All Forum Posts by: Jen Faulkner

I used it for a couple of months, and I honestly didn't find it to be worth it.  I felt like I was spending for no reason.  Although, they don't really have a way to show who saw the ad and actually booked.  It's possible that I have several guests who saw my FB ad, but somehow they ended up booking through VRBO or AirBnB.  I just don't like the setup.  Maybe if they improve it in the future . . . .

@Luke Carl, I hear you!  I'm probably in the minority, but I think you should take the loss and move on.  We can't afford those low reviews.  I once read an article by Matt Landau, and he said that he will give the customer whatever they want, even if it's first-born child . . . just to keep the bad reviews away.  I agree with that.  This is a business, and we have to keep people happy.  Looking toward the future, taking a loss will help you.  A bad review will not.  It sucks, but it's business.   :(

@Nancy Bachety, here is our cleaning checklist.  And sometimes they do extra, like do a deep cleaning of the oven when it needs it, etc.

This was a recent news story about AirBnb adding taxes soon.
http://www.ky3.com/content/news/First-Amazon-now-A...

It seriously depends on the area.  I completely agree that it's more difficult to navigate.  I find myself Googling a lot when I need to find something on AirBnB.  I get 95% of my bookings from VRBO, and I have a handful of bookings each month from AirBnb.  That said, in many areas, AirBnb is the monopoly.   List anywhere and everywhere.   I got three bookings off of HomeAway last year, and only one from TripAdvisor, but I still advertise in those places.  Gotta take what you can get.   :)

I really think it just depends on the area, and I've seen lots of property owners say the same.  A lot of areas are extremely AirBnb, but other areas are more VRBO.  I probably get 95% of our renters from VRBO, and the rest are from AirBnb or some other site.  I paid the $399 (or something close) for HomeAway last year, and I got a whole TWO (maybe three) renters from that site in the entire year, so this year I'm just going to use the pay-as-you-go option on HomeAway.   I think I got one renter from TripAdvisor.

I don't think anyone can really tell you what's best.  It really seems to depend on the area.  And I'm actually not too far from Galena, so I might have to look into rentals there.  Thanks for putting the bug in my ear.   :)

I thought the same thing as Paul.  I would never want that liability hanging over my head.  However, is there a float tube business (or boat rental or jet ski or fishing boat, etc.) in the area already?  You could recommend it to your guests and use that other business as bait to gain more interest from potential travelers . . . perhaps even work out a discount for them.

My first thought also was the possibility of a sexual predator being too close to the school.  Also, as a renter myself, I probably wouldn't want to be right next to a school.  Probably not a lot of noise most of the day, but there would be noise in the morning and during recess . . . and lots of traffic during drop-off and pick-up.  

I'll piggyback this conversation.  We do have the locks with codes, but we have never actually used them remotely.  For those of you who do, is there a monthly charge to use the remote access?  Ours has a monthly charge to go that route, so we've just never done it.  I guess I hadn't thought that there might be some brands out there that don't actually require a monthly fee.

The whole idea wouldn't be terrible if they would IMPROVE the feature!  I definitely haven't used it, but I might consider it if we were allowed to pick and choose specific dates.  Like it was said above, there are always important events on certain days, and we wouldn't want to screw up a hugely profitable timeframe because of an automated system that's oblivious to what's going on in our areas.  On top of that, in our area, as in many, we are booked completely solid, at full price, for a certain stretch of time, and there's no way I'd want "smart pricing" to come along and screw me over during those months.  If they would get it together and let us choose dates, I'd probably do it during our off-season.