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CASE STUDY

Palm Beach Vacation Rentals

Palm Beach Vacation Rentals took check-in off paper and brought in $67k+ in waivers and upsells

in waivers and upsells
$67k+
stays with damage waiver
630+
homes keyed before Yale
~90-95%
Palm Beach Vacation Rentals

AT A GLANCE

Palm Beach Vacation Rentals is a locally owned vacation rental agency in West Palm Beach, Florida, founded in 2015. Its homes, condos and cottages span the city's historic neighborhoods and downtown as well as coastal communities including Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach and Singer Island, and stays of 30 nights or more come with a discount.

Integrated with SuiteOp

SuiteOp features Palm Beach Vacation Rentals uses

  • Pre-arrival checklist
  • Guest verification
  • Damage waiver
  • Pet fee
  • Smart lock codes
  • Slack alerts

THE CHALLENGE

Check-in meant a trip to the house.

When a guest arrived at a West Palm Beach home, someone met them there, photographed their license, let them in and handed over a physical key, and the signed registration form was scanned at the office. As Jonathan Fabio, Managing Partner, puts it, "everything was just run on paper."

For about nine years the only software in the business was a legacy PMS. Pre-arrival questions came in ad hoc and were never recorded, a pet meant a sticky note and a fee to chase, and at some homes security deposits arrived as cash, a mailed check or a wire, each one tracked and returned.

Then there were the keys: probably 90 to 95% of the homes were keyed entry, which Jonathan called "a massive point of constraint in the business."

The biggest impact is the damage waiver revenue stream. And that'll continue to have a bigger and bigger impact as we have more properties and more and more reservations.

Jonathan Fabio, Managing Partner, Palm Beach Vacation RentalsJonathan FabioManaging Partner

The Transformation

Jonathan moved the company onto Guesty, kept guest messaging in its unified inbox, which he calls probably one of its strongest features, and added SuiteOp on top to move the house-visit paperwork online.

The pre-arrival checklist

Every home runs the same checklist: guests share their details, answer a few questions, add the other guests, sign the rental agreement and complete an ID check. When an ID check needs a second look, the team gets a Slack message.

SuiteOp screen for Palm Beach Vacation Rentals: The pre-arrival checklist

The house visits, sticky notes and deposit tracking are now, in Jonathan's words, "automated and handled."

Jonathan Fabio, Managing Partner, Palm Beach Vacation RentalsJonathan FabioManaging Partner

The biggest impact is the damage waiver revenue stream. And that'll continue to have a bigger and bigger impact as we have more properties and more and more reservations.

Use cases

  1. Use Case 01

    Check-in without a house visit

    Check-in paperwork no longer requires anyone to drive to the house. Before, it all happened in person: someone from the company met the guest at the door, photographed their license, let them in with a physical key and collected a signed registration form that was later scanned back at the office.

    Now the guest handles that part online before the stay, through a checklist tied to the reservation in Guesty. They fill in their details and the other guests, sign the rental agreement and complete an ID check, and if an ID check needs a second look, the team gets a Slack message and reviews it. Homes with a Yale lock also get a door code for the stay.

    RESULTthe license photo and the paper form no longer need a trip to the house.

    Check-in without a house visit

  2. Use Case 02

    Pet fees and deposits off paper

    Pet fees and deposits are now handled during online check-in. Before, questions came in ad hoc and were never written down, so a pet ended up on a sticky note and someone had to remember to collect the fee. At some homes, deposits came as cash on arrival, a mailed check or a wire, each one tracked and returned after the stay.

    Now the checklist asks "Are you traveling with a pet?" A yes adds a $225 pet fee that must be paid before check-in finishes, and the payment posts to Slack. At most homes, the guest chooses between a $500 deposit hold and a damage waiver of $15 a night, capped at $50, and deposits are held through SuiteOp, so there is no cash, check or wire to chase.

    RESULTin Jonathan's words, they are "automated and handled." Pet fees alone brought in $13,288 in 2026.

    Pet fees and deposits off paper

  3. Use Case 03

    Yale codes instead of house keys

    Smart locks took away what Jonathan called "a massive point of constraint in the business." Before, probably 90 to 95% of the homes were keyed entry, and he lists what came with it: security worries, back-and-forth with vendors and guests, and lost keys.

    Now 43 of the company's 45 homes have a Yale smart lock connected to SuiteOp, and the guest finds the door code in the guest portal. At those homes there is no key to hand over at check-in and none to chase after checkout.

    RESULTat the 43 homes with a Yale lock, the key handoff is gone.

    Yale codes instead of house keys
SuiteOp

IMPACT

$67k+

in waivers and upsells

stays with damage waiver
630+
homes keyed before Yale
~90-95%

What changed at Palm Beach Vacation Rentals

  • Check-in no longer ties the team to each arrival, because guests now complete it online before the stay and the online checklist has taken the place of the license photos, paper forms and sticky notes.
  • Keys have dropped out of check-in at the 43 homes with a Yale lock, where guests get a door code in place of a physical key.
  • Fees and deposits no longer need chasing, because the $225 pet fee is paid before check-in finishes and deposits are held through SuiteOp.
  • The damage waiver fee has become the revenue line Jonathan names first, bringing in $38,935 since May 2025 from guests who choose it during online check-in. Together with $28,903 in guest upsells, pet fees included, that makes $67,838 in guest revenue, and Jonathan expects the waiver's impact to keep growing as the company adds properties and reservations.
  • The next step is keeping the work at each home tracked and documented in one place, which is why Palm Beach Vacation Rentals planned to add task management and a log of home care.

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Palm Beach Vacation Rentals took check-in off paper and brought in $67k+ in waivers and upsells

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