Diane Kaufman is the owner of Mermaid Cottages Vacation Rentals on Tybee.

Each month TIARA will showcase one of our professionally managed Tybee Island Vacation Rental Agencies that are part of our organization. 

Our first featured company is “My Beach House Rentals,” owned and operated by Lauren Davis. 

Lauren attended the University of Georgia as an English major. She and Larry have three grown children – one married daughter that lives in West Palm Beach, Florida whose husband is the publisher of the Palm Beach Post; a son in his final year of Pharmacy School at MUSC in Charleston, South Carolina  (yea, soon to be off of the payroll); and a younger daughter who graduated from Tulane University, and is now working in New Orleans.

Like many folks on Tybee, Lauren didn’t start out trying to create a business.  It all started with owning half of a beach house here….“I came to Tybee for the weekend 10 years ago with a girlfriend from Calhoun,” Lauren explains.  “We stayed at another friend's house on 11th Street.  Before we left we had bought a house together on Lovell Avenue. Then each of us bought our own house.  It was the first time I bought a house by myself and was at 1003 Lovell!”

Lauren says that a few years later after her last child went off to college (and, "just to have an excuse to be on Tybee"), she bought her first rental house on 18th Terrace which became the original “My Beach House.” She says she chose the name because she wanted guests to feel like it was "theirs,” and so they could say, "I’m going to ‘My Beach House’ for the weekend," and feel at home with the local folks!

By the way, if you stay with “My Beach House” Rentals once - you become a "Tybee Cousin,” and get discounts for future stays says Lauren. From there Lauren says she bought two more houses, formed My Beach House Rentals, and rented out her houses only.  Five years later, she met Sally Jett and her husband, John at A.J.’s Restaurant. Both of their husbands are optometrists - just a “strange coincidence,” Lauren adds.  “I bought two houses with Sally, and she joined My Beach House Rentals, then we took on a few other houses and managed them together.”

Sally is now pursuing other interests and Lauren is the sole owner and operator of My Beach House Rentals.  She owns three and a half houses and manages ten others.  She has a unique niche in the vacation rental market, and each of her homes has a marketing theme.  For example, a “leprechaun” lives in one of the houses, “Your Caribbean Soul is Out of Control” at another.  “Art and Sol” another house built in the 1930’s by Judge Sol Clark is now owned by two art professors at Armstrong University and filled with their original artwork.    Lauren also has several larger houses that are ideal for visiting Girl Scout troops, and another market that works well for her is family reunions.

Of course, working with the public is never dull, so we asked Lauren about her most unique vacation rental experiences.   A particular "Bachelorette Party" was the winner!

A future mother-in-law rented a house for the bridesmaids and her future daughter-in-law. The girls returned to Tybee for the night with some "extra male" guests - guys from a bar in Savannah. Things got rowdy, and when I briefly explained to mother-in-law to be why she was losing her damage deposit she said she really didn't want to hear the details.

Another visit that stands out in Lauren’s mind was one in which a fire broke out when an elderly grandfather was left at the house while others went to the beach.  He decided to cook a pizza in the oven using a plastic tray!!!  Lauren says you live and learn so she no longer stocks her homes with plastic trays that can be confused with cookie sheets!

Pets are also part of Lauren’s business. “Guests usually tell you how wonderful and well-behaved their dogs are,” Lauren says.  “No hair so they don't shed, no bladder and how happy they are that they can bring their dogs with them on vacation.”  Lauren adds, “Then, as a side note, they mention that they have two kids. Makes you wonder - are the kids as well behaved?”

Lauren’s signature item for all her homes (besides the unique name) is a Mermaid somewhere around the house, or perhaps sitting on the porch or in a tree.  But a couple of times, Lauren and her team found the mermaid had been put away in a closet. When she asked the guests why they told her that the Mermaid was just a little bit “too revealing!”

Of course, guests are on vacation and sometimes they can be a little demanding. For instance, some guests call five minutes after they arrive at the house and say the remote control does not work. “You want to say, hey, ‘Go to the Beach,’ and then if you can’t find enough to see on the incredible beach and ocean, then go back to the house and watch TV!” Lauren says.   She adds that everyone always wants just one thing - a little hut right on the beach. Lauren smiles. “ I usually tell them - I do too!!!”

Lauren’s Tips for visiting guests:   

The #1 Item left behind is always the phone charger - usually plugged in to some remote location like behind the bed. So don’t forget to do a walk thru before you leave and be sure to look for this!
Lauren loves Tybee and says, “Why wouldn’t you!”  Improvements and enhancements she’d love to see are for one, a skate park to give the kids and adults something else to do, and more restaurants, specifically a Chinese and Mexican restaurant….

In closing, Lauren wants visitors to Tybee and her homeowners to know…"I can't make your house oceanfront, but I can make it spotless!"

For more information on this terrific vacation rental company contact:

Lauren Davis
My Beach House Rentals, LLC
http://www.mybeachhouseontybee.com
912.484.8397
lauren@mybeachhouseontybee.com 

To learn more about TIARA (Tybee Island Association of Rental Agencies) visit www.tiaratybee.com.