Thanks For Visiting

We are on the road this week for a short term rental sponsored SLEEPOVER! And we are visiting Becky Rhey, a fabulous host with an impeccable sense of style. She talks about what the transition from flipping to rental was like, how she finds decor for her rental, allowing photographers to use her space, and collaborating with local businesses. Resources: Instagram: @rebeccarhey | @1920granddame #ST...

Sharon Keefe is back on the show! As a reminder, Sharon has spent the last 7 years conducting knowledge management in the vacation rental space and coaching others on how to run their rentals better and make more money. No matter where you are renting, we all have the same mission, and we all need to do better so our neighbors and communities can be excited to have short term vacation stays in the...

Hosting is a challenge, and we want to know if you’re up for it! We want to prepare you for what we call “hosting fatigue.” There are going to be challenges to deal with, but if you know they’re going to come, you can prepare for them. Resources: #STRShareSunday: @tokyofamilystays Thanks for Visiting is a production of Crate Media . Mentioned in this episode: Hosting Business Mastery Method | Join...

As promised, Justin Ford is back to talk about all things safety! We’re going to keep him on as a recurring guest all year, and today he’s going to talk about 8 danger zones in a short-term rental. In case you missed the first episode, Justin is a vacation rental safety expert. He works at a company called Breezeway, a property operations & services platform. He understands what it means to be...

We are all about education here on the show, and when we are really experts on something, we want to share it with you. One of those things we want to share with you today is how to make more money and diversify your income using staging or designing skills applied to the short term rental industry. Today, we have 7 ways you can make more money as a stager, designer, or host. Resources: Sign up fo...

Sharon Keefe has spent the last 7 years conducting knowledge management in the vacation rental space. She is a vacation rental property management pro, and we’re so excited to chat with her. She coaches other vacation rentals on how to do better, be better, and make more. While vacation rentals have been doing this for a while, their mission overlaps so, so much with short term rentals. But there...

It is your responsibility to make sure your property is safe for your guests! To drive home the importance of safety, we talk with Justin Ford, Director of Safety at Breezeway, a software company that makes it easier to manage property care and maintenance operations. Justin focuses on the operations side specifically, helping property managers and owners maintain safety of vacation rental propert...

Mistakes are going to happen when you have an Airbnb, and that can be kind of scary. We’re going to share the experiences we’ve had and how we bounced back in hopes of alleviating some of that fear. You are not alone if you’ve made a mistake. No matter how good you are, things are going to happen, and what matters in those moments is how you handle it. Resources: Automated Messaging: www.smartbnb....

We’re going to talk about a lesser-known strategy for growing your short term rental business: rental arbitrage. What exactly is it, what benefits can it provide, and what are the risks involved? We lay it all out, including our personal thoughts on it, so you can decide whether or not rental arbitrage is right for you. Resources: Check out www.niido.com #STRShareSunday: @enchantedviewcabin Thanks...

What kinds of things could you learn from chatting with a former Airbnb employee? Well, Danny Rusteen is a former Airbnb employee, and this has opened a lot of doors for him! After working for them in accounting for two years, he ended up working in a marketing role bringing in hosts, and then for an outside company optimizing hosts’ listings. He has a ton of info to share with us, including a few...

Do you have burning questions about starting up your first short term rental? What if your tenants throw a big party? What if someone gets hurt? The questions are endless! We had the pleasure of meeting Jesse Gross, CEO and co-founder of Makomi, which is a short term rental management company. He has so much experience, because they manage properties from all over. We’re going to talk about the “W...

How do you keep up high occupancy rates? You have to market! Kelly Rauch is a marketing expert. We want your short term rental to be the best that it can be, and offer the best guest experience it can, and for you to have high occupancy rates. Marketing your property is going to help keep your occupancy rates high. We’ve talked with Kelly before on social media marketing and having your own websit...

We are big believers in hospitality when it comes to being a host. That’s why we were so excited to read about our guest, Joseph Michelli, on the Airbnb blog. He’s an internationally sought after speaker, author, and organizational consultant who transfers his knowledge of exceptional business practices in ways that develop joyful and productive workplaces with a focus on customer experience. His...

