All Forum Posts by: Yitzchok Carmen

Just for the record, I have a cabin in Sevierville in Sky Harbor. Across the street from the cabin is a neighbor that I am friendly with that lives in the area full time. He sent me a text on Saturday telling me that the mayor has banned all cabin rentals for sure through 4/14 possibly through 4/30 and he even said that the sheriff drove by and wanted to know who was renting! I have guests until tomorrow (tue) but I have blocked the remainder of the month bc of this. Not sure if thats the correct approach but I dont want to anger the local esp bc he is not a youngster and in the vulnerable population

Just got my first COVID-19 cancellation. Cancelled today for a reservation for tom thru Friday. Military folks though. So should I be discounting these dates nicely to try to get refilled or maybe leave them higher as families with no school are looking to escape to the woods? 

I agree with all this. And while I agree that in a typical downturn all Averys points are correct, this is not typical. Bc people are locking themselves at home more from health fear than economic fear. Any place that has many people will get hurt. If Dollywood closes (Like Disney world, Disney land and others) that will scare lots of people. For now I have no cancellations and I hope that will continue. But this can be very serious for everyone. We shall see...

Hi Folks,

I have a cabin in the Smokies, and we have a "no pets" rule. The Airbnb listing says clearly that if you try to sneak in a pet you will lose your security deposit. Well we just got a guest that I can see in the camera has snuck in a small pooch. How do I handle something like that? I dont know anything about the dog and I have not reached out to them about it. My listing is pretty new and I am afraid that if I confront them or leave them a negative review they will leave me a negative review back which will hurt the listing at this point. Despite the fact that they are clearly wrong and broke my house rules and I have video footage to prove it I highly doubt that airbnb will give me much sympathy here. Is there any way to make a claim for this? Any tried and true way fwd here? 

I do not have any personal pets so in general I am not sure how much such an animal will ruin things. If they house needs a deep clean after these guests leave is there anyway to make a claim and not risk getting a negative review? Should I just suck it up?

Once on this topic, if someone with a service animal requests to book do I need to allow it? If yes can I charge a higher cleaning fee or is that discrimination?

Any help would be appreciated!

You could put the money into a REIT though and get a 7-10% annual withdrawl. Though I would think that that is somewhat riskier as you dont directly have control over the investment...

 I know. Not good. But for now Im using them...

Originally posted by @Ken Latchers:

Thats true but auto-response only gets you so far. The standardized messages. Welcome, check-in, check-out, review request, etc. If the guest has a specific inquiry about your place you will still need to be the one that answers the email yourself. Auto response wont help for that

Originally posted by @John Underwood:

They free you from having to constantly be on top of your email and phone 24/7 to be there for any guest inquiries. Is that worth 10%? Debatable. But that is def a serious benefit. I know people that can never put down the phone and disconnect for a day bc they might miss an inquiry. They also manage your listing (pay the $500 annual VRBO fee) and take pro pictures for your listing

I am using Evolve for my cabin in the Smokies for the past 6 months and they have always charged me 10% on nightly rate AND the cleaning fee. So this is not a new change...