vacation homes case study

Case Study: St. Joseph Beach House by Wheeler Kearns

There’s a sense of calm that washes over you when you perceive that your immediate environment is completely under control—no important consideration is left unaddressed and all details, large and small, are resolved with great care and precision. The St. Joseph Beach House by Wheeler Kearns Architects is just such an environment. Although a full-time residence, it wields the ineffable magic of a vacation home. The lives contained inside can spin with exhilarating activity or settle into Zen-like repose, pacing the desires and moods of its inhabitants.

Wheeler Kearns traces its roots as a firm to an early commission on Lake Michigan—a reinvention of a former Boy Scouts camp into a community of second homes. The firm designed the prototype houses for the Camp Madron community using simple Shaker forms as inspiration. The project won multiple awards in the late 1980s and launched the firm on its path as a dominant design force in Chicago, where its office is based, and in the city’s favorite getaway areas, among them the shores of Lake Michigan.

Architect Mark Weber, AIA, joined Wheeler Kearns hard on the heels of its founding and developed a special affinity for its custom residential projects. His other passion is designing custom furniture, and it is that exacting nature and appreciation of craft that he brought to the St. Joseph project. His keen eye and emphasis on the orchestration of details aligned perfectly with his clients, who are originally from Germany—a heritage Mark shares.

In addition to their creative chops, the best architects also have a talent for mediation, for balancing seemingly competing interests. The husband client here wanted a house that connected to precedent and tradition, and the wife wished for clean, contemporary space. Again, Weber found a solution in the Shaker approach to design—eliminate all inessential ornament and derive beauty from the precise execution of critical elements.

Other contradictions also required resolution. The lakeside of the property is abustle with noise and activity, further animated by wild dune grasses that move like waves in the strong winds off the water. And the front approach to the house is “manicured lawns,” says Mark, infused with a serene placidity. Applying his deep understanding of the many moods of Lake Michigan, Mark grasped that these were opportunities to harness in his design. “The key was to differentiate between the lakeside and the entry court at the kinetic level,” he says. “There’s a refined focus to the courtside. The apertures are more punched and smaller in general. On the lakeside, everything goes panoramic. We take the corners away, extract them, and make very large apertures. It’s a discussion of the different energy levels from road to lake.”

These yin-yang forces and the size of the clients’ program drove Mark to split the plan into separate components and reconnect them with glass links. The central volume contains the entry and kitchen on the first level and the master suite on the second. Behind it, as you get closer to the lake, is the volume that holds the dining room and great room. On the second floor above are two children’s rooms with a study area between. A third volume, arranged perpendicular to the main house structures, provides an ample garage on the ground level and an office and guest suite on the second level. Access to the upper level is through a stair from the garage or across an open-air deck off the master suite. A second, smaller garage is placed parallel to the main garage building.

Filling in Pieces

On the interiors, the tightly controlled composition allowed Mark to secure multiple exposures of natural light and views for key rooms. On the exterior, the buildings—or “bars,” as Mark calls them—create protected outdoor areas for a variety of activities. A courtyard adjacent to the front entry is shielded from the lake’s strong west winds by the volume behind it. The courtyard is sunken to avoid equally chilly winds to the north, and a long garden wall supplies privacy from neighbors. At the rear, an outdoor lounge is nestled between the two main buildings, segueing into an outdoor kitchen and dining area behind the garage volume. A pergola stretches over all three areas—a physical melding of the spaces that also tempers the strong western sun.

“Our clients do quite a bit of entertaining, so the exteriors were about placemaking,” Mark explains. “What we have on the lakeside of the house is essentially one huge exterior room, with the trellis serving as a bridge between the outdoor dining and lounging areas and the pool deck. The trellis helps soften the light through the windows, in addition to protecting the outdoor areas.”

The outdoor rooms fill in the extracted pieces of the pulled-apart house, a move that’s echoed in the conversion of solid building corners into glazed apertures. Where you would expect closed elements, there are openings. So, too, the main house volumes are connected to each other with a two-story glass link, spanning the distance between the rear outdoor areas and the side courtyard. And a one-story glass link connects the lakeside area to the motor court at the front of the house. The organization is at once poetic and practical—a service core between the garage and rear outdoor areas can serve both zones with a shared mudroom, laundry, and bathroom.

Pulling the building apart and reconnecting its pieces enabled Mark to carefully pace the drama of the house as it unfolds its many layers. The procession is from formality to conviviality, from framed slices of views to panoramas, from the weight of quotidian life to the buoyancy of lake life. “There’s a refined framed view, an axial view as you enter the court. The front door is recessed and framed in plate steel. As you walk through, you start to see there’s the lake beyond, and another volume, and something linking them,” says Mark. “It’s almost like a shish kebob.

“Then you move into the stair hall and see the big aperture to the right, and the courtyard beyond it. Straight ahead, you start to perceive the other building that you had a glimpse of before, but now you see it more prominently,” he continues. “You see the lake and windows expand around you. You see the window passing by the buffet volume, and you start to read there is more space and volume to the right. And the opaque walls to the kitchen become open to the pool and outdoor areas. Call it shish kaview. ”

Weathered and Warm

Although the house is large—about 8,700 square feet, plus another 1,400 of garage space—Mark was careful to keep rooms to a human scale. Ceilings are not excessively high, on either the main or second level. Generous amounts of white oak on floors, ceilings, built-ins, and the main stair soften the interiors and balance the coolness of steel windows, door systems, and hardware. Wood on the floor is a larger format than on the ceiling. “It’s the same rift-sawn material,” Mark says, “but the ceiling is more delicate. We wanted bigger pieces of material to give walking presence to the floors. We wanted the scale to shift tighter above and to have a difference in texture relative to each other.”

The play of material and texture continues in the fireplace wall. “They are clay tiles set with tight joints. The natural difference in the tile creates that mottled look,” Mark explains. “The tiles aren’t flat, they’re hand-formed and each reflects light a little differently.” The wall of kitchen cabinets and paneled appliances shares this mottled quality, here achieved with graphite paint.

