Most asked questions by owners looking for management services

VillaDirect prides itself on providing the very best care for our owners properties. Unlike most management companies, VillaDirect inspects every home that it takes on, and provides a regular service to ensure that your investment is protected. We also monitor all properties for problems and fix them as they occur. Part of our agreement requires that you, as an owner, give us permission to perform emergency and maintenance repairs to your property to keep it always in peak condition for our guests. We're so confident of our service that we even provide our new owners with contact details from existing owners to take references.

VillaDirect encourages its owner clients to market their property. We actively help our owners with marketing advice to improve their ability to gain valuable, profitable bookings for their properties. All owner guests are treated to the same courteous, professional care as VillaDirect guests, and have access to our key collection, direction services, plus 24 hour emergency call out. For this service, we charge a 4% commission based on the VillaDirect advertised retail rate for your property. In this current market, every owner should take care to protect their investment and gain the maximum return - by ensuring that the "mix" of owner and management company bookings is healthy.

As property owners in the past, the principals of VillaDirect have experienced and recognized the difficulty in transferring management from an existing company. Transferring your utility accounts, together with other management issues is something that VillaDirect has lots of experience in providing to property owners. We provide new owners to VillaDirect with a simple to follow, step-by-step guide, and easy to complete form to help to smooth the transition, causing the minimum amount of fuss. Typically, owners simply provide us with the account details, and we do the rest!

As you will have seen from our web site, we market properties using a particular grading system based on Stars and Diamonds. This is initially scored and assessed following a free property inspection of the property by one of our staff either before you join our program or during the take-over process. We score the property based on location, privacy, proximity to theme parks, quality of furnishings, maintenance records, overall look of the property and many other factors. In most cases, the VillaDirect assessment is accurate, and owners accept that it is purely a marketing device for the guests benefit.

More recently, guests are looking for a more review-based scoring assessment, so VillaDirect has adopted the FlipKey system for all guest reviews and scoring of properties shown.

On rare occasions, we cannot agree with our owners assessment of the quality of their property, in which case, we provide reasons why the property doesn't 'make the grade' and the steps necessary to enhance the property to move it up a grade or more. It's important to remember that, as a VillaDirect owner, you'll receive a better return for rentals than with any other management company in the area.

VillaDirect is run by owners, for owners and their guests. Unlike almost every other management company in central Florida, we don't rent your home to tour operators with block bookings. That way, we can maintain the quality of your home and increase your return on investment (have you ever wondered how maintenance can be performed on a house that's booked for 3 months at a time)? Because we only deal with the public direct at retail pricing, we provide maximum return. That's why we don't provide guarantees.

Many management companies do a block booking 'deal' with a tour operator who books the whole of the peak season weeks from the management company at low rates. These tour operators then take the majority of the booking rental value as profit. After the management company has taken their 'slice' from the remainder - the owner receives less than 40% of the rental value!

VillaDirect believes that the rental return on investment should be higher for our owners, so we only sell retail, and only sell to guests, through our sales agents and affiliates, or accredited/bonded travel agents (where there is a fixed maximum discount off retail rate). This means that you get the maximum return (typically between 70% - 80% of the retail rate).

Our guests also like this approach. They understand and appreciate that the owner is getting a fair return, and is therefore more likely to maintain their property in peak condition.

No. We have had experience of so-called "guarantees" as property owners ourselves. If you want VillaDirect to guarantee 30 - 40 weeks of bookings like some other management companies claim to offer, we won't do it. These so called "guarantees" aren't worth the paper they're written on in most cases - if they are written! If an owner ever received 30 - 40 weeks of "guaranteed" bookings, then we will guarantee that the return on those weeks will be minimal, and probably worth less than the income that 15 weeks of bookings through VillaDirect would return.

Why? Well the guarantees that we've experienced and researched are based on block-booking the peak weeks of the year through a tour operator. Owners normally have to 'sign-away' their rights to visit their own property during those weeks, and will (more than likely) find that they have block booked the property to a tour operator for up to 3 months at a time.

