ABOUT US

Colorado River Vacation Rentals is focused on making the most with your investment, and giving guests an unforgettable vacation experience. Our goal is to be the number one vacation rental management company in the tri-state area.

In 2015 one of the founders, Michele Dowty, decided to put her pool home on Airbnb to see what the potential was. She is a real estate agent who wanted to develop another stream of income. Quickly she discovered she was making more than 3x the amount she would have had she rented it out long term. She was pulling $7k-$10k per month on a house that would normally rent for around $2,000 per month. After about a year, she and her son, Clay Merrigan, made a goal to buy another one. Clay was a senior in college with about $5,000 to his name when he and Michele found another house that they saw had high potential for short-term rentals. They both put in about $5,000, acquired the house, and started cash flowing on the property almost immediately. This is when they discovered that short-term rentals were the future, and hotels were the past.

A year after owning their vacation rental, Clay decided to get his real estate license, and partner up with his mom, Michele. The hype about short-term rentals was growing day-by-day. Almost 50% of their real estate sales were people buying short-term rentals. Every client had the same question; Do you know of anyone who manages short-term rentals? There was one guy in town who managed all the vacation rentals, charging a whopping 25% of gross revenue. This is when they got the “aha” moment to start their own vacation rental management company. They knew they could charge less, and make their owners more money than the competition. And that is how Colorado River Vacation Rentals began. In the first year they went from managing 0 properties to 20 properties. 

To this day the goal remains the same. Make the most out of every owner's investment.