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[00:00:05] Sarah: Hello, listeners. Welcome back for another great week. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:00:09] Annette: I am Annette Grant. And together we are–

[00:00:11] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:00:12] Sarah: And this is the–

[00:00:13] Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.

[00:00:14] Sarah: If you want to get your questions answered here on the hotline, all you have to do is go to hostinghotline.com, ask a question, get it answered, and then help so many other hosts at the same time so when they see this challenge, when they get to this challenge, they’re going to be like, Danielle asked that question on TFV, and now I know what to do. Today Danielle calls in with a really fun question for us to tackle.

[00:00:38] Question: Hey, ladies. My name is Danielle. I run a short-term rental down in Panama City Beach, Florida. I have been listening to your podcast even before we bought our first property. It’s my only property. I’m a new host. I have a topic that I would like for you to cover, not necessarily a question. I would love for you guys to share some of those first aha moments of becoming a first-time hosts and falling into certain pitfalls.

[00:01:06] So for example, I had a guest that was supposed to check in next Friday and they said they had this big issue come up. Would they be able to change their reservation? In good faith, I said, yes. We modified their reservation. And within 30 seconds of that modification, that person canceled and now was within their full refund of the cancellation policy.

[00:01:32] I got got, and I fell for it, and I’m so mad at myself, but it’s a learning opportunity for me and my business. Can you guys share some examples like that where you have fallen for a trick or something to avoid while you’re in your first stages of short-term rental hosting? Please let me know. Thanks y’all. Take care.

[00:01:56] Sarah: Danielle, I feel like I could hang out with.

[00:01:59] Annette: We have to tell you, we’ve been saying got got, because you got got. We love that you said it was a learning opportunity.

[00:02:08] Sarah: That’s a learning opportunity.

[00:02:09] Annette: And they are not going to end, Danielle. That is an aha moment of hosting. Every guest is a snowflake, and every reservation is a snowflake. So we love this mindset.

[00:02:18] Sarah: You are in the got got industry.

[00:02:20] Annette: But Danielle, we want to say thank you because you are Episode 400 of Thanks for Visiting. So we want to celebrate that, but this is the episode. We are going to go into a lot of aha moments. So let’s go into it, Sarah.

[00:02:39] Sarah: Annette’s first one. Danielle, we stopped playing your question and then we brainstormed. We get a little outline together for the episode, and she couldn’t say it fast enough how much she got got with this one. Go ahead, Annette.

[00:02:51] Annette: Special offers. I used to get so excited because they want to negotiate. I was like, oh, they want this reservation, but I maybe just need to alter my price a little bit. And I would send it. I would forget about cleaning fees. It was the ultimate got got. I did that way too many times. So just be mindful when you’re sending out special offers.

[00:03:16] Sarah: Via Airbnb.

[00:03:17] Annette: Yes. Airbnb specifically. Make sure that your additional cleaning fee or anything else– pet, whatever you have on there is included because that special offer pricing is all inclusive. It doesn’t do the add-ons like your normal reservation, that one.

[00:03:35] We’ve got a laundry list here. Aha moments or gotchas, please do not let people mail things to your home. I’ve had people do that before and then I was stuck chasing them around because it delivered after they left or it delivered early and needed a signature, or we found out via lots of friends in the short-term rental world, this is how it some illegal activity is conducted.

[00:04:05] So we don’t say no. We say, here is a UPS store right down the road for your mail delivery. There are plenty of options for people to get things shipped to a UPS store or FedEx store. So you don’t have to tell them no, but give them that alternative. Everybody, please heed caution mostly for that illegal activity, not having things mailed to your home. Let’s keep going. Cleaning.

[00:04:31] Sarah: Danielle, when you add your next listing, Airbnb makes it sound so sexy, like get it up in seven minutes, and you’re like ready to go. Because back in the day, the marketing wasn’t as fancy, but it was still pretty easy to launch your first listing. But I learned the hard way after several reservations had come through that I hadn’t set the cleaning fee. Because they don’t ask you to set the cleaning fee or any other fee until after you first launch it. Then you have to go back. And now there’s even more things that you have to–

[00:05:01] Annette: The long-term and short-term cleaning fee.

[00:05:02] Sarah: So many things. The cleaning fees, yes, but so many things aren’t decided when you do that initial Airbnb launcher listing. It’s so easy and so quick. So don’t get got by launching your listing and remembering to go back and add all those fees.

[00:05:20] Annette: May I use your home for a photo shoot? I only need it for a few hours. I can share I got got on these. They were boudoir photo shoots. Nothing wrong with boudoir photography, but they need to book a full reservation. I was giving like, oh, they only need it for a few hours and we can clean.

[00:05:40] And then comes along, there might be makeup, spray tans, glitter, just things. Buyers beware on the photo shoots, and I’m not just saying boudoir. This is any photo shoot because they will move furniture. They will use something even though they say they’re not going to because they’re going to use the restroom.

[00:05:59] They’re going to use your toilet paper. They’re going to use paper towels. So just everyone, beware of photo shoots or “I only need to use it for a few hours.” I’m not saying you can’t do that, but you just need to set it up properly. It needs to be a full reservation. There needs to be cleaning that takes place. Or if people are trying to get you to book off platform and you don’t have a direct booking, that is a red flag also.

[00:06:24] Sarah: How about, I’m so clean. Can I have a little discount on that cleaning fee?

[00:06:29] Annette: Or my pet’s the best.

[00:06:30] Sarah: You’re not going to even know he’s there. So could you just forego that pet fee? Get got. You don’t need to announce how great you are if you’re that great. You’ll happily pay the cleaning fee because you understand it’s not about your happy footprint. It’s just about you humaning inside the space.

