Anyone have a STR investing and/or hosting success story?

Question

Hey everyone, we are looking for host success stories to feature in our weekly short-term rental newsletter, BiggerStays. If you have a place you want to show off and discuss how you made it work, we'd love to hear about it!

What are some of your biggest tips for earning 5-star reviews?

How did you know this property would succeed, and how did you analyze/find the deal?

How has this property grown your business and investing journey?

What is one tip you would tell yourself when you first started that you know now?

Let us know in the comments, or send me a PM if you want to be featured. Looking forward to including the amazing BiggerPockets community and their stories!

Travis Timmons · Answer

Really long story short - I've been to 38 of the big 63 National parks, started to do some thinking while paying up for STRs our vacations, and set off on a long, deep journey of research that led me to purchasing near Acadia National Park (lived in Houston at the time). We bought a 5 bedroom fixer that sucked. It took all of the cash, energy, effort, and patience that we had to get to market. We ended up living in it for the last 6 weeks.

We got all of our cash back within 2 years, and the income from that STR is what pushed us over the edge to becoming financially independent. Please do not misinterpret that - we do not live full time off of that STR, but it became key piece to the puzzle.

It also led to us buying the next property in Maine that was set to be a fixer turned STR again. We ended up moving across the country and live in that one.

Advice:

1. Have a subject matter expertise and investment thesis. We know how to kill it with families going to National Parks bc we are that crowd. My wife was a designer by trade, which helped out immensely.

2. Figure out the amenities that matter. The reality is that you are not going to completely know the answer to this until you are already booking it, but do your best on the front end.

3. If you can't plan a vacation, you shouldn't manage STR properties. We do our best to help every guest plan out their trip (to the extent that they want us to).

4. Be generous with credits when things break or go sideways. People understand and will be very forgiving as long as you make an effort.

Michael Baum · Answer

Hey @Garrett Brown, simply put, every guest, every stay is a success for us. 5 stars across the board. Never gotten less in 7 years.

Brendan Connolly · Answer

Hey Garrett!I launched a short term rental in Cleveland this year. All 5 star reviews so far. "What are some of your biggest tips for earning 5-star reviews?" -Unique personal touches on amenities. High focus on making sure that the guests not only have the typical amenities, but also going further to add more unique things that people wouldn't expect (liquid IV's, waters, various teas, etc.). We also leave a snack basket with chips, chocolates, other snacks with a note for the guest (generic one we can re-use). We receive many positive comments around these. -Great communication is KEY. Utilize automated messages to help with this (AirBNB has a scheduled messages tool built into the app. There are also apps like Hospitible that can help with this too). On top of that, always answer guests quickly. If you let questions sit for a day or two, the guests will have a higher chance to leave you a bad review. ALWAYS BE FRIENDLY. -Create an experience. Have a theme and other fun things for the guest to do in the house. This is obvious, but having things like a game room, fire pit, and other things that create a good experience for the guest is why they enjoy your place and leave 5 star reviews. Make sure to look at your competition to see what they provide. You'll want to provide something that your competition does not so that your place stands out. -Comfy beds are super important: Don't cheap out on the beds. It will be the #1 complaint if you have uncomfortable beds. Zinus mattresses are a reasonable price and are very comfy. King beds are also a big plus if you can add them. "How has this property grown your business and investing journey" -We just started this year, but it's been very successful. Every guest is obsessed with our location, so we know that if we can find another property in this area, we will have another successful investment (if the math works). This has allowed us to get better at the process of running an STR, and we're (my wife and I) ready to invest in another one to continue growing our business. "What is one tip you would tell yourself when you first started that you know now"-How important it is to have a reliable cleaning crew. This is something that we were prepared for going into it, but it's something that you have to have nailed down if you're just starting out. We use the app Turno for our cleaners. It's an amazing tool to ensure that you always have a backup cleaner in the event that your primary cleaner can't make it. It takes a little bit of time to get your cleaner up to speed, but they will soon be able to flip your house perfectly. But not having to worry about your cleaners is a great feeling. Here is a link to the listing if interested: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1118689369801923176?source_impr...

