Well, it’s been a wild ride over the last year or so. Back in 2022 (on Cinco de Mayo, no less!), I made a non-refundable deposit on my next vacation rental dream—this time in gorgeous Sayulita, Mexico. I closed on July 25th, 2022. On one hand, it was a spontaneous decision, but on the other hand… if ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Safety FAQ’s
... READ the POST
Alternative Revenue
Bookings aren’t the only way to make money at your short-term rental. Build equity and offset costs by building alternative revenue streams that utilize your property investment. If you are a forward-thinking vacation property owner, take note! Some alternative revenue ideas we touch on this ... READ the POST
Wholesale Linens
Save money and streamline your vacation rental’s linen program! The Distinguished Guest’s Guide to Wholesaling Linens presents a clear roadmap for wholesaling done right, from what to look for in a wholesale supplier, to what the heck to do with the pallet on which your bulk linens are delivered. ... READ the POST
Hospitality Survey
Back in 2012, I started The Distinguished Guest with a crazy idea: To standardize hospitality best practices for the alternative accommodation industry, starting with my own rental in Princeville, Hawaii. After immersing myself in the industry, I quickly realized it can feel like "every rental is ... READ the POST
InnStyle
Once upon a time, InnStyle was one of my competitors. Now, a few years later—after TDG’s pivot from merchandiser to education hub—I’m happy to be able to whole-heartedly recommend their excellent hospitality products without any conflict of interest! InnStyle is owned and operated by a ... READ the POST
Uncommon House Rules To Consider At Your Airbnb
In this post, we’re going to talk about Airbnb house rules. More specifically, we’re talking about house rules you may not have considered yet. The kind of stuff that you can’t anticipate until it happens at your property. Like a guest leaving a loaded handgun behind in a drawer. (Yep, it has ... READ the POST
Down Etc
Want to give your guests a sleep experience that rivals a swanky boutique hotel? Try Down Etc! Whether you need sheets, pillows, or towels (or all of the above), Down Etc is the bed, bath, and amenity provider that boutique and high-end hotels have trusted for twenty ... READ the POST
Venus Group
Finding a reputable linen vendor for your small accommodations business can be a challenge… trust me, I know! I am continually searching for high-quality providers for our industry—specifically seeking out those who have a long-standing reputation in hospitality. My philosophy: ... READ the POST
The Most Underrated Real Estate On Your Vacation Rental Website
Website optimization for vacation rentals. Structuring a website is no easy task. From deciding what items to include on your main menu, to balancing advertisements with helpful content, to determining whether popups are really worth it, there are countless small decisions that can make or break ... READ the POST
9 Things To Consider When Investing In A STR
Are you considering investing in a short-term rental (STR for short)? Our formerly small, fringe business—which started a few decades ago with classified ads and word-of-mouth referrals—has met mainstream investing in a big way. Thanks to unicorn startups like Airbnb (now a household name), ... READ the POST
The 10 Touch Points of Modern Hospitality
When does hospitality begin? It is not at the moment your guests arrive. It is not at the time of booking, either. Instead, it begins at the moment you decide to create a short-term rental business. Hospitality is, after all, a state of mind. You must learn from the very beginning to become a ... READ the POST
Proper Insurance
Five years ago, I gave my current insurance provider (a large and popular residential insurance provider) a call to make sure my property in Kauai wasn’t missing any of the essentials. Did I need a fire extinguisher? A dead bolt? I figured the safest thing to do was to ask my current insurance ... READ the POST
5 Things You Need To Know Before Listing On Airbnb
Listing on Airbnb: short-term rental “athletes” know that owning and operating a rental is a marathon, not a sprint. Along the way, many roadblocks will pop up (understatement of the year!)…and successful, agile rentalists find ways to change course. As a whole house owner back in 2015, I was ... READ the POST
Waivo
The dreaded security deposit. It’s a pain point for managers, hosts, owners, and guests. There are other damage insurance programs available, but many are far too labor intensive and take both the control and revenue away from the managers. Hence, the birth of Waivo™, vacation rental damage ... READ the POST
COVID 19 Cleaning Supplies for Vacation Rental Owners and Airbnb Hosts
For once, it is not a human guest causing trouble for short-term rental hosts. That unwanted guest, of course, is the COVID 19 pandemic that has brought unprecedented global chaos for months now, and particular havoc to the travel and hospitality industries. If viruses could be evaluated like ... READ the POST
COVID-19 Cleaning
The Ultimate Covid-19 Cleaning Resource It is still hard for me to believe that just a few short months ago, I was set to have the most profitable summer on record at my Kauai vacation rental property. Now? Well... It’s a familiar story for almost everyone in the short-term rental ... READ the POST
How to Organize Vacation Rental Finances
I’m a numbers person. I worked in commercial real estate for 20 years before starting my vacation rental business, and my days were full of them. Luckily, because of this experience, I had a solid understanding of how I wanted to run and account for my vacation rental finances from the ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Tax Tips
