All Forum Posts by: Trent Reeve
Trent Reeve has started 26 posts and replied 579 times.
Post: Should I get extra insurance outside of Aircover?
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Andrew Steffens:
I am curious what products exist?
I have an STR homeowners policy that covers hazard as well as liability. An umbrella policy for additional liability. Are there policies that protect against guest damages?
I have done over 30k reservations and only had 1 instance of a guest causing above $10k in damage, so not sure how worth it is to pay for additional coverages.
Waivo is Guest/Damage protection. OwnerRez, which i use, has their own product for guest damage.
Post: Should I get extra insurance outside of Aircover?
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
you will hear different opinions. I say yes. Aircover does not always agree with you and pay out. Also make sure your home owners is not just a regular policy. make sure it is a STR HO policy. If it isnt and damage occurs from guests, they may not pay out. I also have separate damage protection from my channel manager (OR), but you can get it from Waivo and some others. ive just heard too many horror stories and i bake the price of coverage into my rental costs.
Post: Linens provided or not?
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
I provide linens, towels, soap, trash bags, laundry detergent.
Post: Renting short term on a sub leased property: Is it much harder? (rental arbitrage)
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Don Konipol:
Quote from @John Brown:
I have a friend with a property in a very desirable location in Texas that I believe would be great for STR. It sits on about 1000 acres 30 minutes from Fredericksburg. He does not want to deal with the headache of tenants cleaning or any thing to do with STR. The property is unused most of the year.
How much harder is it to run an STR on a subleased property? Also any tips for automating this as much as possible and how to protect the property financially and property management would be appreciated.
I don’t know, if you just want a job I guess arbitrage could work. But, it’s not a business because even if successful, you don’t own the underlying asset, so unless you grow very large you have nothing to sell. And you don’t own the real property so you’re not growing your wealth there. Seems like too much work for too little return UNLESS you own the property, or perhaps have an option to purchase the property allowing you to capture any increase in value.
A property doesnt increase in value just because an STR is run successfully on it. its value on paper is based on the comparables in the area. The perceived value may be more, because you know an STR was run there and making money, but a lender wont value it more.
Post: One platform strategy
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Dan H.:
I am not going to express an opinion on whether being on a single platform can improve your ranking because i really d not know and admit you may be right.
Even if you are right about the rankings, i would not advocate using a single OTA. Here are some reasons: if the OTA gets too much market share that is bad for hosts and guests. It would allow Airbnb to screw both hosts and guests (assuming airbnb is the ota chosen). if the OTA has issue with you and bans you (there are some crazy horror stories that alone would deter me from listing on a single OTA), you are basically starting over. Using a single OTA has too much reliance on that OTA for my liking. Direct bookings results in higher revenue. Being listed on multiple OTA allows users that use alternate OTAs to see your STR and could provide a higher ADR even if you end up lower ranked of the OTAs.
Basically it comes down to having all your eggs in a single basket and is too risky for my liking.
i am one of those STR owners that corrects anyone that refers to my STR or STR business as an AirBnB. I get more bookings from airBnB then from any other OTA yet AirBnB is the OTA I have the least positive feeling towards.
I hope the new STR owners/hosts realize the risk they take if they choose to list on a single OTA.
I think you have a good reason to follow what you believe. It sounds like you are pretty big and you already have your own ecosystem. I think that is absolutely right path for the big owners like you. The issue is new hosts don't have the advantage you are getting from your direct bookings. They will mostly just split their occupancy rates on multiple platforms without getting too much benefits out of it.
Out of topic but how do you handle guest resolution on your direct bookings? Do you just suck up the cost if guests damage your property or throw a party? I am moving to STR because of how Aircover works and I doubt I will leave Airbnb unless they change the Aircover and resolution system. Successful collection rate on LTR is not even 15% on top of dealing with insane lawyers and social workers who believe that less fortunate people can hurt wealthier people. I love how Airbnb just pay me based on the evidence without going through 6 months legal battle or 3 years of collection hunting.
Post: One platform strategy
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Okay, here we go again...First, I agree. Listing on multiple platforms does affect ranking by platforms but not as much as you think. I am listed on 5 platforms plus have a direct booking site and I rank highly across my 5 listings. Just to disprove your theory...by your logic, my first page search impression should be much lower than 80%! Yet, it is higher than yours with only one platform. And as you state in other posts, you are in a market with less competition (a city near the airport in the Midwest I believe). I am in a highly concentrated beach vacation market and still have 80% first page search impression. Please stop telling new STR hosts to only list on one platform. This risk here far outweighs any small gains in ranking.
That is an impressive rate! If all of your listings have that percentage year-round, I think you are possibly the highest ranked Airbnb host on the entire platform! Are you in the OMG or luxe category?