Brendan Connolly · Answer

Great point on the message being sent on the following day asking if there are any questions or concerns. We have an automated message that kicks off the next day that does this as well. I was originally thinking the best benefit of this was showing the guest good communication and that we were hyper focused on ensuring they have a good stay. But your point of finding out issues prior to the review stage is even more important. Love it!We also push them towards a 5 star review in a couple ways. We have a message that is sent after there stay saying that we plan on leaving them a 5 star review (regardless on how they left the house) and would appreciate if they would leave a review as well. We also have done things like make the password to the WIFI "PleaseLeaveA5*Review". Just the subtle nudges towards leaving a 5 star review definitely remind the guest how important it is.

Joshua Janus · Answer

This Airbnb looks awesome!!

Brandon Gale · Answer

Hey @Garrett Brown,

I bought a cabin in the Smokey Mountains almost 2 years ago now.

We did alot of research going into it. We settled on the Smoky Mountains due to fear of unexpected STR regulations in many areas across the country. The Smokies have been relying on short term rentals for their economy for decades and for this reason we felt that it was far less likely to have surprise regulations slapped on us that could affect the investment.

Before purchasing, we analyzed almost 100 in service STR's in the area to see what makes others successful. We came to the conclusion that mountain views, hot tubs, and proximity to big attractions were the most common similarities between successful listings. We settled on a mountainside cabin with a beautiful view only a few miles from Dollywood.

As for reviews, we have learned alot in our time operating the property. The biggest factor as most have said, is communication. Good instructions on access, amenities and use of the property are crucial, guests hate to get to a rental and be confused about how to get in, where to find things, etc. We also found early on that alot of renters don't want to bother to message the host about issues, but then are happy to mention the issues in their reviews. For this reason, we send a friendly message to every guest the day after check-in asking how their first night was and if there's any questions they have or anything they need. Usually it's something minor like "the cabin is great, but the coffee maker isn't working". Getting this info from them allows us to get ahead of the issue and have a new coffee maker dropped off, guests love how quickly we are able to resolve issues or get necessary supplies dropped off. To that point, delivery services have been a huge help for us. We are almost always able to have anything a guest needs dropped off in less than an hour. Most guests are amazed by this and very grateful. Lastly, another problem we noticed with the booking platforms is that many guests don't understand how the review scale is treated. Many treat it like a Google review where 3 is fine, 4 is good, and 5 is perfect. However, all hosts know that the platforms basically treat is as 5 is good and 4 or less is a failure. We make sure guests understand that 5 stars is the expectation by sending them a message after check-out: "Hi _____, we hope you enjoyed your stay at the cabin! You were wonderful guests, we just left you a 5-star review and it would mean the world to us if you left us one as well 😊. Safe travels home and come back soon!"

The cabin has been awesome for my investing journey. I started off house hacking a 3 family in central Massachusetts in 2020. I owned it for 2 years before selling and using a 1031 exchange to purchase the cabin. Our cash flow on the cabin is about 2x what it was for the 3 family, with the potential to reach 3x at peak performance. I also learned a ton about 1031 exchanges and now have experience in 2 different real estate investment methods.

My biggest tip I would tell my past self, as a remote investor, before even starting the property search, call around, talk to agents and locals and find a super reliable contractor for yourself. We did have an inspection for our cabin, but there just wasn't enough detail about the condition of several important things. We had a few surprise capital expenditures come up in our first year that weren't really mentioned to us by the inspector. A reliable contractor however would have likely caught them all and been able to give us estimates to go back to the seller with to negotiate.

Would be happy to answer any questions or give advice to anyone starting out! We have learned alot in our first 2 years.

Here is the listing:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/812587724289123082?viralityEntryPoint=1&s=76

Brandon Gale · Answer

Thanks @Jon Martin!

Our 2nd year has been awesome, mostly due to tweaking our pricing strategy. The Smokies are definitely a competitive market but with a unique property, the right amenities, great reviews and a successful pricing strategy there's definitely still a path to success even with the competition.

Garrett Brown · Answer

Thanks for this @Brendan Connolly and congrats on the success! This is the type of story I would like to feature, so I'll reach out to PMs. Great information.

Garrett Brown · Answer

@Travis Timmons , those are killer tips! I definitely need to connect with you in PMs this week to highlight your story in an upcoming newsletter segment.

Anyone have a STR investing and/or hosting success story?

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