In juxtaposition to the variegation of natural materials stand the steel elements, executed so evenly and precisely they almost recede from view. All windows and doors are thermally broken, structural steel. They are further bolstered by steel columns that reach through the levels and terminate in bands of steel plate. “We pulled the columns inboard, so the fenestration could stay light,” says the architect. The columns themselves are thin enough to masquerade as mullions, blending into the overall rhythms of the fenestration. Other careful slices in the ceilings hold motorized window shades and curtains for sun control.

Building exteriors are equally exacting, albeit with a touch of gentle rusticity. Acetylated wood siding stands up to the harsh climate, while silvering over time. Cedar shingles add just a hint of roughness and texture without the chunky dimensionality of shakes. Roof terminations are sharp-edged, another example of necessary details made beautiful in their precision. “We wanted to bring a sensibility to the eaves—they are meant to be both taut and durable. Fascia copper wraps into the eaves and becomes this piece that has some profile for a drip edge. At the vulnerable point of the mitered corner, we took a piece of copper and put it in first; the wood is abutted to that and imbedded into a waterproof sealant and backer—so the corners always stay crisp,” he says. “All the materials are meant to weather and patina. They will become beautiful with age like a broken-in saddle.”

The gutters are copper, too—their utilitarian beauty underlined with a special flourish: They are recessed within the building plane. Notched into the façade itself, they become part of the refrain of steel elements in the meticulous design. “We take those elements that are typically applied and make them integral,” Mark observes. “They’re pushed halfway into the façade, and there’s a receiver to accept them. You can still see the gutters but it’s more subtle—they’re more thoughtfully placed and executed.”

Lesser architects might never have considered these and other functional elements capable of elevation through design. Of course, this does not describe Mark. He leaves no architectural opportunity unexamined. He also understands an important pitfall of houses designed to capture light and views: So much glass optimized for the daytime can turn cold and dark at night. He tackles the problem with strategic exterior lighting. “If we light features in the courtyard and outdoor areas, it takes away from the black hole feeling,” he points out. Meanwhile, what makes all that glazing—and, indeed, the entire house—worth the effort is the sun setting directly over the lake. “The sunsets are incredible—just fantastic. Looking toward the lake, every evening the sun is visible. The vibrant colors bounce off the water. We designed the house to take part in that procession and that experience.”

Plans and Drawings

Additional Photography

Project Credits

St. Joseph Beach House

St. Joseph, Michigan

ARCHITECT: Mark Weber, AIA, principal; Thomas Boyster, AIA, project architect, Wheeler Kearns Architects

BUILDER: Norman Zielke Residential Builders, Stevensville, Michigan

INTERIOR DESIGNER: Stephanie Thatenhorst, Stephanie Thatenhorst Interior Design, Munich, Germany

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Mimi McKay, McKay Landscape Architecture, Chicago

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Enspect Engineering, Merrillville, Indiana

PROJECT SIZE: 8,700 square feet (house); 1,400 square feet (garage)

SITE SIZE: 1.65 acres

CONSTRUCTION COST: Withheld

PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Hall, Hall + Merrick Photographers

Key Products

CABINETRY: Boffi, custom

CLADDING: Accoya Radiata shiplap natural weathered

COOKING/VENTILATION: Whirlpool

COOKTOP/RANGE: Whirlpool

COUNTERTOPS: Whirlpool

DISHWASHER: Whirlpool

FAUCETS, KITCHEN: Boffi

FAUCETS, SECONDARY: Aboutwater, Fantini Rubinetti, Franz Viegener,

HARDWARE: Classic Brass

HVAC: Bosch

ICEMAKER: Whirlpool

LIGHTING: Lucifer Lighting, BEGA, Louis Poulsen, Serge Mouille, Apparatus, Roll & Hill, DIMOREGALLERY

REFRIGERATOR/FREEZER: Whirlpool

ROOFING: Western Red Cedar Red Label Shingles

SINKS, MASTER: Geberit

SPECIALTY APPLIANCES: Whirlpool

TOWEL HEATERS: Whirlpool

WALL OVENS: Whirlpool

WASHER/DRYER: Whirlpool

WATER FILTRATION/CONDITIONING: Whirlpool

WINDOWS: Hope’s Windows

WINE REFRIGERATION: Whirlpool

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RESIDENTIAL

The Mountain House

For their new vacation home, a family of six wanted a residence that would remind them of their time living in Switzerland and would also be nestled into the quieter New England landscape.

PROJECT SUMMARY

West Dover, VT

Completed 2018

Services Provided:

Architecture

Interior Design

Site Design

Landscape Architecture

Custom Furniture Design

Lighting Design

Acoustical Design

Custom Light Fixture Design

Kitchen Design

Structural Engineering

Artisan Coordination

Owners’ Representation

A Vacation Home Inspired by the  Mountain Chalets of Switzerland

The design was inspired, in part, by the traditional chalets surrounding Klosters, Switzerland, which sit on equally challenging sites. The post-and-beam frame, windows and exterior doors, siding, flooring, millwork, and cabinetry were custom-made by New England craftsmen using recycled wood.

For their new vacation home, a family of six wanted a residence that would remind them of their time living in Switzerland and would also be integrated to the quieter New England landscape. Cradled between a mountain slope and ski trails, the Mountain House feels as though it has been there for years. The rocky, wooded site presented many constraints, yet the house is seated serenely into the slope of the land, unifying the built with the natural.

Our clients, Val and Marten Hoekstra were nearing the end of their time in Zurich where Marten was a bank executive. They had the briefest of briefs (program), that the house be able to accommodate a large extended family and be a very quiet home. The Mount Snow slope side lot was constricted by two streams, a public ski trail through the lot and the ski slope itself. Vermont’s conservation regulations (Act 250) limited the buildable footprint to under 5000 square feet. The clients wanted certain features like the stonework and interior finishes to match the indigenous features of the 400 year old chalets they were familiar with. Also, the clients would be living in Zurich until the house was completed.

Initially, the project called for a 2500 square foot house for $1M, but ended up being 5000sf at $5M. Also, almost every component of the house went from ‘off the shelf’ to custom fabrication by local craftsmen and artisans. The culmination was the owners contracting with a small woodworking shop in Klosters, Switzerland where most of the interior wall paneling was fabricated and shipped to the site along with four craftsmen who spent six weeks doing the installation

With such a small brief, we were free to take the design wherever we wanted to. The initial concepts strongly responded to the site conditions. The owners responded well so the final design was not all that different. What changed was the degree of customization and the use of traditional design elements; so much so that our clients flew my wife and landscape architect and me to Switzerland to look at chalets and meet the craftsmen who were to fabricate the interior paneling.

