How It All Began...
After college, Debra started in the mailroom of one of the world’s largest insurance underwriters and ended up running the entire marketing department for North America. Gordon bartended through college and after graduating, ended up being the general manager over restaurants in Florida and North Carolina. Then, Gordon and Debra started their first company, Archer Exterminators and grew the business into one of the top 3% of pest control companies in the United States at the time. After 25 years with 48 employees, Gordon and Debra decided to sell the pest control company, but determined very quickly that they needed to start building something else. Along the way, they had purchased rental properties in several areas; commercial, residential and a beach-front condo. The beach condo was being managed by a local vacation rental company; however, the guest reviews were consistently low or bad referring to the condition of the condo.
Debra took over the cleaning (yes, starting as a housekeeper) and the reviews changed immediately! “This is the cleanest vacation rental we have ever stayed in”...”we love this condo, we always want to come back” and more of the same. She would clean the condo between guests and also leave special welcome gift packages for the guests bringing most of them back for repeat stays. It didn’t take long for Debra to decide she wanted to manage the entire process and the first year she took over, she doubled her rental revenue. Several of her friends saw what she had achieved and asked if Debra would manage their beach condos. Every condo she took over saw an increase in revenue immediately, some even quadruped their income.
As more and more “friends of friends” asked for Debra to manage their vacation rentals, Debra and Gordon decided to start their own vacation rental management company with Debra serving as the housekeeper, sales rep, reservationist and guest service coordinator while Gordon handled the maintenance and the administrative business. Guests returned year-after-year because they trusted the Florida Vacay Rentals brand knowing that any property they chose as their vacation destination would be clean, well maintained and that they would be treated like family. This is still true today!
Since 2014, Debra and Gordon have grown the business based on that same M.O. of tons of hard work, dedication and commitment leading to growth and success of the company. What started as a handful of units has grown into a thriving portfolio of 60+ properties stretching from New Smyrna Beach to Palm Coast. To support this growth, substantial investments were made to equip the business with state-of-the-art technology and a highly skilled staff that sets Florida Vacay Rentals apart from its competitors.
Whether you are joining us as a guest in one of our amazing vacation rentals or as a property owner allowing us to manage your investment, we are glad you are here!
