All Forum Posts by: Mike R.

@Brian T. Grooms any luck with MyVR- I looked at it but they charge extra for little things like pricing across the board. Which is what I want to- but like @Bill Higgins mentioned- VREasy told me the same thing- if you don't have 5 properties all under the same log in- it won't work. All mine are different log ins- so that is a huge pain and what I'd really like to be able to do as I am always changing prices as well.  

I don't use instant booking so maybe I'll look into 365Villas as well

Interesting about the making it a business that one day could sell. Right now all my owners have their own separate AirBnB and VRBO accounts and I basically manage them. I am getting known as doing great work and getting lots of rentals so more owners are asking me to manage their homes. As I grow I need #1 a umbrella name for the company and also wondering if I need to manage under my own account or if allowing them to have individual accounts is better. I do have them under contract for a certain amount of time.  For many reasons I like individual. It allows them to make their money and then I simply invoice at the end of the month- so I'm not in charge of their money- they like that. #2 It allows each individual property to have it's own review- so if they do want to leave- they can keep their reviews in tact. 

Love to hear thoughts on this. 

Thanks @Michael McKay! 

Sounds like it does what I need- maybe you can let me know if it does these things: Guesty does but for 3% 

- Can add in different properties on AirBnB, VRBO that have different log ins (All my owners have their own accounts) 

- Sends out email to renters once booked that can also include their keycode (last 4 of phone number) as well as a link to house instructions and rules - or a set PDF

- Sends email to cleaners once  booked  (each property has a different cleaner) so hopefully can set per property

- Historic pricing- so I can go back to Jan 2 2014 and see what was charged then

- Email list so I can export to mail chimp or use theirs to send out specials

- Sends a thank you / follow up email after they check out- or whatever interval/ date I choose. Guesty you can set for 6 months from now- etc...

- Texts or sends email to cleaner day before (Or whatever interval I set it at) 

 Thanks! I'm going to call them! Even at $87 it's a deal compared to some that want 3% of your total take (including taxes and cleaning fees) 

Simpler solution? AirBnB and VRBO can incorporate into ical or google calendar- is there a way that Google can automatically send out an email to say my cleaners everytime I get a new reservation/ new event on my google calendar? 

That is my biggest issue right now- making sure the cleaners are all lined up / are emailed after every booking 

And I agree with @Michael Rutkowski its a LOT of work. I am now managing 2 other properties since mine was so successful- which obviously is even more work. And from a PM point of view- 30 or 40% may sound like a lot to give up to the owner- but for all the work I do, it's almost not even worth it for me. Better to buy a 2nd home myself and keep the 100%. 

Doing AirBnB and VRBO is a must and yep a lot of work. I have my own site as well- but never a single booking from it. Nice to have for recommendations/ places to eat etc- but for booking it's pretty worthless 

I'm using both and it simply depends on if VRBO decides to feature one of my properties that month. When they do my rentals on VRBO skyrocket. When they don't- it's all AirBnB. FlipKey is a waste of time. (And VRBO with their new structure has NO rhyme or reason to what they feature- a newer property of mine was featured all month while my older one with 50+ 5 star reviews was at the bottom of the heap) It is a bit of a pain coordinating both in terms of changing prices and I am starting to look at 3rd party solutions for that. 

Bill, not quite sure I understand- many companies I have been talking to like Guesty and LiveRes are saying I can have as many or few properties and they will connect all of them, even 3 or 4 thru all my sites (VRBO, AirBnB, Home Away.. etc) 

It looks like they simply act as an integrator that collects it all in one place- based on you signing in and then allows for different levels of automation and data.

I was at AirBnB open and didn't hear about any of this new PM software on their end. Although, I would really like a 3rd party to integrate them all which allows me to do things like change a price across all platforms easily- so I don't rely on just VRBO or just AirBnB

Can anyone recommend a good software or a good company they use?

Basically I have 3 properties now and expanding out. I'm looking for something that connects with AirBnB, VRBO, Booking, Flip Key as well as my own site. Want to have automated emails to guests and cleaners, have the data, easily change the pricing across all platforms- things like that. 

I saw a demo of LiveRes and Guesty and both seemed pretty good- with Guesty being cheaper at 3% and no fees, but would like to explore other options as well.  

Hi William, I bought my place in Big Bear Lake in 2014 and have been making a very good profit each year. I am now managing 2 other properties and looking to buy a 2nd home for myself. Since it's a 4 season vacation destination I've been renting out over 200 nights a year, this year getting close to 250 nights. The dead time seems to be April- even with the spring being dead, I have had every single weekend booked for 2 years and now on my place on both of my new places.  Would love to chat more if you are interested.