As we look ahead to 2025, it’s essential to reflect on the year gone by. 2024 was a year of challenges and triumphs for the short-term rental industry, defined by resilience, innovation, and a commitment to growth. From navigating strict regulations to capitalizing on new revenue opportunities, STR operators have showcased their ability to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving landscape. Let’s dive into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of 2024 and explore strategies shaping the coming year.

If you currently own a property, and are interested in transforming it into a short term rental, there are several things you must consider before making the transition.

In general, creating a new project for yourself is a great way to keep you busy and your mind active. However, doing something this intensive can prove to be rather laborious. The best way to ensure that your short term rental transformation succeeds is to thoughtfully plan out how you want to make the transition.

Things to consider when transitioning your home into a str

The first thing to consider when transitioning your property into a short-term rental is whether you have enough time to dedicate to managing it effectively. Operating a short-term rental can significantly increase your workload, as being an active host involves a variety of tasks, including handling guest inquiries, coordinating bookings, managing check-ins and check-outs, and maintaining the property. If you have a busy schedule or other commitments, this increased demand on your time could be a significant concern.

However, there are strategies to help alleviate some of the stress associated with managing a short-term rental. One effective solution is to utilize a Property Management System (PMS). A PMS can streamline many of the administrative and operational tasks involved in running a rental, such as automating booking processes, managing reservations across multiple platforms, and coordinating cleaning schedules. By leveraging such tools, you can reduce the time and effort required to manage your property, making the transition to a short-term rental more manageable.

If the prospect of increased responsibilities still feels overwhelming, consider exploring additional support options, such as hiring a property manager or partnering with a co-host. These resources can provide valuable assistance and help ensure that your short-term rental operation runs smoothly, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of renting out your property without being burdened by the day-to-day challenges.

Depending on where you live, there may be a number of restrictions you’ll have to adhere to and applications that must be submitted. It is imperative that you follow these guidelines so your hobby project doesn’t turn into a nightmare.  These restrictions are there to guide your process, so although they’ll be frustrating, stick with it. In Toronto, Canada, a recent regulation was put in place to regulate the definition of what a short term rental is, and how it should operate. If you live in Toronto and want to learn more, you can read our article about the Toronto Short Term Rental Regulations here.

Besides restrictions and applications, the next step is to determine what type of rental you’re going for. This is where your creativity kicks in, and you can really experiment with the layout and design.  You have full control over what happens during this step, but remember that you still have to make it accessible to potential guests wanting to rent.

At the end of the day, the decision of whether or not to convert your property into a short term rental is purely up to you, but like always there will always be something that you have to consider (i.e restrictions) or modify (i.e accessibility).  A short term rental is an exciting and hands on project that takes a lot of work, but when done right, can really be rewarding — figuratively and literally.

On the same page as our most recent blogs, this demographic is one of the biggest you may want to focus on.  According to Investopedia, business related flights equate up to 12% of all consumer flights, and up to 75% of airline profits.  You may be wondering why we are using a flight statistic. Great question! Well, since short let stays are available to everyone, you have to consider where your guests are coming from.  Considering this massive opportunity for your rental, it would be imperative to optimize your home for this type of guest.

Understanding that a significant portion of travelers are business professionals highlights a substantial opportunity for your rental property. Business travelers often seek out accommodations that offer convenience, comfort, and functionality. They are looking for spaces that facilitate productivity and provide a home-like atmosphere away from home.

To capitalize on this opportunity, consider optimizing your rental for business guests. Ensure your property offers reliable high-speed internet, a dedicated workspace with a comfortable desk and chair, and adequate lighting for working late into the evening. Amenities like a coffee maker, a mini fridge, and a well-stocked kitchenette can also add to the appeal for those on extended business trips.

Additionally, think about the ease of check-in and check-out processes, as business travelers often appreciate streamlined, hassle-free experiences. Offering flexible booking options and clear communication can further enhance your property’s attractiveness to this demographic.

By tailoring your space to meet the needs of business travelers, you can tap into a lucrative market segment and differentiate your rental in a competitive landscape. This approach not only maximizes your property’s potential but also aligns with the growing trend of business travel within the short-term rental industry.

Maximizing your potential

You may already be familiar with the majority of your guests and how to better serve them, but catering to business travelers can present a unique set of challenges. Business trips are often booked on short notice and can range from just a weekend to a few weeks. Understanding their specific needs can help you better maximize your potential as a host.

Firstly, it’s important to recognize that business travelers are not on vacation. Their primary focus is usually work, so while providing suggestions for local restaurants and bars is still a nice touch, consider offering alternatives that fit their busy schedule. For instance, recommend excellent takeout options in the area. Business travelers may not always have the time to sit down at a restaurant, so having reliable takeout suggestions can be a huge convenience. Additionally, providing a mini fridge stocked with a selection of beverages, including some alcoholic options, can be a thoughtful touch for guests who might prefer to unwind in the comfort of their rental.

