Hi! Newbiedoobydoo

Introduction
41

I hope, in that case, that you have really good Short Term Rental insurance, which is not the same as regular home insurance. AirBnB’s “Host Guarantee” is useless and won’t protect the property owner from personal injury suits.

I don’t allow children or infants here because I have windows with low sills that are 25 feet above ground, and steep stairways front and back, unchildproofed electricql outlets, an unfenced yard, a street with daytime traffic out front, and the occasional black bear wandering through, so it’s not safe. My rules state that if a guest arrives with children or infants I will not be able to accommodate them.

And if anyone is partying (not likely since I live downstairs) or violating other house rules their stay will be cancelled immediately without recourse or refund. You need to make sure you add that “without recourse or refund” to the rule, and you need to have outside cameras (declared in the listing) if you can’t see and hear the listing from your house.

42

Yes well there’s the rub. I’ve done plenty of research, just under £170 a night is not an unreasonable price for a 3 bedroom property with garden and parking. However I understand you would remain unconvinced unless you could see the house, it’s location and fit and finish.

The listings you’re looking at are not comparable, there is little similar in terms of space, finish and facilities but you may well be right. ABB doesn’t seem to compare like with like.

However there’s a disparency between ABB and Booking.com, where the the prices are significantly higher by perhaps 25%. A 1 bed apartment is around £900 a week. Our house would price up at around £1150 and provide far better ‘value for money’ than those listed.

That was the reason for my comment about ABB being a vehicle for cheap rooms, like a latter day YMCA hostel…

43

Agree with everyone else. Ignore their price tips.
I did an experiment once. Set one Friday night to $600 US and the next Friday night to $2000 US. The price tip for the $600 night was $480, and for the $2000 night was $1600. Just a flat 20% reduction.

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44

No Airbnb is nothing like YMCA. Nor is it a vehicle for cheap rooms. It is the largest global STR company in the world with high brand awareness.

It offers boats, glamping, hostels, castles, million pound villas , high end city apartments and cosy cottages.

If you think other listing channels will work better for you . - use them instead

@Manbitescat

If your research shows you that similar 3 beds in your part of Southend are getting £170 a night and are booked solidly using that pricing model then you have your answer.

You still haven’t said who you’ve identified as your target market ??

45

Unless you can see the front door from your house you may want to reconsider. What happens when they bring a cat in a carrier, if you do not catch it at the door then the cat is inside your place for the weekend.

I can walk to my listings in 5 minutes, I have cameras.

RR

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46

:grin: It can join the other 12 cats that wander in and around - the neighbourhood is cat central…

47

My listing says, ‘families, couples and visitors’. I have no data on socio-economic status or psychological profiling. Simple answer is Southend is swamped with visitors in the summer. Doubt whether there’s too many architects, doctors or high court Judges in the fray, but plenty of families, couples and visitors - I can’t be any more specific than that.

48

There’s a bit that reads ‘…Situated on the border of the beautiful conservation area, the house is within a short walking distance of all the town’s attractions and amenities, including the seafront and the pier…’

Also a section entitled ‘Your Neighbourhood’. Which reads…

‘…Although technically in Westcliff, the house is located pretty much in the centre of Southend and borders on some really beautiful parts of the old town dating back to the late 18th century Georgian period. The residential areas are quiet and largely family oriented, whilst the town centre has a great selection of interesting pubs and restaurants, all within a few minutes walk. The seafront, the ‘Golden Mile’ and our famous pier are within easy walking distance and some excellent award winning blue flag beaches are a short drive away…’

Plus another section called ‘Getting Around’

‘…Most parts of Southend can be reached on foot, depending on one’s enthusiasm for walking. All necessary amenities are within a short walk from the property (major supermarket, station etc). Local areas further afield are reachable by train, (Leigh on Sea, Westcliff, Chalkwell, Shoebury).
Apart from driving, alternative means of travel include the major local taxi companies, bus and bicycle. However the town boasts two mainline railway stations into London (Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street) and the international airport, London (Southend) is under three miles and a short taxi journey away…’

I think that’s probably sufficient.

49

That’s why I qualified my search as “limited”, many hosts have their properties snoozed until they have a better idea of what is happening regarding Covid, therefore an availability snapshot today isn’t representative of what the market will be like in six months time.

According to Airbnb, there are around 150 whole home listings just for Southend, but only around 90 showing when dates are added. They’re definitely not all booked…

BDC are only showing 60 properties in total, and that includes hotels, b&b’s etc. Expect that figure to increase also.

New hosts often have either an inflated impression of what their listing is worth, or they seriously underestimate it’s value. Finding your price point within a local market, first time round, takes time.

