In this episode, Alex and Annie are joined by Mike Reinman, Owner of Casago Kona & Owner/GM of Casago Redwood Coast. Mike sold Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals to Vacasa at the end of 2019, and after speaking with Casago CEO Steve Schwab, Mike decided to purchase a STR business in Kona, which is where the partnership started and how his involvement with Casago Redwood Coast would later come to be.
Mike started in the short term rental industry by converting his garage into a rental space and managed to scale his initial business to a staggering 142 properties before ultimately selling to Vacasa.
During his time running Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals, Mike had been previously approached for a franchise opportunity with Casago, but ended up going in a different direction. When he sold his first STR business, Steve Schwab approached Mike with the opportunity to purchase a vacation rental business in the beautiful Kailau-Kona, Hawaii, and so their partnership began.
Kona wasn’t an immediate success story. Prior to making the investment, Mike traveled to Hawaii to evaluate the business and get a good understanding of the current situation. The previous owners had encountered a few roadblocks, and were in need of the operational expertise that Mike had gathered during his time running Redwood Coast Vacation Rentals.
Now they’ve been able to build a very solid team, and with the support of Casago their business is thriving like never before. Even though Hawaii sounds like an amazing location to work at, it doesn’t come without its caveats.
For one, Hawaii was very slow to recover from the COVID restrictions, which is right around the time that Mike took over the Kona location. While the initial vaccines were announced only 2 weeks after Mike began running the Kona properties, restrictions were still in place, and unbeknownst to anyone - a volcanic eruption was right around the corner, throwing another curveball for the Kona business.
Mike attributes his decision to team up with Casago Kona to the support system that Casago brings to the table. He had experienced a level of dissatisfaction with the previous software providers and booking vendors he had used, and was doubtful that he’d want to get involved in the vacation rental space again, given the many hats he’d have to wear to make sure things are operationally sound.
Another big selling point has been the community aspect of being a Casago business. Having the ability to confide in other vacation rental owners and get their expertise on how to better run a vacation rental business has been a game changer, and brought many new insights to Mike’s already astute understanding of the vacation rental industry.
Mike’s appreciation for the way Casago works with their property managers didn’t appear from thin air. Back when he sold his first business to Vacasa, he wasn’t a huge fan of the corporate atmosphere, and how narrow the area of expertise was of the members of Vacasa. To be a successful property manager, you must have a broad understanding of various aspects of the business, and Mike didn’t feel like this was reflected in the conversations he had with members of the Vacasa team.
Tune into this episode of Alex & Annie to learn how to run a successful rental property business in 2023!
This episode is brought to you by Casago, Guest Ranger, and Good Neighbor Tech.
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Special thanks to Rev & Research for being the presenting sponsor of Alex & Annie’s List.
Connect with Mike:
Website | Linkedin
Connect with Alex and Annie:
Alex Husner | Annie Holcombe
