Developer · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 133 posts · 114 votes
I'd like to compile a resource of strategies on self-managing STR's to maximize profits. I'm doing a lot of research currently but it's all over the place and as expected, very regional. So more than looking for any specific service I'm wondering what self-managers are doing to automate services related to their properties. Things such as:
Turn-Over/Cleaning Services
Linen Service/Laundry
Keys/Access/Exchanges
Calendar Syncing
STR Advertising
Additional Amenities Provided
If anyone could expand on what works and doesn't for them in regards to managing STR's I feel we could build a pretty good resource.
Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 533 posts · 433 votes
9y
Pedro,
It's no mystery, to maximize profits you'll need to run a tight budget and yes, it's all over the place. Everyone will want a piece of your pie and because it's a "new" industry, there are all kinds of "solutions" that a lot of people will "save you money" or "make you more money". My 18-month experience is this: Control as much as you can yourself, e.g., find your own cleaning crew (preferably an individual or small group that you can work closely with), find a local laundry service (don't pay your cleaning crew to wait around for towels/sheets to dry), electronic locks (keys suck). If you're just starting out as a STR owner, you want to make sure your photos rock, you're providing everything that you have in your own home and make sure your guests are aware of it, charge lower rates at first, then after you have some positive reviews, start to raise them slowly. The other misnomer is unless you own more than one property it's going to be hard to make a lot of money. I own two and it's a challenge, especially in the off-season. No one's going to make you more money, or save you more money than yourself! There's a lot more and you can PM me if you want to exchange contact info and converse directly. I'm happy to share and can expand on Advertising and Calendar Syncs.
Developer · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 133 posts · 114 votes
7y
Business is good.
I've since ditched the Z-Wave locks and gone with "igloohome" locks. I like these for a few reasons:
They require no connectivity past the initial setup via bluetooth to your phone. You can sync them with AirBnB and they'll algorithmically generate codes based on a guest's stay and issue them duration based codes for their itinerary. They also email the guest the code at a time you define before their check-in. The lack of necessity for connectivity means the batteries last longer. I had a lot of issues with range and loss of connection with the Z-Wave equipment. I think it's a pretty poor protocol.
Notes Investor · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 109 posts · 51 votes
7y
@Account Closed I have been follow your "STR journey" ... very intrigue! Which inspired me to converted one of my rental and do airbnb in San Diego since Nov 2018. Yes, we are neighbor :)
Developer · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 133 posts · 114 votes
7y
My cleaners won't travel to Mira Mesa. You can ask for referrals in this facebook group if you'd like: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SanDiegoAirBnBHosts/
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 200 posts · 126 votes
7y
@Account Closed
Are you still using Outswitch? I am looking for a channel manager and pricing system and that fits both. Would love to hear your current thoughts on the program. I have been using Smartbnb and Pricelabs up until this point but this seems like a great solution.
Developer · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 133 posts · 114 votes
7y
@Jake Cohen
I've actually been thinking of switching to pricelabs and smartbnb so I'm glad you chimed in just now. Why are you looking to switch?
Outswitch has been good until recently. They still don't have an API connection with Airbnb which I think is unforgivable after all this time and there's no phone app for it, also unforgivable. Their whole back end uses flash so they'll need to update their entire system at some point soon and I don't want to tag along for the ride
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 200 posts · 126 votes
7y
@Account Closed
I actually love smartbnb and think they are doing a great job. Their messaging and metrics are as good or better than anything on the market regardless of price. The problem I have is with the sync between Airbnb and VRBO. I have a number of listings that have a parent child relationship (duplex where you can rent each half separately or both together). When we get these reservations they need to block the other units correctly and they haven't been able to get that right yet.
The one I have been looking at also is called YourPorter. They claim they have the solution for parent child and seems like they have similar features to smartbnb but you have to work a little harder to create them. I haven't spent enough time in trial to figure out if it has everything I need or not.
I think pricelabs is also a great solution. It gives me a bunch of customizations that I can change by property. I just saw Outswitch as a potential better solution if I could get the channel management as well. I also realize Outswitch doesn't have a connection with VRBO. Airbnb and VRBO are the most important booking channels for me.
Really appreciate the feedback on Outswitch. I 100% agree on Guesty. I used it initially and for 1 listing the 3% didn't seem so bad. Once I had 10 listings I realized I was paying close to $10,000 a year for it.
Just hope Smartbnb can figure out a few big things that will make my life way easier. Good luck on the switch. If you have any specific questions happy to help.
Developer · San Diego, CA · Member since 2012 · 133 posts · 114 votes
7y
@Jake Cohen I'm also using yourporter and looking to replace it with SmartBnB. I dropped other channels a while ago as 90% of my bookings were coming from AirBnB and it just became easier. AirBnB's ability to link listings made things a lot easier for me as I also split listings in the way you described but before that I was using Ownerrez to take care of it, which I still use and think is a really good channel manager. It also allows me to take bookings directly from my website and has integration with Pricelabs for my web widgets and will coordinate them with VRBO and BDC if I choose to go back to those in the future. You may want to look into it.
How do you track your metrics with your split properties? I find it hard to track occupancy of the unit when I rent half of it at a time and the other half goes unbooked for instance.
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2017 · 200 posts · 126 votes
7y
@Account Closed it sounds like we are on the same path. I have been just using Airbnb for a while to simplify everything. However I did feel like I was getting valuable reservations from VRBO so would like to get back to it eventually.
I will definitely check out Ownerrez as an option to connect to VRBO and have a booking engine on my website. Sounds like a good solution for the interim
For occupancy, I have not found a good way to automate this through any metrics tools, so I manually add my bookings for the whole property to the individual sides of the property.
For example: If my occupancy in Unit A is 25/30 days and the whole property was rented for 3 days I add 25+3/30 for my occupancy for that unit. I would do the same for Unit B. I split the revenue between the units as well to add to my ADR.
Thanks for the good advice on software. I think I'll stick with Smartbnb & Pricelabs for now but maybe add Ownerrez to the mix.