All Forum Posts by: Michael Greenberg

These seem to work pretty well but would be interested to read others....

HOUSE RULES

Check in:2:00PM

Check Out:10:00AM

Vacation Rentals are wonderful thing for all of us, so lets make sure to protect it so we can all continue to enjoy it's benefits as guests and hosts. Our community is not totally opposed to short term guests, but this could easily change should my neighbors complain.

I don't like rules - so I'll try to keep them short and sweet....

1. We do not allow pets or smoking in the unit or on the property.
2. The toilets are new but the plumbing isn't so please ONLY TP to be flushed. No feminine products or non-TP items.
3. The garbage disposal works fine but know that large quantities of pasta, or vegetables can back it up. So please be gentle with it.
4. Please treat the place with kindness and care, as if it was your own.
5. Here's the one I really must insist upon because of one prior guest that almost ruined for everyone: Any noise complaints from my neighbors will incur a $150 fine to my guests.  Please bring all outdoor activities inside by 10:00PM.
6. Please strip all beds you have slept in and leave the sheets next to the laundry room door. Comforters and blankets can be left in each of the bedrooms they came from.
7. Please place all dirty towels next to the laundry door as well.
8. Make sure the gas to the grill is turned off for the next guest.
9. If you haven't cleaned the dishes already, please place all dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
10. My home is newly remodeled and in impeccable shape. I would love to keep it that way for other guests to use.

11. There is are two owners closets in the home, one on the main floor that simply contains the water heater and some cleaning items.The second is a closet in the Master Bedroom that contains supplies.Please do not attempt to access these closets for any reason.

12.The pool key is hanging in the kitchen with a chain connected to it.Please make sure to return the key to this location prior to your departure. The key is your responsibility during your stay and if it is lost, I will have to charge you $75 for replacement.

13.Please do not use bath towels for the pool as the chlorine damages the bath towels.  There will be a $15 fine per damaged bath towel.

Thank you!

@Jon Crosby and @Luke Carl - same but limit the coffee provided to self contained disposable coffee packets and normally just provide one to get the guest started.  I have had bags of coffee walk out and it was getting a bit pricey.  Never had a complaint about just providing the one packet.  No to Kuerig's, not only not reliable, price per cup is high.

@Julia Bykhovskaia in addition to @Jon Crosby's comments, I just recently stayed as a guest at a property that was on a relatively busy street and it didn't make any difference to us our primary use for the place was simply a place to bed down at night.  In addition, the location was so great that it actually made things easier to get to the places we wanted to go - a clear advantage.  I think if you were to tailor your listing description you will attract the right guests and it will not be a problem.  

Best of luck,

Mike

@Drew Culp I do not personally but I do have a friend that is researching this as well.  He has found that there are certain zoning requirements that do not allow it and it appears to be not only specific areas, but even specific properties.  My advice would be to research the individual county records for the properties you are considering.  Burdensome, but certainly worth the effort.  

Best of luck,

Mike

@Akash Y. You are correct, nothing in their Terms against this - smart marketing.  

@Luke Carl I tend to agree and it gives an advantage to someone who might be doing their own cleaning.  Eventually the guest is going to see the total price anyway so it hasn't been a huge challenge for me.  I use my cleaning fees, and extra guests fees during the high / low seasons to attract guests and have found this to work quite well.

@Avery Carl I can't see a correlation at all.  I had assumed it was by market location but based upon search results from both Airbnb and VRBO I see no rhyme or reason.  Could it be that they are mining one another's data and incorporating that into their search results based upon success/failure rates on each site?

@Luke Carl totally concur!  If you have the patio space and can provide a propane grill, do it!  Guests love it. 

I always measure cash over cash.  Send me a PM and I can send you a spreadsheet.  You'll need to do some research to understand potential rates within the zip codes / area you are considering.  One tool I use is Airdna.co (not dot com) as they have some good free data for at least finding some initial data.  You can also perform some research on your own by searching properties on Airbnb and VRBO to get an idea of nightly / seasonal rates.

Mike

I keep it super siimple @Akash Y., using MINT (free) with a reporting product called minttoreport (google search it), setting up rules and categories.  PM me if you want more details and best of luck.

Mike

@Ken Dillard I use Google Calendars to sync all of my data to one location.  It's very easy to connect web calendars and color code them by platform.  If you're looking for an actual channel management system like Xotelia, this is a different (and potentially pricey) requirement.