All Forum Posts by: Kate Stoermer

Switching to Ownerrez was a gamer changer for agreements. My biggest pain point is being on call always. 

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Christina B., so this happens from time to time. You get guests that are exceptionally messy. Personally if they were polite with good communication and nothing was stolen or damaged. I usually let it go.

Getting blood and makeup out is easy. Good quality detergents are almost specifically designed for those sorts of stains. It happens fairly regularly at our lake house. Just use a pretreat and go. I had to do the laundry from our last guests and they used the white towels for makeup. Came right out.

I had a group of 8 older women stay and they used each and every white towel to wipe makeup. Think clown and less tasteful. Each pillow case had black streaks from eyeliner or mascara. I was there for that cleaning and I was able to get each and every item clean as a whistle. I think the 8 of them keep Max Factor in business.

So for preventative measures will help. For example, microfiber sheets for kids beds. They don't care about thread count and they are much easier to clean than anything with cotton.

For adult beds, I only use a 70/30 cotton/poly blend sheet in white and a percale weave. They are a crisper and don't set stains as easily. Sateen weave has a tendency to trap stains and they pill up over time. I have the Kohl's Big One percale sheets with a 250 TC. Nothing fancy and easy to replace as needed. So far all but a few pillowcases have survived for 7 years of guests. 

Provide makeup removal washcloths. Embroider them with MAKEUP. My wife embroiders stuff so it was easy for us. You could try a new hobby!

No way I would put fancy shades in any STR. I am changing out the older cellular shades in our place with standard 2" Levelor blinds from Lowe's. They are inexpensive and they trim to fit. Easy to install. They look good and are easy to clean.

I actually text the check out instructions to each and every guest in addition to the copy on the fridge. Makes sure they get it and understand.

AirBNB won't give you anything for extra cleaning etc IMHO. Unless there is actual damage, they pretty much will tell you it is the cost of doing business.

The bottom line is you might want to make some changes to the house to help make it easier to mitigate some things.

In the end, you do all you can, but you will get a bad guest from time to time where they leave a complete mess.

I did recently get Airbnb reimbursement for extra cleaning. It's possible.

To be fair, I think mid term and short-term are different audiences, and I think its highly reasonable to ask - even require, a midterm renter to partner with you and turn the ac up when the house is vacant for stretches of time. Its not terrible to ask that of STR - esp. if you are in a market that is more "utilitarian" and they likely arn't around all day; even in vacation rentals they go out and about for chunks of the day. Sharing the concern about freezing it is fine; its all about building a relationship, getting buy in vs. rules. And that's very much just in tone and phrasing.

Disclosing something like this aligns expectations. Managing guest expectations is how you get 5-stars. I think a lot of people have allowable ranges on their thermostats - large enough to encompass a wide range of comfort levels. 70 is probably not low enough to encompass all.  

This is hospitality, and in order for guests to feel hospitality they don't want to feel constrained in how they are able to enjoy the space they paid for. They absolutely will be less judicious than in their own homes.  We have to allow that a few bucks in added heating or cooling is the cost of 5 star reviews.  

I personally have ranges from 66 to 76 and I welcome folks to contact me if they need a different temp. No one ever has. 

I host (2) RV sites for an owners property (he also has a cabin he rents out as an STR part time as well). The RV sites do very well on Hipcamp but it does take a bit of effort to promote it and get attention brought to them. I have them on Airbnb but get very little traction there; its not set up for RV only and lots of questions come in; they think there is an RV already.

I hold 10% a year as maintenance and repairs. I never us it all, but its also the fund for capex stuff. A good checklist for quarterly walk thru, checklist of age on appliances and mechanicals for forward planning and do the upkeep to keep things in good repair. Nothing is bullet proof, but a good maintenance process helps.

How are you doing on Airbnb and VRBO? How are your conversion rates? The OTA have huge marketing budgets and get warm leads looking at your listing from day one. Make sure you are optimized there first, then branch out. DB is a long game. It takes alot to build up enough of a presence online via a DB site, so it works great to market to guests who have already stayed. Some folks will only book via the OTA based on a belief they have more protection, even if they've stayed w you before.  As for the tech side, I used Guesty for Hosts, which is pretty good and offers website functionality but no booking widget so you cant build your own like on wordpress if you wanted. I recently moved to Ownerrez; OR's integrated rental agreement w signature is the bomb, you can use their integrated website or booking widget to build out your own DB site.

Quote from @Rajagopalarao Paidi:

How to know If I can list my property on ABNB, don't know if i get any guests on this area? how to decide ?

Regulations first - can it be rented legally? Then, Is there demand in the area?  That can be discovered by looking at performance of Airbnbs in the area. You can use the free versions of Airdna and Data Rabbu to see how well those sources predict it could do.  Then think about if the property itself is a good candidate - this is the hospitality industry, principles of desirablity come into play. For example, in an ocean market beach views and access have far higher demand than those without. In an urban market, level of finish and proximity to an attraction or location contribute significantly to demand for a specific home. I do income potential reviews for clients all the time, every market has subtle differences but these are generally good indicators.

Differentiating to increase occupancy or highlight the value offered doesn't need to cost money.  Make sure to respond to reviews guests leave and acknowledge them; builds trust with future potential guests who are considering your listing. Consider, if you haven't, noting you share favorite restaurants and places to go while in town. People really like that, and will lean into a place that offers this. Removes the question of "where should be eat/go".    Ensure your listing really speaks to your ideal guest - not showing real estate and things, but highlighting key experiences to be had while staying at your place. More eyeballs on your offer equates to more opportunities, so expand where you are listed or show up on social media regularly. Build an email list and use it.  All free. 

I'm assuming they did, but make sure that they followed their bylaws to the letter in making that change. If they didn't, its not legal.  That's generally the only loop hole.  They often don't grandfather, but you could try to petition.  If when you bought you got specific confirmation from someone on the board that it was okay - I've seen people win cases in that event.  

I know its not helpful to you, but if someone else is reading this down the road - this is why buying in an HOA is a bad idea unless its a purpose-built resort. Its too easy for an HOA to pivot and decide they don't like it.

The financial decisions are rough; if you can't mid term it or long term it and wait out appreciation a bit then its probably best to cut your losses.