Podcast Vacation Rental Resources and Tools http://traffic.libsyn.com/cottageblogger/VRS073_-_Scott_Shatford_-_Airbnb_Sup.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS In 2002, Mike moved out to Ontario after leaving the British Army. He’d just finished a 6-month tour in Kosovo and at the age of 21 had seen enough grimness to last him a lifetime. He moved into one of our rental homes while he set up his property management business and began working for our UK travel company, Clearwater Holidays. Life at first was a lonely but kept himself busy viewing rental cottages and acting as liaison between us in England and cottage owners in Ontario. One day when visiting a lakefront property he was met by a friendly golden retriever who made it clear he liked Mike and wanted his company. The owners explained that their daughter’s dog, Rocky, was equally lonely, because he was left alone for long periods and often moved around from place to place as they were frequent travelers and couldn’t take him with them. Although they loved this gentle boy, they worried that he wasn’t getting the attention he really wanted. Mike saw an opportunity to have a fur friend to keep him company, at least for a couple of weeks and offered to look after Rocky while the owners went on a trip to the US. And, to cut a longer story short, Rocky had found himself a new forever home where he lived to a grand old age. Why am I telling you this? Let’s fast forward to this past Easter weekend. I’d heard of Scott Shatford of Renting Your Place, from my friend Matt Landau. Scott is an Airbnb super host and the co-founder of Renting Your Place, a site that explains the best ways of renting via Airbnb and provides insights into the profitability of properties by analyzing pricing, occupancy rates and monthly revenues. I really wanted to talk to Scott and find out more. Tweet: #Airbnb is essential to your #VacationRental marketing plan @ScottShatford shares knowledge http://ctt.ec/a0fFY+ pic.twitter.com/fkAAoYwPHX We’d set up a time and date for our interview, and Scott mentioned it to the guests at his dinner table over an Easter meal at his home in Santa Monica. It turned out that Scott’s in-laws were the owners of that lakefront property where Mike first met Rocky and their daughter, Scott’s wife, was Rocky’s first ‘mom’. How’s that for coincidence, synchronicity…….woowoo…whatever you might call it? I love it when these things happen and believe they happen for a real reason. Making connections with people where they are already connections in place has real meaning. After my conversation with Scott on this episode I feel we will work together in some way very soon. In this episode we talk about: How Scott got into the vacation rental business and why Airbnb has impacted it so much Property management and screening Why he no longer takes damage deposits and likes instant booking What makes an Airbnb ‘Super Host’ Scott’s book, Secrets to Making 6 Figures as a Rentalpreneur The 6 Types of Airbnb Hosts City Intelligence reports and how realtors can use them Sites mentioned in this episode: Renting Your Place Urban Bellhop Pillow Homes Host Wise Afford Anything Guesty 52 Most Successful AIRBNB Rentals The Secrets of Airbnb Super Hosts – Fast Company Where you can find Scott: Website Twitter Facebook Google+ LinkedIN
