Vacation Rental Forum for Short-Term Rental Professionals

What Makes Vacation Rental Owners Vulnerable To Mistakes?

Approaching VRMB's 10,000th subscriber, we've developed a really good idea of where new vacation rental owners and managers are hitting snags.

Since the vast majority of vacation rental owners get their start with no training or formal education, much of the learning is done on the job. But unlike other on-the-job training like a restaurant or bar, vacation rental guests are not as forgiving. 

Why? 

Because most guests are paying hard-earned money for precious vacation time. As their expectations continue to rise, vacation rental owner mistakes, no matter how small, tend be blown out of proportion: this can result in decreased direct bookings, complaints, and the dreaded negative reviews. 

On most vacation rental owner's forums, you'll find the basic conversation topics: cleaning, customer service, maintenance...etc.

But the vacation rental space is nuanced. And over the years in our vacation rental forum we started to notice some of the less obvious mistakes that even the smartest, most anticipatory vacation rental owners were making... (preview of a weekly digest sent to members of the forum).

1. Missing Important Red Flags

Experience is everything when it comes to sniffing out problematic guests, homeowners, and local regulation. The more seasoned vacation rental owners, a result of their first-hand experience, are able to identify this kind of behavior up front and cut their losses. Whereas newer vacation rental owners tend to get burned one too many times. 

The best way to identify red flags with guests is to proactively and completely outline what you offer -- then keep a careful eye on anyone pushing back or trying to change your terms. In your early days, being flexible with certain accommodations is helpful. But be careful you're not compromising on your non-negotiables. 

When it comes to toxic homeowners, watch carefully for those trying to pull a fast one or swipe intellectual property you have built without asking politely. Homeowners often lack business etiquette so using clear, strong communication is very helpful. If they cross the line more than once, it's a red flag. 

Fair regulation is the lifeblood of a vacation rental operation and advocating for fair laws shouldn't start when you're under siege. Keep an eye out for local community members who reject vacation rentals. Watch politicians who are backed by hotel lobbies. And policy-wise, monitor the trends and patterns: is regulation getting more fair or less? 

These red flags are unfortunately often learned the hard way. The more of them you can keep track of and spot before they harm you or your business, the smoother your sailing will be. 

2. Victimization Mindset

Seeing as vacation rentals are such a new industry, there are a lot of inconvenient truths to deal with: a lot of surprise challenges to confront. And when we face that adversity or problem, BEING A PROTAGONIST is the name of our game.

The best vacation rental owners focus on the things they can control: they write their own story (and as a result tend to enjoy the journey much more).

It’s very easy to complain about listing site policy changes, inconsiderate guests, completely inappropriate competitors, and technology needed to do the job. In fact, most of the vacation rental owner's forums out there are filled with negativity and complaints. But surrounding yourself with victims is a huge mistake. 

Your time is much better spent proactively doing stuff (as opposed to waiting for others to do that stuff for you). 

The moment you find yourself pointing the finger at another person or company, remind yourself not to get caught up in the victimization game. The moment you find yourself in an owner's forum where other vacation rental owners are acting like victims, be weary of how that might rub off on you. 

3. Short-Term Thinking

“I am doing this for the quick money!”

With such positive press about the industry of late, this “get rich quick” mentality is one of the most common (false) assumptions new vacation rental owners make: thinking you can just buy a property in a busy destination and hoards of guests will flock to their door.

The scary part is that for a short time this may be true! For this reason, you'll find plenty of short term gain "experts" out there talking of riches and selling dreams. These "educators" are not interested in your long-term success or the health of the industry. 

Unfortunately, creating a successful business is not a short term engagement. It takes lots of time and energy. And if you adopt that long-term sustainable mindset, you recognize that small steps in the right direction eventually add up to make a real difference. 

Warning: Vacation rental owners who fall prey to short-term thinking are building their home on unstable foundation: when it's time to move in, you'll wish you did it the right way. 

4. Not Embracing Technology

"Technology is your friend" -- this is a sentiment that makes all the difference for profitable and sustainable owners and managers. 

Because so many demands of the job are redundant and time-consuming, and because the technology available for even the single property owners in our industry is so abundant, it is a huge mistake to not take advantage of it. 

In some cases, it's because you don't like it. In other cases, you're not good at it. In most cases, you don't have the time to learn it. Log into any forum and you'll find questions about the right software for any given job. 

No matter your obstacle, recognize that vacation rental software, once embraced, takes your business to the next level. Choose to embrace the technology and you'll be world's ahead of your average competition. 

5. Spending Too Much Time On TOXIC Vacation Rental Owner's Forums

Forums on social media are advertisement-driven business models, which means your attention is the currency. The longer the platform (ie. Facebook) can keep you there, the better completely independent of the quality or purpose of your interaction.

