Download the full transcript PDF.

454. Hosting Hotline

 [00:00:00] [00:01:00]

Introduction and Welcome

Sarah Karakaian: Hello. Welcome back to another great episode of My name is Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are Thanks for Visiting,

Sarah Karakaian: and this is the hosting hotline. If you want to get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, go to hosting hotline.com, ask your question, and we’ll share it here on the podcast every single Tuesday.

We love doing these episodes, so don’t hold back. Hosting hotline.com. Ask your business questions and we will tackle them together.

Listener Question from Courtney

Sarah Karakaian: And this week we have a question from Courtney.

Hosting Hotline Speaker: Am I the only one noticing a drop off in bookings and a rise in cancellations from the current economic uncertainty? Tell me it’s not just me.

Sarah Karakaian: All right, Courtney, and everyone else listening. Courtney, thank you for calling in. Thank you for asking the question, but we’re gonna give you some tough love. We’re gonna answer your [00:02:00] question, but I want to encourage you to practice ways that you can ask that same question, but in a better, more effective way.

And this goes for everyone out there. When we can ask better questions as it relates to our business, we can get better answers. And provide ourselves with a sense of calm because it’s rooted in some sort of data. What we don’t know from Courtney is the questions that we’re gonna go through in this episode. ’cause had she told us the answers, the questions that we’re going to ask her, uh, you know, theoretically we, we, we didn’t contact Courtney and have this conversation with her, but sh if she were to have called in and said yes or no to these questions, we could have given her a more. Thoughtful and strategic answer on how to pull different levers in her business to get different results.

But Courtney, I still, I, I wanna make sure that everyone knows they’re, you’re always welcome to call and answer. Don’t be nervous about that, but I [00:03:00] just want this to be less than asking better questions, getting more, uh, specific with your questions too.

Analyzing Booking Trends

Annette Grant: And everyone out there, if you’ve been hosting, um, for a month, two months, one month, or one year, two years, you should have your own historical data so you can go back and use facts over feelings, right?

And, and be able to look at your data.

Importance of Data Tracking

Annette Grant: Uh, year over year, month over month, my bookings are down 10% or my average daily rate is down X, Y, Z. So that is why, um, specifically inside our hosting Business Mastery membership, that is why we are so, um just adamant with our members that they have got to be tracking each and every reservation that comes through, um, and really understanding their data.

So we are not Courtney.

Market Insights and Host Experiences

Annette Grant: We actually, um, reached out to multiple different hosts and we’re not seeing a widespread decline in bookings across the board.

Sarah Karakaian: But you’re not alone in wondering this. I do [00:04:00] wanna offer you that, Courtney. You’re not alone in wondering it. Right. The media is very powerful. When we open up any news publication, no matter where you get your news publications, there is a feeling of, and I don’t care, you know, what, uh, political climate we’re in, there’s always some sort of sensational vibes being put out that makes us feel a certain way and can really change our brains in the way we think, if we’re not careful. If we’re not, then rooting it in data that is out there for us. Mm-hmm. So Courtney, I think this episode can bring you some relief in knowing that you’re not alone and wondering it because we’re all experiencing, uh, some sort of media uh, messaging out there, but it is not happening everywhere. We are not seeing a widespread decline. We, like Annette said, we did check with several of our members and they’re in different [00:05:00] markets, like the very competitive Phoenix, Scottsdale market. The Chattanooga vacation rental market. And then, uh, one of our hosts is in Virginia and she actually co-hosts in several different sub-markets throughout that state, and they are not reporting major dips or major changes in cancellations.

In fact, and this is fun and this is really hopeful. Our Phoenix member just had her highest grossing revenue month. Ever. And she’s been doing this for almost a decade.

Annette Grant: And that’s across 30 different properties too. Yes. So it’s not just one cherry picked, um, property. And also I wanna offer to Courtney, anyone listening, we um, some hosts have seen some cancellations, but guess what?

They’ve gotten re bookings at a higher rate. Yes. So if, if you are fearful of cancellations. Have no fear, you can get rebooked and at a higher rate potentially. So we wanted to offer that to anybody that’s seen any sort of [00:06:00] cancellations.

