If I have learned anything over the past 15 years in the vacation rental industry, it is that change is a constant. This might not be as evident from the consumer (guest) side as it is from the owner/manager side, however, it is the changing market dynamics and guest expectations that are really driving this change.

As we all know, sometimes life happens and our plans don’t pan out quite the way we were hoping or expecting them to.  This often happens in the vacation rental business – jobs are lost, accidents happen, blizzards come through that keep kids out of school for weeks in the winter that they’ve got to make up at the end of the school year.  When issues like this arise, they can, unfortunately, impact travel plans for many families.  As we have had several occurrences of this nature in the last few months, I thought that it would be helpful to address what happens on the owner’s side of a cancellation.

While Topsail Realty has spent a lot of time improving a streamlined website, tools for our guests, and ease of completion of documentation and payment, in addition to those important items, we are always hard at work with the development of distinctive ideas and methodologies for providing additional and advantageous options to our Topsail Island vacation rental owners.

Atlantic hurricane season officially began June 1st and is ongoing until November 30th.  We would like to remind our owners that we recommend using the National Hurricane Center’s website www.nhc.noaa.gov for storm preparation information and for up-to-date bulletins.  Please take the time now to become familiar with www.nhc.noaa.gov; www.penderem.com the Pender County emergency management website; https://www.ntbnc.org/ for North Topsail Beach; http://surfcity.govoffice.com for Surf City; and www.topsailbeach.org for Topsail Beach.  These websites offer valuable information regarding hurricanes and re-entry procedures which you as an owner should be familiar with.

The Property Services department is excited to announce some new changes that are occurring this summer. We have recently expanded our warehouse/housekeeping facilities to include a commercial laundry! Here, our housekeepers will be able to take care of all the sheets and towels in-house. In previous years, the linens were out-sourced to another company. The new laundry facility includes three heavy duty washing machines, six heavy duty dryers, a large folding table and a wrapping machine.