I have about 6-8 weeks before it closes. We need to do minor repairs (paint, replace carpet) and furnish the entire place. We plan on having everything queued in shopping carts so we can order on closing day and have it delivered that week. What else can we do to make sure we get the place up and running as quickly as possible to try and capture renters before the summer season ends?
-Have a cleaner and handyman lined up.
-Be sure to allow a few days for the place to air out before hosting guests. New carpet, paint and furniture=fumes!
-Wash the linens and towels before first guests
-Have your listing written and ready to activate
-Read this board as much as possible to avoid potential pitfalls. Now’s the time to learn what errors new hosts make: i.e avoid hosting locals, have clear-cut rules, have a doorbell camera and disclose it prominently in the listing; stick with short stays at first, you’ll have a boost in the search ratings as a new host. Take advantage of that and get many bookings and reviews. Don’t think you can be completely hands-off. Even if you are hosting remotely you need to be involved and make the guests think that you are on top of things.
-Is the property in a party town? If so, as soon as your listing is live you can join the Airbnb guest blacklist group on facebook.
-read other listings in your area to get an idea of pricing. Don’t listen to Airbnb’s price suggestions. Read tons of reviews to get a sense of what guests like and don’t like
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Where are you located? Does summer end in when kids go to school in Aug/Sept? Or is it a location where summer stretches into November? Because if it doesn’t become available until late August you aren’t going to run at 100% the rest of the summer. Plan on everything being delayed because it almost always is. Also realize if it’s a whole house for families that most people have made their plans already, making your pool of potential guests smaller.
Don’t list the Airbnb until everything is ready because if you have to cancel bookings or you start with bad reviews then you’ll get pushed down in search rank and you won’t get booked. Don’t try to compensate in a competitive environment by having your price too low.
Stay in your rental a night or two and make sure everything works, the plumbing isn’t running slow or clogged, there’s no tree branch banging against the bedroom window on a windy night, etc.
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PS: mattress protectors!
The second your new mattresses arrive, they should be covered with encasements that are water and bed bug proof.
It’s surprising how many hosts miss this one.
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The property is in Maine, so the season is basically June-Sep but July/Aug are the big months to make the money. Our fallback plan if we can’t get guests in because it’s too late is to rent it out to family/friends cheap which should give us an idea of what we’re missing and how well everything works while getting us some initial reviews.
We’re started working on a welcome book, rules, and a marketing strategy which includes a website. That should keep me busy for a few weeks. I’m also obsessed with running scenarios, I have a spreadsheet setup where I can mark booked days and rates and it tells me the cash flow so I’ve been creating dozens of those too.
I recommend that you or relatives stay in it first so that you know what’s missing and whats broken before you rent it to real guests. You don’t want one of your very first reviews to be poor.
Hire a very good inspector to go over everything when the house is empty so you know all of the things that are broken, cosmetic, safety hazards, deferred maintenance, etc. This can also give you negotiating power on the price if there’s still time for that.
It sounds like this is an expensive investment for you, so protect it. Get Short Term Rental insurance before you host your first guest. Be very careful about using a homeowner’s policy with a different STR policy since insurers can void your homeowner’s policy simply because it was used as a STR even if a claim is unrelated to STR.
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+1 for insurance. And keep in mind that the Airbnb 1 Million Guarantee is mostly useless.
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Since you like running scenarios, do other ones besides the money.
What would you do if your regular cleaner called in sick the day of a turnover?
What if the smart lock failed and guest called you because they couldn’t get in?
What if the toilet overflowed?
How would you break up a party if you saw 50 guests entering the property on the doorbell camera?
Since you’re in Maine, what if there’s an early blizzard when you have guests? How to get the driveway plowed?
How would you handle a guest threatening a 1 star review if you don’t refund the cleaning fee?
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Oh my goodness, my hosting life is flashing before my eyes reading these responses! All good advice.