I have properties all around popular spots, including smoky mountain. I don’t think the competition in the smoky is light. (I also have a small hotel near the airport so great guess!)
congratulation on your success, but you should stop telling new hosts to post on multi platforms because the occupancy rate matters a lot.
I'm just wondering where this confidence comes that you are right, when last December you had just finished your first year in STR's and made $75k and was asking questions about how Airbnb places a property on the first page of search. and a year later you feel yourself to be an expert that knows more than anyone else?
If you really have gone from 3 to 200 properties this past year while having a two W2 jobs, you seem to have found your niche and doing well, good for you. You may be right, you may be wrong. Personally, i would be cautious telling the majority of experienced owners/hosts they are wrong without rock solid data and evidence.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155394-have...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155264-afte...
I don't have 200 so I am a bit confused where you got the number from but sure I do have hundreds of LTRs. I started STR to offset my W2 incomes and found how easy industry was and focused last 2 years on it. I clearly stated multiple times i don’t have much STR experience like you guys but I know how the industry works. We can all do the digging game and question who should have a bigger voice. Have you seen the post that I was asking about Lamborghini to write off my Airbnb tax? I think you get the idea of how much I make.
This is the monthly statement for my business. I know making more money doesn’t make me right. It is just ridiculous how old hosts keep questioning about what my proof is when you present 0 proof for yourself. Anyway, you don’t need to listen to me if you don’t want to. I think I shared enough to help others here. Good luck!
well, if you have 1000+ reviews, you obviously have quite a bit of experience
Yes, you can collect 1000 reviews very fast if you have multiple listings at the top of the ranking with 80% above occupancy whole year around. That is the whole point of what I have been arguing. You can grow so much faster if you focus on single platform and it is not late to expand to multiple platforms once you get too big to be on one platform. Obviously I don’t have all my LTR just on Apartments.com or Zillow. I use 5-6 websites for them. However, I use single platform for smaller apartment that fits the best for the location. It is obviously for a different reason but the idea is same either what kind of business you are in. I hope it clarifies the idea for you.
i think you are wrong, but it doesnt really matter. and in my market, VRBO tends to be the bigger booking platform
Post: One platform strategy
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Okay, here we go again...First, I agree. Listing on multiple platforms does affect ranking by platforms but not as much as you think. I am listed on 5 platforms plus have a direct booking site and I rank highly across my 5 listings. Just to disprove your theory...by your logic, my first page search impression should be much lower than 80%! Yet, it is higher than yours with only one platform. And as you state in other posts, you are in a market with less competition (a city near the airport in the Midwest I believe). I am in a highly concentrated beach vacation market and still have 80% first page search impression. Please stop telling new STR hosts to only list on one platform. This risk here far outweighs any small gains in ranking.
That is an impressive rate! If all of your listings have that percentage year-round, I think you are possibly the highest ranked Airbnb host on the entire platform! Are you in the OMG or luxe category?
I have properties all around popular spots, including smoky mountain. I don’t think the competition in the smoky is light. (I also have a small hotel near the airport so great guess!)
congratulation on your success, but you should stop telling new hosts to post on multi platforms because the occupancy rate matters a lot.
I'm just wondering where this confidence comes that you are right, when last December you had just finished your first year in STR's and made $75k and was asking questions about how Airbnb places a property on the first page of search. and a year later you feel yourself to be an expert that knows more than anyone else?
If you really have gone from 3 to 200 properties this past year while having a two W2 jobs, you seem to have found your niche and doing well, good for you. You may be right, you may be wrong. Personally, i would be cautious telling the majority of experienced owners/hosts they are wrong without rock solid data and evidence.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155394-have...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155264-afte...
I don't have 200 so I am a bit confused where you got the number from but sure I do have hundreds of LTRs. I started STR to offset my W2 incomes and found how easy industry was and focused last 2 years on it. I clearly stated multiple times i don’t have much STR experience like you guys but I know how the industry works. We can all do the digging game and question who should have a bigger voice. Have you seen the post that I was asking about Lamborghini to write off my Airbnb tax? I think you get the idea of how much I make.
This is the monthly statement for my business. I know making more money doesn’t make me right. It is just ridiculous how old hosts keep questioning about what my proof is when you present 0 proof for yourself. Anyway, you don’t need to listen to me if you don’t want to. I think I shared enough to help others here. Good luck!
well, if you have 1000+ reviews, you obviously have quite a bit of experience
Post: One platform strategy
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Okay, here we go again...First, I agree. Listing on multiple platforms does affect ranking by platforms but not as much as you think. I am listed on 5 platforms plus have a direct booking site and I rank highly across my 5 listings. Just to disprove your theory...by your logic, my first page search impression should be much lower than 80%! Yet, it is higher than yours with only one platform. And as you state in other posts, you are in a market with less competition (a city near the airport in the Midwest I believe). I am in a highly concentrated beach vacation market and still have 80% first page search impression. Please stop telling new STR hosts to only list on one platform. This risk here far outweighs any small gains in ranking.
