All Forum Posts by: James R.

Question:  You stated that the booking platforms will remove listings that do not have a valid permit on their listing.  Are you sure about this?  

I live in New Orleans and the city has been demanding that the platforms, e.g. VRBO and Airbnb police the permits and validate them on their side, which the platforms have refused to do.  

Hello John.  I might be interested.  I am stateside.  Give me a call or send me an email.

My contact info is in my profile.  

Just ordered a Minut.  Thanks everyone!  

Hi Folks.  Does anyone have a recommendation for a noise monitoring device?  

Bill, I think that it depends on your property.  I have a few that can be cleaned in 1-2 hours, so I allow same-day bookings.  A couple others, it takes 3-4 hours to do a thorough cleaning, so if guests checkout at 11am the window to turn around the place by 3pm is tight and if there's any unexpected cleaning, you could run into problems.  After guests book, I always ask them when they expect to arrive.  Most have already booked their flights, so they respond right away.  If they tell me 7pm or something like that, a same-day clean is possible.  Hope this helps.  

Just wanting some feedback from others, in regard to these two platforms.  My properties are listed on both, but I keep spreadsheets on "issues" their resolution and how much it cost to resolve them.  VRBO guests have consistently higher rates of issues.  I was beginning to think that VRBO is where you go when you've been kicked off the Airbnb platform for mischief.  I absolutely do not like the fact that VRBO keeps information on its users hidden.  Airbnb is much more transparent.  For example, if I accept a VRBO booking, it's like going in blind.  I do not even know where they are coming from.  With Airbnb, I see right away that the request is coming from say Denver.  This is important to me, because, due to the layout of my property (it is a HUGE open concept), I get a lot of people wanting to book an event space or have a party and they are located in the same city.  I decline same-city requests on Airbnb, but it's impossible to do this on VRBO.  What are your experiences with VRBO guests?  Good?  Bad?  

If you're providing an "up-scale" environment and hope to attract more guests of this calibre (I do; they don't quibble about higher nightly rates and rarely cause problems) then I recommend white duvet covers and wash them after each guest.  

 I will check it out.  Thanks! 

Hello Everyone. I currently have a STR, for which I would like to create a direct booking site. What are the pros and cons and if y'all can share with me some recommendations. Thanks in advance.

This is what I do.  A flat out, "No", makes you sound uncooperative.  When I give the guest an option like this, 9/10 times, the guest never rebooks and I keep their money.  I changed my cancellation policy from moderate to strict and my bookings never went down.  If something comes up, then I will work with them though.