All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

Love the passion Michael and you've received some really great advice here that I would reiterate. My advice: It's hard to "cut your losses" and tear off the band aide, it will feel a lot better quickly and soon be a distant memory. Since your business is growing (congrats), I might recommend seeking some legal advice at this point - not just for this incident, but for your business as a whole and share some of the insight you've received and like with this attorney. Believe me, I'm not a fan of attorney's but we live in a litigious world and there might be other curve balls you're not thinking of that a good attorney will mitigate. I'm betting there might be an STR attorney someone knows on BP that might also help you craft some new language to protect your business as you continue to grow.

I agree with @John Underwood, @Richard Sherman, @Mike V. 

I initially listed with VRBO/HA but didn't spend much time with them until I started seeing my Airbnb rates erode (8% over the past 4 years).  That has shifted my focus to VRBO/HA and has worked well.

VRBO/Homeaway - new MarketMaker tool is VERY helpful in pricing your property and you can choose your competitive set - a HUGE help in the mysterious game of pricing.  Once you are established for a period of time, you may qualify to be paid at time of booking (Airbnb holds your cash until guest has checked in unless you want to pay them a % of the booking - NO!) "Cash is King".  

Downsides - They don't play well with others, e.g., their integrations with other platforms that can potentially make your life easier aren't as strong as Airbnb's.  Along these lines, they are working very hard to complete "BETA" testing of their new features, but this work has been taking a VERY long time and on occasion their website and app throws errors that can be a little frustrating. (I'm guessing their tech platform is outdated), but this certainly isn't a show stopper for me.  

Mike

@Cheryl Vargas Hi Cheryl, I don't provide any login details for my guests, I use ROKU TV's and devices and enable the family Netflix accounts for them.

Best,

Mike

I have been hosting and staying as a guest under one account for 4 years and have never experienced anything negative by doing so.  

Mike

Hi Charles,

I am invested in Scottsdale and would be happy to provide you with some information.  Feel free to PM me and we can start a dialogue.

@Julie McCoy has a great comment, and I have experienced just what she has described.

Best,

Mike

I leave the order confirmations in an email folder and "flag" them for follow up.  Once they arrive, I remove the "flag" but leave the email confirmations so I have the details about where they came from and what I paid.  

@Ashley Wolfe I wouldn't speak of the reno's you are going to do in the future, you're getting bookings without them, and when you complete them you can likely raise your rates a bit (but be careful, some reno's don't pay off).  Just honestly describe the place in your descriptions; get the reno's done; take some new photos; and update your listing.  Then I would fire off an email to your prior guests that you've updated the cabin - that's real news for a guest that might be interested in returning.  Nice work on the TV, for some reason it matters most to a lot of my guests as well and I'm looking to add YouTubeTV in the near future to two of my larger homes.

Cheers,

Mike

@Ashley Wolfe you've done a REALLY nice job on a VERY limited budget, wish I could drop this cabin the Colorado Rockies!  As @Julie McCoy mentioned, they items are your "assets" (CapEx) of your business. They allow you to create fabulous photos and market your cabin. I too spend about $10k-15K per property for furnishings and since you are now receiving bookings you can rest easy that "the money will come" and this upfront expenditure will be a distant memory. One suggestion, get a new TV as @Paul Sandhu mentioned that one is outdated.  If you offer WiFi, you could buy a ROKU TV on black Friday or cyber Monday (I'm seeing REALLY Netflix account (or upgrade your own Netflix to a family plan that costs $15 per month).  Just make sure you put these details in your description.

Congrats!

Mike

Hi @Tim V., 

I had a similar situation about 6 months ago and I charged the guest my cost to hire a carpet/upholstery cleaning company.  It didn't affect my review at all, but as you stated,I didn't care all that much either as one bad review wouldn't have affected my overall rating.  I explained to the guest that I do not allow pets of any kind and that is how I advertise my place so future guests can feel comfortable knowing this.  Airbnb was 100% on my side, though they didn't need to be involved.  

Mike

I would proceed with caution Collin, this could be a big liability.  I don't know much about them, but I do know they can be a fire and burning hazard (or maybe I'm just old and there is new tech).  If you proceed, maybe there is a WIFI connected device you can remotely manage???

Mike