How to Start Airbnb Business in 2024 – The Ultimate Guide
This guide on how to start an Airbnb business is based on my personal experiences over the last five years. Along with the insight I have acquired with hundreds of properties I have been involved with. There are many factors to be considered before ….listing your property on Airbnb ….as not every property will generate the same amount of profit. There are many factors to consider if it will be a good venture or a total disaster. Don’t make your decision based on the success stories you have heard – there are ways to turn it into a more educated decision. How to start an Airbnb business? It is a four-stage process, where every phase is essential, and you will need to stay on top at all times if you want it to be a profitable business. Planning Check Airbnb Regulations In Your Area Financial Viability Suitability Identify The Processes Setup Furnish The Property Get Photographs Create Airbnb Listing Setup Key HHandOverProcess Get Home Emergency Cover Ensure Property Is Fire safe Setup Cleaning Team Linen Service On-call Handyman & Locksmith Prepare Airbnb Cleaning Checklist Setup Payment Process Operations Guest Communication Arrange Cleaning Manage Check-in/Check out Troubleshooting Maintenance Regular Cleaning Checks Keep Supplies Topped Up Improvement Based On Guest Reviews Running an Airbnb is all about meeting guest expectations at all times, and even a tiny glitch in the process can lead to business failure in a short period. Here are the key phases and steps of the whole process and a summary of my experience at each stage: How To Start Airbnb: Phase 1 – Planning Not every property is suitable for Airbnb; it can be due to local regulations, the property itself, financial viability or even the neighbourhood. Airdna market research is an excellent tool for such purposes. 1. CHECK AIRBNB REGULATIONS IN YOUR AREA Before deciding to become an Airbnb host, you need to find out the local regulations in your city. With the exponential growth of Airbnb over the last few years, it has been gaining significant lousy press as well, mainly due to irresponsible hosts. Some cities have laws restricting your ability to host paying guests for short periods. These laws are often part of a city’s zoning or administrative codes. In many cities, you must register, get a permit, or obtain a license before listing your property or accepting guests. Certain types of short-term bookings may be prohibited altogether. Local governments vary greatly in how they enforce these laws. Penalties may include fines or other enforcement. The rules can be confusing, and usually, it’s tough to find out exactly what restrictions apply in different parts of the world. Use the following button to head over to the Airbnb repository, where they put together city-wise regulations collectively in one place. Note: Regulations mainly apply to hosts renting an entire property on Airbnb. Sharing a room within your primary residence is considered good and generally excluded from the rules. Check Airbnb Regulations In Your Area This link not only provides you with the regulatory information in your area but also offers guidance on ensuring your Airbnb is safe for guests and complies with all the local safety regulations. I cannot stress enough how important it is to check every piece of information on this link and ensure you operate your Airbnb per the law and keep it safe for guests. 2. HOW TO START AIRBNB: ENSURE FINANCIAL VIABILITY How to start Airbnb: If you rent a space in your primary residence, it is a no-brainer to list it on Airbnb and generate extra income without any additional financial burden. On top of this, many countries offer tax relief for the revenue generated by ‘sharing’ space in your home under schemes similar to the ‘Rent a Room Relief‘ we have in the UK. It becomes a different game when you rent an entire property on Airbnb. Rent your holiday home: If you have a ‘holiday home’ and intend to use it periodically – a traditional long-term rental won’t work for you, as the tenant needs an assured period, and it will not fit with your holiday plans. It makes perfect sense to let it on Airbnb, and you can block the calendar for the dates you wish to use the property. Financially it is an excellent decision to rent it on Airbnb for the periods you will not use it. Rent your second home: If you own a second property and want to rent it on Airbnb, a detailed financial analysis is needed to see if it can give you higher returns than a long-term tenancy. Read more about paying tax on Airbnb income in the UK. HOW TO START AIRBNB Short-Term Airbnb Vs Long Term Rental Airbnb – Benefits If you are in a good location and the property is set up