How Anchor Point Premier Vacations Removed Financial Fear with Topkey

Founded by Mike Wesling, Anchor Point Premier Vacations is a family-owned and operated vacation rental business based in South Haven, Michigan with 12 properties and growing.

When Mike decided to start a vacation rental business, he knew that having a solid financial foundation would be crucial. Having spent years in tech sales, he understood the importance of implementing the right tools from the start.

"Accounting was the area that caused me the most anxiety when I started the business, and getting a handle on it was a real challenge," says Mike. "I had heard horror stories about people losing control of their finances, not knowing where their money was coming from or where it was going."

Mike's concerns were well-founded. Many property managers start their businesses without realizing the complexities of short-term rental financial management, only to find themselves overwhelmed as they scale. Mike was determined to avoid that fate for Anchor Point.

Real-Time Visibility and Expense Management

When it came time to choose financial tools for Anchor Point, Topkey was one of Mike's first calls. He implemented Topkey alongside other key tools like Guesty, QuickBooks, and PriceLabs. He also hired Extenteam for accounting services before Anchor Point even launched its first property.

Topkey has given Anchor Point unprecedented insight into their finances, a stark contrast to the "black box" Mike feared when starting the business.

"We definitely have more reporting and more visibility than we had before," Mike shares. "Most things sync over to QuickBooks automatically, which is great for real-time visibility and accuracy."

Eliminating Expense Leakage

The platform has also streamlined expense management. Mike highlights a particularly useful feature: "When I go to the hardware store and buy something for an owner, I get that text message from Topkey. Then I immediately take a picture of the receipt and upload it and add the owner charges."

This simple process has virtually eliminated expense leakage.

Mike estimates that without Topkey, they'd lose a significant number of reimbursable expenses due to lost receipts or forgotten charges.

"If we didn't have that, I'd probably stuff that receipt in my wallet and then three weeks later, I would pull it out and have no idea who I bought it for and what it was for," Mike says.

"We'd have a lot of leakage without Topkey."

Owner Billing: A Game-Changer

For Emily Wesling, Anchor Point's general manager, Topkey's streamlined process for billing owners has been a game-changer.

"A huge selling point of Topkey is the process for billing owners for charges," she notes. "It's really streamlined and saves me a ton of time. And it's just helpful seeing everything in one place."

Emily estimates she saves about one full day per week on owner-related financial tasks. The platform allows her to easily split invoices across multiple properties and bill the appropriate owners.

"It's really useful because I have vendors doing services for multiple homeowners, and I can easily ascribe charges to the right owner," Emily explains. "Sometimes I'll have a vendor that's doing services for multiple homeowners. So it makes it really easy for me to go in and split up that invoice and bill it to the appropriate homeowners."

High-Yield Savings on Trust Accounts

An unexpected benefit of using Topkey has been the ability to earn substantial interest on trust account balances.

"We're very appreciative of the high interest rates that we make through Topkey. That's been a bit of a profit center for us," Mike shares. "This past summer in particular, with over seven figures in our savings account, we're earning $2,500 a month in interest."

This additional revenue has been crucial for Anchor Point's growth, providing capital to reinvest in expansion efforts. 

"Topkey is profitable for us, it's not an expense," Mike emphasizes.

Responsive Support and Rapid Feature Development

Both Mike and Emily praise Topkey's customer support and agile feature development. Mike cites an example where Topkey developed a physical check payment solution within six weeks of his request.

"Every feature we've ever asked for, they've delivered very quickly," he notes. "I had another bank account with Chase just to send checks because some of our vendors needed physical checks. I mentioned that to the Topkey team, and within six weeks they'd delivered a solution."

Emily recounts instances of near-immediate after-hours support:

"I had an issue paying a bill one time, which by the way was user error on my part. I emailed Topkey’s Head of Customer Success after hours not expecting a response, and he had fixed it within five minutes. I mean, incredible service."

Why Topkey: A Foundation for Sustainable Growth

For Anchor Point, Topkey's industry-specific focus and rapid development cycle have been key differentiators.

"I think Topkey's already a great solution, and it's only going to get better," Mike predicts. "The velocity with which Topkey rolls out new features is so much better than what I've seen from other software vendors in this space."

Mike advises other property managers, especially those just starting out, to consider implementing a solution like Topkey early:

"For a small company planning to grow, even to just around 10 properties, things can get complicated quickly. It's smart to build a strong foundation and invest in Topkey early. By doing so, you'll ensure that as you scale—often faster than anticipated—your processes, accounting, and operations remain well-organized and efficient."

He also encourages property managers to consider the potential ROI: "Do the math on the interest rate that you get with Topkey as well. If you're keeping a certain amount of money in your savings account, Topkey may actually end up being a profit center for you."

Built for Success

By implementing Topkey from the start, Anchor Point has built a financial foundation that positions them for sustainable growth. In less than a year, they've grown from 4 to 11 properties, with plans to reach 20-25 by mid-2025.

The platform's user-friendly interface, robust features, and responsive support have allowed this family-run business to operate with the efficiency and transparency of a much larger organization, all while generating additional revenue through high-yield savings.

"While Topkey is a software, it's a also very great relationship," Mike concludes. "We know the people, in particular Matthew [Head of CS] is phenomenal. I’ll text him or send him an email, and he gets back to me in 5 minutes.”

“Every challenge we've ever encountered, they've found a solution for.”

Ready to set your vacation rental business up for success? Schedule a demo with Topkey today to learn how we can help automate and improve your financial operations.

*Topkey is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank; Member FDIC.

‍