In May 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic, Brittany Blackman became something of an internet sensation in not only Destin vacation rentals but the vacation rental world.
Holding her camera phone vertically while standing in her yard, Brittany recorded an emotional speech challenging the Florida governor’s decision to keep vacation rentals closed while he allowed other accommodations like hotels and resorts to reopen.
Sometimes speaking through tears of frustration and interruptions from her dogs, she said: “This has torn me down like nothing I have ever experienced. To see your hard work, to see the past nine years of your life in a business that you have tried to build just stop – because of something that is so outside of your control – is just demolishing to your soul.”
That year, the company had to lay off all of its staff except the managers, and Brittany was responsible for single-handedly canceling 700-plus reservations.
Reflecting on that difficult time during an interview with Matt Landau on the Unlocked podcast, Brittany said the speech was unscripted and “100% from the heart.”
That year was one of the scariest and most uncertain of Brittany’s nine-year career in vacation rentals, but it was also a pivotal moment for Brittany to take a leap of courage – not only in using her voice to advocate for short-term rentals but also to strike out on her own.
“If I was going to work this hard, I just needed something to show for it,” she said.
A Breath of Fresh Air
In September 2020, she left her job at the property management company in Miramar Beach where she had worked for her entire career and started her own: Breathe Easy Vacation Rentals. A Destin, Florida located vacation rental management company.
Brittany used everything she had learned during her career, from working as a reservationist to operations manager, to build her new vacation rental business.
“I had learned from what I had done wrong over those nine years and knew what I had done right, so I was able to take that knowledge,” Brittany said. “A lot of what I had to do was basically trying to find what I could afford, and that was the biggest struggle because I had zero in my name.”
When choosing her tech stack for Breathe Easy, Breezeway – a property care, operations, and safety platform – was at the top of her list.
“I knew the value it would bring me in being able to save my time and keep myself organized and all of those things, so there was not a doubt in my mind that Breezeway was going to be one of the first few things that we invested in,” she said.
She uses Breezeway for scheduling and assigning cleaning and maintenance tasks at properties, as well as making notations about specific vacation rentals, like if an owner just added a new coffeemaker.
“It’s almost like a filing source for me of what happened in the property and stuff that I can look back at and have pictures and all the details,” she said.
Breathe Easy now has one full-time employee apart from Brittany and several part-time contractors and manages about 10 vacation rental properties – some of which were homeowners who followed her from her previous job.
Her many connections she’d met at vacation rental conferences over the years have been her cheerleaders throughout the process.
“So many people were so excited and believed in me, and they were just thrilled that I was finally doing this,” she said.
A Voice for (More) Positive Change in Vacation Rentals
While operating her own Destin vacation rental business, she has been heavily involved in advocacy for fair short-term rental regulations.
As head of the Northwest Florida chapter of the Florida Alliance of Vacation Rentals, Brittany has galvanized local vacation rental operators to speak with a united voice on Walton County’s short-term rental ordinance.
Download: The Ultimate Guide, Building a Self-Sustainable Short-Term Rental Alliance
She has organized meetings where operators have found consensus on what message they want to send to county commissioners.
Some of their feedback on the proposed ordinance has helped to avoid draconian legislation, Brittany said.
“The first draft of the ordinance was terrifying, but I will admit that the planning department did a great job of listening to us,” she said.
One of the changes the alliance was able to effect was replacing the requirement of an on-site inspection by county staff with signing an affidavit that the property is safe to occupy.
“We would have been weighed down in paperwork and inspections,” Brittany said. “There are several thousand vacation rentals in Walton County. They wanted to require inspections for all of those properties before anyone got a certificate to be able to rent. The department that was going to be responsible for all these inspections was short-staffed. Now, they updated that to basically say, you can sign an affidavit instead of having an in-person inspection, which seems small, but obviously, is huge.”
Brittany also has started a series of YouTube videos to give back to the communities of vacation rentals and help others who have courageously started their own businesses.
“I wanted to create snippets of helpful content to solve problems we face but that no one really talks about and just keep it really short and real, just me and my phone talking about a quick issue with resolution tips,” she said.
The videos provide tips on matters such as how to decide whether to self-manage a vacation rental or hire a property manager, what washcloths to use, and how to store bedding.
Tips for High-Quality Short-Term Rental Marketing
“A lot of times people think about this industry and think it’s super easy but don’t realize how many small decisions have to get made to provide that excellent guest experience,” Brittany said in one of her videos.
The videos are also a way for Brittany to build her credibility and brand but also to help others succeed.
“I’m a firm believer in giving more than you take,” she said, “and the universe watches and listens to your actions.”
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