correctly, it can get you dramatically higher returns than long-term rentals. There is no lock-in contract, and you can use the property for personal use whenever you wish. You can inspect the property very frequently during changeovers. Address issues in time – the guest or your cleaning team will inform you of any maintenance issues. The property gets cleaned frequently, usually a couple of times a week and will stay in top shape. Minor wear and tear – a vast majority of guests will visit the area for tourism or business; they will spend most of the time outside and stay less indoors. You may get additional tax benefits; for example, if you are in Europe and the property meets the conditions to qualify as ‘Furnished Holiday Let’, you can claim back property furnishings on capital allowances along with many more highly lucrative financial benefits. See this link for tax benefits of Furnished Holiday Let in the UK. Airbnb – Disadvantages Letting your property on Airbnb is not ‘Real estate’; it is ‘Hospitality’, and unless someone manages it for you, you will need to learn how to meet your expectations. The income from Airbnb can be unstable, you may start on
30 Actionable Tips to Optimize Your Airbnb Listing in 2024
My Airbnb business grew from 1 to 110 properties in the just two years, and the key reason behind this success was my good understanding of how to effectively optimize Airbnb listing. Ever wonder why your bookings are drying up with time? To give you instant reward and hook you to the platform, Airbnb gives an initial push (new listing bump) to new properties but if you don’t optimize Airbnb listing your bookings will soon start drying up and slowly lead it to a loss-making business. In This Article.. Here I am sharing all my Airbnb optimization secrets which helped me turn around loss-making business into profitable Airbnb within weeks if not days. Some of these techniques are time-consuming; you will have to be consistent and keep doing them regularly to stay ahead of the competition. Other aspects of Airbnb listing optimization are technical, I have tried to simplify them into actionable steps in simple layman terms as much as possible. What is Airbnb SEO? Just like Google, Airbnb search engine’s job is to show the best and most relevant listings to the user. With 1000’s of listings to choose, Airbnb has developed an algorithm to internally grade properties which is used to determine its ranking in the search result. This algorithm is called the Airbnb search engine – it is based on a set of pre-defined rules to identify each event that occurs on a listing as a positive or negative one, and it maintains an overall internal Airbnb score of your property. A positive event gives +1, and an adverse event leads to -1 in the internal scoring. Higher the internal score, better will be the search ranking of your Airbnb listing. The Airbnb search algorithm is more complicated than this. Still, to optimize Airbnb listing, this simple principle of the internal score is sufficient to understand each optimization step you need to perform. What is the need for Airbnb SEO? You might have noticed when searching for something on Google, we rarely go beyond the first two pages of the search result as it is human nature to feel insecure and we think information after the first few pages is less reliable – it works the same way on Airbnb too. Optimizing Airbnb listing is all about appearing in the first two pages of the search results for the maximum number of search criteria…and when this happens, you will have no difficulty in filling your calendar ANY TIME of the year. How Airbnb decides search ranking? Airbnb is continuously monitoring your listing and the actions you take. Every time you make a change to your listing or a user clicks on it – each event that occurs on your listings updates the internal SEO score, positively or negatively. Another essential thing to note before we dive into the details: Airbnb is guest focussed. They want more and more guest convenience, no matter how hard it makes your life as a host. Airbnb knows if people are coming to book their vacation on the website, hosts like you and me will be there offering our holiday lets. INTERNAL & EXTERNAL FACTORS Apart from the listing strength (internal factor) and how attractive your listing is to guests, Airbnb also monitors user behaviour(external factor), i.e. how people react to your listing. The recorded user behaviour is divided into a few key performance indicators (KPIs) such as: Click-through rate is the ratio of users who choose to click on your listing when it is displayed in the search result along with other listings. Conversion rate is the percentage of users who book your listing