By Jeff Dennis
Vacasa may already be North America’s number one short term rental company, but they are still growing and have added Edisto Beach rentals to their portfolio.
As of May 19, 2021, Atwood Vacations on Edisto became Vacasa rentals, though the physical signage won’t be changing on rentals until the end of the year. Choosing where to take a beach vacation can be an exciting time for families, and Vacasa’s repeat customers will now have additional choices where Highway 174 intersects with the Atlantic Ocean.
Drew Dealer is the General Manager for the Edisto Vacasa office, and he moved to the Lowcountry from Pennsylvania with his family to take on this job. “It’s hard to share just how excited we are to be in Edisto now with Vacasa rentals,” said Dealer. “It is such a special place and we want to embrace being a part of the community. We hit the ground running in that regard by sponsoring the Edisto Billfish Tourney, donating to the Back to School Jam, and by joining the Edisto Chamber of Commerce.”
“Vacasa is based out of Portland, Oregon and has a second HQ in Boise, Idaho,” said Dealer. “Our presence on the coast of South Carolina runs from Isle of Palms to Hilton Head Island. I commute from Charleston for work and the natural beauty of the Lowcountry and Edisto Island is a welcome view each day. We are located in the same building where Atwood Vacations has been, and we have retained much of their staff in an effort to integrate with the property owners that are already in place from years of rental business success.”
“A lot of families come to Edisto and rent the same house year after year, and that represents the value of the Atwood name,” said Dealer. “The value of Vacasa is that folks that may have rented at other beaches, will now be exposed to Edisto due to our presence now. We have seen 100-percent occupancy since Memorial Day this summer, and that may taper off a little once school starts back. If a property is not rented for a week, we don’t slow down, we just shift to performing site maintenance. Deep cleaning treatments are planned ahead of the 2022 summer rental season, to make sure they are in top notch shape for our guests.”
Local businessman John Hamilton sold the Atwood Vacations business, but he retained ownership of the Atwood building, and leases it to Vacasa Rentals. The Atwood rental company celebrated 60 years of doing business on Edisto in 2014, and they kept growing their outreach by adding a rental App and publishing the Explore Edisto magazine. People come from all over the Eastern U.S. to visit Edisto, spawnging social media and YouTube videos each summer, underscoring how they often look forward all year to their one-week vacation at Edisto Beach. Now these visitors can visit Vacasa.com on the Internet to begin their search for a destination at Edisto Beach.
