My vacation rentals are listed on Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway exclusively. My places are very busy and my monthly income is greater than 3x what I'd get if they were traditional long-term rentals. In the winter months it does slow down a bit but I've rented a couple of them long-term through those two sites and it still works out great.
That is a VERY broad question. There are listing sites like Airbnb, HoweAway, etc.... and there are independent ways to market a property as well. Can you expand upon your question further, be as specific as possible?
Well, I hear people talking about air bnb all the time. Is it good enough, in your opinion, to just post a Vr on those types of sites? Or are there marketing companies that do that?
Specifically I'm trying to get a minimum 60% Rental rate
My vacation rentals are listed on Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway exclusively. My places are very busy and my monthly income is greater than 3x what I'd get if they were traditional long-term rentals. In the winter months it does slow down a bit but I've rented a couple of them long-term through those two sites and it still works out great.
My weekly rentals get the most responses from Craigslist. I have ads up on Apartments.com and Facebook. Those 2 websites might generate 2% of my yearly rentals.
Return customers are my second way of renting out places. But, it's kind of hard to have repeat customers when you are starting out. I have around 1100 previous renters in the last 5 years.
My best way of renting out furnished houses is giving my potential renters a sales pitch when they come in for a pre-employment drug screen. They all work at a refinery in town. They are contractors. They are from 500+ miles away. I give them all a pen with a sales pitch and my number engraved on the pen. They also get PG rated calendar with scantily clad women doing construction work. When they rent from me they get a PG13 calendar of topless women in sexy poses. When they get to their room, everything is R rated on the walls.
@Monica Painton My furnished houses have the same financials as yours. A typical monthly rental for a 2 bedroom would in this town would be $400. I charge the same for a furnished, bills paid rental each week. The first weeks rent pays for the utilities. Weeks 2-4 are profit. The last 2-3 days of the month are for incidental expenses.
Okay, this is a weird thread. Haha, but . . . I market ours on VRBO and AirBnb, and our rentals do very well. I also have a Facebook page that details our rentals, and I try to post a couple times a week with ideas about things to do in the area when people travel. When I first started the page, I set up a drawing that offered a free 3-night stay, but each person had to "share" or "comment" under the contest in order to be part of the drawing. I got a pretty big following by doing that, and it has led to some bookings. I have done Craigslist a few times, and I always tell myself that I need to start sending emails to previous guests, but I think I get kinda lazy with it since it's already doing so well on VRBO and AirBnb.
I think it really depends on the location of your home. My place is in SF on Air bnb and has been doing it since 2012 and am also a Superhost. I think like places such as Lake Tahoe, VRBO tends to be better if you are looking to rent out a big home for a family gathering.
Air bnb' new Branding is offering "Experience" so one can rent cool homes like a boathouse, Air streams, tree houses etc.
So it really depends on your property. The crowd is different too on the both sites.
Thank you you for that. When I started this thread I was just kind of ,you know , wondering if people were doing hard-core SEO and marketing, etc or just slapping it on Airbnb and letting it go. My properties are basic 2,3 and four unit Long term rentals. But where I live there is quite a bit to do-waterpark, state park, fishing camping etc.
Airbnb is great for smaller homes or condo units. You will have much more success on there. If you were wanting to list a home with 3+ bedrooms, I've found the most interest comes from HomeAway/VRBO and some interest from platforms like TripAdvisor and Flipkey.
I am well versed with Vacation Home Rentals so if you ever have any questions, guest management, asset protection, or even generating rates, feel free to reach out to me!
We slapped ours on AirBnB and let them go! Recently we've also listed on VRBO, and I got a 2.5 month rental (traveling nurse) out of that. We have a Christmas tree farm (where the rentals are located), and our tree farm Facebook page has lots of followers, so I've advertised there, but didn't get a single booking that way. I also tried Google advertising with similar results.
I'm scared to advertise on Craigslist! I'm afraid that I'll get too many tire kickers, no way to vet them, etc. Anyone want to share your Craigslist experiences with VR's?
@Leigh Ann Smith I have been trying CL in the past few months, but it's not working for me. I should say that I am full, and the vrbo+airbnb works very well, but wanted to try CL. It is just bringing me unqualified inquiries, once in a while. I know @John Underwood likes CL. So I guess it depends on the location, or the type of property.
Just have you CL ad point to your VRBO or Airbnb add. You don't really know how well it is working but it costs you nothing. I advertise on surrounding cities CL also.
I do take a check or PayPal as long as the check has plenty of time to clear. I require a copy of their DL and a deposit. Hotels don't run background checks on anyone that stay at their place with proper ID.
@John Underwood - I really like your suggestion. It's free and can catch people that fall through the cracks.
@Paul Sandhu - you know your clients well and I salute you. Guys working the refinery have a different decision rubric and you're ringing the right bells. As a former construction manager, I know construction workers are trying to take as much money home as they can. They will happily share a house.
I study niche rentals and you're business model is a proven success in many states. From a CEO perspective, we all should be trying to maximize our asset's profitability. You've face the brutal facts, are keeping things legal, and are creating value for a target client - well done!
I use AirBnB and VRBO exclusively for booking and calendar syncing, but generate traffic to those pages with a website as well. I have gotten a ton of scam artists from all over the world using Craigslist. Always something about a long stay, for a lot of money, and they want to pay extra for some reason.
I list exclusively on Airbnb these days (used to use Flipkey, and VRBO but I don't need them to fill the calendar anymore) I have a facebook page that allows people to rent with me or go to the Airbnb ads. I run targeted Facebook advertisements occasionally.
Yes, a broad question indeed. I think @Angela Yan is generally correct that cities and "hip" areas tend to fare better on Airbnb while the traditional vacation rental home (lakehouse, ski house, etc.) fares better on VRBO. (That, itself is a broad generalization.)
Like @Blair Russell , when I was doing Airbnb here in Denver, I could have been booked exclusively on Airbnb. I also put our spaces on VRBO, though, at much higher rates and synced the calendars. If someone wanted to book for more on VRBO, great. Otherwise, my sweetspot price on Airbnb would fill it up eventually.
I think as @Leigh Ann Smith found out, Craigslist is pretty good for getting that furnished medium-term traveling nurse crowd. At least it is for us here in Denver. Our two condo rentals are both furnished and we use CL exclusively to get traveling nurses. It's not Airbnb money, but it tends to be about 50% more than a conventional long-term unfurnished rental. (And here in Denver, any way you can juice the rents is a helpful tactic.)
I know @Michael Greenberg was (and maybe still is) experimenting with his own platform, which is obviously the best way to go if you know how to build a website and get its SEO value up. (Cut out the middle man!)
@Craig Teeter Like @Monica Painton I use Airbnb and VRBO/Homeaway exclusively. I tried booking.com but their technology isn't up to snuff just yet and I have found their users shopping for a deal. As @James Carlson mentioned, I do have my own site up and running but never completed an actual booking this way. It does however lend great credibility to what we are all doing and has allowed me to take guests direct after their first stay (I believe I "own" the guest relationship once they have stayed at my home). I have north of 60% occupancy and a much stronger cap rate than I could expect from long term rentals. But it does come with some heavy lifting work, so don't get sucked into the "just list your home and we'll do the rest" stories of the big platforms. @Jen Faulkner - brilliant idea, and I'm no different with my contact list. Need to find someone to outsource an email / blog campaign to. As @Matt K. stated, Airdna.co is a useful tool, make sure to check it out.