Get the education and guidance to succeed with a short term rental

Do want to expert training and tips to fast track you to short-term rental success? The Futurestay Method teaches you the skills to succeed with any property.

Turn your property into income

In 2008, I listed my first short-term rental on Vrbo and Craigslist. This was years before Airbnb even existed, and little did I know, that property would end up making me an extra $1,000-$2,000 per month!

I acquired more properties in those early years, but more importantly, I gained so much property management experience that I also started helping others make the most of their short-term rentals. From condos to acreages, I have seen it all, and I understand what it takes to plan, launch and run a profitable rental property.

I am so passionate about helping others that I launched an entire software platform dedicated to helping rentalpreneurs. Futurestay has helped thousands of people launch and run their short-term rental properties, and we can help you do it too.

When I started in the short-term rental industry, I had no guidebook to follow because none existed. So, naturally, I stumbled and made mistakes. But I learned, persevered, and took notes. Lots of notes!

Those notes became the Futurestay Method, which is the ultimate playbook to successful short-term rentalpreneurship.

The good news is it won’t take you 10 years to get it right! The Futurestay Method is your shortcut to success. The streamlined courses give you the skills and knowledge required to get started on this journey, and I can’t wait to share it with you and see you succeed.

The Futurestay Method

The most effective education and training on how to succeed with short term rentals.  Whether your new to the industry or a seasoned pro, the Method is a must have resource.

Learn the Method

What is the
Futurestay Method?

No, it's not an exclusive club that is hard to get into. It's an easy to do, short-term rental training program jam-packed with the most important trade secrets we’ve learned about short-term rentals over more than a decade.

Unlock your earning potential and quickly start profiting from your property. Use the easy-to-follow program materials and online community to seamlessly build or scale your business.

Lay your foundation

Through 40 sessions, you’ll develop the reliable skills and knowledge to succeed with ANY property.

Build your skills

Get access to Futurestay founder, Phil Kennard’s, monthly deep dives to level up your business.

Support your growth

Get access to weekly industry research, insights, business ideas, and so much more - delivered right to your inbox.

Answer your questions

Get feedback for your ideas and answers to your questions via live monthly sessions or emails.

Your step-by-step playbook to achieving your goals 

The Method is the essential resource for short term rental entrepreneurs. Don't waste valuable time (and money) going it alone. Learn the skills you need to run a short-term rental and make money.

Course 1: Plan

Set your short-term rental up for success, and get the most out of your property.

01 Know your market

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Start your journey by checking out the competitive landscape in your area. What already exists? What’s missing? And where can your property stand out as different? This class will open your eyes to what’s already in front of you in plain sight.

02 Craft your Stay Story

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Review your options for securing a property that you can turn into a business, either as the owner of that property or as a partner to the owner. If you’re a partner, you’ll also review partnership options and the pros/cons of each.

03 Get your property

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Clearly define and articulate the expectations you have of your guests so you can feel at peace during their stay and confident you’ll be ready for the next guest. In this class, you’ll learn to see the line between reasonable and overbearing.

04 Design your operations

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Set yourself up for maximum success by identifying your entrepreneurial preferences and tendencies so you can lean into what you like and/or do best. You’ll find there are no right answers, but many answers that are right for you.

05 Document your costs

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Dive deep into the financial realities of rentalpreneurship and come to a realistic yearly break-even number for your business. This will inform your target guest, the experiences you offer, and the minimum rates you charge.

06 Forecast your revenues

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Explore all money-making opportunities for your new business, decide whether they're worth leveraging, and how to get the most out of them. This will give you revenue and profit goals you can work towards hitting and then surpassing.

07 Schedule your launch

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Let’s attach a timeline to your plan so you know the order of when, and why, things are happening. Sticking to a strict (and realistic) timeline ensures you have thought of everything that goes into a successful launch. A good timeline will also keep you motivated and accountable.

Course 2: Prepare

Map out your guest experience and get your Stay Story ready to market to guests.

01 Plan the physical space

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This is where you’ll bring your Stay Story to life with a physical space that delivers on the expectations you've set. You’ll learn to enhance the experience through the property’s interior and exterior features, its immediate surroundings, and the greater area.

02 Decide on amenities

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You may already have a few ideas now for what amenities you want to offer, but you’ll have even more ideas after this class. This course will teach you to examine your property’s earning potential from different angles to find money-making opportunities and legitimate reasons to charge more.

03 Set check-in/out times

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As the boss, you can set the check-in/check-out rules to suit your lifestyle and availability. But it’s your ideal guest whose lifestyle you have to suit if you want their booking. In this course, you’ll learn how to balance the two.

