All Forum Posts by: Valerie Rogers

@Kevin Lefeuvre, I send the URL to our website to each guest with my follow-up email inviting them to book directly with me the next time they want to some to our location. I offer a 5% repeat guest discount which they can receive if they book their next stay through my website using a coupon code. 

I also have business cards made up with the URL of our website on it and give them out to anyone that we happen to meet and is interested in our rentals.

I have a "Google My Business" listing (pin on Google map) for each location that links to our website so anyone who finds me on Google can see our website and our properties.

This year I've taken 26 bookings through our website directly, either from repeat guests or guests who found us online.

The booking engine I currently use is ReservationKey. I used to use MyVR but it was terribly expensive. ReservationKey is very reasonably priced (I'm paying $34/month for up to 10 properties). However, while their support team is responsive I get the feeling they are strapped for help because the response I receive sometimes when reporting issues I've had is that no one else seems to be having the same issue and I'll need to do some testing myself by creating test bookings, etc. On the whole, though, I've been happy with

We have our own website for our properties. (I don't think I'm allowed to add the URL here as it might be seen as "self promotion" but it is mentioned in my profile.) I believe having our own branded site helps our guests view us as professional hosts.

I don't do any SEO or anything with it, I just use it to allow our repeat guests a way to book one of our properties without having to pay additional service fees or commissions to a listing site. Most of our new guest bookings come from VRBO and then Airbnb (and in our FL location Emerald Coast by Owner). My reservation management software's booking page is embedded in our site so any new bookings are payments are automatically imported to the software system.

So far this year we've had 26 bookings through our website, either from new guests who found us online or repeat

My biggest objection to the terms of VRBO's new payment platform was these items in the T&Cs:

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event a Guest provides correct notice to the website the Property was booked through within 24 hours of the scheduled check in that the Property is not as described, or there is some other issue with the Property, You authorize us to return the Accommodation Fees to the Guest."

and

"You acknowledge and agree that You are responsible for any Chargeback or Reversal of a Payment, plus the applicable Chargeback and Reversal fees, regardless of the reason for the Chargeback or Reversal and that we will not have any obligation to pursue any collection action against any Guest."

The first item is waaayyyy too vague, in my opinion. VRBO will refund a guest if they contact VRBO within 24 hours of check-in and complains about the property? I'm not worried about guests complaining that my properties are not "as described" but "some other issue with the property" is worrisome. What if there is a storm and the power goes out? What if the internet or cable TV service goes down and it takes a while to be restored? What if there is June grass in the Gulf? (Yes, I actually had a guest complain in a review about that....how can we be held responsible for the weather or conditions of the Gulf of Mexico??)

It also seems wrong that VRBO will make owners pay any chargeback fees. Maybe that is standard (I don't know, I've never had to deal with a chargeback).

When these emails from Yapstone and VRBO were first sent I thought I would NOT "upgrade" to VRBO's new payment platform because at least Yapstone was not threatening to refund guest payments for any reason like VRBO's T&Cs do. But since then I've published a couple of new VRBO listings and discovered that they were automatically enrolled in the VRBO payments platform. It is clear that if you want to advertise on VRBO you'll sooner or later have to agree to their payments T&Cs in order to do so.

Even though every year Airbnb continues to increase performance & bookings for my properties, VRBO is still the major producer. My newest listings are in San Diego, however, and I suspect that Airbnb might be the best producer in that market.

 It is annoying not to have guests payments disbursed in advanced like we've enjoyed for years, but since my properties are available year round at least we'll receive deposits throughout the year. I feel sorry for people whose properties have a single or short "season" such as summertime.....they may be taking bookings for their property year round but they will only receive the payments during the summer when their guests check in. That would be hard to manage funds for expenses year round when the money only comes in during the

(Ignore this post or please delete, BPs moderator....I could not figure out how to delete

Maybe your long term tenant can act as your property "manager" and be willing to be your eyes & ears on the ground when there are short-term guests visiting; be available if they should need anything, and maybe even act as your housekeeper. If you are able to find a long-term tenant who can be "invested" in the short-term business they might not be upset about it. You could give them a discount on their rent if they act as your local agent, or pay them a cleaning fee if they clean the unit for you. (I'd recommend a small discount on their rent to be "available" if the other guests should need assistance but pay them a separate cleaning fee when/if they clean the property since that is a pass-through fee anyway.)

