We offer Hosting Services for your Short Term Rental/Vacation Rental(s). Dina Marie Joy is a Vacation Home Expert and she knows what your property needs to be successful.
Consulting
Set Up
Interior Design & Remodeling Available
Decor Styling
Listing Preparation
Photography
Manage your listing and calendar
Cleaning Services
BiWeekly Inspections
Property Guide
Restocking
Back to my feature of the week. This Vacation Home I am featuring today is located in the heart of the iconic Medina, Riad Shiraz is your home away from home while visiting Marrakesh.
An eclectic, light and bright fusion of indoor and outdoor living, spend your days relaxing by the beautiful private in ground pool, or recline on your daybed perched up on the panoramic rooftop. The 4 bedrooms with 5 private bathrooms holiday house has a full kitchen, AC and free Wi-Fi.
Here is you link to the home
Take a look at the photos and add The Riad Shiraz to your vacation bucket list.
This was a Vacation Home Feature on Airbnb by Dina Marie Joy. Each week Dina Marie Joy shares with you a Vacation Home that is designed and styled with perfection. Dina Marie Joy is a Vacation Home Expert.
Turn your home into a Vacation Home…
Hi you! I have some great hosting tips for you, in Fact these are my 4 Top Hosting Tips for Airbnb Owners that nobody has ever shared with you!
Let’s get right to it.
My First Tip is Add Plants to your Vacation Home. You can add Faux or Real plants whatever works for your situation. My recommendation is to do a combination of both real and faux plants. You have to think about who is taking care of the home, is it you or a Property Manager? If it is a Property Manger will they charge more to take care of the plants. Some Property Manager’s don’t like any plants and some don’t like Faux plants because they don’t want to dust them. So again, you need to do what is best for your situation but adding plants make the home for inviting and more cozy.
My Second Tip is to add a Wifi Code Art Piece to your Space so it is easy for your guests to see the Wifi Password. Nobody wants to have to look for the Wifi password. If you know how to make one yourself, go for it and frame it otherwise look on Etsy for someone to do one for you.
My Third Tip is to add a Coverlit at the ends of the beds. You might have noticed these at Hotels and just thought they were for decoration but they actually serve a purpose. What most people do when they arrive to your home, is they put their suitcase on the bed. If guest after guest keep putting their suitcase on the end of the bed, your quilt or comforter start getting damaged. So invest in a Coverlit for the end of the beds and when they get worn, replace them and not your entire bed. Here are some examples from two of my favorite hotels in Carmel.
The Hideaway in Carmel, California
The Getaway Carmel Carmel, California
My Fourth Tip is to have Games and Activities at your Airbnb. Board games, outdoor games, and playing cards are great to have at your Airbnb. If families are coming to your home, they will be very excited to have games and activities provided. Everyone is extremely busy now, so when they go on a little vacation they like to indulge in things they don’t usually get to do. Get creative here!
There you have it. My 4 Hosting Tips for Airbnb Owners. Talk soon!!
I have a beautiful Vacation Home Feature for you today…
This is the Villa Hegge located in Norway -
The flat is bright and cozy in an old townhouse with its original fittings (old floorboards and moldings). The Munch museum (5 min) and the beautiful Botanical garden (5 min) is on your doorstep.
This home has been featured in many interior magazines and on TV shows.
Features:
• The flat is on the 3rd floor
• Master Bedroom with double bed
• Guest room with single bed
• Nice kitchen with all the appliances you need
• Living room with eating area
• Bathroom with shower and washing machine.
• Balcony with room for good friends
You can book your stay on Airbnb Here
There you have it! Another beautiful Vacation Home to go to. Enjoy!
Are you thinking about buying a vacation home for short term rental? Or maybe you are a proud owner of a Vacation Home? Either way, today I bring you some hosting tips for being an amazing Host. This is part of a new series I bring to you each and every Tuesday.
I have 5 Hosting Tips for your Vacation Home Today…
Provide Makeup Towels -
We all know that makeup a lot of times stains our towels and if they are white, good luck getting that mascara or red lipstick off. I am recommending you provide some black or dark colored small makeup towels for your guest and have them labeled maybe with embroidery that say “Makeup.”
Implement Leave a Book Take a Book -
I highly recommend you implement my idea of Leave a Book Take a Book. What is this? While it is great that you are or will be supplying books to read, a lot of times your guests don’t finish the book and what better way of saying thank you, buy allowing them to take the book as long as they leave a book too. I also suggest that you leave a note in all your books with your Leave a Book Take a Book Program and the name and address of your vacation home. I recommend this because they will pass this book along to someone when they are done and now that person knows about your Vacation Home and now you have created an opportunity for another person(s) to book your house for their vacation.
Soap, Shampoo, and Conditioner Refill System
It becomes very expensive when you supply those little shampoo and conditioner bottles. A better system is to purchase a Wall Mounted Refill System and keep the refills under the sinks. You can purchase the supplies in bulk, to keep the price down. The system I love is this one
Personalized Notes
Guest love when you leave personalized notes for them when they arrive. I don’t just mean a note on rules either. Take the opportunity to leave personalized notes all over the house. Share with them some history of the house or maybe some fun and inspirational quotes. Notes of appreciation go a long way. Leave them in a drawer, on a side table, on a blanket, wherever you know they will see the note and get excited that you were thinking about them.
