Industry Conversations

Has anyone else started seeing Airbnb enforce the new house-rule setup already?  I already have limits on who much I can add into my “additional information” section, which is now called “requests during the stay” (not rules….).  Also it’s flagging my rental agreement requirement already as a “problem”The bigger issue here is not just rental agreements. Airbnb appears to be moving toward:No separate rental agreements for most stays Much tighter limits on custom house rules (I think they allow TWO) Many important protections being pushed into “Requests,” which are weaker than actual rules Very limited space for custom language Local-rule fields focused mainly on government/HOA fines Restrictions on off-platform verification/registration workflowsFor professionally managed homes, this is a major reduction in host control. Things like pool safety rules, no glass at the pool, guest verification, issue-reporting requirements, visitor restrictions, excessive-cleaning responsibility, and othe

Hi Community!With Vrbo announcing its new 12% commission effective October 29, 2026, I have a few questions about how this change will affect hosts using the Vrbo Partner integration through Hospitable.I've reviewed Vrbo's announcement and reached out to my Vrbo account manager, but I haven't received clear answers to some important questions.1. Does the new 12% commission apply to all listings connected through Hospitable's Vrbo Partner integration?Are there any differences based on the integration type or payment processing setup?2. What happens to the Traveler Service Fee?Will Vrbo continue charging guests a separate service fee on top of the new 12% host commission? If so, what percentage should we expect? Is there a published formula? Looks like this fee is dynamic and a mystery, lol. 3. What is the actual total cost of a booking?Between Vrbo's 12% commission, payment processing fees, and the Traveler Service Fee, I'm trying to understand the combined impact on both hosts and gues

So I opened up my Uber One app last night and saw the hotels “tab”. Then I looked up if they offer vacation rentals, and found some articles that Uber is partnering with Expedia to launch VRBO vacation rentals into the app by end of this year. I’m wondering how hosts are finding the VRBO listing experience. I tried to set mine up before and found their onboarding template had really poor user experience.Now with the upcoming changes on ABB for guest agreements and verification, I’m thinking I better get my VRBO listing doneWOuld love to hear from hosts who use VRBO through Hospitable.ThanksJen

Since I was pretty much a baby, I’ve been a fan of Dan Kennedy -- the marketing genius and godfather of “the direct mail sales letter.” He’s written what seems like 100 books and has been around since dirt (I actually didn’t know he was still alive, until recently LOL).This email landed in my inbox today, and I couldn’t help but marvel at how perfectly timed it was, and how relevant it is to the stunts that Airbnb and Vrbo are pulling on our businesses this month.I don’t think Dan would mind me copying his email verbatim, as long as I include a link to the thing he’s plugging (a book, and a persistent pitch for his monthly newsletter). [The thing Dan is plugging is at https://www.thedirectmarketingbook.com/.]Subject Line: Amazon Sold Out. The Printer Said No.On May 21st, 2024, we launched this book, and a few hours in the message came through that Amazon had sold out of every copy. The team moved them to Barnes & Noble and got told they'd be "selling out shortly." Then the publishe

VRBO’s new fees go into effect in six days -- I’d like to adjust my mark-up accordingly but I’m still not clear on what it should be and whether or not Hospitable will handle it the same way as it did for the Airbnb changes. PC indicated that there would be an aligned approach (+13.4% I think for rates and fees) but I haven’t seen anything at all related to this. Also, are we now essentially double-paying for payment processing if we’re VRBO integrated? And if so, should the mark-up be closer to 16%? I appreciate that it’s been a crazy week with all the Airbnb noise and global security issues but I’m feeling very blind around this one -- even just telling us “we still really don’t know what VRBO is going to do - they aren’t talking to us either” would be helpful (in which case I’ll probably just turn my listing off for a bit). Any additional information would be great. Please!

The wi fi porter which is an integration from Hospitable seems to no be banned by air bnb. What is the work around for this. Obviously collecting e mail is a vital component to building a direct booking business. 

Fresh off of the book, Unreasonable Hospitality, which is a must read for everyone in this space I believe, I Just left a home where I ended up doing the dishes, spontaneously fueled by a desire to be unreasonable in hospitality. It’s the first time I have dared to do stuff like this and it made me realize how many awesome stories are out there in our community. This is an opportunity for you to share the ups and downs, wins and fails, and even to your own Horn a bit… What is the wildest or most random thing you have found yourself doing in the process of being hospitable to your guests?

