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EP # 238 How Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals Survived Hurricane Ian and Continues to Thrive
Scott Safford's journey from accidental hotelier to vacation rental maven embodies the resilient spirit of Fort Myers Beach. When his wife purchased a distressed property with a vision, they transformed it into a boutique hotel guided by a simple philosophy: "clean rooms and happy guests." This approach worked so well that neighbors began asking Scott to manage their properties too, organically growing into Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals – now the largest family-owned vacation rental company on the island.
The path hasn't been easy. Hurricane Ian destroyed Scott's original hotel and much of his rental inventory, following years of challenges including Hurricane Irma, red tide, and the pandemic. Yet throughout our conversation, his optimism and dedication to rebuilding shine through. Scott provides remarkable insight into how Fort Myers Beach is transforming after these successive disasters, countering misconceptions about the island's recovery. With 40-50 bars and restaurants already operational and major developments like Margaritaville driving economic renewal, the community is experiencing an exciting renaissance.
What makes Scott's approach special is his commitment to creating experiences, not just accommodations. He treats guests like they're staying at his own home, offering personalized recommendations for everything from charter captains to menu selections at local restaurants. This level of service has helped him build a diverse inventory ranging from downtown apartments to sprawling beachfront houses that accommodate everything from couples' getaways to family reunions. As Scott perfectly captures it, "The vibe is alive here in Fort Myers Beach." Whether you're a longtime visitor or considering your first trip, now represents a unique opportunity to witness and participate in the island's remarkable rebirth. Ready to experience it yourself? Visit seagypsyvacation.com or call 239-463-0078 to plan your stay.
Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals
Scott Safford
(239) 463-0078
info@gypsyvacation.com
seagypsyvacationrentals.com
This is the.
Speaker 2:Good Neighbor.
Speaker 1:Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, cabo, jim Schaller.
Speaker 3:Welcome Good Neighbors to episode number 238 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Scott Safford from the Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals Welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you for having me Welcome, good morning.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Always a pleasure to get to know people in the community and share their story with our listeners. So obviously you're down in Fort Myers Beach why? Don't you share a little bit about what you do.
Speaker 2:First, Well, right now, what we do is we're recovering from Hurricane Ian and the last two hurricanes, but I own Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals, which is the largest family-owned vacation rental company on the island, and we started about 12 years ago with a small boutique hotel called the Sea Gypsy Inn my wife and I and it morphed into a vacation rental company. After the hurricane, we lost our hotel. We lost most of our inventory vacation rental wise, but we're rebuilding and building business back, so I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3:It's been quite the journey, so let's take that journey back a step. How did you get involved in this in the first place?
Speaker 2:Well, about 15 years ago, my wife and I became empty nesters and we were looking for a house on Fort Myers beach. We had a little little cottage, but we were looking for a little bit bigger home. And my wife came home and said I think I bought a hotel. And I said what? So she took me down there and it wasn't a hotel, it was a distressed property. But she had a vision and she saw it and, even though I think she's still crazy, we fixed it up and started a little boutique hotel and it was going well for about five years.
Speaker 2:And then one of my neighbors commented that he always sees cars in our parking lot. How can we be full all the time? And I explained to him well, our motto is clean rooms and happy guests. And he said, well, I've got this apartment I can't rent for anything. And I said, well, let me go take a look at it. And it had bad furniture, wasn't clean. And I explained to him look, you have to have nice stuff. I mean, mean you have to have a nice product that everybody would will enjoy. And he said, no, no, it's on the beach. I said, well, tell you what? Give me some money, let me fix it up and I'll put it on the airbnb. Let's see. See what happens. And the very next day that we, the very day that we opened, I, I, I had it booked and I had it booked solid, and he told a friend, he told another friend and all of a sudden I had a vacation rental company. So that's how it works. Yeah, that's how it works.
Speaker 3:But when you're good at something right. It just evolves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what we try to do, besides having clean rooms and happy guests, is we treat every guest like they're staying at our house. We, you know. We tell them what, what charter cabinets you use what, what bars and restaurants to go to, what to order at those bars and restaurants. So we try to, you know. Or if they're playing golf, we tell them what golf courses to play. We, you know. So we, we try to make their experience just like they'd be staying with us. So that's kind of how we do business and that's part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we just, we just focus on fort myers beach, lovers key, san carlos island. I mean we, we know all the vendors, we know all the restaurants, we, we, we can make it a more than just a vacation. We can make an experience for people based on what their, their wants and needs are.
Speaker 3:And it comes down to that customer service that so many businesses nowadays are lacking. You know, I think a lot of people have forgotten what customer service is, so it's good to see people like yourself actually practicing it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and you know it's really tough right now. You know this isn't a five star St Bart's vacation down here, I mean. But if you let people know that we're rebuilding, there's a lot of construction going on, not everything's open. If you let people know that ahead of time, then you know they can make the decision whether to come down or not. And when they do come down, it's a unique opportunity to see an island rebuilding after a devastating storm and you know they can sense the vibe of the island, of the business owners, of the people. You know it's quite a unique experience for people. Now it's not for everybody, but for the people that want to give it a shot. I think most people are happy.
Speaker 3:That is. You mentioned that vibe. That's the important thing. It's still there and it's kind of exciting seeing what's coming, you know, and changing and developing. So I want to talk about challenges. Not everything's perfect.
Speaker 1:Even our really really nice houses they still have.
Speaker 2:you know, the neighbor's fence might be down or the other side of the house may have construction, so nothing's perfect. So that's the challenge is making sure people are happy. You know, we communicate with guests after they check in, make sure everything's okay. So we, you know we do our best to make sure that people are happy. That's, that's the main thing.
Speaker 3:And so let's talk about myths or misconceptions, whether it's the state of the island right now or the fact that you're a small boutique hotel compared to a large resort.
