All Forum Posts by: John Underwood

Please post an update after your hear back from Aircover.

I agree that Furnished Finders seems to be the go to place for traveling nurses and mid term rentals.

I would also shop the policy.

Are your parents or Grandparents veterans?

I got a great deal on STR insurance from USAA.

Quote from @Greg Teplansky:

OK team, one more question for the day… I have a vacation rental condo in a resort area of St. George Utah. It is professionally managed, and the management company handles all of the listings in Airbnb,booking.com, Vrbo,etc. Over the past Eight months we've been active, I have only had one booking come from VRBO. The rest have been through Airbnb and the property management's own booking website. I've tried to find my property on VRBO and found it very difficult to locate. I'm wondering If other owners have this problem and how, if at all possible, can I solve this and get more bookings, or at least more eyeballs on the Listing on VRBO. As far as I can tell, my listing is very competitively written and doesn't seem to have major flaws with things missing. It does very well on Airbnb. Thank you all!

Check your description and photos. Offer a 10% discount to stay of 7 days or more.
Your PM needs to make weekly tweaks to the listing to show it is actively managed.
Your PM needs to actively work to get 5 star reviews. Make sure they reach out and request these after each stay.

 Make sure you have an awesome property.

Look at top performing VRBO properties and see what they are doing and amenities that you can copy.

Make sure pricing is competitive per each OTA.

I personally have to discount my Airbnb prices to get ANY Airbnb bookings compared to my VRBO prices.

List on VRBO and Airbnb, get a great cleaning service to be your boots on the ground. Add a handyman and HVAC person to your team and it should be pretty easy from there.

Join a local FB group of STR owners to get recommendations from.

Quote from @Dale Bertrand:

It was easy to fix by unhiding the listings. But we didn't notice for many weeks.

 The only way I know is to put your browser in private mode and search for yourself.

You are better off buying a regular property and turning it into a STR than buying a turn key property from someone who calls them selves a STR expert.

Just make sure the place you buy is zoned or can get a STR permit.

Quote from @Jill F.:

Don't pay if she requested not to be paid. Take her out for a lovely dinner and treat for a girls night out at something she loves to do in appreciation.

 I like this idea. She can use your design to show other people to grow her business. Win Win.

I think you are trying to set up a STR. The company Airbnb is already set up.

Definitely check with the city/county about zoning for a potential STR where you are thinking about doing one.

I personally am good with a last minute discount. That typically only happens in the off season for me.

I use the free VRBO price automation anyway.

I am 95% VRBO and 5% Airbnb.