All Forum Posts by: Chase Hoover

We have a few boutique motels - for each property we created dedicated branded accounts on Airbnb and other OTAs.  We have a third-party property manager that co-hosts.  The intent is to have everything separated so that we can turn over the logins upon disposition of each asset.  This is the only way (currently) to ensure reviews and listing goodwill are transferred to the new owner, which adds value in a sale.

 Sometimes there's just no other way to decribe an area!

@James Chung do you live there?  Pulaski is pretty BFE, not much going on - I'd consider Lynchburg, Smith Mountain Lake, Wintergreen, or other areas where people travel.

What are you expecting by posting here haha?  Just get one if you want to get one.  Or if you have a nice modern phone, that would probably suffice.  I have a DSLR with a wide-angle lens that I shoot one-offs every now and then like you mentioned.  There are plenty of online photo editors where you can pretty it up.  Don't overthink it.

@Sammi Johnson would love to hear a deeper dive into the details of your financing structure and development plan - sounds creative.

We use Eviivo for our boutique motels - also considered ResNexus.  Built websites on Wix and linked "book now" buttons to our Eviivo interface.

Hosted one of those one time.  Long story short, I was up all night before a 6am flight dealing with an emergency plumber, all of our towels were ruined, and I now put "only flush toilet paper" signs over every toilet I have full or partial ownership of.

 Bingo

For each new property we acquire, we set up a dedicated email address, airbnb profile, etc etc with the intention of transferring everything to the buyer upon disposition.  This is easier with multi-unit properties like we buy instead of a portfolio of SFHs (unless you set up the entire portfoio as an entity to be sold altogether down the road).

If my clients want the future bookings (if they're buying a turn-key operating STR and want to continue everything mostly as-is), we'll typically write verbiage in the purchase agreement that the seller will change the logins for Airbnb, VRBO, and any other platforms in use to a temporary email address prior to closing. Buyer will receive login info for this temporary email upon settlement, after which they will go in and update everything to their personal info. It's the only workaround (that I know of) to "transfer" listings. Of course it doesn't work every time. If the seller owns other STRs on the same account, it won't work. Sometimes people get really posessive of their Airbnb accounts as well if they travel often and have a lot of guest reviews. Again- not perfect, but we've done it more than a few times with success.

We partner with a third-party management company who handles all cleaning, maintenance, etc. Others choose to self-manage and source/manage these vendors themselves, however we've found it beneficial to pay a bit more for outsourcing this which has allowed us to scale quicker and enjoy our weekends! The biggest we have without OSM is 22 units - not sure I'd go much bigger than that. The security from STR regulation (commercial zoning) is one of the biggest reasons we scaled up to this model as well.

Yessir - 4 boutique lodging properties, about 50 keys.  It's a different beast - make sure you have the right team in place!