I'm imagining there has to be a way to create an HOA for my single-family home short-term rental that's already held in an LLC and further owned by a holding company. It may be some legal gymnastics, but I insist on having ID verification and a rental agreement for my luxury coastal short-term rental that has a pool and a hot tub. As I read it, my state of North Carolina has the North Carolina’s Vacation Rental Act (N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 42A-4, 42A-10, and 42A-11) and applies to ABB’s new rules [As I understand it, a compliant written vacation rental agreement is required for covered residential stays of fewer than 90 days for vacation, leisure, or recreation, where guests have a permanent residence they intend to return to] - but now I'm wondering how to enforce age and ID verification.  I'm thinking an HOA covenant could require that and further reinforce my rental agreement. Anyone know a great real estate attorney in the state of North Carolina?  I'd love to engage with someone to rev

I tried to integrate VRBO with Hospitable.  I got an error message and I thought the integration had stopped.  Now in Channel Connections it says I am connected to VBRO, but i cant find my listing on VBRO.  Spoke to VRBO support, they said there was a problem with the integration and it would sort itself out “in a couple days.”  Its already been over a week.  I don’t think this is going to sort itself out.

Has anyone found that removing the photo tour has been helpful for bookings? If so, how do you “undo” the photo tour once it’s set up? I’ve noticed if you put photos into “additional photos” section, you can’t rearrange the order from there. 

I’m looking for advice from fellow hosts who have managed to set themselves up with a Google Business profile. Especially if you’ve got multiple STRs and have gotten them all to show up on Google Maps individually.Did you set up a separate “business” for each location? Or is it kind of like Burger King, where there’s one master profile with numerous franchise locations? Did Google give you much trouble in setting up a place that’s not a walk-in retail location? What kind of verification did you need to do? In my initial attempt at setting up a first location, I’m being asked to submit a video that shows street signage and access to areas that are off-limits to the public. Did it affect how your places show up on Google Vacation Rentals (positively or negatively)? Can you give a link to your profile for me to study?

Howdy y’all! Anyone remember MythBusters? It’s an oldie but a goodie Discovery show where they tested myths and stamped each one Confirmed or Busted, like the time Adam and Jamie tried to cut down a tree with a Gatling gun. So Made for TV.With Guest Damage Insurance launching in Hospitable soon (catch it at the November Town Hall), I dug deep into the myths I’ve told myself as a host. MythBusters style, I let the data decide which folk tales hold up, and what you can actually do about them.Guests who ask for a discount are cheap, can’t afford my listing, and won’t take care of it Larger groups always trash my property Pets mean more damage, right? Local guests are the real problem One night stays? Never. Those are only parties!Check out all 20 myths, confirmed or busted with real data, in the inaugural Guest Risk Autopsy Report: Which Guests Trash Your Property, Tank Your Reviews, and Get a Refund Anyway.Click here to see the Guest Risk Autopsy Report.  

What if you knew what review your guest was going to leave BEFORE you reviewed them? ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ We've all had those guests...The ones who don't read a single thing you've sent them, then message you day and night asking questions like: "What's the WiFi password?" "How do I turn on the oven?" "Where's the remote?" "How do I check out?" You spend your entire stay answering questions that were already covered in your guest guidebook.But when it comes time to review them, you bite your tongue and leave a glowing 5-star review, hoping they'll do the same for you. Then BAM! 💥 They leave you a 3-star review.And you're left wishing you'd been a little more honest, especially for the sake of the next host.What if you could get an indication of how your guest is going to rate their stay BEFORE they leave?That's exactly what we've built into BetterSTR TV. Here's how it works:📺 Automatic checkout feedback: Set your property's TV to automatically turn on a few hours before checkout (say, 2 hours

Hi EveryoneHas anyone got any experience of remitting local taxes for booking.com reservations.  We have been asked to remit our taxes on a monthly basis by our local town council. Booking.com doesn’t allow us to set the local taxes ourselves as a default, we’ve reached out to them.  They do seem to pass through a % of the rental income to us which does cover some of the taxes but not sure the most efficient way of dealing with this.I wondered if anyone had any advice of how to do this in a pain free way!ThanksClaire

I just added Turno to my Hospitable account. Will my cleaner from Turno automatically be added to my teammates in Hospitable?

How can I recommend buying Trip insurance if I cannot see the details?  This is exactly what it says before purchasing insurance on the Guest Portal “Coverage is subject to policy terms, conditions, and exclusions. Please review the full policy document for complete details.”    So the system/Smarty tells me you have to purchase before you can get the “details”.  What kind of product is that we are trying to sell?This has come up when I had a VRBO guest purchase through VRBO Insurance for this week in PCB with the Hurricane.  VRBO insurance has declined their claim and there are some small details that would essentially rule out almost every hurricane in the area.  After hearing this, I wanted to know how the product you offer would have differed?

