s portal- Online resource where you can reserve your own time and access statements as well as other homeowner resources.
• Direct Deposit - On time, electronic transfer of rental proceeds to your bank account.
• Damage insurance- to cover any unseen problems that may occur during the process of a rental.
• Quality control- We double check homes prior to arrival to ensure that your home is at its best both inside and out! 

Sounds pretty good right? We think so too but… honestly, any competent property manager should be doing this for you and your guests. 

What Sets Third Coast Apart

The secret is not in our software or the website services we provide. Any company handling more than a few homes will offer all of these bells and whistles - different names, same strategies. 

The thing that sets Third Coast apart is our local, personal approach to hosting and renting. We’re not a small company, but we understand that the little things matter.

What to Look for in a Vacation Rental Management Company

When shopping for a management company, here are a few things to consider:

1. Is the company local? Does the staff actually live in the area? When guests call with a question are they getting a local agent or someone who’s never been to Michigan? Do they know where to get the best pizza (Patellies) or the smoothest cup of coffee (Whistle Stop Grocery)? What about the secret spots only the locals know about like the rooftop bar at the Bentwood Tavern? All of us at Third Coast live here and are invested in our local community.

Is the top-level management staff local? If there is an issue with the home, can the decision makers stop and check it out, or are the only boots on the ground a maintenance staff and outside contractors?

2. Check out the Guest Fees: Some fees in this industry are there for your benefit and some exist for …other reasons. Companies may price homes competitively but then add a pile of charges, making the total reservation cost so high that a guest books another home. While the management company may benefit from this, you and your guests do not. Be sure you understand the fees your guests are paying and the reason behind them.

3. Ask About Homeowner Fees: What fees are you expected to pay as an owner? Is there an Advertising fee? Technology fee? Linen fee? Cost for a Street sign? Extra charge to have garbage cans taken in/out?
Some of these fees are just the cost of running a vacation rental company and can be absorbed. Costs and expenses can (and will) change but the cost/benefit of these expenses should be a collaborative effort between management and homeowners.

4. What do they do for your guests? The Third Coast team communicates with every guest to understand more about their stay with us. Is this a family trip, a celebration, a girls weekend? We ensure that the vacation home they’ve chosen is the perfect fit for them.

On top of this, we offer:

• Beach gear rentals
• In-house catering options
• Concierge services,
• A travel website (to help advertise your home)
• Custom gift bags that greet every guest upon arrival 

We offer seamless guest stays and a one-stop-shop experience so guests can relax and enjoy your home. Throughout their stay, we stop by the house as needed to help with maintenance items or other requests. This allows us to connect with guests on a first name basis, building lasting rental relationships and connecting them with our favorite places in the area.

5. Communication Process: Will you be kept in the loop on how your home is performing? What about local and national market conditions? The Vacation Rental industry is data-driven, and any good vacation rental company should be relying on market trends to dynamically list and price your home. Booking trends and guest demands are ever evolving and success comes from staying informed. Our team tunes into the data and puts out regular homeowner updates to ensure our owners are never in the dark about how we are marketing and pricing their home.

6. Booking Channels: Be sure to understand the breakdown of where bookings are coming from. If the majority of reservations come from AirBnB and VRBO, this may indicate a small percentage of repeat guests. Less repeat guests means more effort must be made to find new guests for every booking and this is expensive.  We want nothing more than good guests returning to your great home.

At the end of the day, any decent-sized company should have a solid repertoire of software and resources they rely on to set prices and market your home. But, when it comes to managing and hosting, we believe that it’s the little touches and local focus that truly make the difference.  

You have a lot to consider when shopping for the right team to manage your vacation home investment: Marketing, pricing, maintenance, the list goes on. 

If you're looking for a company that combines data-driven techniques with a personal and local focus, give us a call. We’d love to learn more about your home and discuss how we can collaborate with you to achieve your goals and protect your investment.

Thanks......Dan, Leanne, Jon, Adam, Talia, Sharon, Cassi, Joelle......and many more who are behind the scenes.