Our success begins with an exclusive partnership with our individual villa owners & their on-island property managers. We respect that separation of responsibilities & strive to provide performance & value to every owner.
Our People
Our dedicated staff of 8 full-time professionals manages the entire booking-to-arrival process as agents for our villa owners. Our principals have been coming to Grand Cayman for over 20 years & have owned property on island since 1999.
Guest Services
Our on-island, 6-person guest services team enhances both the guest and owner villa experience. Our centrally-located welcome center is fully staffed and provides services and amenities to both guests & owners 7 days a week.
We Are a Marketing, Reservation Management, & Guest Services Company
We exclusively manage the marketing, reservation & accounting process for the largest inventory of stand-alone rental villas on Grand Cayman. Once our guests are on-island, we offer both basic guest services as well as platinum-level concierge services.
Utilizing a competitive pay-for-performance commission model, our portfolio of oceanfront villas ranges from 1-2 bedroom value cottages to 9+ bedroom luxury estates.
Our business strategy is to offer a complete range of properties in order to appeal to each budget, location, and amenity preference. The guest who might rent a 2-bedroom cottage or condo this summer may return next year with a larger group and require an 8-bedroom luxury villa.
Our dedicated team brings years of experience in positioning, pricing, marketing, and maximizing occupancy given each owner's unique goals. We are also very proud to manage the private vacation villas for 25 local (on-island) residents.
Common Questions Asked By Potential Owner-Partners
Oceanfront stand-alone villas with swimmable beaches, pools, and other amenities always rent the best, but are also the most expensive. Our website offers a complete range of homes in terms of budget, location, and luxury level. Every property on our website is either waterfront or owns the beach property across the street. One of our strengths is knowing our customers and their requirements. We just don't perfrom well for inland homes or even the luxury homes on the canals across from Seven Mile Beach.
There is a market for any nicely-decorated and well-photographed waterfront home located in a safe neighborhood on Grand Cayman.
Our Business Model Begins With Protecting Our Owners & Their Property
1. Liability
In addition to owner liability insurance cover, our rental contract contains detailed exculpatory and hold-harmless language to protect the owner from liability due to any accidents, injuries, or death while on the premises. Pools and spas are patently dangerous and we warn parents to supervise their non-swimming guests of all ages. We require each guest to initial these sections in the rental contract.
2. Trip Interruption Insurance
While the insurance industry prevents us from making trip insurance mandatory, we strongly suggest CSA trip insurance to each of our guests. Not only does the insurance protect the guest from loss due to an unforeseen illness, death, or travel delay, but given our unique cancellation policy within 60 days of arrival includes a 50% credit for funds lost towards another stay at the same property, CSA insurance extinguishes that owner obligation—a canceled guest cannot exercise that credit and also recover from the insurance company.
3. Accidental Damage Protection (ADP)
Each of the homes we manage includes a Guest Service Fee that also pays for protection for accidental interior damages. The amount of that protection ranges from $1,500 to $5,000 depending on the value of the home and the rental fee amount.
4. Cleaning, Maintenance & Damage Deposits
We also suggest to our owners that they have us hold a cash damage deposit that covers excess cleaning upon departure, and maintenance due to guest carelessness, negligence, or intentional damage. Damage deposits range from $500 to $10,000 or more.
5. Springing Conditional Protections
If there is evidence of smoking in the property, the manager is to notify us and we will charge the guest card on file for US$500 - $1,000 and have the housekeepers initiate a smoke remediation protocol. No pets are permitted without prior written approval. No events are permitted without prior written approval as well. Hosting an unapproved event with invited guests results in an immediate charge of US$5,000.
Our Mission Statement Puts Owners First
Our company was created in 2003 to fill a market void for a lower-commission, e-commerce direct-booking option for rental villas in Grand Cayman. Prior to 2003, there was only one professional on-island booking manager who charged higher commissions for bookings and did the majority of their business with travel agencies. That company also held all owner funds until after the guest departed, often a year or more after booking. Our founder just felt that it perhaps could be done in a more owner-friendly way. So, in 2003 our business model began with the simple strategy to:
- -Halve the commission cost to owners.
- -Develop a robust E-commerce (online directly-bookable) website accepting credit cards securely.
- -Invest in organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search (PPC), social media, and e-newsletter campaigns.
- -Drive more direct-booking (non-travel agency) business.
- -Pay owners prior to guest arrival.
- -Provide owners with a detailed copy of each rental contract
- -Strengthen the owner-protection language in the contracts
- -Use trust accounting with owner funds held in a USA FDIC-Insured Bank.
- -Offer transparent monthly statements that detail all guest transactions & fees charged.
Rental Rate-Setting & Being Prepared for the Unexpected
Using the villas in our inventory, as well as the villas of our competitors, we follow the market closely and develop metrics for comparing Quality v. Rate for each bedroom category.
This type of market research assists Grand Cayman Villas & Condos (GCVC) to bring value in setting seasonal rates for each property based on the owner's unique goals, comparable villas, and seasonal demand. Using historical & seasonal occupancy, as well as graphical displays of the competitive landscape, GCVC collaborates with our owners to set rates as a function of desired occupancy and personal use.
A final reason for hiring GCVC is that should there be an unexpected problem with your villa, or it is unavailable for any reason (maintenance, prior sale, damage, etc.), with our large inventory of homes we have the ability to seamlessly relocate guests to another of our managed villas at minimum cost to the owner. We also maintain strong relationships with other booking managers on the island. We were in business during hurricane Ivan ('04) and learned from that experience to always be prepared.
