All Forum Posts by: Brandon Gale

 Unfortunately not much you can do about this retroactively. In that case I would personally just respond and say "Thank you so much for the kind review, we are so glad you enjoyed your stay!" This points out the fact that the review is actually good, even if the stars weren't, and I think most future guests will see through that.

We had one like this in our first few reviews. What I did to combat this was make the review standard clear to guests in all your messages to them. In our check-in message, at the end we say "We strive to provide all our guests with a 5-Star experience. If at any point in your stay your experience is not meeting this expectation please let us know immediately. We want to do everything we can to make sure your stay is perfect!"

Then after check-out, right when the review window opens, we send them a review request specifically stating that they were awesome guests and that we gave them a 5-star review and it would mean a lot to us if they gave us one as well.

Mentioning 5-stars several times helps make them realize that 5-stars is the standard. Many people just don't know this and treat it like a Google review where 3 is fine, 4 is good and 5 is perfection. In reality we as hosts know the platforms treat is as 5=Pass, 4 or less=Fail.

Since doing this in our messages we had all 5-star reviews for about 18 months straight until this most recent one.

Seems like people are mostly split on whether they respond to reviews or not.

Some awesome feedback/ideas though,

@Jesse Turner really interesting idea sending a survey to guests before review. I'm sure in alot of cases with high maintenance guests it gives them their chance to feel special and give their opinions so maybe they won't feel as much need to go to the platform reviews. Plus if there actually was a significant issue you can find our about it then and send a partial refund in cases where it's warranted. I may try something like that.

For when you do respond @Noah Wright that is am amazing breakdown of how to write a good reply that won't come off as condescending to other guests.

We have responded to reviews in the past, typically when it is actually helpful feedback and we address the issue so we can let future guests know it's resolved and that we actively listen to feedback. This post was more for cases of extremely ridiculous reviews like 4 stars because "one of the bedroom doors was squeaky and the outdoor outlet wasn't close enough to charge our Tesla."

For this case I think I'm going to opt for no response, because the review was so ridiculous that future guests will probably recognize it, but alot of great ideas and feedback here for cases where you do need to respond!

Almost every host has experienced it, a high maintenance guest that you go the extra mile for and reports nothing wrong during the stay, but then posts a hyper critical review as if they are Gordon Ramsay reviewing a restaurant.

I have always opted to just not post a reply, especially since we have over 50 great reviews on both sites. I assume most people are able to see through the pickiness of a couple high maintenance people when the rest of the reviews are stellar.

But lately I've been wondering if I should reply to these reviews and what the best approach is. I always worry that correcting them or trying to contradict them will come off as condescending and do more damage than the review itself.

How do you all handle reviews like this?

We are on a well so its no extra cost to us, and I do hate to waste the water, but we always drain and refill between guests. Aside from the fact that its an extra sanitation step for the guests, it also is 1 less thing that a cleaner with a busy schedule could miss. You could inspect the hot tub water for 15 minutes and still miss something like a piece of hair. If a guest finds someone elses hair in the hot tub upon check-in, you can almost guarantee a bad review.

I get being annoyed by the constant adding of rules and regulations from the site, it bothers me as well, but frankly, anyone who wasn't already meeting these guidelines with their messaging shouldn't be hosting anyway. This is probably just their way of creating extra justification for de-platforming. Now they have a concrete rule that allows them to remove your listing if you're a bad host.

As others have said, it doesn't really make sense to run calculations for STR analysis on a monthly basis, just use annual revenues.

Get signed up with a pricing software and use the market analysis tool. Make a list of specific properties that are VERY similar to the property you're analyzing (similar SF, beds/bath, amenities, views, location, etc.). On the pricing software you can see the exact yearly revenue for each specific property. Average out the annual revenue of a list of similar properties and you have a very accurate estimate.

really depends on your exact numbers. If you can stomach some heavy losses in January and February (lowest revenue months in the Smokies) and May to a lesser extent, there may be better days ahead assuming this is your first STR. We took a small loss on our cabin in the Smokies year 1, but saw about a 20% Increase in revenue year 2 due to gaining traction on the booking platforms and perfecting our pricing strategy.

If you can't stomach the heavy losses might be worth selling before you get to the down months. Just wanted to let you know it is common to see big a jump in revenue year 2 if you are managing well.

Hey Cody,
Personally I Would recommend changing the timing of the messages a bit.