In the vacation rental industry, the connections we make with other vacation home pros are one of our most valuable assets. Case in point: the lovely Holly Webb. Holly and I both won makeovers for our vacation rental websites over on Matt Landau’s Vacation Rental Marketing Blog, and I was lucky ... READ the POST
(Photography by the talented, Tyann Marcink) I’d venture to guess that many (if not most?) TDG readers have a Facebook account for their vacation rental business. After all, Facebook has entered its teen years—it’s 13!—and over two billion people actively use the platform every single ... READ the POST
The #bookdirect Movement
If you are in the short-term rental industry, you’ve likely heard that developing your own website to collect bookings is a smart move. When it’s your book direct platform, you control the booking, the communication, the terms, the marketing, the cancellation policy (*ahem*)… But do ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Photos: Invest in a Professional
Way back when, fuzzy point-and-shoot vacation rental photos with awkward angles and bad perspectives were the norm for vacation rental marketing. In those days, anyone who sprang for crisp, professional photography automatically rocketed themselves above the local competition. That time is ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Insurance Can Make or Break Your Business
When it comes to vacation rental insurance, we all must tackle this important question at some point, or pay the consequences: Am I properly covered? (You know what they say. If you have to ask the question...) Here’s where we turn to the experts to find out what good coverage looks ... READ the POST
Double Booking Damage Control
You think it will never happen to you… until it does. The dreaded Double Booking. I pride myself on being detail-oriented. After all, my passion for “the details” is the whole reason I started The Distinguished Guest in the first place! But, like all vacation rental owners (and humans) I made ... READ the POST
Holiday Tipping Guide
Holiday tipping: as you take stock of what’s important to you during the holiday season, don’t forget your trusted vacation rental staff and crew. After all, if you’re running a successful vacation rental, you’re likely not doing it alone. Your housekeepers, property managers, maintenance team, ... READ the POST
Hospitality Survey Results
The Hospitality Survey Results are Here! We asked—you answered. A huge thank you to the almost 700 folks—691 to be exact!—who completed The Distinguished Guest’s Hospitality Survey. Our survey was the first of its kind in the vacation rental and home-sharing industry, with a goal of gathering ... READ the POST
How to Create a Hotel Bed
Hotels set a pretty high bar for your guests’ expectations. Get ahead of the curve by creating the perfect, hotel-style bed that maximizes guest comfort. Watch my video to see the process in action! I’ve also written the steps below. Step 1: Build the Foundation Place a feather bed on ... READ the POST
# 1 Time Waster
Years ago, my good friend Matt Landau started a heated Airbnb cleaning debate on his Vacation Rental Marketing Blog: Just how much responsibility do vacation rental guests have for cleaning/property maintenance at checkout? The post is over three years old and I still remember it. Both because of ... READ the POST
Hotel Linen Secrets Revealed
So, it's time to buy comforter sets, sheets, towels and other linens for your vacation rental or Airbnb property. You might be tempted to just head to your nearest big box store, plop a random bedding set in your cart and call it a day. Resist the urge, friends! If you want to compete with ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Bedding
At The Distinguished Guest, I'm constantly seeking the best vacation rental bedding for my clients, who represent a variety of nightly rates—from budget to luxury. To offer the best products, I've spent the last several years collecting sheet set, bedding set, and comforter set samples, testing ... READ the POST
StayFi
If you are a short-term rental owner trying to market your own property outside of the big listing sites/OTAs, you know the struggle is real. The listing sites are large, well-funded marketing machines and they still—even now—have a huge slice of the pie. It can be tempting to just turn all your ... READ the POST
Guest Hook
Great copy can make or break your business! I am not a writer. And the writing experience I do have has been “strictly business”—straightforward and to the point. No flowery expressions or threading a yarn to tell my story. I am not known for nailing every comma or apostrophe. Thankfully, I ... READ the POST
Towels
BEST BATH TOWELS, HAND TOWELS & WASH CLOTHS Though The Distinguished Guest is known as a "maven of the well-made bed" for vacation rentals, I have also counseled quite a few hospitality-minded folks about how to choose the best luxury bath towel for their vacation rentals. A plush bath towel ... READ the POST
Toiletries
Back in 2012, I set out my very first travel-size toiletry kit for guests arriving at my Tahoe vacation rental. At the time, small touches like that definitely weren’t common in short-term rentals. I was excited to offer a variety of vacation rental toiletries, but I wasn’t sure if my guests would ... READ the POST
Hospitality Cleaning Supplies: The Essentials
It's the age-old question for the hospitality industry, especially vacation rentals and Airbnbs: How much cleaning should you expect guests to do for themselves when they stay at your property? Should you ask them to do the dishwashing? Empty the trash? Start a load of towels in the wash? Or ... READ the POST
Vacation Rental Sheet Maintenance
One of the missions at The Distinguished Guest is to share the beauty of a well-made bed for vacation rentals. After all, guests spend hours and hours in your beds—sleeping longer (and hopefully better!) than they do at home. Your vacation rental sheets are key! And you can’t have a well-made, ... READ the POST