Good luck!

I guess I'll reveal my ignorance with this post, but what exactly is a "hub"? It sounds like a piece of equipment that must link or connect multiple devices, but I don't understand why it is necessary?

In my properties we use keyless door systems by RemoteLock which connect to the wifi, as well as Honeywell wifi thermostats. Neither of these need a hub. 

Why would one need/want to use a hub? 

@Karen Prodromo, the first question to ask if do you have a "pay-per-booking" (PPB) listing or a subscription listing? If you have a PPB then the payment is not released to you until the day after your guest checks in (just like Airbnb). 

If you have a subscription listing then the answer is "it depends".  LOL

See the information at the link below:

https://help.vrbo.com/articles...

One of the factors is that Vrbo/Homeaway has recently begun to be their own payment processor, instead of VacationRentPayment (VRP). So the older listings might still be using VRP while newer listings' payments might be handled through the in-house merchant processor.

"Funds will typically be disbursed one business day after check-in and should be available in your bank account 5–7 business days later. In some cases, disbursements may be delayed if the booking was made last minute or close to the check-in day. This is because the credit card payment from the traveler needs to fully settle in our payment system before the payment to you will be released.

You can check in your account when a payment is due to be disbursed to you. To find the disbursement date for a payment, view the payments section of the reservation. You can also view your Payout summary report to see an overview of the funds you have received after commission and fees withheld from rental amounts have been deducted.
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Please note for a first time user, your first traveler payment through our system is disbursed to your bank account one day after your traveler’s scheduled check-in date or 30 days from the date of your traveler's payment, whichever date is later. Any other traveler’s payment(s) made in the interim will be disbursed 30 days from the date of the first traveler payment or one business day after the interim traveler checks in, whichever is later."

@Account Closed, congratulations on your STR purchase! I hope your first summer of bookings is going well!

If your location has "Beach Service" like we do in Fort Walton Beach, I would recommend that you pay for the service for your guests. In our location it is 2 beach chairs & 1 umbrella set up on the beach & reserved for the guests of your property each day from March 1 - October 31. Our guests LOVE it and I have been told that sometimes it is the fact that we've provided the Beach Service for our guests that tipped the scales in our favor over another unit they were

@Account Closed, great article, thanks for sharing!

Alternatives that I use:

Instead of Quickbooks I use the free Wave accounting app. I found that because I use a Mac I could not buy the Quickbooks software but the only option was to pay the monthly fee to use the online version that is compatible to Macs. Too expensive for me! Wave works just like Quickbooks (I believe) but is free! I like that....

For sending & receiving signed electronic rental agreements I use SignNow. It works just like DocuSign but much less expensive. I think when I stopped using Docusign I was paying $270/year. My first year of SignNow cost $60. I think the price may have risen a bit more since then, but still a much better value and very similar experience as

When we were considering buying a STR in the college town (in VA) where our Alma Mater is located, most of the available STRs being advertised on VRBO/Airbnb were 1 or 2 BR bungalows common in the area.

We ended up purchasing a 4 BR/2 BA house because of its very close proximity to the University campus. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect as far as bookings since there was not one other 4 BR home being rented in the market (that I could find).

We luckily realized that the floor plan/layout of the house would allow us to configure it into 2 lock-off 2 BR/1 BA apartments as well as one complete 4 BR/2 BA house so we felt better about being able to compete with the other STRs in the market.

To our surprise (and delight) it turns our the house has been rented most often as the 4 BR/2 BA configuration over the smaller apartments. Turns out there is a market for a larger house in the area!

A word of caution when considering purchasing a really large property: make sure the property meets anyrestrictive occupancy & parking rules in your location. The city of Destin, FL recently passed some new regulations including limits on occupancy & the number of cars allowed at each STR. You don't want to buy a house that can sleep 25 people if the local rules restrict occupancy to 20 or the number of cars to 2.