All Forum Posts by: Lisa Graesser

If you have the time to shop around, first look at your local consignment shops, nextdoor or facebook. You can find nice leather sofas and well made furniture.  If I can't find what I want second hand then purchase from local furniture store for heavy use items like beds/frames, dressers, dining sets. We have bought beds/dressers for the extra bedrooms and a dining set from Wayfair, they look nice but are pretty cheaply made.(particle board vs wood) We have bought entertainment centers on Amazon which have been well made. Having to replace furniture can be a hassle and the less I have to replace the better.

Doesn't look to me like anyone in my area is getting a higher rent or reviews because they have quartz over formica. Mine have formica, but if I needed to make a change I would probably do quartz to increase resale value if I ever decided to sell. 

I use the netgear night hawk that has worked very well with xfinity 

I take direct booking for our high season Jan -April, one year in advance and usually to repeat guests. I take 1/2 total upfront and balance due 60 days prior to arrival. Cancellation policy is full refund less cancellation fee of $200 and any credit card fee is cancelled greater than 60 days prior to arrival, 1/2 refund of total if cancelled 60-30 days prior to arrival and no refund if cancelled less than 30 days prior to arrival.

Quote from @JD Martin:

I keep in reasonable regular contact with guests before their stay but I will not provide access or location information earlier than an hour or two before their stay, as I have had people show up before guests have left and before cleaners have finished. Without the address and access code I don't have to worry about that. 

If you have a remote lock like schlage encode,  you can enter the time the code will start and end , but give the guest the information of how to enter in advance, I think If I was going on vacation and did not have any info on how to get in prior to one hour  before check in that would make me a litte anxious and start my vacation with not so great vibes.

My cleaners charge $125  cleaning fee for  2 bed/2 bath and $150 for a 3 bed/2bath, I charge an additional $15/night as a pet fee (Max 2 dogs), Airbnb doesn't allow an additional nightly fee so I charge $150/stay, my cleaners charge an extra $25 for the additionl cleaning required for pet hair removal. 

Glad to hear you are OK and didn't sustain too much damage.  The pictures & videos I have seen are so devastating. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible storm.

Definitely, you will introduce a different demographic from vrbo then you will with airbnb. 

Although I am sure some guest do like that added touch, I would not leave in my rentals. For one reason not everyone drinks or may not drink wine. For another reason, what if you have someone struggling with alcohol use and I certainly wouldn't want to entice that struggle. If guests want alcohol the can bring in their own preference.

Thanks for the heads up, I saw an email about discounts but I didn't read it.