61 | Building an Epic Short-Term Rental Business | with Steph Utterback

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Do you want to create an epic business?

From the time Steph Utterback was a manager at Starbucks, she had a love for hospitality, and that led to her pursuing the world of short-term rentals. Steph is now the owner of EpicBnb, a Nashville-based hospitality company specializing in design, short-term rental management, and consulting.

Over time, she evolved her portfolio into an “epic” branding, and the biggest part of that is having her epic standards — which was essentially the Airbnb Plus checklist before that was a program. 

The main question she asks her clients is: Would you pay to stay in your property? People are expecting an upgrade over their everyday living situation, and that’s what you need to provide in order to be epic.

Another part of an epic business is an epic team. The first essential employee for EpicBnb was an accountant because money is constantly floating around. They’ve now currently grown to a six-person team, and they also partner with several cleaning companies to assist with turnover.

Lastly, make sure you get involved with your local Short Term Rental Association. For Steph, that is NASTRA, the Nashville Short Term Rental Association. With the amount of legislative opposition our industry faces, it's important to link arms with a local hosting community and association to fight to keep our rights.

Building an epic business takes time and a high dedication to quality, but it is worth it. Steph dreams of one day being a millionaire, and with her business growing the way it is, she’s well on her way. If you follow this advice, you can start to build your own epic rental business.

Resources:

• epicbnb.com
• Instagram: @epicbnb
• #STRShareSunday: @thelodgeonclearlake