That is an impressive rate! If all of your listings have that percentage year-round, I think you are possibly the highest ranked Airbnb host on the entire platform! Are you in the OMG or luxe category?
I have properties all around popular spots, including smoky mountain. I don’t think the competition in the smoky is light. (I also have a small hotel near the airport so great guess!)
congratulation on your success, but you should stop telling new hosts to post on multi platforms because the occupancy rate matters a lot.
I'm just wondering where this confidence comes that you are right, when last December you had just finished your first year in STR's and made $75k and was asking questions about how Airbnb places a property on the first page of search. and a year later you feel yourself to be an expert that knows more than anyone else?
If you really have gone from 3 to 200 properties this past year while having a two W2 jobs, you seem to have found your niche and doing well, good for you. You may be right, you may be wrong. Personally, i would be cautious telling the majority of experienced owners/hosts they are wrong without rock solid data and evidence.
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155394-have...
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/1155264-afte...
Post: Focus on one platform
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Well, Joel did say this would be controversial and he is certainly sticking to his one point of view.
I agree that the algorithms favor most favorable nation pricing. I think it was Airbnb that had suggestions for me to lower my pricing because they were scanning the competition (Booking.com in that scenario) and saw a lower price. They were wrong BTW, my pricing is much more favorable on Airbnb than BDC. I have no doubt this goes into the ranking algorithm.
HOWEVER, I have found that I do prefer guests from Airbnb. My cost to Airbnb is better than VRBO and the same as direct (I pay a 3% merchant fee). My pricing is best on Airbnb (except for direct where the guest pays no platform fee). I rank on page one for almost all of my listings and almost all of the year. That said, I am still on VRBO, GVR, BDC and direct. Why? Because even though my prices may be higher on VRBO, I do still rank there - especially during high season when occupancy in my area is close to 100%. As others have said, there are customers that use one platform over another. It would be ridiculous not to pick up guests from other platforms.
Also, I am not one of those that buys into platforms aren't host friendly. I have never had a bad experience with a platform (albeit Airbnb did once threaten to remove me because they thought I was going off platform). But given my parenthetical statement, and this shows where perhaps you may have less experience in the STR world, for no valid reason, your preferred platform can make a unilateral, unfounded decision to ban you and there goes your business.
Which brings me to my final point. Every top company in the world that I am aware of does NOT put all their eggs in one basket. Not sure where you are finding this. They don't rely on ONE supplier, ONE broker, ONE anything. If they did, they would be out of business very quickly. You mention Amazon, look at how they play suppliers off each other and even create their own supply chain. What would happen to Amazon if they only had their own delivery network when their workers decided to strike? Ever hear of disruptive innovation? It takes many shapes and forms and relooking at your supply chain (which is how I consider my platforms) is a necessary and consistent need in our business.
IMHO it is foolish to list on one platform and detrimental advice to those seeking advice on this forum which is the only reason I chimed in again... but you do you.
All the large company started with focused areas and started to expand larger after. Amazon never sold all those items at first. They were simply the king of online bookstores.
It sounds like you may reached the point that you had to expand. I am just assuming based on what you said. I think that is very reasonable move for matured owners like you but I don’t think it benefits most new hosts who should really focus on the ranking over expanding their market.
Also I have 1000+ reviews as a super host on Airbnb and I work in a very similar role as a senior resolution case manager. I handle hundreds of insurance claims, resident compensation, crime, and pricing… so I am very familiar with the system and reasons behind policies.
In the end, it is viewer’s choice to follow what they think is more reasonable. I mean even the smartest people can’t agree on a lot of things. That is why we have multiple presidential candidates and the Fed has multiple board members.
Good luck!
you seem to want to focus on 100% occupancy. That actually is not the goal of most people. Even Airbnb says that 70% occupancy is very good. and honestly, 100% is unattainable realistically.
I think that is the difference. As you can see, two people already said just in this thread they have 100% occupancy during the hot time. Yes the average American income is barely $60,000 and most of people on bigger pockets make more than that and a lot of people make that much in a month.
I think you shouldn't compared people who are visiting the forum to the Airbnb average. We are all here because we don’t want to be the average. Airbnb also said not even 10% of hosts make more than 100k as revenue. I make that with one listing.
