Damage Deposits & Damage Waiver

When I first started in the Lake of the Ozarks vacation rental business more than 10 years ago, our company experienced a number of incidents where guests damaged the owner's rental property.  The guest usually claimed it was an "accident" and the owner always wanted the guest to pay for the damage.  As the rental management company, we were caught in the middle and it wasn't a fun place to reside.

Damage, Deposits and Cost

In addition, guests would glue things back together, hide broken items in closets, under beds or claim, "It was already broken!"  We collected a $30 damage deposit from our guests and if something was broken we would take it out of their deposit.  Our problem many times was determining exactly which guest it was that had broken the item, especially if they had hidden the fact that something was broken.

Some guests would admit to breaking something when called and others would act flabbergasted that anyone would even think that they may have broken something.  But in both cases, they didn't want to pay and felt they should get a full refund on their deposit.

While the vast majority of our rentals didn't involve damage, we were still collecting deposits and then refunding that money.  One day I figured up what we were losing just in credit card fees charging deposits and he number of otherwise good customers we were losing when we kept their deposit or even a portion of their deposit.  We were spending around $5,000 per year processing credit cards that we couldn't recover, ouch!

Damage Waiver Protection Plan 

Fortunately for us and our guests, we discovered a better way of doing business when it came to damages and damage deposits.  Our travel insurance company told us about their damage waiver program.  Each guest would purchase a damage waiver protection plan for a small fee and that plan would cover them up to $3,000 in accidental damages, such as breaking a lamp or kitchen cabinet door.  After we switched over to the new policy in 2005, our guests suddenly let us know more often when something broke. We stopped finding things "hidden" at our properties.  Owners were happy that they were not paying for everything that was broken. This is usually one of the first questions that I get asked when someone inquires about our vacation rental program, "How does damage work and who pays for it?"

We have now been offering damage protection for 10 years.  The product produces some income for our company and allows us to cover those "accidents" that tend to happen to even the best of renters. Our guests are happy and so are our property owners.

Russell Burdette is the owner/broker of Your Lake Vacation, a professional vacation rental management company at the Lake of the Ozarks since 1986.  Russell has served as the vice-chairman of the Tri-County Lodging Association, is past president of hte Lake of the Ozarks Vacation Rental Association, sits on the board of directors for the Lake of the Ozarks Golf Council and is currently president of the Lake Business Builders BNI chapter.  If you would like more info on renting your home or condo as a vacation rental, please call 573-365-3367 or email russell@yourlakevacation.com.

For more information please call us toll free at 1-877-284-0267!!

YourLakeVacation.com

4571 Osage Beach Pkwy, Suite A
Osage Beach, MO 65065
Local - 573-365-3367
Fax - 573-365-5076  

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