Did anyone attend the "Short Term Rental" conference in Nashville last week?
Collin HaysBusiness Member
Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votesDid anyone attend the "Short Term Rental" conference in Nashville last week?
Most Popular Reply
I just got home from the conference. That was not my takeaway at all. My wife and I went and we walked away with more knowledge, more awareness of strategies and techniques that we did not know anything about. More importantly, I walked away with several actionable items that I can take in this next week to improve my business.
I have been in this space since 2018 but this was my first conference. I knew there would be offers for coaching from the various speakers, but quite honestly, most of the speakers had solid actionable information and the focus was not on the "sign up for my coaching." Part of the speakers were motivational, but lots of them had real solid info, not just a hey here is a tidbit but if you sign up you will get all the info kind of thing. Like I said I have been in this space for 7 years now and I walked out with several actionable items that I can put into practice.
I know you do not use PriceLabs, but while I was there I got to sit down one on one with one of the PriceLabs guys and he sat with me for at least 30 minutes as I shared my issues with him. He was able to show me several things I can do that really drilled my properties in and explained a number of things I didn't quite understand. That 30 minutes was invaluable to me.
Beyond, that I made several good connections at this event. The reason Bill was in tears at the end of this is because he has been doing this for 4 years and this was the last one plus there were some personal reasons that he mentioned as well. That was during his farewell moment when he was closing things out. Those tears were not of joy but of sadness and had nothing to do with how much more money is out there to be made.
In fact, there were sessions speaking directly to the downturn in the market and I did not run into any investors who said they were struggling looking to find someone with a magic potion.
The description your friend gave really blows me away as it is 180 degrees from what we experienced as well as the people we were meeting with. Of course I only met a small subset of the 1200 people that were there.
Not to mention, I got to eat at Hattie B's while I was in town!
26 Replies
- Member since 2022 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes1y
Yikes, sounds cringe. My guess was that it would’ve been less attended overall because of decreased interest in the space. In a sense I was somewhat right because it wasn’t well attended by those who were interested, more so out of desperation.
All the coaching, design, tech stacks etc in the game won’t help you if the market fundamentals aren’t there.
- Rental Property Investor · Northern Virginia · Member since 2022 · 127 posts · 123 votes1y
I joined what seemed like two thousand people at my first STR conference in 14 months of self-managing my only STR. I met people looking to excel, not those in distress. I'm thankful I attended the final STR Wealth Conference.
- 1yKathy MerkhPro MemberInvestor · Medford Lakes, NJ · Member since 2022 · 33 posts · 14 votes
Quote from @Shannon Strickland:
I joined what seemed like two thousand people at my first STR conference in 14 months of self-managing my only STR. I met people looking to excel, not those in distress. I'm thankful I attended the final STR Wealth Conference.
Hi Shannon ~ I only have one STR as well but I pay for management. The conference was good? Is your STR local to you or out of state? Mine is out of state because I'm in NJ and the market isn't really good for STR's unless it's down at one of the shores which are obscenely priced and I can't afford! I'd love to get more but capital's my issue. Are you looking to get more and if so, any tidbits you could share?
- Member since 2022 · 529 posts · 413 votes1y
The number of emails I get for these conferences are overwhelming. They always advertise early bird deals then keep getting extended so it’s always seemed like they don’t make their numbers. Either way, I’ve never been interested and feel like they are a bit scammy to make money of people that are either struggling or new to the industry (and there are much better and cheaper ways to learn than this conference). Just my thoughts, I could be completely wrong. Seems like the organizers make more money off of the conferences, retreats, books, website, etc. than on their STRs.
- Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
One of the speakers said “there are yachts and have nots, which do YOU want?”
Hmm let me think on that for a minute and I’ll get back to you.
- Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ and Rehoboth Beach DE · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes1y
If you’re talking about Bill Faeth, I think he’s got great advice. I didn’t go to this conference or any other, but I’ve been a member of his free FB group for years, and have gotten a lot of good, free advice from him. He has plenty of free YouTube videos too that give the details of his investing advice. I’m not interested in ramping up the number of rentals I have, but for someone who wants to, I’d certainly recommend they at least look into his method. Its not for everyone, and you certainly don’t have to pay for the basics unless you want more personal coaching.
I just got home from the conference. That was not my takeaway at all. My wife and I went and we walked away with more knowledge, more awareness of strategies and techniques that we did not know anything about. More importantly, I walked away with several actionable items that I can take in this next week to improve my business.