Ensure that your rental is equipped to be a comfortable and functional workspace. If your property has a desk, make sure it’s well-lit and ergonomically designed. Providing high-speed internet and other office essentials will enhance their productivity and overall experience. Also, aim to make their stay as self-sufficient as possible. Stocking up on basic groceries and essentials can ensure that they have everything they need without having to leave the property frequently.

Another key aspect is understanding the nature of their business. Open a dialogue with your guest and inquire about their industry and specific needs during their stay. This can help you anticipate and address potential questions they might have, such as queries about public transportation options or the reliability of local services. Being proactive and informed about their requirements will help you provide tailored recommendations and solutions, creating a more personalized and seamless experience for them.

By focusing on these elements, you can enhance the experience for business travelers and position your rental as a top choice for future trips. The goal is to make their stay as convenient and comfortable as possible, allowing them to focus on their work while feeling well-cared for.

One of their biggest worries when being on a business trip is not being prepared for their business endeavours. Giving directions to nearby tech shops, or coffee shops that have free WiFi can be amazing details that give your guest some reassurance that they can accomplish their work from almost anywhere. Another worry of theirs could be nearby dry cleaning services, for an in person or video call meetings. You probably know the feeling of being underdressed, and especially if it’s a business trip, the guest will want easy access to these types of places.  If there isn’t a dry cleaner nearby, think about including an iron and ironing board in the unit so that they will be well prepared.

At the end of the day, keeping a quick and open communication during the trip, coupled with the other suggestions, I am certain that your guests will be undoubtedly happy with their stay. It’s the Superhost (Airbnb) mentality that will set you apart from the other hosts jockeying for the same rental.  Like always, if you have any questions about modifying your rental, feel free to check out our website, or email us at contact@ensoconnect.com.

In these unprecedented times, it’s hard to know when exactly the world is going to get back to normal, or if we’ll have to redefine what normal means. Depending on where you’re living, it might feel like the crisis has passed and the hospitality industry can get moving again. Restrictions have been lifted and reservations are starting to trickle in. In other places, there’s talk of perhaps slowing things down again and treading with caution as the cooler weather returns, and people move about more freely, and try to remain vigilant. So what’s a host to do?

Might we offer a suggestion? This is the perfect time to take a closer look at your rental property, or properties, and find ways to upgrade, research new technologies to make hosting easier, and also set up more rigorous cleaning protocols. This way, as guests are returning, and looking to get away after months of staying home, you’ll be able to offer a better experience to upcoming guests. You might have already started seeing more bookings, and implemented Airbnb’s enhanced cleaning protocol (if you’re on that platform), but there are other features you can introduce into your rental and other things you can put in motion, to help you come back stronger and get the most out of your investment.

Tackle any Outstanding Repairs and Upgrades

There’s no better time than downtime to go through every inch of your vacation property to see what needs a tune-up, or what needs an upgrade. It could be something as simple as a creaky bedroom door, or a room that could use a fresh coat of paint. This is also a great chance to take any pain points that have been indicated by previous guests and erase them. Depending on the relative age of the property, and your typical vacation guest demographic, there might even be some upgrades that will not only help you get better reviews, but also raise the standard of your rental, so you can charge higher rates.

A host needs to think about how they want their guest to feel in their home, and make the improvements accordingly. This could be as basic as a cosmetic change such as wall colours of lighting, or even something that requires a little more investment such as swapping out furniture, upgrading an appliance, adding in additional amenities, and adding in new decor, linens and window coverings. Some hosts have even taken this time to do major renovations to completely revitalize and modernize their rental space.

As well, depending on the climate in which you live, you could even look towards your outdoor space (if you have some), to make improvements. Adding in patio furniture, lighting, and a basic outdoor heater for chilly fall nights can vastly improve your ratings and price point. These little, and big changes, can make a significant difference to your bottom line.

The important thing to note is not to let this opportunity to revitalize your rental space go to waste.

Review and Upgrade Your Cleaning Protocols

2020 has been the year defined by rigorous hygiene standards. We’re washing our hands more thoroughly and frequently, using sanitizer as often as we can, and wearing masks. This is the new normal, and will continue to be so for the next while. Naturally, your property management business needs to adjust to this as well. A host now must help facilitate their guests peace of mind by implementing a strict cleaning checklist and protocol and clearly communicating that to the guest in your listing.