Strategies to Increase Bookings

Annette Grant: And also we want to share that the number one thing that we hear from hosts, whether it doesn’t matter who’s in office, what time of year it is, it is always, I wanna get more bookings.

So the, the stuff that we’re gonna continue to go over in this episode is gonna help you get more bookings and stay competitive.

Sarah Karakaian: So is your market Courtney actually down? Are you using a dynamic pricing software tool and their market dashboard? Because what you could do is check your pacing as compared to your market.

Are you behind your market in occupancy and revenue? Just occupancy, just revenue. Are you meeting it? Are you exceeding it? It sounds like you’re not exceeding it, but that could just be the feeling you’re having. Again, you could be having conversations with other hosts who are rooting their conversations and feelings and not facts.

Uh, you could be. Like, you know, anyone reading the news and feeling a certain way, but we’re not sure. Is this [00:07:00] is your feeling or is your, um, experience of your quote unquote bookings being down and cancellations being up rooted in any sort of market data? We’re not sure. So please check that. Uh, we, uh, use Price Labs to do that, but there are several tools out there that can give you that information.

In fact, air DNA, which is. A trusted platform in our industry. They have a 2025 article outlook that we will link to in the show notes that actually shows continued strength in demand, especially in drive to destinations and affordable markets. So nightly rates are holding steady, so booking declines don’t always mean that pricing is a problem.

Air DNA’s article is also sharing that the growth of our industry is slowing, so it is creating stronger pricing power for existing hosts. So we’re kind of getting out, out of that [00:08:00] boom of everyone wanting to buy a short-term rental and to get rich quick. It’s, it’s, it seems like it’s kind of slowing down and people are realizing how much work uS hosts put in and they’re thinking twice about just doing this because it’s this get rich quick strategy.

Annette Grant: Mm-hmm. And so let’s move on after the, make sure to check out that, um, air DNA outlook too. The next thing is, are you staying competitive? This is where we really want everyone, every host to look in the mirror.

Okay. So if inventory is growing in your market. But the demand is steady. That’s where you might be facing some steep competition, and you and your bookings might be down. So we need you to ask yourself these four things, and this is something that you can do today.

Evaluating Your Listing

Annette Grant: How does your listing look , comparing the rest of your market. Are your photos on par or better than others in your area? And I am telling you, Sarah and I are still to this day, completely shocked when someone [00:09:00] wants us to look at their listings because they’re not getting bookings and the photos we’re taken from their phone or they are just poor, or they have some professional and then they’ve mixed it in with some iPhone photos and it’s just this hodgepodge of their property.

Sarah Karakaian: Can I offer this, Annette? Like, I can’t emphasize what Annette just said enough. If you’re listening to us right now, can you just open up your mind and I’m being serious. Open up your mind and just say, Hey, maybe I’m actually not the best decider on if these photos on my listing are good. Mm-hmm. Could you just do yourselves a favor?

Ask someone else that is not so close to your property, because I’m telling you this is. We were shocked because we, you know, at the 2025, you think that listing photos and how they have to be professional is like a no-brainer. And I would say more often than not, Annette, correct me if I’m wrong, especially after the bootcamp we did in January.

Mm-hmm. The listing on at bootcamp. Mm-hmm. I would say more often than not, these incredible hosts who are dialed [00:10:00] in on hospitality, dialed in on caring about their business, have these photos that are not serving their listing whatsoever.

Annette Grant: Remember, that is the number one thing. That’s the number one thing you give guests.

That’s all we have. That’s all. That’s all I have to book your property. And so, hi. I just want you to look at like a financial comparison here. You know the price of your property, was it a quarter of a million dollars? Was it a half a million dollars? Do you have a million dollar property? How much. Did you spend on your photography?

Sarah Karakaian: Right.

