A meeting held to gauge the level of interest in a membership organisation representing owners and managers of vacation rental properties in Bermuda has been hailed as “extremely successful”.

Ralph Richardson, among eight members of a steering committee that has spent a year in near-monthly meetings in order to set up the Bermuda Rental Association of Vacation Rental Owners, said 80 people attended Thursday’s meeting in the offices of Ignite Bermuda.

Mr Richardson said: “I think we will need a larger meeting space next time. Chairs were set out, theatre-style. We filled them, and then began rolling in chairs from desks around the office. Even then, there were some people standing.

“It was an amazing evening, I really feel we had an extremely successful night.”

He said “15 to 20” of those in attendance were among the 35 people who were already members of the organisation.

“The rest were new, and were an amazingly diverse group that also included some service providers,” Mr Richardson said. “A couple of real estate agents came who help vacation rental owners to rent their properties, and lots of information was shared.”

Mr Richardson said some 50 membership forms were distributed at the meeting.

Attendees heard why organisers consider that a single representative body is necessary, about the benefits of membership, and how Bravo could benefit the vacation rental industry.

The next step, Mr Richardson said, is the holding of an annual general meeting at which members can elect executive officers, and approve or amend a draft constitutional document that has been prepared by the steering committee to govern how the organisation operates.

“Once we have had an AGM, elected a leader or leaders, and ratified a constitution, then at that point, we can start functioning as a group,” he said.

Mr Richardson said he expects that meeting to be held “towards the end of the season, in the fall”.

Bravo said there are some 630 vacation rental owners in Bermuda, representing more than 1,000 tourist beds. That is “at least a third” of the existing hotel and guesthouse beds available on-island, the organisation said.

Anyone seeking a membership form, or who has general questions about the organisation, is invited to contact Bravo at bravo.bermuda@gmail.com