Bait and Switch is a very common tactic for carpet cleaning companies around the country and also here in Panama City, Panama City Beach and the rest of Bay County, FL. You are probably familiar with it. You get a coupon in the mail for carpet cleaning and it says something like get 4 carpet areas cleaned for only $75.00. Sounds like a good deal to me probably to you too. Lets think about this for a minute. It takes us about 30 minutes per area when we just do traffic areas, 45 minutes per area when moving furniture and 60 minutes per area when doing a deep clean. For four areas this is any where from 2-4 hours worth of work and that is minimum. Best case for the carpet cleaner when cleaning 4 areas for $75 is he makes $37.50 per hour. This does not include the gas it takes to get there $5, The gas used to operate the carpet cleaning machine, $5 and the chemicals used to clean the carpets, $5. No the company is down to $60 or $30 per hour. Sounds like a lot of money $30 per hour, but now we have to consider advertising cost, equipment cost, maintenance, labor, phone numbers, insurance etc etc etc. The reality it is not possible to stay in business cleaning carpets at $18.75 per area. The overhead is simply to high. At best the company would be working at a breakeven level.

So why do they advertise the $75 for four areas. Simply put they are going to try and up sale you. If they actually do clean the four areas for $75 they will be out of there in an hour and the results will not be worth paying for. We here this all the time. They said is was only going to be $75 and when they wore done it was $250. These bait and switch companies will charge for anything; vacuuming, pre-spraying, grooming, stain removal and the list go on and on.

At K Tori’s we offer three levels of service traffic areas for the budget minded, standard for moving furniture and deep cleaning for those tough jobs. Sometimes customers want deodorizer and Scotch guard but the rates are on our website for everyone to see. Having carpets cleaned in Panama City, FL should not be like eating at a fancy restaurant without the prices on the menu. Having carpets cleaned in Panama City Beach, FL should not be liking buying a car and at the end you realize what you bought was way more than what you agreed to. Bait and Switch carpet cleaning in Bay County, FL is here to stay so buyer be ware. If it is to good to be true it probably is.

To meet different your needs at the best rate possible we offer three different levels of carpet cleaning here in the Panama City and Panama City Beach area.
The lowest level is for traffic areas only. This service is only $30 per area for individuals on a budget or for individuals that like to have carpets cleaned multiple times per year. Traffic areas only means we do not move furniture; we clean around it. We use the same chemicals and tools as we do with the standard cleaning.

The next level of cleaning is the most common. The standard level of cleaning includes moving furniture and cleaning under it. If one person can move it without breaking himself or the furniture we will generally move it.

The deep clean service uses special tools (Rotovac), more water, more chemicals and more time. Moving furniture with the deep clean is include in the rate. The Rotovac use high pressure, steam and agitations to remove even the most stubborn of dirt. This level of service takes much more time to perform and for the carpets to dry. Deep cleans are $50 per area.

So as you can see each level of service has its benefits for different customers. We are here to meet your needs. We will be informative and not try and do a bait and switch tactic on you like so many other companies seem to do. The next time you get that coupon that states $75 for four areas ask your self what you can actually get.

K Tori’s has become a very successful vrbo cleaning service company over the past 6 years. We have learned a great deal over the years. We started out only cleaning vrbo units but as time moved on we expanded to doing maintenance, cleaning carpets, tile and grout and furniture and dealing with issues that could not be taken care of by vrbo owners from a distance. In effect we wore all the departments of a property management company except reservations.

For the past year we have been working on developing a niche that has not been met for individuals that own vacation rental property in the Panama City Beach area. We found many owners would prefer more control over there vacation rental property than traditional property management companies could allow. Owners expressed that they wanted more access to there property. Basically owners want to blackout any dates they want for there personal use, friends and guest they have found them selves without serious penalties. Other concerns we found owners had was what the property management companies wore charging for there unit. Some owners feel the fees wore to high and they wore not getting as many bookings if the unit was being rented for less. Others the opposite was true and the owners felt that they would be generating more revenue with higher rates. One thing all owners had in common that fall into our niche is that they wanted more control but did not want to deal with the day to day issues of customer relations, maintenance, cleaning and reservations.

With all this new information we set out to develop a program that would serve this niche of giving owners more control. The program had to offer the following two criteria. First allow owners to blackout any dates they wish for any reason without fees or other penalties and second allow owners to set rates if that is something the owner should choose to do. In addition too these two core criteria we wanted to reduce owners variable fees and expense. This lead to our all inclusive flat fee property management program.

Traditional variable expense include maintenance, carpet and tile & grout cleaning, linen service and booking commission to name a few. Each company is different and seem to have their own set of fees making comparison difficult. Our all inclusive flat fee program describes exactly what the fees are very simply. For a set monthly fee we will market your property, manage customer contact and reservations, take care of light maintenance, clean the carpets tile and grout, pay taxes, clean the unit, do deep cleans on the unit and provide linen service that includes quality towels and linens. With all this included there are a couple of variable expenses that are not include. Credit card transaction fees are passed along at 2.5% which is a little higher than the typical transaction fee. This is to make up for American Express, foreign cards and bonus points that the merchant account requires. The other variable expense is serious maintenance that we do not perform such as appliance repair, HVAC and other services that require a license. If a handyman can take care of the problem we can take care of the problem.

K Tori’s all inclusive flat fee property management program was not designed to meet everyone’s needs. It was developed for individual owners that want more control than traditional property management companies can offer and to reduce variable cost. We believe the average customer will significantly save over traditional property management companies.

