All Forum Posts by: Ken Boone

I too had to call and ask questions three times. Each time the person I was talking too had to go ask someone else.  Then on one question they couldn’t answer and said we will have to wait until your inspection to figure that out.  

I’m not saying this is a bad thing but come on, this county takes in so much money from tourism there shouldn’t be a need to keep increasing our taxes and adding new fees.  

I just recently started using it and I will tell you this -  If you start a chat support session with them they are extremely helpful.  They will answer all your questions and show you where to go to do different things.  Even though you don't see a phone number, their support has been very good though chat.

Congrats on your first STR. It is very exciting! I am also in that market and you are correct the folks at Sevier county and in Pigeon Forge as well as the state folks with TNTAP are very helpful when it comes to figuring out all of that tax stuff.

@Collin Hays Nailed it!

I don't have StayFi but I collect emails through my Hostfully digital guidebooks and my website. You will not see a big uptick.  It is a slow and gradual process.  It's also a numbers game.  The bigger your list, the more likely you will get bookings from it.  It is also something you have to keep up with.  You have to send out regular emails and you have to have value in your emails, not just a hey come stay with us and btw here is a 10% discount.  It's about staying current in the guest's mind, so when they are ready to book they think of you.

@Leora Merrell Yep I have seen that happen a few times over the years.  It just makes no sense.

Charlotte this really depends on your goals.  Are you looking to make money on this vacation home, or are you just trying to get a few extra bucks to help pay for it?  

If you are trying to get a few extra bucks to pay for it, sure go ahead and do that but the reality is you are only going to get a handful of bookings per year and not make very much money at all.  

Realize that 90% of your friends and family will also want a deal and probably think you are rich for owning a vacation home and do not understand that you most likely have a mortgage and bills and upkeep on said vacation home.  They also think you can easily afford to give them a deal and will expect it.  That is the problem with friends and family.  Even with a deal, they think they are paying too much.

So again it really depends if you just want to make a few bookings a year to help out or if you really want to make some money on your vacation rental.

Yea my problem that happened about 18 months ago worked out, but it irks me to think VRBO throws up stuff that is ranked so poorly ahead of properties where the hosts do a knock out job and have tons of 5 star reviews.  That should never happen as far as I am concerned.

Well it is more common since in the last 2 years they built a ton of them, but my guess is that it is still less than 10% of all cabins have them in the area.  It is more common to have pools in the larger cabins though versus the 2 bedroom cabins.  

I am always just stunned when I see stuff like this, cause you are right, you have to suck to get a 3.7!

So I went through a spell maybe 18 months ago, where several of my top producing 5 star cabins just stop booking, and never could figure out why other than perhaps an algorithm change.  I did see though, in organic searches for my cabins, that cabins that were new with worse rankings than mine were showing up way in front of my cabin.  

Anyway, I have an app for iPhones called the Pigeon Forge Pocket Guide that has tons of info for guests coming to the area  At the bottom I have a few ad spaces.  One my ads for a cabin rental was showing a 404 error when you clicked on it.  So I called them and they let me know they changed their website for their rental and forgot to tell me.  Anyway, I fixed that and went to verify one of the other ads for another cabin rental on the app.  

For this particular cabin rental it is a cabin with 165 five star reviews.  This ad takes me to his VRBO listing.  This is a 2400 sq ft 2 king suite cabin loaded with amenities including an indoor heated pool similar to one of mine.  I clicked the ad to check it and it takes me to his VRBO listing.  

Now when you are looking at VRBO organically, and are looking at a listing, after you scroll down aways it shows a section titled "Similar properties we recommend."  I get that, someone is looking on VRBO and just like everyone else who sells something, they want to make sure you find something you buy, so they throw up other options you might like.

Well in this case this is what they threw up:

I mean really?  A pool cabin at a crazy low price with only a 3.7 rating... Really???  This one doesn't even compare with this other cabin, nor should VRBO throw up recommendations for a 3.7 rating cabin on a listing for a 5 star cabin.   What gives???  If anything other actual similar cabins should have shown up on their recommendation.  I have 3 other cabins that compete with the cabin in this ad that are all 5 star cabins, and I am sure there are plenty of others, but instead VRBO chose a 3.7 star cabin to show as a recommendation.  I don't get it.