All Forum Posts by: Joy Daniels

How many bedrooms is the property? 90 day minimum will be difficult for a successful MTR. I'll give you some numbers for the MTRs we manage in Los Angeles.

1-2 bedroom MTRs stays are 1-3 months

3+ bedroom MTRs stays are 3-6 months, but often start less than 3 months and extend their stay

MTR marketing falls in 2 buckets. Listing sites like Airbnb and Furnished Finder, and B2B relationships for referrals, insurance, and corporate bookings. The specific tenant type to target depends on your property and market.

We don't require any insurance from the guests. Homeowner should have an adequate policy and you can use additional damage protection from services like Safely and Waivo.

Yes, security deposits are normal for MTRs and highly recommended. 

Any screening service that works for long term rentals works just as well for MTR.

I do my analysis my checking comps on Airbnb and using Pricelabs market data tools.

Let me know what else I can help with!

I've been a "Superhost", whatever that means for 12 years on Airbnb.  

I've been meeting all of my goals by being very active with my listings.  I guess that you could call me a 'professional host'.  

The "Set it and forget it" mentality, I think, will limit your listing big time.

I do all of the pricing across multiple listings.  I change or rearrange photos weekly.  I listen to all of the Webinars that Airbnb invites me to.  Airbnb claims that setting up a "photo tour" on your listing will increase bookings by 6 percent, for example.  

The algorithm has a setting that when you change anything on your listing, you move up higher in the ranking.  So, get busy on your listings.  Pictures are great, but don't make them unrealistic or you will get "listing was not accurate" in your review.

I was 50/50 Airbnb/VRBO, then Airbnb inquiries came like wildfire, like Airbnb knew that I was engaging with VRBO.  I took the Airbnb bookings and now I'm around 80/20 Airbnb/VRBO.

Based on a recent bad experience that I had with Airbnb (it's a separate thread out here), I called VRBO and asked them how I can get more booking requests from VRBO.  They could not be more excited to help. 

Even calling Airbnb or VRBO CS and telling them that you just looked for your listing and could not find it, will boost your algorithm ranking somehow.  How do I know?  I don't know exactly for sure, but after I call Airbnb CS and have them search for my listing, I get a booking request in the next day or two.  So, it's just my supposition.  

I work from home and my hours are very flexible, so I can do all these "busy" activities on my listings.  They yield results, but I understand a lot of other people have jobs where they cannot spend so much time on their listings.  Long-winded post, but I hope that this helps others.  

You cannot deny service animals. Best bet would be disclose in your listing & disclose again in your welcome message when they book.

Hey @Joy Daniels. Like others have said, you can't restrict actual service animals but disclose what is going on.

I have yet to have someone with a service animal not tell me in advance. We allow pets so it is no big deal.

In the end, it is the animals owner who needs to make the decision. All you an do is tell them.

I do ask about the service animal but it is things like, do you need any special stuff to help you make them happy? Do they like to be on the couch (if so I have couch covers)? I let them know what I can make happen so they have a better time.

That way you get a feel for how the service animal will affect your place without being offensive.

I have found that going that extra mile, like the couch covers etc and making sure the person with the disability has the easiest time visiting our place.

As someone with a disability (I have a degenerative neurological disorder) and use a cane, I like to make sure folks with similar issues have a good time.

Disclosure is the key. Anything involving a service animal and ADA should be directly consulting an attorney on the matter as every case is different.