Since there are plenty of rentals to choose from on Lake Tahoe, it may be difficult to choose the best one for your budget, desired amenities, and the number of people accompanying you. However, no matter how many people you decide to book, even with last minute visitors, it’s important to factor in what kind of property best fits your needs. Here are just a few tips to help your further narrow...

When you offer a vacation rental on Airbnb, you're essentially welcoming people who are total strangers into your home. For many hosts, this might seem a bit worrying. Airbnb offers some features to help put your mind at ease. You can browse through the profiles of potential guests and read reviews left about them by other hosts. Of course, this won't give you a complete picture of what a...

Guests and hosts share one major concern when using Airbnb and other vacation rental platforms: how do I stay safe? There is risk on both sides, especially when a guest is renting a room in a host's home. A few weeks ago the New York Times reported a story about an Airbnb stay gone horribly wrong. A guest was locked inside his rented room in Madrid by the host, who tried to force him into a...

There's no business quite like the vacation rental business. Technology is enabling so many people to take part in the transformation of an industry. You can access everything from the palm of your hand, both as a guest and a host. But anyone who's been in the vacation rental industry longer than a few weeks knows it's not all roses and rainbows. Sometimes the responsibilities for Airbnb hosts...

Asking a guest for a review is one of the trickiest components to owning or managing a vacation rental home business. As owners and managers ourselves, we've had a good share of luck getting our guests to leave reviews, and quite thorough and well-written reviews, too. How do we do it? We started by meeting and exceeding our guest's expectations and some guests were naturally moved to write a...

Making the most of your vacation rental home generally means making the most money on your vacation rental home. While this is obviously a very important consideration, especially if you're trying to decide whether or not to rent out your home, there are other considerations that we'd argue are even more important. That's right – money isn't everything. Here are four reasons why money shouldn't...

Most of the big vacation rental booking sites have an instant booking feature, allowing guests to book an available vacation rental without any communication with the host. However, we've found that the vast majority of guests have specific questions about the properties or their stay, so there's almost always communication before booking.

For most vacation homeowners, their number one and number two priorities are getting enough bookings and ensuring the safety of their homes and possessions once the home is rented out. So how do you know when the stranger you've rented your home to is a quality guest? Have your prospective guests answer these questions (and use our telltale signs) to help you reduce the chances you're renting to...

After you've successfully booked your home, you're most likely going to be engaged in back-and-forth with your guests regarding the logistics of their arrival to the property. Most guests will want to arrive as early as possible and you'll either be amenable to that request or you'll be firm with your set arrival time. In either case, meeting your guests in person versus leaving them a key or...