How a North Carolina property management company grew from 1 to 100 properties in just 2 years
Not Your Cookie-Cutter Accommodation
After experimenting with renting out a personal condo in uptown Charlotte and earning 100% occupancy as well as three times the cost of owning the place, Kay Walker understood the potential of short-term rentals. She then decided to hone that potential and, in 2019, established Stays By Walker. Mostly catering to travelers who are in need of month-long stays and prefer not to spend them in traditional, cookie-cutter accommodations, Kay personally stages and furnishes each property in her company’s portfolio to provide them with character and warmth.
The Challenge
As Stays By Walker proved itself as an effective management company and more building owners entrusted them with their properties, the team needed a way to reach more guests, both through distributing inventory on multiple OTAs and encouraging direct bookings.
The Solution
Kay knew they needed to delegate inventory distribution to an efficient software solution in order to optimize occupancy without spending hours per day uploading listings to various booking platforms and ensuring all calendars were in sync. She turned to Guesty because it not only provided the tools and direct OTA integrations needed to accomplish this, but also offered a complementary booking website builder that could help her capture direct bookings.
Additionally, she appreciated that Guesty showcased a dedication to evolving alongside a relatively new and ever changing industry.
The team at Stays by Walker was particularly enthusiastic about Guesty’s ever-expanding Marketplace of tech partners and immediately began taking advantage of solutions like guest screening platform AutoHost, which has been a gateway for the company to earn the trust of new building owners who like the idea of running background checks on potential guests.
As far as internal Guesty features, Kay relies daily on Auto Messages to do some heavy lifting when it comes to facilitating smooth operations such as guest communications, sending check-in and departure information, and reminding guests to leave a Google review or privately send constructive feedback. She also credits Guesty’s Reporting Tools with helping the team to maintain strong relationships with partners by providing daily reports that include notes they put in Guesty which gives them stronger communication and more visibility, which ultimately helps build trust.
The Result
Promoting their listings to a wider audience allowed the company to secure more bookings, while the ability to recruit new property owners helped Stays By Walker grow their portfolio to 100 properties spanning three cities. Even amid the pandemic, Stays By Walker managed to add 25 new listings in Q4 of 2020 alone, and an additional 21 since January 2021.
The team is showing no sign of slowing down and, armed with the right technology, are excited to continue to make their unique mark on the rental sector.
