Do you have too many house rules for your Airbnb guests? Don't end up on TikTok

Recently a guest complained about too many house rules at his airbnb stay and vented to TikTok. The video went viral. See the video here.

Can you have too many rules? In this episode John and Tim discuss:

1. Why too many house rules can upset guests

2. How to give a check-out procedure that is mindful of guest needs

3. Finding balance in your house rules and checkout procedure

4. Why having rules upon checkout is important (hint: reduces turnover time)

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

John and Tim discuss their top tips on preventing bed bugs from biting your guests and ruining your vacation rental business.

In this episode:

1. How to protect your short term rental from bedbugs

2. Purchasing the right protection for your mattresses

3. What is remediation and how much would a bed bug infestation cost me?

4. Real bed bug host horror story

5. Why prevention is better and necessary

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

Service animals are different from Emotional Support Animals. Both are different from pets. Find out what you need to know about hosting our furry, four-legged friends!

Here are the highlights:

• Legally, depending on where you are located, you cannot prohibit or deny a guest with a service animal

• If not legally, you will be violating the terms and conditions of the OTA you signed up with (Airbnb, VRBO) and may be at risk of getting your listing suspended

• Service animals are there to help with a disability

• Emotional Service Animals are not required to be accepted by hosts and are different from service animals

• What can happen if you deny a guest with a service animal?

• What questions can you ask a guest regarding a service animal?

• Hosting pets is a personal choice, but you can build a competitive edge by hosting pets

• There is a big market out there for pet-friendly airbnbs and short term rentals

• The difference between pet-friendly and just allowing pets (secrets to show pet lovers you care and are actually pet-friendly!)

• Cleaning required when you are pet-friendly

• Can you charge extra cleaning when a service animal stays? (hint: no)

See Airbnb's Accessibility Policy here:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1869/accessibility-policy

Two questions you are legally allowed to ask regarding service animals:

(1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

Please note, we highly recommend being accommodating and hosting service animals - it is the right thing to do!

Note: Federal Law does not require you to host in a single family dwelling a service animal, but you will be violating terms and conditions you agreed to when you signed up to use the OTA (Airbnb, VRBO) and can be suspended if you take this stance.

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

In this episode, John and Tim discuss creating your own vacation rental agreement.

Spelling out the rules and guidelines for your home can set the right expectations for the guest. Most guests really appreciate knowing what your guidelines are and how it works. We will also share with you:

• Setting expectations with your guests through your rental agreement

• How to manage trash appropriately

• Going beyond the standard agreement that OTAs have for their guests

• Including your house rules

• Making it easy to understand and sign electronically prior to check-in

• Most host do not have their own rental agreement and how having one can help you protect your rental from pet damage, smoking damage, and more

• Outlining specific details about your home, how to work it, and penalties for house rules violations

• Not making your rental agreement too intimidating to prospective guests

More show notes:

You can use a service like pandadoc or docusign to have your guest e-sign.

See house rules episode here

See house rules template here

See rental agreement template here

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

Show Notes:

Airbnb has essentials that you must provide your guest, but should you provide more? What amenities are absolute must haves?

• Think about what they need on their first few nights ,

• Roll of paper towels and a spare under the sink

• Spare toilet paper

• Plenty of garbage bags

• Laundry soap, laundry detergent

• Sheets for the dryer

• Dishwasher Pods

• Budget, Economy, Luxury - what is the difference in guest amenity and supply?

Supplying the guest for a great experience is actually very affordable and creates a surprise and delight element when you go above and beyond.

See Airbnb's Essential Amenities Here ---> https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2343/what-are-essential-amenities

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

Self-managing your vacation rental is a lot easier when you use technology. Vacation rental tech does not have to be scary and you can implement some basics to automate your vacation rental business. Here are some technologies we will discuss in this episode:

• Smart thermostats you can program remotely to save energy, money, and make the guest experience better

• Pool and spa remote automation to save money on trips and your utility bill

• Testing your remote technology to double check it works for reliability

• Noise monitoring to deter and control parties from your airbnb guests

• Surveillance cameras and doorbell cameras

• Smart lighting

• Tech that alerts you when an airbnb guest smokes in your vacation rental

Key message: Explore the technologies that are available and select those that make the most sense for you and your situation as a remote owner. It should both support your business model and level up your guest experience.

