[00:00:02] This is Short Term Rental Management, the show that is all about short term rental property management with your host, yours truly, Luke Carl.
[00:00:16] All right, Short Term Rental Management, I think you're fantastic. I love you. And you're also really good looking, so that's cool. And today I want to talk about reviews because what the hell's going on out there with these reviews? I mean, it's crazy. You know what I mean?
[00:00:32] You get to the point where you feel like you're constantly asking them for reviews. I see this with a lot of hosts. Oh, my goodness.
[00:00:41] We. We can't. I probably can't continue to breathe if you don't give me a five star review. My family will perish from the earth if you don't give us a five star review. For a while there, there I was saying, my children love to read the reviews. So could you please give us a five star review? Which actually isn't a bad idea, but I am. I'll tell you what, I'm to the point where I would like to have a little bit of a conversation about going the other direction.
[00:01:08] Why am I spending all this time asking for these reviews, these five star reviews? And is there something to be said about trying too hard? Are we making it sound like it is such a dire situation that they just straight up don't want to do it?
[00:01:26] Is it psychological?
[00:01:28] To a certain extent. Oh, man, this guy's just starving for five stars. They've asked me five times for a great review. Ten stars on vrbo. Is there something to be said about reversing that? Let me, let me paint a picture to you. I go to Disney World and they kiss my rear. And if I stay on property at one of the resorts, you know, I had a situation where we were there and the shower valve broke and I was too busy to care. I was, to be honest with you, I was just turning the, the knob inside there because I wanted to get back to the damn park and ride the rides. I love Disney World. I ain't got time to deal with this. The shower knob, the valve kind of fell apart a little bit, but I could still get to the valve and get in there and turn it on and off. And wife and kids couldn't figure it out, but they had me.
[00:02:17] What else am I good for?
[00:02:20] Shower valves.
[00:02:22] Anyway, I got a voicemail by the time I got back to the room that said, hey, we're so sorry about that shower. We took care of that for you because apparently, you know, the cleaner told them and they fixed it.
[00:02:36] They fixed it without me even having to say anything.
[00:02:40] And you know what they didn't do? They didn't ask me for a five star review.
[00:02:47] One time I checked into Disney World, I had two rooms because they couldn't give me. I added a night or two to the trip and they couldn't give me the same room for the duration.
[00:02:58] I went up to the front desk, the guy said, let me see what I can do.
[00:03:02] The app was no help, you know, that kind of thing. And, and he made a phone call and he got me into the same room so I didn't have to move.
[00:03:12] One time we checked out a day early. I said, hey, we're leaving a day early, see you later. And they said, no worries, we'll give you tonight's money back.
[00:03:18] I didn't even ask.
[00:03:20] And you know what they didn't do?
[00:03:23] They didn't ask me for a good review.
[00:03:26] They didn't send me a link for a good review.
[00:03:30] I mean, if they did, I didn't notice, you know.
[00:03:33] So my point is, is that I'm, first of all, I'm a huge Disney fan. So forgive me for that. If you're not a Disney person, you probably don't understand, but I am a huge fan and I love it go there every chance I get. And it's just the greatest thing in the, on the planet for this, my children's childhood and, and the joy on all of our faces, you know, it's wonderful. But anyway, I do believe that they are the greatest at full scale, large scale, high, top notch customer service and there's something to be learned from them, you know, And I do feel like as, as these owner operators on these vacation houses, we are sounding a little desperate and pathetic with all these review requests. Also let me throw this at you. I now have hundreds of reviews on all my properties. Maybe not the couple newest properties, but I got a couple properties that are a thousand reviews or something. I don't know, I haven't looked at it in a while, but they're up there.
[00:04:37] And if I've got a Property that's got 800 reviews, why am I bothering asking for more reviews? Do I even need more?
[00:04:46] Why am I doing it?
[00:04:50] I'm doing it because it's a cultural thing.
[00:04:53] One or more of the platforms has made this review thing a part of their culture and we just do it instinctively. Oh my God. If I don't get a five star review, I'm going to die.
[00:05:04] My life will be over.
[00:05:06] I will not survive.
[00:05:09] And that's just not True. I think I'm, you know, I'm to the point where I'm, I'm sitting here like, why am I doing this?
[00:05:16] It's rather pathetic to over and over again ask these people who are busy and have better things to do for these five star reviews.
[00:05:29] And it gets to the point where, you know, there, it's no wonder there's a power struggle here. There's, you know, you're. Oh my God. The five star review. The five star review. Oh, sure, no worries. Can you bring me some chocolate cupcakes with some pink Himalayan salt on top of them or whatever? You know what I mean? Like, sure. You want a good review? This is what I need. Come rub my feet. I think we're going overboard on this and I'm not saying to stop doing it, but I am saying that it clicked in my brain the other day. Like everybody's talking about asking, asking, asking you, but the WI fi password is good review and all this, this stuff and why, why?
[00:06:07] Especially if I've got, you know, more than 50 or 100 reviews, what's, what's, what good is it for me? It's kind of a pain in everybody's rear end.
[00:06:18] Wouldn't I be better off not asking in worst case scenario, they don't leave me one. You know, I think we could be a little more selective at least.
