All Forum Posts by: Matt Mertz

Get on OwnerRez or another PMS that integrates payments with VRBO.  We have OwnerRez set up with Stripe.  Whenever a guest books thru VRBO, they forward the payment to our Stripe account and we get the funds immediately.  VRBO doesn't handle the transactions.

Similarly, we set up a direct booking site thru OwnerRez and we get those funds immediately as well.

AirBnb still handles payments on their site which is fine by us.

What do you think about UTVs (side by sides, Polaris, Kawasaki, etc) in the Smokies?  I see tons of people driving them around and it would seem like a no brainer to offer one for rent in your cabin if you had a garage.  The guest wouldn't have to pick it up in town.  They could just rent yours on site.  Other than the liability and maintenance, it seems like a great way to add revenue to your cabin, or even increase occupancy in your cabin.  Any thoughts?

We're setting up an MTR now and we're only concerned with the front door lock (Schlage Encode). 

It's the same for STRs.  You can't put a remote lock on every backdoor.  Just worry about the front door and keep the backdoor keys to yourself.

As a backup you can put a physical lockbox on the front porch for the front door (Schlage Encode) deadbolt.

I listened to a podcast recently where the manager was earning 10k a year on renting their own pontoon boat.  A used boat was 15k - 20k.  I was listening for the part that worries me: liability, but he acted like it wasn't an issue with a signed liability waiver and proper insurance.

I have a dedicated bank account for our property and during tax time it's very easy to see all the numbers related to it.

Having one escrow account receiving all the funds for multiple properties seems like a lot of work trying to categorize the different transactions.

I'm interested in one account per property because there are banks out there offering interesting solutions like Relay Bank and Baselane Bank where you can have all your separate accounts at one bank.

Thanks for the input.  I'll talk to my CPA and financial advisor.

David Carr of C&c construction of east TN is outstanding. We built a 3500sqft cabin with him in 2021 and building another small one this year. He may be too busy but worth reaching out. 

Be careful, I've heard more bad than good about building in the Smokies. 

I'm about to get a second property online and wanted to keep the two properties in separate bank accounts.  I use OwnerRez and could probably set up another Stripe account for that property that deposits directly to another bank account (and setup another payout method in Airbnb) but wondering if that's overkill.

Anyone have any advice or resources on this?

Thanks in advance.

OwnerRez/Hostfully - fully featured property management software that handles many aspects of an STR business including direct booking and payment processing.

Hospitable/ (not sure on Guesty) - lite weight channel manager with unified communication and some features. Pretty great if you only have a couple properties and don't intend to grow too large or get too deep into the STR business.

We started using OwnerRez in August 2022.

There were quite a few steps to configure when we onboarded, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle on my own using their documentation and help articles.

Tech support is outstanding.  One time we had a booking that violated our minimum stay rule.  We contacted their tech support and long story short, OwnerRez and PriceLabs worked together to fix our pricing rule that caused the issue.  Both companies have top-notch tech support.

It's hard to nail down the best feature but these are the stand-outs:

1. Seamless support and automation for security deposits (VRBO and Airbnb).  This solved one of our biggest concerns: Airbnb's Aircover wasn't good enough for us.  We now have peace of mind knowing that we can recoup costs from the deposit and that the guest knows they're on the hook.

2. Automated legal agreements.  They have templates and email automation to send out legal agreements for guests to sign.  

3. Direct booking site.  They have a few templates that make it super easy to get your site up and running and you can use your own URL.  Probably not the most robust but it works great for us.

You may want to consider a custom build on a vacant lot if you can't find an existing home with a good view.  This gives you more flexibility but comes with its own set of headaches.