Protect Rental Income: A new option for vacation insurance

White Rose Villas property management is continually reviewing ways to help us improve occupancy rates for you, our homeowners.

The pandemic has been tough on us all.  The added economic pressures of not being able to rent out your vacation home due to COVID’s impact on the global travel industry has made the crisis all the tougher.

Helping you by helping guests

We know one of the reasons that bookings have been down is because of the uncertainty that characterises so much international travel at the moment.  The switch to local lockdowns is now impacting national travel patterns as well.

For this reason, White Rose Villas has been reviewing options on your behalf to give your guests increased confidence when booking.

After considerable research, we’ve decided to partner up with a company called Master Cancel through our sister vacation marketing company Ellis Exclusive Villas.  This agreement with Master Cancel will give your guests flexible cancellation protection when they book through Ellis Exclusive Villas.

It’s an important step forward to help you protect your rental income.

What does the cover include?

The Master Cancel agreement reimburses property managers for cancellations made for any reason (barring war or terrorism), provided the cancellation is requested between 60 and 2 days before the check-in date.

A deduction is made for 10% of the value of the booking – unless the property rebooks, in which case, there is no deductible.

This means we are able to pass on to you, our homeowners, either 90 percent or 100 percent of the full value of the booking – so you aren’t out of pocket when a guest cancels.

Essentially, the scheme is designed to reassure guests that there is no reason to delay or put off their booking, as they won’t lose out financially – whatever happens.  In this way, we hope that – with this added guest reassurance – we can boost occupancy rates as well as help by protecting your rental income.

How does it work?

There is a five percent surcharge for all bookings covered by the Master Cancel agreement.

To qualify, the booking must meet certain criteria:

• The booking must be made through Ellis Exclusive Villas
• The booking must be agreed in dollar payments
• A 25 percent deposit must be taken upon booking.

We appreciate that you may be taking direct bookings from friends and family but, in order to qualify for the scheme, each booking does need to be made through Ellis Exclusive Villas.

Deciding whether to put family bookings through the scheme

Ellis Exclusive Villas charges merchant account fees of between three to eight percent of the cost of the payment (depending on the payment card used) and this will need to be added to the cost of your family or friends’ holiday in addition to the five percent Master Cancel charge.

This means, in total, your friends and family will be paying a premium of between eight and thirteen percent on the cost of the booking.  This is something you will need to discuss together to decide whether the additional peace of mind is worth this extra fee.

It’s totally up to you, of course.

What about other bookings?

It’s important to note that bookings made through tour operators will not be covered by this scheme.  So if your home is booked out by James Villas, or any of the other tour operators we work with, and then that booking is cancelled, the compensation won’t be paid.

Only those bookings taken via Ellis Exclusive Villas with a 25 percent dollar deposit paid at the time of booking will be covered.  The main idea is that, together, we’ll be able to drive more bookings for your home through the Ellis Exclusive Villas site.  Ultimately, this should help to boost your occupancy rates through these difficult times.

For more information about the scheme, or to talk about extending the cover to bookings you are taking directly, please reach out to our team.

As always, we value your thoughts and feedback.

Are you looking for a property management partner in Central Florida?

Please complete the form below if you would like the White Rose Villas team to contact you about the options for our team to manage your vacation property in the Orlando area.