All Forum Posts by: Cliff H.

First off congratulations and welcome to the forums @Jerrod Mink.

I’ve fluctuate between BeyondPricing and PriceLabs and suspect I will probably sricke IRU PriceLabs over the long term. The big why for me is twofold:

1. ensuring I have price sync between all channels (which many channel managers do but not well).

2. Because my time is too valuable to log in every day, check demand/rates, and adjust my pricing up or down. If you have used these tools you know it is not about finding the right average daily rate, as much as it is about all the other things they do like: ensuring you are at the top of the search list by making micro adjustments in price multiple times a day, lowering rates to fill in between or midweek days, and providing an easier, more data-driven window into real time demand in your local community.

@Tato Corcoran I thought this was going to be a post on AirBnB’s new push for non-refundable rates, since that’s all I see whenever I log in now and I’m not OK lowering prices 10% for what is an exception in most cases.

Moderate policy here. If new, it’s almost a necessity to be more flexible along with price concessions lower than what toy world normally ask to build your initial reviews. The problem with starting on the strict side is that you have no idea how much business you’re missing out on since many will screen you out before they book. The classic symptom of seeing a lot of views but not a lot of bookings is equally a symptom of pricing incorrectly and missing amenities, which makes pretty hard to pin down.

@Cliff H. A couple other suggestions for your spreadsheet:

Expenses are low. Is heat included? What about Internet? Community WiFi will often be insufficient for most guests so plan on your own at $75–$100/mo.

Renovation costs seem low. Is the place furnished and the furnishings recently updated? Many STRs in New Hampshire lose revenue by never investing the capital up front and over time to keep their place up to date. I invested $10k into mine and was a very modest changeover versus most of what I see on the New Hampshire market.

Competition of Bartlett is intense. Lots of supply and the market has quickly discovered AirBnB which means even more rentals hitting the market over the next few years. Be sure it is something unique to stand out.

If your rental is primarily for your own enjoyment lower your revenue estimates and come up with some reasonable way to gauge the enjoyment you, yourself, will gain from it.

There’s professional AirBnB rentals intended to be world class STRs and there are those rentals filled with awkward family photos that are very clearly owners first that as a renter I am all too familiar with and far less likely to rent.

At the end of the day take your time in finding the right place. Several good observations from others here and FOMO is you’re own worst enemy as an investor: great deals/finds something takes time. I looked for 2 years before landing on what I consider one of the best properties I’ve owned.

Good luck and welcome to the forums!

@Elena Casey My STR right over the pass in Campton NH area with similar numbers. I conneted with a few owners myself before buying and it was helpful so let's talk. I've learned more than I ever imagined in the last year and many of my assumptions coming from a decade+ on the LTR side were inapplicable to STRs. A couple quick observations:

You should be renting at far more than $90/night.

Most towns in NH area right now actively debating banning AirBnB rentals because, well, NH is about 5-10 years behind the rest of the world for anything related to technology and they're staring to see the inevitable corporate STRs and AirBnB arbitragers ruining it for the smaller, independent owners. Bartlett's got a long history of vacation rentals, but you should be extra diligent in finding out what the existing laws area and what the state of town/HOA discussions are around them. Many are changing.

April and November will be your lost months, but summer rents itself in NH.

October is a huge month due to NH’s world class foliage.

$100/turnover is underestimating cleaning costs. Market rate in the area is anywhere from $100-$150. Your cleaner is the single most important part of your STR business: he/she will make or break you and if the association provides them you may still need another person to handle replenishing supplies.

@Indiana Eugenia Castillo

@Lucas Carl sums ur up well. A few other thoughts:

1. Your cleaner will make or break your STR. Invest the time to interview and have an auditable turnover checklist. Everyone forgets things and guests aren't always forgiving. Clean it yourself only so liking as it takes you to build your checklist.

2. Hire a photographer because most of us as owners cannot see our rentals through the eyes of a potential guest and many guests will skip our descriptions and book on pictures alone.

3. Know your market. Some are basic hotel accommodations. Others more high end. Use tools like AirDNA, BeyondPricing, PriceLabs, etc to pull comps and figure out what the top dogs in your area are doing. Then do something more.

