Beginning our short term rental business Airbnb, vrbo, craigslist

[Sandy Sciales]

Hi Y'all,

We have a 4 bed 3 bath, pool home 6 hours away from our home that we are hoping to turn into a short term rental. We have had plenty of experience with long term rentals, but are wet behind the ears on this.

Here are some things that I need help to resolve:

Which furnishing textiles are best for durability ?

How to vet prospective tenants?

Does anyone have a short term rental with a pool?  PLEASE provide me with tips

How to check if the cleaning crew did their job properly from a remote location, I was thinking of having them take a live video before payment...

which remote door locks and thermostats are most reliable?

If you were able to start over, what would you have done differently? I am scared but up for the challenge...

Thanks for your help!

Sandy

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Sandy Sciales! Ok, let's run down some things we have done that have worked for us at our lake house.

As for textiles, for sheets I use a 70/30 Cotton/Poly blend in a percale weave. They wash up nice, dry pretty fast, have a crisp feel and don't wrinkle as much. Sateen weaves have a tendency to pill up. I have been buying Big One sheets from Kohls. On our second season and they still look great. Only white. White towels. I use the Grandeur Hospitality brand from Costco. They have low lint, fluff up nice and people like them. They go on sale regularly and cost less than 2 bucks a towel.

I bought all USA made furniture. All of it used from various places. Just cruise Craigslist and you can find some great deals.

New mattresses. We bought all Zinus 12" memory foam, 1.5" gel foam topper and a Serta cover over all of it. Great mattress for the price.

Make sure the kitchen is loaded. I setup our kitchen to cook just about anything. Toasted cheese to a 25lb turkey. Lots of small appliances, plenty of knives, all sorts of utensils. 50 plus spices in the cabinet. Some easy start foods like spaghetti with sauce. Something they can make in a pinch for the kids for a late arrival. I put ketchup and mustard along with other condiments.

 I vet each and every guest. I call them when the request a booking. Chat with them for a few minutes so I can get a feel for who they are. Only then do I approve their stay. This has worked well so far, but nothing is perfect.

As for the cleaning crew, do a test. Have them come and clean the house and leave some things and see if they clean them. I dripped some bacon grease on the front of the oven. That sort of thing. As for the video, that is a sure way to make sure you lose your cleaners.

I am using the Schalge Smart Connect on Z Wave. It works awesome and I highly recommend. I use the Wink 2 hub for Z Wave home automation and it is great as well. The app controls the lock and the thermostat. Z Wave uses much less energy for the wireless signal so the batteries in the lock last much longer. I got just about a year out of mine.  As for the thermostat, I use the Emerson Sensi. I chose that unit due to the fact that I don't have a C wire, which provides constant power to the thermostat. The Sensi works great when you have heat and AC. It pulls power from whatever system isn't in use so no C wire required. Works great with the Wink control app.

As for doing it all again, I don't think I would change much. We have all 5 star reviews so far. All you can do is get all your ducks in a row and be prepared for the inevitable system failure or damage. I use Proper insurance for vacation rentals. Covers everything. It is pricey but you are covered.

Good luck!