Vacation Home Help

This is a brief how to on email marketing for vacation rentals. I explain how to do a newsletter, tools to use, what to include, and how to add value for your readers. In a nutshell...a great newsletter = more direct bookings for your vacation rental. Listen to learn how.

Is your mindset a producing mindset or are you losing money by limiting your opportunities? How some are leveraging the best tools out there for getting the word out while most are failing

Are. you neglecting the fastest way to grow your vacation rental business. TikTok can get you in front of billions of people for free if you use it right. Why pass up the fastest growing social media platform? Those who are first to this gold rush will win big. I talk briefly about how to set up your TikTok for a vacation rental. TikTok Examples: Cabin Rental with 45K likes Luxury Airbnb TikTok Pr...

Should you obsess over occupancy or profit margin? Balance your income goals with value creation for your guests. ○ High hopes for high profits will kill your bottom line. When you are on the moon, but need to come down to earth with pricing expectations... ○ Shooting for totally occupied here is the issue with trying to maximize revenue this way Less turnover time so you will have a worn down, be...

John and Tim share experiences and insight on how they reduce barriers to booking. Make it easier for the guest to book with you and do not scare them away with lots of itemized fees and sticker shock.

John and Tim explain how security deposits work to protect your vacation rental in easy to understand terms. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter for free resources to level up your vacation rental game. We have great stuff like rental agreement templates, sample guest books, and much more.

Heather Thomas of Pink Bubble Austin shares her Airbnb horror story experience with John. Learn how Airbnb cancelled $100,000 of bookings for one silly reason in today's episode. Learn more about Heather Thomas and Pink Bubble Properties Austin: Connect with Heather: heather@pbaustin.com See how Pink Bubble can help Austin, TX owners: https://www.pinkbubbleproperties.com/

John explains why your local turnover crew and cleaning team is the foundation of your business. If you want to succeed, it starts with your local crew.

Today John meets Jason Byer from Crowdspring to discuss brand marketing and how important it is to have a strong brand for your vacation rental. A strong brand communicates your core offering to your guests. If you would like a FREE review of your direct booking website or brand identity review for your listing please email me at john@vacationhomehelp.com . Jason and I would like to gauge interest...

Airbnb smart pricing ? NO They are incentivizing more bookings at cheaper rates so they can earn a platform fee Here is math on that if they get 3 bookings at $100 a night vs 5 bookings at $75 a night. Makes more sense to them to earn their percentage on the 5 bookings at $75 a night... ○ Third Party Dynamic Pricing i. Can be a smart idea, I am old fashioned and like more control and do things man...

Don’t scare potential bookers away. Optimizing the ‘other’ fees. Other fees! Let’s go. We have talked about this several times, but its super important to get the point across ○ Clean fees must be market, higher than normal clean fees can scare away bookers I recommend setting your cleaning fee lower than competitors and eating the difference if the clean fee is actually more expensive for you Wha...

In today's episode, John meets with Alex Breen to discuss how to efficiently invest in and sell airbnb properties. Alex shares how he started Bnbbuyer.com and how their newsletter provides unique investment opportunities to their subscribers. We also discuss the state of the vacation rental market, pros and cons of investing in an existing airbnb vs starting from scratch, and how bookings are typi...

Seasonality & Pricing on Airbnb & VRBO: A practical approach to optimize for seasonal demand and rake in profits. Seasonality is dependent on your market Some markets are flat demand all year Other markets have one peak season ‘Ski towns when the slopes are ready to be skied on’ often are more empty in the summer months when there is no snow Some markets are constantly busy Florida, which...

Optimizing Your Base Rate for Maximizing Regular Earnings Episode 1 of 7 of our mini-series 'Airbnb Pricing Hacks You Need to Grow Your Bookings' Get your free downloads here: Get the comps analysis and nightly rates worksheet by subscribing to our newsletter 'The Five' Show notes: Under conditions of ‘regular’ demand how much to charge to maximize your profitability Neglecting one factor will hur...

The small details matter. Don't forget the small details like restocking or checking your inventory. Assuming your cleaner or cohost is handling it sometimes can be a huge error. In today's episode I share a story from my friend Hannah's recent guest who gave her low marks on Airbnb because of the lack of attention to detail. Attention to detail is everything.

Being focused on a niche can help bring the riches Pet friendly example Event-friendly rental (think family reunion, team gather and not a party house) Escape to nature, getting away from computer screens - you can market this ‘unplugging’ Business travelers By focusing on a core audience, they are more likely to enjoy and return. You can charge premium rates (as much as 25% more) when you have a...

John and Tim talk about saving money on these high energy bills... ● Electricity prices jumped 16% on average the past year... ● Compounded with soaring temperatures, this is going to put a damper on profits ● Phoenix AZ has 6 months of summer of above 100 degree weather ● Actionable steps: ○ Control AC (still giving the guest some control, but automating when windows or doors are open a shut off...

Is superhost status worth it in 2022? What is superhost status ○ The "superhost" designation on Airbnb is a sign that an Airbnb host has gotten consistently good reviews over at least a year of hosting. Airbnb checks the status of hosts four times a year to ensure that a superhost badge is still relevant for each host. ○ - Host a minimum of 10 stays in a year ○ - Respond to guests quickly and main...

Generate buzz for your vacation rental and drive direct bookings with Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Check out this real life example of how I posted for Tim and generated several inquiries...see the comments to see engagement and prospective guests show their interest in booking the Toy Story home: Example Image 1 Example Image 2 Example Image 3 Example Image 4 This is a primer on generating direc...

Tim shares his experience with Hurricane Ian in Florida with John, who just lived through Fiona in Puerto Rico. Reflections on Hurricane Ian and Fiona...

Do not forget this simple way to get direct bookings (saving you thousands in the process) - friends, family, and casual conversation! Always be your vacation rental's best cheerleader... An example of this so often overlooked is letting your friends and family know you have an awesome place, offering them the ‘friend’ discount to their friends as well. Ask them to share it. One host I know secure...

John and Tim discuss what consistency means to them and how it relates to thriving in short term rentals. How to think about consistency...can you believe that no one wanted Walt's Mickey Mouse cartoons at first - but he kept on trying. He kept on asking... Walt Disney struggled with bankruptcy, borrowing money and subsisting on beans from a can for YEARS until he had a hit with the Mickey Mouse c...

John and Tim respond to the Wall Street Journal article "Welcome to Your Airbnb, the Cleaning Fees Are $143 and You’ll Still Have to Wash the Linens" ● Why are cleaning fees so high? ● Guest expectations and host expectations out of sync ● Average cleaning fees nationally ● Average cleaning fees in our market ● Hosts making guest do too many chores ● It was on tiktok, instagram, facebook, now in t...

Patience is going to be your greatest asset in this biz. You have great years, bad years, and everything in between. Just like real estate or your stock / retirement portfolio, you are in it for the long haul if you want to earn positive returns. John and Tim discuss how patience will help you maximize your returns AND your sanity.

Someone smoked in my vacation rental....what should I do to remediate? What do you do about the smokers that smoked your non-smoking rental How to think about penalties and fees for guests who broke the rules ○ Put this in your rental agreement, house rules, and listing Tim discusses the ozone tech and remediation and ozone safety, how long it takes How much does it cost to get rid of that smoke o...