All Forum Posts by: Kate Stoermer

The pricing "transparency" is driven by the FTC with the May 2025 ruling.   The total price must be fully disclosed and more predomiantly than any other fees - but it must include all fees.    This latest is a way of hiding the fee assessed to Hosts, although its already existed but now they are forcing the full fee on us. Perhaps following suit as Canada won a lawsuit in 2021 against Airbnb on similiar charges, esp. given its currently only going to apply to PMS connected hosts.

I'll second Avery Carls book.  Also, great resources here https://www.theceohost.com/newtostr

How are your goals going for 2026? 

Feel free to connect, I'm in A2 and well connected in Michigan (Michiganstra.org) and serve as an STR coach and consultant across the US.

I think you've gotten a lot of advice here, underscoring the fact that its tough to cash flow in the Disney market. But if you want to take advantage of the tax benefits and toss in not paying for lodging for a Disney vacation you might have a reason to do it. At an STR conference last year, I heard "you have to be prepared to spend $20K per room to make it in Disney". Thats x3 or x4 what most would spend. Also, I haven't analyzed the market in a while, but with international travel down I have to imagine its impacting that area quite a bit. I just helped a client get started in Maine; you sure you want to look at FL? He and I looked at several opportunities in Maine that looked pretty good (although nothing homerun given the seasonalty) :-)

I'd call Patrick Morton as per his response - I always suggest local boutique management companies.  If you want other options (and I would interview a few), AirDNA "top" PM's in Birmingham include the following (they are presented in AirDNA by ID number that takes you to their profile) 

https://www.hellolanding.com/

https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/686472847

https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/94286914

Hope this helps!

I've had far more luck w Facebook and Zillow.  

Having sat through too many townhall meetings on STR to count, most neighbors are good if the neighbor has the "occasional" party (I recall one gentleman saying "a couple a summer, sure) - but STR, unchecked, is in some areas a party every weekend. While noise ordinances theoritically could deal with this if a place is close to the neighbors its probably far better to keep some parameters. I also do not subscribe to the absolute "no visitors" policy - but I have seen it where the locality implemented strict "no visitor" policies and make you adhere to your max occupancy.

Do you do a seperate rental agreement?  I would worry that your insurance wouldn't cover in the event something happen if there were 35 people at the house.  At any property, I have rules about "day time guests"   - they can only have half again as many "day guests" and they can only stay for part of the day (ie, 10 is max overnight occupancy, 15 is max total including day guests).   If there is a parking limit, they can't exceed it regardless (not every property has that, but some do).  More people than that is an event and -- if events are authorized, there is a seperate rental agreement and fee plus damage insurance (or straight up insurnace, depending on your insurer).  Its very individual to the property, but the biggest concern is with your insurer.  

Most people are going to buy based on total cost, not the breakdown. Just list it as an additional fee for the HOA. Provided its not pushing your total price into an entirely new price tier, it should be fine - but I don't know your market so if pricing is very inelastic you'll need to monitor closely and potentially test different models.

Very market and property specific - and you didn't mention how many bathrooms and if you have parking to accommodate.  I wouldn't got to 9 on one bathroom.  It will depend alot on the number of beds offered and the size of the home overall; do you have enough indoor and outdoor seating for 9 guests?   Most people aren't excited to pay extra for a sleeper sofa (lets be honest, there is no such thing as a comfortable SS) and if they pay more, they expect it to fully accommodate the number in the party. As others said, sometimes these moves aren't going to move the ADR meaningfully, but they can move the needle on occupancy.  Well managed and marketed can impact your revenue upwards of 30% or even more, so hone your pricing strategy and listing positioning.   And increasingly - optimized for the algorithms.  Good luck!