Ask Me Anything And Help Me Understand: Short Term Rentals

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Ask Me Anything And Help Me Understand: Short Term Rentals

Joe PrillamanPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes

I’m in a unique situation. My wife and I have been investing in short term rentals in Carolina Beach, NC since 2019. We have 10 listings here on the island and have built the systems to run a portfolio of this size at a very high level. We are in the top 10% of my market.

Here is the situation. We currently have 991 reviews on airbnb. Every property is managed and run with the exact same systems. One of my properties is a quadplex. Each of the four units are identical! Everything from the rehab, the staging, all the way to the owners closets are the exact same. Each unit has about 50 reviews from this last season. The first 3 units range between a 4.95-4.91 rating. The last unit is currently sitting at a 4.81 rating.  I can’t figure out why this specific unit is getting roasted on Airbnb so i'm turning to you all for wisdom! 

1. Ask me anything you want to know about short term rentals and how we run our 10 unit portfolio.

AND

2. Why do you think this one unit is getting roasted with 4 star reviews.

Our profile:

The struggling unit:

See you all at BPCON2021!

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Ryan MoyerBusiness Member
Property Manager · Orlando Kissimmee Davenport Salt Lake City, Park City · Member since 2019 · 993 posts · 1k+ votes
5y
Originally posted by @Joe Prillaman:

@John Underwood, Most of the reviews are positive even stating they plan on booking again in the future but they leave us 4 stars! 

Do you ask for reviews?  When you ask for them do you just ask for a review, do you ask for a great review, or do you ask for a 5* review?

I don't have anywhere near 991 reviews but so far fortunately I haven't run into anyone that loves the place and then leaves 4 stars.  One thing I do is CONSTANTLY use the terminology "5 star review" in my messaging with the guests.  All of my automated messages start with some form of "I hope you're having a 5* stay".  When guests message me with an issue I specifically reference taking care of it because I want them to have "a 5* stay".  My post check-out messages specifically ask for a "5 star review".  My wifi password even has the term "5*review" in it.

I don't know if it helps or if I've just gotten lucky, but I absolutely hammer it into my guests head that I'm not looking for a good review, I'm looking for a 5* review.

Cosmic Vacations4.9172 Reviews
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  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @John Majoris, most don’t travel with dangerous dogs but we do not have any breed restrictions or size restrictions. Yes we charge a non refundable $200 pet fee in the quad and are raising our other properties from $75 to $125-200 over this next year. We brought in an additional 40k in pet fees this last year. Make sure to check with your insurance provider if you are going to allow pets and get adequate insurance!

    0Reply
  • Wes M.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Southeastern, NC · Member since 2018 · 163 posts · 146 votes
    5y

    @Joe Prillaman Considering allowing pets as well. Do you have a higher cleaning fee? And how do you handle dog poop? Cleaners scope yard and remove at each turn? I like the additional revenue for sure.

    0Reply
  • Ken Boone
    Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Joe Prillaman:

    @John Majoris, most don’t travel with dangerous dogs but we do not have any breed restrictions or size restrictions. Yes we charge a non refundable $200 pet fee in the quad and are raising our other properties from $75 to $125-200 over this next year. We brought in an additional 40k in pet fees this last year. Make sure to check with your insurance provider if you are going to allow pets and get adequate insurance!

    @Joe Prillaman - Just a quick point, you may not have any restrictions on breed or size, however, your insurance company might.  On one of my long term rentals, I had a new tenant buy a new dog - a pit bull and did not disclose this to me.  My insurance company was going out to look a the place and saw the pit bull outside on a chain and quickly called and informed me they do not cover certain breeds such as pit bulls.  Tenant had to get rid of the dog or go.  Just something to think about.

    0Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    Hey Wes,

    We do not charge a higher cleaning fee. Overall we charge more than most but our cleaners clean each unit as if a dog is coming anyway so it doesn't add an additional expense to us. We have dog bag dispensers at each property and they tend to work well enough. 

    0Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @Ken Boone, Thanks Ken I'll double check with my insurance broker. We discussed it originally but always good to circle back around!

    0Reply
  • Colleen F.Pro Member
    Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    5y

    @Wes M. he has a $200 pet fee, that should cover cleaning... one would think.  

    @Joe Prillaman the real question is does 4.81  vs 4.91 cost you any business?  My guess is no. You got  a B not an A on that unit on some occasions.  Doesn't have to be you maybe they hating the dogs barking next door. Not every stay is an A or '5 Star"

    1Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @Colleen F.

