All Forum Posts by: Selena Walsh

Interested in buying a vacation rental in Sarasota FL but looking to connect with other vacation rental owners to get intel on the market, particularly "off-season" May - Oct. Anyone willing to connect? Thanks!

@Julie McCoy I got the exact same inquiry on VRBO yesterday! I didn't even respond - we've gotten one or two of those in the past and it's typically pretty obvious it is scammers of some sort.

@Michael Liebrum Here is a calculator I've created for this purpose. Hope it helps! Calculator Link

@Michael Greenberg Great thread! I used to do something similar with longer minimums on certain days of the week and may go back to that sooner than later. A lot of our units are < 1 year old so I'm still finding the pricing sweet spot before I get too complex with pricing + min night logic. Right now I'm doing something similar to @Julie McCoy I have prices set ~ 20% higher for 60+ days out and also have the min night set to 4 for approx. 60-90+ days out and adjust manually back to 2 night minimum as I get closer to the date range. [A large percentage of my bookings are made 30 days or less in advance). This has helped us get some "big wins" like whole month bookings, which are not that common in my market unless you are targeting corporate or traveling nurse markets. But Saturday check-outs are definitely a problem with this strategy.  Another factor for us - several of our units are duplexes where we have each unit listed separately and a third listing for both units together. I'd much rather rent out the full duplex, especially in peak season, so I try to incent booking the full place and create higher nightly minimums on the individual units vs. lower for the full duplex. 

Hi all - Thought I'd share some of the "red flags" or warning signs I consider when accepting bookings at our vacation / short term rentals.  If several or most of these are present, I won't hesitate to deny or cancel the booking. And all of our "horror stories" can definitely be mapped back to these warning signs. Based on "learning the hard way" I've since updated our settings on Airbnb and Homeaway to pre-empt these when possible. 

Curious what others have observed??

1. Last minute booking (1-3 days in advance)

2. Empty profile - no pic, no personal info, minimum verifications

3. No reviews + New account (typically created same month as booking)

4. Local guest

5. No message with inquiry/booking

@Cory Mosby You need a master lease. You should review your original lease but likely it would need to be amended. I've done a master lease on a few different properties with willing landlords and it can work. I would find a master lease template or language that you like and bring it to your current landlord to discuss.

@Jennifer Lopez If you're still looking, here is a Calculator I've created for STR / Vacation Rental. Hope it's helpful! Vacation Rental Calculator

Hi @Dave Gaines - I've recently refined a version of a calculator I've used in the past. I've used this with my own properties in Minneapolis as well as with my parent's vacation rental in Cape Coral, FL. Totally agree with seasonality that @Villy Ellinger mentions so that's included in my approach too. I hope this is helpful and welcome any feedback anyone has to make it better!  Vacation Rental Calculator

Appreciate this thread! We've had two bad experiences in the last 3 months that have made me think about these things as well - The worst was a guest with a record/history of evictions and legal trouble, who booked with intentions of "overstaying" and requiring us to evict them (which we did at our own expense, with essentially no help from Airbnb). I realized even if I had wanted to do a background check, I couldn't have since hosts are only presented with a first name prior to booking. I've updated our settings to only allow Instant book for guests with prior positive reviews. 

@Richard Ibeh are you using safelystay after the guest has booked or are you requiring them to provide the verification information up front prior to booking?  

Anyone out there have good success outsourcing guest communication completely or for "shifts" of time? Or been unsuccessful with lessons learned?  

A couple caveats - I'm not talking about anything beyond guest communication - we have our own software and manage the listings, calendars, pricing, etc. (i.e., so I'm not interested in services like Evolve or Guesty). I also use autoresponders for standard messages like booking confirmation, check-in instructions, check-out reminder. I'm thinking of looking into VA, but more likely hiring someone on a part time basis. Since this is essentially 100% "on-call" and inquiries or messages could come in at any time, how have others structured payment to someone for these activities?

We've grown to about 15 listings so far and I've been handling all of the guest communication myself. It's no longer sustainable or a good use of my time while trying to grow other aspects of our business.

Thoughts or experiences welcome! Thanks!