Category: Uncategorized

I tried to implement ShinePay’s laundry system in a complex with nine Airbnb units sharing two washers and two dryers. I had hoped the guests as wells as the cleaners could get away from quarters.

It was a failure. Even worse, I ended up stuck with one device I never installed. ShinePay offers a 30-day money back guarantee. I tried to return the last device, but I was a couple of days beyond the deadline. I explained that this was because my appliance repair company had made two service calls trying to install it. They didn’t care — no refund.

First, the system doesn’t work very well. Your phone is supposed to use Bluetooth to activate the laundry machine. Often you’ll get a message telling you to reset your phone. Sometimes this happens 2-3 times before the machine turns on.

My cleaner recently sent me this message:

Please check if anything on your end can be done with the info for machines.

I restarted my phone twice and I get the same messages. 

I’m using quarters in the meantime. 

Next, for whatever reason guests don’t like it. Maybe it’s because there’s a service fee to put my on your account. Or maybe they don’t like adding another app to their phone. The bottom line is that most guests don’t use it, despite having ShinePay stickers and instructions on all of the machines.

There are some guests who check in and just start looking for something to complain about. There are some guests who want the experience of everything being perfect. They want a crisp new $1 bill. If they get a slightly worn $100 bill instead, they are going to complain, ask for money back, and leave a bad review.

My apartments were built in the 1960’s. I’ve updated them somewhat, dressed them up a bit, but if you look, you can find something to complain about.

I want to do everything possible to scare off that kind of guest. My new approach is to start the description with this:

I’m training new cleaners. There are bound to be some oversights. This is also an older apartment, and there are signs of age, wear and tear. If you aren’t focused on those kinds of details, this will be a great apartment for you.

Hi Matthew… I wanted to reach out and let you know that it appears that someone has broken into our apartment last night. We had a box of croissants in our kitchen and when we got back from dinner last night it was missing. I’m not sure if anyone else has access to the apartment but my mother is pretty freaked out now and doesn’t want to stay in this apartment. Can we get refunded? We’d like to leave as soon as possible.

This just in from a guest …

I only damaged two of your houses hold items one of which was a wine glass which I kicked over not noticing and the latter would be a piece of steak went flying on your curtains

A guest just wrote,

Everything is fine. There are red stains on the ceiling of the bedroom which look to be the blood of some animal. Just wanted to let you know.

Please let the cleaners know that I did not use any of the towels, I bring my own linens. There is no trash to take out, I take all of my trash with me.

This just in from a guest:

Theirs a iguana by the pool we can’t go out

I’m trying to dream up good responses. For example,

Actually that’s the baby alligator. Just wait around a bit and see if the parents come out.

I mentioned this to a neighbor, and he said, “I heard them screaming yesterday and thought someone was being murdered.”

I own the building at 1811 N Dixie Hwy. This just went down at 1822 N Dixie Hwy!!!

Immediate Occupancy Only

You only want bookings for guests who will arrive in the next three days. It doesn’t matter how long. One day, two days, three weeks, a month. I’ll take any booking as long as the guest is arriving today, tomorrow or the next day.

Why? Because any booking farther in the future is very likely to be cancelled. They’ll block your calendar for the guest who wants to arrive tomorrow and stay two weeks, and they they’ll cancel the day of arrival. And Airbnb will give them a full refund.

Screen, Screen, Screen

You do not want parties, not even a bunch of nuns reading the Bible together. Airbnb hosts already have a target painted on their backs, you do not want to draw any additional attention.

Easily said, harder to put into practice. Actually, it’s not hard, but there’s a limit to what you can actually accomplish. Nevertheless, make the effort. Here are questions to ask:

• Who will occupy the unit? How many adults, how many children, and who are they?
• Will there be anyone inside the unit other than those people, even briefly, even during they day?
• What is the reason for your trip?

There are some guests who fully intend to hold a raging party and know what lies to tell, but you’d be surprised how many aren’t that perceptive. When you get the six high school seniors who are coming to Florida to celebrate their graduation, remember Nancy Reagan and just say ‘no’.

Raise or Drop Your Prices

These are strange times. If you’re in an urban market like me, you may have to discount quite a bit. For example, my apartments rent for about $1200/month unfurnished, no consumables, no utilities, no internet, and on an annual lease. On Airbnb I’m used to getting double that, but I provide more, too. Still, I was recently pretty happy to get bookings that paid me just under $1200/month. Heads in beds, some revenue is better than none.

If you have a country get-away and there is high demand, charge what the market will bear. If you are booked more than a few weeks in advance, you under-priced it.

Set a Progressive Last-Minute Discount

If you use pricing software like PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, or BeyondPricing, you can set sophisticated discounts. For example, I have a 40% last-minute discount that is phased in over 28 days. If my base price is $100, then tonight costs $60, and each following day costs a little more until you get to 28 days from now when you pay full price ($100) for each night.

My goal is not to charge someone $100/night. My goal is simply to make close-in bookings attractive in price, and bookings farther in the future unattractive. To get bookings longer than a few days you have to combine this with length-of-stay discounts. I’ll discuss the exact mechanics in a future post.