All Forum Posts by: Brandon Gale

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

Bourne, MA is an odd one to see so high in my opinion. Cape Cod is HIGHLY seasonal and basically goes dead from October through April. Plus it's right over the bridge, so its reasonable for MA residents to live there full time. You're paying MA home prices (which are outrageous right not) for a property that will be hard pressed to exceed 60% occupancy. If you could work it into a combination STR/MTR and rent mid-term to people working in the area for the down months, the market could work, but aside from that I don't see a ton of value in that market for the prices you have to pay, you basically have to make a years worth of expenses in a 4-5 month span.

I don't have specific knowledge of any of the other markets on the list, but based on this one it seems like not much analysis went in to any of these properties and its strictly based on a rough estimates of revenue.

John is right about the enemy method, its the only accurate way to estimate revenue.

The blanket estimated revenue amounts on analysis websites like AirDNA can be a decent baseline, but generally include too big a pool of properties to give a very precise estimate.

The way I use the enemy method: Sign up for a pricing software that has market analysis (I use PriceLabs but most of the pricing softwares have this feature). Use their market analysis tool to sort by properties similar to yours (#bed/baths, SF, location, amenities, etc.) and look through specific listings to find ones VERY similar to yours. Create a list of properties you think are very similar to yours based on their listings and use those revenues to create your estimate.

Keep in mind if you are just starting, expect about a 20% decrease in year 1 revenue compared to comparable listings. You do get a small boost on most booking platforms right when you list, but overall it takes time to gain traction and perfect your pricing strategy. Year 2 you will get close to your potential revenue, most say year 3 is when you hit your peak revenue.

 So interestingly, applying heavier discounts farther in advance actually raised our average nightly rate for those quieter months. Alot of owners have an automatic "last minute discount" that starts about 30 days out and gradually increases, we do the same. But by adding discounts 3ish months out, we are getting longer lead times, so people are booking farther in advance and locking in at higher rates because we have more competitive pricing for those people that are planning further ahead.

Unique Amenities: As others have said, it will depend a lot on the area. Best advice I can give, get setup on Pricelabs or a similar pricing/analysis software. They have a Market Research feature I use all the time. Setup your filter to show you properties similar to what your looking for in the area your looking for (size, # beds/baths, etc.). Sort by revenue and check out the listings of all the top performing properties and see what amenities they are providing. I do this often just to stay up to date with what others in the area are doing amenity-wise. We found in our research that even at the increased price-point, a mountain view is worth its weight in gold. We shopped for properties based on that and it has paid off.

Guest Experience: Similar to what others have said, have good detailed automated messages for guests and a guidebook, nothing they hate more than getting to a property and being confused about how to get in, where to find things, etc. We also send an automated message to them around noon time the day after check-in just to see if they have any questions or need anything, most guests really appreciate us checking in with them, this also avoids the common scenario of guests that have an issue at the property but just choose not to tell you about it, then leave a bad review without giving you a chance to make things right. We often get a reply like "Everything's great but the coffee maker isn't working" which gives us a chance to have a new one dropped off and get ahead of any issues.

We also provide toiletries and basic cooking needs to all guests. Just the basics, little shampoo, conditioner, soap and lotion bottles in each bathroom, salt, pepper, cooking spray, coffee grounds, etc.. If you buy them online in bulk they're really cheap and I think it makes a huge difference.

Lastly, DoorDash and other apps like it are incredibly useful. Guests are always amazed at how quickly we get them things they need. Guest runs out of coffee, runs out of toilet paper, needs more towels, etc, we can usually get them any of these things in under an hour with the delivery service, and for much cheaper than the typical service call to try and have your cleaner stop by. We get alot of great reviews specifically mentioning how quickly we were able to get them supplies.

Seasonal Strategies: For us this has been all about pricing. We struggled in the down months during our first year. We decided to price our down months more aggressively and start our discounting 3+ months out. Our lead times and occupancy rates went up a ton in our quieter months after doing this. VRBO's Market Maker tool is awesome for this. I pay close attention to it in down months. It has a graph that shows you where your nightly rate is compared to the average rate of booked properties in your area. As we approach slow months I manually adjust my pricing to try and always stay just below the booked property line.

Curious if anyone else received this same email from VRBO today:

"Subject: Vrbo property rate discrepancy error – action required

Dear Partner,

We're reaching out to let you know that we recently discovered a technical error that may have caused your rates to be displayed incorrectly to travelers who booked your property between July 29 – August 9, 2024.

Please review the property rate for the following reservations IDs:

XX-XXXXXX, XX-XXXXXX, XX-XXXXXX

If you believe one of these reservations was impacted, we ask that you honor it and contact Vrbo Support within 30 days of receiving this email to file a claim for the potential difference between the booked rate and your actual rate.

You can reach Vrbo Support 24/7 at https://help.vrbo.com/?t=pm and click Contact Us. Please have the impacted reservation ID ready for reference with you when you reach out.

This issue has been resolved and we greatly appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you,
Vrbo Partner Support"

I looked through the bookings that may have been affected, all the numbers seemed close enough.

Anyone else get this email or notice any big discrepancies in their bookings?

I have learned to completely disregard articles like this and just constantly be checking my own statistics for my property and watch for trends. There has been so much AirBnB panic over the last year and a half, yet I have not experienced any of it personally, actually the opposite.

We changed our pricing strategy for 2024 based on some market analysis from the previous year in an effort to increase lead times, average stay, and ultimately revenue. Lead times were low (about 15 days average), average stay was low (2.5 nights/stay) and revenue was below expected.

In 2024 our booking average lead time is 55 days and average stay is 3.25 nights/stay. In turn our revenue has increased by about 18% so far.

In my opinion, your specific market and your pricing strategy are going to determine these statistics more than the overall sentiment about AirBnB or the other booking platforms.

(also something that may have a correlation to the article, with the increase in lead time our VRBO bookings skyrocketed. In 2023 we were about 80% AirBnB, in 2024 so far we are 75% VRBO, so there may be something to the idea that lead times are decreasing on AirBnB but not VRBO).