By The Hospitable Team
Becoming an Airbnb host is a great way to make extra money and meet new people from around the world. At the same time, being an Airbnb host can be time-consuming and overwhelming if you don’t know how to manage your business correctly.
What can you do to make the hosting process profitable but also enjoyable and fulfilling? Here are some Airbnb host tips that can help make hosting easier.
Airbnb Listing Tips
Before you host your first guest, you must list your property and make your listing stand out. How? You should create a listing that focuses on the overall guest experience of your place.
Here are some easy Airbnb listing tips you should follow.
- Prepare your property for short-term rental business. There are a bunch of minor tweaks you should do before you start. You will thank yourself for doing it a few months later. Make your place welcoming to guests so they can truly feel at home and comfortable. Create an atmosphere that encourages guests to relax.
- Write an accurate description of your place and highlight certain things that make it unique and would appeal to potential guests. Don’t just state dry facts. Use your creativity to describe the experience your guests will have if they book your property. Use appropriate words and phrases to help the Airbnb algorithm show your listing in relevant categories.
- Add 20-30 high-resolution photos to create a tour of your Airbnb and help guests clearly understand what staying in your home will feel like. Add inspiring pictures of each room, and don’t forget to include photos of your most exclusive amenities and focal points.
- Set clear house rules to tell guests what they can and can’t do at your vacation rental and what is expected. Well-defined house rules can help protect your home and avoid many problems. They will also allow travelers to evaluate whether your listing is a good fit before they book a stay.
- Complete your Airbnb host profile and show your personality—mention your interests, hobbies, and travel experience and add a professional photo of yourself. Travelers want to know as much as possible about you to feel safe when booking your property.
Airbnb Hosting Tips Every Host Should Know
Many people only starting in the industry do not know how much work it will take to run a successful short-term rental business. And some consider Airbnb a side hustle and are surprised when it becomes a second job that requires a lot of time, energy, and effort. But there are ways to make the hosting process more enjoyable, and hopefully, these Airbnb hosting tips will give you a chance for a great start.
Manage guest communication the right way
Communication is one of the major aspects of guest reviews because they are looking for a more personal experience. You need to stay in touch with your guests at all stages of their journey:
- Pre-booking
- Between booking and check-in
- During the stay
- After the stay
You should be proactive in your conversations with guests to make them feel welcome from when they inquire about your property to when they check out. Be responsive and available to answer all their questions immediately and address any issues that may arise during their stay.
That can be rather time-consuming if you try to handle it yourself. The good news is you can put your guest communication on autopilot while sounding like you. Using vacation rental software like Hospitable, you can create automated messaging templates and use shortcodes to make them personalized. Our tool also has ChatGPT integration. With Hospitable, you can be sure that all your messages will be sent to your guests at the right time, no matter how many listings you have.
Have conversations with your guests even when you sleep.
Organize a smooth check-in
Make it simple for your Airbnb guests to check in. The best approach is offering them a self-check-in option because it saves time for you and your guests. Allow your guests to get access to your property using a smart lock. You can automate the whole process, including changing the unique code remotely for each visit. A self-check-in is one of the most popular amenities among Airbnb guests, so they’re more likely to book your property if you offer it.
Keep your place clean
Your Airbnb rental should be spotless for guests every time. Keeping the constant routine of turning your space over in between guests can be rather tiring, so we recommend getting professional help. Hire a cleaning service specializing in tidying up vacation rental properties during each turnover to ensure you’re always covered. You can also add a cleaning fee to your listing to offset the cost.
Make sure you create a comprehensive cleaning checklist that will help your team keep your property guest-ready and to ensure they have covered everything and no spot is left untouched.
Provide your guests with a house manual
Offer your guests as much information as possible before and during their stay to ensure a smooth experience. Create a comprehensive house manual for your guests to tell them everything they should know about your home to stay comfortable finding things they need and how they work. You can create an in-depth online house manual on the Airbnb website, but having a printed copy on your rental property is always a good idea.
