All Forum Posts by: Jon Martin

Is the subscription a way of paying the hosting fees in a Lump sum, or does it get you preferential placement with searches?

So your place pops up at the top of the search if you pay a subscription? Kinda like a slotting fee in a grocery store?

Lately I've been curious as to how bed:bath ratios affect guest trends. To illustrate this, I have a 2/1 where the average and median guest count are exactly the same for 2023 and 2024. The percent distribution of 1/2/3/4 guest stays are almost identical between the 2 years. 2 guest stays make up 2/3s of my stays, with 3 and 4 guest stays being in the single digit percent. 

What I'm wondering is if I had another bathroom, would I get more 3 or 4 guest stays, and could possibly charge more? My theory is that 2 bed properties mostly serve the same guest avatar as single hotel rooms and 1 bed properties. 

I mention this because AirDna does not provide detailed guest number data, and does not effectively parse out the impact of bathroom count. 

I would be wary of any service where you pay a lump sum and they provide the items. Way too much room for fraud. Or at best you overpay and the "designer" buys the cheapest junk furnishings possible. 

Impossible to guestimate rehab costs, could vary wildly. $30K should be more than enough for fresh paint and flooring and some other odds and ends, but if you need dry wall, cabinets, countertops, mechanicals etc it could get much pricier. 

Your instincts are correct regarding used furniture, unless you have someone you have rapport and trust with already it will be a major hassle coordinating picking up used furniture. The cost savings will be somewhat negated by what you will spend for their time. 

As for furnishing costs, you are welcome to PM for my Excel shopping list. Instead of SF I have it broken down per room. I have it at around $5K for a quality living and dining setup (sectional, accent chairs, coffee table, tv, rug, dining set for 6). That could vary somewhat in either direction based on guest count. $3K per bedroom, $1700 for kitchen/dining utensils, $300 per bathroom, and another $1000 for miscellaneous (smart lock, modem/router, cameras, board games etc). You could easily be under $18K for a 3 bedroom house, not including set up costs. I can give you some insights on setup as well. This is for mid-range quality and minimal assembly items- what you save in purchase price you will lose in replacement and assembly costs!

While technically correct, I think it is important to point out that many of those vacation homes are in rural areas where there is minimal work opportunities. The pushback is coming from places where there are healthy job markets yet impacted housing markets. 

Lots of competing interests with this argument. I live in a beach town that had STRs before we had OTAs. The town has always limited the number of permits and has talked about sunseting some of them. It seems like it is more at the behest of the hotel industry and the few permit holders wanting to protect their captured audience, because they strictly disallow hosted STRs, whether that be an ADU, extra room etc. That said there does seem to be a good balance because you don't really notice which homes are the STRs unless you look for them (most of the time).

STRs also make for a convenient scapegoat for the government when they need to divert attention away from their own policies that make adding more housing units more expensive/time consuming. 

That said there are certainly areas where supply is already highly constricted and it can push good people out. Part of the reason why I look for 4-5 bedroom places that need some work, that way I'm not competing with the everyday homebuyer looking for a 3/2. In that sense STR investors can make markets more efficient by picking up housing units that most typical buyers look over.

Did you sync the direct booking calendar into your AirBnb calendar? I would definitely advise against that. 

More of a simple screening tool, and at least I have some kind of idea for who to go after if there are damages of fraud.