Just as an aside, I used to spend a fair bit of time in Southend, way back in the eighties, mainly visiting the Lloyds bank offices in Essex House. I rarely remembered much of the journey back to Fenchurch Street Stn(?) due to the wonderful hospitality provided :beers:

JF

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50

Yeah well Southend gets mixed reviews. It’s an area of both extreme wealth and some social deprivation. Not unusual to see Lamborghini’s driving past homeless rough sleepers. It has 2 x mainline stations into central London 45 minutes away (both within a 10 minute walk) plus an international London airport (SEN). Leastways it did before Covid arrived. In theory it should be the conference centre capital of England. There’s certainly a lot of capital investment and regeneration in the town.
As far as prices are concerned, your point re finding the right price point is bang on. However this is the third house I’ve refurbed, the last I sold for half a million quid in 2018. Our options for this house were either to let it as an AST (been there, no thanks), sell it or try short term lets. As a business proposition, it probably doesn’t really stack up, in terms of investement/returns, but we wanted to keep the place and if we sold it, what to do with the money? There’s certainly no interest to be had and I’m not a gambler. The real answer I guess is suck it and see…but I’m not letting it for peanuts, too much time and money invested.

51

Feck me, if a barely used grass strip, a donkeys ride from Nelsons column, is long enough for a part loaded A318 they’ll give it the “London” prefix.

Then sell it. From my observation you’re making a classic mistake, you’re “invested” in it. Some may disagree, but if it’s full time STR it’s a business, and the more you are “invested”, the less you’ll treat it as a business. If, in your eyes, peanuts are the going rate, then it’ll sit empty costing you money each day.

Next thing you’ll be asking how much to charge a guest for a broken glass or a chipped plate :stuck_out_tongue:

With a pocket full of cash, no need to gamble. I have a field full of magic beans, and I’d be willing to part with a share if the right, astute, knowledgeable and rich investor came along. Alternatively, a contact in London just told me yesterday about a bridge that may be coming on the market…

JF

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52

Ring Stick cams, around £90 each, battery powered, front & rear? Good idea?

53

Of course I’m invested in it, I’ve spent 2 years and a bucket of dough on it. The house will make more money sitting empty than I could make in interest and I’m not messing around with ‘investment’ portfolios (or magic beans). It’s not a doll’s house, it’s bricks and mortar and I’ve worked and sweated on every square inch of it. Short of burning it down, there’s not much anyone could do to it that I can’t fix. There’s no doubt I’ll find out what the pitfalls are but not at £60 a night.

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54

Well actually your local tourist board will have demographic profiling and footfall figures .

But you are missing my point😢

The additional information you provided about the area and amenities wasn’t in your initial description and I’m not a mind reader :grin:

Anyway what would I know … I just do PR and marketing for a living and have been a successful superhost for the last five years .:grin::grin::grin::grin:

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55

Ah, but these are special dancing magic beans :wink:

ScientificBouncyCobra-max-1mb

JF

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56

Do you eat 'em or smoke 'em?

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57

A piece of advice from an experienced host - PEOPLE DO NOT READ.
They look at pictures and maybe read reviews. If you’re lucky, they read the first five or six sentences.

Figure out why they should book your place, put pictures in of it if possible, and state it in the listing title and first few lines.

The rest is only read by about 10-20% of guests and usually after they booked.

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58

You don’t ever, ever eat (or smoke) a magic bean.

Invest in ten hectares and I’ll divulge what you really do with them :wink:

JF

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59

My opinion is that pricing based on what you need to pay the mortgage or recover what you have put into the house is unrealistic. Of course do financial projections to determine a rate for your net profit objective (revenue - expenses - recovery of capital investment, as Jacquo says), but I wouldn’t base my rate on that.

Compare with what the competition are charging to see if your goals fit with market reality. I get that there might not be exact comparable properties, look instead at the choices your target market has in the area. I gather you are in a sea/holiday area, so don’t ignore hotels that may also appeal to your guests.

Of course the nice thing about STR vs LTR, in addition to higher rents, is that you can experiment with pricing.

The price differential between platforms may in part reflect adjustment for the lower service fee charged to hosts by Airbnb (I thought they were going to up to a flat host 15% or something, but hasn’t happened in my locale yet.)

Personally, I would never say my place is “immaculate” in a Airbnb listing. There might be one off day when the place isn’t quite immaculate, or one set of guests who have a ridiculous definition of immaculate (“There were dead leaves on the welcome mat!”). I don’t want to give them ideas for complaints. Underpromise and overdeliver has been advised many times here on the forum.

I agree the realtor (you call 'em estate agents, yes?) type description of the house is maybe too much and taking up your word count. Bullet points are easier to read. Let your photos speak for the “light, clean, modern look” and “cosy, intimate living space” rather than making statements. Those are subjective descriptions that may or may not match your guest’s expectations. You could state some points more briefly as your photo captions. E.g., for outside shot of the place: “Welcome to our mid-19th century workers cottage, updated!” The garden: “Dine al fresco with a garden view.” Etc.

But don’t worry overmuch, as the guests won’t read your listing anyway!

As a former landlord, you probably have thick skin, but I’m also hearing justified pride in your careful and extensive refurbishment. You need to steel yourself for the black marks from luggage bashed into the wall, scratches, spots on the carpeting, and whatever.

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60

I really can never understand str hosts who consider their mortgage payments as str expenses. Your mortgage is about your equity in the place, it isn’t part of the cost of running the business.

If one host has $1500/month mortgage payments and another with a comparable listing in the same area owns their home outright, the one with the mortgage can’t charge $1500 more per month for guests. Well, they could, but they probably won’t get booked.