Annette Grant: And I bet you when you look at that in comparison to the purchase price of your property, it is minuscule. So do yourself a favor and make an investment there. Next is, is your description, Courtney, is it compelling? Is it clear? Does it speak to the type of guests that you’re trying to attract? Are you earning five star reviews? If you are not earning those five star reviews, over and over again. You need to work on this because there’s something [00:11:00] there with your guest experience causing friction, and then new potential guests are seeing that. Okay? So we want you to dial that in. And then are you proactively managing your pricing? We don’t just want you dropping the rates, um, but we want you to adjust like your minimum night stays.

Are you really tuned into what those local events are? That’s where the dynamic pricing can really, really help you. And again, I, we cannot share enough. We keep, just wanna keep messaging this over and over again. Hosts that come to us and say they’re not getting booking. We also go, we look at their calendar and we’re like, um, well, there’s no dates available or you wait, your minimum night stay is five nights. Well, I wanna come for three nights. I wanna come for two nights. So please take a look at your calendar and see if you’re actually available for travelers to book your your property.

Handling Cancellations

Sarah Karakaian: Cancellations. So Courtney asked, cancellations are up, she says.

All right. It’s time to analyze though and not panic, which [00:12:00] Courtney’s not panicking. She’s calling in and asking and, and again, I wanna applaud her for that. But are the cancellations random or is there some sort of trend? Okay. So certain online travel agencies have more lenient cancellations policy. Is that a factor?

Are guests booking too far out and then changing their plans? Is that a factor? Look at when these cancellations are coming in. The reason given. And then is there an opportunity to find a pattern there, right? Maybe the type of guest you’re attracting isn’t ideal. Maybe there was something that happened in the media and you did have, um, you know, a few cancellations and it felt overwhelming at the time, but it was very constrained to a certain timeframe.

We did have a conversation in our private membership group and a few hosts were talking about it and a couple hosted experience, a coup couple cancellations, but then they were able to actually rebook those guests. On a different platform because the one platform was being scrutinized for one [00:13:00] reason or another, and that’s been blown over.

Or there are some sort of political conversation happening. And so a couple cancellations happened, but then the hosts were able to get them to book direct to save money on, on the host fees. So, uh, if there, if it’s happening, is it a certain period of time? Is that time over now? Is there a trend? What can you tell us more, Courtney, so that we can help you pull different levers and make different decisions on how we can hone in.

Those, those cancellations that you’re experiencing.

Revenue vs. Booking Volume

Annette Grant: This is an exciting one. This is where again, we want to look at the data and your, your actual bookings might be down. But your revenue might be up. So Booking, you know, your booking volume alone is not telling you the full financial story. So our hope is year after year you can be earning more per night.

So you could bring, bring, be bringing in the same amount of revenue or. Hopefully more with fewer bookings. So fewer bookings doesn’t have to be this negative. Across [00:14:00] the board, you are not making as much money. It could be fewer bookings, higher earnings. So this is where the smart strategic hosting and not making panic moves and slashing your prices.

So again, I would be interested in looking at the data and like maybe it’s fewer bookings, but you have a higher nightly rate and you’re actually making more money, and that’s where it gets really, really exciting.

Business Cycles and Asset Value

Annette Grant: And then last but not least, I wanna just every host out there, we are business people. We go through cycles.

We do, we are gonna go through economic cycles, we’re gonna go through political cycles, we’re gonna go through ups downs, you know, sideways. But you have to treat it like the business. Things are not gonna just say steady Eddie all of the time. So you have an income generating asset. And what I love about this, sometimes I think hosts, um.

When you’re feeling maybe bookings are down, or maybe overall revenue’s down. I always like to go in and see one of our properties like. [00:15:00] How much are they valued at now? Like how much are we also gaining in the equity of our properties? I always like to sprinkle that in ’cause that’s a fun exercise. Um, Courtney, I think will brighten your day of like, oh, you know, how much equity in the past 12 months have you gained in your property?

What are some of the tax write-offs that you’ve done? What are some other things besides just the bookings that could also just. Add value to you. Okay, so I, I, I really do like to, to look at the asset as a whole, but you are a business owner, so you are responsible for driving bookings and making it profitable.

Follow-Up and Pricing Software

Annette Grant: So here’s number one. Are you following up with your past guests like fortune’s in the follow up? Are we asking our old guests to come back and come stay with us? Hopefully you’re collecting, uh, some email addresses from your five star guests. Let’s ask ’em back if you know, if you’ve got some openings, let’s get ’em in there.

