Happy Friday! We hope all of you have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving next week.🦃
Yesterday, we had our first webinar with our partners over at ASTRHO. Ken gave a live demo and answered some pertinent questions about OwnerRez and the industry. You can watch the entire session here. We plan on doing more webinars in the near future, so be sure to keep up with our blog to stay informed and sign up early for future events.
We’ve heard through the grapevine that Stripe has seen an uptick in refunds and chargebacks. Because of this, some accounts may have negative balances or a large number of disputes. This leads to slow payouts or a portion of your balance set aside as a reserve to process refunds. Our advice is have patience with Stripe, but if you need to switch we recommend looking into Ascent, Bambora or Lynnbrook.
Booking.com has launched a new (and required) Minimum Cleanliness Score Commitment for all listings. In order to remain on the platform, homeowners and rental managers must maintain a minimum cleanliness score of 6 out of 10. Your score is based on an average of all your guest reviews, so hopefully you’ve been keeping your rentals clean! Booking.com says that anyone who does not meet the cleanliness standards will be put on a warning list and notified.
On Tuesday, Henderson, Nevada implemented stricter regulations for vacation rentals. This included a requirement for newly registered rental homes to be located at least 1,000 feet away from other short-term rentals. Also any complaints must be dealt with quickly and guests must use onsite parking before parking on the street.
Palm Desert is expanding its ban on short-term rentals which will affect 69 properties but doesn’t go into effect until the end of next year (December 31, 2021). Many owners urged the council to remove the ban. “People are losing their jobs, unable to put food on their tables, questioning if the roof over their head will be there tomorrow,” said Cody Carlson, short-term rental owner.
