All Forum Posts by: Collin Hays

This thread is timely, as we just had a guest complain about several things post departure from a highly rated property and they demanded compensation.  It was a 4-night stay totaling over $700.

We thought the complaints were a little over the top and were curious as to why we didn’t hear anything during their stay.  But being gracious hosts, we offered to refund them one night.  They immediately replied that they would require a full refund in order to avoid a negative review from them.

We decided that they were attempting to extort us and cut off all communication. We don’t negotiate with terrorists.  If they leave a bad review, oh well.

I own a 1 bedroom log cabin in Cosby that “only” does $27K a year.  But it only cost me $125K.

I own a 2 bedroom log cabin on Cosby that only does $32K a year.  But it only cost me $135K.

I own a 2 bedroom authentic log cabin  near downtown Gatlinburg that does $65K a year.  But it sits right on the Roaring Fork River.  If it was the same cabin on a street somewhere, you could plan on $20-25K less.

I own 4 properties, all of which are on rivers / creeks that have trout in them.  I have found that they command a premium for rent because the water is an amenity that isn’t easily duplicated.  That’s just my personal thing.

Of course you have to pay a premium for waterfront property and *might* have to have flood insurance (2 of 4 of mine do), but they aren’t building any more rivers, and I believe the price appreciation for these types of properties is greatly enhanced due to the water amenity.

Heck no!  You’ve got awesome insight.  But being a discussion forum on STRs, it would be nice to have some dialogue that isn’t “just ask Lucas Carl.”

I meant no disrespect to you.

Might not even need a forum!

Since this is a discussion forum, it would be awesome to also hear some first hand knowledge from other opinions in addition to Lucas Carl.

Our data suggests that videos actually suppress bookings.  We took the videos off of all our properties.

Robert Batey Photography 

 if you have that many positive reviews, I'd never think a thing about it.  It's not even a blip.  Move on.

If it’s vrbo, they had to stay there to leave a review.  I would assume air bnb has a similar policy.  You can’t really leave a review for a place you didn’t stay in.  It’s really crappy for them to leave a negative review after you refunded their entire stay.   but there’s always knuckleheads out there.  If you have sufficient positive reviews then probably no one will pay attention.

I don't buy all of that.  Heck I had VacationRentalDesk, a budget system, for several years, and our calendars were synced with Homeaway.  A reservation made on HA was transferred to the "home base" calendar within seconds and we never had an issue.