The A Stay Above The Rest Team & Company Story
We’re known for providing world class guest experience and record breaking rental revenue in our markets… Now, get to know the company story and the A Stay Above The Rest team behind behind the brand.
What started as more of a test in 2015, has grown into a highly successful short term rental property management company! Janis, Bill, and Katie talked for years about purchasing and managing a short term rental property… where they would buy, how they would furnish it, how they would offer excellent service, and how they would make it profitable. At the time, the market was filled with old and run down properties… It seemed like the only way to get a nice stay was to rent a large million dollar home. What if you didn’t need 4+ bedrooms? What if you only wanted to get away for a couple of nights?
After much debate of where to buy first, (and almost putting in an offer in a completely different area) the family fell in love with the historic town of Galveston, Texas… And the data told them that their gut instincts were right! Janis and Bill took the plunge and purchased their first short term vacation rental, which was meant to be an investment towards their retirement. Guests were immediately enchanted by the promise and delivery of luxury accommodations and amazing service.
Though the intent was to start slow, and maybe purchase another small condo over time, the trio quickly realized that they had stumbled upon their calling. 6 months in, the condo was booking and generating so much revenue they purchased a second property, which was barely enough to keep up with the booking demand! At the same time, a dear family friend, seeing how well they were doing, decided she wanted to purchase a vacation rental too… and so it began!
The word quickly got out that A Stay Above The Rest was on to something special. The newly formed team realized that the industry had become stale with outdated properties and lackluster management styles. Utilizing the opportunity to hit the market by storm, we quickly began working with other investors and handling full renovations, furnishing, and management of several properties. Initiating the standard that is the A Stay Above The Rest brand today, the company averages 2-3X revenue on nearly every property they manage when comparing them to their relative competitive sets and is growing a stellar team to deliver world-class service in all areas of Owner Relations, Guest Experience, Property Care, and Rates and Occupancy Optimization.
The A Stay Above The Rest Team Culture
Early on, the A Stay Above The Rest team adopted a commitment to excellence in all that we do. After all, we are “A Stay Above The Rest”… a bold name with an even bolder mission. No matter how large the company gets – our passion and promise is to “BE Above The Rest” in all areas only continues to grow along with it!
A Stay Above The Rest offers vacation rental owners an alternative to the “big box” approach to property management that plagues the industry… refusing to ever lose sight of what sets the company apart from others. We continue to grow and raise the bar of expectations for property management.
Just as meticulously as we crafted our business principles – we only hire the best. With a diverse and unique skill set our small yet capable team empowers our company to truly offer our guests and partners an experience that is ‘Above The Rest’. While we work every day with many amazing housekeepers and independent contractors, here are our amazing crew members!
Meet The A Stay Above The Rest Team

Janis Higgins- Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
Janis, our “magic maker”, is a lover of life and all things to make people happy! She strives on creating amazing places and experiences for our guests while cultivating a great atmosphere for our employees. She is our in-house realtor for certain locations and heads up the complete remodel and design/furnishing of our beautiful properties. She has 3 grown children and a boy still at home. She lives in Austin, TX and enjoys, when she isn’t working, her days on the boat on Lake Travis, any reason to travel and her family!

Katie Tackett- Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder
Katie is passionate about generating the most revenue as possible for our owners! She knows that to make our owners money you have to deliver an amazing Guest Experience. To have a great experience, you have to present a well maintained and beautiful property. Katie works alongside Janis to make sure that the whole wheel of operations keeps rolling. She manages our various revenue streams and handles acquisitions of new properties. Katie and her husband live in Austin, TX and have a little girl and boy! She enjoys travel (and lots of it), family time, her horses, and food (but specifically tacos)!

Bill Higgins- Chief Financial Officer and Co-Founder
Bill works a full time job outside of A Stay Above The Rest, but he is great at keeping us on track with financials, goal setting, and more! He makes sure that all of our ducks are in a row and we can afford to have Torchy’s Tacos catered for the occasional splurge on office lunches! Bill enjoys crunching numbers, his family, fitness (including boxing), and boating around Lake Travis.

Lauren Torres – Operations Manager
Lauren is our longest employee and is great at utilizing her vast knowledge of our company to jump in wherever is needed! She is a huge reason as to why we are so successful and continue to grow an amazing team. She started working full time for A Stay Above The Rest in July of 2017. Her and Janis now work together to bring you the beautiful properties you see on our site through remodels, design, furnish, and make-ready phases. Lauren works hard at whatever she sets her mind to and we couldn’t be more grateful for her! She lives in Austin, TX along with her husband, 2 daughters and 2 adorable Boston Terriers. She enjoys fitness, travel and any excuse for family time! We also have to mention Big Brother… she keeps us in the loop of what all is going on!

Angela F – Senior Operations Lead

Brittany L – Senior Guest Experience Lead

Cassidy M – Guest Experience Lead

Monica R – Guest Experience Representative

Lauren W – Guest Experience Representative

Andrew L – Property Care Specialist

Shanna J – Guest Experience Representative

Hailey M – Guest Experience Representative

Alison G – Property Inspector
