Oh, LOL!!! I’m a bit slow on the uptake.
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I have over 500 reviews as a Superhost and have managed many properties in inner city Melbourne and won’t manage them anymore because the return is too low. For the first time I didn’t list my own place when I was away for three months this winter. It’s not worth the hassle, the market is flooded, especially with apartments. When people contact me to manage inner city Melbourne properties I tell them they are better getting a long term renter in.
I don’t know whether you would call it upscale decor but it is certainly on trend and stylish. I’m sorry but I’m not prepared to share the villas here because of the way I have been attacked before on this forum I can’t take the risk of people trying to trash my business or my villas online.
However I am prepared to share how I charge $500 a night for a studio apartment. I cater to the smashed avocado guest. I know you will understand who they are but I’ll explain it to the non-Australians. We have a problem with expensive housing in Australia, especially Melbourne and young people have been complaining that they can’t get a foot in the market. One of our politicians said that the reason they can’t afford to buy a home is because they waste their money on going out for breakfast and paying $20 for smashed avocado on toast.
We rarely have anyone over the age of 30 stay in our villas and when I see a photo of an older guest I know I will be in for an average review as they will see past the smoke and mirrors. I don’t know anyone who would blow $500 a night for sex in the spa but the smashed avo crowd will. My friends ask me what makes them worth this money, I say: they’re not, but young people are prepared to pay it so why wouldn’t I charge it?
Somewhere In Melbourne tonight (and every night of the year) it’s someone’s special night and they are treating themselves to a 1 hour drive and a night of passion to escape their “stressful” lives. As you know we are just coming out of one of the coldest winters on record and last month has been our quietest month of the year, (thus only 87% occupancy). Apart from summer holidays our biggest months are right in the middle of winter when everyone has had enough of the cold and want to splurge to make themselves feel better.
We spend a lot of time on our wordings and photos and we change them according to the season, warm and cuddly for winter, bright, airy and sunny for summer - the villas themselves are exactly the same, it’s all about the picture you are trying to project.
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Hardly, how would I get clients from this forum? You guys don’t need me you already know what you are doing. And I do the management for fun and am now very choosy what properties I take. I don’t understand why people are so suspicious and think there is an ulterior motive. I have considered deleting the entire post because of the responses I have received.
Because the thread has gone on without you sharing what you do to earn that gross income. If you’re not selling/marketing something, than share your “secrets”.
My husband gets very angry at how hard I work on managing the properties for, his words: “the pittance” I receive. I can assure you I don’t do this for the money, I don’t need the pocket money I earn. I do it because I retired at 50 after working hard for myself since I was 14. The first couple of years I loved retirement, but then I started to feel that I didn’t have enough purpose in my life. I needed something more, and while trying to find a manager to short stay my home while I was on holidays I found a gap in the market so decided to start a little business.
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I have started, I explained a bit in a message before about what type of guests we have.
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Oh I see, I guess I missed that post. Sorry about that. So you are catering to people that want to have sex in the spa. 
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You got it!! Escape villa for a night of passion.
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The way you would get clients is by catching the eye of Australia hosts here on the forum. Some people here do use property managers. Maybe we misunderstood the original post. “Why has no one asked me how I earn $10,000 a month for studio apartments” surely implies you feel that is an unusual outcome. But as @AFineHouse pointed out, you didn’t really explain enough about your business for us to decide if that was an unusual success for your market.
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Hopefully now there is more context around the $10,000 a month as I explained that with a long term renter it would earn about $1,600 a month.
Short term rental business is highly profitable? Wow! I am blown away.
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By the way, 2K a month - your 20% of 10K - is not pocket money to many of us here.
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Sorry I didn’t mean to come across like that. I also failed to mention that the 20% is shared with my business partner. I take 70% as I do most of the work and she takes 30%.
We never did get an answer to the question posted as the topic. Why did no one ask? Such are the mysteries of life!
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Because all our markets are different and what may work in one area has no reality in another. You may have a share house at the top of a mountain, while I have an entire house directly on the beach front.
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Ok, I will ask: How? Specifics please, bullet points or list is acceptable.
She already said. Sex in the spa.
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I am sure that’s been said in the UK too. The fact is though in the last 30 years house prices have gone up 10 fold whilst salaries have only risen by about 30%. It’s actually the other way around, young people treat themselves to avocado on toast because they haven’t got a cat in hell’s chance of affording a home.
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Did you read my previous message that covered our type of guests and the way the listings wordings and photos are updated according to the seasons? We brainstorm and work together on photos and copy. I collect words from other listings so that we can update the listings with beautiful adjectives.
We pay a professional photographer to take winter and summer photos and then use filters on them. We are selective in the photos we put online, each one must have a purpose and tell a story. We use photoshop to make the flames in the gas fire larger and brighter, to enhance the light from a lamp. We set the mood. We spend a day before the photographer comes dressing the villa. We have platters of cheese, poured glasses of sparkling, spa filled with bubble bath. The villa is immaculate, there isn’t a cord in sight, a crinkle on a sheet or a crooked top on a canister. There are photos of all amenities including cooking essentials.
We welcome our guests with a sign with their names on it and if it’s a special occasion that as well. We leave sparking wine, chocolates and extra gifts for honeymooners and return anniversary nights. We make our guests feel special.
Yes it costs for the initial layout but the other extras are cheap. If they are paying $500 a night we can throw in a $10 bottle of prosecco.
There are also the normal management practices, of updating prices daily, twice daily and if there isn’t a booking for the next 24 hours thrice daily.
We make sure we reply to every message promptly.
You need to have something different, something special and eye catching. It helps to be in walking distance of something interesting e.g. cafe, beach, mountain - something. Not be too far out of a capital city so that you have a big population to draw on.
Supply everything that you can manage so guests want to stay. Many of our guests say they didn’t leave the villa during their 3 night stay as they felt so cocooned and had everything they needed.
Make it sexy. Younger guests are willing to pay for this type of experience.
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And that’s why they will spend $500 a night to get out of home with their boy/girlfriend!
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