In this informal livestream, Shona, founder of She's Got Assets and related real‑estate ventures, shares practical holiday‑season hospitality strategies for owners of mid‑term rentals (MTRs). She emphasizes that MTRs are fundamentally a hospitality business, requiring thoughtful guest experiences. Key recommendations include simple welcome gifts and seasonal décor (e.g., wreaths, handwritten notes, modest holiday trees) to set a warm tone, especially for families displaced during the holidays. Shona also advises on end‑of‑year team appreciation—cash bonuses, gift cards, or baskets for cleaners, handymen, and other subcontractors—providing rule‑of‑thumb budget ranges. She highlights how these gestures double as low‑cost marketing opportunities, encouraging hosts to document and share on social media using AI‑generated captions. Additionally, she outlines a seasonal property‑maintenance checklist (gutter cleaning, filter changes, HVAC tune‑up, weather‑proofing) and tax‑prep reminders (collecting W‑9s, reviewing expenses). Throughout, she invites audience interaction, answers questions about bonus amounts and gift ideas, and promotes her coaching services for mid‑term rental acquisition, off‑market deals, and deal structuring. The session concludes with a call to share photos, engage in the community, and reach out for further support.
Chapters
Hey, this is Shona from She's Got Assets. I'm gonna do a little livestream on holiday hospitality, share some tips and tricks. So I'm just doing some things on the backend. If you can see me okay, just let me know. Just gonna go live in a few places, make sure this is all working. So I have a lot of backend stuff, but I hope everyone's having a good evening so far. I'm super excited to be here. I think I took a break last week, but I'm back. So let me just make sure we're live everywhere. I'll go over some tips. Maybe let me know how your week is going, how your MTRs are going, anything you're working on. I always like to hear updates. Okay, I'm just saying— okay, looks like we're live. Awesome. And let's see if I can comment. Okay, all right, perfect. All right, so we're live in all the places. Technology was my favorite tonight. So I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen as people join. I'm just gonna do that really fast, um, just take some stuff on the back end. I know it's always tedious if you're like watching someone do this, but it's just kind of how it goes, so just bear with me. Okay, let's see. I'm gonna change my settings here. Okay, yay! Okay, everything's working. Hopefully everyone can see me and hear me okay. If you can't, like, let me know. I'm just gonna check my audio. That's not right. I need to change my earphone. If not, please let me know. Okay, I see a few people here. Just let me know where you're calling in from. I always like to see that, and we're going to kick this off. So, okay, awesome. Let me just get my screen all positioned right. I'm going to go into presenter mode. Okay, present. Okay. All right, thanks for being so patient. Okay, so I'm assuming everyone can see me and hear me okay. If not, like, please let me know because otherwise I'm talking to myself and that's kind of boring. So, um, Okay, awesome. All right, so I think, I think I'm sharing my screen. Fingers crossed, right, that everything's aligning. Okay, so, um, I am going to— hold on, I got too many screens open here. I need to get my presentation open. Oh my gosh, sorry, just, I just have too many things open. I forgot what I was doing. Um, This is how live streams go. Okay, but maybe while I'm getting my ducks in a row, so to speak, let me know where you're calling in from. I'm going to try and find the screen that I'm actually sharing here so I can move my presentation forward. Oh my gosh. Um, okay, I think I found it. Okay. All right. We're good. Hopefully. Oh, just, yeah, if you can type in the comments, if you can see and hear me. Okay. I'd super appreciate it. Hey Wendy, you can see my screen. Okay. Awesome. All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. So we're going to do a little kind of fun theme tonight, holiday hospitality. It's that season, right? However you celebrate, this is pretty, just kind of adding a little holiday spirit to things. So if you haven't met me, I'm Shona. It's really nice to meet you. I'm the founder of She's Got Assets, Shona Buys Houses, Cedar and Porch Properties, and newly The Asset Society. I'm also the host of the She's Got Assets podcast and the She's Got Assets real estate community, which you're probably watching me in. We have 14 doors and 7 midterm rentals and counting. And yes, I actually do this and you can check out my podcast and all the content in all these places. So please like and subscribe. That's super helpful. Okay, so hospitality, right? The act of being friendly and welcoming to guests and business. I think, I think anyone that's been in the midterm space for a minute understands that we, I believe, we're truly in the hospitality business. We need to make guests feel welcome. And, you know, that's providing comfortable, you know, housing and thoughtful touches. I think that goes a long way. I think that's super important. So that's kind of where I'm coming from with this little training. You know, it's not like a long-term rental where you set it and forget it. It's like guests are really there for an experience and everything that goes into that, like the communication and how their check-in was and little welcome gifts and stuff like