I've spent a few weeks within the community looking at previous chats to see what people are innovating. Whoever is able to reply to this first, I'm happy to jump on a 30-minute call to discuss:how your business is operating how I've used AI within my system, along with Hospitable and the other systems that I use whether you need guidance on what API and MCP mean, or how to unify all of this technology and harness it to your benefitso it doesn't sound like a bunch of technology jargon

I manage $1.3 million in bookings  and 2200 reservations a year and I’m on many platforms. Booking.com is by far the absolute worst. I do everything you’re supposed to do, we require a deposit, we require ID verification all that kind of stuff through charge automation but somehow we still just get absolute nightmare guests. Anytime I have to interact with Booking.com‘s customer support. It is a joke. Case in point, a guest recently Booked for six people at my house, paid the damage deposit, gave the names and ages of the guests, and then 30 people showed up at my house. When I contacted Booking.com about this, they said that they cannot cancel this guests reservation without their consent, which is just incredible. Does anyone have any contact with people that actually work in Booking.com like some kind of higher level rep or someone in the PR team or something? I just don’t understand how their service offerings can be so bad.

When a guest enters one of my listings, the property literally springs to life. They are welcomed by name by an AI Avatar on the TV, rolling out a digital 'red carpet' immediately. Within seconds, guests can tell the smart home their ideal temperature, or even mention they're hungry—prompting the microwave to fire up and start popping popcorn.But my favorite automation solves the classic 'Group Amnesia' problem. We've all had bookings where the lead guest knows the rules, but the rest of the group is totally clueless, right? To fix this, I have a motion-triggered announcement that plays the night before departure. It ensures the whole group hears the checkout time and procedures, so no one is left guessing. Or if I need a vehicle moved or the trash to be taken out, I use my mobile smart remote to both program the message and set the motion trigger.When it's time to leave, guests simply load the dishwasher and hit a physical 'Checkout' button on their way out. That single press adjusts

Has anyone else experienced this? I was getting most my volume from VRBO. As soon as I moved it to be managed through Hospitable, I’ve gotten zero bookings through VRBO and only coming from Airbnb.  at first, the connection was the issue and I figured that out but I’ve confirmed I’m live on VRBO.  I'm in South Florida so I am in SLOW season. But last year I definitely had more bookings than I do right now. 

We used Happy Guest and want to share our experience so other hosts can make an informed decision. During a financial audit of our account, we found charges that didn't match reservations or usage of the platform, or what we'd been agreed to: policy coverage that was added without our knowledge or approval, duplicate charges on the same reservation, and charges applied to guests who never even used the Happy Guest portal, despite being told directly that non-use of the portal meant no charge would apply (and instructions on how to avoid the charges). When we raised this, it took multiple escalations over about three weeks to get any real engagement. One rep's responses felt scripted and didn't address our questions to the point we thought we were being answered by AI. We were eventually told by phone that there is no signed written agreement, that pricing and policies are based on what was discussed in the original sales call rather than anything in writing. We were told they were goin

Is anyone using Happy Guest? My STRs are smaller, single family properties (both 2 bedrooms). I am considering using Happy Guest so I can list on VRBO and have accidental insurance coverage as well as a rental agreement. My concern is Happy Guest requires me to purchase a policy on all guest, including my Airbnb guests. I worry about getting pushback from Airbnb guests on the two options to either 1) purchase the coverage for $37 OR 2) put a $1000 hold on their cc. $37 is a lot to add on considering what my price point is and some may not have $1000 room on a credit card.  I have reviewed two properties that use Happy guest and looked through their guest reviews and BOTH properties had an unfavorable review due to having this pop up after making their reservation. Both properties clearly state this requirement prior to booking but as we all know most guests do not read all the info prior to booking.  For those using Happy Guest, what has been your experience? 

Who has an STR VA or small VA team you personally use and would recommend? I have 5 properties and already automate most guest messaging through Hospitable. I need reservation approvals, 24/7 maintenance/emergency response, vendor sourcing and dispatch, cleaner/vendor coordination, and follow-through. Marketing/social media experience would be a bonus. I'm not looking for full property management. Please only recommend someone you personally use or have used.

I am considering using PriceLabs. I currently have dynamic pricing turned on with Hospitable. I am a new host and am unsure which is better. Should I stick with Hospitable dynamic pricing? 

Quick question for other property managers - when you send end-of-year 1099s to owners you manage for, what income figure do you report?Net reservation income (after Airbnb/Vrbo's host service fee is already deducted), or the full gross amount before that fee comes out?I’m trying to nail down what’s more of the standard practice. If I recall correctly, the Hospitable owner statements default to only showing the Net reservation income as opposed to showing the Gross.