THE CHALLENGE

Specific Challenges

• Steep terrain
• Significant natural features such as streams needing protection
• Dealing with complex state environmental requirements: Act 250
• Onsite ski trail easement
• Clients living in Switzerland during duration of the project

The project took 3 years from the start of design to completion of the house. There was a crunch at the end because our clients were going to host 50 friends and family members for Christmas. We made the deadline, and our clients were very happy.

PROJECT GALLERY

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Vacation House / LM Architects

• Curated by ArchDaily
• Architects: LM Architects : LM Architects, Mariza Angelidi, Lila Galata, Panagiotis Papadakis
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  368 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2010
• Photographs Photographs: Erieta Attali

The private residence is situated in the outskirts of Monemvasia , Greece, in a high pitch ground with panoramic view to the sea.

The functional units of the residence are distributed along a synthetically emphasized axis of movement creating two alternative open spaces allowing a maximum exploitation of the panoramic view and continuity between indoor and outdoor spaces. The gradation of movement between solid and void spaces enables their adaptation to the slope organized in three levels.

The relationship between the building and tradition is expressed through references on its synthetic structure rather than regionalist ones.

Among the materials used, most significant are the stone- which underlines the basic synthetic principals, fair faced concrete and hacked plaster. Wooden decks and panels complete the composition of the residence.

Project gallery

Materials and Tags

• Sustainability

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Creating a Tropical Vacation Home

Florida homeowners hired Typhoon Tommy Allsmiller, a talented artist who is very experienced working with island-themed products. The result was a beautiful tropical vacation home that will wow all their guests.

• Reed Ceiling Board
• Woven Bamboo Plywood
• Synthetic Rope
• Bac Bac Mat

The owner of this beautiful home wanted to create an exotic tropical vacation rental. Their goal was to create something different and amazing to set it apart from the tens of thousands of other vacation rentals in the Kissimmee, Florida area.

By combining decorative ceiling panels as well as solid bamboo and other decorative wall coverings, the room instantly creates a tropical vibe.

Tommy sent over his list of building materials and we were able to turn around the project in record time. This tropical vacation home was the perfect combination of quality building materials and elegant decorative pieces.

The result is a jaw-dropping “wow” space that completely achieved its goal. When families look for a tropical vacation home for rent, they will immediately fall in love with this exquisite home.

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“I just wanted to say thanks for the outstanding customer service and products we received from amaZulu. Our “tiki bar” turned out beautiful. We couldn’t have done it without your help!”

“Every experience we have had working with amaZulu has been a pleasure.  We look forward to many more opportunities in the future.”

“I ordered reed fencing and some zulu rope for a ceiling project in our basement, and found the experience a well satisfying one.  Anwar was most helpful, fast delivery, and everything was as promised.Thanks for a great job.”

Wander Operated: A Case Study

Take a look at how transforming your vacation home into a Wander location with Wander Operated might just be the key to unlocking higher occupancy and revenue.

At Wander, we’re on a mission to build the infrastructure to experience the world so that our customers can find their happy place and make memories that will last a lifetime. 

With carefully curated homes in stunning locations, we've built a network of incredible destinations unlike you’ve ever experienced before. We’ve forged a brand that brings together the quality and consistency of a luxury hotel with the space and privacy of a high-end vacation home to create a guest experience that customers absolutely love. By delivering a 5-star hospitality experience and unmatched consistency across our portfolio of properties, our homes have dramatically outperformed the market across every metric.

With Wander Operated, we’re now giving select homeowners the chance to transform their one-of-a-kind home into a top-performing investment property – a Wander location. Once again a proven product that boasts 30% higher occupancy vs. the market and an industry-leading guest satisfaction score of 93%+. Wander Operated offers everything from 24/7 concierge services, smart-home technology, access to our marketing machine, our booking platform, dynamic pricing model, tech-enabled management, hotel-grade cleaning, access to our 180K+ travelers looking to book a home just like yours and more.

  Case Study: Wander Surfside

In August 2022, Wander acquired and listed Wander Surfside Beach, an 8-bed, oceanfront property in Myrtle Beach

Situated on a 1.2 acre plot, the property offers panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean. With a capacity to sleep up to 22 guests, the property is one of the few vacation homes in the area with the ability to sleep up to 22 guests

At the time of Wander’s acquisition, the previous owner had booked 126 total nights from May – October 2022 at a blended rate of $1,385/night.

After acquisition, and with the efforts of our in-house team of experienced designers and underwriters, Wander fully outfitted the property with smart home technology, workstations, and an upgraded FF&E package (Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment) across the home, followed by a customized marketing campaign to drive bookings across different key channels.

For the period May - October 2023, Wander booked 133 nights at a blended rate of $2,333/night, or in other words an astounding 68.5% increase in ADR (Average Daily Rate). 

If you’re an existing vacation home operator, or are just looking to make the most of your home, here's your chance to join us and transform your vacation home into a top-performing asset, and unlock all the benefits of being a Wander home.

Learn more or apply today at wander.com/operated .

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Case Study: How Remote Monitoring Saved a Vacation Homeowner from Disaster

Owning a vacation home can be a dream come true, offering a place to escape the stresses of everyday life. However, managing a property from a distance can be challenging, particularly when it comes to maintenance and security. In this case study, we'll delve into a real-life scenario where remote monitoring technology played a pivotal role in saving a vacation homeowner from a potential disaster. This story illustrates the importance of embracing modern technologies to protect your investment and enjoy peace of mind, even when you're miles away.

The Setting

Our story takes place in a picturesque cabin nestled in a remote wooded area. This vacation property was a haven for its owner, providing a serene escape from city life. However, the remote location and the harsh winter climate posed significant challenges for property management.

The Challenge

The homeowner faced several challenges associated with maintaining the cabin:

Harsh Winter Weather: The area experienced severe winter weather conditions, including heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures. These conditions put the property at risk for frozen pipes, which could lead to catastrophic damage.

Distance: The homeowner lived several hours away from the cabin, making it difficult to monitor the property regularly.