[00:06:26] Yeah, sure. If you got a great guest and you went above and beyond, you took them a couple of paper towels or you instant carded them something, you went ab, above, beyond, did all the stuff, customer service, hospitality, sure, maybe ask him for a good review, juice me up. But it's to the point where I've got like, I've got AI set up, I've got AI going on my, my listings and it's great. I love it. It's hard work to get it going, but it's great. And I've got the AI saying, hey, we noticed you didn't have that perfect of a time. But we still would love a five star review.
[00:06:55] Why? What am I doing there? Why are we doing that? It just makes me sound desperate, you know, and it's a little embarrassing.
[00:07:07] Thank you for joining us. Here at the Short Term Shop, we help real estate investors like you buy and sell vacation homes.
[00:07:15] We operate in over 20 true vacation markets across the United States.
[00:07:21] If you have more questions about buying and selling, join us every week for a live Q and
[email protected].
[00:07:31] that's strquestions.com, you know, so I went and looked and at the time of the recording of this show. I have my og we call it the longest running short term rental in The Smokies has 428 reviews. Do I really need another review?
[00:07:50] Why am I asking?
[00:07:52] Begging everybody. I don't understand.
[00:07:58] Maybe it's time to put an end to that, you know what I mean? Like, why even bring it to their attention? Put yourself in the, in the shoes of the traveler. They're already going to get this email that makes them fill out 27 questions about a review. I don't know if you've been through the review process on one of these platforms lately. It is lengthy. It's not a Google review where you just push a button.
[00:08:20] They ask lots of questions, lots of questions. And people do it.
[00:08:24] It's a cultural thing.
[00:08:26] But that comes in and then the host is now asking them on top of that, putting pressure on them to do it in a, you know, in a positive manner.
[00:08:37] They just got off vacation. They got to go back to work. They're probably hungover. They probably didn't get as much action in the bedroom as they were looking for. And they spent a ton of money.
[00:08:50] Their happiness level is not where it was when they first got, you know, on when they were on their way down.
[00:08:59] If we were able to get them to leave a review while they're on the way to the house, having never seen the house, they'd be like, oh, hell yeah, man, this is awesome. 5:27 stars. Yeah.
[00:09:12] On the way home, they're broke, they ate too much, they're hungover. They didn't get the action they were looking, looking for. You know what I mean? They're just like, I gotta go back to work.
[00:09:26] Oh, now this guy wants me to tell say how awesome his house is because my head is killing me. Three stars.
[00:09:36] It's a flawed concept. It really is.
[00:09:40] So anyway, it's just food for thought here. You know, I'm sitting here like, why, why, why, why are we hammering all the time?
[00:09:49] Please give us a fantastic review. For what?
[00:09:54] For the possibility to put it on their radar. To not give you a good review. Is that what you're doing?
[00:09:59] You might be doing that, you know, again, obviously it needs to be done from time to time. You went above and beyond. Let's do it. I'm not saying we're going to cut this out altogether. I'm not saying that. I'm just giving you a little food for food for thought, something to think about. Am I going to continue asking guests for a fantastic, you know, review for, for A good job done on our part probably.
[00:10:28] But I have gotten to the point where I'm like, why?
[00:10:34] Matter of fact, let's look it up. How many reviews does does old Walt Disney World have?
[00:10:44] Yes, I'm googling it in the middle of the show. 268,985 reviews for Walt Disney World. 4.7 stars on average Google reviews.
[00:11:04] I have been there, I don't know, 20 times. I've been there at least 15 times.
[00:11:11] We live in Florida. We're annual pass. I can't get there enough. I love it. I want to be on Big Thunder Mountain right now.
[00:11:17] It's awesome. My kids love it. I love being with my kids at Disney World, not having to Worry about crap. 270,000 Google reviews. I do not ever remember Disney World asking me for a five star review. They probably, they probably have.
[00:11:39] But it wasn't in such a manner that it was right in front of my face when I'm on my way home having spent a ton of money and eaten too much.
[00:11:48] And having ate too much. How's that? Is that better?
[00:11:55] Having eight? I don't know. We're not here for an English lesson. But anyway, I'm pulling back on a review request. I am. I'm gonna pull back on it.
[00:12:05] There's no reason to hammer it.
[00:12:09] I think to a certain extent let's just leave it be for some guests, you know, and it can be done with AI if they had a negative experience, maybe you just kiss their rear end one more time and don't ask for a good review. If you didn't hear from them, maybe you just say, hey, we hope you had a great time.
[00:12:24] You know what I mean? I think they're more inclined to say, wow, this host really cares. I'm going to find a way to leave them a review. If you don't ask for the review and you're just genuine.
[00:12:39] We genuinely hope you had a great time.
[00:12:43] But you know, it's the. But you gotta leave us a five star review or we will spontaneously combust.
[00:12:52] Nope, Nerp. I'm done. Not doing that anymore.
[00:12:57] All right. I love you, short term rental management. I hope you have a fantastic day. Life is just a gift. Get out there and enjoy it.
[00:13:06] And as always, Luke Carl from the short term shop asking you to please don't overthink it, Sam.
