September Owner Update

Greetings!

Sheesh. What a summer. 

I'm glad it's behind us and I'm missing it already.

There's something about the cadence of summer that I genuinely enjoy — we're just on all the time. When there are guests in the homes most nights we hear about any issues quickly, and we're generally operating off the balls of our feet. In a weird way, it's almost easier.

All that said, we're rolling into fall, which is personally my favorite season to host in. Guests come up toward the end of the week, stay for the weekend, and then it's time to reset. It's a really nice rhythm, and the weather is already beautiful — warm days, cooler nights.

One thing worth mentioning. The fresh flowers we've been leaving for check-ins were such a hit with guests that we've already rolled into fresh cider donuts and apple cider for all our fall arrivals. Hilltop Orchards is giving us a great commercial rate, so the cost is totally doable and worth every penny. To be clear, these are on us. Guest gifts aren't part of a supply charge and don't hit your owner statements. We think it's money well spent.

We've been having so much fun with these that we're already talking through a hot cocoa setup for the winter.

Owner Statements and VRPlatform

Good news first — all statements are published and funds were sent over the weekend. You should see them today or tomorrow.

Thank you all again for your patience this month while we got statements and payouts out the door. We're still getting acclimated to Keystone's system and there's a bit of a learning curve. Overall I already feel like it was the right decision, and we'll be back on time next month.

If you haven't onboarded yet, you should have received another onboarding email from VRPlatform this morning. Please make sure you set up your account — that's where you'll access your statement for this past month and going forward. They will no longer be visible inside Hostaway.

Worth noting: VRPlatform is currently only for accessing your owner statements. Please continue to book owner stays inside Hostaway, at least for now.

A Word on Reviews

First up, a quick shout-out to our team. As most of you know, our goal this year was to bring the portfolio review score from 4.89 to a 4.9+. Through a lot of hard work and consistency — and even with some issues here and there — our review score from Memorial Day through Labor Day across the entire portfolio was a 4.93.

I think there are still a couple hundredths of a point to gain in there, but in general I'm incredibly happy about it.

Speaking of reviews: now that things are slowing down and we're heading into maintenance checks, I'd encourage every owner to pop into your listing and read through some of yours. There are a ton of good insights in there about what could be improved to increase guest satisfaction. If you see something showing up consistently, let us know and we'll work on a solution with you.

Getting Ahead of Winter

Last winter was, well, a winter. We're going to be as proactive about it as possible this year.

We aren't bringing plowing in house this season, and we'll get into the overall plowing game plan next month. For now, please, please, please make sure your heating system has been serviced, and that whenever possible your fuel deliveries are set to AUTOFILL.

Next point on winter. Wi-Fi thermostats aren't strictly necessary now that we do open-ups for every check-in, but every home should have some way to alert you if the temperature inside drops below 55 degrees.

Here's the scenario. A guest checks out at 11 a.m. on a Thursday and accidentally turns the heat off on their way out, and we've got the home scheduled to clean the next day. If it's bitterly cold out, that house could be 30 degrees by the time we get there, and pipes could freeze.

There are plenty of very inexpensive Wi-Fi temperature sensors on the market that will send you a simple notification if temps drop below a set range. You get the notification, give us a call, and we'll run over to check on things before they get bad. A really small price to pay for a lot of added security.

Thank you again for your patience this month while we got the statement side sorted, and as always, thank you for trusting us with your homes. We don't take it for granted.

All the best and happy hosting,

-- Jaryn