04 Create a property guide

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Give your guests everything they need to have the kind of stay that gives them every reason to leave you and your property glowing reviews. In this course, you’ll learn what needs to be in a property guide and what you could consider adding.

05 Establish house rules

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Clearly define and articulate the expectations you have of your guests so you can feel at peace during their stay and confident you’ll be ready for the next guest. In this class, you’ll learn to see the line between reasonable and overbearing.

06 Create a Rental Agreement

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Protect your property, your business, and quite probably your personal finances with a rental agreement. In this course, you’ll learn what you should and shouldn’t include in a rental agreement.

Course 3: Launch

Put your property on the market and get ready to take bookings.

01 Create a central listing

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The best way to succeed as a rentalpreneur is to list your property in many places. But you don’t want to be managing your listing on every platform, do you? Instead, each platform can pull from your central listing. Here you’ll learn how to set up your central listing.

02 Write listing content

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To book your property, your ideal guest has to trust you’ll keep them safe and believe you can deliver on all the romance conveyed in your Stay Story. Without creative listing content that’s also truthful, guests will pass on your property for someone else’s.

03 Take listing photos

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After price, photos have the biggest impact on whether or not someone will consider your property. In this course, you’ll learn what to take pics of, how to take them, and in what order you should be presenting them to stay true to the story they tell.

04 Collect reviews

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A good review is more valuable than any description you’ll write for your property. In this class, you’ll learn how to make it easy for guests to leave a positive review, subtly remind them if they forget, and secure your first few 5-star reviews.

05 Set your price

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Pricing is deeply personal in that everyone will justify their rates differently. In this class, you’ll learn four general pricing strategies to consider as a baseline for your approach. You’ll also learn why and how to change your price throughout the day.

06 Build your calendar

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Your calendar holds your business together. Bookings, cleanings, maintenance, deliveries - All working seamlessly together but scheduled to stay out of each other’s way. In this class, you’ll learn to use a calendar specifically for the short-term rental industry.

07 Plan for cancellations

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Cancellations happen, initiated either by your guest or by you. How you handle a cancellation will greatly influence if guests rebook in the future. A well-thought-out cancellation policy is key, which is what this class will help you set up.

08 Publish a website

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Your website should be your #1 booking source, because when guests book through it you keep all the money, rather than having to pay commissions to listing websites. But first you need a website, which is what you’ll learn how to build in this class.

09 Take payments

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Make it easy for your guests to pay you, and it will be a lot easier to close bookings and get your money on time. In this class, you’ll learn about the value of a payment processor and how to use it.

Course 4: Book

Attract your ideal guest, start getting bookings and grow your business.

01 List your property

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Review the wide ecosystem of listing platforms, including for-profit places like Airbnb and non-profits like a company HR department’s housing lists. Or, leverage your own channels, like your website and social media feeds.

02 Get Direct Bookings

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To make more money from your property, book more guests directly through your website so you can avoid paying royalties to booking platforms like Airbnb. In this class, you’ll review a few ways to drive traffic to your site.

03 List with Google

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Many don’t think of Google as the place to find a short-term rental; even though it’s the #1 place people search. In this class, you’ll learn how and when to prioritize Google as a listing platform for your property.

04 List with AirBNB

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AirBnB is the most well-known booking platform, because it offers arguably the best customer experience. It makes sense for you to be there, but only if you have a strategy to account for its high fees. In this class, you’ll learn how to build a plan to win on Airbnb.

05 List with VRBO

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VRBO was the original vacation home booking platform and is definitely worth considering for certain properties. In this class, you’ll see if it makes sense to put your property on VRBO, and how to get the most from your listing.

06 List with Booking.com

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The world is full of potential guests, and most of them outside North America will be looking for you on booking.com. In this class, you’ll be introduced to this surprisingly large platform and learn how to use it.

07 Generate repeat bookings

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Learn how to make it easy for a first-time guest to become a second-, third- and fourth-time guest. And pick up a few tricks for encouraging your guests to come back and spread the word through their social networks.

08 Convert Inquiries

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With the right response, you can turn a simple question about your property into a long relationship with a repeat guest. In this class, you’ll learn how to interpret inquiries and respond back in ways that help potential guests feel well-informed and confident about choosing to book your property.

Course 5: Host

Create your Stay Plan and host successful stays at your property.

01 Communicate with guests

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So much of closing a booking comes down to how a guest feels about their interactions with you. A strong communication plan can help you say the right thing, in the right way, all the time. That’s what this course covers.

