New Short Term rental host, Am i doing this right?

[Blake King]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and I jsut bought a 3 bedroom cabin from Avery's team at the Short Term Shop, and are very excited to take over a cabin that was poorly run, and turn this thing into a cash machine! This post may be better split into multiple, but here are some things I need help with, and turned to the only place i trust! Thank you for advance for your replies.

1 - We inherited over 50+ bookings, all the way into December of 2022, all of which are rented WELL below what we plan to rent it for. The previous owner sent an email out saying we would honor their booking and pricing, which i never agreed to, i only agreed to honor their dates. She apologized, and i sent out my email either way, offering them a discount from what we WOULD rent it for, to get them closer to what they a paid. A few people have understood, and a few have written some very strongly worded emails saying how this is "bad business." I do feel bad for these people, as i would be angry in their situation, but there is no reason i need to honor bookings, especially things that are 6+ months out, correct? Perhaps i just need some motivation to stick to my guns and do things for myself, its either their money or mine.

2- Does anyone have recommendations for programs that will help manage messaging, and syncing the calendar between VRBO and AIRBNB? I know @lukecarl has a video about syncing them with a calendar, is this the best way?

3 - I have setup price labs on the listing, and the prices seem to be all over the place, with some weekdays  being $199, and some weekends the same week being upwards of $400, does anyone have experience with price labs? And if someone books this, would they pay the different rate per day, or do they pay based on the start day of their booking? i know i am supposed to run things only booked out 14 days, but i am very nervous to loose too many bookings with having my price too high... Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!