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The advent of the internet came with its fair share of benefits and as we all know, millenials are striving for quick and easy ways to make money. Among the many ways through which you can make some extra cash is Airbnb; an online marketplace that allows the ordinary people to put up their spaces, places or other rooms for other users to stay in. In this kind of arrangement, the guests are required to make some advance bookings and then once everything is set up, the Airbnb host receives nightly fee as is set up in the arrangement. Airbnb property leasing can be a lucrative investment.
According to recent research, I have discovered that an average Airbnb guest spends $2684 per trip in Sydney, AU and considering the ever-changing dynamics of travel and tourism, this could just be the next frontier as far as accommodation booking and rentals is concerned. In this article, we shall narrow down our focus by discussing how a first-time Airbnb host can make the most of their experience with the sharing economy.
Be Responsive
In order to excel in this marketplace, communication is paramount. The marketplace is run by search engines that work on the basis of real-time reply so the faster you reply to your potential guests, the better your chances of landing the deal.
Ideally, replies should be made within an hour of your potential guest contacting you. This responsiveness will go a long way, not only in portraying you as a reliable host but also in ensuring Airbnb does not take action against your listing, thereby costing you time and money.
Be As Detailed As Possible
It is only natural that a guest will choose to be hosted by you once they have a full outlook of what to expect. Just like is the case with mainstream accommodation, you need to be as detailed as possible. A good advice, therefore, is to ensure that while setting up your profile, you supply as much details as possible.
Additionally, you should try to keep a friendly and conversational tone so your potential guests are more drawn to your place than put off by it. In addition to increasing your potential guests, being detailed also ensure Airbnb can do a reasonable reckon of your nightly fee, not to mention it could push you higher among the site’s most recommended listings.
Be Shrewd In Pricing
Setting up the price for your Airbnb space may prove quite a challenge. However, there are a few tips to follow and the first is to consider the neighborhood your property is situated in. Is it an affluent neighborhood, is it an upmarket one, is it a suburb etc? By determining the economic standards of your neighborhood, it will be easier to set up the price for your space.
You may also have to get a little personal and compare your room with those of local hotels and other accommodation facilities. Naturally, if your room is bigger, more modern, more furnished or contains extra conveniences such as a Wi-Fi, Jacuzzi etc, you may want to charge more. Airbnb also does recommend price but it will come down to what you truly feel your space is worth. Again, do not charge too low as it will create an impression of low-quality services, or charge too high as you will scare away potential guests
Let The Pictures Do The Talking
No matter how much you chomp at the bit to try and explain how luxurious your accommodation space is, you will notice that you may never win any guests because people are more enticed by photos as opposed to simply texts. For this reason, you need to ensure you take skillful photos of your facility. Don’t forget to make your home Airbnb ready before taking photos.
This calls for creativity so instead of just taking one-dimensional photos of the living room, try to get more angles of the room and employ professional photography skills such as using portrait and landscape techniques to clearly get the message out. Once you are done with the inside, venture outside and take a photo against a pleasant landmark such as a beach. Also, ensure the photo captures the status of the road infrastructure as guests will be more drawn to your place when they know there is a reliable road network in and out.
Other details you may want to include in your photo is your carefully painted façade, your patio, lawn , Wi-Fi router etc. In case you are not so an excellent photographer, do not fret as Airbnb has professional photographers that will help you with this.
Stay Safe
Being an online marketplace, there are definitely those who would be willing to take advantage of the site to propagate unscrupulous practices. However, Airbnb does all it can to ensure these activities do not take place on the site. The site verifies IDs offline and ensures that profiles are clearly laid out. Airbnb encourages Facebook integration so that you can be assured your potential guest is a real person.
Therefore, you are encouraged to use some of these recommendations from the site to ensure you stay away from potentially dangerous guests. Also, Airbnb holds on to your money as a host for a period of 24 hours after the guest has checked in, after which the money is released to you through PayPal or bank accounts. This ensures that there is trust and openness both on your part as well as the part of the host. Even better, a host is covered by the $900,000 AUD. Though this insurance only covers damage to your property and not collectibles, lost cash or rare artwork and jewelry, it is indeed a good place to begin.
Invest in Online Forums
Online forums are not only helpful to the guests but as a host, you also need them. One way to benefit from these forums is that you will meet with fellow Airbnb guests who will offer more tips on how their first-time experience as an Airbnb host was. You can then harness these tips o ensure you have a wonderful experience as a guest.
Another advantage of these forums is that they may help you discover some of the red flags when it comes to identifying dangerous hosts. You may come across fellow Airbnb hosts who may have had pretty bad experiences with guests and using their ordeal, you can clearly identify the hallmarks of a potentially dangerous guest even before sealing the deal with them.
Study Common Tourism Trends
Well, let’s face it. Technically, being an Airbnb host makes you a stakeholder in the travel and tourism industry and given the ever-changing dynamics of this industry, it goes without saying that you should study a few trends, especially with regards to your neighborhood.
Consider what months are considered high-seasons in your neighborhood as well as other variables such as offers in air tickets so you can tap into these openings and ensure you secure as many guests as possible.
If It Isn’t Tidy, Then It Won’t Sell
We all associate hotel rooms with impeccable cleanliness standards and your space shouldn’t be an exception either. Once you have secured a guest, it is paramount that you keep the guestrooms as clean and tidy as possible.
A tidy room does not only offer immediate satisfaction to the in-house guest but will also go a long way in ensuring you have repeat guests. In addition, these guests will go on the online forums where they would post favorable reviews of your facilities, thereby ensuring you even win more guests. Breezybnb has been dedicated to developing useful relationships in such areas, and listing your Airbnb property with us takes a lot of the legwork out of running the listing yourself
Personalize Further
Chances are, you will be entertaining a guest who has probably visited numerous hotels so they would be looking for nothing but the best experience from your facility. Therefore, you need to add some personal touch to your facility to make it more admirable.
Ask them what they want and ensure you supply it to them just the way they want it. Do they want the lighting conditions adjusted in a certain way? Do they have a preference for a particular wine? What’s their meal routine? These are the questions you need to ask and ensure you deliver just as they desire. See our post on Airbnb home makeovers for more ideas on personalization.
Write a Welcome Guide
A welcome guide is necessary and this can either be emailed to your guests or printed out and kept in your facility. A welcome guide is essential as it will help to introduce the guest to some common rules you want followed in your facility as well as possible consequences in the event these rules are violated.
More importantly, it serves to introduce the guest to the neighborhood. Clearly, you are not hosting someone who will be in your house 24 hours a day and not venture outside. Try to give suggestions for some cafes in your neighborhood as well as nearby parks and what the nightlife looks like.
Follow Up With Communication
Your relationship with the guest needs not end the moment they hand over the keys to you. You need to ensure you stay in touch as often as possible. This makes the guest feel appreciated and in the event they need to visit your neighborhood again, they will definitely choose your facility.
Ask them what the experience was and what they think you could do better to make the place more comfortable.
Remember To Review
Reviews are too-way traffic – the guest will have to review you and your place while you also will have to post anonymous reviews of them on Airbnb.
Even though reviews are posted under anonymity status, one way or the other, Airbnb will ensure the reviews get onto the forums where potential guests can read them. This explains why you need to ensure you keep the guest as satisfied as possible.