From Rentals to Results: How Ehab Empowers STR Hosts to Win

In this episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast, we welcome Ehab Shoukry, a successful real estate investor, Airbnb Superhost, and coach who helps corporate professionals replace their job with short-term and mid-term rental income. Ehab built the RWE Academy, a step-by-step program designed to equip aspiring real estate investors with the tools and knowledge they need to build wealth, achieve financial freedom, and generate passive income.

Ehab shares how he got into the STR industry, built a successful property management business, created the RWE Academy, and how this program can help business professionals learn how to become full-time investors or short-term rental hosts. Ehab also shares some tips on how to become successful with short-term rentals.

Press Play now to learn why Ehab decided to become a real estate investment coach and how the RWE Academy teaches aspiring investors how to make money on short-term and mid-term rental properties.

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

How Ehab Got into the STR Industry

Ehab says he transitioned to full-time real estate in 2019, although he had always had a passion for real estate investing and the financial freedom it brings. “That got me interested early on in my twenties, and I was on a journey for many years to try to figure out how to get there and what the right strategy was. And ultimately, I could find my way there when I got into my forties with short-term and mid-term rentals.”

Now, Ehab has up to 68 different short-term and mid-term rental units in his portfolio, and he’s excited about managing multi-family properties.

What Is the RWE Academy?

“A lot of people are on the same journey that I was on for financial freedom and have a hard time figuring out what’s the right strategy to get there because there’s flipping, there's wholesaling, there’s all these different things you hear about on YouTube university,” Ehab points out.

“And when I figured it out and it changed my life, I decided I wanted to put together a program. The reason is that we need to help others not only determine the right strategy but also execute it properly.

So, we put together the Academy. We have about 120 students in it, and we’re helping business professionals create that extra income. And ultimately, if they want to go full-time into real estate to make this their business and their life.”

Ehab explains that the Rehab with Ehab program includes several components. Online training is available that teaches students how to find good deals, manage their rehabs and contractors, and operate a successful short-term and mid-term rental business. They also offer weekly group coaching calls, a Facebook community, and an accountability program where one of the coaches holds participants accountable every week to ensure they’re putting in the work and staying on track with their goals.

Being Successful with Short-Term Rentals

Ehab notes that one of the biggest misconceptions about STR investing is that you can take any property, furnish it, and be successful in operating a short-term rental. It’s not that simple because the STR market is highly competitive.

“The people that are surviving and thriving in this market are the people that take this seriously like a business. And so, they’ve invested time in making cool properties. They’ve invested effort in creating systems to ensure their guests have great customer experiences. They have the right automation, the right tools, property management systems, pricing systems, all the right components that you need to make this a business rather than just kind of a hobby.”

Ehab shares one of the most significant aha moments he had while running a property management business. “I was amazed at how lucrative short-term and mid-term rentals are from a cash flow perspective, versus my previous properties, which were just single-family home long-term rentals.”

Ehab also notes that operating a short-term rental involves more work. “As I grew, one of the things that was a bit of a surprise was how much extra work is required to do this the right way. And you’re held to the reviews that you get, and that ultimately will dictate how successful you’ll be in this business.”

Ehab emphasizes that to maximize the benefits of your short-term rentals, it is essential to allocate time to establish systems and processes, and to begin hiring personnel (such as virtual assistants, in-house cleaning teams) as early as possible. “Those are things that make or break your short-term rental business.”

About Using Hospitable

When Ehab started the property management business, he was working a full-time consulting job and had to travel Monday through Thursday, like many consultants do. He understood he needed to create systems to operate his business while working his full-time job.

From the very beginning, he began researching to understand the tools available to help him automate his business operations as much as possible. “Automated pricing, dynamic pricing, kind of the fundamental smart messaging, which was a big thing back then, and now has turned into full-blown property management systems like Hospitable.”

Ehab says he was using some vacation rental software, but when his portfolio reached 35 properties, he outgrew what they had to offer. So, he switched to a different one and was disappointed with it, as the system had numerous bugs. Then, one of his students recommended Hospitable to him, and he tried it out.

At that time, Ehab had 60+ properties and was wondering whether Hospitable’s platform could handle his business. “It’s been great so far,” he points out. Ehab says he likes that Hospitable allows him to monitor and quickly assess his business performance using the Metrics Dashboard. “There are a lot of features in there that are robust, that let you get insight into your business besides just the obvious stuff that I go into all the time.”

Tune in to the full episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast to discover how Ehab has found his way in real estate investing and how he empowers others to achieve financial freedom.