All Forum Posts by: Lisa Graesser

I don't know of a paid version. I think you can pay to have your listing highlighted, but I have no need for that, so I haven't looked into it.

In place of a website, you can list your rentals on Houfy.com. It is free to list and no booking fees.  They also have a website builder you can pay for.

I have used Houfy for a few years and each year I have more and more direct bookings. .many repeat guests, but I also promote using the direct site to anyone that contacts me with interest in renting.

@Courtney Nguyen The cleaners cleaned all the linens, floors, carpets and still had that lingering dog smell, after they ran the ozone for an hour and then opened the window s for a little while, the smell was eliminated .

I have an ozone machine at each house for the cleaner to use if needed. Our homes are "Non-smoking" but I have had a couple of guests depart with the house smelling of smoke. We do allow dogs and have had one guest that the cleaners said the house smelled of wet dog. The cleaners will run the ozone for about an hour after they have finished the cleaning and it eliminates the smell. You just have to air out the house for a little while after you run the ozone, to remove the chemical smell of the ozone machine.https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...

I live in Buffalo, NY, and luckily I do not have my STR's here. (They are in Florida and we have to deal with hurricanes.) We had record storms that we were not prepared to handle even with our snow history. Unpredictable weather happens, and it seem this will happen more often. The current weather in Austin is rare. There is only enough manpower to fix everything in a short period of time. Things happen, there is nothing you can do except prepare for the next time and get a generator.

 The Villages, Florida

Try the lithium batteries before you change out the lock. Huge difference with use of the lithium batteries. I have the schlage encode and prior to changing to lithium, I would have to change batteries every 5-7 mo. I put lithium batteries in 2 houses in November and the battery is still showing 100% today.

I have not used Avail, but I have been using houfy for a couple of years now, with great success, you can set up an account with stripe or square for credit card payment or take payment any other way you choose.  You can upload your rental agreement and the guest will need to sign the rental agreement and upload their photo prior to requesting to book. The site is improving all the time, with host suggestions and requests. Join the Facebook group "Say yes to Houfy" for more information on any questions or concerns you may have.