02 Manage cleaners

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A dirty or messy property is the fastest way to get a negative review, which is why the relationship you have with your cleaning crew will be among your most important. In this class, you’ll learn how to choose and work with high-quality, reliable cleaners.

03 Sniff out scammers

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The short-term rental industry as we know it is still in an early stage, and with this relative immaturity comes bad actors looking to take advantage of you. In this class, you’ll learn how to spot red flags.

04 Handle the unexpected

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Excessive noise, damage, a pet that's not supposed to be there - these things happen, and this class prepares you to deal with them swiftly and smartly so as not to damage relationships you want to preserve or wind up with a bad review.

05 Bring it all together

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Congratulations! You now know the Futurestay Method. You have a business plan in hand and both short-term and long-term goals - all tailored around an amazing Stay Story that speaks to your ideal guest. Trust your Stay Story and create your successful short-term rental business!

Save time, avoid mistakes
and fast track to success

The Futurestay Method is a must have for anyone in, or thinking about getting into, the short term rental industry. 

This program may not be for you if...

  • You don't value your time and think you know it all

  • You don't want expert guidance and education and would rather spend hours combing the internet and in Facebook groups looking for information

  • You want to get rich quick. That's not what this is about. The Method is designed for building long-term sustainable wealth

This program is the one for you if...

  • You are serious about succeeding with a short term rental

  • You want easy to consume expert guidance and insights

  • You want to avoid mistakes and save time

  • You're interested in building wealth and reliable cash flow with a short-term rental

Taking the first step is hard. Doing it right is even harder. The Futurestay Method makes it easy to learn the skills you need to do it right.

Extensive video library ($2,997 value)

Follow step-by-step as Nick walks you through 40+ original videos covering everything from market research to launching your rental online, to leveling up your income potential with short-term rental software.

Deep industry experience ($4,997 value)

The short-term rental industry continues to evolve, and as a founding member, Phil is at the forefront of new developments. We'll bring you along and ensure you're successful for years to come!

Downloadable resources ($1,497 value)

Download a variety of workbooks, guides, and even a full financial plan template to ensure you have everything you need to succeed.

Extensive video library ($4,997 value)

Get lifetime access to all existing and future curriculum for the Futurestay Method program.

Growing community of peers (PRICELESS)

Gain access to other short-term rental entrepreneurs in the Futurestay Method community. Share stories, tips, and tricks, or simply validate that your ideas are as great as you think they are!

Our Founder's Story

Start your journey

Phil Kennard, Founder
10+ years as a Rentalpreneur

Early in my short-term rental journey, I identified an important gap in the market. The enterprise-level property management industry was rigged against the little guy. It was overly complex and way too expensive and risky for someone just getting started.

I set out to change that and developed Futurestay to help rentalpreneurs easily get started and succeed in the short term rental market. 10 years later, Futurestay has helped tens of thousands of rentalpreneurs like you be successful.

I've poured all of my knowledge and expertises into the Futurestay Method so that anyone can get the foundational training and guidance needed to start right. Taking the first step is hard, doing right is even harder. Let the Futurestay Method make it easy. Start your STR journey with the Futurestay and learn everything you need to fast track to success.

Got questions?

Futurestay makes it easy to get online, take bookings, and get paid, but there’s still a lot to know. Browse our Frequently Asked Questions to get the answers you need.

You can also chat with our team if you have more questions.

Get started

What's the difference between the Futurestay Method and the Futurestay Platform?

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The Futurestay Method is education and guidance.  It teaches you the fundamentals of setting up and managing a short-term rental property.  The Futurestay platform is our software that makes it easy to set up and run your short-term rental business.

Is the Method effective for people who are already hosts or managers?

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Absolutely! Existing hosts and managers should use the Method to deepen their know how and get better.  With 40+ videos, and new, expert-level content being added monthly, the Method will be an invaluable resource for even the most experienced hosts and managers. Enrolling today gives you lifetime access to all current and future courses, resources, and other material.

Does the Futurestay Method cover rental arbitrage?

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Rental arbitrage is a popular topic these days.  While the Method does touch on the topic in a couple of the classes as a way to get into the industry if you don't own a property - we do not currently offer a comprehensive class on how to successfully execute the strategy.  We will be introducing one in the near future.

Is this a program for just Airbnb hosts?

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Not at all! The Futurestay method applies to any owner, host or manager in, or aspiring to get into, the short-term rental space.  The Method is especially valuable for people who only use one platform to run a property (eg. Airbnb or VRBO) and who are looking to do more.

Who is Nick?

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Nick is the host of the Futurestay Method.  He is a successful short-term rental host with a wealth of experience and a personable approach to teaching the courses.