Top 5 Mistakes Short Term Rental Owners Make When Outfitting Their New STR

If you are a newcomer to the vacation rental space, it is important to remember that you are running a hospitality business and not a side gig hobby.  You are charging a premium fee and competing with hotels and other vacation rentals. Here are the top 5 mistakes we've experienced or have seen other owners experience throughout our 17 years of hosting.  Learn how to avoid these pitfalls and enhance your guests' experience with our expert tips and advice.

We were total newbies when we outfitted our first vacation rental property, back in 2007.  For a 3 bedroom home, we selected two queen size beds and two twin beds.  Our thought process was that a queen bedframe, mattress, and linens were all less expensive than king size items.  We later learned that some families ONLY search for/book properties that have a king size bed.  Some couples won't sleep somewhere unless there is a king bed! Friend groups don't want to share a queen, they want space! 

For years, we had many people ask us why we did not have a king size bed at this property, especially because the bedrooms had plenty of space. A guest who was interested in booking again told us to let her know if we buy a king bed at the house because she would not re-book without the king.  This prompted us to finally buy a king.  It was worth it to retain the repeat guest and we knew we would recoup the costs. 

Speaking of beds, we found that quality wooden bedframes are the most durable over time.  We've had metal mattress rails become damaged or break off from the headboards.  Wooden rails that connect to a wood headboard are sturdier option for guests.  We would advise against cloth headboards as they harbor germs/stains and are more fragile due to potential ripping, etc. 

There is a reason that hotels use white linens.  They prove cleanliness, are the easiest to maintain, give a crisp and luxurious feeling, and they brighten up the room.  In fact, our cleaning team prefers that the linens stay on the bed during a turnover so they can examine them and pre-treat any marks on the linens and white linens make this an easier task. Also, when white sheets and/or blankets are all washed together, there is no risk of colors running together. 

White towels are best to offer for similar reasons: guests can see they are clean, white goes with all decor, and they are easy to bleach when soiled.  We do offer dark colored "make-up" towels at the bathroom sinks for face washing to help prevent make up stains on the white towels.     

This is more of a pet peeve of mine than anything else, but decorating with seahorses and starfish in a lake market drives me bananas!  Sometimes there is a grey line between ocean and lake decor, but when it's obvious, it's obvious!  If your property is near Lake Michigan, there are no sharks, coral reefs, dolphins, curly seashells, crabs or palm trees. You can still decorate with a "coastal vibe" without specific ocean graphics! 

Nautical decor includes:

• lighthouse
• anchor
• oars
• sailboats
• sailboat flags
• rope details
• ship wheel or compass
• sea glass
• shiplap
• neutral colors and/or shades of blue
• light or white wood fixtures or furniture
• rustic, dark wood furniture
• navy and red accents
• photos of ships, map prints of the lake, pictures of local landmarks

Overpromising guest offerings in your listing can be troublesome.  For example, if you say things like, "20 beach towels available" the guest will search for those 20 beach towels and if the guest can't find the 20 beach towels or some are missing, then the property manager will be getting a call and will need to provide the beach towels. Your turnover crew doesn't have time to meticulously maintain extravagant guest offerings, so it is best not to list too many specific details.  Ask yourself, does this provide value to attract bookings?  If not, it's better to just leave it off and let the guest be pleasantly surprised to find a few beach towels available to them when they arrive.  

Remember you are running a hospitality business, and it is important not to nickel and dime your guest, especially if they just shelled out thousands of dollars to stay at your house.  If you stay at your property and notice there used to be 20 pillowcases and now there are only 17 pillowcases, don't stress out about it.  There will be churn and you may lose a bath towel or two when it's no longer meeting the standard.  Dishes will break.  Tupperware lids will be lost.  Somehow half of our steak knives went missing one time.  Don't put out items that you are overly attached to in case something happens to it.  Someone who drove a Tesla might charge it and cost you extra in utilities. These are the things you'll have to just look past as the cost of doing business. 

As for furniture, depending on your thought process you may want to buy really low-end or high-end furniture. However, it's really best to go mid-range in a short-term vacation rental property.  Low-end furniture may look cheap and not be durable so you will end up replacing it more often (which in the long run will cost more money).  On the other hand, high-end furniture will be costly and look great, but may get ruined and need to be replaced quicker than your budget planned to.  We replace couches often because and people sit on them in their wet bathing suits or nap on them and they get worn out fast even with an upholstery cleaning.  At least with the mid-range furniture, it looks good in your photos and for guest ambience, and it lasts for a while but you don't spend incredible amounts of money on it.  

We hope that identifying the top 5 mistakes made when outfitting a vacation rental will help you start off on the right foot.  While some of the items mentioned here are cosmetic, we want to also add it is very important to constantly inspect your property for safety hazards as well. 

If you are working with Anchor Point Premier Vacations and would like a free consultation on what to offer or how to decorate, please contact us and we would be happy to help! If you are just finding Anchor Point and are looking for a property manager, we would love to chat! Please contact us here.