Charla Tomlinson: Assisting Investors With Buying Lifestyle Investment Properties Across North America

Rockies Rentals assists investors with buying Lifestyle Investment Properties across North America. Our office is based in Canmore Alberta Canada, so we also manage the Canmore-Based Lifestyle Investments.

We pride ourselves on our responsive service for our Guests, Owners, and Investors. We truly care about the quality of each family’s vacation and lifestyle experience. Our values of integrity, honesty, transparency, authenticity and fairness are infused into everything we do. Bottom line, if you need anything, we’ll be there for you. .

Another value that we sprinkle on everything is humour. If there is a joke to be made, we will make it. Our Social Media, emails, and Voice Messages are filled with punny Dad jokes; sarcasm, and sass … and so is our office.

Tell us about yourself?

Our entire team has a passion to serve. We all have a long background in the Hospitality Industry, and amusing childhood stories of times we tried to “accommodate” stuffed animals, or played “chauffeur” while childhood friends were playing “house”.

The drive to create memorable experiences, to serve others, to give generously — this all runs pretty deep over here. It’s similar to the strong drive Police Officers have to protecting others; or Architects have to designing functional spaces.

Being granted the opportunity to serve others — especially when that means helping them buy a Lifestyle Investment, or plan a family vacation — brings us great joy. Not even making that s%#t up for the purpose of a Media Interview.

Oh … and we swear frequently, in addition to the joke-making.

If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?

Never offer “Will attend Condo Board Meetings on your behalf” to our Lifestyle Investment Clients. Most Condo Board Meetings take place in a BoardRoom filled with residents living their lives in Dante’s 5th Circle of Hell. And then we roll up fresh from a mountain adventure — loving our best life — not a lot of room for anger or aggression in our Happy Place. Only half kidding — it’s Zoom Calls, not BoardRooms.

Jokes aside, we wouldn’t change much. Even the things that didn’t work out turned into great learning experiences of how *not* to do things. Or incredibly funny stories that we still laugh about. So I guess our advice would be “Dive in without fear. Even the things that don’t work out, will turn into much better things.”

What problem does your business solve?

We help Investors take the shortest path between their dream of owning a Lifestyle Investment and *actually* making the magic happen. We also help visitors to the Canadian Rockies plan a low stress vacation filled with Mountain Adventures.

What is the inspiration behind your business?

Our first client — he is still with us today. We already owned and operated our own successful Short Term Rentals but it wasn’t really a “business” — just a side hustle. We were dreaming of managing properties owned by others to expand our inventory.

Left to our own devices, we would have never taken the leap. We would have stayed small. One day, we got a random email from a total stranger asking for our assistance. Our response was “Challenge Accepted” — because someone needed help, and that’s what we do. … and the rest is a beautiful history.

What is your magic sauce?

Couldn’t tell ya … we’ve always done our own thing. I guess *that’s* the Magic Sauce — to be unique, and authentic.

We enjoy having competition — it keeps us striving to do more — but we don’t compare ourselves to our competition. They do their thing; we do our thing. In fact, we refer lots of clients to our competitors. They might be a better fit for some clients; we are a better fit for other clients. One of the greatest compliments we ever received was from another enthusiastic Short Term Rental Manager. She had started her own company (Yay!), met us by accident (a stranger is just a friend we haven’t met yet), and we had a great conversation. At the end, she asked what company we work with. When we said “Rockies Rentals”, she immediately gushed “OMG. YOU’RE MY IDOL!! I hope to be you one day” … which is an odd statement to hear while wearing a robe and sporting some very messy hair (we met at a Hot Tub 😂). Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we like to inspire others.

So, the Secret Sauce? We are ourselves, and celebrate others being themselves.

What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?

Hmmmm. 🤔 We are pretty Goal Oriented. So if we put this in writing, we are committing to it. Ok … let’s do this:
—75% of our team members own lifestyle real estate of their own.
—75% of our reservations are returning guests, or referrals from past guests.
—Still serving others, and spreading joy.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

LOL — We work in the Tourism Industry.
COVID. COVID all the way. It wasn’t our first international travel disruption (9-11, SARS; H1N1); it wasn’t our first crisis (Hello 2013 Flood!) … but it was hands down the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced … and is ongoing.

COVID brought to light how many people travel without Travel Insurance. Not a good idea, folks. If you can’t afford to lose it (car, house, vacation), insure it. We do our best to help travellers make better decisions, and to understand what happens behind the scenes when they cancel uninsured travel. It ain’t pretty. So please be insured.

How do people get involved/buy into your vision?

Do you dream of casually mentioning to your friends that you’re heading to your Mountain Home for the weekend? Then arriving at your Lifestyle Investment Property and it feels like home? We do that. Five minutes on the phone with us and you’ll be ready to abandon the job you hate and pursue the life you love. We have that effect on people.

Are you planning a trip to the Canadian Rockies and trying to get the accommodation piece sorted? We do that.

Rockies Rentals
RockiesRentals.ca
877-233-1545
https://facebook.com/RockiesRentals/
Instagram @rockiesrentals