The Art of the Perfect Vacation
Taking care of the details
Summer 2019
Written By: Evie Carrick | Images: Deborah DeKoff
THE POWER OF A PERFECT VACATION IS SOMETHING ELISE ST JOHN AND HER FAMILY KNOW ALL TOO WELL. IN 2011, THEY BOOKED A VACATION RENTAL AND SPENT NEW YEAR’S IN PARK CITY. SIX MONTHS LATER, ST JOHN AND HER HUSBAND, SHANE, AND SON, CAYDEN, UPROOTED THEIR LIVES, LEFT DALLAS, AND MOVED TO PARK CITY.
“It was a big change and it’s a totally differ-ent life; we wouldn’t change it for the world,” says St John, who loves the close-knit feel of the community, the access to the outdoors, and the ability join in and make a difference. She joined the chamber of commerce in Park City and Heber, the Park City Women’s Busi-ness Network, the Park City Lodging Association, and became an affiliate with the Park City Board of Realtors.
She also utilized her experience working in commercial property management to start St John’s Property Management, a company that takes care of people’s homes and manages vacation rentals. St. John will be the first to tell you that it takes more than checking in on some-one’s home and troubleshooting a late arrival; there’s an art to doing it well.
“When someone comes here, they want to come and enjoy themselves, they don’t want to have to worry about anything,” she says, explaining that when she takes on a property, they take care of everything from landscaping and hot tub maintenance to airport pickups and stocking the fridge when the owners come to town.
When homeowners want to rent their home out, St John and her team do all the housekeep-ing, maintenance, and concierge service for the vacation rentals in-house, which ensures quality and reliability. “Everybody gets trained to do things the St John’s Property Management way,” she explains. “I expect a high level of service and I demand that from the people who work for me.”
The art of the perfect vacation is some-thing St John takes seriously, and she keeps her company small so the service can remain top-notch. St John’s Property Management works with around 60 properties across Summit County, and one of the biggest perks for homeowners and renters is the fact that St John is heavily involved in the entire process. “I’m very hands on. People don’t have to call and go through three people to get to me; we’re a boutique company. I don’t want to get too big because I want people to be able to reach out to me directly.”
If anyone understands the art of the perfect vacation, it’s St John. All it took was one special week in Park City for her to make a move, start a new life, and open a new business that now offers that same white-glove service to both homeowners and vacationers.
