Short-term rentals need to be flexible, and having the ability to accommodate requests gives you more range and makes you more appealing to potential customers. You will win over your competitors when you find your unique value by putting yourself in your guest’s shoes.

The points below are from the 30th episode of The Real Estate JAM, where we talked about short-term vacation rentals and how you can find your unique value to make you stand out in the market! This is part two.

Tune in to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Understanding Your Unique Market

At the end of the day, understanding your unique market will allow you to assess the market, build out your listing, and add what you need to make it appear more attractive to your competition. Once you are able to do this, you remain competitive in the market, and bookings become less of a problem.

Knowing the Real Value of the Star

Getting a good review is important when it comes to Airbnb, but you need to know where to draw the line. Aside from making sure that you have a team that runs like a well-oiled machine and makes sure that everything that needs to be taken care of is done, you also need to make sure that you hold your guests accountable when they should be held accountable. Sometimes, you need to choose one fewer star or more in your review to make sure that you are able to maintain your business in the first place.

Want to learn more? You can listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Outline of the Episode:

• [00:56] In today’s episode, we have Alvin Cavalier, AKA “Coach Cav,” who owns a short-term rental business, and we’re hoping to get tips and tricks on how to make our property stand out.
• [04:05] Owning a short-term rental means doing some heavy lifting. The five key pillars for this are the source, homeowners, the build phase, the manage phase, and professional pricing.
• [07:24] Do you know who your avatar was when you started your short-term rental business? Knowing your target market makes it easier to create and answer the other aspects of the five key pillars.
• [08:35] When operating short-term rentals, Coach Cav tells investors you always have to assume that the value you have in your unit today is only as valuable as today. He also says that you’ve got to assume three to five investors are opening up short-term rentals in a one to a two-month timeframe in your market.
• [11:06] Do you know what a rental arbitrage is? If you are interested in setting up your own Air BnB and don’t have the capacity to buy a property yet, listen to this.
• [14:42] Have you thought of listing your AirBnB property on Peerspace? It can give you multiple streams of income from different services but using just one property. Talk about maximizing your resources!
• [19:11] Always find your edge over the competition. Your unique value can be a selling point that most of your target market looks for when finding a booking that will suit their needs. Give them the right value at the right price, and you will see the bookings come left and right.
• [20:17] Make your place kid or pet friendly because many people travel with their kids or their pets, and sometimes, with both. Anything that you can turn into something that is kid-friendly and pet friendly will immediately diversify your offerings and allow your listing to be shown even when choices are being limited.
• [20:47] Anything that gives you an edge and a bigger chance of being part of a filtered list increases your chance of being selected over the competition. What can you do to make yourself part of the select few instead of being filtered early on?
• [21:40] Events are another thing that can become your Airbnb’s unique value. Events allow you to set out guide rules and a hefty security deposit for anyone who wants to do an event, so this is a good income source on top of everything else.
• [25:54] In real estate, showing up in the second set of results matters just as much as being on the top page. When people start filtering their choices, you want to remain in the group that’s being filtered.
• [26:52] A key factor in hiring the right people to run things behind the scenes. Having a great Airbnb means having people that can maintain, fix, and sort everything for your rental without you telling them to do so.
• [31:22] Sometimes, you need to weigh things between being a super host or maintaining your business at the end of the day. Which one would you choose? Are you okay with getting a bad review, or are you okay with losing parts of your business to maintain a super host status?
• [34:30] How can you stay afloat in the real estate business? Understanding your market is the first step, and then finding the unique gaps.
• [37:02] Did you know that understanding your tax laws can be a big game-changer when you go for short-term rentals? Once you understand how taxes impact your short-term rental, you’ll be able to file your taxes the correct way and lessen your expenses as well.

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