All Forum Posts by: Tom Dieringer

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Send me a PM @Nick M.

May I have a copy as well  Michael? I'm not yet sure where I fall as to whether I use one or stick with the platform's agreement & house rules, but would like to have one in case

Quote from @Jonathan Greene:

Whenever I had a max complainer who uttered a word about any review not at five stars, I immediately comped their stay, apologized, and made sure they didn't write the review (even when they were a scammer or crazy person). A 1-star scammer review isn't worth the money for the stay.

Jonathan, how do you "make sure" they don't write a bad review? I've dealt with thousands of reviews in my other companies, and I get how you increase the odds of not getting a bad review by comping, but there's always a couple crazys who still give a bad review.  And if you make it a quid pro quo, don't you run the risk of violating the OTA's policy of paying to alter reviews? 

Next, and again my current experience is in a different industry but one that's a highly dependent on Google reviews and ratings, I've found that there's always a break-even point where "paying someone off" doesn't provide enough of a return on the payoff.  I could see fully comping 1-2 nights at low season rates, particularly if one doesn't have a lot of reviews yet, but would you, as an established host with tons of reviews, comp a full week or more of a prime season stay?  Sorry for the huge questions.  :D

I understand why you want to avoid a HELOC. I don't like paying interest on my down payment unless I know it's a temporary aid to get a good opportunity. I've done that on flips and LTRs. And maybe it's not all or nothing for a given method, sometimes a combination of various financing tools is what wins.

These are the posts and discussions that I love and select "follow." Great information from regular, experienced contributors whose opinions I value. Fortunately, even though I'm a newbie still in setup mode (working through renovations on a value added property) I'm already starting to recognize the right answers before reading the responses, thanks in big part to many of you. Thank you BP STR community!

Thanks Garrett.  Really found this useful!

Starting to consider whether to convert one of my LTRs to an STR. I'm already familiar with some of the basics of how the markets differ, but I'd be curious to hear what some of you have experienced in regard to any unexpected differences between them.  I've got 7 months before the lease is up, so no is the time to research and think it through

Are any of you who use a separate rental agreement willing to share a copy? I have rental agreements for my LTR but couldn't imagine using that for my STR. Thanks

I'm all over the BP forums, Facebook, YouTube, etc following STR hosting content. But I've found there is a considerable difference between advice that applies to those who host their rental where they reside or live within an hour or two of their rental, and those who are truly long distance self-managing.

So I just created an FB group specifically for those who self-manage from long distance - you can search for: "Long Distance STR Hosting (Self-Managing, Remote Hosting)."

I'd love to have some folks join so that it could be another useful spot for sharing of information specific to this subset of STR investors/hosts. BTW, I've got no financial incentive from forming the group.

Quote from @Tommy Harper:

STRs in Massanutten - looking to connect w/someone on discussing what a reasonable offer on a STR out here would look like. Also, if you're a serious end buyer and can cover the first part, that would save a step. Note, I will not share any addresses as I know how this works. I can share details of properties and if you have airdna, that something we can both look at because i dont have it (and go over what the anayics look at for certain types of propeties in this area).

Do you need an agent who is highly familiar with the market or are you trying to bypass that? If you need a referral to an excellent agent who works exclusively with STRs in that specific market, I can refer ours

Quote from @Alex Dixon:

Ah great question - I had pulled this together to showcase some of the similar tools that sit within the same "capability". So you're absolutely right from a PMS capability that some of the major players include Hospitable, Guesty, Lodgify, Ownerrez, etc. 

I went through demos of all of those, pulled together our evaluation criteria, etc. and then ended up choosing Hospitable (which we've been thrilled with).

Thanks, that makes much more sense and frankly, is a relief (I started wondering if I was missing something, lol.)  Another quick question Alex.  I can't discern the names of the these two tools.  When you have a second, names would be appreciated.