I would send your intro message with instructions and details immediately upon booking, this gives them plenty of time to think of questions, and makes sure they know the rules and details right away. 

Also, for recommendations and local attractions, i would recommend creating an online guidebook and putting the link in the message. In my experience, the longer the message, the less likely they are to read everything and if its too long they may pass over importsnt rules or details. Not everyone wants/needs recommendations, but those who do will surely reference the guidebook if you provide one.

Instead of sending a message the evening of check in, i would send that the following morning. Check-in day can be stressful for guests and many will arive very late to the property and arent even there yet when you send your message. I love the idea of checking in with them, we do the same with our cabin, but we send ours the following morning around 11am making sure check-in was smooth and asking if they have any questions or need anything.

For your review request, i would send this the day of check-out around 2-3pm. This is roughly when AirBnB sends their reminder to guests to review their stay. In our experience, you always want to get this message out to them before AirBnB prompts them to review. We make sure to let guests know we are giving them a 5-star review, and that it would mean alot to us if they gave us one as well. That way they know that 5-stars is the expectation, because unfortunately many guests treat it like a Google review where 4 is good and 5 is perfect. Since we starting sending this message we have never had a review less than 5 stars.

Other than that i think it all looks great and the content of each message looks perfect.

Thanks @Jon Martin!

Our 2nd year has been awesome, mostly due to tweaking our pricing strategy. The Smokies are definitely a competitive market but with a unique property, the right amenities, great reviews and a successful pricing strategy there's definitely still a path to success even with the competition.

Hey @Garrett Brown,

I bought a cabin in the Smokey Mountains almost 2 years ago now. 

We did alot of research going into it. We settled on the Smoky Mountains due to fear of unexpected STR regulations in many areas across the country. The Smokies have been relying on short term rentals for their economy for decades and for this reason we felt that it was far less likely to have surprise regulations slapped on us that could affect the investment.

Before purchasing, we analyzed almost 100 in service STR's in the area to see what makes others successful. We came to the conclusion that mountain views, hot tubs, and proximity to big attractions were the most common similarities between successful listings. We settled on a mountainside cabin with a beautiful view only a few miles from Dollywood.

As for reviews, we have learned alot in our time operating the property. The biggest factor as most have said, is communication. Good instructions on access, amenities and use of the property are crucial, guests hate to get to a rental and be confused about how to get in, where to find things, etc. We also found early on that alot of renters don't want to bother to message the host about issues, but then are happy to mention the issues in their reviews. For this reason, we send a friendly message to every guest the day after check-in asking how their first night was and if there's any questions they have or anything they need. Usually it's something minor like "the cabin is great, but the coffee maker isn't working". Getting this info from them allows us to get ahead of the issue and have a new coffee maker dropped off, guests love how quickly we are able to resolve issues or get necessary supplies dropped off. To that point, delivery services have been a huge help for us. We are almost always able to have anything a guest needs dropped off in less than an hour. Most guests are amazed by this and very grateful. Lastly, another problem we noticed with the booking platforms is that many guests don't understand how the review scale is treated. Many treat it like a Google review where 3 is fine, 4 is good, and 5 is perfect. However, all hosts know that the platforms basically treat is as 5 is good and 4 or less is a failure. We make sure guests understand that 5 stars is the expectation by sending them a message after check-out: "Hi _____, we hope you enjoyed your stay at the cabin! You were wonderful guests, we just left you a 5-star review and it would mean the world to us if you left us one as well 😊. Safe travels home and come back soon!"

The cabin has been awesome for my investing journey. I started off house hacking a 3 family in central Massachusetts in 2020. I owned it for 2 years before selling and using a 1031 exchange to purchase the cabin. Our cash flow on the cabin is about 2x what it was for the 3 family, with the potential to reach 3x at peak performance. I also learned a ton about 1031 exchanges and now have experience in 2 different real estate investment methods.

My biggest tip I would tell my past self, as a remote investor, before even starting the property search, call around, talk to agents and locals and find a super reliable contractor for yourself. We did have an inspection for our cabin, but there just wasn't enough detail about the condition of several important things. We had a few surprise capital expenditures come up in our first year that weren't really mentioned to us by the inspector. A reliable contractor however would have likely caught them all and been able to give us estimates to go back to the seller with to negotiate.

Would be happy to answer any questions or give advice to anyone starting out! We have learned alot in our first 2 years.

Here is the listing:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/812587724289123082?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76