All Forum Posts by: Anand S.

Been checking into this during the Covid downtime. Looks like YourPorter has some good feedback here so I checked it out. I ran the ranking tool and found my homes were ranked #1, #14 and #22 for 5+ BR homes and #1 for my guesthouse. Has anyone else checked this? I know my homes are ranked well but was wondering if they were trying to flatter me into a subscription. 

I suspect two things are happening here: 1) Hotels are lobbying hard to squeeze VR's in this time of crisis and 2) the Governor made a calculated gamble that STR's are many small fish who, individually, are unlikely to sue while Hotels would certainly do so.

I'm pleased to see this action. It plays well in the media given it's a bunch of retired military families suing who invested their life savings in VR's. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/airbnb-hosts-are-building-their-own-direct-booking-websites-in-revolt.html

We're working on one but don't expect it to outperform ABB or HA. We're doing it more for local bookings and as a "business card". We'll advertise on local channels like CL, FB, etc. and link to our site. 

For all you Florida folks, take a moment and sign this petition and tell the Governor to reopen vacation rentals.

https://www.change.org/p/ron-desantis-stop-the-unfair-treatment-of-vacation-rentals-not-fair-to-ban-only-one-industry-sector-especially-one-that-produces-31-plus-billion-for-the-state

Starting to get June cancellations. These appear to be fairly easy for guests to execute, and guests retain a full refund despite strict cancellation policies. Unfortunately these will not have any relief support from the Covid-19 fund. Summer's looking pretty dire with almost no new inquiries. 

Definitely call and write the governor. He needs to hear from those affected and know it's not just a few.

Where in Florida do you guys operate?

I'm slowly seeing demand creep back but our esteemed governor has extended the ban on STR's while leaving hotels, motels, inns, resorts, non-transient public lodging establishments, or time share projects open!

I finally got a payout but it was only for cancellations made through April 8, 2020. They conveniently left out a $7K booking that was supposed to check in on March 14th (the edge of the window). I should be getting additional payouts for cancellations made after April 8th. 

I suspect AirBnB will create a button so guests can quickly filter for hosts who adhere to this new cleanliness/72 hr gap policy, much like how they do for hosts that adopted a flexible cancellation policy. I wouldn't be surprised if they also create a badge or something similar.