Sanctuary Vacation Rentals Inc., the premier vacation home rental agency on the Monterey Peninsula, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is inviting the news media to an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony April 5 at Sanctuary’s Monterey office.
Monterey, CA, March 17, 2018 — Sanctuary Vacation Rentals Inc., the premier vacation home rental agency on the Monterey Peninsula, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is inviting the news media to an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony April 5 at Sanctuary’s Monterey office.
The event will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, April 5, with the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and Carmel Chamber Commerce, at Sanctuary’s office at 888 Munras Avenue in Monterey.
The ribbon-cutting is invite-only and will kick off Sanctuary’s 10-year anniversary campaign. Sanctuary will also announce its four charity partners, including Animal Friends Rescue Project (AFRP), The Fund for Homeless Women, Dorothy’s Kitchen and The Food Bank for Monterey County.
Animal Friends Rescue Project
From April 5 to December 31, Sanctuary Vacation Rentals will donate $5 per pet-friendly rental up to $2,500 to AFRP. Gracee is a 6-month-old shelter puppy that owners Annee and David adopted from AFRP after she was found wandering the streets of Salinas in pretty bad condition. She was given a tremendous amount of attention, love and care from her foster parent family and their five dogs, so much so that she has no fear of anyone or any dog and wags her tail at everyone she meets. Gracee has been proclaimed the Sanctuary ambassador of goodwill and joy because everyone she touches is left feeling better. animalfriendsrescue.com
The Fund for Homeless Women
Sanctuary will be supporting The Community Foundation for Monterey County’s The Fund for Homeless Women by donating blankets, towels, linens and more on an ongoing basis. The company will work to ensure that Homeless Women are given as many supplies as possible from vacation rentals. The Fund supports programs and services for homeless women on the Monterey Peninsula. In its initial years, the Fund supported both emergency assistance (e.g., temporary motel lodging, transportation expenses, laundry, etc.) and innovative ideas that expanded temporary and permanent housing options and case management services. cfmco.org.
Dorothy’s Place
Sanctuary Vacation Rentals will be supporting Dorothy’s Place by bringing food and supplies from each rental weekly to Dorothy’s Place in Salinas to help feed those in need.
Dorothy’s Place Hospitality Center in Chinatown, run by Franciscan Workers of Junipero Serra, includes Dorothy’s Kitchen, a Drop-In Center, Women Alive! Emergency Shelter for street women in Salinas, and a community of formerly broken and abandoned lives now living together in mutual support in House of Peace transitional living program.
dorothysplace.org
Food Bank for Monterey County
Sanctuary will be donating food throughout the year to the Food Bank for Monterey County and encouraging their guests and clients to donate as well. On December 5, there will be a food drive fundraiser for the Food Bank. Details to come. As the largest and most comprehensive provider of emergency supplemental food and a key proponent of anti-hunger and healthy eating education and advocacy in Monterey County, the Food Bank feeds more than 100,000 residents of Monterey County each year. http://www.foodbankformontereycounty.org.
In addition to the above actions, the entire team at Sanctuary Vacation Rentals will be donating their time and talents to each charity.
Founded in 2008 by Annee Martin, Sanctuary Vacation Rentals boasts a team of 20 professionals and represents almost 100 homes across the Monterey Peninsula, including Carmel-by-the-Sea, Carmel proper, Carmel Highlands, Big Sur, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Monterey, Marina, Seaside, Carmel Valley and the Highway 68 corridor near the airport and Laguna Seca.
Sanctuary’s roster of homes includes everything from cozy two-bedroom cottages in Carmel and Pacific Grove to larger four- to six-bedroom homes that can accommodate up to 12 people and luxurious Pebble Beach homes with ocean views. Many of the homes are within walking distance to the area’s beaches, restaurants, shopping and tourist attractions.
Sanctuary homes all invoke a sense of peace and harmony, allowing guests to relax, revitalize their lives, reconnect with one another, and above all, have fun. Sanctuary’s goal is to provide guests with a sanctuary from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Its vision is to inspire and nurture the hearts and souls of guests with the beauty and magic of the Monterey Peninsula while staying in one of its vacation homes.
“What drives me in this business is my love for people and wanting to give them the best experience they can have when they’re here,” says Martin. “We’re all travelers and we’ve all been strangers at one point. I just want people to feel welcome when they come here.”
Sanctuary Vacation Rentals started just after the housing market crash in 2008, which forced Martin and her husband David, an architect, to rent out their own home. Martin was amazed at how many people wanted to come to the Monterey Peninsula. She was soon able to help many of their friends who found themselves in a similar situation.
Before long, she had half a dozen homes, all through word of mouth. She quickly found out she found joy and a creative outlet for her talents in staging and maintaining homes for vacation rentals.
Her goal was to offer a warm and welcoming environment in each Sanctuary rental, with small welcoming touches such as fresh flowers and a bottle of Monterey County wine. All the homes are fully equipped and furnished with everything a visitor may need. In fact, guests need not bring anything with them but their suitcases.
Or as Martin likes to say, “We provide all the amenities and services of a 5-star resort with all the comforts of home.”
Martin says that a lot of Sanctuary’s success is owed to its Florida-based CFO Ben Edwards.
“Ben is one of the most respected leaders and consultants in the industry, president of the VRMA (Vacation Rental Management Association) the past three years,” says Martin. “I really consider him as responsible for my success as my own efforts. He keeps Sanctuary on the leading edge of marketing, technology and keeps us financially solvent. I am so blessed to have him.”
Martin has also become a strong advocate for the vacation rental industry, which has recently come under fire from local communities hoping to curtail the growing practice. She is now one of the leading voices for the vacation home rental industry, something she believes she was “called to do.”
She believes that neighborhoods can be protected with fair and reasonable regulation as opposed to bans and that more good comes from them than bad. She believes that vacation rentals provide affordable options for families that would not otherwise choose to stay in hotels and that they are good for the overall business community. She believes that there are plenty of visitors that want to come and stay on the Monterey Peninsula. It is her hope that hotels, inns and B&Bs can find a way to work together with the vacation rental companies and encourage visitors to visit Monterey as opposed to another city or coastal town.
She loves to network and refer businesses to her guests, and that includes the hotels and inns and B&Bs. Vacation rental homes are not always the best option for guests and many people do prefer the hotel or bed and breakfast experience. She believes being able to meet the needs of the traveler should be the highest priority and we can all work together to provide this.
The bottom line is the satisfaction she derives from making people happy.
“What drives me in this business is my love for people and wanting to give them the best experience they can have when they’re here,” she says. “We’re all travelers and we’ve all been strangers at one point. I just want people to feel welcome when they come here.”
Sanctuary Vacation Rentals
888 Munras Ave., Suite 100
Monterey, CA 93940
Phone: (831) 233-6340
Toll-Free: (800) 614-6706
https://www.sanctuaryvacationrentals.com
Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox PR
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