compared to those who take a look and end up booking another listing nearby. Bounce rate is the percentage of users visiting your listing but left without interacting further. Exit event tracks how users moved through your listing, if they read listing reviews, checked photos, read property description, location before exiting the page. Average book time users spend on your listing before proceeding to book on your listing or click away. Popularity is how many users come directly to your listing from outside Airbnb by following your listing URL shared in: Phone message Whatsapp message Email Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit etc.) Other external websites referring to your listing (known as backlinks in SEO terms) All this user data is continuously collected by Airbnb to determine the quality of your listing. Here is the list of Internal factors used by Airbnb search engine to determine your properties search ranking. 1. Age of your listing With time as your Airbnb listing grows older, it keeps gaining Airbnb trust. With each successful guest checkout, it becomes more and more credible, and the algorithm keeps adding +ve points to it. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Nothing you can do to age your listing faster, but you can offer shorter stays, in the beginning, to gain credibility quickly. To beat the established competition, you can offer significantly lower price, no cleaning fee or offer amenities which most of them are not offering such as free parking, pocket WiFi, Cable TV or a BBQ grill. You can watch this short video tutorial on how to update amenities on your Airbnb listing. 2. Property Type Shared property is considered less favourable compared to an entire property on offer. WHAT YOU CAN DO: If you share a room in your property, try to give a separate bathroom exclusive for the guest to use. Indicate with whom the spaces will be shared, you, other guests or someone else. If you share an entire property, double-check the Airbnb settings to ensure you have not marked space as shared by mistake. Watch this video tutorial on how to ensure shared areas are correctly marked in your Airbnb listing. 3. Guest Reviews You need lots of 5-STAR guest reviews. Each 5-STAR review gets you +ve points added to your Airbnb SEO score and sub-4-STAR review is going to wash away your months of hard work. WHAT
Airbnb Support Phone Number – Here is how you can find it!
Getting immediate attention from Airbnb is crucial in this business, and unfortunately, Airbnb doesn’t keep it simple, and phone numbers and other contact methods are not shared clearly on the platform.
How Does Airbnb Work? 22 No BS Facts About Hosting [2023]
Starting hosting on Airbnb is the best choice I have ever made. But in the absence of profound insight, about how does Airbnb work, it wasn’t a smooth beginning, and my learning was rather long and expensive. In this easy to understand guide, I have listed some beneficial things that you need to be aware of before listing your property on Airbnb. You will learn some key aspects, which you must consider before becoming a host on Airbnb. Why do you need this? When I first started on Airbnb in 2015, I had no idea about what it involves and had a mountain of doubts in my mind. Also, most importantly, I wanted to know the risks involved. I spent ages reading everything I could find on online forums and spoke to various people I knew who had experience with Airbnb hosting, but not all feedback was adequate, and I was left with many doubts. Four years down the line, after managing 4,500 guest check-ins in 110 properties, I can look back on all those doubts I had, and the unsatisfactory advice I received, I can talk a lot about it now. Here is the list of different aspects of Airbnb hosting I wish I knew when I started and could have avoided those pricey mistakes: Airbnb charges 3% from the host and 12-15% from a guest of the total booking price. Airbnb Review Rating: 5-star Is Good, 4-star Is Very Bad. Airbnb has four cancellation policies (not three). Airbnb allows you to charge a cleaning fee to the guest. You should not let a rented property on Airbnb without landlord’s permission. Just listing your property won’t get you bookings (for long). You CANNOT get rid of a bad review on Airbnb. You can choose who gets to stay in your property, but it comes at a price. Almost every guest will ask for an early check in and late checkout. Airbnb can kick you off the platform anytime if you violate any terms and conditions, and they will not shy away from relocating your guests. If you store personal items in the property, guests will poke them. A guest may try to take advantage if you are extra nice, so learn to say ‘No’. Don’t