What new owners can expect prior to their property going live.
ACME House Company: Pre-Live Guidelines
1. Introduction
Welcome to ACME House Company’s Short Term Vacation Pre-Live Guidelines. The "Pre-Live" phase refers to the preparatory steps taken before your property goes live on our platforms. During this phase, we ensure all systems, pricing, and strategies are optimized to maximize your property's visibility and booking potential. This document provides essential information and step-by-step instructions to effectively manage various aspects of our vacation rental processes. By following these guidelines, we aim to ensure a seamless experience for property owners and guests alike.
2. Owner Portal
The Owner Portal is a centralized hub for property owners to manage bookings, access statements, and view relevant property details. To log in to your Owner Portal, visit our website at **acmehouseco.com**, scroll to the bottom of the landing page, and click "Owner Portal."
Making, Editing, and Canceling Owner or Owner Guest Bookings
Creating a Booking: Log into the Owner Portal, click the "Reservations" tab along the top of the page, and click the green "New Reservation" button in the upper-right corner. Fill in the required booking details, including any notes for reservations or housekeeping. Click "Create Reservation" to complete.
Editing a Booking: Locate your booking under the "Reservations" tab. Click the blue "Edit" button and update the necessary information.
Canceling a Booking: Locate your booking under the "Reservations" tab. Click the red "Cancel" button and confirm the action to finalize.
Owner Statements
Owners can access their financial statements by navigating to the "Statements" tab in the portal. Statements include monthly and annual summaries of revenue, expenses, and other financial details.
3. Discounts
We offer discounts on our website, through our call center, and through various channel partners to attract guests and ensure competitive pricing.
OTAs (Online Travel Agencies)
Discounts are provided on platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com, including a "New Listing Discount." This discount helps the property get started on the platform and engages the algorithm that determines search result rankings. It is only applied to the first three bookings on each site.
ACME Discounts
ACME-exclusive discounts can be applied for direct bookings. These discounts align with revenue management strategies, which are continually updated to reflect market trends.
4. Projection/Rates
Projection and rate management ensure properties remain competitively priced. We work toward the yearly projection we provided to you by your Portfolio Development Manager during onboarding.
Some reservations will be discounted and others will be maximized based on demand, seasonality, and holidays/special events. Rates fluctuate weekly and monthly based on the number of available contracts remaining for the year. This approach ensures that pricing adapts dynamically to align with projections and market conditions. Our goal is always your year end projection number and not on each individual booking.
5. Revenue Management
Effective revenue management maximizes returns. Our Revenue Management Team meets weekly for in depth market analysis. We use analytics to identify opportunities for increasing revenue by monitoring occupancy rates, selling rates, booking pace, website search data, and historical data. We make adjustments to pricing, length of stay, and marketing strategies accordingly.
We monitor each property's performance using key metrics such as occupancy rates, average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR), and booking pace. This ensures that each property stays on track to meet its yearly projection.
6. Dynamic Pricing Tool
Our dynamic pricing tool, Wheelhouse, automates rate adjustments based on market demand, seasonal trends, and competitor analysis. Rates are updated dynamically throughout the day.
7. How We Manage Contract Counts
Contract counts reflect the number of active bookings you have with guests. Accurate tracking of contract counts is essential for ensuring compliance with local regulations and optimizing revenue potential. Regular monitoring helps us adjust strategies effectively to make the most of available contracts. Owner and Guest of Owner bookings **do not** count against your yearly total available contracts. All bookings are submitted through the City of Palm Springs’ automated site, MuniRev, which tracks each home’s contract count.
As your property begins to use contracts, we increase minimum stay requirements or raise rates to maximize the calendar and protect higher-priced dates in the future. Contracts are based on the calendar year (Jan through Dec) and not on your permit date.
8. Guest Reviews on ACME Site by Their Friends & Family
Once your property is live on the ACME website, we encourage owners to have family and friends leave 5-star reviews. These reviews not only enhance the credibility of your property but also improve its visibility on our website, making it more attractive to potential guests. High-quality reviews contribute significantly to building trust and boosting booking rates. These should be individuals who have stayed at the property. 
9. Using the Action Item Email Address
Our actionitem@acmehouseco.com email address is dedicated to handle any and all owner inquiries. Emails sent to this address are routed to the appropriate team member best suited to address the inquiry. Unanswered emails within a specified time frame are escalated to management to ensure timely resolution. We review these response time in our weekly management meeting to ensure we are being responsive to our owners.
10. For Questions or Further Assistance
For questions or further assistance, please contact the ACME House Company support team.