I have been in this space since 2018 but this was my first conference. I knew there would be offers for coaching from the various speakers, but quite honestly, most of the speakers had solid actionable information and the focus was not on the "sign up for my coaching." Part of the speakers were motivational, but lots of them had real solid info, not just a hey here is a tidbit but if you sign up you will get all the info kind of thing. Like I said I have been in this space for 7 years now and I walked out with several actionable items that I can put into practice.
I know you do not use PriceLabs, but while I was there I got to sit down one on one with one of the PriceLabs guys and he sat with me for at least 30 minutes as I shared my issues with him. He was able to show me several things I can do that really drilled my properties in and explained a number of things I didn't quite understand. That 30 minutes was invaluable to me.
Beyond, that I made several good connections at this event. The reason Bill was in tears at the end of this is because he has been doing this for 4 years and this was the last one plus there were some personal reasons that he mentioned as well. That was during his farewell moment when he was closing things out. Those tears were not of joy but of sadness and had nothing to do with how much more money is out there to be made.
In fact, there were sessions speaking directly to the downturn in the market and I did not run into any investors who said they were struggling looking to find someone with a magic potion.The description your friend gave really blows me away as it is 180 degrees from what we experienced as well as the people we were meeting with. Of course I only met a small subset of the 1200 people that were there.
Not to mention, I got to eat at Hattie B's while I was in town!- Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
Quote from @Ken Boone:
I just got home from the conference. That was not my takeaway at all. My wife and I went and we walked away with more knowledge, more awareness of strategies and techniques that we did not know anything about. More importantly, I walked away with several actionable items that I can take in this next week to improve my business.
I have been in this space since 2018 but this was my first conference. I knew there would be offers for coaching from the various speakers, but quite honestly, most of the speakers had solid actionable information and the focus was not on the "sign up for my coaching." Part of the speakers were motivational, but lots of them had real solid info, not just a hey here is a tidbit but if you sign up you will get all the info kind of thing. Like I said I have been in this space for 7 years now and I walked out with several actionable items that I can put into practice.
I know you do not use PriceLabs, but while I was there I got to sit down one on one with one of the PriceLabs guys and he sat with me for at least 30 minutes as I shared my issues with him. He was able to show me several things I can do that really drilled my properties in and explained a number of things I didn't quite understand. That 30 minutes was invaluable to me.
Beyond, that I made several good connections at this event. The reason Bill was in tears at the end of this is because he has been doing this for 4 years and this was the last one plus there were some personal reasons that he mentioned as well. That was during his farewell moment when he was closing things out. Those tears were not of joy but of sadness and had nothing to do with how much more money is out there to be made.
In fact, there were sessions speaking directly to the downturn in the market and I did not run into any investors who said they were struggling looking to find someone with a magic potion.The description your friend gave really blows me away as it is 180 degrees from what we experienced as well as the people we were meeting with. Of course I only met a small subset of the 1200 people that were there.
Not to mention, I got to eat at Hattie B's while I was in town!Hattie B's is the best! I'm glad you guys enjoyed the conference. I guess one's perception of the event is heavily dependent on a particular attendee's frame of mind to begin with.
- Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Those bacon cheddar grits are the bomb! We had to eat there twice while we were in town.Yeah and the have one at the airport too, just in case you want one last shot.
Quote from @Collin Hays:
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Those bacon cheddar grits are the bomb! We had to eat there twice while we were in town.Yeah and the have one at the airport too, just in case you want one last shot.
Ha! If I was flying out I might have had to get another shot of them grits man! We drove home though so that meant a stop at Sonny's!
- Contractor · Sheboygan, WI · Member since 2016 · 921 posts · 266 votes1y
@Collin Hays the slick , oily sales sponsor of the event claims to be an expert and coach because he owns 5-6 properties.
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Collin Hays the slick , oily sales sponsor of the event claims to be an expert and coach because he owns 5-6 properties.
So I can assume you are the friend that provided Collin the info from his first post. Man if you are referring to Bill Faeth, that is such a gross misrepresentation of who he is and what he has done in just the last five years in the STR space and how many people he FREELY helps. You clearly do not like the guy and that is okay, but your statement is a complete gross misrepresentation of him.
I don't need to defend the guy but I always think it is pretty uncool when people go online and make statements like this when they really don't know what they are talking about - and if that is how you sum him up, you don't know what you are talking about and your statement was completely unfair.- Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Collin Hays the slick , oily sales sponsor of the event claims to be an expert and coach because he owns 5-6 properties.
