Hi there, I just listed my property on VRBO couple days ago. Haven’t got any booking yet, can you help me check and advise what’s wrong with my listed? I have 2 beds and 1 single sofa bed, should I charge for 3 people or 4 people?
I’m a newer host (second year) and looking for some perspective from more experienced folks.
We recently had a 3 night group stay (golf trip). We provide very clear check-in instructions, but they had difficulty following them and called multiple times for access.
During the stay:
– my Neighbor reported guests walking across their private property to get to an adjacent home.
– windows were left open and the home and outdoor storage room was left unlocked/unsecured.
– Thermostat was left at 62 with windows open, which caused the HVAC system to freeze.
– This resulted in a leak in our laundry room ceiling and required HVAC service after checkout.
We do provide a lot for guests (snacks, coffee, pool heating, etc.), so I try to be fair and not overly strict—but this felt like more than normal wear and tear.
My question is:
Would you:
A) File a damage claim and leave a review
B) File a claim only
C) Let it go
Also—if you would leave a review, how direct would you be?
I welcome any advice/support, thank you!
The awkward silence when revenue comes up is actually telling you something. Most local host communities quietly function as support groups, not data-sharing networks, and that's fine until someone starts making pricing decisions based on vibes and borrowed confidence. I've found the hosts most willing to share are usually at the extremes: either doing really well and want credit for it, or doing poorly and hoping someone else has the answer.
The middle performers, the ones with the most useful and honest data, almost never volunteer it.
Hi Hosts -
We allow up to 2 dogs at our rental. We don't charge any extra fees. So we tend to get a lot of people with dogs, which is totally fine with us.
Recently, we had someone ask to bring their dogs. I said of course, as long as they keep them off the furniture. They wrote back saying that their dogs slept with them and would I make an exception. I said no. And then they cancelled.
It was a totally fine interaction. They told me the truth, I stuck to the rule, and they decided to go somewhere else. No problem for anyone.
But it made me wonder what their expectations were going in to the rental. Do other homes explicitly let people bring their dogs on the bed or furniture?
Our only rules are that:
- Clean up after their dogs in the yard
- Bring dog towels if they think the dog will swim in the lake or otherwise get wet
- Keep the dogs of the furniture.
What are your rules?
Thank!
Quick question how are you finding what similar properties in your market are charging next month? Three months from now? This is a problem I have had with my own rental.
I spent years in the travel industry helping some of the biggest hotel brands figure out when demand was coming and how to price around it and its driving me nuts how hard it is to do for my rental. I haven't found a source that provides it for Individual hosts for rentals that was super easy and cheap. Pricing for my rental takes way more time than I want it to.
I did build something to fix that for myself and Im happy to share it. Totally early days! If you're interested in checking it out let me know. I have built out the top markets but want to figure out what to build out next and if this even helps anyone but me.
Should I keep spending time on this? It's helping me but I don't want to spend a ton of time if it’s not something other people would use too.
Just received a new booking request for someone who has been a VRBO member for years. No reviews/stars. Also see new layout on the site. Is this new that we don’t get to view ratings before accepting a booking or perhaps guest has never been rated?!?!
My mother owns a rental property in my city. I am considering taking over management of the property from her as she's getting older and it's hard for her to do herself. However, I'm hoping to avoid any potential pitfalls, so am hoping someone in a similar situation could offer advice (family owner/manager relationship).
So my biggest concern is that my mother an I have a somewhat strained relationship for various reasons, and I don't want to create a situation that adds significant stress to either of our lives. I do have two siblings, but neither of them live in the same town, nor have the time/skills to do this work.
My goal is to have all expectations and financials written out in advance to avoid any potential arguments in the future. However, I have no idea where to start in creating a management contract of this nature. Any advice?? If you're in a similar situation and have a contract with your parent, I'd love to see the details! Thanks!!!
Summary of situation:
Negatives:
Positives:
I am not the type of host who turns control over to anyone, like a PMS or property manager, especially when it come to pricing.
I got the email for "rate automation" and it actually looked like a good thing since they insist you can change your prices any time you want.
Since I only get 20% of my bookings from VRBO (80% from Air BB) I felt like I'd try it and what could go wrong?
For a few weeks, I checked the prices and they stated they only dropped my prices by $6 according to the best price in my comp set (nice 2 BR house downtown central coast Calif)
Suddenly, I got 5 bookings all in a row. Wow! From VRBO? OK!
I didn't check the prices since the money all goes into savings and auto pays the mortgage.
Then I got two requests, one right after the other, that wanted to have 1. a birthday party, and 2. a family reunion. Both of these bookers had 4.5 stars! I've literally never seen a guests with less than 5 stars (which I know is an exaggeration on VRBO's part)
I declined and checked my pricing. My God! It was 20% less than normal and they had changed my comp set from a 2 BR house close to town, to a bunch of one room hotel rooms.
On further inspection, I discovered they can change their parameters "every 48 hours"! They also claim that it's easy to change the prices, it's NOT. It's a tedious process of changing them one by one!
Needless to say, I hid my listing for now because after looking for 10 minutes on how to turn this thing off, I still can't figure it out.
Just sayin'
We booked a vrbo that listed air conditioning but didnt have any. It's pretty hot. We called vrbo support and they asked us for video evidence that we provided. Now we have been on hold for an hour waiting to be connected to the supervisor. Its 11:30pm here. Anyone had such experiences? What's some constructive way to handle and protect our money? We have multiple bookings with same host coming up - non refundable. And its hot.