All Forum Posts by: Sarah Kensinger

I could see this property either being a home runner or a bust. And to be honest if you could get some strong social media coverage (like hire someone that knows STR to market the property), you could do very well! Eco-friendly, off the grid properties are getting to be very popular experiences out west! But you need your guest avatar who is looking for an off-grid, unplugged stay, to know your home is available. It also does help if you have a well-known lake, park, etc. in the area but since Salt Lake City is nearby that could possibly be to your advantage.

If you need help running numbers, feel free to reach out. Usually all you need is a couple really good comps to know how your property would do and that is easier to find with a paid version of Airdna. 

This rumor on Airdna is very much just that, a rumor. In many ways that is a ridiculous claim that I would guess a competitor started. At the end of every year, they compare numbers to Airbnb and are always 95%+ accurate. We have also found looking at actuals and Airdna numbers of the same property, that they're pretty well right on once we take cleaning fees out.   

You would need to tap into what the market may draw because not all markets could support this type of guest avatar.

You may be able to get just enough bookings to at least cover your monthly expenses by leaning into your listing and how you market the property. The marketing copy and photo captions, professional photos, and weekly activity on the OTA listing, makes a big difference in bookings. Even the subpar situations we have no control over. Lastly, I would also try and tap into any MTR market you could possibly have in your area. 

You need to watch this video from an attorney on why insurance is not the answer to protecting a property from a lawsuit. Why Insurance is Not Enough Unfortunately, the landscape with guests and how often lawsuits are filed, has changed dramatically in the last 4-5 years and it's a risk no STR homeowner should take! Public forms are not the best place for asking legal questions since it's rare to find a unified accurate answer, so hopefully the video helps.

If you need an attorney group to help you structure the right entities for you, we use and highly recommend, Anderson Business Advisors who made the video I have linked above.

As for the pet question, all the stats listed above are why we allow pets unless a homeowner insists a no pet policy. We do charge a pet fee, and it has helped with any extra costs a pet guest has incurred. 

This is definitely market specific and for some reason NE beach markets never supply linens. To us that is extremely inhospitable, and we are supposed to be in the hospitality industry. Not to mention these are the reasons people don't want to stay at a STR and go back to hotels.

Due to our love of traveling and hating the negatives that LTR brings along, we prefer STR and offering the same memorable experiences to travelers that we have experienced when traveling.

There's pro and cons to both markets, but in the NE you would also have the option to do MTR in the off season. There's lots of properties for sale in the Smoky mountains so you may also have a larger selection of options to purchase as well. But I will say from the feedback we've been getting from hosts in the Smokies, make sure you run your numbers good and know how to stand out in a heavily saturated market. Educating yourself on how to offer 5-star remote management would be ideal as well!

Your cleaning fee needs to be comparable to other condos around you, otherwise you'll lose bookings. Make sure the price being quoted doesn't include supplies, because sometimes the higher priced cleaners are including stocking the property with supplies for you as well. I'm sure there are plenty of cleaners on Turno.com in your area to choose from. It's a great site to find cleaners and sometimes maintenance as well!  

We would run this as a boutique hotel. Each unit would be considered a "property" and have its own listing, smartlock, etc. Instead of ring cameras at each door we would angle them down the hallways from the ceiling to get a shot of who is entering and exiting each unit. I believe Pricelabs is offering a pricing strategy and market analysis info more in line with hotels, and that might be a good tool for you to look at. Also, many hosts who get into multiple units in one property switch their management software to Cloudbeds, so that might be another tool to help you as well.