Speaker 2:Well, we, we actually we had the boutique hotel and we lost it in the storm. So we have actually we have everything from one bedroom apartments downtown to nine bedroom houses on the beach. So whatever your vacation needs are whether it's one couple, two couples, a whole family, a family reunion we can usually accommodate you. So that's kind of nice that our inventory is so diverse. But one of the big misconceptions about the island is that it's not rebuilt at all. It's still massive devastation. It's just not true. I mean, we're sure it's not perfect, but there's still, like I said, a vibe. There's still 40 or 50 bars and restaurants open. There are a couple of huge hotels. Margaritaville helps tremendously. We're coming back.
Speaker 3:That's the important thing. You mentioned Margaritaville. At first everybody was against it, like no, we don't want that big part of it, but it's been a part of a staple of the rebuilding of Fort Myers Beach and a centerpiece drive us forward.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, not, it's not for everybody, but I think people go over there and they they check it out and some people love it and they want to stay there and that's great. Other people, you know, that's just not not their deal. But you know they have so many nice bars and restaurants in there. The staff is really friendly. The pool is fantastic. We have a lot of our guests stay with us and they decide to go down to Martin Reedaville for the day to hang out at the pool. So it's really helped the economy here on the beach for sure.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and, like you mentioned, it attracts whatever it's doing, but it's attracting new people to the beach and exposing them, giving other businesses opportunities to branch out a little bit.
Speaker 2:Right and that's one of the hard parts with our business is we had so many repeat customers and after we had Red Tide we had Hurricane Irma, then Red Tide, then we had the pandemic and then we had Hurricane Ian. So we lost a lot of those generational families that came down year after year after year. So we're starting pretty much over, starting anew. Now we have the diehards that just love Fort Myers Beach and they want to support the community and help out. But we're starting to get a lot of new families, new people coming down here, and I think Margaritaville is one of the draws. Most people that live on this Island came over that bridge. They stayed at a place and they came back and then they decide, hey, I might you know, come down here even longer and then they buy a home and all of a sudden they're they're residents and business owners. That's kind of the cycle of life here on the beach.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. Talking about that, do you know?
Speaker 2:obviously a lot has changed, but do you notice?
Speaker 3:anything trending currently as far as what Cabo.
Speaker 2:As far as the type of people that are coming or the type of opportunities people have here. Yeah, there's the type of. What's interesting is the I don't want to say I would say that the people coming down here have more money than in the past. There's a lot of people coming down looking to invest and the demographic is late 40s, early 50s. They have their eye on retiring in about five to 10 years and they have money. So it's really different Now. It's not different. Now.
Speaker 2:It's not Naples, it's not Sanibel, but you know, one of the things about Fort Myers beach was oh it's, it's a little lower income, but it's not the case anymore. There's a lot of people with a lot of money coming down here and what's what's cool about it is they're they're not stuck up, they're not snobby. I I mean, great thing about the beach is you can go into any bar, restaurant and you have no idea what people do, what, how much money they have and nobody really cares. But what I'm seeing is that there's more people now with more money. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:yeah, no, and I always mention when I since moving down here, I call it quiet money you know, people aren't flashy with it, but they're, you know they they're obviously have a good wealth, but they don't bring it back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's that millionaire next door, that Midwest money. You know nobody's flashy, nobody. I mean same thing on the island Everybody drives Jeeps. You know, nobody has a super duper expensive car. I mean you get trashed anyways with the salt, but nobody, nobody needs to showboat anything you know, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Just be yourself speaking about the midwest. I'm from the midwest originally I am too. Where are you from?
Speaker 2:milwaukee right outside milwaukee okay, all right.
Speaker 3:What brought you down to southwest florida?
Speaker 2:my wife my wife's from my wife's from cleveland she was homeschooled here on the beach and, um, you know she just loves this place and the first time I came down here I fell in love with it too. So, it's, it's just, it's just home. I mean, we travel quite a bit, but we always, we always come back here and, uh, it's just special place and it's really cool now that we're rebuilding, so we have the unique opportunity to, you know, help create what this Island can be in the future. So it's, it's really neat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a. It's a wonderful opportunity. You know, through through the circumstances we've all been through the last number of years. So, yeah, I know you've got a lot on your plate, but when you do get a moment of free time, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Speaker 2:I'm in a golf league, keep my sanity. I take Thursdays off. Good group of friends I've started about 10 years ago and it was mostly the business owners and it seemed like Thursday was always a good, good day to get off island. And it's morphed into more than just business owners. I try to get on my boat as much as possible but it's been tough. We're deep in the heart of season right now, so we're you know we're we're working every day. So in off season we my wife and I enjoy to trap, we enjoy traveling, but it's been tough to to get away from here because there's so much going on yep, yeah.
Speaker 3:So much to do, absolutely so. Is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about sea gypsy, that maybe they're not too familiar with?
Speaker 2:well, I want people to know that the beach is open and if, if, for for the local community. If you have friends coming into town, come on down to the beach beach for a staycation, um, or if you just live here, the beach is open and we have a lot of rentals that are nightly two nights, three nights. So just come up, come on down for a staycation, we're open and love to show you how great three night. So just come on down for a staycation, we're open and love to show you how great it is.
Speaker 3:So how about our listeners go about contacting you if they wanted to learn more or wanted to come visit?
Speaker 2:So they can visit our website at gypsyvacation. com, or give us a call at 239-463-0078, or check out our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Speaker 3:Very good, any last words for our listeners today.
Speaker 2:Just keep, just remember that the vibe is alive here in Fort Myers beach.
Speaker 3:I love that. I love that, scott, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor and we hope to see you out at the beach soon.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me and hope to see you on the beach.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Estero. com. That's GNP Estero. com, or call 296-2621.