Print off a hard copy of your house manual, and leave it where your guest won’t miss it. Your guests will appreciate that you’ve provided them with clear instructions for everything that might need explanation. And don’t forget to write a good welcome letter to make a great first impression.
A good idea is to give your guests recommendations for sights to see, places to eat, and things to do in your city. You can use the Airbnb guidebook feature to make this information available to your guests online.
Another nice touch can be to stock your vacation rental home with books, tourist maps, or guides on the area. This way, you’ll help your guests experience your area like a local, and that’s what they’re looking for when they choose to stay in an Airbnb.
Get help to make hosting easier
Airbnb hosts have to wear many hats. Many lighten their load by sharing their responsibilities with their teammates—manager, co-host, cleaners, maintenance, and laundry team. Create a team and work together. Ensure that all your team members get quick and convenient access to the information they need when they need it.
Your job will be to send reminders to your team members to ensure that all tasks of running and operating your property are completed on time. These reminders are time-sensitive, but by using Hospitable, you can automate this process entirely and manage your team hassle-free.
Take your team management to the next level
Price your listing competitively
Setting competitive prices that reflect seasonal variations and demand is important to maximize your earning potential. Do market research and consider your location and amenities. You must constantly check and update your prices according to market trends and optimize them according to seasonality.
Being intelligent with your pricing strategy will positively impact your success as an Airbnb host. And if you opt for Hospitable, you can take advantage of our integration with leading dynamic pricing tools that can help you get pricing recommendations. They will be based on historical and current booking data, market supply and demand, seasonable trends, and other data.
List your property on other OTAs
If you are new to the short-term rental business, Airbnb is the best platform to get started. As your business evolves, you must optimize your occupancy rate and list your properties on additional platforms. The top choices here are Vrbo and Booking.com. Be sure to check out our extensive guide on hosting on Booking.com.
Having listings on several channels will help you improve your visibility, reach more travelers, and increase your chances of getting bookings. But the problem is that when you get more bookings, you have less free time if you try to personally handle every aspect of your Airbnb business. Still, there are ways to manage multiple listings on several platforms, allowing hosts to minimize effort and maximize results.
Automate your hosting routine
Being a short-term rental host doesn’t have to be stressful, so many hosts opt for automation to streamline their daily operations and take the hassle out of hosting. Using vacation rental software like Hospitable, you can automate all repetitive tasks, including guest messaging, managing your team, updating calendars and prices on multiple channels, and many more. Hospitable has a comprehensive set of features and can save you time and effort in running your STR business.
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With Hospitable, you can scale your STR business faster, like an Airbnb Plus Superhost Quynh Vu. Quynh and her husband managed their first property entirely through the Airbnb app, and it was very challenging because of constant guest messaging and management.
But when the couple switched to automation with Hospitable.com, they could automate different workflows and improve their overall efficiency. That allowed them to focus on growing their STR business, and they could buy more properties. Today, they own and manage six rentals across three states.
You may want to check out our blog article to learn more about Airbnb automation and find tips on automating different aspects of your business.
Final Word
Becoming a successful Airbnb host isn’t just about creating an attractive listing and landing a booking. The competition in the vacation rental industry is high, so as a host, you need to do your best to deliver unique, memorable experiences for your guests consistently.
That means you must invest time and commitment to the process to make your guests feel welcome and happy with their stay. Then your guests are more likely to leave you positive reviews and perhaps even return one day.
These are just a few Airbnb hacks to simplify your hosting routine and save time and energy without lowering the quality of customer service. Use our Airbnb host tips if you are looking to increase your Airbnb income, impress your guests, and save time.
Experiment with different Airbnb tips and tricks to find out which works best for you (it will depend on your lifestyle and your listing). Just give it some time, and you’re sure to discover the best approach for you.
You may also want to check out our list of Airbnb dos and don’ts that every host should know.
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