Limited Access: The cabin's remote location made it challenging to find reliable local maintenance services.

The Solution: Remote Monitoring

To address these challenges, the homeowner turned to remote monitoring technology. They installed a comprehensive system that included:

Temperature Sensors: These sensors continuously monitored the cabin's interior temperature. If the temperature dropped to a critical level, the system would trigger an alert.

Leak Detectors: Water leak detectors were placed in key areas, such as the kitchen and bathroom, to detect any water leaks or flooding.

Security Cameras: Surveillance cameras were strategically placed to provide a live view of the property, inside and out.

Remote Access Control: Smart locks and alarm systems allowed the homeowner to remotely grant access to maintenance personnel or guests.

The Critical Moment

One frigid winter night, the temperature plummeted unexpectedly. The remote monitoring system detected the temperature drop and immediately sent an alert to the homeowner's smartphone.

Upon receiving the alert, the homeowner accessed the live camera feed and saw that the interior temperature was rapidly decreasing. Fearing the worst, they contacted a local property management company they had previously connected with.

The Response

The property management company promptly dispatched a team to the cabin. Using the remote access control system, the homeowner remotely unlocked the door for them.

Upon arrival, the maintenance team discovered that the heating system had malfunctioned, causing the temperature to plummet dangerously low. They took immediate action to fix the issue, preventing the pipes from freezing and potentially bursting.

The Outcome

Thanks to the remote monitoring system and the swift response of the property management team, disaster was averted. The cabin's interior temperature was restored, and the pipes remained intact.

This incident underscored the value of remote monitoring technology in vacation home management. It not only prevented extensive damage but also saved the homeowner from costly repairs and the stress of dealing with a property disaster from a distance.

This real-life case study illustrates how remote monitoring technology can be a vacation homeowner's best ally. By proactively detecting issues like temperature drops, water leaks, or security breaches, remote monitoring provides homeowners with peace of mind and the ability to take swift action when needed. Whether your vacation home is nestled in the woods or situated by the beach, embracing modern technologies can make a world of difference in protecting your investment and ensuring that your retreat remains a haven of relaxation and enjoyment.

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Best of 2021: 7 weekend homes in India that promise a stunning escape

By AD Staff

An Austere Pune Bungalow With Extravagant Views

When it came to designing a bungalow by the backwaters of the Khadakwasla Dam near Pune, Studio VDGA had no doubt that the view would be the star of the show. “The orientation of the house is such that it enjoys a 180-degree view of the scenery beyond,” explains lead architect Deepak Guggari, who was handed a basic brief and then given free rein to craft a weekend getaway for the client, an IT professional with a young family.

Christened ‘House 180°’ by the architects, and ‘Chaitravan’ by the homeowners, the 3,375-square-foot belvedere rests on a 35-degree slope and was built to merge with the contours of the site, which appear to step down into the lake. At the entrance, basalt flooring and white textured walls set the tone for the rest of the home, which rejects shiny, ostentatious displays for Indian elegance. A combination of cement and leather-finished limestone flooring runs through the house. The living area is deliberately sparsely furnished, save for a few cement benches and low wooden table, which draws the eye straight to the large outdoor deck with sweeping views of the lake and verdant hills beyond.

The entire home is open to this enviable view thanks to strategically placed skylights and a system of clear glass sliding doors and a screen of sliding metal lattice panels that individually rotate on their axis. “While the glass doors offer unobstructed views of the scenery, the metal lattice screens cut off the harsh reflections and ensure the security of the house. These screens cast beautiful patterns, which travel on various surfaces along with the direction of light,” explains Guggari.

A Tamil Nadu Home That's a Love Letter to Indian Design

For Farah Ahmed Mathias and Dhaval Shellugar—co-founders of FADD Studio—the Courtyard House turned into a labour of love that took six years to create in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The overarching theme had to have a sense of tropical luxury, the homeowner's favourite shade of blue, and a blend of traditional Indian elements woven together to tell a story across the property. Built on a 27,000-square-foot property, the single-story villa spreads across 10,000 square feet, with the centre of the home largely being open to the outdoors.

By Nivedita Jayaram Pawar

By Gautami Reddy

By Ashna Lulla

An electric cobalt blue statement wall guides the way to the entrance door, where a vintage block-printing woodblock serves as the handle. Behind it, an intricately carved wooden frame holds a tall mirror custom-made by Bari. Flanked by a wooden sculpture and pots from Hybiscus, the cement-tiled floor from Bharat Floorings leads the way into the rest of the home. Serving as the central point in the home, the living room’s entrance is completely open to the outdoors. Paired with a skylight wrapping around the corners of the roof and shallow waterways marking out its borders, this space is steeped in natural light, ventilation and elements of nature through the day. In the dining room, a large log table by Cane Boutique is paired with Sri Lankan leather chairs from Paradise Road. “The roof has been built with teak trusses and rafters interspersed with banana fibre. Track lights have been placed on either side to illuminate the room in a soft warm glow to make it cosy and inviting,” reveals Ahmed Mathias.

A Photographer's Holiday-Home-Turned-Sanctuary in Goa

In 2003, long before Assagao gentrified to become Goa’s version of Beverly Hills, Chawla bought this plot of land, carved into a hill, with a mango tree right in the centre. He invited architect Sidharth Naik to guide him, and ensure that the spectacular tree melded into the house, or the other way around—neither interrupting the other.

The two-storey cantilevered home gently sits on a sloping hill, hidden away from public view by high walls and plenty of shrub foliage. The focal point, however, is when one gets comfy on the living room couch. Right across is a looming horizontal glass window that runs the entire length of the room. “In 2003, when I started building the house, large glass windows were not common in Goa. Both my contractor and architect tried to dissuade me with reasons of safety and practicality. But I’m a photographer, I care about light,” says Chawla. This window frames the tree outside beautifully, and the crown of the tree that gets cut from view, has recently been painted as a mural on the inside wall by Goa-based artist Marina Izvarina. The visual narrative of the outside continues inside, with a langur climbing a branch, along with a parrot and squirrel perched elsewhere.

