Superhost Unveiled

Everything you need to know about creating a great guidebook for your vacation rental.

We have been super busy.  35 properties, bought a new one without walking into it in a new market the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  See how that is going with an established "old school" property management company.  Is the laundry system about to break?  How about the trash system?  Is life actually easier at 35 properties compared to 10?  A fun episode with Julia, Hannah and Peter hope you enjoy it.

Today we are reflecting on some of the major lessons we have learned from the Vacation Rental Business.  We've been self-hosted owners to now property managers who oversee the operation of 20+ vacation rentals. If you are considering starting a Vacation Rental Business, whether that is just renting out a room or overseeing 100 properties, these lessons will help you accelerate your growth as well as avoid some dire mistakes!  Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear a more in-depth explanation of each point.  Let us know which lesson resonated with you the most by visiting us on Instagram @superhostunveiled. 

BONUS:

In Episode 17: Evolution, we walk you through the evolution of our business from investing in our first property to what changes we will need to in order to grow further.  Our hope is that our story will inspire others to challenge their goals and think bigger.

When we first started we did it all.  We cleaned, communicated, answered calls at 5 AM and everything in between.  Once we started managing other homes and grew quickly to six homes we started hiring a cleaning team.

It was also during this time that we knew that we need to consider software that will grow with us, instead of software that we will outgrow.  This included property management software, pricing software, and turnover management software.  Aside from the pricing software, we've tested and experimented with loads of other software to try to find the best one for us and our business.  Finally, we've found one that works great.  It does the work of a few different software all in one which has allowed us to not spread ourselves too thin.  One thing you don't think about is how stressful it can get once you have 10-20 houses to manage and having to flip between 3-4 different apps or websites to keep up with all the moving parts.

One thing that we implemented that changed the game for our standard of cleaning was a walk-through process.  A walk-through is simply a person (different from the cleaner) who is thoroughly trained to walk through the home, spot any mistakes that the cleaner might have made, and ensure that the home is ready for the guest.  This may seem like extra work and over the top but it has saved us quite a few times.

Recently, we had a guest complain about the cleanliness of one of the homes and actually report us on Airbnb, we assume it was a black-mail type case of someone wanting a discount or refund.  Since we walk-through the homes ourselves before the guests come, we are able to deny any claims by reporting that not only did our cleaner do a 52-point clean but we also had a specialist walk-through to confirm the cleanliness.  It's insurance for us as well as our cleaners.

Another change we've made as we've grown is creating a maintenance program.  We've noticed that something many other property management businesses fall short of is never treating the home as a home.  They clean it after every guest but never put in the time to replace furniture, fix minor problems, and ensure the home is up to date. Now, each month we walk through the home and inspect for any maintenance issues such as a clogged pipe or broken toilet seat.  We also train our cleaners to report any damage so that we can fix it in a timely manner.

As we've grown, our need for cleaners has also grown.  In our first year as a property manager, we had periods of time when we were understaffed and it was rough.  To prevent instances like this, we've stayed on top of hiring new cleaners.  We have a newspaper ad that is continuously running in the local paper and we take in new cleaners as they call in.  This way we are never left training 5 new cleaners at once.

When you manage 20+ houses, you go through a lot of products.  Trips to the local Walmart become more frequent and frankly more annoying.  This leads us to switch to automatic delivery of products from Amazon.  We now have an automatic delivery for toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish detergent, hand & dish soap, trash bags, and more.  It has helped us be better prepared, no more last-minute stops to the store, as well as saved us money.

READ MORE

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is any freelancer who can help take tasks off of your to-do list so that you, as the business owner, can focus on the money-generating tasks.  A VA is a 1099 subcontractor position so hiring one can allow you to get the help that you need without having to pay hefty employment taxes or for benefits. VAs can assist in a wide variety of tasks from general admin support to developing your website.  Whatever you need help with, there's a VA who can provide support.

One of the best things about hiring a VA from a financial standpoint is that they are not technically an employee.  As mentioned above, they are a 1099 subcontractor which means they pay self-employment taxes as well as other expenses such as insurance.  This means that even if they have a higher hourly rate, you will still save money in the long-term.

Virtual Assistants are running their own business.  Most VAs will have multiple clients that they work with.  Working with one yourself can look like a few different scenarios:

- Hourly, the VA tracks their hours and each week sends you an invoice

- Package, the VA gives you a few packages of set tasks that you can choose from.  For example, they may cover 100 messages from guests per month.  This is typically charged upfront or with a pay schedule, but expect to make an initial deposit as it protects the VA from scams.

- Retainer, you decide how many hours you need assistance with per month and you pay for those hours upfront.  This can also be done without tracking hours.

However your work relationship will look like, a good Virtual Assistant will have this all prepared for you, all you need to do is choose the option that works best for you.

There is a Virtual Assistant for literally any role.  A good exercise to do before searching for your first VA is something called a time audit.  For a week or two, track everything you do each half-hour, including watching Netflix and family time! At the end of the exercise, categorize every task that you did into family time (or some other value), self-care, tasks that keep the business going, tasks that directly bring in more income.