So I can assume you are the friend that provided Collin the info from his first post. Man if you are referring to Bill Faeth, that is such a gross misrepresentation of who he is and what he has done in just the last five years in the STR space and how many people he FREELY helps. You clearly do not like the guy and that is okay, but your statement is a complete gross misrepresentation of him.
I don't need to defend the guy but I always think it is pretty uncool when people go online and make statements like this when they really don't know what they are talking about - and if that is how you sum him up, you don't know what you are talking about and your statement was completely unfair.He's not the friend. But I consider Todd my BP friend, for sure!
I wasn't intending to disparage "Bill." I am sure he had good reasons to be emotional. Me, I'm crying over my July.
Quote from @Collin Hays:
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Collin Hays the slick , oily sales sponsor of the event claims to be an expert and coach because he owns 5-6 properties.
So I can assume you are the friend that provided Collin the info from his first post. Man if you are referring to Bill Faeth, that is such a gross misrepresentation of who he is and what he has done in just the last five years in the STR space and how many people he FREELY helps. You clearly do not like the guy and that is okay, but your statement is a complete gross misrepresentation of him.
I don't need to defend the guy but I always think it is pretty uncool when people go online and make statements like this when they really don't know what they are talking about - and if that is how you sum him up, you don't know what you are talking about and your statement was completely unfair.He's not the friend. But I consider Todd my BP friend, for sure!
I wasn't intending to disparage "Bill." I am sure he had good reasons to be emotional. Me, I'm crying over my July.
I don't think your intentions were to disparage anyone. You simply relayed someone's opinion and asked for further firsthand feedback. Didn't think the post would go like this though! ;)
Sorry to hear about your July though!
- Contractor · Sheboygan, WI · Member since 2016 · 921 posts · 266 votes1y
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
- Rental Property Investor · Northern Virginia · Member since 2022 · 127 posts · 123 votes1y
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
We paid to get the actionable items and level-up.
- Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
Quote from @Shannon Strickland:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
We paid to get the actionable items and level-up.
Did you have to pay extra for the actionable items at the event?
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
Since you are clearly bent against the guy and the conference I am not going to take the time digging in to the details. It was a firehose of information and I can't wait to get the recordings to I can go back and watch them again.
1) I learned several techniques when sending out emails on my distribution list to gain a higher level return on them landing in the inbox vs the spam box.
2) I learned several things to go back and analyze on my website to help increase user hold time.
3) I also learned several items to help with my social media.4) The time I spent with two of my software vendors gave me some invaluable insight.
5) I learned some new strategies in creative financing that I previously were not exposed to.6) I made connections with people operating in the new market I just purchased a property in.
And much much more.Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
Since you are clearly bent against the guy and the conference I am not going to take the time digging in to the details. It was a firehose of information and I can't wait to get the recordings to I can go back and watch them again.
1) I learned several techniques when sending out emails on my distribution list to gain a higher level return on them landing in the inbox vs the spam box.
2) I learned several things to go back and analyze on my website to help increase user hold time.
3) I also learned several items to help with my social media.4) The time I spent with two of my software vendors gave me some invaluable insight.
5) I learned some new strategies in creative financing that I previously were not exposed to.6) I made connections with people operating in the new market I just purchased a property in.
And much much more.All that is just too vague outside of 6. Give some real definition behind it, and 6 doesn't really do anything but you learned some of your competition. Which in your case could be really bad or really good.
Without that, from what I summarize you just got told things AI or Google could've told you.
Quote from @V.G Jason:
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
Since you are clearly bent against the guy and the conference I am not going to take the time digging in to the details. It was a firehose of information and I can't wait to get the recordings to I can go back and watch them again.
1) I learned several techniques when sending out emails on my distribution list to gain a higher level return on them landing in the inbox vs the spam box.
2) I learned several things to go back and analyze on my website to help increase user hold time.
3) I also learned several items to help with my social media.4) The time I spent with two of my software vendors gave me some invaluable insight.
5) I learned some new strategies in creative financing that I previously were not exposed to.6) I made connections with people operating in the new market I just purchased a property in.
And much much more.All that is just too vague outside of 6. Give some real definition behind it, and 6 doesn't really do anything but you learned some of your competition. Which in your case could be really bad or really good.
Without that, from what I summarize you just got told things AI or Google could've told you.
Whatever man. Summarize what you want. I don't need to prove anything. The conference was worth my time and money and everyone I met at the conference felt the same way.
