One of the bigger costs to your vacation villa in the Caribbean will be your power bills. Clients are often taken aback when they realize the costs of running a property; 24/7 air conditioning takes a toll. For clients who run their homes as short term vacation rentals, these bills can take a big bite out of your monthly return. So what can you do?
By taking a few small small steps to make your home energy efficient, you can reduce your costs and increase your ROI. Here are just a few easy solutions to increase energy efficiency:
Renewable energy costs have reduced dramatically over the past few years. Energy costs have increased dramatically, and show no signs of slowing down. Renewable energy products are becoming more reliable.
There is no magic bullet that will slash your power bills overnight, but some small steps can reduce these costs.
When you live in a home, and your power bills are too high, you will likely take steps to reduce these costs. Unfortunately when someone is spending good money to rent a vacation property, they will not know the high costs, nor will they likely care. Running the A/C with the doors and windows wide open is a common practice, which literally sees your profits going out the window.
By simply putting devices on your doors to shut the A/C off when the doors or windows are open, you can significantly reduce the waste this practice causes. It’s not just a great way to increase your rental profits, but it’s also the right thing to do.
By hiring a local solar or energy efficiency firm, you can have an audit completed which will show you where you are spending most of your power dollars. On top of efficiencies which you may be able to find, you may discover that your home has issues which need to be addressed (broker or aged equipment, leaks etc). Your vacation rental is a business and accordingly needs to be assessed to cut down on waste and increase potential profits.
By making your Caribbean property greener, you will put more green in your pocket!