SynergyStays

02/28/2024

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒚?

My journey with revenue management was born out of personal necessity. When I made the decision to end my career with the Charleston Fire Department so that I could spend more time with my wife and children, I was going to be relying on the income from my short term rentals to continue to provide for my family. I had worked with several management companies already, and some were definitely better than others. But even the best experience left me feeling as though my properties were being managed less as a business, and more as, well…a property.

𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 ‘𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩’ 𝐰𝐚𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.

If these were going to be my primary means of income, I had to know these answers.

Unable to find them elsewhere, I embarked on a year-long journey to find them for myself. Mastermind Groups. Books. Podcasts. Conferences. Industry Leaders in Data and Revenue Managemement.

Fast forward to 2024…

𝟑𝐁𝐑 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐭 𝐏 - 𝟐𝟕% 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫

𝟏 𝐁𝐑 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 - 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝟑𝟑.𝟖%
𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞

𝟑 𝐁𝐑 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 - 𝐎𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝟑𝟏.𝟒% 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐎𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

And now I’m handling revenue management/listing optimization for 2 ‘clients’.

𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟖 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐒𝐓𝐑’𝐬.

Preference will be given to those with listings that have been active for at least 6 months, as I want to be able to document the effectiveness of what I’m doing. I have no interest in working together unless I feel confident that I can deliver a 100% ROI at minimum.

If you find yourself asking these same questions about your STR’s, let's talk. Drop a line below or DM me.

02/25/2024

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.

People often think it is about knowing when to decrease prices in order to increase occupancy through more bookings. And sometimes it is. But it is equally about making sure that you aren't losing revenue through the bookings that you are already getting.

This is my first booking created for a new revenue management clients' vacation rental home. Last year they booked these same dates at an average nightly rate of $500. Through analyzing market occupancy and booking lead times, I was confident that we were underpriced and could command higher rates. We just booked these same dates at $705/night.

4 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. $820 𝙄𝙉𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙚.

02/22/2024

Have been MIA - working on some big developments with Vacation Rental Revenue Management that I'm looking forward to sharing soon....but first, something way more important! Couldn't be more proud of the difference that my wife makes in the world of education - both for our own children as well as those in our community ❤️

A Charleston County Instructional Coach is setting her sights on a project that she says will benefit the students at her school and open their eyes to the people living in the world around us.

02/11/2024

Super Bowl Sunday 🏈 🏈

Got me to thinking, what do the very best Airbnb's in the world have in common with NFL Champions?

🤔

Hospitality is the fundamentals - sound tackling on D and ball protection on Offense. You simply cannot be successful, nevermind the best, without consistent hospitality.

Revenue Management is creating a game plan to win the big game. It's analyzing the data and breaking down your competitors to the point that you know more about them than they do themselves. It's identifying your strengths so that you can amplify them, and your weaknesses so that you can improve upon and overcome them.

The world of short-term rentals is quickly becoming one of the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. Which will yours be in 2024?
🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆

Drop 'Hospitality' or 'RevMgmt' in the comments if you want to improve in either area. I'll send you the self-evaluation guide that we use to evaluate our own properties in both areas.

02/08/2024

Wow. So incredibly humbled to have spent 3 days in this room surrounded by the most knowledgeable, dedicated, and talented people in the STR industry not just from around the country, but from around the world. I literally have 50 pages of notes, in addition to the many new connections and relationships. Look forward to sharing more as I continue to process and implement industry best practices into SynergyStays and RevStay Solutions. Here's 5 quick takeaways:

⭐️ Most Important Metric to Understand in Order to Beat Out Your Competition: Booking Window/Lead Time (Kenny Bedwell, CEO/Founder STR Insights)
⭐️ We Must Learn & Re-Learn Our Systems Well to Maximize Their Effectivenss (Anurag Verma, Co-Founder PriceLabs)
⭐️ The 2 Keys to Building Super Properties (Max ROI/Net Income) are Revenue Management and Marketing (Bill Faeth, Build STR Wealth
⭐️ AI is Rapidly Transforming the STR Industry, But It's Like a Child and Must Be Taught To Be Effective (Kenny Bedwell, STR Insights)
⭐️ Understanding Where We Are Going is More Important Than Where We Have Been in Order to Find Our Guests (Jamie Lane, Chief Economist AirDNA)

02/05/2024

So very grateful to be back at STR WealtCon in Nashville for 2nd year in a row. Last year was about obtaining knowledge and building relationships to up my game with our personal STR's. This year is about learning how we can continue to increase ROI for our SynergyStays clients through outstanding hospitality and cutting edge revenue management using advanced analytics. 🚀 🚀 🚀

01/29/2024

Lots of people ask me what pricing tool we use for our short term rentals - these days there are tons of options out there - some property management systems now even offer automated pricing that is included. I still prefer the OG's - those that focus solely on revenue management as a pricing tool. The big 3 are: PriceLabs, Wheelhouse, and Beyond Pricing. My personal preference is PriceLabs, because it integrates directly with our PMS and has a user-friendly interface. If you have any questions about pricing tools, drop your question below or shoot me a DM!