I am telling you that 100% occupancy is possible. My whole year average occupancy rate is 80% and it is possible because I focus and continuously hit the very top of the rank. The way to find it starts with testing and challenging yourself and your system.
100% during hot time is one thing. I list on both platforms and have 3 properties at 100% during prime season. no point in further discussion. you seem dug in that your opinion is the only one correct. good luck.
And you suffer during the off season right? That is because your ranking is low so you can’t hit the first page. During the hot season all the higher ranking properties get booked so your property has a chance to be exposed to the guests. The only high ranking properties can get guests during the off season since there are not enough guests to take the high ranking listings before your turn. That is the whole point of why being on top of the ranking system is so important. I think I explained enough. Good luck brother
no, its because im in a beach market that has prime season and offseason. i have higher occupancy than anyone in 1 complex and at 95% in the other. glad you believe in yourself, you definitely have confidence in your views
Post: Focus on one platform
- Rental Property Investor
- Atlanta
- Posts 588
- Votes 523
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Trent Reeve:
Quote from @Joel Oh:
Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull:
Well, Joel did say this would be controversial and he is certainly sticking to his one point of view.
I agree that the algorithms favor most favorable nation pricing. I think it was Airbnb that had suggestions for me to lower my pricing because they were scanning the competition (Booking.com in that scenario) and saw a lower price. They were wrong BTW, my pricing is much more favorable on Airbnb than BDC. I have no doubt this goes into the ranking algorithm.
HOWEVER, I have found that I do prefer guests from Airbnb. My cost to Airbnb is better than VRBO and the same as direct (I pay a 3% merchant fee). My pricing is best on Airbnb (except for direct where the guest pays no platform fee). I rank on page one for almost all of my listings and almost all of the year. That said, I am still on VRBO, GVR, BDC and direct. Why? Because even though my prices may be higher on VRBO, I do still rank there - especially during high season when occupancy in my area is close to 100%. As others have said, there are customers that use one platform over another. It would be ridiculous not to pick up guests from other platforms.
Also, I am not one of those that buys into platforms aren't host friendly. I have never had a bad experience with a platform (albeit Airbnb did once threaten to remove me because they thought I was going off platform). But given my parenthetical statement, and this shows where perhaps you may have less experience in the STR world, for no valid reason, your preferred platform can make a unilateral, unfounded decision to ban you and there goes your business.
Which brings me to my final point. Every top company in the world that I am aware of does NOT put all their eggs in one basket. Not sure where you are finding this. They don't rely on ONE supplier, ONE broker, ONE anything. If they did, they would be out of business very quickly. You mention Amazon, look at how they play suppliers off each other and even create their own supply chain. What would happen to Amazon if they only had their own delivery network when their workers decided to strike? Ever hear of disruptive innovation? It takes many shapes and forms and relooking at your supply chain (which is how I consider my platforms) is a necessary and consistent need in our business.
IMHO it is foolish to list on one platform and detrimental advice to those seeking advice on this forum which is the only reason I chimed in again... but you do you.
All the large company started with focused areas and started to expand larger after. Amazon never sold all those items at first. They were simply the king of online bookstores.
It sounds like you may reached the point that you had to expand. I am just assuming based on what you said. I think that is very reasonable move for matured owners like you but I don’t think it benefits most new hosts who should really focus on the ranking over expanding their market.
Also I have 1000+ reviews as a super host on Airbnb and I work in a very similar role as a senior resolution case manager. I handle hundreds of insurance claims, resident compensation, crime, and pricing… so I am very familiar with the system and reasons behind policies.
In the end, it is viewer’s choice to follow what they think is more reasonable. I mean even the smartest people can’t agree on a lot of things. That is why we have multiple presidential candidates and the Fed has multiple board members.
Good luck!
you seem to want to focus on 100% occupancy. That actually is not the goal of most people. Even Airbnb says that 70% occupancy is very good. and honestly, 100% is unattainable realistically.
I think that is the difference. As you can see, two people already said just in this thread they have 100% occupancy during the hot time. Yes the average American income is barely $60,000 and most of people on bigger pockets make more than that and a lot of people make that much in a month.
I think you shouldn't compared people who are visiting the forum to the Airbnb average. We are all here because we don’t want to be the average. Airbnb also said not even 10% of hosts make more than 100k as revenue. I make that with one listing.
I am telling you that 100% occupancy is possible. My whole year average occupancy rate is 80% and it is possible because I focus and continuously hit the very top of the rank. The way to find it starts with testing and challenging yourself and your system.
100% during hot time is one thing. I list on both platforms and have 3 properties at 100% during prime season. no point in further discussion. you seem dug in that your opinion is the only one correct. good luck.