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @V.G Jason:
Quote from @Ken Boone:
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone tell us what we’re just two actionable items you learned and will implement.
Since you are clearly bent against the guy and the conference I am not going to take the time digging in to the details. It was a firehose of information and I can't wait to get the recordings to I can go back and watch them again.
1) I learned several techniques when sending out emails on my distribution list to gain a higher level return on them landing in the inbox vs the spam box.
2) I learned several things to go back and analyze on my website to help increase user hold time.
3) I also learned several items to help with my social media.4) The time I spent with two of my software vendors gave me some invaluable insight.
5) I learned some new strategies in creative financing that I previously were not exposed to.6) I made connections with people operating in the new market I just purchased a property in.
And much much more.All that is just too vague outside of 6. Give some real definition behind it, and 6 doesn't really do anything but you learned some of your competition. Which in your case could be really bad or really good.
Without that, from what I summarize you just got told things AI or Google could've told you.
Whatever man. Summarize what you want. I don't need to prove anything. The conference was worth my time and money and everyone I met at the conference felt the same way.
Much like you don't have to prove it, I don't have to believe your post had any substance. It looked like a ****** AI post of what happened. AI would give more substance. If those were the outcomes of this conference, you got played. Get over yourself.
- 1yRyan MoyerBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Orlando Kissimmee Davenport Salt Lake City, Park City · Member since 2019 · 993 posts · 1k+ votes
Quote from @Collin Hays:
The final keynote speaker apparently literally cried onstage - tears of joy - at how much money can still be made with short term rentals.
Would love to hear more firsthand on this. Perhaps my friend, a member of this forum, will chime in.
Sounds like a ruse.
You got bad info.
Bill Faeth, the one who organized the event, cried at the end because it is the last time he is putting on the event, and while thanking his marketing manager Chris who did most of the hard work to organize it and whom he considers like a son. Definitely was never anything about anyone crying because of how much money could be made in STRs or anything like it.
I was at the conference. It was very good. You know I am a cynic like you Colin but I give Bill Faeth a lot of credit because he is the only influencer that has built the majority of his wealth from strs AFTER covid, and who continues to buy and heavily cash flow on properties today, with today's prices, today's rates, and today's saturation.
Most of the STR influencers have a pretty simple formula for how they got rich.
1) Buy STRs pre-covid when prices and rates were low
2) Do a mediocre or even below average job managing them
3) Profit because their debt service is so low.
4) Pretend they're a genius and sell courses teaching people how to match their below average returns, which only work for them because their debt service is so low.
Most of these folks have not bought any new properties since 2023, and if they have they are hemmorhaging money on them and proudly brag that they are still great tax write-offs (for all the money they're making coaching people how to be a bottom percentile host).
Bill is the exception, he buys 2-3 properties a year, every year pretty much, and shares the financials.
It was a great conference. It's a shame it was the last one. It is more tailored for people wanting to go headfirst into seriously leveraging up and creating wealth rather than folks just casually hosting a property or two. And many of the people there are people that do exactly that.
@Ken Boone @Shannon Strickland bummer I didn't know you two were there, would have been fun to meet up!
Cosmic Vacations4.9174 Reviews - Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes1y
Hey guys, let's cool down here. There are a lot of reasons to attend conferences of various sorts. Let's give some grace and mercy. It might have been a waste of time for one attendee, but pure gold for another.
I've spent many hours at conferences of various sorts in my corporate life. The big ballrooms with classroom style chairs and tables, a couple of mints and a glass of water, and the audience ooh-ing and awe-ing at some talking head on stage making outlandish claims. And when you approach him with a question at bathroom break, he looks at you a like a deer in headlights. Empty suit in front of a mic with a script.
So yes, I approach these skeptically, but if it was worthwhile to some, GREAT!
- Contractor · Sheboygan, WI · Member since 2016 · 921 posts · 266 votes1y
@Ken Boone stop insinuating things you know nothing about. Stop assuming things just to create a biased narrative.
By posting false assumptions you reveal your true character.
I have never spoken to anyone about Bill Faeth. Your comments are disgusting.
- Dude - This is EXACTLY what you posted
Quote from @Todd Goedeke:
@Ken Boone stop insinuating things you know nothing about. Stop assuming things just to create a biased narrative.
By posting false assumptions you reveal your true character.
I have never spoken to anyone about Bill Faeth. Your comments are disgusting.
" the slick , oily sales sponsor of the event claims to be an expert and coach because he owns 5-6 properties."
Did I interpret that wrong?
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