How to Avoid the Beginner Mistakes of Co-Hosting

In this episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast, we're diving into co-hosting short-term rentals with Brandon Pottebaum, the owner of BK Stays and the Hospitable user who has hit 100K in direct bookings. Brandon joins us to share his journey into the world of co-hosting vacation rentals and the lessons he learned along the way.

Press Play now to learn tips on avoiding common co-hosting mistakes and how Hospitable's features help Brandon get more direct bookings and improve the efficiency of his business.

If you prefer to read the highlights, we've got a summary of the key takeaways below.

What Does BK Stays Do?

Brandon explains that he and his wife Katharina are business partners, so they named their property management company BK Stays, where B is for Brandon and K is for Katharina. They buy, manage, and co-host short-term rentals. They started their business in 2021 when they purchased their first STR property. Now, they own three vacation rental properties and are growing a co-hosting business, offering property owners comprehensive services.

Brandon points out that property owners trust them "to do what's best for the home" to achieve their goals. "Obviously, every home is a little bit different, but that's how we've seen the most successes when our owners have trusted us to take full control of co-hosting or property management if you want to use those terms loosely."

How to Avoid Common Beginner Mistakes That Co-Hosts Make

Brandon admits he made plenty of mistakes, especially when starting his co-hosting journey, so he'd love for others to avoid them if they're considering co-hosting.

He emphasizes the importance of ensuring you take on the right home and owners for co-hosting. “I was so hungry to get my first and second clients that I could overlook a home that would cause headaches or an owner with a different vision or goals."

Expect it to be more work than you think

Brandon says that when launching one of their first co-hosting homes, they invested a lot of time preparing the property, choosing furniture and décor, taking photos, etc. "And we were just doing it as a favor. In reality, it was pretty time-consuming, and we probably should have been charging for our time or charging an onboarding fee, or at least hourly, whatever it is. I have no regrets. The home has done fine, and we're happy about it. But it's a lesson learned."

Brandon recommends being more careful about your time, especially during the launch phase, because setting up everything requires more work than people realize. "If you're trying to scale quickly, you must have a good system in place."

Set clear expectations

Brandon emphasizes the importance of "making sure your owners and you align with what you want." He has encountered two types of owners. Some are very involved and constantly check the calendar and pricing. There are also busy professionals who just want their place to be booked and bring revenue, so they "take their hands off."

"There's a wide gap between there. So, we need to fully set expectations and understand everyone's goals and how we operate. So you don't have to have some awkward conversations later about how you're charging a fee structure, how you're charging your rates, or what your cleaning fees are versus extra fees and things like that. You need an owner contract upfront and lay it out as much as possible. Think of every possible scenario."

Emergency management is key

Guest communication is crucial for the success of any short-term rental, so Brandon relies on Hospitable and thinks that Hospitable has "a great AI tool for that."

"For me, guest communication has been fine. Emergency management might be a challenge. You can never prepare for the worst-case scenario. You can make automatic responses and prepare for early check-in and check-outs. Those are obvious. But what happens when the HVAC goes out in the middle of July on a summer vacation? Or what happens when the jacuzzi goes out in the middle of the winter on a cabin vacation?"

Brandon recommends setting clear standard operating procedures (SOP) to give your team members clear instructions on what they must do if something goes wrong. "If this happens, call this person, right? And that way, you can step away from it, and somebody else might be able to handle an emergency like that."

How Hospitable Makes Co-Hosting Easier

Brandon uses Hospitable to streamline routine operations and takes advantage of our Direct Premium plan. He uses Hospitable's booking widget on his direct booking website. Brandon underlines that they're "pushing direct as much as possible right through," so they use StayFi for email marketing and market their properties on social media.

"The Direct features and all the developments that have come through Direct with rental agreements and AutoHost (guest screening) have just been fantastic for us because what we were doing before that was just too much manual work."

Brandon also likes Hospitable's integration with TouchStay, which allows him to create digital guidebooks for his properties. This helps reduce the number of guest questions, improve the guest experience, and save time on guest communication.

Listen to the full episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcasts to learn how to avoid common beginner mistakes that can trip up even the most enthusiastic new hosts and how the right automation tools can make your life easier.