Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2012 · 312 posts · 165 votes
I've seen where they put pinball machines or arcade system in their garages and looked a their bookings and do see most of their dates filled. I don't have the funds for those 2k items so thinking of putting in a Playstation 4. Anyone done this and see any positive return?
Go for it. Some of my STR tenants even arrive with their own Xbox or Playstation and a small HDTV. My tenants are not your normal vacationing crowd. They are contractors. The people you see working on the large erections of steel at a petrochemical refinery and nitrogen fertilizer plant.
I personally don't put an Xbox or anything else like that in mine, but all my HDTVs are Smart or they have a Roku or a streaming BluRay with adult movies. Other things I put in houses are electronic dart boards, fire pits and horse shoes.
@Chai Xiong We have an older Xbox 360 with a stack of games that we put in our property. I doubt anyone books because of it but it seems to get a lot of use based on how things are left after people leave. It's a great way to entertain the kids when its raining, etc. Ours was one our son had and wasn't using so didn't cost us any extra.
Go for it. Some of my STR tenants even arrive with their own Xbox or Playstation and a small HDTV. My tenants are not your normal vacationing crowd. They are contractors. The people you see working on the large erections of steel at a petrochemical refinery and nitrogen fertilizer plant.
I personally don't put an Xbox or anything else like that in mine, but all my HDTVs are Smart or they have a Roku or a streaming BluRay with adult movies. Other things I put in houses are electronic dart boards, fire pits and horse shoes.
I don't think it would offer a return, it might be nice yeah but it wouldn't boost your nightly rate especially if it is a vacation area. People usually don't book a vacation rental because it will allow them to play video games just like they could at home.
@Chai Xiong, we had a foosball table and a PS3 for many years. Never received one notable review on the PS3 but it was well used just based on the abuse it's taking over the last 3 years. The foosball table had a lot of good feedback though. It's a nice to have if you have a family demographic mostly using your STR. Especially if they are on vacation and it's raining the whole time or something like that.
I can’t comment on the video game system but if you don’t already have board games I would strongly suggest those. We have several reviews mentioning the board games and we just picked them at at garage sales
We have Xbox's in all of our houses, some of them have more than one. We also put WII's in a lot of the kids rooms. I think they make a big difference. Also, the XBox One S can stream 4K and play Blue-rays.
There’s a Wii in one of ours. Because it was there when we bought it and no one has ever complained about it. We don’t advertise it. Come to think of it no one has ever even mentioned it. If I get one question about it it’s gone. I won’t know the answer so I can’t be of service. Besides I don’t want to waste my time.
In my experience, no. I have never had a request for one (beach STRs) and I've focused on providing high quality TV sets with lots of HDMI ports and all the streaming services built-in.
I've had many people comment on liking not having to go without Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc but so far nobody has asked for a Playstation or Xbox.
I also blanket the property in mesh wifi points so they can connect from the bedroom to the beach.
Update, yesterday my guest arrived and i know they used it 2 hours in because i got notified they downloaded the youtube app. Going to take a photo of it and post it on my homeaway pictures and see if there's any more traffic that gets generated. Thanks everyone.
But I wonder if they make a fairy that will buy it, ship it, install it, connect it to WiFi, answer guest questions about it, fix broken controllers, scratched discs, and replace stolen pieces -- all without bothering me on a Sunday afternoon....
I don't have STR but if I did what I'd consider is:
Do competitors have it and is it the difference between them selecting my unit vs theirs
If the playstation decides to malfunction during their stay are they going to write you a negative review for it or call you asking for one that work
What if they put one of their own games or a redbox in, it gets damaged, are they going to ask you to reimburse them
How many bad #&@ kids or drunk adults are likely to break this playstation and act like they don't know what happened
Could the money you spend on the playstation and games be spent on something more attractive (larger tv or more TV's)
I think that's my long way of saying no. I mean unless your STR is near Disneyland, lego land, somewhere else where most of your tenants are brining children and you want a marketing edge but don't mind replacing a bunch of games, consoles, and controllers. Nah.