All Forum Posts by: Paul Cox

@Michael Baum, trust me when I say that was one of the better ones we took🙄

And then the one I use for my listing profile photo

Now here's my Professional Photographer's shot

@Michael Baum...Here are my photo's next to our pro photographer's photo..1st one is my photo...I do not claim to be any type of photographer, though I'd like to be :)

Hi @Rachael Wood

I'm a newby STR investor as well, also having worked with Avery and her Team in the Sevierville area. @Avery Carl and @Luke Carl and their team have really been helpful in steering me in the right direction with our cabin. We purchased back in Nov of last year, basically knowing no experience in the STR world other than that which we had read on the STR Forum. I also follow some STR sites on Facebook and have learned some good things there as well.  We self manage from Virginia. Is the cabin coming furnished or do you have to furnish it?

Our's came unfurnished, but we were able to negotiate a 15K furniture concession from the sellers at a local furniture store there in Pigeon Forge. That was Fun as the cabin was a blank slate and we got to furnish it with all high quality commercial grade furniture that should last for some time. 

Once you have it furnished or decorated to your style, do yourself a HUGE favor and get professional photos taken. I cannot overstate the difference it makes. We were having a booking slowdown after the low cost stays for the first 5-10 reviews were completed. I reached out to @Luke Carl to get his opinion of our listing on AirBnB and he so eloquently stated "Paul, your pictures suck" :) That motivated me to go ahead and hire one of the recommended local photographers for about $250 to do a photo shoot and WOW, what a difference. It has paid for itself and much more!

Check your competition in the area or as Luke says, check what the enemy is doing around you with regards to similar size cabins being managed the same way you plan to manage yours and then price accordingly. We haven't gone with dynamic pricing yet as we just do what I was told to look at and price that way. It can be a chore and maybe we'll look at that once this first year is under our belts.

We list with AirBnB, VRBO and Houfy.  99% of our bookings come from AirBnB which is why we put up with their current site management style for the time being.

We always honor our pricing on the sites even if we made a mistake and missed an opportunity to raise prices. Truth in Advertising if you will. Maybe Dynamic Pricing will help us avoid mistakes like that.

Your cleaners will be your Godsend, so choose wisely. Interview as many as you can and go with your gut and the recommendations of others. They will be the ones that get you to Super Host!

It's been a blast learning the business, even with the temporary bump from Covid...We're ready to get another cabin because this has been a Cash Machine!

Good Luck and yes to what everybody else has said as well!

Paul

@Mark S.

Just sent you a message with the info you were looking for

Best of Luck

Paul

Luke,

Guest are like fireworks I guess...Every now and then one of them is a dud! :) 

Happy 4th my Friend

Paul

Always the student here @Luke Carl...I will be using for future reference especially once we get #2 going and all that follow. Currently we do the same thing as @Nathan Gesner If the cabin has been cleaned and is setting empty and ready to go, we'll go as early as a 1pm check-in. I won't rush our cleaners to accommodate an early check-in though.  I think I've only had the question asked 2 or 3 times, so hasn't been a real issue for us.

Not doing it sooner!

@Tara Bergstrom...I'm glad you have found a great cleaner because they in large part are what will make or break your STR. My issue with this is the expectation that she put out there to you. When you make a business arrangement, they agree to do the work for a certain amount of money. What you choose to do with regards to a bonus over the holidays is totally dependent on your own generostity and shouldn't be an expectation. Now we did pay our cleaners a $100 bonus this past Christmas and will probably pay a bigger one this coming Christmas, but that's because we choose to do so and not because they threw that expectation out at me. I may be off on this, but I personally just found that to be bad form as Capt Hook would say for her to drop that hint to you as a new STR owner. Just my 2cents though. Best of luck on your new STR

Paul