communicate with guests outside the Airbnb platform unless it’s an emergency. Try not to fall in the rookie trap of providing extras like wine, transport, etc. Minimise communication from Day One- stick instructions on everything. Keep a secret key somewhere close to the entry. Keep extra supplies in a storage with a combination lock on it. Suggest third party service providers but don’t arrange it for them. Your biggest enemy can be the ‘Amazing’ photos of your property. The amenities you provide decide the kind of guests you will get. If you have sensitive neighbours, inform your guests well in advance. Keep it insect and rodent free. 1. How does Airbnb work: It takes 3% from the host and 12-15% from a guest For every booking made on the platform, Airbnb charges a fee to both the parties. For example, if you sell a room for $100 a night, broadly speaking*, the guest will be paying $113 to Airbnb (+13% platform fee added on top), and you get paid $97 (-3% service fee). For guests The platform fee varies between 6-15%, based on the booking value and country. The higher the booking value lower is the Airbnb fee. For hosts It is a fixed 3% (of the booking total) service fee. This includes payment processing charges, property damage protection insurance of up to $1 million and providing the platform services to you. Why is this important to know? ➤ When deciding the nightly price, keep in mind that the guest will be paying 15% in addition to the night rate (plus cleaning fee for Airbnb if any). ➤ If a guest requests a cancellation after 24 hours of initial booking, Airbnb does not return the 15% platform fee. Which means although the flexible cancellation policy states that the guests will get a full refund on cancellation, they do not get this 15% back. Keep this in mind when deciding cancellation policy for your listing. 2. How Does Airbnb Work: 5-star Is Good, 4-star is bad In my quest for how does Airbnb work, I soon realised, the most significant factor that impacts your search ranking and thereby your chances of getting future bookings is how the guests review your listing on Airbnb. About three hours after the checkout time, Airbnb sends a notification and option for the guests and the host to review each other. Reviews become public immediately after both parties have written a review for each other. (Airbnb review example) Both, the guest and the host, have 14 days to write a review. After this period is over, it is impossible to write a review, and whoever has written the review within this period, it becomes public. In the world of Airbnb, a 5-star review means ‘excellent’ whereas a 4-star review means ‘bad’ and with every lousy rating your bookings will slow down – that’s their way of punishing you for getting 4-stars. Tweet On a scale of 5 stars, the guests get to rate the property on six subcategories and one overall rating. Subcategories are: Accuracy Check in Cleanliness Communication Location Value The most important rating is the overall rating. This is how a perfect 5-star review by a guest looks on Airbnb (I have 500 of those). Pro Tip: After three guest reviews, the average overall star rating will start appearing on your listing. From this point onwards, Airbnb will permanently remove your property from the website if your overall star rating falls below 4.7 stars at any point. Unfortunately, that’s how it works on Airbnb. 3. Airbnb has four cancellation policies (not three). When creating a listing, you can select one of the three standard Airbnb cancellation policies. The fourth policy for long term stays is automatically applied to reservations of 28 nights or more, and you cannot opt-out from this. The four
Make More Money on Airbnb: 6 Ways Airbnb Hosts Can Boost Profits
These are undoubtedly tough times for many and hosts are looking for ways to make more money on Airbnb by alternative means. Beyond the obvious burden on the families that have lost loved ones and the scores of folks now unemployed, many people have come to rely on supplemental income from hosting via Airbnb. Even though the online rental platform has redefined the hospitality industry, bookings took a hit amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Now, these short-term rentals seem to be bouncing back when it comes to domestic vacations at least. The company has expanded its rules for cleaning in an effort to protect customers and hosts. Between lockdowns, travel bans, and general anxiety about the virus—hosts who have invested in vacation rentals are searching for backup plans. They’re quickly realizing the need to diversify their side income rather than relying 100% on Airbnb rental fees. Luckily there are a number of other ways to turn an even bigger profit on extra