Chawla’s personal taste veers more towards minimalism, symmetry, grids and clean lines. “The colour scheme commenced in very neutral tones, a monochromatic brown-and-white palette that would not distract from the panoramic views outside. I find myself drawn to an aesthetic that is a mix of Le Corbusier and John Pawson,” he says. Along the way, Puri interjected the space with a fearless burst of colour in the upholstery and linen. “I replaced all the ultra-modern beds with antique four-poster beds and mosquito-net silhouettes in the three bedrooms, adding a rustic safari feel to offset the spartan in Rohit,” Puri adds.

A Vacation Home Near Pune Built in Harmony With the Outdoors

Photo: Ishita Sitwala/SAK Designs

Since the pandemic, our homes have become our sanctuaries—a place where we live, work and dream. Since the past year, many city folks who own weekend homes decided to turn them into retreats for longer stays. One such family home is located on the outskirts of Pune, built on a plot a kilometre away from their farms. This vacation home was conceptualised and designed by SAK Designs.

The site is spread across four acres, with the built up area of 6,000-square-feet. The home also has a courtyard of 900-square-feet, along with three bedrooms, a swimming pool, a large deck, and common and semi-private zones. “In our plan, we tried to play with levels in and around the house, creating artificial contours within the landscape. For instance, the pool sits on a level much lower than the house—there is a cantilevered deck, floating balconies, and a manmade lake for fish farming,” reveals Khooshbu Thakkar, senior architect of the project.

“With the use of materials like stone, bamboo, and the uneven plastered walls, this house caters to all the requirements needed for a comfortable living,” says Ashish Kesurvala, principal at SAK Designs. The facade reflects minimalism, while the scale and details of the built-form resonate optimism as one walks along the unpaved contours of the house. The highlight of this common seating area is the view of the flora that is visible through the French windows. The dense green belt alongside the living room extends to the dining area as well. This creates harmony within the space, making it an experiential part of the house.

An Ahmedabad Weekend Home Made of Reclaimed Wood and Local Stone

This weekend home on the outskirts of Ahmedabad makes a good case for stone masonry. Designed by Ahmedabad-based The Grid Architects, the Rock House exemplifies one of nature’s purest structural materials not only in its form, but also in its aesthetic. The result is a glimmering rustic home that seems completely at ease with the elements.

The structure is crafted in raw Dhrangadhra stone masonry, underlined with leather-finish kota stone flooring and fitted with an exposed concrete ceiling. The H-shaped layout comprises two main sections: the living room with attached dining and kitchenette, and a master suite. Both sections are connected across a courtyard, so as to receive maximum exposure to the outdoors, to simulate the experience of being nestled within nature. It also accommodates numerous courtyards, making the exterior of the home as dynamic and multi-functional as the interior. “The built form was eventually minimised, because it was designed as a shelter for essential activities,” explains co-founder Bhadri Suthar, “The whole idea was that psychologically, we humans are looking to connect with nature, and we were trying to get that right for the owners.” In that vein, the material palette is all-natural and locally sourced. Most of the furniture is custom-designed from reclaimed pinewood and MS. MS structural columns are wrapped in fibre to prevent overheating. Jute curtains shade the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the stone walls account for much of the cooling.

A Goan Villa Designed to Engage the Senses

This 5,000-square-foot holiday home —executed by Studio Flamingo for a young couple in their early forties, their two children and their dog—presents a canvas where traditional Portuguese architecture tempered with Goan sensibilities is presented in a modern format, part of a charming Portuguese village-themed luxury housing community in Assagao, Goa. Lined with cobblestone paths with landscaping as green fencing, this two-level home has an entrance foyer, a living and dining area, three en-suite bedrooms, a kitchen and utility areas, a powder room, a private pool and deck area, an open terrace and balconies. “While we developed this design language to take charge of the visual experience of the space, our main design intent was to impact the subconscious mind—to teleport [the residents] to a place of calm,” Aashni Pandya, who runs the firm with sister Esha, says. The duo endeavoured to achieve the desired outcome by appealing to all five senses: sight, touch, sound, smell and taste.

“The choice of materials for this space was meant to be rustic and rich in texture, addressing the sense of touch,” Aashni says, adding, “In line with this thought process, we curated six main materials: wood, cane, glass, cement, mosaic and brass.” The tactile experience created by the textures of these materials emulates a connection to nature, a trick on the subconscious mind. These materials that dominate the living and dining areas are also echoed through the rest of the home to create a rhythm within the home. The flooring of the living room and dining area incorporates a grey-and-white cement terrazzo floor from Bharat Flooring supported with a green-and-white terrazzo skirting inlaid with brass strips. This concept was then made to flow through the entire floor space across both levels to avoid interruption and assist a flowing visual movement throughout the space.

A Weekend Home Built on a Sprawling Stud Farm in Pune

Constructed on a one-acre stud farm in Bhugaon, Pune is a 1,500-square-feet weekend home , the interiors of which have been conceptualised by Akash and Poonam Mehta of AMPM Designs. “Inspired by classic architecture, this stud farm offers a unique mix of heritage and contemporary design,” says Poonam. “The architecture of India is rooted in its culture, history and religion, and our client wanted these elements to be highlighted in this stud farm.” Fluted columns adorn the façade of this house that is punctured by large openings in the front. One steps directly into the living and dining area with the bar tucked into the corner while two bedrooms, a powder room and kitchen occupy the other half of the house.

Photo: Ishita Sitwala/AMPM Designs

The main house has a 300-square-feet outdoor extension that is held up by columns and is open on all sides. It features striking black & white chequered flooring with a seating arrangement anchoring one end of the space. The other end is furnished with repainted cast-iron furniture belonging to the clients and serves as a charming outdoor dining corner. The ceiling lights conjure a dreamy effect, like looking up at the stars twinkling in the sky. The walls and ceiling in the living and dining areas are enveloped in subtle shades of olive green and grey while leather-finish Shahabad flooring sweeps across the area. A mirror, finely crafted by Indian artisans, graces the patterned wall behind the grey couch. The seating comprises sofas that have been sourced from Delhi, paired with two armchairs which fit perfectly into the theme of the home. A classic Indian handwoven rug spread below the centre-table imparts a regal touch. The dining area comprises a table which has been designed in-house and constructed on site. It is flanked by elegantly fashioned chairs while an ornate chandelier crowns the space.

