Thanks For Visiting

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Angela asks: One of my properties has a 60% direct booking rate. I'm trying to figure out the best way to adjust my pricing so that my net earnings on a direct booking is slightly higher than when guests book through a third-party plat...

Welcome back to the officially unofficial Money Making May, where we have a full month’s worth of content all around pricing profitable properties with PriceLabs ! Today’s expert guest is our very own Chief Operating Officer, Colleen Prochaska! Colleen brings over ten years of hospitality experience as a hotel General Manager for Marriott and Hilton brands to Thanks for Visiting. Her passion lies...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Samantha asks: What's your take on grills at a short-term rental? I always wanted to stay away because I'm terrified someone will burn down our brand new houses. But we recently had an upcoming guest ask if we had a grill, and they wer...

Today it’s time to get serious – as serious as a catastrophic house fire. With no exaggeration, it is essential that any short-term rental host, or aspiring host, listen into this entire episode. This week’s expert guest is Nicholas Libertin. He and his wife live in the Cleveland area and host a vacation rental in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His area of expertise, unfortunately, lies in his experien...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. A listener asks: I already use dynamic pricing strategies in my business right now. I see that Airbnb is making some changes to their fees. The host fee for me is going up from 3% to 15% and the guest is paying nothing. With that in mi...

Welcome to the officially unofficial Money Making May, where we have a full month’s worth of content all around pricing profitable properties with PriceLabs ! Today’s expert guest is Michael Lacalle, a teacher, husband, and father of two who stumbled into house hacking as a means to afford living on the Central Coast of California. From there, he got the real estate bug and now owns five short-ter...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Russell asks: Hosts are seeing so much out there right now about cameras and Airbnb. I have one on my front porch. Is this still okay? Can you guys cut through all the noise and tell us exactly what we need to know about the cameras? C...

This week’s expert guest is Kristie Wolfe, creative off-grid builder and short-term rental superstar. With her one-of-a-kind projects, her focus is on creating unforgettable guest experiences, not just accommodations. Kristie is not only the builder in her business, she is also the designer, and she crafts some of Airbnb's most sought-after wishlist stays. She has several tree houses, a hobbit hol...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Kendra asks: We purchased a property, my husband's pipe dream, in western Wisconsin on the trout streams where he grew up fishing. We launched it on Airbnb and VRBO in March. It's called the Trimbelle Cottage and we've had good success...

Today’s expert guests are Austin and Karlee Phippen, operators of an expanding portfolio of hospitality brands and businesses in scenic Northern New Mexico. Starting in just 2019, they’ve already built an empire in Chama – from boutique hotel rooms, a 16-room motel, a dozen co-hosted properties, and a sprawling ranch wedding venue. With Austin’s background in construction, and Karlee’s formal educ...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Bri asks: How do I prepare guests for nuisance neighbors? I have a neighbor who lives two houses down and he is senile. He does get really chatty and he has doomsday stories. The other day, my guest engaged in conversation with him, an...

Today’s expert guest (and one of our new business partners!) is Mike Navarro of Columbus, Ohio. Mike and his wife Ingrid entered the residential market as first-time homebuyers and have since expanded into multi-family housing, constructing single-family homes ranging from 400 sqft to 4500 sq ft. Their diverse portfolio comprises over 20 units, including single-family homes, multi-units, and condo...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. A listener asks: We are about ready to launch our first short-term rental on the beach. I've been vetting cleaning companies and have been a little surprised to learn of common standard practices related to washing (or not) the top lay...

Today’s expert guest is Wendy Doris. Experienced house flipper, host, co-host, and Hosting Business Mastery Method ( HBMM ) coach, Wendy loves the details, especially when it comes to the operations of her business. We lean into that expertise in this episode, jumping into the deep end on supplies as they relate to short-term rental listings. Managing more than a dozen properties in the Phoenix ar...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Katelyn asks: My husband and I own Stay Old Town Road in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's four small, super charming historic houses on one property in the best tourist location in town. We got into hosting because we love travel and hosp...

Today’s expert guest is Justin Ford, an international safety superstar when it comes to short-term rentals. Returning for his record thirteenth appearance on the show, the wisdom just never stops with Justin, as he’s become a close friend of the show – and hopefully, a trusted advisor to all of our listeners. Justin updates us on his latest travels, taking us from a safety survey in a $40k/night C...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Samantha asks: We recently started our short-term rental business and we currently have two rentals down at the beach. We are allowing pets at both of them because we're dog lovers ourselves. Our first guest had two dogs, and when we w...

Today’s expert guest is Gwynne Beatty, a specialist in property damage claims, water restoration, mold remediation, maximizing your claim, and managing the repair process for residential and commercial properties. She's here to pull back the curtain on the claims process and give you the knowledge and tools you need if (and when) you find yourself with property damage. She’s a public adjuster (don...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Francesca asks: I am looking for ways to enhance the guest experience through concierge services. As an example, I saw someone post that they'll put away Instacart groceries for guests before they arrive. I'm looking for unique and cre...

Today’s expert guest is Lynn Smith, a short-term rental host and co-host for properties in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area. Informed by a mixed background in public health, event planning, and sales, Lynn started her hosting journey in 2020. She’s a star member of our Hosting Business Mastery Method and has actually taught us so much over the years, that it came time to feature her unique p...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Sandrine asks: I have a few questions regarding guest communication. How much is too much and how exactly do you handle communicating the rental agreement? Do you send the rental agreement right through the booking platform, like Airbn...

Today’s expert guests are Bob and Callie Karlen. A husband-and-wife investing team, they currently house hack their primary residence near Minneapolis, own and operate Bigwater Cove – their STR cabin in Northern MN – and are hoping to scale their portfolio in 2024 in the commercial boutique motel space in the near future. Following last week’s informative discussion covering a painful acquisition...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Holly asks: What systems and processes do you use to train virtual assistants and other staff members? Where do you store them, how do you build them, and on what platforms? We are trying to systemize every single process so that we ca...

Today’s export guest is Tanya Rooney, a creative real estate seeker, life guide and owner of BAFS Real Estate + Yay You’re Here Properties. We’re thrilled that she’s taken the time to join us today to talk about a very important, and very on-trend, topic in our industry: motels and mid-term rentals. She gives us the low down on a painstaking deal that did NOT go through, sharing important lessons...

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between. Whitney asks: Can I create a parent-child listing for two homes that are next door to each other? I own one of them and my neighbors own the other. I'm the co-host for their house. I would like to create a parent-child listing to accep...