Dear Editor,

Matthew Stilphen's article, “Making room in the sharing economy,” is an important topic for both travelers and vacation rental homeowners to understand, and for the local community to embrace and realize the economic value that vacation rentals bring to Maine. Vacation rentals not only benefit homeowners, but guests also love the convenience and comforts of renting a home. Vacation rentals also bring a lot of value to the local economy as well, including tourism, real estate, and employment for local vendors and industry professionals.

There are items that were misstated in this article and a subsequent letter to the editor that need clarification. My company, TurnKey Vacation Rentals, was founded on the core philosophy that operational and technological innovation can change the way vacation rentals are managed in order to make more money for homeowners and take better care of properties at a much lower cost than most traditional management options (we charge about half of what the average property manager charges in the U.S.). TurnKey is not an “online arm of TripAdvisor.” While TripAdvisor and their online site, FlipKey, are valuable channel partners for marketing vacation rentals (similar to AirBnB, VRBO, and HomeAway), we have no other association with them.

TurnKey is a full service vacation rental manager founded, funded, and managed by some of the most experienced people in the travel industry. We are not an “online travel agency,” as suggested in the letter to the editor. We have a local team here in Maine and contrary to the misstated facts in the letter to the editor, we are a registered business in the state of Maine and pay all appropriate state and local taxes, including payroll taxes. We leverage the economies of scale of an entire back-office team at our headquarters in Austin to drive costs down for owners and give guests a great experience 24/7, but we are a local business.

With TurnKey, owners are confident that their home is being well taken care of and they’re maximizing their net revenue, and guests can feel safe that they are renting what they see online, can easily book their property, and they will be well taken care of during their stay.

Jason Schlosser

General Manager, Maine

TurnKey Vacation Rentals