K Tori’s Cleaning Service is making a transition from vacation rental clean service to Carpet Cleaning, Tile & Grout and Furniture Cleaning. We started cleaning vrbo units around 2005 and learned a great deal about the vrbo industry and property management in general. We are also splitting K Tori’s Cleaning Service into two Companies. The first is carpet cleaning and tile and grout cleaning. The second is flat rate vacation rental property management. The transition does not effect current customers and we will continue to clean our existing units with the same great service as we always have. Unfortunately will will no longer be taking on new customers for vrbo cleanings.

Well it is that time of year again. Deep cleans, carpet clean, tile and grout and don’t forget the balcony. In addition to your standard cleanings do not forget to replace those flat pillows, dingy sheets and worn out towels. Also do not forget to stock up on extra washcloths. This is the item you will go through more than any other item. Women’s makeup seems to not come out. 2012 season will be here before you know it. Good luck. Oh do not forget about your little maintenance issues.

One of the biggest arguments my business partner (Wife) and I have is about communications; in particular about linens. Lets just start by saying if you have a vacation rental of any kind you will replace certain things from time to time. I wont even go into washcloths and makeup except to say DO NOT buy expensive white washcloths.
The problem with communication and the linens…
If she finds a unit is missing linens she will temporally replace the missing linens with what we stock as “loaners” (Her words not mine). We spend hundreds of dollars on linens each year so that does not seem to be loaners to me. A loan implies a temporary exchange, yes? The reason it is loan is because housekeeping sometimes forgets linens in the wash machine, under the sink, between there ears, you get the point. So she makes sure each unit has enough linens by “loaning” the unit our lines. Since it is temporary “a loan” she does not feel the need to let me know so I can let the customer know. She does not want to bother a customer over a temporary situation. Now time marches on and we (She) forgets which units have received “loaner” linens. Now we (Me) have to confront a disgruntled customer asking where there linens are and why the linens they have do not match. Aarrrgggg!!! Admittedly most customers understand linens come up missing over time and just ask how many do we need, but every once in a while we will get a few at the same time that are not particularly happy.
So you ask what happened to the customers original towels? Your guess is as good as mine. I am sure sometimes guest take them home either on purpose or accident but most of the time I am sure they are left on the beach. Taking a five dollar towel back after throwing back a few six packs is not the first thing on ones mind once the mind is gone.

We have bought more than our fair share of linens so I absolutely understand owners getting upset when things come up missing. That said if you are in the business of renting your property out to people you do not know, know that you will end loosing a certain amount of small items, towels being the main one. Don’t let this dissuade you from renting your property out. It is common to loose small items such as towels and glasses but never have we found an expensive item come up missing.

These carpets were very heavily soiled. Honestly I did not expect results like this. Simply amazing. The video from my phone does not do it justice but none the less still impressive. Normally I would use the Rotovac on carpets this bad but not on Berber.

We some how missed a cleaning on Saturday July 2, yes the Fourth of July weekend. We did what well call pushing a unit. This means a customer checks out of a unit today but we push it to another day, generally the next day. This happens often in June and July. We got bit in the butt this time. A customer decided to check in a day early or we put the check in/out dates in the system wrong or the owner gave the incorrect dates. These guest checked in at 9:30 in the evening. Ouch. What do you do when this happens, when it hits the fan? Well we went and cleaned it. It sucked but we did it. This shows a couple of things. It is important for customers to keep check in and out dates up to date. It also showed us that if we are going to push a unit we need to confirm with the customer that this is going to work for them.

When looking for a cleaning company it is important to not only have a company that is going to do a good job but also be there for you when the crap hits the fan no matter whose fault it is. This was the Forth of July weekend so the owner of the unit was not likely to loose the reservation no matter what, but any other day the customer could have simply walked on down the street and stayed somewhere else.

What else can we do for the customer that was inconvenienced. We used to not charge for the cleaning if it was our fault. We now offer a late check out, guest seem to like this more and the owner does not have to go back into the books and write checks for refunds, it is just easier for everyone involved this way. As much as I would like to say we are perfect it just is not the case.

This stain was cleaned for resort destinations last minute on Saturday July 2. When I saw this stain I thought “Black Stain, White Carpet, Not going to come out.” Folks if you get to a stain like this really fast as you can see the results are absolutely incredible.

One of the most common questions we get is the Rotovac really that much better than a traditional wand. The answer is not quit that simple. Is a sledge hammer better than a regular hammer? YES! Obviously it depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you have deeply soiled carpets the Rotovac is going to get your carpets cleaner. If you have lightly soiled carpets a traditional wand is going to clean faster and get similar results.

Pros and Cons

The Rotovac use much more water than a traditional wand making your carpets drying time much longer. Schedule your cleaning time wisely as you do not want to walk on carpets when they are wet. This goes for either wand or Rotovac. A wands dry time is around 3-6 hours a Rotovacs dry time is 6-12 hours. Though your carpet may feel dry to the touch after only a short time the fibers are still wet down below where you can not feel.

The traditional wand cleans much faster than the Rotovac on lightly soiled carpets. This means the tech can generally get in and out of your home and you can get back to the daily grind in only a couple of hours. The Rotovac is going to take a significant more amount of time and $ money. Fortunately both process can be mixed and matched to save a few dollars. If you have a room that is lightly soiled we can use the traditional wand and if there is a room that is heavily soiled we can use the Rotovac.

The Rotovac gets very dirty carpets much cleaner than the tradition wand in most cases. On some but not all commercial carpet the traditional wand does an equivalent job or even better. Commercial glued down carpet will require some testing to see who the champion of carpet cleaning will be for the day.

Video of A real life example at St Thomas Square in Panama City Beach.