Industry Conversations

Because of a threat of fire, I am asking my guest to cancel in the next few weeks. Is it better that they initiate the cancellation or is there a better way to do it?

We presently have upsell link being sent in guest messages based on calendar availability which provides a link to guest portal link. Are other hosts doing this? Will this trigger any violation of off platform policy from Airbnb?

Hi fellow hosts! I got tired of tracking supplies on spreadsheets and guessing what my cleaners had in stock, so I built STRcomms. It's a simple short-term rental inventory management system to help other hosts eliminate these supply headaches.To make it easy to try out, I set up two discount codes for the launch: STRSTART25M: Gets you up to 3 properties completely free for your first 2 months ($25 off each month). STRSTART50Y: Takes $50 off an annual plan if you want to lock it in. Take a look, save yourself some supply stress, and let me know what you think. I am always looking for feedback from other hosts to make it better.You can check it out at https://strcomms.com.

I would like to receive text messages from Hospitable when someone books or requests to book my property on VRBO and AirBnB.  I have searched and searched for how to do this and have found nothing helpful.   I checked all my settings on Hospitable and on my Samsung S26 phone.   I chatted with the AI BOT earlier this week, but that was just frustrating and worthless.   Hospitable really needs to have some LIVE personal chat options when the AI Bot cant assist.   

hi. Im wondering if people do review swaps?Once your listing gets under 4.8 rating, it can have quite a devastating effect on your visibility. Whos interested in review swaps? If we keep the price the same, then theres no difference except airbnb fee for each host. 

I am sometimes really frustrated that great new features Hospitable invents prevent old features from working properly: a lot of things are only flawless in theory, but often not well thought through, and therefore not easy to use – that is my criticism. The examples below make this completely clear.Regarding all of these following everyday problems and missing, obvious mini-features, I have opened tickets over the last 12 months, and virtually nothing has happened. I don’t need new features if the old ones aren’t at least thought through the end.Examples:To this day, I cannot decline or delete Airbnb inquiries. I have to go to the Airbnb app to decline them, but the inquiry still doesn't disappear in Hospitable. Discussions with ai hlep chatbot follows to delete this. Changing a booking (alter reservation) via the internal Hospitable tool does work, but to this day, the amounts are incorrectly labeled. I mean… without words. There is an app, but it is still just a web app loading all

I’m curious what QR codes other hosts have found genuinely useful.We currently use them for things like Wi-Fi, guest guides and extras, but I’m wondering what else people have experimented with.Some ideas I’ve seen or considered:Wi-Fi Digital guest guide Direct booking website WhatsApp contact House manual Local recommendations BBQ instructions Wellness bookings Late checkout or extrasI’m less interested in what could work and more interested in what guests actually scan and use.Have you found anything that gets used surprisingly often? Or anything that sounded like a great idea but nobody ever scanned?

Hi- I am looking to move over one of my properties to direct booking with our Hospitable Widget. I’ve had a few guest who have done it, tell me how cumbersome it is to do. Is there any tips that I can say to guest to let them know the process and to encourage them? Seems like that is my biggest bottle neck as they would rather just use Airbnb because of the ease of booking. 

My email box is flooded with Hospitable messages because I run 16 very busy properties.  Its polluting my email and making me very ineffective.  I only one want the new reservation messages but I get everything else that is an auto message setup.  I know my auto messages are setup, I don’t need hospitable to remind me that its going to send it out.  Also is there anyway to add the reservation details(especially money) to the new reservation emails?  I like to get a quick snap picture of the what/how/when/house of the reservation when it happens.  I don’t really need a screen capture of the “new reservation” email it sent to the guest.Thanks always for your help.Lance​​​​​​​

VRBO. offered improved calendar and pricing but when I follow the link, it says it must be done in Hospitable. How do we do that?

Chicago Hosts: How are you handling taxes across Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, and direct bookings?I manage short-term rental listings in Chicago and am trying to make sure I'm handling taxes correctly across all channels.Airbnb currently collects and remits the following taxes on my behalf: Hotel Accommodations Tax (Chicago) Hotel Accommodations Tax (Cook County) Illinois Hotel Operators' Occupation Tax MPEA Hotel Tax Shared Housing/Vacation Rental Surcharge Illinois Sports Facilities Tax Chicago Municipal Hotel Tax However, for Booking.com reservations, I receive the tax amounts and am responsible for remitting them myself. Guests are currently charged: TAX: 14.5% City tax: 4.5% I'm also researching the exact tax setup needed for direct bookings and want to make sure I'm not missing anything.For those with Chicago STRs: Which taxes are you remitting yourself for Booking.com reservations? How are you handling taxes for direct bookings? Which taxes, surcharges, registrat

I have a 1000sf cabin in Mammoth Spring, Ark. near the Spring River. It’s a tourist destination because of floating and trout fishing, but the economy is depressed. I had difficulties keeping good cleaners until Chloe started 2 years ago. She’s so good I pay her $75 each cleaning. Being afraid of running some renters off, I subsidize the cleaning by only charging $50.  Am I crazy?  What is “Average” for cleaning?

