#vacationrentals

Will You Join the #BookDirect Movement?

In 2022, the key word for everyone is inflation. Everything is going up in price…from steak to chicken wings (yes, our favorite chicken wing place raised their prices 35% this year!). Car prices are up significantly, and, yes, vacation rental prices have increased too. With the significant increase in work from home (WFH) and online learning as a result of COVID people are visiting St. George Island more than ever, and this has driven a huge increase in demand for vacation re

How to Sell a Vacation Rental and Protect Your Renters

This has been a bittersweet week for us at St. George Island Beach Vacations. In April, we decided to sell our beloved Sand Dollar, and we closed on that sale yesterday. Sand Dollar was the first home we bought on St. George Island. It was 2011 and the St. George Island real estate market had been in 6-7 years of free fall. Sand Dollar was a foreclosure that had been sitting idle for several years, but it was in great shape. It desperately needed new pool equipment (and a goo

5 Things I Learned Staying in a Vacation Rental

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be on the other side and be the owner of the home you’re staying in on St. George Island? As an owner, we often need to be reminded what it’s like for our guests too. One of the most popular blogs that we’ve ever written was a blog about our experience renting a huge cabin for a family reunion in Pigeon Forge, TN a couple of years ago. You can read about our experience here. A few weeks ago we took a trip for our 15th anniversary to An

11 Reasons to Stay in the St. George Island Plantation on Your Next Trip

We are often asked what part of the island is best for a St. George Island beach vacation. Is it the East End? The Gulf Beaches section in the middle of the island? Or the Plantation? While there are benefits to all parts of the island, the Plantation is a very different experience, and I must say when I’m driving down Leisure Ln. I feel like I’m home. At SGI Beach Vacations, we have two homes in the Plantation, Sea Dunes and Sand Dollar. We love the Plantation, and here are

What it's like as a vacation rental owner during COVID-19

As we pass more than 435,000 cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the US, these are clearly difficult times for our country and the world. Several recent articles have said that the travel industry has been the hardest hit of any sector in the US economy. Cruise lines have completely shut down and air traffic is likely down more than 75%. Coronavirus is hitting St. George Island especially hard. Vacation rental taxes are $1.4 million of our small county’s budget and is a vi

Book Direct 2020 - The most important blog of the year!

Do you like throwing money in the garbage? Do you like spending money on something that has absolutely no value? Of course not! Today, February 5th, is National #bookdirect day, and it is all about helping travelers understand that they don’t need to give hundreds of dollars in booking fees to companies like VRBO, AirBnB and TripAdvisor. (If you missed our blog post about #bookdirect last year, you can check it out here.) We consider ourselves the leader for promoting #bookd