01/22/2024

Most people associate Steve Jobs with Apple, but did you know that he was the CEO of Pixar first? That's right - Pixar, the master of creating iconic cinematic experiences through emotional storytelling.🎥

I wonder if it's purely coincidence that Apple experienced a remarkable turnaround shortly thereafter 🤔

Here's the thing - Steve Jobs didn't bring some groundbreaking technical gain with him. But he sure did understand how to create a deeper sense of meaning with consumers through, wait for it...storytelling!

Creating top-producing Airbnb homes is no different. The greatest difference between the haves and have nots is that the have nots are only focused on solving external problems for their guests.

'Need a place to stay? Here's a house.' 🤦‍♂️

But we know better. Our listings don't just physically describe a home. We tell a story with our pictures and descriptions. Our guests desire luxury and rest.🛏 They crave exploration and adventure.🏂 They seek purposeful travel experiences that help them to achieve their goal of supporting small local businesses, or of creating memories that deepen connections with their partners, children, or friends.👨‍👩‍👦‍👦

If you want to be the Apple of short-term-rentals, you MUST succeed in creating resolutions to your guest's external, internal, and philosophical problems - and that emotional storytelling begins with your property listing.

01/16/2024

Hospitality is an Art🎨, and it's Masterpiece is Happy Guests🙂

01/09/2024

When I realized using pricing software for my short term rentals still requires daily action to be effective....

01/07/2024

Sometimes it's easier said than done, but I've found this parable to be life-changing🤯

It's even applicable to hospitality/operating STR's. I used to cringe when guests reached out with an issue. Until I realized that more often than not, this actually led to a 5 ⭐️ review 🤔

Instead of being something 'bad', it's actually an OPPORTUNITY to connect with your guest, and demonstrate that you genuinely care about them.

Responding quickly and appropriately is key! All you need to do is make sure that you have the right systems and protocols in place to capitalize.

This is a Taoist parable that teaches a great lesson about the danger of assigning meaning to things in life. "Who knows what is good and what is bad" is a p...

01/05/2024

Revenue Management 101: Define Your Guest Avatar
Families👨‍👩‍👧‍👦or Solo Travelers 🧍‍♀️?
Pet Friendly 🐶?
Disability/ADA Compliant🧑‍🦽?
Bachelorettes🍾?
Nature Enthusiasts🌲?
Vampires🧛‍♂️?
Ok, you get the idea. But seriously, ever hear the phrase 'you can't please everyone?' Damn right you have, because it's true! If you don't know WHO you're trying to reach, then HOW can you do it successfully? Want guests that will pay more to stay at your listing, and who will leave you better reviews? The more well-defined your guest avatar, the more of these guests you'll have!

01/05/2024

Revenue Management 101: Define Your Guest Avatar

Families👨‍👩‍👧‍👦or Solo Travelers 🧍‍♀️?
Pet Friendly 🐶?
Disability/ADA Compliant🧑‍🦽?
Bachelorettes🍾?
Nature Enthusiasts🌲?
Vampires🧛‍♂️?

Ok, you get the idea. But seriously, ever hear the phrase 'you can't please everyone?' Damn right you have, because it's true! If you don't know WHO you're trying to reach, then HOW can you do it successfully? Want guests that will pay more to stay at your listing, and who will leave you better reviews? The more well-defined your guest avatar, the more of these guests you'll have!

01/04/2024

I'll be touching upon some key data points and takeaways from this report at REI Central tonight. The full report offers some Great insight into what happened in 2023 with Short-Term Rentals, and what should be expected in 2024.

My biggest takeaway? 2024 is about deciding 'are you in, or are you out?'

The 2024 Outlook Report for the short-term rental (STR) market presents a comprehensive analysis of the industry's performance and future expectations, based on the trends of 2023.

01/03/2024

2023 Was an interesting year to go all in on Short-Term Rentals, to say the least. Traveler demand grew 📈 yet again!🎉 Unfortunately, supply of STR homes grew significantly more🤦‍♂️
After 8 years of owning and operating STR's, I knew I had to do something to up my game.

Enter Revenue Management🤑🤑🤑

What is it? Why so important now? How???

Those that know me well know that I am NOT a big social media person, to say the least. But in an effort to share what I've learned (and continue to learn) with as many of you as possible, here goes nothing 😝

03/01/2023