4. Go overboard to get feedback and reviews in the first 6 months. Starting out don’t know what you’re doing well or poorly. You need help. Build a better stay *with* your guests‘ feedback and reviews. You’ll quickly find out what matters most to them. Consider offering an “analog” guest book for guests to fill out for those not comfortable sharing input online. Many will be more candid of they don’t fear some form of retaliation on the form of the modern double blind review systems of Airbnb and others.

Hope this helps and congratulations on your strong start! Be sure to share back to community here as you learn what works and doesn't in your STR journey.

@Ryan Ulrich that sounds perfectly reasonable approach since it is a great complimentary gift for folks staying in the rental. How is it working out for you so far? Are you including s website or phone number on the packaging to get more info or order additional supplies if they like what they use during their stay?

@Nathan G. I target a higher end guest and try to follow the five senses mantra as soon as folks walk in the door: reed air fresheners, warm lighting, relaxing music, etc. Basically anything that helps guests feel at home on arrival. Many of my guests travel a long way to visit and the last thing they need is wondering where the lights are or how to find a late night snack. I’ve also had many great compliments on the treasure chest of board games and small library of books I put together from the local Goodwill for about $20 since many families come to hike the mountains and if they get rained out those are amenities that they were unlikely to have BYOBG’d. As many guests do, I also assemble and update a guidebook of local recommendations that rotate by season (since we have 4 where I live). That’s something that hardly costs a things and helps reinforce the reason many stay in a home versus hotel: personalization.

Hope this helps!

I love that image of Hades Paul, well articulated. Suffice it to say, I think we're in different rental markets, with a good portion of my renters being couples or small families coming to the White Mountains from NYC, perhaps due to it being one of the nicer rentals in the area. 

I've been investing heavily into comparing each of the online channel managers so I can get the bulk of rentals out of AirBnB and into more direct bookings and/or other channels like Booking.com, HomeAway, etc. Ironically, I'm finding the channel managers even more work than managing each of the channels separately! 

For your CL rentals, assume you're just taking cash on arrival or have you setup your own direct booking site/service? 

Cliff

 
Originally posted by @Paul Sandhu:

Thanks for posting a reminder as to why I don't use Airbnb.  It seems like they ding you a few percent for anything under the sun.  I use Craigslist for my online rentals, but most of my rentals come from offline marketing.  23 STRs, 83 beds.  Refinery contractors are my tenants.  Redneck welders/fitters/boilermakers/electricians and people from Mexico.  It's been pretty good the last few years.  Only had one fatality, one overdose, and 4 break ins. I live in Hades.

I've had a few guests complain about differences in price between initial inquiry and confirmed booking due to AirBnB only showing the night fee less tax and cleaning fees until later so I could see the advantage in providing a more upfront cost to the renter. That's improved a bit over time since AirBnB now shows nightly rate as the aggregate of rate + tax + cleaning fee.

At the same point, I agree with you that you're then filtered out by folks looking for a rental below a specific nightly rate. Including all the fees into your nightly rate means you've got to mark up rates and may be filtered out by folks trying to stay under a specific rate, while your neighbor's happily showing up even with the same final total price.

My instinct on this is that's mostly of value to larger hotels renting many units and trying to have a consistent nightly rate versus the competition, I was just curious if any smaller, STR owners had leveraged it when using a channel manager.


Originally posted by @Michael Baum:

Hi @Cliff H., to the guest, what would be the difference? I doubt it would be better for us in the long run. People on AirBNB specifically look for the best price. Not necessarily the lower fees.

So you would charge 20 percent more give or take to save the guest 13 percent? That is what I get out of the link. Minimum is 14%, max is 20%. What folks will see when they search is the higher nightly rate for a similar place.

Any STR owners out there had a chance to compare the impact of the traditional shared host-renter AirBnB fee model to the alternative host-only fee model?

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1857/what-is-the-airbnb-service-fee

First time I've heard of the host-only fee model and curious if there's an advantage to leveraging a more hotel-like traditional price with higher nightly rates, but less fees on top.