All Forum Posts by: Patricia Andriolo-Bull

You are getting quite varied feedback, and this will likely only add to the confusion.  I do not screen guests.  I have instant book turned on for both VRBO and Airbnb and do not do much for direct bookings either.  I've even rented to people with few to no reviews and with less than 5 stars without incident.  I currently have 2 guests staying in 2 different properties, one has 4.5* and the other has 4.  The one with 4 even had a review from a host that said they would never recommend or rent to this guest again.  I spoke with the guest and felt comfortable.  There are always two sides to each story.  I figure, hotels don't screen and no level of screening I can do will eliminate any real risk.

The only (small) damage I've had is from children, generally unwatched by parents in my humble opinion, staining and breaking things, which have been covered by Airbnb / VRBO - and that was only twice, and nominal damage. (5 years doing STRs). Otherwise, I had significant damage followed by a legal suit with a LTR. As others have said, the risk of serious in STR is not nonexistent but not what some folks make it out to be.

What I do to help mitigate risk:

1.  I have properties more on the luxury side so the nightly rate almost eliminates riskier people - they just aren't willing to pay higher rates and trash the place.  Not sure if your property can sustain higher rates or not..

2.  I have a 7 night minimum (also a 29 night maximum) and very rarely allow 5 night stays to fill gaps and then, only in high season with very high rates.

3.  I don't allow a ton of guests (I even eliminated sofa beds). I allow 2 people per bedroom with 2 king beds (further pushing my guests without kids).  I know many try to get as many people as possible for occupancy and higher rates, when I allowed 2 on a sofa bed, I had more damage.  My rates and occupancy have not suffered, I'd maybe argue that they are better, and my ideal guest has changed (two couples, retirees, older families).  And those that still arrive with families have been stellar.

4. As others have said, YOU MUST HAVE A STR INSURANCE POLICY. This is for liability more than anything else. I wouldn't just worry about your property being trashed but your livelihood.

5. This last point isn't so much about mitigating risk but a suggestion as a STR host. Treat people the way you would like to be treated and you will be on your way to success. Don't assume and micromanage everything about your short term rental or you will see it in your reviews. I cringe when I hear stories of people watching their doorbell camera, backyard cams etc., and generally being invasive with their questions. This is the hospitality business, if you can't let go a bit, it may not be right for you.

Hi and welcome to the STR world. Couple? So you are jumping to multiple? I would also ask, will these be local to you or at a distance? Personally, I think getting your hands dirty in understanding STR is always a good thing but harder to do remotely (but not impossible). There are a lot of folks that say you can run them remotely but personally, I feel like I do it better myself. If you start out with one local property I would say do it yourself. If you have multiple and they are remote, 20% would be worth it. I can't see the value (or ability to cash flow) with 40%.

I was about to say something similar. If you are hearing grumblings of potential regulations, I wouldn't buy unless it is really meant as a vacation property with STR on the side, in which case, you are making a decision for a different reason. If you think there's a chance of a reg change, I wouldn't purchase a high end place unless you know it can also pencil out as a MTR or LTR.

I did have a high end place in Fairfield County CT which could do STR, MTR and LTR all with very different returns but all fairly achievable but I think that's a unicorn and it comes with other risks (e.g. tenant friendly state).

 This.  Marco Island tried to pass something but just after the FL regulation and the MI regulation was kicked out.

 Interesting article.  It benefits all of us if Airbnb gets rid of the bad hosts.  I'm tired of the bad press of Airbnb because of some bad apples.  I want guests to love booking platforms.

 I agree but do we know for sure that lower rating are always in fact first?  I personally never keep a companies preferred rating system myself and reorder...hoping that's what guests would do also - especially if they see that the review is older.

One other thought, the review they did pull first, while a 5-star review, did have a critique in it, so maybe they are looking for balanced reviews?  Interestingly, the critique was about it being quiet, and the second review they showed also shows "quiet".  I don't think any of my other reviews have the word quiet in them...

At first, I thought I wasn't impacted - yet.  I viewed all 4 of my listings though my host dashboard but low and behold, I searched using a private browser and indeed, they are rearranged to most relevant (which is consistent with most rating systems, which is hard to determine how they come up with most relevant).  For those of you that said you didn't see it on yours, check it with a private browser.

  I only have 5 star reviews in Airbnb so I can't really tell how they chose the one they did to be first (it was a January 2025 5 star review).  I have newer ones since.  I will say that the newer ones are short and sweet but they aren't at the bottom of the list, they are about 1/3rd of the way down.  From what I can tell, they took one or two reviews per month in chronological order going backward and after 2024, peppered in the shorter newer ones.  That said, I have some lengthier ones that date back to Jan 2024 and prior and they are still lower down.  Maybe they are looking a having some from each month starting with the newest and selecting based on different key words?  FWIW, most of my business came from VRBO until Q2 2024 and then it completely flipped.  

Not sure I care about this honestly as most people know there is a filter to change how things are ranked and use it.  I never use Most Relevant when I'm looking as something.  I always like to say best comments and worst so I usually look at both and don't scroll through whatever search engine believes is relevant to me.

Yes, I used to own in the DR.  You should also note that you can only use it personally for 14 days per year (which is the same as the US but since many also look for it to be a vacation property, good to note).

Great to share, folks are always asking and looking.  Not sure if these are already paid links but have you considered creating an Amazon page for this?