Have you ever said to yourself, “Our weekends are rocking, but how do I get that weekday occupancy up?” We are all about the guest experience, but we are still trying to run a profitable business. Unless you’re in a big vacation spot, you’ve probably got some work to do to take advantage of those weekdays and make yourself some more money. We’ve got some great strategies you can use to keep your p...

This episode is all about the importance of booking all guests — including your mom, your grandma, and regular corporate clients — through the app, whether that’s with Airbnb or another platform. Sometimes hosts are tempted to take cash, PayPal, or Venmo bookings, but trust us — it’s way more trouble than it’s worth. Resources: Want to open your own short-term rental? Then get your FREE copy of 7...

A few weeks ago, Kelly Rauch taught us about how we can utilize Instagram and Facebook to market your short-term rental —  go check that episode out if you haven’t already — and today she’s back to share how you can leverage a personal website to grow your short-term rental business. Resources: Connect with Kelly on IG: @kellykrauch Check out the website for the property that Kelly is managin...

Jennifer and Jamey Ratcliff are an incredible couple — and an incredible couple of entrepreneurs in the Columbus area! They own a local restaurant, Arch & Eddie’s, and a local brewery, Sixth Sense, in addition to an adorable condo that they rent out using Airbnb. But, with three businesses, Jennifer and Jamey are obviously really busy! That’s why they wanted to hire a co-host to help their Air...

When people start hosting short-term rentals, especially if they’re sharing their own home, they are usually worried about two things: damaged/stolen property and parties (which can lead to damaged or stolen property)! Unfortunately, things do happen, although less than you might think, but there are things you can do as a host to minimize any costs associated with the damage and ensure your hosti...

We have an exciting announcement that we just could not wait until next week to share with you: Sarah and her husband Nick were chosen by Airbnb to be the feature of a new program they’re launching called How to Host! So Nick joins us once again to talk all about the process and share five things every host should know for creating a business plan that will help them turn property into profit. Res...

There’s a question we get asked all the time: What the heck is a co-host?! At its core, a co-host is just a joint host — which means the role is open for interpretation! One of the reasons we think so many people find the idea of being a co-host so appealing is that it’s kind of a choose-your-own-adventure job, which means you’ll really have to sit down and talk to your partners to figure out what...

We met today’s guest, Kelly Rauch, at our most recent local Airbnb meetup — so, let that me a lesson to you: go to your local meetups, or if one doesn’t exist, start one. You can meet some really cool people there... and then, a week or two later, you might even be on their podcast! Kelly is a marketing expert who just blew us away when she told us how she used social media to launch a new high-en...

We often talk about strategies for hosts who are already in the game (how to welcome guests, how to set pricing, etc.), but we’ve missed an important step: getting the property you can use as an Airbnb! We also know that a lot of your are listening because you are still planning and working up the courage to open your first short-term rental — and the more you know, the less scary that becomes! So...

We host an Airbnb meetup here in Columbus, and at our most recent one, we heard about BJ Allmon, co-founder of InnTown Stays — and we knew we had to talk to him! Because BJ is staking a unique niche in the short-term industry, and he’s solving a big need at the same time: homes for people who are recovering from a disaster. InnTown Stays is a service that makes it just as easy to lease a house as...

Cody Boyce and his wife recently started listing their home on Airbnb while they’re travelling for business, and Cody’s already automated this thing up — for free! So, we’re going to learn all about the Zapier automation that Cody is using to make his life easier and what it’s like when you’re listing your personal space. Resources: Learn more at crate.media Instagram: instagram.com/codydboyce Tha...

We met Marc Kade at a real estate investor meetup about a year ago — and, oh boy, this is the guy to talk to about all things lending! He’s a branch manager for PrimeLending and a real estate investor himself, and we brought him on because we know a lot of you want to know more about how to actually acquire the properties to use as short-term rentals. Now, even if you’re not in the real estate inv...