The good, the bad, and the ugly.

All too often, property management companies will handpick their favorite reviews to focus on; they'll post them on testimonial pages, use them for advertising, and tout them to all who'll listen. At Island Realty, of course we're always ecstatic to receive and celebrate a glowing review from a past guest. (We don't mind bragging about some of our most compelling positive reviews, either...) We make it a point to not just pay attention to these positive reviews, though. 

Sometimes, a guest doesn't have a perfect vacation. Even in a vacation rental managed by a company with as much experience as Island Realty. 

It's how you handle these less-than-stellar moments and any potentially negative feedback that defines you as a property management firm. 

How do we handle it? Simple. By dealing with it. 

If a guest is experiencing a problem during his or her vacation, we have someone to answer the phone 24/7. Someone is always here to talk to that guest, diagnose the problem, and do whatever it takes to fix it. Our in-house housekeeping and maintenance departments make this possible.

Any time a problem like this occurs, or any time a guest leaves a below average review, we take it as an opportunity to assess, learn, and do better in the future. We respond to the guest; we get to the bottom of what occurred and we strive to make amends. We don't shy away from discussing the potential issues of our industry. We work proactively to make every vacation for every guest so impeccable that they are compelled to write a rave review. 

If you are searching for a new property manager, we encourage you to include the following question in your due diligience, 'how do you handle negative feedack?' 

If the manager says 'we never get negative feedback!' then our advice to you is to walk the other way. That person or company is simply not willing to tell you that in vacations, as in life, not everything can go perfectly every time. We're comfortable admitting this, because we know we do everything in our power to turn negative feedback into a positive outcome. 

If you're ready to talk to an honest, open, and hardworking property management company, give us a call at (843) 203-0911.