Add Vintage
When you are putting together your vacation home, don’t forget to add vintage pieces. Vintage pieces add a since of history and are very relatable to your guests of all ages. Sometimes guests will remember growing up with a piece like the one you have in your vacation home. Go to garage sales, estate sales, and thrift stores near you and purchase a few pieces. Ask questions about the history of the piece.
There you have it, 5 Hosting Tips for your Vacation Home.
Target just launched a new Home Decor Line called Project 62. According to Target - "Your home’s poised for an upgrade, too! If you’re looking for chic options and more ways to bring your style to life across your home, you won’t want to miss Project 62—a modern home brand thoughtfully designed for everyday life. Watch for it to hit Target stores and Target.com in September 2017."
I am excited to see this new line and I can't wait to use it with my clients in their Modern Vacation Homes!!!
Via: Target
And there you have it...Can't wait. If you need help designing your space or your Vacation Home, feel free to reach out to me. I do travel all over the world.
Embrace Your Design Style,
Well Hello,
July is finally here and I couldn't be more excited to be designing for the Summer. Today I thought I would share with you how to design for a Zodiac Sign Cancer. When designing for a Cancer Zodiac sign it is important to remember they love water and they enjoy staying home. Keeping that in mind it is important to design your Cancer Home or Vacation Home with items that tell a story, family heirlooms, personal pictures while making the home feel warm, cozy, and inviting. Cancer's thrive in blues, whites, and sea greens.
When designing a Vacation Home it would be a lot of fun to incorporate the Zodiac Signs in your spaces and leave notes stating, for example, this Living Room was designed for the Cancer Zodiac Sign Person.
I have pulled together a Living Room Design for a Zodiac Sign, Cancer below...I used water in the Art Work, and I brought in wood elements making the room feel cozy and warm. I, of course, used blues, grays, whites, and greens. I pulled this room together with All Modern one of my favorite sources for my clients.
Art Work - Water
Sofa - I used Zula Navy
Accent Chairs - I used two of these!
Live Edge Coffee Table bring in the Cozy and Warmth!
Succulents - You can never have two many of these. A trick I always use is Faux plants with real plants and nobody can tell the faux plants are not real.
Mermaid Pillow for the Sofa! Bringing in another element of Water.
Area Rug
Twist Wood for an End Table or Plant Stand
Black Floor Lamps because a room is never complete without a little black in it.
Here are the Links to purchase these beauties...
I would use a Bright White on the Wall - My favorite Whites are Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams.
If you have any questions or need help designing your space or your Vacation Home, please feel free to contact me via email.
Embrace your Design Style,
Happy April to you!
First, I have set up a challenge for myself and I hope I can do it. I might need some cheering on as I know, this is going to be hard. I have committed to writing a Blog Post every day for the entire month of April. OMG, that is 30 Blog Post's when sometimes I am lucky to do one a week. Wish me luck! I will need it.
Today, I am going to introduce you to How to Get Started Owning your Own Vacation Home. What? Well, about two years ago my husband and I decided to buy a home and flip it. That is where the story began but that is not where it ended.
It all started with us attending a Real Estate Workshop in our hometown about, "How to Flip Homes." Let's just say, we were crazy because we purchased the dream. This is why I decided to write this story so that you don't have to invest in thousands of dollars like we did. Yes, I said thousands. I won't even tell you how much but it is way over 10K. So hard to even tell you that. So follow along and learn from us! We will teach you how to buy a vacation home now!
Here is the priceless part of what we purchased, though. We learned that we could use our Retirement Savings to purchase homes. What? Yes, we had a retirement which was a 401K. We learned that we could convert our 401K into a Self Directed IRA and use it to invest in Real Estate. Bingo!
Here is the "Skinny" on this! You can't use the home for your own use! Got it. So we would use the money to buy a home, fix it up, and then flip it. Let's try to make at least 20K per flip, we thought. That was the plan and we did our homework and we did it.
We bought a foreclosure, (finally after being bid out several times) hired a contractor, did the rehab, and then put it on the market to sell. All of this took about one year for us. From looking for the perfect home to going through the bidding process, to the closing process, to hiring a contractor, and then rehabbing the home and making it ready to sell. Wow! That was a learning process. So, the house hit the market and guess what, it was on the market for 90 days and no offers. Well, that was not the plan, right? So we decided to rent the house out maybe for a year and then we will put the house back on the market.
We did indeed rent the house out very quickly and our renter stayed in the home for about one year. Now, we said we were going to put it back on the market to sell but me being an Interior Designer and being hired to do so many vacation homes, I convinced my husband to turn our "Fixer Upper" into a Vacation Home. That is where you come in!
Let's back up! We bought a Vacation Home with our Retirement. We did not spend any of our work current salaries, we used our retirement. So if you have been thinking about owning a Vacation Home but you don't know how you would be able to do it and you don't want to pay a mortgage, you can use your Retirement and why not? Your real estate investment will keep going up in value and you will be putting all the money (from your guest's) back into the home and your retirement.
Another cool thing about using your retirement is, you don't have to use all your retirement to do this unless that is all you have. You can still invest in the stock market and own a vacation home too! I currently have a very small amount in a SEP IRA and my plan is to build that account up and then convert it so I can purchase another Vacation Home with it. I love the Stock Market too - that is an entirely different Blog Post that I can write about if you are interested. I am not a Stock Market Expert but I love figuring it out and picking my stocks. I have my own strategy that works for me.
Here is my advice to you about purchasing a Vacation Home...
That's it for today! I will chat with you tomorrow about Rehabbing your Vacation Home - Hiring your Contractor and Interior Designer and yes you need both!
Embrace your Design Style,