Take a look at your two business task categories.  Tasks that keep the business going do not necessarily require you, the business owner, to do them while tasks that directly bring in more income likely do.  A task that keeps the business going maybe updating the rental listing or responding to FAQs while a task that brings in more income may be acquiring a new client.

Tasks that keep the business going are vital but anyone can do them, these are perfect tasks to outsource to a Virtual Assistant.  Start going through these tasks and set aside ones that you often skip or have a hard time getting done.  The tasks that you don't like doing are the best to hire someone to do.

Some examples of tasks that a Virtual Assistant can cover are:

- Creating new vacation rental listings following a template

- Marketing (on social media, or paid ads)

- Building a website for direct bookings

- Communicating with guests via messaging

- Managing your emails

- Managing your calendar (cleanings, bookings, required maintenance appointments, etc)

- Editing

- And much more!

READ MORE

If you are new to the vacation rental business you may be wondering do I need a management company or should I manage it myself?  Before growing our business to manage other vacation rentals, we self-hosted our two properties.  There are a lot of decisions that go into this subject.

Curious about expanding your short-term vacation rental business?  Becoming a co-host or property manager can help you grow without having to invest in more properties.  We have a Property Management business but we do not manage the property rather manage the vacation rental.  We take care of all of the bookings, conversations, guest issues, turnovers, and some light maintenance.

As a co-host, you can list other properties under your own Airbnb account or you can be added as a co-host through someone else's account.  There are pros and cons to each.  When you list the property under your own account, if the owner of the property chooses to leave then they will need to start the whole process all over again.  Plus, if you list the property under your own account and it performs poorly it will negatively impact your account and other properties.

By setting up accounts for clients, you do not set them up for failure if they choose to leave.  We are so confident in our services that our clients will stick with us for the long-term.

To be honest, when we first started we didn't do much to find clients!  As soon as we knew that we wanted to expand into Vacation Rental Management we reserved a domain, threw together a quick website, and had a low-cost google ad.  In addition, before we reserved the domain we did a quick google search as if we were the client and create a name that the client would search for.  We found that other property management companies didn't even show up in the search for our area which was a key indicator that our name would strategically work for us.

If you are in an area with hundreds of companies that you need to compete against, you'll need to get creative with your marketing.  Get out there.  Network, put up flyers, send out postcards, do whatever you can to get seen.  Start social media accounts, any webpage that you create will help boost you in the search.

That first call can be nerve-wracking!  Especially since you don't have other clients to back up your services.  Find some personal experience that will set you apart from the competition.  For us, the fact that we were local was a huge selling point as well as our prior success with our own properties.

It's okay to be nervous.  If it's okay if your first call doesn't go well.  Take each call as a learning experience and gain confidence with each call.  Clients can smell confidence from a mile away, if you aren't confident they'll know.  That means you need to know what questions to ask and the answers to potential questions that a client may ask.  If you don't have a prior vacation rental, it is essential that you know how you'll manage pricing, communication, and systems.  Do your research before starting.  You cannot go in unprepared because it will show.

With that being said, you should never lie about your experience.  Transparency is key.  We had a potential client call once who asked if they should sell their million-dollar house or rent it.  They asked how much they could make off of their property.  Since we've never managed a million-dollar home, we could not confidently say how much income that vacation rental would generate.  We were honest with the potential client and helped them make their decision.

Owning a short-term rental may not seem like owning your own business, but it totally is a business.  Like all business owners, it is important to take care of yourself.  Let's talk about some routines and practices that we do each day to keep ourselves feeling motivated.

Morning & Nightly Routines

It may seem trivial but one of the most important parts of Peter's daily routine is prepping the coffee maker the night before so that he doesn't have to worry about it in the morning.  It's little tasks like these that can make such an impact on your day and it only takes a few minutes.

In addition to coffee, both Hannah and Peter prioritize taking time to exercise, learn something every day and read.  Did you know that 27% of adults say that they have not read a book in the past year?

Routines don't have to be strict.  Hannah enjoys listening to her body and doing what feels right in the moment.  Her morning routine typically includes making morning tea, journaling, and meditating.

One important part of both of their days is reflection.  Reflecting on the day, how their business is going, and what can be changed.

Boundaries & Self-Care

One aspect of owning a business that many people don't talk about is setting boundaries. Businesses can end up running you instead of the other way around, setting boundaries is vital to staying sane.

One way you can set boundaries in your short-term rental business is by setting boundaries with guests.  You can do this by outlining solutions to common problems so that guests can solve them on their own first.  Another way is to create canned responses so that you can quickly reply to commonly asked questions. Lastly, it's important to make it clear what is an emergency and what guests should call you for.

If you have clients like us, setting boundaries with them is important as well.  Set clear standards on how clients should interact with you.  Make sure you don't take non-emergency calls during your set time off.  Setting office hours for your clients to contact you during or sending out newsletters prevents the need to call you altogether.