Let’s have a get another five star stay.

Sarah Karakaian: We can’t say it enough that if, especially if you’re listing right now and you’re a new host or you’re thinking about hosting, and people [00:16:00] ask us, what’s that one piece of software I should get first, other than listing my properties on a popular online travel agency?

And hands down, for us it’s pricing software because it really tells you what’s going on in the market and helps us put our feelings aside and we can actually get some hard. Data and facts. Mm-hmm. And understand what is actually happening in our market and where can we reposition ourselves to win in our marketplace. So pricing software is a must in the TFV world and hopefully in your world too.

Annette Grant: And using it actually going into use. Yes. Yes. Utilizing it again, we want check, we want you checking your comp sets weekly and there, making sure that you are,

Sarah Karakaian: what’s a comp set Annette?

On, on target

Annette Grant: with your. Other comparable properties in your market, right?

So that’s where Courtney, we would ask you to go into your market and look at other properties that are similar to you. See? See where they’re pacing, what’s going on with them. What’s [00:17:00] their booking window look like? What’s their average daily rate look like? See where you’re falling with your competitors in your market.

Sarah Karakaian: Tweak photos and listing. Copy your listings on Airbnb, on vrbo, wherever else They are living, breathing entities and you need to making, be making sure that you are breathing life into them. So is the hero image is that first image that a potential guest see? Is it working in that month, in that season?

If not, it used to work in December. It may not work for you in May. So tweaking your photos, moving them around again, like Annette said, comparing your investment. In those marketing assets like photos to the investment in the property. You may have taken photos 2, 3, 4 years ago. It might be time for a fresh perspective, my friends.

Mm-hmm. And that’s okay. Like investing in those photos is going to be an investment that has extreme ROI that you’re not going to regret. One of our most successful members inside of HBM, she gets two or three different [00:18:00] photographers to come in and she then pieces together. There are different looks and feels to create the vibe that she wants to create online.

So I mean, that’s the kind of dedication mm-hmm. And specificity that it takes these days into being successful with your listings.

Annette Grant: Standing out in the market. Yeah. So, yeah, like, and here’s the deal. We cannot, this is not a set it and forget it. No. This is not passive. So it’s like, um, you just, what can you do that can make sure that you’re not falling behind in your marketplace. So it’s, I it’s take an hour, honestly, everyone, like, just take an hour and do an exercise of writing down all the things that you could work on. And after this episode, and I’m telling you, it’s slow and steady wins the race. So we just gave you like, woo, a lot of ideas during this episode.

Start knocking them out one by one. Look at your photos, look at your listing title. Look at the comp [00:19:00] sets, look at your five star reviews, and honestly, read through those reviews and check out like where are you crushing it? Where could you step it up a notch? We always have room to get better. So, um, again, we’ll put links in the show notes for that air DNA article. Please review it everyone. We’ll also put links to our favorite dynamic pricing software, which is Pricelabs.

Conclusion and Upcoming Bootcamp

Annette Grant: And then we, um, we’re, we have a bootcamp coming up, coming up, up.

It’s a little premature to share with this with you, but we do have a wait list.

Sarah Karakaian: Yeah. But it’s all about pricing.

And so if you need, Courtney, if you need accountability, if you’re like, ladies, I love all this, but I’m, I’m a busy X, y, z, and you want some accountability, our bootcamp is the perfect time to invest in your hosting business.

Invest in yourself, sets that time aside. Join us in that bootcamp. If you go to, thanksforvisiting.com/bootcamp. You can join our wait list and as soon as the door is open and you can [00:20:00] join us there, you’ll be notified first. So wanted to invite you to that as well.

Annette Grant: Yeah, and that’s the other thing, like what’s your, um, how are you reinvesting in your business?

So this is a great way to do that and just join up with other hosts and spend some quality time with Sarah and myself.

Sarah Karakaian: With that, I am Sarah Karakaian.

Annette Grant: I’m Annette Grant, and together we are. Thanks for visiting.