    Hey Colleen, it’s funny we went with the $200 pet fee to discourage dogs because we wanted to be able to say all our units were dog friendly but 16 people and 8 dogs is a lot of bodies for one lot “We allow 2 dogs per guest”. The crazy part is we still get a ton of dogs and it helped us see we could be charging a lot more per pet in our other units.

    0Reply
  • Bruce WoodruffPro Member
    Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
    5y

    I only saw the remarks about the stairs and the lack of ice. I wouldn't worry about .10%

    1Reply
  • Colleen F.Pro Member
    Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    5y

    @Joe Prillaman it is a good way to deal with it.  A kennel or pet sitter would cost them more.  I would lean towards 1 per unit depending on the size of the unit.  Those little dogs are really yappy so in a multi not sure what I would do to make sure you don't get overrun with dog noise.

    0Reply
  • Kevin C.
    Real Estate Broker · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2012 · 89 posts · 77 votes
    5y

    I used to cry in class whenever I got an A-

    0Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @Kevin Cross, you understand me Kevin.

    1Reply
  • Kevin C.
    Real Estate Broker · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2012 · 89 posts · 77 votes
    5y

    @Joe Prillaman I just looked at your listings and I now think your post is justified. Great job on the rentals.

    1Reply
  • Matt Yarrington
    Investor · Outer Banks OBX · Member since 2020 · 26 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    Joe - I have struggled with random picky people feeling the need to leave 4 stars even though they gave great reviews in Nags Head.  Interestingly, clients that rent through VRBO (which markets on larger platforms) have asked fewer questions, paid higher weekly rates, and left all 5-star reviews.  Can't figure that out, but I like it.

    Question: What tips do you have for filling STR units in the Fall and Spring pre-season that are near the beach but not on the beach?

    Hope to meet you at BPcon.

    1Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @Matt Yarrington,

    Hey Matt, allowing dogs has been huge for filling the units during the off season. We have also found that adjusting our prices on a regular basis drives our units up in the algorithm. We do have a minimum price that we won’t drop below and sometimes we just change the prices by $1 or so. Turns out it’s better to sit empty than to have a bad tenant so we don’t just keep dropping the prices to fill the units.

    1Reply
  • Ted Caputo
    New to Real Estate · Lancaster County, SC · Member since 2021 · 32 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    Wow now I feel terrible. When I leave reviews a 4 is a really good rating. It means I was happy there, would come back and would recommend (I would usually write that in the review as well). To me 5 always seems like perfection. I would also stay in your unit with those reviews. It would not scare me away. I will now absolutely rethink my reviews especially as I attempt to get in the STR market!

    1Reply
  • Bruce WoodruffPro Member
    Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
    5y
    Originally posted by @Matt Yarrington:

     Interestingly, clients that rent through VRBO (which markets on larger platforms) have asked fewer questions, paid higher weekly rates, and left all 5-star reviews.  Can't figure that out, but I like it.

    Yep, this has come up before......I (And others) attribute it to the fact that VRBO attracts more older folks while AIR is the domain of millenials. Much more picky and fussy I've found (you might use the word 'entitled' :-)

    One of the reasons I prefer VRBO....that and the general attitude and lack of host support over at AIR.

    1Reply
  • Matt Yarrington
    Investor · Outer Banks OBX · Member since 2020 · 26 posts · 12 votes
    5y
    Bruce - glad to hear you noticed this as well.  Take care, -Matt Yarrington
    0Reply
  • Joseph Bafia
    Investor · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2019 · 314 posts · 280 votes
    5y

    I know this doesn't answer your question directly as I don't have agreat answer for the difference between identical units.  What would be good to track if you're really trying to see if there really is something to that unit or if it's just "statistics" is to do a "reset" and start tracking from say today and do your own scoring average.  If you started with a clean slate, you could see if the a different unit now becomes the "bad" one.  

    Could it be worth you reaching out to the guests that gave 4 stars and ask why?  Like "Thanks for staying...thank you for the review...in an effort to improve, can you share why you rated us 4 stars?"  

    ...and do this for all 4 units on anything that gets 4 stars.  Just a thought.  

    I'm under contract at Kure Beach and that will be our first STR on the coast (all our others are mountains). I may be reaching out for advice!

    0Reply
  • Joe PrillamanPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Carolina Beach, NC · Member since 2017 · 441 posts · 462 votes
    5y

    @Joseph Bafia

    Welcome to the island! Reach out anytime and thanks for the idea!

    0Reply
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