Anyone doing STR's primarily with rentals?

Question

Looking for advice and tips!  I recently found a RENTAL property that is willing to allow me to use it as a STR.  I'm super excited about it because it's in a great area.  I'm not local and I have a PM company who specializes in STR who will be managing it.  I would love outside the box tips from any of you experienced peeps to help my listing be successful as I really want this this method (STR on rentals) to snowball into several more.  The eventual goal is to buy properties for flips/LTR's but for now, this is what I can do.  I think the PM company I hired will do a great job doing basic marketing for the property (they have a good success rate) but I want to know what else I can do.

- any tricks on decor/amenities that directly lead to bookings?  (I'm considering adding bathrobes)

- have you made websites for your listing and do you get bookings from there?

- do you do any extra advertising?  (FB/Insta/googleadwords)

- anyone do videos for their listing and put on youtube?  I am actually a video producer so that would be easy for me

I am one of those people who is never satisfied being average.  I want to be THE BEST.  Which means I want my rental to make more $$ than every other one currently on the platform.  Thanks in advance!

James Carlson · Answer

@Julie Hill

Congratulations! That's so exciting. I know a few people doing the rental arbitrage thing with Airbnb and short-term rentals. (I'm looking at you @Tyler Work .) That's exciting to find a landlord who's open to it.

Before answering your questions, can you tell us where your new property is located?

Your questions:

1. Go minimalist, but try not to be too "stagey." That's a fine needle to thread. I think sparse modern furnishings do well, but if it looks like every other moderately priced home-staging furnishings, I think that's not quite as appealing. Maybe throw in some books and something to be a little more unique.

2. I like Tyler's idea about a Facebook page. You should also build out a website and have it ready to go for bookings. Not many people are going to find it right away, because you won't be high up in Google search rankings. Write some content on the website about Airbnb in that area. Good content will eventually drive eyeballs to your site and then they may start booking through there instead of Airbnb/VRBO.

3. See above

4. This is a cool idea, but there's no place to put it on Airbnb. You could put it on your website though.

Some other thoughts:

- be sure to get the emails and phone numbers of all guests and stay in touch with them. When they return to town, they may remember you and book again ... this time through your website

- Pay for good photos! Probably the number one mistake people make is assuming some quick cell phone ones will do it. I like Virtuance. It's $100 for 10 or $150 for 25 photos. They're all HD and make your place look amazing. See below for examples.

Oh, and good luck!

-------

Here are three cell phone vs. professional photos of an Airbnb listing

Tyler Work · Answer

@Julie Hill your management company should be able to answer all of those questions for you since they should have experience in your area.  What type of marketing you do totally depends on where your rental is located and how big your PM company is.  I have heard of individuals crushing it with Facebook marketing, simply paying to advertise a link to their listing on Airbnb or VRBO.  Ask your PM company if they can run ads for you, although most of them don't really bring value with marketing unless they have a large following and get a lot of direct bookings.

-Tricks for decor/amenities:  A hair dryer can add $10/night .  Also ask your PM company to leave out coffee, snacks, and tea for guests.  Ask them to survey guests to figure out what is the best bang for your buck.  I do this by using software that sends a survey out to every guest post-stay.

-Websites: Your PM should use software that allows them to take direct bookings.  The larger the company generally the more of a following they have.  Also depends on the area and what platforms people are using.

-Advertising:  Google Adwords and Facebook have proven to be most effective.  Make a page just for your listing on Facebook and promote it.  It will show up on google searches when people search for things like "where to stay in X town"

-Videos:  We don't do videos because they generally cost way too much.  Airbnb screens out all links, VRBO allows them, and I am unaware of other platforms that allow URLs to youtube pre-booking.  Instead, make a free floor plan of your listing and post it as one of the photos.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Julie Hill Not to rain on your parade, but what if occupancy is only 50% of what you project?  Will you be able to break even?

But to answer your 4 questions...

1. I have tasteful paintings of nudes in most bedrooms.  99% of my renters are guys.

2. A Facebook page is what I have. Not worth it to me, but I don't put much effort into it. CraigsList has been by far the best online tool for me

3. Heck yeah.  I sent my house flyers to every welding school and refinery in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana.  I have 2 billboards by the refinery.  Oct-Dec I distribute 300 calendars of scantily clad women to all the companies that had their workers rent from me. I have a door magnet on both sides of my truck advertising my houses. Every person that takes a drug screen to get in the refinery gets a metal pen with my information.

4. No.

James Carlson · Answer

You're all set, then!

Julie Hill · Answer

The good news is... I'm actually a pro cinematographer (which means pro photography is even easier).  I got this!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

@Shane H. Yes, these are in Coffeyville.  After Amazon left a person could buy a decent 3 BR house with CHA for under 10k.  I can charge motel weekly rates for the houses and rent them to refinery contractors.  Definitely a niche market. Wouldn't work in Indy or Parsons or Caney.

JJ King · Answer

Hey Julie! Professional photography for your listing is a must. I find that bright minimal styled areas seem to book best but it really depends on the market and what your guest is looking for.

I like the idea of a video walkthrough on youtube! That could be very useful, but I don't think you will be able to link it on most listing platforms, so it would need to serve as a way to bring people to your listing.

I'm interested in the numbers of what you are paying for rent and how much of a cut the property manager is making. To me it doesn't seem like there would be very much money left over for you after you pay the property manager and pay rent.

James Carlson · Answer

Now that's not something you'll read in the Airbnb 101 handbook.

Shane H. · Answer

@Paul Sandhu

Are you doing these Short term rentals in Coffeyville?  I haven't been in that part of KS for a long time - figured your economy took a dump after Amazon left?  Sounds like you've had some luck there?

Dave Homyak · Answer

Just noticed you are from Denver.  Great place to AirBnB, especially because competition is diminished with laws regarding must be owner occupied.  You could crush it by renting out your place when you aren't there.  Had an acquaintance that targeted the area to get a place in Denver solely by AirBnB data for where he would make the most money.  He also traveled a lot, with a flexible schedule, so he would leave his calendar open and do his work travel when people booked his place.  If your schedule isn't flexible, just leave when you are traveling open and incentivize a stay during that time by having day 2 be crazy cheap, so when people see your listing, they have to click.   Then have something like 3 day min or something.

Anyone doing STR's primarily with rentals?

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