that. So I firmly believe if we're in the midterm business, especially short-term, but definitely midterm too, we are in the hospitality business. So I always like to leave a little welcome gift for midterm guests, especially around the holidays, right? I like to spruce it up a little bit, like a little bit of holiday decor. I'll show some examples. You don't need to go crazy. You know, you can— I like to put a holiday wreath on the front door and maybe a seasonal tree, a little handwritten note, nothing crazy. But especially if we think about families that have been displaced that are, you know, can you imagine having to move out of your house over the holidays? It just adds a little holiday spirit. A little warmth can be super simple, but just things to think about if you haven't. I definitely recommend doing that. So here are some examples, right? I usually always leave a welcome gift just over the holidays. I make it a little more— this is the same picture. Whoops, I don't know if that was a mistake. I thought I had two pictures. It was supposed to be two different properties, but I always just add a little holiday vibe to guest check-in. It makes them kind of feel like— kind of feels thoughtful. You can leave like a little note, whatever your vibe is. Like, you don't have to, but I definitely think it kind sets the tone and makes people feel welcome and just adds, you know, kind of creates that experience. Hey, Wendy. Hey, Leah. Awesome. Thanks for joining. Okay. So that's kind of it. You know, really simple. It's nothing over the top. I'm not putting like a real life Christmas tree in there or candles. I'm just keeping it simple. But I think it's just a little nod to the holiday times that we're in. Like I said, again, especially if we have displaced families during the holiday season, this can go a long way. You can even get more festive, right? This is another example of just like a little holiday tree and a little gift wrap box, right? Just little touches, right? Nothing crazy, but I think it's really kind of sets the tone and the experience for guests as they check in. So just wanted to share that little tip. And then I think the other thing to think about, like end of year wrap-up, is kind of your team appreciation, right? Like we all have a team. Typically, they're, you know, there might be subs, might be employees. But just thinking about that, you can do like a cash bonus, like via Venmo, gift card, something thoughtful, holiday holiday card, a gift basket, something just to show your appreciation because when you call them and you've got a plumbing issue or your toilet is clogged, proverbially, that never happens in my experience, but the proverbial leaking toilet that everyone is afraid of as a landlord, right? So we just want to show our appreciation. It could be something thoughtful. It doesn't have to be crazy, but I just think it's nice to show appreciation for your team during the holidays, kind of end of year. Typically when I think of your team, right, you've got your cleaner, your handyman, plumber, electrician, appliance tech, pest guy, anyone kind of either as an employee or a subcontractor, right? Just little thoughtful things I think is a nice thing to do around the holidays, end of year. And then, oh wait, this is kind of out of order, but when you are doing these kind of welcome gifts, it's a great kind of marketing opportunity. And we're not doing it for that, but let people know what you're up to, that you have properties, that you're really, you're a really thoughtful host, right? It just, it's kind of good for branding and marketing. So you don't have to, but I highly recommend it. And this age of AI and ChatGPT, you can have it type up a little post headline, super easy. But definitely if you can document, I think it's great to throw it up on social. So little marketing tip there. I also, even for our long-term rentals, I'll drop off a little holiday gift. I usually have my kids help me. Just, I usually just get a little gift bag, something a little festive and put some chocolate in. I even do this kind of for long-term rentals. It's a really small investment. I think it just goes a long way to show that you appreciate your tenants or your guests with midterms. I like to call them guests in that space. So yeah, just some photos and just take photos and share on social. I think that just helps people know what you're up to, what your business is, just helps you network. And just a couple end of year wrap-up thoughts. You've probably thought about this, but I don't know what part of the country you're in. I'm in Portland, Oregon. It's full on the rainy season. It's been quite stormy here. So just think about end-of-year maintenance, right? This isn't hospitality, but it is like keeping up your property as well, I think is super important, right? So seasonal maintenance, you want to make sure your gutters are cleaned, change your filters every 3 months ideally, but especially during the winter when we're kicking on the HVAC and the heat, right? Get your HVAC maintenance done, get them tuned up, make sure your weatherizing, and then on a tax note, kind of start your tax prep, make sure you have all your W-9s from your subcontractors. And then just like reflect on the year and set your vision and goals for 2026. So those are some high-level tips. If anyone has thoughts or questions or like I missed anything in that, I'm curious if anyone is doing kind of any kind of like hospitality things when guests check in. And if anyone needs