Got an inquiry today (not booked yet). The guest's first message was literally: "Has this unit been used for escort and prostitution services?"I answered honestly tht nothing like tht has ever happened at my place. She pushed back with "so you're not even sure, even as the host?"It's a tricky one. My place is full self check-in, so I never meet guests in person, and realistically no host (or even a hotel) can promise what someone does behind a locked door.How would you guys handle this? Do you give a firm flat "no," or stay honest tht you can't control wht happens in private? Have any of you had a guest ask something like this before?

I have been self-managing my property since April, 2026.  I cannot believe how often guests do not disclose that they are bringing pets.  Can anybody provide some insight on how to handle this?  Should I request my $125 pet fee?  It is really tough and unfair on the cleaners to have to handle the pet hair and accidents.  BUT, I am getting resistance from the guests.  I don’t want to jeopardize my reviews.  My sites say that we are “pet friendly” but it doesn’t actually say that the guest needs to disclose pets during the booking process and that there is a $125 charge to bring their pet.  Maybe the guest doesn’t understand that they need to include the pet number in the booking?  Any insight would be appreciated!  

What cancellation policy does everyone use on Airbnb? Just curious since they have recently made some changes to their policies 

How does someone go about investing in Hospitable in the US?  I heard you can purchase tokens and in US need to go through a process to confirm eligibility? 

Can someone reach out to me to do a Mogul trial?

We recently discovered that Air Bnb was collecting and paying a  local hospitality tax on our behalf that they didn’t previously collect. We were also paying it.  Not surprisingly, our local tax authority did not report the over payment.  They claimed that Air bnb does not report to them who they are submitting for-providing no trail and thus cannot refund us. Anyway, does anyone have any experience similar and  were you able to get any refunds from Air bnb? Any suggestions on that process would be appreciated.

What are some of your best messages that you send to guests that have booked in order to get more dollars in?

I am thinking of getting a non-disc based PS 5 or Xbox that has a gaming service subscription for one of my units with a sweet gaming TV in it.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Great idea?  See holes?   See something, say something.  

I’ve made an app for my own business specifically to handle inventory and automate supply runs and restocking for short-term rentals. I decided to open it up to everyone and need some real-world feedback from hosts who deal with tracking supplies and handling turnovers day in and day out.Check it out here: https://strcomms.comIf you have a few minutes to spare, I would love for you to play around with it for free and let me know what you think.Important note on billing: The app is currently hooked up to Stripe’s Test Mode sandbox. You can use everything without using real money or a real card.When you get to the checkout page, simply use the standard Stripe test card: Card Number: 4242 4242 4242 4242 Expiry / CVC / Details: Enter any random future date and numbers you want Whether you love it, find a bug, or think a feature is missing, your brutal honesty will help me make this a lifesaver for supply workflows. Drop your thoughts in the comments below or DM me directly.Thank you so mu

Curious what others do to create goodwill right at the start of a guest’s stay?Just to be upfront, my business is around creating thoughtful welcome notes automatically, so I obviously think the arrival moment matters. But I’m genuinely interested in what else hosts do, beyond the note itself, to make guests feel looked after when they first arrive.I’ve been reading through some of the older threads here and loved a few of the ideas people shared — fridge magnets with a property photo or logo and a QR code back to the direct booking site, bookmarks, and even Christmas decorations with photos of the property inside them. I thought the fridge magnet idea was especially clever, because it feels like a small guest takeaway but can also gently keep the direct booking site visible after checkout.For our own guests, we usually leave locally made cookies that are genuinely delicious. If they’ve mentioned they’re celebrating something, we leave a bottle of bubbly. If they’re bringing a dog, we

I currently have a guest who has used Airbnb twice in 2024 and then booked by home this year. The concern is they left reviews for their host giving them 4 stars and saying everything was great. I believe they are not aware how Airbnb ratings work. How a 4 can be really damaging to hosts. I am thinking of writing something like this on the day of check-out. Open to your views. I typically write my review for good guests and they review back. So far it has worked well. Of course I have also had problem guests (unfortunately cannot avoid them) PS: I am a new host and go up and beyond to get 5 stars. So far I have 16 reviews and 5 star overall, also a guest favorite. I’d love to hear from hosts what you think of the below to send to this guest. Is it too much? When should I send it?  “Thank you again for staying with me. I truly appreciate it.One thing I've learned as a host is that many guests don't realize Airbnb's rating system is a bit different from hotel ratings. In general, a 5-sta

Would love to see any ideas that people are already using!

I’m curious to hear how other hosts are offering Netflix, Hulu, etc. in their units. I am starting to hit the “scalability wall” with the way I’ve been doing it so far.The way I’ve been doing it so far has been to simply have an extra profile under each of my personal streaming accounts. The “guest profile” is named in a way that’s obvious to guests and it sits alongside the profiles for my other family members. My personal profiles are PIN-locked as needed so that people don’t rent movies, change my subscription plan, etc. Netflix is the most forgiving as far as enabling me to use a single account across 5 STRs (plus my personal home). On the other end, Hulu is the most restrictive, as far as constantly booting TVs off and having to go through the “update household” method to get them back on.Once in a while a guest says something like “Netflix/Hulu isn’t working, what do I do?” and I have to tell them to click “update household” and/or to have it send me a code so that I can relay th