living space and we’ve compiled a few here. 1. Become an Airbnb co-host While this practice used to be discouraged, Airbnb launched co-hosting in 2016 for individuals on the platform with extra space but no time to host. Owners can find local co-hosts to support the renters for a piece of the pie. If you’re a host and you’ve found yourself with more time on your hands for whatever reason, you can become a co-host locally as another way to generate income. Of course, this also works the other way around in terms of hiring local co-hosts to manage your properties so that you can scale your own efforts as well. 2. Make a deal with your cleaning service If you’ve got multiple properties in one area, be sure to capitalize on those economies of scale. Cut a deal with your local cleaning service to bring down those cleaning costs. Whether it’s oriented around the frequency of cleanings or quality, hosts are typically in the driver’s seat when it comes to this aspect of maintaining Airbnb rentals. Hosts can even ask cleaners to compete on price, especially if you’ve got a solid supply of properties that make things more attractive for cleaning service. Also, don’t forget to set your cleaning fee to an optimal level that will encourage longer-term rentals while covering the cost of your cleaning service. This can reduce the number of turnovers while ensuring that those cleaning costs are adequately baked into the overall cost of the rental. See my earlier post about Airbnb cleaning checklist to make sure your holiday let always meets the cleaning standards you aspire for. 3. Get on the superhost level It goes without saying but, being a great host will make you more money on Airbnb. What makes a great Airbnb host? Being responsive. Fixing problems quickly and effectively when they arise. Giving guests their space while also making yourself available for support when necessary. Staying informed about local events. Providing your guests with a guide for the local area. There’s a lot that hosts can do to chip away and eventually become Airbnb superhost. In the end, it’s the little touches like labels on kitchen cabinets to guide new guests and a modern keypad for ease of entry that make the difference in terms of the quality of a guest’s stay. If you’re looking to increase bookings and bring in more revenue, strive to be a superhost. 4. Tackle the cost of supplies and utilities When you can, buy those basic supplies in bulk. The costs of things like detergent, shampoo, paper towels, and other essentials can really add up over time. If possible, strike a deal with your cleaning service to include re-stocking of these supplies when they turn over each rental. When it comes to utilities, invest on the front-end to save on the back end. From solar panels and modern HVAC systems like Nest to high-efficiency appliances and proper insulation, putting in a little extra up front will help you save on those utility bills in the long run. Plus, renters will appreciate rentals with a more modern feel which will bring in better ratings and more bookings. 5. Be a live-in host If you’re in the business of acquiring investment properties to be used for Airbnb rentals, you’re probably putting 15-20% down payment on mortgages. To reduce this rate down to as low as 3.5% (FHA home loans), you can choose to live in one of the properties and rent out the remaining space as a live-in Airbnb host. Assuming you’re flexible on your living arrangements and willing to share the space with some friendly strangers from time to time, this is a great way to bring down the initial costs in terms of securing a new property. In most cases, the rental income from Airbnb will more than cover your mortgage costs and you’ll be able to turn a nice profit. 6. Rent out your property as a storage space Spoiler alert: Not every Airbnb rental must be occupied by humans. People have stuff and they need space to store it—so offer that option. For example, lots of folks in Southern California have reduced their time on the road recently due to lockdowns and not all of them have places to securely store their vehicles. If your Airbnb rental comes with a garage, driveway, or parking lot of some sort—you can monetize that space for mutual benefit. The same goes for household goods and keepsakes. A lot of people need space to store those items but would prefer the safety and security of a home rather than an industrial storage warehouse. Don’t hesitate to make full use of the space you’ve got available in those Airbnb rentals and strike an alternative deal. Paul Perry is a freelance writer for Neighbor, a peer-to-peer marketplace for storage. He works with B2B/SaaS clients looking to grow their brands and reach more clients.
