What Range Properties Learned During its Busiest Summer Ever

Range had a very busy summer with 48 properties under management.  With occupancy rates exceeding Bozeman norms, we are proud that we garnered 96.2% five star ratings from all stays and a 4.96 overall quality rating for the time period of June 1-August 31.  Considering that we had doubled our inventory since last summer, the work that we did to plan and staff for summer certainly paid off.

A few things that we learned along the way:

1. In this business, you can’t anticipate too much.  Things happen that are out of your control so best to be prepared.  To that end:

• Best to have someone just a text away to help guests with problems that arise.
• Stock units with supplies like flashlights and batteries for when the power goes out.
• Stock back ups of almost everything so items that get damaged can be quickly swapped out.

2. Stock, stock and restock

• High occupancy means a lot of toilet paper, soap, shampoo etc gets used. Plan on at least one Costco trip a week.
• It is imperative that the cleaning crew and supervisor constantly communicate about restocking needs before the next check in.

3. The importance of preventative maintenance checklists.

• We do preventative maintenance inspections twice a year during the shoulder seasons and then address the issues. Nothing wastes time and takes you out of flow for the day like an unexpected equipment malfunction.

4. Staffing is paramount

• A crew of cleaners and service providers that are like minded about the high quality guest experience is incredibly important.
• Having enough staff to accommodate reservations at any point is also very important.
• We are proud to have great staff retention. We pay well and our staff can choose when they work and how they work.

5. We also learned that Bozeman is very in demand as a vacation destination for all sorts of travelers. Many people wait until the last minute to make reservations.  We learned how to use our pricing algorithm to maximize revenue for our owner clients.

As we grow our business, our client owners can be confident that we will take the steps necessary to maintain our high standards and excellent guest experiences.