All Forum Posts by: Mark Futalan

@Rhonda Blue

Hi Rhonda,

Yes I struggled with that too. I had to call them because the times they had available on the Airbnb app didn’t work with my schedule/booking schedule. Apparently they are updated daily. They had me send out an email with my available dates and then I was contacted by them a short time later. Good luck to you!

So just wanted to give an update on the Airbnb plus program and my experience through the process. It was definitely an experience lol. After finally going through the inspection, photo session and completing minor fixes that Airbnb required to upgrade to plus, I finally went live with the new upgraded plus listing about 3 weeks ago. The platform is definitely a lot nicer and more professional and the pictures turned out pretty good. You also get better ranking in search results which Ive noticed as well. It’s still a little early to see if upgrading to plus leads to more bookings (though I’ve gotten 3 or 4 new reservations since then, even with an issue I had. I’ll explain later). You do lose a lot of control when it comes to the pictures. You can’t change the cover photo. You can’t change the order of the photos or modify any of them. You can “hide” photos though. Other issues I have is the platform is a little buggy. For example, if you play around with the Airbnb app, you can get into settings where you can possibly “delete” or “edit” a photo which apparently your not supposed to be able to do. This was my big mistake. Before going live, Airbnb sends you the new plus listing for review. When I got it, I played around with it to see what user capabilities I had. So I tried “editing” my cover photo. Doing so, removed my cover photo and changed it to a random picture I had in my listing (it wasn’t so attractive). I had no control to change it back. So I called Airbnb and explained the issue. It’s a little confusing because you would think they handle everything in house. No. Any photo issues or technical issues with the plus platform goes to their “Onboarding” team which I believe is a 3rd party contracted by Airbnb. There is no number to them and Airbnb reps themselves have no direct communication to them either other than through email. Weird. I was told that since everything is still so new and with such a high demand for Plus, they can’t keep up. I can confirm that it took them 3 weeks to finally contact me with a fix. So after all is said and done, if I was asked would I do it again? I don’t know, I’d maybe wait. Its cool being part of their roll out here in my city but I think there are a few kinks they need to hammer out with the platform to make it more host access friendly and they definitely need to improve on their lead time in fixing issues. I think it will get better in time and through trial and error.

@Selena Walsh

So far I’ve had 2 bad experiences with guests and both of those were last minute bookings. Typically people plan ahead for bookings, so those trying to get a last minute discount is definitely a sign. We now set our rates to not go below a certain amount so that we don’t attract the wrong crowd.

@Mike V.

So funny that’s the the one part of the Airbnb review process that I cringe, when something breaks or is an inconvenience to a guest that I worry about the review your going to get and sometimes would just prefer not having any review on either end lol. Luckily I’ve gotten 5 stars from all my guests (cross my fingers) even from the ones where unexpected issues arise. I find that as long you communicate with them and show your guests that you care and take action steps to correct the issue, they appreciate it and really that’s all you can do. I once had a guest who had to deal with a slab leak in our newly remodeled bathroom (not fun) that effected the use of the bathroom but after all was said and done, they saw how proactive we were in fixing the issue. We also sent them a small refund and they appreciated that as well. I guess sometimes you never know.

How frequently both small and large does something break or need to be fixed with your STR? I'm running a pretty busy rental but it seems like there is always something wrong (broken drawer, sprinkler head, clogged drain etc just to name a few). I know it's inevitable and we typically account for these issues but wanted to get a feel from others how frequently your experiencing these type of fixes. Thanks!

@Julia Bykhovskaia From my experience, I look for at least 70% occupancy at the highest rate. I find that being booked 100% is not good for your property because wear and tear and repairs will happen and if your calendar is completely filled, you might end up interrupting your next guests stay, which is something we try to avoid. I use to use beyond pricing but now I am using wheelhouse. It’s worked a lot better for us. We find the strategic pricing is a lot better for our area in La Quinta and we set minimums on price.

@Mike V. Yes they are expanding. I actually just started the process last week after it took some time to get scheduled. They sent over a photographer who also does the inspection. It’s pretty thorough, they look for things like a carbon monoxide detector, house manual with emergency contact info, plate/cup cooking sets,etc. They take photos of each item on the list and submit them to Airbnb, who then will approve or ask for more information if something is missing or was missed by the inspection (I’m going through this as we speak on a few minor items). The inspector/photographer will also take detailed photos of your home along with the Inspection photos and submit them to Airbnb for final approval. It’s definitely a little more effort to put in, but in my opinion, it’s definitely worth the investment. They waived my $149 fee and I was even given a $200 credit from Airbnb for completing the fixes before their deadline. So we will see how it all turns out once everything gets finalized.

@Jared Cornelison I actually had this situation come up on my VR purchased a few months ago. Seller had the home listed for 415k and it fell through many times. It went back on the market for 370k and I put an offer on it right away for 360k contingent on home inspection/appraisal. The house appraised for 315k. The reason for the appraisal being lower was the home is a 2/2. Most comps at that time for the price range the seller wanted was based on a 3/2. There wasn’t many 2/2 homes sold at that time. The seller had a lot of personal issues and just wanted to get out of the property. They didn’t want to have everything fall through again and restart the process. We ended up settling at 315k. I put a little work into it and it is now running as a successful VR. So yes, I would definitely go back to the seller and work with them even if that means paying a little more than the appraised if the numbers still work. Hopefully you had a contingency in place.

@Lucas Carl I hear you Lucas. I’ve taken a look at the checklist, it’s pretty much the same thing we as hosts have already been doing (or at least should be doing), with a couple more things here and there. With so much competition nowadays, I look at it as incentive to stick out from the crowd if you know what I mean. My city has over 1200 maybe even close to 1500 homes listed as STR’s. So unless you have a huge home or a unique property with great interior design and unique amenities, it could be challenging. The mid century modern style similar to the palm springs area is pretty popular here and a pool is a must. At least thats what I’m seeing here. I assume you have the same thing going on in Gatlinburg with log cabins. The plus program is fairly new (few months) so they are slowly trying to roll it out to different areas across the globe. I’m pretty sure it will hit your area sometime being the VR capital :)

@Nick Frost Thanks Nick! I read that as well and also spoke with a rep at Airbnb. As you mentioned, they have a checklist of things that they require and they will send a rep out to your home to consult with you and take professional photos of your home, assuming you meet all of their requirements and standards. From what they told me, they were backlogged on review requests from other hosts requesting the Plus status (20k worldwide) and have put that on hold. They are only now accepting requests by invite only, like the emails we’ve received. From what I was told as well, you have a cleaner platform, preferential search rankings, more personalized service and professional photography. Definitely worth the investment. Luckily I was even offered for them to waive the $149 fee if I make an appointment before Oct. 24th. So even more incentive to do it. But just like you, there are a few things on the checklist that I will need to follow up on and address. I’ve seen a few Plus listings on Airbnb and they are really amazing almost magazine quality. Good luck to you.