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Case Study: Royal Caribbean - Business Intelligence in the Middle of the Ocean

Royal caribbean cruise lines achieves onboard analytics that maximize performance of in-voyage revenue.

Download The Entire Case Study

Royal Caribbean Case Study: Business Intelligence in the Middle of the Ocean.  

About Royal Caribbean 

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is the world’s second largest cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Cruises, and CDF Croisières de France. The company currently has 40 ships in service that call on approximately 400 worldwide destinations.  

Business Drivers

There were two main business drivers for Royal Caribbean:

• Increase access to data
• Better manage the business

Key personnel were provided limited ability to make actionable decisions to affect onboard revenue during a voyage. There was no visibility to detailed guest level transactions. Data resided onboard each individual vessel without a consolidated view of the fleet. Most importantly, because of existing architecture, the summary-level voyage information could only be collected at the end of each voyage. The company did not know how well a particular voyage was performing against targets until they returned to port and all the passengers departed. This was too late to affect change to in-voyage revenue.

Top executives sought the ability to better manage the business and grow voyage revenue by better understanding relationships between guest’s demographics and their spending patterns. For example, on a given voyage, what country are our passengers from and, based on historical data, what are they most likely to consume in the form of food & beverage, on-board activities and on-shore excursions.

The management teams needed a tool to quickly identify revenue performance trends during these 3-10 day voyages and make associated changes to drive revenue instead of just reporting on it.

“The pattern that revenue builds during a voyage is certainly not linear.  One of the important things was to show the expected pattern that revenue would have day-over-day and let the user see where we are relative to that pattern.”

- Richard Paley, Royal Caribbean

Solution Detail

Technology consultancy KPI Partners partnered with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines on a unique business intelligence solution.  Through the use of state-of-the-art business intelligence technology, Royal Caribbean can now bring together various disparate data sources to help optimize the vacation experience for travelers on all of their ships.

Shore-side managers and shipboard users access dashboards on a daily basis to track usage of amenities such as their onboard spas and shore excursions as well as revenue streams for various food and beverage outlets.  By profiling near real-time voyage analytics against historical data and dimensions such as age and country of origin, Royal Caribbean can optimize promotions that best appeal to the passengers.

The complex project was a multi-year effort that started with a proof-of-concept developed using the 10g version of the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) on a single ship within the Royal Caribbean fleet.  After multiple design & development iterations, the production implementation was a custom Cruise Ship Analytics solution deployed using the upgraded 11g version of OBIEE.  All 22 ships within the Royal Caribbean International-branded fleet now participate while at sea and distribute data via satellite to on-shore servers for analysis.

Because of the grand scale of this effort, several notable challenges were encountered and overcome.  The biggest challenge was determining how to create a high performance analytics solution while ships are at sea.  Data transfer rates are limited and user adoption would have stalled if people were forced to wait for screens to paint with data FOR their dashboards.   

Considerations were made, and best practices were developed, for scalability, system upgrades, and performance.  The capabilities of the Oracle databases were also utilized to their fullest potential; Data was partitioned, indexes were created, and summary objects were built.  Because of the optimizations, dashboards will paint within 2-3 seconds on average.

Cruise Ship Analytics - At A Glance

The following list encompasses the high-level areas in which shipboard and shore-side management teams can now conduct near real-time analysis via Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Ship Analytics solution. 

• Shipboard Overview
• Shore-side Overview
• Shore Excursions
• Specialty Dining
• Photography

Why Was Oracle Chosen?

In an effort to stay consistent with the very large Oracle footprint that exists at Royal Caribbean, Oracle BI was selected as the enterprise-standard reporting application.  Licenses for Oracle BI were purchased as part of an upgrade with the Hyperion Suite of products, but were originally shelved because a lack of expertise existed to deeply the BI tool.  RCCL partnered with a credible and experienced systems implementation partner who could provide strategic direction on the best practices required for deploying a scalable enterprise-reporting platform.

When weighing the features and benefits of Oracle’s business intelligence suite versus those of other vendors, the ability to combine data from multiple sources proved to be an attractive benefit.  Royal Caribbean has several different types of front-end transactional and back office systems that needed to be integrated in order to provide a valuable central source of reporting truth.

Oracle BI also offered an intuitive, easy-to-use, interface.  A platform that required minimal training was very important due to the geographically disperse and culturally diverse user base that would be utilizing the system.

Why Was KPI Partners Chosen?

As the most experienced systems implementation partner focused on Oracle BI & EPM, KPI partners was chosen because of their expertise within Oracle BI and related technology.  KPI Partners has successfully implemented the most complex deployments of Oracle BI in the world and the project at Royal Caribbean required in-depth expertise to provide the high-level of performance required in a satellite-driven data exchange environment.

KPI Partners offered functional expertise in the travel and hospitality industry.  KPI also offered global delivery capabilities that leverage a blended-shore model with a combination of high-value on-site experts and lower cost offshore resources.

The effort was launched in mid-2009 with a KPI Partners Vision Workshop that brought together all the key stakeholders within Royal Caribbean’s Technology Department, Royal Caribbean’s Business Sponsors, functional & subject matter experts, and the business intelligence project team.  In December 2009, the original pilot version of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution was introduced to ‘Oasis of the Seas’, the largest cruise ship in the industry.  

After a comprehensive and successful 12-month pilot period that involved the inclusion of four other cruise ships, an additional round of capital funding was approved to expand the project beyond the pilot.

In January 2012, the production version of Cruise Ship Analytics was launched across all 22 ships in the Royal Caribbean International-branded fleet.

Solution Components:

Business Intelligence Components

• Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise 

Edition 11.1.1.5

• Enterprise Data Warehouse - Oracle 

Database 11g R2

Other Platform Components

• Operating System: Red Hat Enterprise 5

• Authentication: LDAP

• Total Number of Users: 150+

Educational Components

• Custom OBIEE training program via 

KPI University

Data Sources

• Onboard Point-of-Sale Systems

• Pre-Cruise Reservation Systems 

(Guest Data)

• On-Shore Excursion Systems 

(Reservations & Sales)

• Financial Planning System 

(Revenue Targets)

Oracle Footprint 

• PeopleSoft

• JD Edwards

• Oracle Databases

Future Plans

The company plans to introduce three more ships to the Royal Caribbean International brand by the end of 2015, to increase to a capacity of approximately 100,00 berths.  Cruise Ship Analytics will be deployed to each of these new vessels.

