Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals in St. Martin is Closing
Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals in St. Martin is Closing
Generating Media was sad to learn that the doors to Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals were closing. This is a great loss to the island of St. Martin as the original founders of Carimo set the stage for creating a “Destination within a Destination”.
Long before VRBO and Airbnb, Francis and Nicole Lacour started a company on the island of St. Martin called Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals. Every island in the Caribbean had a key real estate office and rental company that were the “Go-To” company. Carimo was the company on the French side of the island.
Francis & Nicole understood how all the variables were connected to operate an effective real estate office and rental company better than anyone we have ever come across. Their business strategy and platform involved the full circle of how all the variables came into play.
Carimo Changed the Game
Below are a few of logistics they implemented in order to maintain tight controls of the present and the future:
Potential buyers of properties are not just concerned about the initial cost of a property, but also the daily maintenance and operating costs.
Carimo services included property maintenance and short term rentals
To handle the property maintenance cost & time effectively they handled only properties within about a 10-15 minute drive from their office. This way the maintenance staff could respond quickly and not waste time driving around all over the island. The key to keeping owners happy was to properly maintain their properties and always have the properties in top shape for renters.
Inventory was very selective and was rarely over 70 villas. The average owner was hoping to receive 16 weeks in villa rental revenue. This translates to a minimum amount of total rentals of 1,120 per year. If they could generate 20 weeks per year that would be 1,440 total rentals. If they increased the inventory it would only dilute the average number of rentals per villa. They thought it best to manage the owners’ expectations as best as possible.
Once they sold a villa and if it was entered into the rental program, they exhausted all efforts to direct villa rental revenue at the acceptable level for the owner. Along the way, they also provided customized solutions as to what the owner could do in terms of layout, furnishings, amenities, and pricing to make their villa more marketable.
The goal was to generate positive results so the owner would consider the villa a great investment and consider selling it or buying another property. This would generate another sale and rental opportunity.
They even took it one step further and worked with a consistent architect and builder in order to develop a rental design that would be far more appealing to renters. Their design was a “Lazy U-Shaped” floor plan. The base of the “U” was the kitchen looking out over the living space, which further looked out over the swimming pool. The focus was on the pool and view from the kitchen and living space so at any given moment no matter where you were standing or sitting you would be part of the interconnection of all areas of the common space and view. On each side of the base of the view were two bedrooms. Each bedroom was of equal size, furnishings, amenities, view, and access to the outside. King size beds, large bathrooms, high-end furnishings, and linens. They did not want to have couples having discussions about who would get the master bedroom or a better view. (see image below)
They also knew many families travel with friends and want their own villa. Therefore, it was imperative they have a villa of similar value and price points within close proximity.
Villas do not have brands like hotels, cruise ships, and resorts. Carimo made a point out of providing a very consistent quality villa no matter what the price point. Their goal was to make sure the guests had a high level of confidence and trust they would have an excellent adventure in a Carimo Villa.
Develop a trusting relationship within the fabric of the villa distribution platform played a major role in generating the required number of reservations.
Example of the “Lazy U-Shaped” seen at Villa Giselle in Terres Basses, St. Martin - Photo Credit: Generating Media
Carimo Sold to Luxury Retreats
As time went on Francis & Nicole decided they wanted to move back to France after spending decades on the island working nearly every day of the week. They decided to sell Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals to a company called Luxury Retreats, which was one of their top distributors. This decision played a major challenge in the villa rental industry because the distribution channels that had supported Carimo were now going to send their clients to their competition. This was extremely uncomfortable for the distributors.
It was also a challenge for Luxury Retreats because they did not have the key person that could be the “glue” that brought all the components together from sales, property management, and rentals. Over the years, Francis & Nicole Lacour had earned the trust from the owners, distribution channels, and guests.
Luxury Retreats sold to Airbnb
Luxury Retreats later was bought by Airbnb, which also added another twist and layer to the operation. The Airbnb business model was not a good match for running Carimo as it was previously operating. Add the hurricane of 2017 and now COVID to this series of events and you can fully understand why they decided to close the doors.
It is a shame that Carimo Real Estate & Villa Rentals is no longer a part of the make-up of the island of St. Martin. They set the bar very high in terms of how to operate on the island or any island for that matter.
What will happen to the Carimo properties?
With Carimo no longer part of the landscape the villa owners have an option of teaming up with St. Martin Sotheby’s International Realty. This company is owned and operated by a mother and son team living on the island. They have several decades of experience and know the island extremely well. Owners will be in good hands.