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I’m a software engineer working on a lightweight property management tool for Airbnb and VRBO hosts. I’d love to hear from you about:
How you currently handle guest access (lockboxes? smart locks?) What’s working or not working with your current setup What features you wish existed to make hosting easier
I’m not selling anything — just doing research and would love to chat with a few hosts about your experiences. If you’re open to a quick 15–20 min call, I’ll send over a small Amazon gift card as a thank-you for your time
What’s your biggest pain point with managing your Airbnb today? Reach out!
The ultimate goal is to create a software that short-term rental owners find useful enough to pay for, correct. Automation around check-in/check-out is my key interest: auto-generation of key codes for smart locks, setting smart thermostats to preset temperatures x amount of time before guest arrival, scheduling cleaning after guest checkout.
All of those things are already available to hosts. Hosting forums get a lot of posts like yours, thinking that they can fill some gap that actually doesn’t exist.
I wish there was a way to somehow filter out the folks who reinvent the wheel every week and come here, asking us to be poorly paid consultants on their new brainstorm.
Please DM me directly so I can receive my Amazon gift card. Thank you.
Sounds like a good idea but doing it for payment is a bit of a red flag for me, I would only use something that’s free and open source, ideally with an option to self host.
Also, I don’t think this is anything particularly new or novel, a quick web search found some promising Home Assistant integrations.
An example (I can’t link it here for some reason), do a web search for “custom-integration-rental-control-for-airbnb-vrbo-etc”.
I’ll just add my 2 cents and confirm that the space you are looking to fill is already occupied. Unlike some here I’d be willing to chat and share my experience but I don’t have time and I’m avoiding AMZN as much as humanly possible right now. But sincerely, I bid you good luck.
Hey, everyone. I mostly read this chat and not comment, but today I felt the need to respond. I only have one property that is listed with VRBO, Booking,.com, airbnb and several others. So I am not exclusive to airbnb and kind of grateful for that with all I had seen written about them here.
Regarding Corey’s request, I use Sifely remote door keyless entry, outside cameras and that is the extent of my tech usage. I have a rural farmhouse and live an hour away, although my neighbor does lawn care and housekeeping. The best tech device is my phone.
The keyless entry allows me change the code remotely before arriving and end at checkout. There is a fob they can use while there and if the fob is stolen, I can delete their access if not returned.
If what you’re offering only covers Airbnb and VRBO, and your business model doesn’t include a free option for startups, you’ll be targeting a very narrow niche on this forum. There are open-source alternatives on the market that offer far more than what you seem to be proposing - so why would anyone rush to give their money to your project?
I still genuinely appreciate your attempt to offer cookies to hosts Why not publish your advertorial somewhere else on the internet and come back once you’ve become a respected member of this forum?
KKC, thanks for your reply to my post. I appreciate the kind words. If you could find a quick 30 minutes to chat over the phone it would be super helpful, but I understand time is valuable. Let me know, my email is cjallen918@gmail.com, any help/insight is appreciated.
Nope. I have never had a problem running my Airbnb listing, which is a space in the home where I live. I don’t use or need any software aside from the Airbnb site itself.
Guests and I communcate no problem through Airbnb messaging, or whatsapp after their booking is confirmed.
I am here to greet them and they get physical keys. Never had any issue with that.
Also, Corey may not be aware that many hosts, (and seems like quite a lot on this forum) run their own listings, do the cleaning ourselves, and may live onsite or close by. If guests have any issues we are there to deal with it.
And there is also the point that automated listings, where the guests never meet or talk to the host, generally have more issues with guests and reviews than those who have a more personal touch.
How you currently handle guest access (lockboxes? smart locks?)
Why not publish your advertorial somewhere else on the internet and come back once you’ve become a respected member of this forum?