All Forum Posts by: Jen Faulkner

@Alan Grobmeier, you are so right!  It IS a lot of work.  We are part of a real estate investor group in our local town in Illinois, and I've told some of them about our experiences owning out of state.  Most of them are local investors and have never owned vacation rentals.  One night during a meeting, I got a text from one of our cleaners, telling me that we needed more towels in one of our vacation rentals.  The leader of our investor group looked at me and said, "What?  I wouldn't want to be bothered on a Thursday night!  I'm off the clock!"  So true.  This business is not for everyone.  It's definitely NOT passive income like our local rentals.  With our vacation rentals, we have to impress our guests rather than the other way around with our local long-term rentals where the tenants need to impress US!  It's absolutely a hospitality business.  But the returns are worth it, and it's pretty rewarding.  It's still not for everyone though, so I hear you.  Sometimes I'm clenching my teeth and hoping a certain guest never returns, but thankfully, I've managed to get all good reviews, even if a small percentage of them are 4's.  lol  

@Jenessa NeSmith, I completely agree with refunding for whatever reason.  Usually, you don't have to, but we know in this business that reviews are everything.  Our washer quit working in one of our units recently, and so the guests (staying for 6 nights) had to go without it for 4 days because we couldn't get a new one delivered until then.  I told her to send me a request for any amount that she thought she needed as a refund, and I let her know that I want happy guests.  She didn't want a refund and said she'd be back again, but I'm sure my offer impressed her.

We had an air conditioner not work one night when some guests checked in. They slept on the floor near an open sliding glass door (I didn't know till the next day). She asked for a refund for that night, and I gave it to her, but I also refunded her the second night, even though we got the air conditioner fixed.  It's a small price to pay.  

The well-known Matt Landau says that he would give his first-born child if a guest requested it.  Obviously, that's an exaggeration, but his point is well-taken.  Do most anything to make the guests happy!  Reviews and word-of-mouth are EVERYTHING.

@Julie McCoy, thanks!  I like your tips too!   :)

I don’t ask for good reviews, but this is pretty much what I do. As soon as someone reserves, I send them a welcome email and ask them if they’re visiting for a special occasion or just for fun. It starts a sort of friendly dialogue that establishes a connection. If they’ve got a special occasion, such as an anniversary, it leads to more dialogue, and I usually send a bottle of sparkling cider and a Happy Anniversary note. That’s for another story, but right before their visit, I email any pertinent information and tell them to have a great time and have safe travels. I also ask them to notify me if they see anything amiss and let them know that I rely on guests to tell me if anything is wrong, since I’m not there (this may be different for you, but I’m hours away). 

Every once in awhile, I might send an inquiry during their visit and ask them how their trip is going. I don’t do this for everyone, but sometimes I feel like some guests need that extra attention. Like I said, I do not ask for positive reviews, but I will message someone after their visit and ask them if they had a good time. If the answer is positive, then I will request a review. I don’t ask for a positive review specifically, but since they’ve already told me they had a good time, I assume I’m getting a good review.

I’m not immune to 4-star reviews. I get them every once in awhile. My mom isn’t in real estate, but I was complaining to her once about 4-star reviews and how nothing negative is written, but I still don’t get a 5-star review out of it. She replied, “Well, I think some people just don’t give 5-star reviews.” And you know what? She’s right! I think I used to be one of those people until we got into this line of work. If something wasn’t absolutely perfect, and I mean PERFECT, I was probably that person who’d leave the 4 stars, but still only have nice things to say. Ouch!  Kevin, I don’t think there’s anything you can do about those people. I think we just have to accept that they will never be a 5-star giver, but 4 stars is still good.

One final thought though, your post has me rethinking how I can communicate with guests. Maybe instead of saying, “Notify me if you see anything that needs attention while you’re there,” maybe I should change that to “While you’re there, let me know if there’s anything you find that would make you leave anything less than a 5-star review.” I bet that would get some people thinking. 

Yes, start your prices out low until you get some reviews, but one of the best lessons I have learned to love is something I heard on a Podcast here on BiggerPockets.  A woman speaker said that she jacks her prices up pretty high for vacancies that are months away, and she drops them down lower when they're a month away or so--kinda like airline prices.  As soon as I heard her say that, it was like Oprah says, an ah-ha moment!  We started pricing ours a lot higher for the long stretch, and there are still many people who book those nights.  As the dates get closer, we drop them down, and we stay pretty full.  If it wasn't working, I wouldn't do it.  You will find that most people book their vacation only a month or less in advance anyway, so most people will pay the lower base fee, but it's nice when you get those bookings at a higher rate every once in awhile.  :)

@Lacy Langley, we have two condos in Branson that we've acquired in the last year and a half.  We love it!  I manage them remotely and have a very trusted cleaning and maintenance crew.  We stay pretty busy.  Do you have any specific questions?   :)

@Paul Sandhu, your situation is so different.  You have a different kind of short term rental, and you are there.  I am in Illinois, and my vacation rentals are over seven hours away.  My guests (they are not tenants) have to get into the rentals at all hours of the day, so no one meets them to give them a key and let them in.  Instead of having my cleaning and maintenance crew change the door code each week, I'd like to be able to do it myself remotely.  

As for our local rentals in Illinois, we still use the old-school regular key for each unit too.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

Is there a digital door lock whose code you can change remotely, without a monthly fee? Our two STR's came with locks that require an extra monthly fee if we want to change them remotely. I'd like to find something that doesn't charge extra.

As far as reviews go, I usually "fish" for it first.  I email a guest privately after their visit, and I ask them how everything went.  If they give a positive answer and tell me that everything was just wonderful, I let them know that I'm happy they had a great time and to come back again.  Then I send a separate request for a review.  It works out great that way.   

They were supposed to start collecting on Feb 1, but I haven't noticed a change yet.

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