Advertising & Optional Signage
We do almost all of our advertising digitally online and use print advertising sparingly. While our competitors may require a larger "real estate" sign in front of your villa, our custom-painted 10" X 10" cast aluminum plaque is not obligatory. We strongly encourage it as a branding opportunity and to assure the late-arriving guest that they have arrived at the correct destination when their headlights shine on our familiar logo.
Our plaques are painted with automotive-grade paint and clear-coated. Our principals feel that there are too many realtor signs on the island that can have the tendency to make the tourist feel that the entire island is "for sale".
If viewing on mobile, please rotate your device to landscape mode to view this section.
| Core Task | Rent by Owner | Professional Bookings Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertise and market your property | Pay fees to Google, VRBO, Trip Advisor, AirBnB, etc. while competing against Professional Managers for online search engine position | vs. | Established and comprehensive digital marketing & social media plans already in place to increase property visibility |
| Set rental rates, fees, discounts, deposits, etc. | Research online to set rates and hope you are not too cheap to cover costs or too expensive and miss business | vs. | Manager relies on years of market research/experience, offers damage & travel insurance, and holds refundable cleaning/damage deposits |
| Establish contract terms and cancellation/damage policies | Experiment/guess & make unknown errors that only reveal themselves when things go bad. | vs. | Attorney-written contract provisions protecting owners and property. Enforces policies on your behalf without hesitation. |
| Manage bookings, guest services, complaints, and reviews | Do it all and learn as you go. Lots of phone calls back and forth, special requests, discounts/favors and negotiating prices with each rental guest | vs. | Has a team of specialized people who do each task. Responds quickly to guests, copies on-island manager and ensures guest satisfaction |
| Securely process payments and monitor for fraud/phishing | Use VRBO who charges a booking fee and a 2.50% processing fee | vs. | Seamless online processing and compliance. Next-day credit for funds in a USA Bank with FDIC insurance. 2.50% - 3.25% processing fee |
| Pay Cayman tourism taxes | Fill out Tax & Occupancy forms monthly, file by the 26th of the month | vs. | The manager files/pays early each month. Prevents 20% late-filing penalties |
| Maintain financial records | Use a spreadsheet; or worse, paper records; risk double-booking your villa! | vs. | Provides accurate, transparent monthly statements, Form 1099 and Annual Transaction Summary |
| Dedicate 7 days a week to renting your property | Balance this full-time job with your day job & family/travel obligations | vs. | Committed full-time to this business 24/7 and can get you started immediately |
Commissions & Fees
Our standard commissions for a direct booking range from 10% to 12.50% of Gross Rent. If the proposed property rents aggressively and generates over $250,000 in annual rent, we get even more competitive. If a travel agent brings us a booking, we drop our commission to 7.50% to accommodate the commission paid to the agent. Travel agents, on average, makeup only 15% of our business.
99% of our guests use credit cards these days and with our competitive business model we cannot absorb that cost. We pass on a fixed 2.50% (of guest charges) credit card cost to our owners.
For properties that generate over $100,000 in rentals, our company pays the subscription fees for VRBO. If your property expects to generate less than $50,000 in annual rent, it is probably not worthwhile for you to pursue hiring a professional booking manager.
When valuing the worth of a professional booking manager, we often point out to prospective owner-partners that, at 12.5% commission, all we have to do is rent your home for either 12.5% higher rent OR secure an extra rental for every 8 rentals you can do on your own and we have paid for ourselves. Not only would you not have had to answer e-mails, process payments, market the villa, or draft contracts, you would not have had to research the marketplace, develop contracts, set up accounting systems, or pay your own taxes to the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. We are also both a Super-Host on Air Bnb and a Premier Booking Partner with HomeAway/VRBO. Both designations offer our company higher search placement within each platform.
Each of our owners must have an on-island property-manager who performs the housekeeping, maintenance, bill-paying, licensing and Department of Tourism inspections. The property manager works directly for the owner and as a result, the separation of duties saves the owner in terms of management fees. We have over 2 dozen independent property managers to suggest.
We can also be directed to pay your on-island manager directly from your owner's account so that all of your expenses can be centralized on one monthly statement.
Our privately-branded, proprietary guest services company on-island offers guest services, a private welcome and fitness center, a wide range of free equipment for guests, and a guest benefit card that offers discounts at many of the preferred vendors in the Eastern Districts of Grand Cayman. In addition, our guest services team provides each owner's manager with Gilchrist & Soames branded bathroom soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, etc. for each guest or owner stay Owners and their guests are welcome to use the facilities at no charge. We have also partnered with Jacques Scott Wine & Spirits to locate within our building and offer our owners and guests a Sunday collection of pre-ordered items in our offices when liquor stores may be closed. Jacques Scott also offers free wine & spirit delivery.
We are growing each year to provide additional owner benefits. We stock for owners; Hotel-grade linens and towels and other villa items and make them available at cost for our owners or managers to pick up and charge to their property owner account. We also stock consumable items for owners and their managers.
To see a 360 degree tour of our facility visit: www.grandcaymanvillas.net/guest-services
We have had an excellent experience with on-island residents renting vacation villas. We do a little more due diligence than with tourist rentals, but our "bad guest" rate for local rentals is actually lower than the average tourist guest. Many of our locals know that if they want to come back, they must treat the home well. We also use our local network to vet local guests. 25 of our homes are owned by local residents, 23 of our managers are Caymanian, and we rely heavily on all of them to help to protect the interests of our owners.
Weddings—tourist or local—require a higher level of caution with due diligence, supplemental damage deposits, occupancy limits, and occasional supervision. The only difference between a local wedding and a tourist destination wedding is the guest list. A local wedding can move around during wedding week, whereas a tourist wedding relies on airline arrival. We tend to err on the side of caution and always ask an owner whether they wish to offer weddings with the protections above. We will follow and respect the owner's directions.
