Some “Getting-Ahead” Advice for AirBnB Host Business Operations

Going as far back as 2016, hosts rented out their homes on Airbnb a total of 271,000 times and earned $531 million. Business potentials are soaring for hosts. By taking advantage of these opportunities, you can make serious money from home. Below are just a few ideas to consider as you move forward.

Downsising Your Listings

Many hosts find that they have “outgrown” their “starter” home. That doesn’t mean you have to pack it in and sell it right away. It means you could repack your listings to be more appealing to a smaller audience.

You can do this by including a section on the home page or menu where you provide the features that are missing. You may add in a detailed floor plan, off-season features, and a list of “featured items.”

Don’t be afraid to add a unique feature or two as well. For example, you can add seasonal decorations that make a difference in your listing, such as festive wreaths, candles, or a pile of “happy” snowmen, or even something like a heat wire for roof de-icing, making sure to display photos of the vastly improved aesthetic appeal something like this would induce.

Guests want an Airbnb host who knows how to handle their expectations. In a perfect world, they would go to a boutique hotel, and to be honest, they’re right. The difference is that Airbnb will have a customer service representative who can cater to your guest’s needs immediately.

When a guest has a question or complaint, you have the opportunity to make things right. If it’s not a big deal, then try not to be too apologetic. When a host tells guests to “talk to Airbnb first,” that’s not going to work.

The real win-win scenario is to have your guests enjoy your home as much as you enjoy it. Think about the perks that guests experience at hotels. They can order room service, have a massage, and take a relaxing shower. They can also choose between two different types of rooms with different amenities, a hotel room or a private cottage. These features also make for a great family vacation, especially for children.

Think about the feeling you got when you used the best local moving services and try to recreate that feeling through your own services, even though they’re naturally different. It’s about the FEELING.

Bundle Deals to Grow Your Bookings

In addition to providing the services you already have, you can bundle more services for an additional fee. For example, you could provide a photographer to help with a photography session. Or if you’re a photographer, you could do the same for weddings or similar events.

You can also create more events at your property, like cooking classes or pottery classes. For example, you could host a wine tasting or cooking class at your home. You could also create a beautiful guest cottage on the property, or you could do that at a different Airbnb property.

Some hosts will create deals and incentives to help them attract guests to their property. For example, you can offer free or reduced rent for certain groups.

Promote Your Experience

This is a hard point for many hosts to accept, but it’s true. If you want to make a living hosting on Airbnb, you need to build a booking system that is reliable. In addition to creating a reservation system that works, you need to monitor it daily and provide proactive customer service.

Even the best-organized hosts get burned by booking mistakes. They also need to spend time travelling to bookings, which is another problem in itself. Your technology needs to be able to sync with the backend that you use to book your bookings. This will take a lot of work to set up, but it will set you apart from other Airbnb hosts and can be achieved with reputable digital services and marketing companies such as Ignite Digital.

Getting a reputation as an honest and reliable host is also essential. You have to work hard to stay at the top of everyone’s list, and this can be hard to do if you’re competing against hundreds of other Airbnb hosts.