All Forum Posts by: Susan Walsh

Quote from @Kelly Monteiro:

@Susan Walsh, where did you see the $ 100K limit, I've been researching on this bill and haven't seen anything mentioning that, not sure if it changed since your message was sent.

CHAPTER 2
35504
(c)
(2)
(A) For purposes of this subdivision, a short-term rental facilitator is considered to have de minimis facilitations of short-term rentals if the facilitator derived less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from facilitating short-term rentals during the previous calendar year. The de minimis facilitation threshold shall be based on the aggregate of all short-term rentals in the state facilitated by a person or related person.

(B) For purposes of this subdivision, an operator is considered to have de minimis short-term rental operations if the operator derived less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from short-term rental operations during the previous calendar year, including those short-term rental operations facilitated by a short-term rental facilitator.

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm...

Quote from @Sarah Kensinger:

Lastly, why is it that lately people are demanding I share links to what I read? 

Because without a link, it's just "people have been saying". If you're going to state something as fact, you should be able to provide a cite.

Quote from @Tyler Sherman:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Wait a minute....you say you saw them with 40 people in your house, plus your stuff out on the front lawn....? And you did nothing? 

And accepting a same day, late night reservation is a no-no anyway.....

Sorry for the issues, and yes people are jerks, but it seems like a lot of this is on you.

 Newbie here. What course of action would you have taken if you saw this?

I'm not who you asked, but I would get my butt right on over there. I would inform the guest that all non-registered people must vacate the premises immediately or the reservation would be cancelled (and not refunded). I would also "ask" the guest to take the stuff inside.

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Quote from @Susan Walsh:

I eliminated my cleaning fee and raised my nightly rate. I make more now and guests don't feel like they are getting ripped off. Win-win!

What did you raise your rates to and from where? We have a pretty high cleaning fee and lose on it as we don't charge the full cleaning fee to the guests.

What is your average stay?

I have a budget listing, so my numbers won't be anywhere near yours. :) 

At the time I made the change, my average stay was 3.2 nights (2 night min, 7 night max).

I used to charge $80 a night and a $50 cleaning fee, so I upped $95 a night and got rid of the cleaning fee. So for a 3-night stay, it went from $290 to $285, which is a minor hit. For a 4-night stay it went from $370 to $380, which is a minor increase. I don't get a lot of 5, 6, or 7 night stays, but for the few I do, I now make more on those than I would have with my old pricing.

Honestly I think the whole cleaning fee concept is dumb - and customers hate it. Just charge like hotels do. If it's not cost effective to pay to clean the house for a short stay, don't accept short stays.

I eliminated my cleaning fee and raised my nightly rate. I make more now and guests don't feel like they are getting ripped off. Win-win!

Quote from @Eddie Gonzalez:

Thank you everyone for your comments I really appreciate it. I will keep you posted on how it goes have a great day.

 Please do, I'm excited to see how it goes!

Quote from @Pablo Flores:

@Susan Walsh

Susan has your ADR/property dropped?

I went back and looked at the data, and lo and behold, this year is actually slightly better than last year. I compared May-June of 2022 vs May-June (mtd) 2023:

Earnings: $3,239 vs $3,343 (or $1,619/month vs $1,672/month)
Average number of nights per stay: 3.2 vs 2.4
Number of nights booked: 32 vs 31
Average daily rate (of booked nights): $101 vs $108

I wasn't super precise when I analyzed the data so it's possible for stays that started in April and extended into May I missed some May nights, stays that started in June and extended into July include July nights that I did include, and June 2023 technically could get some more bookings (unlikely because the weekends are all booked), but I think overall it tells me the story. (And my numbers are so small, I don't need to be 100% correct.)

Lesson learned, don't go by my gut, take the time to look the data.

Slight drop for me in San Diego. All of my weekends are booked, but weekdays are more open than last year. 

I would have to look it up to confirm, but my gut says my average stay is shorter this year compared to last.

I have three sets of bedding (sheets, pillow cases, duvet covers) and two sets of towels.

Under promise and over deliver. I have a budget listing, so I don't do a welcome basket or anything but there are cold water bottles in the fridge, ear plugs next to the bed, and extra toiletries (pads, tampons, nail file, eye glass wipes, etc.) under the sink. I don't show those things in the listing but guests mention them (positively) in the reviews.

You will live and die by your cleaner.

Figure out your target customer, and optimize towards that. Keep in mind, it might not be who you think. You might envision groups of couples vacationing together but get families; neither is better than the other, they're just different.

Guests really hate cleaning fees, so don't charge one; just roll it into your nightly rate (like hotels do). The title of my listing is "No Cleaning Fee - 1-Bedroom Suite Near SDSU".

Guests won't read the listing, so put as much in the pictures as possible. Steep stairs? Take a pic. Offer Roku TV for guests to use their own logins? Include a pic of the log on screen. You're going to want to make your place look as great as it can, but the best way to manage expectations is to be honest and accurate in the listing. Is the entrance to your place six feet away from the neighbor's house? Show it in the pics.

I would avoid stays longer than a week until you feel like you have a handle on things.

I do Airbnb. I require Guests have ID Verified; I don't require a profile photo (those shown after booking, if there is one).

I use Instant Book; I require "Good track record" and I require the Guest to respond to my Pre-booking message before they can book. You only get 400 characters, so I only put in there what the guest really needs to acknowledge/know before booking (I limit the AC and the Wi-Fi is slow, but saying that nicely takes a lot of characters).

If a Guest contacts you asking for a discount, block off a day in the middle of their proposed stay and decline. :)

Since you don't have a time machine, you can't do what you should have done, which is to install window units in the bedrooms at the 24 hours mark. At this point, you have cranky tenants so it's going to be hard.

Pay for the hotel (ask for receipt) and/or reduce their rent next month.

I'm not an Air Conditioner wimp (I live in San Diego and for the first two years I did not offer AC in my Airbnb guest suite), but a week (and counting - it's still not fixed as the time of your post) in June in Texas? You're lucky they haven't drawn and quartered you.