Short Term Rental (STR) and vacation home online travel agencies such as Airbnb and Vrbo have published guidelines that hosts need to adhere to, to remain listed on their platform in the post-COVID-19 landscape. At the bare minimum a host should meet and promote these, but also find ways to go above and beyond to boost guest’s confidence. This includes having copious amounts of sanitizer available in the property, cleaning wipes, as well as investing in smart technology that allows for better social distancing and access.

As well, as hosts have plenty of other things on their plate, finding an appropriate service to automate their cleaning would help. There are several Property Management Software services out there that align with your booking platform to instantaneously keep your retained cleaning staff in the loop with bookings and checkouts, so that there is no downtime or lapse in cleaning services due to missed communications and what not.

Revamping your Marketing Efforts

When you’re a host, and utilizing any of the STR platforms on the market, you might not think that you’d need a marketing plan. You just rely on ratings, hopefully have dynamic pricing implemented, and wait for your listing to show up in someone’s results, and cross your fingers that they book. But during this downtime and in the coming weeks and months, there’s a beautiful opportunity to turn to projects that will reap long term rewards, such as putting even a rudimentary marketing plan into place. In the end, it’s about making a dramatic difference to your booking frequency, with a couple of tweaks.

What does this look like? First, it’s taking a look at your competitors approach, and seeing how they’re promoting their property. Then, find ways to do it better. The simplest option is to review and perfect your listings. Every image on your booking page and every piece of content is ripe for improvement, if it’s been up for a while. Sure, you’ve gotten bookings and everything looks great, so why invent the wheel, right? Keep in mind that for every booking you have gotten, there could be 2-3x as much that passed over your rental because they didn’t like an image, or your listing was missing an amenity or two.

Take this time to revamp your photos. You can try to take them yourself, or hire a professional to get a more polished look. Both options have value, but the important thing is to change it up from time to time, so that it looks fresh and new, even if a guest has seen your listing before. The same goes for your descriptions, your host bio’s and anything else. Changing things around makes your listing feel dynamic and exciting.

Also look to social media. You can also help promote your rental via Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok, and use free tools such as Canva and Snapseed to edit, add copy, and enhance your images. Also, come up with a unique hashtag for your property. A lot of the current generation of vacation travellers are most likely to share their photos and recommendations via social media, so maintaining a presence that can be connected via a link in bio or a hashtag can really generate traffic to your vacation home. This would reflect well in your reviews.

Smarten Up Your Rental

With social distancing being encouraged all over the world, and mobile technologies in everyone’s hands and pockets, many guests would severely appreciate more contactless and smart technologies in their rental. The most basic, and frankly the most important piece of tech that a rental needs, is a Smart Lock. While these were already becoming an industry standard prior to 2020, they’re more important now, than ever before. This allows a host to remotely open a door, or a guest to use a unique keycode/wireless app to gain access to a property. This requires no hiding of keys, mismanagement of access, and most importantly, no contact between a host and a guest.

Once inside, hosts would be best served to add in other technologies as well. A key one would be Noise Detectors such as the Minut or the Noiseaware sensors, that allow you to monitor when guests come and go, and if their noise levels get above a certain threshold, or if they’re having a larger social gathering than is recommended.

A host would also be best served with a Smart Thermostat such as a Nest or Ecobee. This way, they can keep an eye on their energy costs, as well as maintain their property during times of vacancies. There’s nothing worse than having a guest leave your property frigid during the winter months, and something goes awry. These thermostats can be managed remotely, so that a host can keep an eye on their renters and their bottom line.

Finally, what’s a vacation rental without a little bit of Entertainment? Granted, guests are probably there just to rest their heads, but also, having something to do doesn’t hurt. A host would be well served to invest in streaming technology such as an Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick or a Chromecast so that guests can watch movies, tv, or stream music during their stay. A host can set up a specific account for their rental (the cost of which is reflected in the booking price), and leave detailed instructions on how to use the equipment. The same would go for investing in a smart speaker that can control lights, play music and also order food for the guests. Again, just make sure you disable settings that could compromise your security.

All these are small investments that can be implemented into your property now, so pay off in full when you’re at capacity with reservations.

Automate as Much as you Can

While navigating these changes and upgrades can seem overwhelming, numerous solutions are available to help manage and automate many of the processes involved. These solutions can assist with managing bookings and access, responding to reviews, staying updated with technology, and maintaining correspondence with guests. For vacation travelers, having a comfortable place to rest, with assurances of safety, cleanliness, and attentive hosting, is essential.

At Enso, we understand the importance of these details and are here to help you adapt to the new reality of travel. Our solutions are designed to streamline your management tasks, allowing you to focus on providing exceptional guest experiences. With Enso, you can effortlessly manage your short-term rental, ensuring that every aspect—from booking and access to guest communication and technology integration—is handled with precision and ease. We’re committed to supporting you in maintaining high standards and adapting to the evolving landscape of the travel industry.