[00:06:48] Annette: Sarah’s very passionate about this when it comes to midterm rentals, but it can also be short-term rentals. We do not block the calendar for anyone until there is a formal reservation. If it’s a midterm rental, until they have signed the actual lease and paid the funds. Because you do not want to block your calendar for someone that’s going to book.

[00:07:10] So Danielle, you might have a hey, I want to stay for three months on the beach. Well, until you are booked and blessed and they have paid, do not block your calendar for those things. People, when they’re ready, they will have the funds available. They will sign the documents. They will make it happen. So we just advise you do not hold dates for anyone.

[00:07:33] This one, so many hosts have got got, and I’m raising my hand on this one. Not realizing how far out your calendar is open. Danielle, you might be over until 2027 right now. We have hosts all the time. This happened to me, most popular weekend of the year in Columbus, Ohio. Guests were having a lovely time. They looked for the next year and saw that it was a fraction of the price. They booked it immediately. Well, I hadn’t planned a year out because I was a new host, and I hadn’t blocked my calendar.

[00:08:06] I hadn’t changed my pricing for those weekends. Everyone, look at your calendar. Be aware of how far out your calendar is open. We would caution you not to open it too far out unless you understand the pricing because you could be leaving a lot of money on the table. So don’t get got.

[00:08:26] And don’t get got not knowing that the eclipse is coming through your town or that Taylor Swift is coming through your town. That’s also where I’ve gotten got before, before dynamic pricing, not understanding. I thought I knew all the cool things that were coming to town. And guess what? The things that I do don’t always bring the largest crowds, and so you need to be aware of that too.

[00:08:46] Sarah: Also getting got by being the first one booked when Taylor Swift comes to town, or anybody.

[00:08:51] Annette: That is not a badge of honor.

[00:08:52] Sarah: You don’t want to be the first one booked. No. That means you left money on the table. So Danielle, if that were to happen in your area, you do not need to rush to open it up. Let someone else make that mistake, have them get booked, see what the market will bear, and then open up your calendar.

[00:09:08] I asked one of my team members. I was like, hey, think back to when I first trained you and you made a mistake and you were afraid to tell me about it. And she said that, because we always allowed instant book, but when someone does an instant book and they still ask questions to get books, she would accept them without questioning why they didn’t fit the instant book parameters, she would just like, well, Sarah accepts instant books. So, sure, this person can come in and stay.

[00:09:38] And so there’s reasons why they weren’t able to instantly book. It could be because they weren’t positively reviewed by their past host, or they didn’t have a past stay to go off of because we vet pretty heavily.

[00:09:50] Annette: That is a good idea.

[00:09:52] Sarah: Because then I’d come in and be like, you guys, they have our area code. They booked a one-night stay yesterday for tonight.

[00:10:00] Annette: And that always ended up in an issue. And we can share that, Danielle. That is a got got, like, local guests, same day stay, just be careful. Not to say there can’t be some. You need to know why they’re staying. And everyone, I know guests are generally amazing humans, but we have to do our job to suss out some red flags that are absolutely going to be thrown your way.

[00:10:27] And then the last thing we want to leave you with here is that we all have different expectations of what a stay includes, what amenities are. So we just want to let you know that that’s going to be a constant change of just being prepared for what your guest expects and welcoming it. And how can you give them the best day?

[00:10:54] Because once you buy something that someone asked, the next person’s might need or want something else, and that’s okay. So just be prepared for that wide range of guest expectations. And I’m saying that in a lovely way because we all get laser focused on how we live and how we do things, but be very open to those requests. And we’d like to say, always the answer their question with yes, and then figure out the solution for it if possible.

[00:11:29] Sarah: Or, in your case, Danielle, this whole thing that spurred this whole conversation was you went outside your cancellation policy and made an exception. Because you were coming at it from a hospitality standpoint, and I don’t want you to lose that spark.

[00:11:44] Annette: Yeah, it was accidental. I was telling Sarah, I would actually be thankful she didn’t ask for the cancellation because then you would have been vacillating, like, should I give it to her? Shouldn’t I? So this guest was smart.

[00:11:56] Sarah: Yeah, I don’t want you to lose that hospitality spark, Danielle. I’m hoping that you got rebooked. If you didn’t, you can then decide whether or not, if that were to happen in the future, if that is a non-negotiable for you, or if you’re still willing to risk it. I’m sure it depends on seasonality and that sort of thing, but that’s the thing too we have to remember, is that in business– and you are a business owner.

[00:12:18] Annette: Yeah. You said some really pivotal things though. It’s a learning opportunity in your business. And also, maybe the guests didn’t have the funds to stay anymore. Did you really want them there potentially staying and then charging you back? So maybe that was a favor too, of them not staying.

[00:12:37] Sarah: Danielle, thanks so much for your question. Again, if you want your question answered here on the podcast, if you want to spark a conversation like Danielle did with our first aha moments and when we got got–

[00:12:48] Annette: Oh yes. Send us an email, hi@thanksforvisiting.com. Let us know the got got.

[00:12:52] Sarah: No, just go to hostinghotline.com.

[00:12:53] Annette: Or call in and tell us your got got story so we’ll share.

[00:12:56] Sarah: Yeah.

[00:12:57] Annette: Maybe we’ll start a new series, Danielle, the I Got Got.

[00:13:02] Sarah: So good. All right. With that, I am Sarah Karakian.

[00:13:04] Annette: I am Annette. And together we are–

[00:13:06] Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.

[00:13:07] Sarah: Talk to you next time.