As should be no surprise, in order to hold your attention, forums on Facebook reward content that evokes reactions (as opposed to rewarding content that solves problems). And as a result, they are prone to noise, polarization, and inflammatory rhetoric. Be careful when you find yourself consuming too much of this stuff: at least for us, we've found it can infiltrate my brain and waste precious time. Here are the two kinds of forums to be aware of...

6. Trying To Solve A Common Challenge On Your Own

With #4 in the bag, it's important to follow-up by underscoring the importance of good collaboration.

If you were trying to learn a new skill like baking or  fly-fishing or Salsa dancing or speaking Japanese, you may start with Youtube: the biggest educational platform in the world. 

But after getting started and finding that you enjoy the process, you eventually hit a point when you need to kick things up a notch so you begin finding other people who have mastered that skill (or are learning it simultaneously). What you don't do is lock yourself away and shut off the ways to accelerate your learning curve. 

Vacation rental owners experience the least pain and the most gains when they reach out to others in whatever vacation rental forum they choose. Because the industry is comprised of so many DIY-types, the answers you get aren't always as complete or perfect as you may wish. But they are leaps and bounds over trying to figure out the challenge on your own. 

7. Treating The Vacation Rental Like A Hobby (Not A Business)

Along the same lines as #2, it’s easy for a new vacation rental owner to view their operation as a side gig: post a listing on VRBO or Airbnb, respond to inquiries here and there, and *poof* you're successful! The hobby mindset is especially easy because most newcomers actually have other full-time jobs on their plate. 

But one of the most profound mistakes many newcomers make is in not realizing that they entering the hospitality industry and that they are indeed running a business charging a premium fee for a product/service that competes with hotels.

Typically, the short term rental horror stories you will find in the news come from a host who is not treating it like a business. Any self-respecting small business owner knows their actions (or lack thereof) directly reflect on their reputation in the community. 

Note: This is not to suggest that you cannot get started in the vacation rental industry while working another job: no one is expecting you to come in and run a corporation on day one. The real difference here is demonstrating a degree of professionalism and business integrity in everything you do. Not sure about how to do this? Use the golden rule and ask yourself, "how would I like to be treated if I were this guest?" You can also use the variety of vacation rental forums out there to source feedback.

8. Selling (Not Helping) In Your Marketing

There is a time and place for selling your property(s). But aggressive sales mentalities -- without the right offset of trust and authority -- tend to attract tire-kickers and money-centric transactions in the vacation rental industry. Every great vacation rental forum will say the same thing.

VRMB's philosophy (and that of most of my readers) is help, don't sell: if you are confident enough in your vacation rental and the experience you provide…consider being the anti-salesperson and help your potential guests instead of trying to take their money and run.

Freely giving away helpful information (whether on a blog or another forum) leverages the most powerful sales tactic in the world (reciprocity) to in-turn drive bookings. It also sets you apart from the majority of the competition pushing high-pressure booking environments. 

9. Allowing Yourself To Be Intimidated

Of course, letting your fears or challenges hold you back isn’t a dynamic that’s unique to the vacation rental industry. But it is exacerbated in our new sector with mostly accidental professionals who fell into job without formal training. Plenty of vacation rental forums are peppered with people who are jumping right in! 

However many new vacation rental owners, we find, tend to get intimidated by things like blogging, getting professional photos, using vacation rental software…etc. These are all things that can be conquered with the right attitude. There are also tons of amazing new companies helping solve each and every hurdle in an inexpensive and friendly way.

When done smartly, a calculated risk is pretty much always what I see taking a newcomers business to the next level. Use any vacation rental owner's forum to see how others (just like you) can navigate even the trickiest of challenges.

10. Not Refunding A Problematic Guest

Even if you are regularly practicing VRMB's mantra of Customer Zero, every vacation rental owner eventually encounters a problematic guest. Fact. And the game of "refund or else I'll write a negative review" is an increasingly common blackmail technique that you'll eventually get (hopefully not anytime soon). The obvious answer to this proposition is, out of principle, "No thank you." 

But one mistake that we've seen in various vacation rental owner's forums is understating the pain (both financial and emotional) of continuing to deal with a toxic guest. While it shouldn't be a default response to demands for refunds, in some very specific instances, it's a mistake not to realize the cost of the refund may be peanuts compared to what you save by relieving that person from your life. 

BONUS. Not Enjoying The Ride

This business should be about money -- but you’re also sharing a bit of your life (your blood, tears, history) with people, and as a newcomer it can be easy to lose sight of the true joy of this industry and the shared economy movement as a whole.

Embrace your vacation rental business as if it will represent your legacy for many generations to come. Build your vacation rental business as if you will own it forever, but could sell it tomorrow. This was the impetus for VRMB's Force Field style of marketing and growth. 

It's a vision worth working towards! Make sure to bake into your business plan time for family, activities you enjoy most, and the chance to meet guests (even if only virtually). Working towards something slowly and surely builds gratification -- enjoyment in the process.

You can join other like-minded professionals in our vacation rental owner's forum.