All Forum Posts by: Cliff H.

Thanks @Michael Baum. Yes I’ve been spending a bit more time and have a few custom workflows created for a guest to get the Wi-Fi access code and common questions around where things are or where to bring trash when check out is, etc. 

I’ve also discovered that there is a option for an Amazon “Guest Connect” mode where guests can bring up their own Amazon Music account and listen to it as if it was their own echo device. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GU2GHYT7XHPYEQ5G.

Unfortunately it does still save the actual keyword request back to my account but there is a provision in the system to automatically delete any/all request after three months of time which I would certainly want in the case of a vacation rental.

I’m going to also look into the Alexa for hospitality program I mentioned above, however it requires an Amazon business account which I believe has certain purchasing thresholds which independent operators such as ourselves would probably not meet.

https://www.amazon.com/alexahospitality

Will post back here as I find out more.

That's what I've historically thought as well @Nathan Gesner but then again that's us, not the average person who's understanding of online privacy is clearing their browser history. 

At this stage we've already seen Amazon add in physical shutters or microphone cutoffs into all their shipping products and Apple's made "differential privacy" and on-device processing of data a strategic initiative to remove the ability of linking specific requests to a specific person. And as you say, if it makes folks more comfortable to unplug it, so be it. Not every one uses the oatmeal I leave out for them either, but maybe the next guests will.  

At my level, I'm more interested in finding new ways to integrate conveniences into my rentals to help them stand out in a crowded marketplace. From what I'm hearing in other forums, most hosts are seeing guests simply use these for playing music or asking about the weather. That's fine with me and saves me the trouble of having to as you point out @Chris Gottshall, explain how to use the remote control. Also one less thing guests have to bring in themselves that Amazon's sales numbers suggest they're probably already familiar with in their own homes. 

Features like Alexa Guard are just icing on the cake for rentals where I may have concerns over security. Longer term, I can also imagine integrating some custom workflows for cleaning staff to inventory or reorder supplies behind a purchasing passcode, work through contactless audio versions of cleaning checklists they don't have to look at their phone/list to work through, or just allowing for guests to quickly look up info, recipes, local recommendations, etc when trying to figure out what to cook or where where to eat around dinner time. 

I'll be sure to post back here with how things turn out. At $60/device I don't see this as a huge loss if guests come back with concerns and I have to pull them out of the space. 

Hey folks. After nearly a year of dismissing it as largely a fad, I’ve been starting to do more and more with automated audio workflows in my STRs and have, so far, gotten great feedback on it from guests. Currently this is little more than a Sonos speaker integrated with my smart home system that ensures there’s some relaxing music playing for guests when they open the door after what is usually a long drive in. Frankly, you could accomplish much the same with a simple FM radio tuned to the local “smooth jazz” station that’s put on an outlet you turn on/off remotely. 

Unfortunately the integration with Sonos has been inconsistent at best and it occurred to me that there could be a higher benefit to leveraging a couple of the Echo Dots with alarm clocks in guests’ bedrooms for voice-activated alarms, quick weather/news checks, and streaming music. Amazon’s made a huge push into corporate hospitality over the last couple years and some of the custom workflows I’ve seen for creating guest FAQs that the devices can respond to without bugging me or requiring additional pages in a physical house manual are appealing, something like VCS or a custom-designed audio FAQ. I suspect this one’s a stretch, but:

• Anyone else using Alex/Google/Siri integrations with your STRs? 
• How are those going so far? 
• Any specific advice you would have for others looking into this space? 

Hey @Trevor Hansen I'm seriously considering some big investments here in the STR space, then seeing what I learn there to apply to the property showings/leasing space in LTRs. As you point out, Amazon's making a heavy push here into the hospitality space, with some larger hotel chains already signed up.

Now will guests/buyers actually leverage custom workflows for Q&A around properties? Not sure we’re there yet, but I can see that happening with many services having already integrated AI chat bots and other technology that we’re using more and more, sometimes without even knowing it. 

Not so much shooting to shoot, more so walking around aimlessly and taking the camera along for the ride. I’d argue that’s worse. No one wants to “ride the bull” or get motion sickness from someone darting the camera from one room to another when walking through a prospective property. Walk like you’re one of those big honking TV studio camera operators: slow, steady, and intentional and the rest will fall into place. 

Good luck!

Hi @Tracy Uscinski there’s a lot of confusion around how S8 works and while there’s variations across different housing authorities I’ve not seen many rentals that are “S8 approved” a priori, as much as rentals that are simply inspected before a S8 tenant moves in for any potential violations. That does not mandate that a landlord/PM make those changes, just that they would be a requirement if you chose to rent to that specific tenant. Additionally, many owners find the annual re-inspections of S8 tenants’ apartments a useful reminder of the need to do what all landlords should be doing each year, walking through their rentals and ensuring that any obvious health and safety issues are addressed. 

Blanket statements about S8 being all good/bad is oversimplifying the issue: it’s simply another means of tenants’ paying their rent and should be considered independent of the formal, written rental qualification standards every landlord/PM should have outlined well before they start showing rental units. 

NoLo has a great breakdown of NH legal statutes and an amazing book titled Every Landlord’s Legal Guide that puts the legal standards in layman’s speak that I’ve found invaluable in over a decade of self-managing property.

Good luck and I’d recommend spending more time worrying about getting those formal, written rental standards up than in what form one tenant or another is paying their rent. If I said I was only accepting rent from healthcare workers, but not lawyers I’d be in just as much legal hot water as if I refused S8, but not the trust fund kid. 

Hey @Mysonne Johnson I just went through this myself on a FSBO I was putting together and ended up getting it under contract in 5 days. I used Zillow’s new 3D home app to create a virtual tour, but that was more to get the ranking optimized on their platform. The more important piece was, as you allude to, just walking through the property with an iPhone 11 widescreen camera, doing some quick edits in iMovie, and posting that up to YouTube to link back to in the listing. All told about 3 hours of work, but I’ve been using iMovie for years and am (more importantly) quite versed in how to capture video of a space by planning an intentional walk through of the property. I see far too many folks posting property videos that don’t think about how and where they’re pointing the camera before starting the walkthrough. That’s a recipe for failure.

In short, if all you need is something quick and slightly better than pictures only, go with the 3D Home app. If you want to really give folks a sense of “space,” plan your walk through, grab a newer iPhone with the wide angle lens, and add a few quick titles/captions in iMovie to help folks know what they’re looking at while walking through. I’ve also found that iMovie’s ability to 2x the playback or using cut frames to skip over the transition from one area to another to be a great way to keep length under the 60-90 seconds you need to actually get folks watching the whole thing. 

Hope this helps!

The one you write yourself. :-)

Nothing like that here and I have Porter linked to AirBnB, HomeAway, and Booking. Have you tried the manual “Sync Reservations” option in the Menu section of the site/app? I’ve found Porter’s support team usually gets back to me most often between 20-24 hours after I ping them, which may be due to time zone differences. 

Porter and BP now and appears to be fine. Part of the challenge of using all these systems is remembering which one’s in the drivers seat for any number of different settings. I have: 

BP push rates to AirBnB, which direct syncs to Porter, with Porter then marking up pricing to HomeAway and Booking.com, while simultaneously marking down rates on my private booking site (run by Porter) since there’s no booking fees and I control the customer relationship. 

Took months to get it right and I’m still not pleased with having to make price changes in BP’s terrible mobile UI but it does work for the basic idea of ensuring that I receive the same net revenue per night, regardless of what booking platform, fees, structure, etc folks come through the front door on.