Good morning,
Welcome to the first Pro Newsletter featuring STR Pro – Lauren K. Aumond (from @AdultingIsEasy)! Lauren – handing you the wheel:
We started our short-term rental business in January 2021. By September 2021, we were looking to expand and knew we’d need software to help us scale. We found the OwnerRez property management software (PMS) and haven’t looked back.
Here are 6 reasons why you should consider using property management software for your STRs.
6 Reasons to use STR Management Software
- One point of truth
When we started out, we were managing our initial 3 listings on the platforms directly, meaning a change in pricing, pictures, or wording meant making the change in Airbnb and VRBO.
Now, we make changes in one place that syncs with both platforms. - Communication
We have many automated communications with our guests, everything from a booking notification to welcome information to check out information. And each of these is the same for ALL properties.
OwnerRez allows us to include fields that populate automatically with property specific information, like its name or address. - Security Deposit
Through Stripe, we are able to collect security deposit holds directly from our guest. We ask for relatively small deposits, like $100, and we have only kept 1 to date.
Just collecting the deposit has weeded people out from booking that we probably don’t want to book anyways. - Renter’s Agreement
We are able to send guest a renter’s agreement for electronic signature. It mostly reiterates the rules from the listing, along with some additional ones – like no glitter.
Again, a handful of people have chosen not to book because of this, and we’re OK with that. - Automated Locks
Our PMS communicates with the lock software (RemoteLock), which communicates directly with the locks (Schlage Encodes). This means that the PMS generates a code for each guest and sends it to the lock, which activates the code just before check-in and just after checkout. The messaging we have set up in the PMS sends the guest their code 3 days before check-in.
All of this happens automatically. - Integrated Pricing
We used to try our hand at changing our own prices, but that got old quickly. We have PriceLabs integrates with OwnerRez. There are many customizations, like differential between weekdays and weekends or change in length of stay requirements as open dates approach. And PriceLabs takes seasonality, demand, amenities, reviews, and more into account when setting pricing.
We’re making more than we did without it. (Note that PriceLabs does not require a PMS as an intermediary.)
In conclusion
We are seeing a huge return on investment for all software we use in our business. We literally would have fewer units without them. If you’re looking to scale, I highly recommend OwnerRez and PriceLabs.
More STR resources can be found here: https://app.gumroad.com/adultingiseasy.
Thank you and see you in a few weeks! – Lauren K. Aumond
See you on Friday
