AirBNB Hosting Tips: How We Make Over $1,000 a Month With Our AirBNB

Are you thinking about starting your own AirBNB? We have all the tips for you! This past summer we were discussing a beach rental, and even met with a realtor to determine if this was the right path for us.  We knew we wanted to turn the beach rental into an AirBNB, but we wanted to try out being hosts first.  We have an extra apartment in our home and we decided to try it with our apartment first.  Where we live happens to be the crossroads of an interstate and a national road, so we wondered how it would perform. Little did we know we would be booked constantly making well over $1,000 each month.  We want to share our best AirBNB tips with you to help you get started and get booked as much as possible.

1. The Price is Right. Before we even listed, we searched AirBNB.com for our area to see comparable prices and locations. There were not very many places in our town, so we knew that we had very little competition.  We also looked at their pricing and made sure our pricing was lower than our other local listings.  We also made sure we were well below our local hotels. While this does require that we host more nights each month, it helps to guarantee that will will make income from our apartment. This has proven to be true, and we are consistently booked over 80% of the month.
2. The Devil is in the Details.  When creating your listing, include as many details as possible about your space. We made a point to list as many amenities as possible.  We included the washer, dryer, microwave, and included as many items as possible to guests know what to expect when they arrive.  Make sure they know that you will have pots and pans, a hair dryer, etc. Try to include as many amenities that come to mind when creating your listing.
3. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. I can’t say enough about taking HIGH QUALITY photos. I firmly believe that my years of blogging and understanding filters helped me in this area. Make sure the pictures are light and airy and bright. Realtors use this same strategy to get showings for the homes they are selling.  I actually offer this service for $5 per picture, so if you ever need me to do this for you, email me at steph@debtfreespending.com. However, there are many tutorials online on how to use the Lightroom app, and it is free! I also feel that you need to take as many pictures as possible to include in your listing. Don’t you want to know as much as possible about where you stay when you travel? Your guests feel the same way. This means the front of your home/building, the back yard, each bedroom and bathroom, etc.  Also, make sure these areas are neat and tidy. No one wants to stay in a home that is cluttered, so make sure to make your area look as neat as possible in your pictures.
4. Be Responsive. When guests message me, I message them as soon as possible. The AirBNB app on my phone gives me a notification when we receive a message. I usually try to message guests back immediately so they know I care about their needs.  I also have a three paragraph message that I copy and paste each time to send to new guests about where to park, how to lock the door/locate the keys, and to let them know we are here if they need anything, including recommendations for restaurants or places to visit in our local area.  When guests feel cared for they sometimes actually become repeat guests. We have had this happen several times, and they all have said its because they feel so welcome here.
5. Be Prepared.  When guests arrive in our apartment we have several printed posters hanging or standing around the apartment.  The first is the guest wi-fi password. My husband is a teach guy, so he created a separate wifi log-in just for our guests.  We also have instructions hanging on the pantry door  for different things, such as warning them that our water softener back flushes several times a week in the middle of the night, and they shouldn’t be alarmed by this sound. Another example might be if you live near train tracks or a fire station, you may want to warn your  guests so they know in advance!
6. Pets and Children.  While we do allow some pets and children, we do eliminate large families since our apartment is a one bedroom. So far we have mostly had single, traveling nurses, professional workers here for a job, and a few families with one small child. Each of our families have been very respectful with their pets as well. Keep in mind, you potentially get rated on AirBNB by each guest and you can rate your guests as well. We always check out a guest’s rating before they arrive, just so we know how they are in advance (in terms of their ratings).
7. Keep It Clean. We work very hard to keep the apartment clean and tidy for new guests. As soon as guests depart we immediately go down and start cleaning and sanitizing. We wash the bedding and towels, and we clean the kitchen and bath areas, take out the trash, and sweep. While this may seem like a lot of work, we have it down to a fine science, and it only takes about one our for one of us to clean the space.
8. Check Your Local Authorities. We called our township when we first started hosting and there were no restrictions. However, had we lived in the borough of our local town, this would not have been allowed without proper inspections. We were very blessed that we didn’t have a bunch of red tape. Also, it only added $40 per month to our homeowners insurance. We felt this was totally worth it for the price.  Make sure to check with your local officials for their short-term rental rules.

While these are just a few tips to get your started with your first AirBNB, there are so many amazing, FREE resources online to help you get started with your journey! Happy hosting!