Airbnb Message Templates For Serious Hosts & Automation Methods
If you don’t have the right Airbnb message templates it can soon take a toll on your hosting experience very quickly if you do not follow a well-planned communication strategy. The main objective of your Airbnb messaging plan should be to maintain accurate communication with guests and providing the right information at the right time to minimise unnecessary back and forth messages. Here I am sharing the Airbnb messaging templates and best practices I have evolved over the last five years while managing 100’s of properties worldwide to help me achieve optimum communication with Airbnb guests. Without these templates and Airbnb message automation, I couldn’t grow my Airbnb business beyond two properties I can tell you that. How To Save Airbnb Message Templates You can save Airbnb messages for frequent use, it’s straightforward and comes handy when you have to send them over and over again to guests. Step 1: When you are in the message window, click on ‘Use a Saved Message.‘ Step 2: In the next pop-up window, click on ‘Save a new message‘ to save a new message or ‘Edit saved messages‘ if you wish to change a previously saved message. The same screen can be used to send a saved message when you need it, click on the message box, and it is carried to your inbox for you to send. Airbnb Message Templates New Booking Enquiry Best time to send: Immediately after the booking enquiry comes Hello [guest name]! Thanks a lot for your interest in staying at our apartment! I wanted to confirm right away that it would be a pleasure to host you from [date] to [date]. Please let me review your booking request and get back to you very shortly. Thank you for your patience. Best wishes [your name] New Request To Book Best time to send: Immediately after the request to book comes Hello [guest name], thanks for your interest in our [property type] at [location]! I have received your request to book our apartment from [date] with [no. of people] for [number of nights]. I will review your request and will come up with an answer as soon as possible so that you can prepare your trip accordingly. If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to ask, it would be my pleasure to answer you! New Reservation Best time to send: Immediately after the reservation is made. Hello [guest name] thanks for your reservation 🙂 I wanted to confirm your reservation at my [property type] in [location] starting on [date] for [no. of nights] with [no. of people]. Please see my Airbnb guidebook for local recommendations and money-saving tips: [link to your airbnb guidebook] If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to ask, it would be my pleasure to answer you! In any case, I will be sending you complete check-in details 7 days before your arrival for a smooth check-in. Please feel free to let me know if you are looking for recommendations for local activities or tours, we will be happy to help. We look forward to hosting you! Best wishes [your name] Early Check-in request Best time to send: As needed You are welcome to drop luggage anytime after [check-out time] and come back to check-in after [check-in time] while housekeeping prepares the place for you. Hope this helps. Late Check-out request Best time to send: As needed You are welcome to leave your packed luggage behind on checkout and can come back to pick it up before [check-in time] while cleaning is being done for the next guest. Hope this helps 🙂 Check-in Instructions Check-in instructions is a more elaborate topic and I have covered it in a separate post, you can read it here Airbnb welcome letter – Win Your Guests Even Before They Arrive. It is the most important message you will be sending to your guest. If you get your check-in message right, you win the heart of your guests even before the arrives. It is also a medium to pass on important information such as check-in procedure, how to get there, a house guide etc. so they feel relaxed and at home from the moment they walk in your front door. Check-in Reminder Best time to send: Around 6 pm the day before check-in Hi [guest name], I hope you are all set for [property location] tomorrow 🙂 Please keep this picture handy to help you locate the flat and check-in easily. Code for the lockbox is [code] which is the front door of the building. Address: [property address] Navigation URL: [google maps link] Please note flat is door [door no.] on the first floor of the building. ** Please may I request you to be very quiet on the stairs and in the flat after 8 pm, few ignorant guests in the past have upset my neighbours, sorry! Sound travels very easily in the building and lots of families with kids live in the flats.** Feel free to give me a call at the number below if you struggle to find the flat. Have a safe journey! Best Wishes [your name] Expired Inquiry Best time to send: When enquiry expires Hi again [guest name], We hope this message will find you well. I see that my earlier pre-approval has expired. If you are still interested in renting out the [property type], I have extended your pre-approval for another 24 hours. Let me know if you have questions! Best regards, First Morning Best time to send: 8am on the first morning. Don’t send this message to one night bookings, instead send checkout message. Good Morning [guest name], We hope that you have settled in alright and that you are experiencing a 5-star stay 🙂 Please let us know if there is anything you need or if we can assist you in any way! All the best and enjoy your stay! [your name] Check-out instructions (For >1 night stay) Best time to send: Around 7 pm on the evening
