I have listed my personal home on VRBO for rental. It is located on a lake and has a lot of appeal. It is getting a lot of inquiries, and I’ve upped my prices twice.
(The goal is to rent it out to pay mortgage+taxes-about 7 weeks of the year will cover it.)
I have never dealt with short term rentals on my own house, although I have traveled extensively and stayed at many VRBO’s/airbnb residences. I, however, am a cheap bastard and don’t know what premium properties provide, nor what expectations are.
Because we are charging a premium price, I want to make sure that the vacationers are getting their expectations met, perhaps exceeded.
So, fellow travelers, what makes an above and beyond awesome experience?
We just got back from 9 days in Hawaii and had 2 VRBO rentals. The wine glasses in one were plastic and in the other they had a layer of dust and grime a half inch thick. The kitchen knives were cheap and dull and there were very few pots/pans.
I don’t know if you are in an area where you are expecting people to eat out instead of making their own (as was the case where we stayed) but you are always going to have someone that makes their own meals during their vacation so it behooves you to make sure that the kitchen is fitted out well if you are charging premium prices.
Have at least a starter amount of coffee and tea. We rented a house this winter and I was pleasantly surprised to find a package of coffee that we could make the first morning before heading out to the grocery store.
A gas grill is a great feature, with proper tongs and flippers. As mentioned, complete kitchen utensils, including bottle openers, wine openers, decent knives, cutting boards.
Have clear instructions on how to handle trash. Is anything recyclable? If so, give detailed instructions. When does it go to the curb? Are there enough trash cans?
Make the check-in and check-out process simple and painless. No “tell me about what time you’ll be there, then call me when you’re 10 minutes away so I can meet you.” Mail them a key early or put it in an easily accessed lockbox on site. Don’t give them a long list of things to do at checkout like washing the towels or emptying all the trash cans; have the cleaning service take care of all that.
Yep. A lockbox is a great tool, as guests flights can be delayed, or traffic can be heavy, or they might want to stop and eat. It’s nice not to have to meet someone and fool around with getting the key and making introductions when all you really want to do is get inside, open a beer and unpack.
I’ve stayed at a lot of VRBOs, and these are the things that make me super irritated if they’re missing or inadequately supplied:
Toilet paper
Paper towel
Towels (including dish towels)
Dish detergent
Laundry soap
Salt and pepper
Sugar
Coffee filters
It makes you look super cheap if you don’t supply this stuff. Buy a shit ton at Costco and just supply it rather than making your renters spend $$$ on supplies they’re going to use only a few times during their stay. I hate having to run out and get this stuff as soon as we arrive and leaving a whole bunch of stuff I’ve paid for behind.
For toiletries I wouldn’t bother except for hand soap, unless you’re going to go high end and offer something a bit luxury. Most people bring their own shampoo, toothpaste, etc.
One really nice touch at a place we stayed was the owner leaving a little welcome basket with some fruit, cheese and crackers and a couple of bottles of local beer. Made a really good first impression.
Two things that are similar but at opposite ends of the spectrum.
A little basket of luxury, local goodies. One place I’ve stayed in a few times is in a village that has a distillery and a bakery; they provide a miniature of the local whisky and some locally baked biscuits.
Store cupboard staple supplies. Salt, pepper, sugar, tea, coffee, cooking oil, mixed herbs, chilli powder, that sort of thing. It’s infuriating if you pick up eggs and rolls at the local corner shop and discover there’s no oil to fry the eggs in!
Halfway through cooking Thanksgiving dinner I had to run to the store for kitchen garbage bags and paper towels. And a half roll of toilet paper per bathroom is not enough.
If you don’t have a washer/dryer and free wifi then I’m not interested. Also, the wifi password should be easy to find without calling you. A grill is nice, too, preferably propane.
As far as consumables go, TP is a must. If I have to buy some halfway through the week that’s fine, I just don’t want to arrive tired and not be able to use the bathroom. In most of the places I’ve rented, the owner doesn’t stock the fridge with condiments but on the other hand they don’t clear everything out after every tenant. I don’t expect a cupboard full of food. It is okay to have a locked cabinet on site with these things stocked.
A way to access the property without seeing the owner is nice, just in case the flight comes in at midnight. Some places have had a combo lockbox like Realtors use, with the physical keys inside. I would normally expect the owner/representative to visit the next morning if they don’t meet me with the keys, that’s understandable, but I don’t want to feel like there’s constant surveillance. Don’t drop by unannounced I realize that this is based upon having been a respectable tenant, even if we partied some. I’m sure some renters are nightmares, and make these things worse for the rest of us.
And make sure that the listing is updated promptly - if the calendar shows the dates are available, I don’t want to call and find out they’re not.
Most of my good ideas have been given. I stayed at one place that had a set of nightmarish kitchen appliances. I think that they were really good quality, but none of us could figure out how the hell they worked. There didn’t seem to be any manuals anywhere either.
The dishwasher had all of the controls on the edge of the door, so when the door was closed, you couldn’t see the controls. It took us a while to figure out how to start it.
The gas stove seemed to be installed incorrectly. It also took a while to figure out how to turn on a burner. You had to turn the knob while holding it down for the sparker to ignite the burner. The incorrect installation manifested when the burner would just go out for no apparent reason. It was a bit disconcerting to look over, not see a flame, and know that the gas was still coming out.
I think the refrigerator was fine. Bottom line: get appliances that the average person can figure out. Funky controls seem cool until you can’t figure out how anything works.
Heh. One common WTF control that many people can’t figure out is the type of shower where to turn on the shower head you have to grip the faucet where the water comes out and pull down. In 2 or 3 rentals I’ve heard a distress call from the bathroom, and it always amuses me to watch people try to figure it out before I tell them.
Have accurate pictures. This seems like a no-brainer, but make sure what you’ve posted matches what the renters will actually find. If I show up and the rental doesn’t look like the pictures, I’m immediately suspicious and looking for other discrepancies.
I read a paper from AirBnB about their algorithm for setting prices, and not having WiFi in most places is a killer.
Besides all the other good suggestions, we like to see a good and easy to use microwave and some pots and pans. Especially for long rentals, some days it is just easier to bring food in. Nice places we’ve stayed have had stuff like bagels out for breakfast, enough for a couple of days.
And if your TV/satellite box/cable box takes a few steps to make work, leave very clear instructions.
When I look for places to stay, location and cleanliness are the two most important things.