more help with their midterm, is looking for a coach, that's what I do. I have a couple options and ways to work with me. Feel free to book a call or reach out, but I really walk you through wherever you're at in the process of setting up your midterm or maybe optimizing it, or if you have a flip that's sitting, anything like that. I have a couple different ways. I love working with students. And so, yeah, just feel free to reach out and I'm happy to be a resource for that. So that's kind of it, short and sweet. Wendy is asking, any rule of thumb for how much to give? Yeah, you know, Wendy, I think it depends on how much you relied on them, but I think from like $100 to a couple hundred maybe is just thoughtful because we really, you know, they're so important on our team. We want them to show up and it just shows appreciation. So I would say that's kind of a rule of thumb. Yeah, hopefully that helps. I mean, it just depends kind of on your budget, maybe how much work they did for you, but it's just a thoughtful thing to do. Wendy says, I like your ideas for decorating small gifts, even long-term. Yeah, I've done that for years. I don't know. I've been a long-term landlord forever and I would just, I just go to like Grocery Outlet and get some holiday bags and some boxes of chocolate and then I involve my kids in it and just feels like it's spreading a little bit of holiday cheer. So I've done that for a long time. Um, so yeah, great questions. Any, any other questions? I've, I got a ton of leads today. So if anyone has vacancy, just hang in there. Um, leads are coming in. I'm starting to see things pick up, especially in Portland. Um, Wendy's saying, I've heard some people pay the price, price of cleaning, or 2 times. That's a great actually rule of thumb. Um, I— some people pay the price of cleaning or 2 times for a bonus to a cleaner. Yeah, I think that's a great rule of thumb, and that's kind of an easy one because cleaning is typically a fixed fee. You kind of know what that is for the property. So yeah, I love that. It's a great rule of thumb, great idea. Other kind of subs, I think it just depends, right? But it does— it doesn't have to be a lot. Or I mean, if you feel like— if you're feeling generous, if you had a great year, kind of share that, right? I think that's Really nice thing to do. I know it's super appreciated, especially around the holidays. So great tips. All right, any other questions? If anyone's watching the replay, feel free to chime in if anyone has any like go-to holiday bonus ideas or things that I didn't talk about. Again, I just think we have to just don't overthink it. It's really just the thought that counts, right? And just kind of appreciating people and keeping in that holiday spirit. So hope this left you guys some ideas of what you can do around the holidays. Because I think it's a nice thing to do. And I think, again, we are really in the hospitality business. And that's the big difference between like being a— having long-term rentals, right? I mean, versus midterms, you have guests staying, they're there for shorter times, right? I definitely think we are in the hospitality business. We're offering fully furnished rentals, you know, versus like unfurnished rentals. So it's kind of a different experience. So I always like to emphasize that, especially around this time of year. I mean, I always like to leave a welcome gift, but especially around the holidays, I dress it up a little bit. All right, any other thoughts or questions? I'm curious if anyone else does this, or what their kind of tips on bonuses are as we're getting into the holiday season. Because it's just, yeah, I'm curious what everyone else does. All right, I don't see any other questions. I'm just checking the comments here. Yeah, hopefully this gave you some ideas about what to do. Again, it can be really simple, right? And just whatever, you know, have a few things on hand for this. See another comment. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Well, happy holidays, everyone. I'll probably do a live next week. I'm not sure, but I just wanted to pop in one more time. If I don't, like, happy New Year. And again, if you're looking for more support, With your midterm, we're looking for off-market properties and how to deal structure, how to find those properties without door knocking or cold calling. That's also what I coach on. So, all right. Um, I think I see one more comment here. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. All right, you guys. Well, thanks for joining me tonight. Hopefully you got some good tips and I'd love to see pictures. If you follow any of these things or gifts that you leave out, it's always fun to see that. So definitely post that in the group. So we can all see that. And yeah, if you're watching the— and you need some more support, feel free to reach out. Wendy says, I decorate my STR. I plan to give a small gift to my MTR guests, ornament from the town. Oh, that's really thoughtful! I love that, actually. And it's probably supporting a small business too, which is great. Yeah, that's like kind of a— like a souvenir too. I think that's a great idea. I love that. Amazing, because they're probably visiting, so really thoughtful. Love that. All right, well, um, I don't see any other comments, so again, thanks for tuning in. Always feel free to comment if you're catching the replay, and, uh, feel free to— if you need support on anything or have questions, just reach out. I'm happy to be a resource for you. Thanks.