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

When you follow-up with your Airbnb guests, great things happen. Today, Tim and John discuss 6+ follow-up tips to deliver a 5-star post-checkout experience on Airbnb and VRBO.

1. Send checkout instructions 24 hours before checkout day

2. Invite feedback from your guests to improve the future guest experience & respond to the feedback

3. Follow up with your guests a couple of days post check-out to continue the dialogue

4. Collect information to create follow up opportunities and stay top of mind (think holiday emails, happy birthday, etc)

5. Appropriate frequency to follow-up with your guests & create repeat bookings

6. Do not chase 5-star reviews as the objective, chase an awesome guest experience and the reviews will follow

The 5-star review is your report card as a host on how well you are hosting your guest. It is the direct grade of your guest experience. There are no shortcuts. Creating an awesome guest experience leads to great feedback, which leads to great reviews. When you do get a bad review, use it as a learning opportunity to fine tune your guest experience for future guests. Any review less than 5-stars is not necessarily a bad thing, it is an opportunity to grow and do better.

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new airbnb cleaning service? Try Vacationhomehelp.com so we can refer you to your new rockstar cleaning team and earn more 5-star reviews for cleanliness.

Today, John and Tim discuss how to improve your airbnb response time, responsiveness score, and boosting your communication skills to create a more streamlined guest experience. Give your guests confidence. This episode is for those who are new to hosting on Airbnb & VRBO. In this episode, you will learn in under 10 minutes:

• Setting the right tone for your guest's airbnb stay and improving confidence

• Why you should use automation wisely

• Actively listening, being personal, and actively communicating creates trust

• Better hospitality through proactively communicating pre, during, and post-checkout

• Proactive problem solving to help the guest during stay without skipping a beat

• Earning referrals through excellent communication

• What is an appropriate and timely response on Airbnb?

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Are you in Florida and need a new Airbnb cleaning service? Visit Vacationhomehelp.com to request more information on how you can save thousands self-managing (without those pricey commissions property managers charge) with the help of a local Airbnb cleaning team.

This is John, I have recently finished reading Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, two Untied States Navy Seals who taught me about taking ownership for mistakes and failures. It is hard to do it. In life and in your hosting journey, it is crucial to take a look at the person in the mirror - this is everything for personal and professional growth.

Tim is going to share an experience that he had to take ownership of, an experience that literally broke his heart - a guest could not check in past midnight. He is going to explain how he handled it. Best of all, the guest left pleased and has even referred friends that have booked for future stays! We will teach you the mindset on how to turn a bad situation around by doing the right thing by the guest, always. This is called Extreme Ownership.

In this podcast:

• Tim goes over the worst situation he has been in with a guest, why it was his fault, and how he took ownership and turned it around

• Why having a Plan B is important

• The mindset of Extreme Ownership and how you can use it in your hosting journey

For more information on Extreme Ownership, you can visit https://echelonfront.com/extreme-ownership/

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)

Listen to our latest podcast and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and RSS. Please rate, review, and subscribe - all support helps us grow our community.

Why the age old wisdom of more beds, more heads, more revenue is sometimes wrong. How many guests can you host in your airbnb without sacrificing the quality of your guest experience?

“Be very thoughtful about what your maximum number of guests is going to be, do not just instantly think more beds equals more heads, equals more revenue. I will tell you from experience this equation does not always work.”

Visit our blog and see the transcript here.

Highlights:

• How Tim’s mistake of thinking more beds, more heads, more revenues held back his potential and how changing that thought process helped him maximize revenue while reducing the risk of wear and tear

• Too many guests in too small of a space – the impact on Air Conditioning Units, Pools, and other factors to consider

• What is the maximum number of guests you can host and still maintain the quality of the guest experience?

• How many guests should you host in your airbnb space?

• The right number of guests may be less than you think - dining table rule, how many guests can you accommodate at your dining room table?

• Should you charge people for additional guests?

Want to know more, need more help or have an idea for a podcast episode? Reach out to us at [email protected]. Join our owner community on facebook (we love to connect with other hosts!)