Have you wondered how the vacation rental industry operates?
With a multitude of business entities in the vacation rental market (i.e. property managers, third-party booking sites, travel agencies), it can be difficult to understand each player’s specific role. Knowing that planning works best from an informed position, Garden City Realty wants to help our guests make sense of this multifaceted travel space.
Garden City Realty is both a property management and a real estate sales company. When you vacation with us in Murrells Inlet, Garden City Beach or Surfside Beach, our property management and property services teams will be the hospitality experts caring for you. As property managers, we do not own any of the vacation properties that we advertise; instead, we are contracted by homeowners, both local and out-of-state, to assume the trusted post of maintaining and renting their properties. While our property management division is composed of many teams, we will call two into focus—Guest Services and Owner Services—to address a few important aspects of our operations.
If you are booking a vacation through Garden City Realty, you will be working directly with our Guest Services team. This team of reservationists sports knowledge of Garden City Realty’s rental properties, including over 400 homes and condos, to help point you in the direction of a vacation rental that is best suited for your family’s travel needs. When you are chatting with a Garden City Realty Vacation Specialist, you can specify your required number of beds and baths, desired amenities, location preferences and any other special accommodations that you would like to be factored into our search for your next vacation home.
We know that property owners’ treasure their beach homes and have made substantial financial commitments to arrive in the position of ownership; we want to ensure that we are fulfilling our duty to the owners by optimizing their rental calendars. Maintaining a Saturday to Saturday rental schedule is one way we can achieve that. We often receive requests for special discounts or exceptions to our standard schedule – while we value our guests and respect their financial limits, we are largely bound by the terms and rates that our owners dictate at the start of each year. In agreements updated annually, owners decide how much they want to rent their property for in addition to other specifications, such as nightly minimums.
With that being said, our property management team in Owner Services is constantly assessing how we can discount properties to appeal to our guests. To find the latest deals, you can monitor our selection of vacation rental specials on our website. It is always most cost-effective to book directly through Garden City Realty, as the third-party agents we use for advertising, such as VRBO, will charge an additional booking fee.
When you’re shopping for a deal, keep in mind that our pricing is dynamic, meaning that it fluctuates based on market demand and other seasonal variables. The price you are seeing is always the best price we can offer at the moment. If you feel inclined to wait for the price to drop, we cannot guarantee the property’s availability. We have a 24-hour hold policy to allow you time to come to a decision. Unfortunately, we cannot extend that hold as it can interfere with other potential bookings.
If you have further questions about how to navigate the vacation rental sphere, our Guest Services team is happy to assist you. We are committed to supporting our guests through every step of the rental process, guaranteeing you the best vacation experience on the South Strand.
- Lauren Evanousky, Garden City Realty, Guest Services Vacation Specialist