I strongly agree that even if you aren’t onsite you need to be closely involved. I am both a remote and onsite host, but even in our at-home properties I aim to give guests privacy so I maintain a host presence through use of intermittent “canned” messages which I schedule via my personal calendar (pre-check in msg to give them any last minute details about arrival and reminder to view step-wise instructions on app, post-check in msg to touch base to make sure everything is in order, check out msg to thank guest and alert them to check out instructions). You can set up these messages now (you will no doubt refine them as time goes on). You may also want messages that you can send if people ask you about attractions in the local area, restaurants, and transportation. Having concise messages prepared on these topics allows you to be responsive to guests when you get queries. In my experience, having quick responses to these types of Q can also get you bookings when someone is shopping around for a place.
Re getting max occupancy, you may want to think about your acceptable minimum stay. Some vacation oriented places block out their summer schedules in weeks (e.g., Sat to Sat) so they can fill everything up. In the shoulder season that isn’t so easy so you likely want shorter timeframes. I use 3 days as my standard minimum, but I constantly watch the calendar and reduce to 1 or 2 days as long as I know I can secure the cleaning dates (I work with my cleaner and secure her availability each time I get a booking).
The other big topic is pricing. Keep your eye on the calendar, and as check in dates approach, reduce prices if you want to be full. I look at Airbnbs price guidance for specific dates, but I never switch that on automatically as it can be “off”.
Given your timing, you may not be up to speed right away as you desire. Let this be a learning time and try not to stress if you don’t get full occupancy from the start.
All the best.
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Be mentally ready! Having all your ducks in a row is great but be prepared for the unexpected, the annoying or demanding guest, the plugged toilet, “I’m sorry it is 12 midnight” but I can’t find your location. It can be great fun but also exhausting!
Wow, this is great stuff! Love the idea of non financial scenarios, I’m going to start a doc along our turnover procedures that lists this in a QA type format.
We definitely want to make sure people are booking weekly during Jul/Aug but I find the way AirBNB does this makes it look like everything is booked except Saturdays. We might have to just make it a policy that’s in the description and reject bookings that don’t follow the rule but I don’t like that approach either. If we book all 8 weeks in Jul/Aug everything after that is gravy…so, finding 8 families to booking doesn’t sound that hard. 
If you reject reservation requests Airbnb will warn you and maybe even suspend your listing. Inquiries you can decline all you want.
LOL. I have a feeling we will be hearing from you again.
When you book in a family for a whole house it will take you hours to clean. Then what if you have a booking where something is broken or ruined…like a kid peed the bed you didn’t buy a cover for? 
Then you end up canceling the next family.
What other platforms are you using or other ways are you promoting your website?
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Yeah, I love the idea of instant bookings but if I made them inquire first I could control the weekly bookings.
We need to find really dependable cleaners, luckily there are dozens of other units in the condo complex that rent so there are already reliable ones. That is one thing that concerns me, turnover could be tricky with only six hours between guests. We’re only only an hour away so if something goes wrong we can get there and correct it. Not ideal, but it’s an option.
I’m going to start with airbnb and vrbo and see what happens, the website will act as a living guide book and a place to direct people for return bookings (10% off if you book directly). We going to have a blog talking about local attractions which we hope Google will pick up, there is not currently a lot of content for this area which will help us. If the weeks aren’t booking through the OTA I’ll try out some Google or FB ads targeting families.
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We’re also lucky to have three professional photographers (like, real ones, not the friend that do it on the side) in our family/friend circle and they’ve already offered to visit the area and take all kinds of photos for us. Great descriptions/content and quality photos will be our selling point. We’re also fully furnishing the place, providing linens (which most places don’t in this complex) and targeting families (toys, games, high chair, etc). We have a vision, we just have to execute on it. 
Even with dependable cleaners you need to be prepared for the worst. It probably won’t happen but it could.