If you are still seriously considering going to a management company that offers a "guarantee", please research exactly what their offer includes, the rates that they are returning, and the terms and conditions of their guarantee. VillaDirect has welcomed many owners that have come from such guaranteed relationships - and they have ALL felt like they have been unfairly treated and ill-advised in their previous management company.

VillaDirect targets to book 26 weeks in a property that is on its web site and in rent-able condition within its program over a full season. We provide our owners with help in marketing their own property, as well as our own promotion on the internet and in periodicals and new publications in the US, Europe and Asia. For more information on how we market your property, see the How we market your vacation home on this section of the web site.

As many owners will understand and recognize, the recent downturn in the economy has had a negative affect on occupancy in all locations of the US, especially in central Florida, where there has been development of many thousands of new vacation homes on to the market.

Please remember that 26 weeks of bookings at the rates that VillaDirect return to owners is worth more than the returns for 30 - 40 weeks at most management companies - even after our commissions, because VillaDirect allow owners to retain a higher percentage proportion of the retail rate.

Just fill in the Orlando vacation home management inquiry form, or select the Email inquiry form "Inquire TODAY" panel to the left of this article. We'll usually call you within one working day - or respond with an email providing further information!

Or give us a call for FREE by clicking on the "Talk live" button in the same panel, or chat on-line with one of the Owner liaison representatives by clicking on the "Chat live" button.

Please note that for logistical purposes and to reduce the costs it charges, VillaDirect only manages properties in certain, specific locations. VillaDirect limits the number of homes that it will manage and market, and you may be required to join a waiting list to enter our program.

Depending on the size and type of your property, it can be managed by VillaDirect from as little as $175 per month including services for a condo, to $260 per month for a single family vacation home with a full-size pool. There are many optional value-added options that can enhance the services you will receive from VillaDirect.

Many companies will tell you their rates are lower, but VillaDirect shows you all of the costs up-front that other companies hide.

Full details of our management charges and fees are provided to you as a part of our information pack that will be sent on completion of the Orlando vacation home management inquiry form.

VillaDirect owners get the assurance that their property investment is being cared for by the most professional vacation property management company in central Florida. But we're sure you want to know what else we do - so please see the list below:

• Professional property management care
• Clear, concise and accurate monthly statements
• Annual statements
• License payment/renewal
• Utility payment
• Punctual sales tax payment
• Guest services 24x7
• Full color - 8 page Arrival Guides for guests
• SecurePASS lock system
• On-line availability
• On-line pricing
• Professional high resolution photo shoot of your home
• Professional virtual (360-degree) tours taken of your home
• Optional video walk-through of your home
• Post departure cleaning service that's performed by in-house staff.
• Pre-arrival property inspections by in-house staff.
• Weekly pool servicing
• Scheduled power washing service
• Monthly AC filter replacement
• FREE (incandescent) light bulb and battery replacement (up to V batteries)
• Annual air conditioning service
• Professional, framed signage in your home
• A professional, full color Home Guide for guests staying in your home
• Optional marketing upgrade package available
• Optional lawn care
• Optional FREECALL phone system
• Optional lawn irrigation servicing
• Optional asset management service

Because VillaDirect has focused on retail reservations business since its inception in 1998, the company has broad experience of marketing to retail guests.

VillaDirect is much more effective with its marketing $'s. Our experience and knowledge of on-line marketing and key-words allows us to make sure that our site is always in the top positions - and we do that ALL YEAR ROUND. We also know which regional markets to advertise on at which times of each season - to maximize our traffic and interest from guests.

Most of our competitors only maintain that search engine "presence" for about 3 months at the start of each year. Many of our competitors market to tour operators - and their "pockets" simply aren't deep enough to provide the same "depth of marketing" as VillaDirect ... so you'll only see their listings for a few days each month - or a couple of months each year - when VillaDirect is near the top all the time.

As we leverage our experience and knowledge we increase the traffic levels to our site, which means more guests see your properties each year - increasing the likelihood of your home receiving valuable retail bookings.

No. All of the properties displayed on the VillaDirect.com web site are a part of our property care program. Both the property care and the marketing programs are linked, so that we can maintain and understand the quality of property that we are offering and renting to your guests.