Attention all Martha’s Vineyard homeowners and vacation rental landlords — the Steamship Authority Headstart Program, with its advance car ferry reservations for peak summer weeks, launches in one week, on January 5th.
This special advance car reservation program enables you to book up to five round-trip tickets in peak season (May 18 – October 11), and three of the reservations are transferable.
Valuable Vacation Rental Home Add-On
The Headstart Program can provide a competitive advantage for Martha’s Vineyard vacation rental homeowners. The Point B rental team has found the program to be a good differentiator — and very effective selling point — in the competitive rental home market on Martha’s Vineyard.
Many would-be renters do not realize how hard — or even impossible — it becomes to get peak season car ferry tickets to the Vineyard. So, being able to offer them as a value-add against other rental homes has been a winning strategy for many Point B landlord clients.
Summer 2016 Looks To Be Busiest Yet
For any landlords who have three peak weeks that are not yet rented, they might want to consider reserving those dates, according to the Point B rental team. Even landlords whose property is fully — or nearly — booked for the summer season, might want to check in with their Point B rental agent, to see if their customers would like to get a guaranteed ferry ticket now — a full week before car reservations go on sale to the general public (on January 12th by the way).
Of course there are various terms and conditions. A few of the caveats. You must be a member of the 2016 Islander Preferred Excursion Program and have a profile number (applications in by December 31st). You do have to pay up-front, but typically, landlords would pass the cost along to a renter. You have until May 15th to identify a new user for your transferrable tickets. You can also cancel any of your tickets for only a $10 cancellation fee and get a refund. For full program details, terms and conditions, click here.
Headstart Reservations On Sale Jan. 5th
Online sales get underway January 5th at 7:30 a.m., and are only guaranteed through January 11th. So be ready to go! You can also apply by mail. If you want to go that route, click here for the forms.
Whether you own a Martha’s Vineyard vacation rental home, or simply live on the Island, and want to lock in some key summer reservations, the Steamship Authority Headstart Program can be a valuable tool for getting those always hard-to-get, mid-summer car ferry reservations.