Vacation Sales Specialist

What is a vacation sales specialist? Well, when it comes to Sandpiper Vacation Rentals, a vacation sales specialist is Hayley Mitchell Smith! Armed with extensive knowledge of the town of Seaside and each of our individual cottages, Hayley is your first introduction to this charming, carefree...and CAR-free....vacation!

Hayley first developed her enthusiasm for travel during her many family road trips across the United States and Canada. As she matured, so did her passion for travel, taking her through all of the British Isles and much of Western Europe. Some of her favorite trips were the ones backpacking through France, Switzerland, and Spain with nothing more than a map and a camera. This adventurous attitude boded well as she continued her Auburn education abroad in Anger and Cannes.

Still, her heart has always been by the sea. Upon receiving her degree in art history from Auburn University, Hayley moved to Charleston, SC where she merged her passion for travel and art with sales. As the manager of several exclusive art galleries in Charleston, Hayley honed her sales skills and discovered that selling comes easy when you love what you're doing! Hayley's unique blend of talents made her a perfect fit for Sandpiper Vacation Rentals, as she shares the same excitement for Seaside as her father, Mark, and sister, Shannon. Hayley is the first personal contact our renters have with Sandpiper Vacation Rentals and whether she's describing the cottage of interest or recommending restaurants and golf courses, Hayley's energy and enthusiasm comes through in everything she does making her an invaluable resource for this company and a welcome addition to the family team!

Marketing in the 21st Century

In today's economy, staying on top of the various social media outlets is everything! Here at Sandpiper Vacation Rentals, we're happy to say we're doing our best to stay on the cutting edge....marketing to people through various interactive outlets and at a cost much less than that of other rental management companies.

The internet is everything these days and while businesses know this, they're not quite sure how to make it work for them. With so many different mediums, where do you start? Well, Sandpiper Vacation Rentals started with Vacation Rentals By Owner (www.VRBO.com) allowing the internet to work for us rather than the other way around. We utilize the tools on VRBO, as well as it's reputation, to drive traffic to our specific cottages. VRBO's rental calendar, picture and video functions, and descriptions are among some of the tools that allow us to genererate this business.

Still, our use of the internet doesn't stop with VRBO. We market our Seaside cottages on our own website as well. We also created this blog to reach out to possible renters and owners, advertise on facebook, and generate electronic mailers (mass emails) to interested parties.

Sandpiper Vacation Rentals is at the forefront of this social media world with more to come. One of the great joys of the internet is that it appears to be limitless. There is so much uncharted territory. Advertising through Twitter and moving up the Google and Yahoo search engine lists are at the top of our to-do lists these days.

Stay tuned....More to come!

New Photographer

I'm excited to announce that photographer, Evan Casey Wright, has joined the Sandpiper Vacation Rentals team as our exclusive photographer for both our personal website AND each of our clients' personal VRBO website!

Evan is a graduate of Auburn University and currently lives in Birmingham with her husband, Aaron and daughter, Addison. Evan is going to be assisting Sandpiper Vacation Rentals with cottage pictures to ensure each person viewing our cottages on VRBO.com has the best respresentation of where they're staying! We're hoping to go back down to Seaside in February to take some pictures and will keep you posted on how everything turns out. Please see some of Evan's work in Seaside below. She's an extremely talented photographer and we're so excited to be working with her!

Who is Mark Mitchell?

Owner of Sandpiper Vacation Rentals, Mark Mitchell is a skilled real estate agent and broker with 15 years experience managing 12 of his own properties....one of which is his Sandpiper cottage in Seaside. A side job at first, Mark managed his time between his rental properties and his insurance corporation.

As president and owner of US Benefit Consultants, Mark specializes in employee benefits, with a concentration on sports insurance; with clients including the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Thrashers, and Atlanta Hawks. For 25 years Mark has excelled at both his consultant corporation and property rentals. Today, Mark is adding property management to his career list and hoping to share his knowledge and expertise exclusively with Seaside cottage owners!

Mark lives in Atlanta with his wife of 34 years, Kathleen. They have three grown children; Shannon, Hayley, and Trevor.

Going Live!

Sandpiper Vacation Rentals is now up and running ONLINE! Please check out our website at http://www.sandpipervacationrentals.com/ and if you have the opportunity to stay in one our cottages, please be sure to sign the guestbook!

Check back for more updates and details!

Welcome to Sandpiper Vacation Rentals!

In October 2008, we launched Sandpiper Vacation Rentals, a rental management company specializing in the management of cottages in Seaside, Florida. Whether you're a cottage owner or renter we want to make your vacation rental experience one to remember! We work closely with cottage owners and renters to understand their specific rental needs and make their vacation rental experience as pleasurable as possible.

We are extremely excited to launch this new business in Florida and are quickly realizing what a tight-nit community Seaside really is! We kicked off our business with a cocktail party during Seaside's homeowners weekend and met several wonderful homeowners eager for a seamless rental experience and we look forward to providing that for them!

If you're interested in renting your cottage in Seaside or vacationing there.....we hope you'll think of us and let us make your vacation one to remember!

More to come.....