CEO Time

As mentioned above, it is important to set a time to work on your business.  We like to call this CEO time.  During this time you should, analyze numbers and data as well as do some creative thinking for growth.

Technology

There are a few programs that we use daily to keep our businesses organized.

We could not live without our Property Management System.  Our PMS manages all of our bookings, communication, cleanings, and listings.

We also use Asana and Google Calendar to stay on top of tasks.  Asana is a project manager that we use to keep track of our clients, plan our podcast, and track our ideas.

___

We hope that this episode will help you avoid burnout in your business.  If you burnout, your guests will notice and most likely be negatively impacted.  It is important to take care of yourself.

One of the key factors for success as a short-term rental is keeping your property occupied at the best rate.  Today, one of the founders of Pricelabs, Anurag Verma, joined the podcast to share how their company is helping thousands of short-term rental owners maximize their revenue with their dynamic pricing software.

The company began when one of the co-founders started an Airbnb but had no idea how to price it.  Verma was working at an airline at the time helping them with their pricing and knew that it's likely that many people are struggling to price their short-term rentals effectively. Knowing the engineering and math to the solution to their problem they set out to create a dynamic pricing software for short-term rentals so that hosts can automate their pricing for their properties confidently,

At first, they were the only people creating dynamic pricing software for short-term rentals. The company started in Chicago and reached out directly to hosts located in Chicago via Facebook groups.  When they launched, they only started with 10-15 properties.  For the first year, the app was completely free to allow for testing and to get feedback.  After a few months, they expanded out of Chicago to the entire world.  Most of their initial customers came from Europe in particular where the short-term rental industry is huge.

Dynamic pricing is all about figuring out trends within the market.  If you have a huge event that causes properties to get booked out at max capacity at high rates, and your property is priced low, then you missed out on a bigger booking.  Hotels have it easier because they have several rooms that allow them to notice trends.  If they notice that 5 of their rooms got booked way in advance, it's a good sign that that time will be really popular for bookings and they can raise their rates. Dynamic pricing software allows hosts with only 1 property to pick up on the trends and don't miss out on a larger booking, just like a hotel would.

As an owner, without dynamic pricing, it's easy to use preconceived highs and lows for your property that can end up costing you money.  As a host at the beginning, Peter left thousands of dollars unclaimed due to missing out on trends and things like orphan days.

Pricelabs allows you to maximize bookings that are far out.  For example, 6 months in the future, the app can restrict bookings to a certain day booking such as 5-day stays versus 2 nights only.  As the date gets closer, the app adapts the length of the booking to capitalize on stays.  Therefore, instead of restricting it to 5 days throughout, the app will allow guests to pick up the leftover days so that you can have a higher occupancy rate.  If there is an orphan day or orphan 2 days, Pricelabs can jack up the price to make it equivalent to 3 or 4 days booking while booking that day so that your calendar is booked solid.

READ MORE

Why do some properties crush others? With the number of homes on the short term rental market, they can't all tie for first.  What makes some stand out above the rest?

We analyzed our 20 active properties to see which ones were outperforming the others and why using occupancy rate and the price per night.

What do our top homes have in common?  You'd be surprised actually.  There isn't one key feature that sets them apart from the rest, except, their uniqueness.  From location to dynamic architecture to hot tubs, these unique qualities help properties outperform their peers.

Exceptional photos that are unique and eye-catching help them stand out in the search.  Of course, numerous 5-star reviews help too, but our other homes get those.

So you may be wondering, how can I set myself apart if my home is cookie-cutter?

Think about how you can niche down and stand out in search.  For example, key features like allowing pets or having a hot-tub are filters in Airbnb search which can help you stand out.  Having a game-room or a movie-theater room can also help!

It's important to know your listing inside and out.  Your listing title matters. Consider using key-words that your ideal guests would use to search like "Close to ski mountain" or "close to tax-free shopping".  Remember to update your title from time to time as well, especially if it's unique to the season.

Staying active every day on the platform is also essential.  If you don't have time to do that yourself, using pricing software can help. Regardless, you should be familiar with your occupancy rate, night rate, the average number of guests, and when they are booking.   All of these stats can be found on the dashboard of your property management software if you have one, or on the dashboard of the platform, you list on.

Take advantage of special promotions too.  Airbnb often has promotions for the slow season that can help you boost in the search.  Airbnb also promotes properties that utilize these listings to their email list. Free marketing, that you don't want to miss.

Keep in mind that the more bookings you get, the more reviews you get, and the more your property is boosted in the search.  It's all connected and the algorithm rewards success.  If your occupancy is low, consider lowering your nightly rate.

In the end, it important to know your analytics.  If something is not working try something else and keep trying until you get it right.  It can be as easy as a simple word swap in your title or something more strategic like pricing.  A short term rental is a business, whether it feels like it or not, so you need to treat it like it.