Lessons Learned While Building a Portfolio of 100+ Airbnbs AFTER the COVID Boom — with Taylor Jones

Aug 16, 2023

Taylor Jones, Head of Acquisition at Techvestor and STR thought leader, shares lessons learned while building a portfolio of 100+ Airbnbs. Topics include the importance of trust and authenticity in the short-term rental industry, creating unique stays in single-family homes, the value of outdoor spaces, A.B. testing strategies, direct bookings vs OTAs, content marketing for SEO ranking, challenges faced by large property management companies, and the impact of identifying individual hosts on Airbnb.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Trust, Authenticity, and Personal Branding in the Short-Term Rental Industry

03:24 • 13min

Upcoming event and creating unique stays in single family homes

16:05 • 5min

The Importance of Outdoor Spaces in Short-Term Rentals

21:34 • 10min

A.B. Testing Strategies for Airbnb Properties

31:26 • 4min

Opinions and Strategies on Direct Bookings vs OTAs for Vacation Rentals

35:33 • 3min

OTA Perspectives, Consumer Behavior, and Direct Bookings

38:52 • 4min

Benefits and Challenges of Content Marketing Strategy for SEO Ranking

42:48 • 6min

Ping Platform and Challenges Faced by Large Property Management Companies

48:42 • 6min

The Impact of Identifying Individual Hosts and Professional Managers on Airbnb

54:25 • 3min

Gratitude towards the guest and promoting social media profiles

57:55 • 2min

Meet Taylor Jones, Head of Acquisition at Techvestor, one of my favorite STR thought leaders to follow on social media, and a good friend of the Behind the Stays podcast.

After losing his sales job during COVID, Taylor spent hundreds of hours watching YouTube videos to learn all that he could about short-term rental real estate investing and the growing trend of experiential hospitality.

Today, he leads acquisitions at Techvestor, and in our chat, Taylor talks about everything he and his team have learned while building a portfolio of over 100 Airbnbs over the last 17 months.

Techvestor focuses on transforming run-of-the-mill single-family homes into unique, curated short-term rentals and Taylor shares the success they’ve found in sticking to and being bullish about this model.

Follow Taylor on Twitter

Connect with him on LinkedIn

Learn more about Techvestor here.

This episode is brought to you by OwnerRez — the property management software most-loved by professional vacation rental mangers.

If you’re in the market for a better platform to help you manage your STR portfolio, OwnerRez is offering Behind the Stays listeners 30% off the first 3 months…all you gotta to is mention Behind the Stays when talking to a team member at OwnerRez!

Also, in about 15 minutes from now, you’ll get to hear an exclusive chat I had with Tyann Marcink, an industry leader who LOVES OwnerRez. So head on over to ownerreservations.com and give OwnerRez a good lookover!

I want to meet you all in person!

Annette and Sarah from Thanks for Visiting were kind enough to invite me to come speak at TFVCON on SEO Strategy for STR Hosts and I can’t wait to participate in this dynamic event.

I’d love to meet all you listeners in PERSON…so please consider coming to the event. You can use the discount code “BTS” as in “Behind the Stays” at checkout for $150 off any ticket level.

About the Show

Behind the Stays is brought to you twice a week by Sponstayneous — a free, biweekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb.

You can subscribe, for free, at www.sponstayneous.com.

Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, co-founder of Sponstayneous, you can connect with him on Twitter at @zboozee.