All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Vail

Last I checked in at Memphis, the market seemed to already be very saturated. There were several hundred places available at $40 and $50 per night. Just do your research before buying for STR purpose.

They have another stupid program we also tried. They have an option hosts can allow guests to select a “non-refundable” booking, and get a 10% discount. This as well seemed like a cool thing. We turned it on at one of our listings (thankfully just 1). 

The very first booking came in, and it was like 2 weeks out. The day of that check in, that guest had a “work emergency” come up and needed to cancel. Even though they got a 10% discount, because they choose “non-refundable” They demanded a refund. They called and complained to Airbnb that they needed a refund. Airbnb contacted us no less than 3 times to try to get us to give a refund to this guest. At the end, we caved in, refunded the money, removed the “non-refundable” option, and quit playing Airbnb’s little games. 

@Brandi Scharrer Last time I was on the 66, I stayed in Amarillo. I saw a bilboard that said there are 7,500 Hotel rooms in Amarillo, and it seemed true (Hotels everywhere!). 

So we searched Airbnb, and booked one. It sucked. Then I got on Airdna.co. and looked at Amarillo. There were only like 200 STR's in the whole town... As you know, it is the only town to stay in for about a 15 hour stretch on 66 (I/40). I said, yes, let's move the STR business to Texas. My wife pointed out that the whole town smelled like cow ****, and she was right.

So.... We recently moved to Ausitn, TX, and am loving the live music, BBQ, and STR here! I am considering Amarillo. Let us know how it goes in WF!

Route 66 (and interstate 40 are main routs for travelers. Likely people stopping to sleep while traveling long distances may be a factor in high occupancy. Did you know there are over 7,500 hotel room in Amarillo Texas? 

@Steven Andrews to answer your question, there are starting to be several smaller shops for STR property management. I run one as well. We charge 25% for full-service, and less in some situations. Our clients love it, because they are completely hands off and have great profits. We have grown quite rapidly in Ohio (Columbus and Cincinnatti), and have doubled our portfolio size again in the last year. We are now managing 46 units, and are working on expanding to new states as well (TX, PA, KY). It is not our goal to be as big as the big players (Vacasa, Evolve, Turnkey). My worst fear is taking on more than we can properly manage, and I see the big guys doing that ALL THE TIME! But our goal is steady, sustainable growth, and to be more of a great service for individual investors to gain experience and profits in the short term rental space without having to reinvent the wheel.

I know my friends @Luke Carl and @John Underwood always want to promote the self-Managment style, but the reality is some people just want to hire a bit of specialized help, instead of take on the learning curve and pay their dues by making costly mistakes. Also, some (high net worth individuals) value their time at a high enough price they would rather pay a manager to do the day-to-day stuff. 

- Cheers!

@Steve Rozenberg - I think you missed that they were asking about Short Term Rental Property Managment. It sounds like you have great systems for long-term property management, but I don't see your most of your questions being relevant for STR. This is an STR forum just FYI. Or is this just a canned response that you post to any forum that mentions finding a property manager?

Step1: Reach out, open up a direct line of communication with them. Lots of issues get worse when the neighbors feel like their concerns aren’t being heard and responded to. If they can speak with you directly, that can help a lot. Beyond that, I agree that it also helps to invest a bit of time and money in building a good relationship with them. Often times, I have even been able to strike a mutually beneficial relationship (like hired ones teenage daughter to mow the yard and take care of lawn care for the year, hired another neighbor to take the trash out every week). When neighbors feel invested in your business, you may be shocked how they now want to help you run it, instead of just be angry/scared about it. 

 Unfortunately I think the biggest change will be for the third-party software vendors such as PMS like Ownerrez, Smartbnb, Ect. They built their systems to rely on this meta data from the iCal link, and now they will stop receiving it. So this is a dig from Airbnb at owners that cross list, and a shot in the knees at 3rd party software vendors who built their system around the Airbnb iCal link. 

We just added STR unit #46 to our management roster, I would be happy to help! The key for us has been to constantly re-design, and re-build systems as we hit new levels of scale. Shoot me an email about what you had in mind for coaching/mentoring, and I think we can work something out. Cheers!

I have friends that STR in Palm Springs. They get $1000/night during Coachella. It is a good market, but seems to be getting saturated. If you can stand out, you should do well.