Fellow STR operator looking to compare notes with a few hands-on hosts

[Adhirai M.]

Hi all, I'm Adhi, and my partner and I self-manage our own short-term rentals.

The part that never really stops for us is the daily operational load: guest messages at all hours, chasing cleaners and vendors, turnovers, the little things that slip when you're busy or traveling. I'm trying to get sharper about how other hands-on hosts handle it, so a few honest questions:

– How do you keep guest messaging from eating your evenings? Templates, a VA, automation, something else?
– What's your system for coordinating cleaners and maintenance when you're traveling or off-grid?
– Where do things most often fall through the cracks for you?

Happy to share what's worked (and what's badly failed) on our end too, we've tried a lot. Even if you only manage one property, I'd love to hear how you run things.

[John Underwood]

I almost never get messages from guests other than thank you for the treat you left us and the house is great!

I have a very detailed description in my listing and pictures of things that answer questions.

Make sure you describe the grill and the coffee pot/s. Those used to be my two most asked questions.

I might get a question about the lake or our dock, but this is also rare.

I have a hard copy of the house manual laying on the kitchen table so it is easy to flip through and get answers.

What type of questions are you seeing. Can you add a better description or pictures to cut down on the most common questions?

As far as cleaning schedule. We let our cleaners know when we have new bookings and she adds them to her calendar. Another way is to have a synced and shared google calendar with your scheduled stays.