Help & how-to

1. Create your account and start your membership — free while you get set up.
2. Connect payments — a secure Stripe setup links your bank so guests pay you directly. We never hold your money.
3. Build your listing — photos, rates, amenities, house details. The first photo is your cover.
4. Submit — every listing is reviewed before it goes live, usually within 24 hours. You’ll get an email the moment it’s approved.

Your page lives at jerseyshoresummerrental.com/your-house-name — share it anywhere.

Never shown publicly. Guests only ever see the town, plus an approximate-area circle on the map. The exact address goes to a guest automatically only after they’ve signed and paid in full. We use it for your records, payment setup, and the map.

One flat annual membership covers the full toolkit — and we never take a percentage of your bookings. Guests pay you directly; 100% of the rent is yours.

We verify your identity (through Stripe) and your connection to the property before the seal appears on your listing. Guests book with more confidence when they can see a real, verified person behind the house.

Through your own secure Stripe account: credit card, bank payment (ACH), or Apple Pay. Money goes straight from the guest to your bank — Jersey Shore Summer Rental never collects, holds, or touches it. You’ll see every payment on your dashboard with its status.

Bank payments (ACH) take a few business days to settle. While one is in flight it shows as clearing — the guest has paid, the banks are just finishing up. It flips to paid automatically.

Stripe’s standard processing fees come out of each payment (bank payments are much cheaper than cards — capped around $5, which is why we steer guests toward paying by bank). We add nothing on top.

You set the terms per listing: a percentage up front, a flat amount, or payment in full. The rental agreement locks the schedule, guests pay from their trip page, and reminders go out automatically when a balance is coming due. You can also record a payment you received outside the site (like a check) so the books stay right.

You get an email with their dates, party size, and message. From your dashboard you can email or text them with one tap, verify their ID, prepare the rental agreement, and confirm. Nothing is booked until you say so — your house, your call.

We generate a New Jersey rental agreement tailored to your listing — dates, rates, deposit, your cancellation policy, check-in and check-out times, house rules. The guest signs online with a verified-identity audit trail, and the signed copy lives on both your dashboards forever. Prefer your own attorney’s contract? Upload it and we’ll use that instead.

Four options, set per listing and adjustable per booking: full refund before a cutoff, deposit-forfeit (full refund early, keep the booking deposit late, no refund at the end), non-refundable, or write your own. Whatever you pick prints word-for-word in the agreement’s cancellation section, and the form shows you a plain-English preview.

Yes — per listing (2–14 nights). The calendar politely explains the minimum to guests who pick a shorter range, and the request form backstops it.

After checkout we remind you until it’s done. One click refunds in full; if there’s damage, you can send the guest photos and a description first, then refund the balance and keep the rest. The guest is emailed at every step, so there are no surprises.

The booking deposit is the upfront share of the stay price that reserves the dates. The security deposit is the refundable damage hold, collected separately. They’re never mixed, on your dashboard or in the guest’s emails.

Open your listing’s calendar from the dashboard and tap a day to mark it taken; tap again to reopen it. Confirmed bookings block their dates automatically.

Two directions, both from your calendar page:

1. Import: paste your Airbnb/VRBO iCal link and their bookings appear here as blocked dates (refreshed automatically).
2. Export: give Airbnb/VRBO your JSSR calendar link and your direct bookings block dates there.

Step-by-step instructions for finding the links are right on the calendar page.

Save your arrival details once on the listing (lockbox code, WiFi, parking) and every paid-up guest gets them — plus the exact address — by email three days before check-in, and on their trip page. The little chip under the field shows you whether auto-email is on. Leave it blank to message guests yourself; we’ll remind you either way.

Day-before check-out instructions (if you’ve saved them), payment-due nudges, rent reminders for winter tenancies, a heads-up to you three days before every arrival, and deposit-refund reminders after checkout. Each sends exactly once — no guest gets nagged twice.

No. Check-in details unlock only when the stay is paid in full (a bank payment that’s clearing counts — the guest has done their part). Until then, your reminder email tells you it’s being held.

Turn on winter availability on your listing with a monthly rate. Winter inquiries come in without dates (it’s a conversation, not a booking) — you talk, verify ID, then prepare a lease draft with the dates, rent, and deposit. The payment schedule builds itself, move-in (deposit + first month) is paid online after signing, and monthly rent collects from the tenant’s page with automatic reminders.

Winter rentals are tenancies — NJ caps deposits at 1.5 months’ rent, and the deposit must sit in a separate interest-bearing NJ account with written notice to the tenant. The lease form knows these rules and warns you before you can get them wrong.

One click from your dashboard: ★ Get featured — $299/yr on any live listing. Your card on file is charged and your listing appears on the front page immediately — no setup, it’s your existing page. Cancel anytime; you stay featured through the year you’ve paid for.

Every listing has share buttons: copy the link (it unfurls into a photo card in texts and posts), or tap 📸 Insta / Facebook to generate a ready-made story card — your cover photo, price, and page address, sized for Instagram Stories. Owners sharing their own link is how direct booking grows.

New Jersey doesn’t tax stays booked directly with an owner offering no more than two short-term rentals — no marketplace in the middle means no ~11.6% in lodging taxes on top. That’s a real saving for your guests on every booking. (Not tax advice — check with your accountant.)

The state requires you to collect its occupancy taxes even on direct bookings. Tell us in your account settings (or when creating a listing) — your pages automatically drop the no-tax messaging and let guests know taxes will be in the rental agreement, where you include them.

Pick your dates on the listing’s calendar and send a request — the owner (a real, verified person) reviews it and gets back to you, usually the same day. Once you agree, you’ll e-sign a rental agreement and pay a booking deposit to lock the dates. Everything lives on your trip page.

You’re paying through Stripe — the same payment company behind Amazon and millions of businesses — into the verified owner’s account. Owners are identity-verified, agreements are e-signed with an audit trail, and your card or bank details never go to the owner directly.

Bank payment (ACH) has tiny fees, which is what keeps direct-booking prices low. It takes a few days to clear — pay early and everything settles before your trip. Cards and Apple Pay work too.

The exact address and arrival details (lockbox, WiFi, parking) arrive by email a few days before check-in and appear on your trip page — once your stay is paid up.

Depends on the house: many charge a small non-refundable damage waiver instead of a deposit; others collect a refundable deposit by bank that’s returned after checkout. Your trip page shows exactly which, and every refund is emailed to you.