All Forum Posts by: Lisa Graesser

This won't help you with your question, but I thought it was a coincidence, so I had to chime in! Our family just left the Las Vegas airport and are on our way to Mammoth. We are staying at a STR condo, through Airbnb. The main purpose of our visit is to get acclimated to the altitude to prepare us for a Mt. Whitney hike. While in mammoth we will be doing the Via Ferrata climb, the Bike park and some other hikes close by.

 Mammoth seems like a great destination. Good luck!

I manage 3 STR in Florida from NY. You need to have a great, reliable cleaner, a handyman and a list of people that you can call for something that comes up such as AC, plumbing or refrigerator repair. Then all you have to do is make a phone call. Use a lock on the door that can be accessed with a code. You can also puchase remote locks and thermostats that you can control from your phone. Don't let it intimidate you, you can do it. When things come up that need repair you just take care of it the best you can, as soon as you can and guests will be usually be very gracious. Worst that can happen is you have to pay for somewhere else for them to stay(say AC goes out, as has happened) and I paid for a hotel room while it was fixed and gave them a refund for dinner out.) They were very appreciative and were gracious because they knew I was doing as much as I could to take care of the problem. Go for it!

I do not list on airbnb, I have read more negative than positive threads regarding how they seem guest friendly vs. Host friendly.  I have several 30-90 day reservations, but these are basically all direct bookings. I have a no refund cancellation policy. I have had guest leave a few days early to beat the snowbird traffic in April from Florida and have had one guest who rented 60 days and notified me 2 days in advance that they were leaving 30 days early due to a family situation. I did not give them a refund, but if I could have rented it during that time period, I would have refunded them that amount. These are with direct bookings. I seem to have a different demographic than most of the regulars here. I cater to the retired population, snowbirds in the winter and most of my VRBO reservation are the younger generation, wanting a place to stay while visiting family in the off season. Most of you would probably be surpised to know that the majority of my inquires and reservations when I have availability come from Zillow. I think it may be due to my generation target. But if I were you @Bob Mueller Jr. I woud list on Zillow, the older generation love Florida and I think there is a comfort and familiarity with Zillow and you can book direct and make your own rules.

@Michael Baum yes,  VRBO will submit your taxes for you if you are in a state that allows them to. I don't know how it works in your State, but in Florida, you still have to submit(in my case monthly) the total amount of rent received and claim the amount of rent received from VRBO as exempt sales and  pay the tax on direct bookings. Even if I owe no tax from bookings outside of VRBO, I still have to claim and submit the amount of rent received that month, even if it is zero.

My booking was a legitimate direct booking, with an employee of a company on a work assignment.  A legitimate company sent me a check, because I dont take credit cards with direct bookings.

 Like @Paul Sandhu said, they would not send me the check without sending the W-9 and I dealt with accounting Dept of the company.

Avalara.com, they will submit you taxes for you for a monthly fee. I do mine myself so I can't speak for whether or not it is worth it. It is not difficult to submit your own, just contact your state taxing authority and they will give you the info you need to start. Congrats on your first booking!

I have a guest that is staying on a work assignment and her company did require that I send a W-9. As long as you are paying your taxes, I dont know why it would be an issue. Curious what anyone else has to say about it.

Looks great! I bought the same queen headboard from wayfair, love it. You should get the matching bedside table and have lamps on bedside tables for reading. Good luck, it will all fall into place. You will learn alot as you go. Dont hesitate to contact me with any questions. Make sure to sign up for with the Florida Dept of revenue to get your business partner number and also fill in the info to pay online. It is easy once youv'e done it a couple of times. You can also call them for direction they are very helpful.

@Ken Latchers you are spot on when it comes to a particular FB group I was following. I left that group due to all the griping! They seemed to have forgotten that this is a customer service industry and people expect what you are advertising and spend  a lot of time and money to find a place they would like to stay for a well deserved vacation. I think many just want a place to vent. Misery loves company and I definitely can do without that or the drama.  This forum is not like that at all. This is all about obtaining information and experience from those who have been in this field for a while. 

I don't have an automated message...just send a friendly note that says something Like " I hope you enjoyed your stay and when you have arrived home and have time, I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review." Some will, some won't, I find asking a second time does not generate a review. If they want to they will after your first attempt. Sometimes they just need some time to settle at home before they will do it. So better to ask after they have been home a couple of days.