In addition, Royal Caribbean plans to expand the Cruise Ship Analytics solution across the rest of the company’s brands: Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Cruises, and CDF Croisières de France.  

By the end of 2015, Cruise Ship Analytics, powered by Oracle BI, will be operational on all 43 ships under the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. umbrella.

Compatibility with mobile devices, such as the iPad and smart phones, is already available with certain restrictions due to security.  The business would like to expand on this capability and make mobile usage more pervasive. 

Due to the high rate of user adoption since the January 2012 launch, enhancement requests for additional functionality have been rolling-in regularly from the business.  The Cruise Ship Analytics solution continues to evolve.  Royal Caribbean is already planning for the inclusion of new executive-level summary dashboards and month-to-month financial reporting by vessel.

Results: 

Cruise Ship Analytics Maximizes Royal Caribbean’s Voyage Revenue

Royal Caribbean immediately reaped the benefits of a dazzling global deployment of Cruise Ship Analytics across 22 vessels and over 400 ports of call.

Success Criteria

Royal Caribbean required a single consolidated global view of their onboard and shore-based revenue performance as well as detailed revenue analysis for every ship within the fleet and for every voyage.  A successful implementation would facilitate the ability to refresh business intelligence data multiple times per day and accommodate 24 x 7 user access.    

High-level performance and data accuracy were critical success criteria.  Dashboards needed to be light and paint within a few seconds using satellite data connections. 

Accomplishments

Royal Caribbean found over time that the two major categories that really affect spend-patterns are nationality and age.  Reports were generated in this area and provided great insight.  The industry-related logic and integration of data sets to make this possible was extremely complex.

Key project accomplishments:

• An enterprise data warehouse was created and populated with data. 
• Data was combined from disparate sources  to provide a comprehensive view of each ship’s performance. 
• Leveraged LDAP for authentication.
• The solution was rolled-out 22 ships  located around the world with minimal  effort.
• Food & beverage managers, bar managers,  hotel directors, and marketing managers  were trained in a timely fashion.  Management teams were provided with  near real-time views of how each ship is  measuring against their voyage metrics. 
• Provided business intelligence to allow  shipboard management to modify onboard  activities to achieve desired results through  demographically targeted promotions.

Quantitative Results 

Return-on-Investment (ROI)

It is still early to quantify the impact of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution through a systematic measure, Royal Caribbean is already experiencing anecdotal return-on-investment (ROI) with their business intelligence solution because they are able to modify onboard marketing activities to specific demographics to maximize voyage revenue.

For example, if beverage revenue is lacking on a particular voyage, management can now identify this deficiency quickly and tailor promotions around a particular brand of beer (Molson) that has historically appealed a segment of guests on-board based on their country of origin (Canada). 

There has also been a specific case of a Royal Caribbean vessel that sails out of the South American region that has never made their revenue target with the onboard spa.  Using the information within the Cruise Ship Analytics solution, especially the demographic breakdown, the management teams were able to figure out what the profile was of those spending at the spa and to whom they needed to get marketing information and what specific products and services they needed to market. Since the launch of the Cruise Ship Analytics solution, the South American vessel has now been able to consistently achieve their revenue targets.  

Report lead-time has been reduced from up to 14 days to being refreshed 4-times per day (every 6 hours).

Adoption 

User adoption within Royal Caribbean’s Shipboard and Shore-side Management groups has been very high.  The solution currently supports over 150 users who are experiencing response times ranging from 0-30 seconds.  An additional 150 users are scheduled to be added.

Tags: Royal Caribbean , Oracle , Travel , Customer 360 Analytics , Business Intelligence , Hospitality , Retail BI

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9 places to nosh on bagels in southern Maine

From old-school spots to foodie favorites, there's a 'hole' lot to try.

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Bread and bagels at The Works Cafe in downtown Portland. Photo by Aimsel Ponti

From New York-style boiled bagels to Montreal-inspired wood-fired ones, there’s lots of great bagels in southern Maine and several shops have the accolades to back that up.

In 2023, Bon Appetit named bagels from Rose Foods and Rover Bagel among the best in the country.

Two years before that,  Food & Wine Magazine put Rover, Forage and Scratch Baking Co. on its list of best bagels in the U.S.

Whether you like yours toasted with cream cheese or as the bread for your breakfast sandwich, you can find plenty of styles and flavors from Biddeford to Brunswick.

BEACH BAGELS

The offerings at Beach Bagels include a French toast and marble bagel, and the cream cheese menu comprises spreads like strawberry, olive and honey walnut. Along with breakfast sandwiches, Beach Bagels has hearty breakfast options like omelets and pancakes. Best of all, you’re steps away from a beach stroll. Just don’t let the seagulls steal your bagel. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily WHERE: 34 Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach. beachbagels.yolasite.com ______________

Dutchman’s opened in 2022 as a pop-up housed at Nomad pizza in Brunswick’s Fort Andross building. It’s since become a permanent fixture there and uses the pizzeria’s wood-fired ovens to bake its bagels. The hand-shaped, honey-boiled bagels come in plain, roasted garlic, poppy and a bagel-of-the-day flavor.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday to Sunday WHERE: Fort Andross, 14 Maine St., Brunswick. dutchmans.me ______________

FORAGE MARKET

Making bagels at Forage Market involves a two-day aging process. The bagels are naturally leavened with wild yeast starter and baked next to a hardwood fire. There are usually five flavors available, including sesame and garlic. Breakfast sandwiches (including vegan options) are available. Forage also has a location in Lewiston. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 123 Washington Ave., Portland. foragemarket.com _____________

MISTER BAGEL

There are 10 or so Mister Bagel locations in Maine, including South Portland and Falmouth. It all began with the Portland location, which was the first bagel shop to open in Maine. The late Rick Hartglass started Mister Bagel in 1977, and it is still a family business. Music fans will appreciate the breakfast sandwich menu, which includes The David Bowie (bacon, egg and American cheese), the Jimmy Buffett (egg with roast beef and cheddar) and The Lady Gaga (avocado, salt and pepper, with or without egg).

