We have 2 STRs that we manage ourselves. We manage the contractors, cleaners, and guests directly. @Julian Sage is 100% right in that if you want to do it right, think of it more like building a hospitality business. I had a teacher once, and the way he taught was to first show you how to do it wrong, and then he would show you the right way...so that by describing the difference between the two it would help amplify the difference between "right" and "wrong".....so I'll give it a shot here.
So to go about this the completely wrong way, or at least to give yourself the least chance of success.....would be to purchase a property, take a few pictures, put in the minimum amount of information in the listing, and throw it on those sites. When guests book with you....have minimal communication with them outside of letting them know how to get in the house, don't answer their questions, don't give them recommendations when they ask, and maybe even hire a friend to clean it who has no cleaning experience to save on costs. Also don't be passionate about the area the house is in, and have no contacts with handypersons, electrical, plumbing, appliance people prior to working with your guests. With this (awful) approach of pretty much just listing a house on these sites....and hoping for the best, my prediction is you would get pretty much slaughtered in the reviews, which would lead to less bookings, and then eventually reaching the conclusion that STRs don't work.
To do it with a better degree of success you would want to purchase the property, put in all the finishing touches that guests want to see such as books about the area, maps, buy new furniture and decor if needed, create a welcome book with recommendations on restaurants and attractions, list it on multiple sites, build your own website/brand, promote it on social media platforms, have professional pictures taken, have your listing completely filled out, be incredibly responsive to every question and message you receive, build a really good guidebook to the point where you are almost an ambassador/tour guide for the area, interview and contract with professional cleaners and have backup cleaners in place, have a relationship with a professional handyperson so they know who you are when you call the first time requesting their service, have several electrical and plumbing contractors identified to call when problems come up, set expectations for your cleaners up front and provide feedback immediately to them when guests have a complaint, and handle all complaints with your guests the way you would want it handled if you were the guest...put the guest first before any profit/money. There is a lot more than this list, but you get the idea. You could also contract with a property manager to reduce some of the work related to the above. As Julian mentioned, you are in the hospitality business and creating a great experience for your guests vs. just giving them a house to rent.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Mike