Here’s an example:
I allow dogs in my rental room. A woman’s dog peed on the carpet. Luckily I had no guests booked for the next 3 nights after her so I blocked them off and called for a professional carpet cleaning. I treated the area myself and dried it but the smell was still lingering. I was lucky in that I didn’t have other guests booked in. I’m getting an estimate for tile to replace the carpet so I don’t have to do this again.
Call cable company so you can have Wifi and TV. Start taking pictures to upload onto AirBnb. Get menus from local restaurants for your guest manual. Start creating signs and laminate. For example, signs posting check out time and where guests should leave dirty towels, etc. Buy a desk calendar and note pads for the guests.
Make sure the area you are buying in legally supports STRs, and doesn’t have a HOA.
If short turnovers are a concern, make sure you have at least 3 sets of everything - linens, blankets, towels, bath mats, etc. Plan on a locked supply closet and process for stocking back up supplies (tp, cleaning products, etc.)
If you have a town travel bureau contact/join. Get brochures on local attractions and buy an acrylic brochure holder to arrange them for your guests.
Do you have a plan for quality photos?
Draft your welcome letter, include your WiFi code all over the place - we have ours on the cover of the welcome book, the bulletin board, and 2 framed signs on each floor - guests still can’t find it and it’s the first thing they will call about. Register with Google Maps.
Install Wifi thermostats and smart locks where you can change the code remotely. We change the lock code for every guest using the last two numbers of their mobile, doubled (703-xxx-4827 - code is 2727). The guest knows that the code is unique and has been changed, and the group can generally remember the code. If the last 2 digits are the same (703-xxx-2411) the code is the last 4 digits of the mobile. I also give guests the options to choose their code. Folks traveling w/ kids like to use a known code.
This will also give you the ability to give cleaners, repair folks unique codes, so you know who has been in the house and when.
Plan for use of a snow shovel and ice melt. We keep a nice can on the porch w/ a large scoop.
As someone else said - stay there!! It’s your best clue as to what is missing. I had everything set up on our place, then when I slept there I realized the pillow protector made noise each time I moved. I also installed motion activated lighted receptacles at the top and bottom of my stairs, also have a motion activated night light in the hallway/bathroom.
Make sure you towel bars/hooks are well secured - they pull out easily. We finally installed a painted board in the studs, then secured the bars to them. Make sure you have a place for everything to hang a towel in the bathrooms or they will end up on the floor, bathroom.
Read articles about make up and bleaching products - they will ruin your linens, so be prepared. I keep a large basket of inexpensive white washcloths in our bathroom and if they don’t come clean they end of in our cleaning rag basket. I still have guests rub their faces on my bath towels and it often looks like black shoe polish. I keep a container of spray/wash treatment in each bathroom and check towels/ spray them as soon as we begin cleaning.
I don’t like for guests to strip the bed or bundle linens, we can easily catch stains while the sheets are on the beds.
Make sure your cleaners are looking for soiled linens that didn’t come clean.
Best of luck with your new venture!
I doubt you will get booked back to back so I would not worry about it. Be there yourself to do the cleaning maybe.
I hope you are not dependent on 100% bookings to make your expenses, it’s not likely to happen unless you list too cheap then its not worth it.
I think you need to SLOW YOUR ROLL and gear up for next years season.
Good luck
RR
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There is some missing information…are you cleaning it yourself? are you hosting yourself? Self check in or meet & greet? How large is the home? Honestly everyone has given great info but you will have to figure out what works in your area and your type of home. My particular area, all the helpful signs were met with great disapproval and the majority of guests were insulted, so I removed them. The only signage I have is about the laundry because even though it was clearly spelled out in my HM people kept breaking the rule of no personal laundry between 10-5 and then only on a request basis only. Be very clear what you do/don’t provide and what your rules are but keep it simple. Decide what type of cleaning products to use if cleaning yourself and always keep back ups. Make sure your rate will cover any expenditures and the hopefully a profit margin also, check out your competition for rates (be aware you may have to lower them a bit to get started).