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 599 Forest Ave., Portland. misterbagelforestave.com ______________

At Rose Foods, the menu varies depending on the day, but there are usually six to eight flavors available. For example, should you pop in on a Friday, you’ll find a poppy and onion bialy (a cousin of the bagel that is not boiled). Rose Foods also makes a number of bagel sandwiches, including the Classic Nova with Nova lox and the Classic Whitefish. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily WHERE: 428 Forest Ave., Portland. rosefoods.me

______________

ROVER BAGEL

At Rover Bagel, you’ll find wood-fired plain, poppy, sea salt, sesame and everything bagels available most of the time, and the spread game here is strong with cream cheese options like lemon-thyme-honey cream and chili-garlic.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 10 West Point Lane Suite 10-204, Biddeford (Pepperell Mill). roverbagel.com

______________ Advertisement

SCRATCH BAKING CO.

You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the line of devoted fans waiting for Scratch Baking Co. to open, especially on weekend mornings. Along with the popular Maine sea salt, plain and other everyday flavors, Scratch has a daily special bagel. There’s honeyed rosemary on Wednesday and jalapeno cheddar on Thursday. Scratch is also famous, at least to locals, for its P-Cheese spread. It’s a pimento cheese recipe made with cheddar, mayo, roasted red peppers and seasoning and was passed down to co-owner and head baker Allison Reid by her grandmother, Mern.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 416 Preble St., South Portland. scratchbakingco.com ___________

THE MAINE BAGEL

The Maine Bagel is a drive-thru with several breakfast and other kinds of sandwiches available. With a bagel list that features egg and bialy among the standards, the family-owned spot is the perfect place to stop on your way to Pine Point Beach. The Maine Bagel really shines with a dozen kinds of cream cheese spreads, including raisin-walnut, lox, strawberry, cranberry-nut and bacon-chive.

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. WHERE: 117 Route 1, Scarborough. themainebagel.com Advertisement

THE WORKS CAFE

The Works Cafe is an institution on the edge of the Portland’s Old Port. It opened in 1990 as Bagel Works before it changed its name in 2002. The original shop in this regional chain opened in Manchester, Vermont, in 1988, and there are 11 locations around New England, though just the one in Maine. Gone are the ’90s-era banana-walnut bagels and cold pizza cream cheese, but The Works Cafe is still a reliable place to grab a salt, multigrain or cinnamon raisin bagel, among others. The menu also has bowls, sandwiches and smoothies.

WHEN: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily WHERE: 15 Temple St., Portland. workscafe.com

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• How one homeowner earned over $200,000—even in 2020
• Property Management
• Vacasa Success Stories

Patrick B. knew his home was special, but it had become something of a burden.

His sprawling estate outside Ocean City, Maryland, was the product of years of hard work, but cleaning and maintaining 9 bedrooms and 5.5 baths spread across two buildings was too much for Patrick to manage alone—especially while raising his young daughter, Brooklyn. But ever the entrepreneur, Patrick was open to new possibilities.

“I had always envisioned the home being a destination for others to enjoy, just as Brooklyn and I had over the few years we worked on it and lived there,” he told us. “I knew how and what I wanted to do—I just didn't know which avenue I should take to get there.”

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Patrick’s journey to this crossroads began, appropriately enough, with a trip to the beach. Having fallen in love with the laid-back lifestyle of Ocean City during summers off from college, he set out to make the legendary vacation destination his permanent home.

Eventually, he settled down in the home he would later name the Brooklyn Estate, after his daughter. They loved living at the Estate and making improvements around the house, but Patrick soon felt daunted by the upkeep of over 5,000 square feet by himself. He’d already begun imagining the Estate’s rental potential when a friend mentioned hearing good things about a vacation rental manager called Vacasa. He quickly set up a meeting with our local expert, Dave.

“My initial apprehension is everyone's first concern: ‘How will the guests treat my home?’” Patrick told us. “The other concern I had was Vacasa’s two- and three-day minimums. I thought guests would only book the weekends, and the weekdays would sit empty.”

But Dave assured him that our dynamic pricing strategy would surpass his expectations. So, Vacasa’s local team started managing the Brooklyn Estate and Cottage—and since then, Patrick has enjoyed some amazing results. “Although I had my doubts, everything that was more or less promised to me came to fruition—and the system out-performed even Dave's projections the first year,” he said.

Take a peek at Patrick's vacation homes

Patrick now has three properties listed with us: the Brooklyn Estate and Cottage (which can be rented together or individually), and the Manor at Brooklyn Meadows . And even in the unpredictable year of 2020, Patrick enjoyed a healthy income from all three properties. “Without Vacasa, my road to becoming a successful property manager would have been much longer,” he told us.

That’s thanks to something he was initially skeptical of: our dynamic pricing technology. “Vacasa’s revenue optimization system is second to none,” Patrick said. “The technology and attention given to gaining optimal rates for homeowners on a regional and local level has been impressive.”

The Brooklyn Estate and Cottage grossed nearly $115,000 in 2020. The Manor at Brooklyn Meadows had its best year yet, coming in at a gross income of over $100,000 for 2020. Patrick feels his investments have paid off because he’s got both smart technology and the right people on his side.

“The local team that looks after my properties is fantastic. They treat my homes as if they were their own, and their attention to detail when trying to make sure every guest has the most enjoyable stay is unmatched,” he said. “I am in touch with them often—and even try to offer assistance in any way I can—but they’re always on top of any issue that may arise.”

Now, Patrick—and Brooklyn—are looking for another investment property to add to their Vacasa portfolio. His daughter has shown a real knack for short-term rentals, and he loves that she gets to be a part of the business.

“Success starts at home,” Patrick said. “I want to be a successful dad first and a successful businessman second. These properties have been an enjoyable journey for Brooklyn and me. We started this when she was only 3 years old. She’s 9 now, and is by my side helping me every step of the way with each property. She’s learned so much about construction, maintenance, yard work, decorating, and what it takes to offer guests a unique vacationing experience. She even offers her suggestions on new properties that we intend to add to her portfolio! It has been an incredible 6 years, and I cannot wait to see where the future takes her and I with Vacasa.”

The opinions and experiences in this article represent the author’s viewpoint and do not necessarily reflect Vacasa policies.

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