All Forum Posts by: Sokun So

Any experienced Lodgify users out there who can explain how the heck I can set up a new team member's account to allow them to monitor my guest inbox and reply to guests? Seems like something that should be easy to set up, but it seems way more conveluted than it needs to be.

I added a user as a Rental Manager, but that only gives them access to the PM Module which literally is just backend stuff that's not that important to being able to message guests. On top of that, they can only loggin using Lodgify's PM website at pm.lodgify.com vs the more important app.lodgify.com site that has access to the inbox and calendar.

As a host managing a property 2.5 hours away with a toddler and newborn, I can totally relate! Here're a few of my recommendations. 

1.  Boots on the ground like your cleaner is VERY important, but I'd also recommend you get to know your neighbors and exchange info. They can be an extra set of eyes if anything happens.
2. Online devices that are my must haves.
- Security cameras
- Smart lock
- Doorbell camera
- Smart thermostat
3. Storage area with plenty of inventory for 2 - 3 months. You should be visiting the property every 3 - 4 months to resupply and check if anything needs maintenance.

Quote from @Jon Martin:

How exactly are you all collecting payments early from VRBO and AirBNB? Do the PMS systems allow you to do this? I've never seen this as an option and only collect the morning after the guest arrives. 

I wish I knew, but we're talking about prepayments prior to a reservation.

Previously, I just let the OTAs set their default (Airbnb 100% & VRBO 50/50), but now that I'm paying more attention to it through Lodgify, I'm going to do a 50/50 split and see if that helps increase bookings.

Quote from @Mike Shemp:

You need to make sure that how the money is collected is 100% collected prior to them putting a single door in the door.  

If you have any concerns that payment won't be 100% collected prior, then go with 100% at time of booking.

The beauty of having a smart lock where you can disable a code remotely! After 3 years of VRBO doing 50/50 splits for payments, I've run into 1 issue of no payment before checking and the guest promptly paid. 

Quote from @Jeremy Wirths:

@Sokun So Joshua Tree is an extremely competitive market. Sounds like one of the ingredients of your recipe is a redesign/update. I highly recommend this over adding anything else. Once that is done really understanding revenue management. These two should get you a much better return than everything else added on. Patryk Swietek is the man to go to in that market. I’d reach out to him for specifics.

Thanks for the feedback! We're in the middle of low season with an average booking window of 30 days so I'm not expecting a lot of tangible performance improvements until early September.

Re: Revenue management, is there anything I'm missing to improve this area? I currently manage my own P&L so I've got a pretty descent view of where my money is coming in/out.

I'm going through my Lodgify payment settings and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on whether or not having a partial payment at time of booking or charging for the full booking made any difference? 

My VRBO does 2 payments and I've never had any issues with it, but did see some folks talking about VRBO sending check-in info when the 2nd payment hadn't been paid. Can obviously mitigate access to the property by disabling the code if using a smart lock, but other than that, are there any advantages/disadvantages that you've seen?

I'm about to start my 1st out of state STR, but 2nd overall STR property in the portfolio with 3 years of experiencing managing a property in Joshua Tree by myself without a co-host/property manager. It's done well enough to keep the lights on with a modest profit, but definitely could do a lot better with more of that experienced property manager's "secret sauce". Other than the property manager's location advantange, this sauce is the reason why I'm considering hiring a property manager instead of self hosting.

After 3 years of the "set it and forget it" dynamic pricing mentality on VRBO & AirBnb, I'm on a mission to really understand what I'm not doing right that an experienced co-host is doing. Maybe that'll give me more confidence to manage this second property remotely + increase bookings of my current place. 

Here's a list of ingredients that I've been trying to cook up to figure out what this magical "secret sauce" is:
1. Updated Property with more amenities, maximized beds from 2 queens to 3 beds ( 1 king + 2 queens) , and remodeled exterior with a much more appealing hangout space that includes hot tub/outdoor dining/geodesic dome. 

2. Added Booking.com as an additional online travel agency (OTA) to increase potential guests.

3. Integrated into Lodgify so I can better streamline all my OTA management into 1 central location.

4. Pricelabs Education - Doing a lot of research into Pricelabs' toolsets so I can better understand how daily prices are adjusted + integrated Occupancy Based Adjustments.

5. Monitoring the booking calendar much more closely and adjusting some of the recommended prices from Pricelabs on a case by case basis.

6. Set up Direct Booking site.

7. Started marketing the STR outside of the OTAs via social media.

So what's everyone's thoughts on my receipe above? Would really appreciate if anyone has some additional suggestions that they find works well or didn't work well.

Thank you in advanced!

Hot tub in Joshua Tree?? Prob a good idea which is why I recently added one after hosting the property over 3 years. It's hot heck at the moment around 100 degrees, but I'm hoping it'll be worth the investment come winter time.

Quote from @Collin Hays:

If you are already on VRBO and Airbnb, you have more than enough exposure to stay booked. Booking.com is even more expensive than VRBO/ABNB, so you will likely be costing yourself money for every Booking.com reservation.

I had done some initial research into booking.com because of its wider international reach and actually did get it set up + synced to Lodgifty pretty smoothly this week. Within a few days, I got one booking from the UK and one from Colombia.

As far as their commission of 15%, Lodgifty and I'd imagine most PMS tools lets you set your markup to counter the comissions so my settings basically net the same cash return across all 3 OTAs. 

Quote from @Alex F.:

Hi @Sokun So  As for dynamic pricing I use wheelhouse with most properties and pricelabs with 1 property.  The dynamic pricing integrates with my PMS, which is Hostfully.  Then it synchronizes to vrbo/booking/airbnb/whimstay, and a few others.  

 Thank you! I finally figured out how to set things up properly with Lodgify + Pricelabs and it's been great so far.