Corporate Lease on Airbnb: How to Get Started

Wondering how to make extra money on Airbnb without investing in your own property? An attractive option is a corporate lease on Airbnb that offers a lot of flexibility in subletting a property. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at corporate leasing and give you some tips on building a profitable business through it.

Corporate Lease on Airbnb: What Is It and What Are the Benefits?

In more legal terms, corporate leasing is a lease for a residential property where one party rents the property from its owner or landlord and has the right to sublease the unit to individual subtenants.

Short-term corporate rental leasing or subletting is a popular business model. It means that you find a property, sign a long-term agreement with a landlord, and then rent it out on a short-term basis using OTA platforms like Airbnb. Another term that is used to describe this business model is ‘rental arbitrage.’

You’ll be able to make a profit by charging a higher daily rate on Airbnb if it brings you more money than the sum of your rent and other Airbnb expenses related to running your business.

Corporate lease via Airbnb can offer many benefits, for example:

• It gives you an opportunity to start a short-term rental business without owning a property.

• You don’t need a lot of money to get started—the start-up costs include legal fees, security deposit, insurance, first month’s rent, furniture, and appliances.

• You can scale your business faster by applying the same strategy to get a second property and grow your property portfolio.

Then you’ll be able to attract more bookings and earn more money if you increase your exposure by listing your properties on several vacation rental platforms. You’ll need a reliable channel manager to keep your listings in sync and avoid double bookings.

Is Corporate Lease on Airbnb Legal?

Corporate leasing is completely legal on Airbnb, but you’ll need to obtain a permit from your landlord beforehand. Keep in mind that not all landlords allow subletting, and you could face legal issues and hefty fines if you disregard their rules.

You should also follow certain local laws and regulations that apply to short-term rentals in your area. Depending on the location of the rental property, there may be laws issued by local governments that completely restrict or even ban short-term rentals altogether. Or you may be required to have a special license. So you should do thorough research and double-check regular short-term rental regulations and rules that apply to subletting.

Short-term Corporate Rental Leasing: How to Build a Successful Business

When planning your business, you should be ready to adapt to continuously changing marketing conditions and unexpected events. To help you get started, here are essential steps you can follow to increase your chances of success.

Do your research

It’s a crucial step, so you should put extra effort into it. You should thoroughly research such critical aspects as the area, property, and seasonality. Here is what you should do.

• Choose the location wisely because it’s the key factor that impacts the success of your Airbnb. You should create a list of the best cities for Airbnb business. Some destinations are more attractive for short-term rentals because of higher occupancy rates and average daily rates.

• You should also compare long-term rental rates and short-term rental rates. Areas where the difference between them is higher, are better suited for the corporate leasing model.

• When deciding on the specific property you want to sublet, you need to have a good idea of its earning potential on Airbnb. Make sure that it outweighs the leasing costs.

• Do your homework and study seasonality. If the area is popular only for a few months of the year, it’s not the best choice for starting an Airbnb business.

Find more hands-on advice on starting and running an efficient Airbnb business in our e-book.

Find a property owner you can trust

The truth is that it’s not easy to find a property owner who will be willing to enter into a corporate lease with you. Unfortunately, not many property owners are open to the idea of subletting. So you’ll need to make an extra effort to convince the actual owner of the property you plan to sublet. You’ll have to explain what corporate lease on Airbnb involves, how it works, and what benefits this business model can offer to both parties.

Get your corporate lease agreement right

If you are signing your corporate lease agreement as an individual, you should ensure that the terms allow you to rent out the rental to other guests on a short-term basis. When negotiating that you can have other people stay on the property during the lease period, you should be honest and upfront.

Don’t hide the risks and extra work that comes with running a short-term rental business, but make it clear that it’s your responsibility to ensure that the property is occupied. You should also agree to reasonable additional terms like paying a bigger security deposit or vetting all the Airbnb guests before their stay.

You may want to consider creating an LLC (Limited Liability Company). Then you won’t have to identify the individual guest staying at the rental property in the lease agreement. By signing the agreement as an LLC, you’ll have the freedom to sublet the property to other people without making any changes to the initial rent or lease agreement.

Create a perfect listing on Airbnb

Now you have to create a listing that looks appealing to the type of travelers you want to target. If you want to attract more guests and win more bookings, you should do your best to make your Airbnb stand out.

That means creating a catchy Airbnb name, engaging, accurate description, and adding high-quality photos of the rental space. Don’t forget to highlight the unique selling points of your listing and describe the neighborhood. And it’s critical to set clear house rules.

Automate your routine tasks to save time and money

Being an Airbnb host means spending a lot of your time on routine admin tasks like communication with potential and current guests and assigning tasks to your teammates to ensure that the property is always guest-perfect. You’ll also need to update your prices and availability on the major vacation rental sites and write reviews for your guests.

But automation software like Hospitable can help you streamline these tedious tasks and many more. Our tool can save you the time you can use to improve your marketing and grow your business by adding more units. With Hospitable, you’ll also save costs because it’s an all-in-one platform to manage all your rentals without hiring a property manager.

Final Thought

The corporate lease on Airbnb is a popular business model. It’s a good option for aspiring hosts who want to start a short-term rental business. Subletting a property on Airbnb and other vacation rental sites is completely legal, and although it’s not risk-free, if done right, it can lead to making a lot of money without owning a single property.