Airbnb is one of my favorite vacation rental sites, which offers different kinds of properties – single rooms, apartments, entire houses, tree houses, yachts, and even castles.
I’ve been an Airbnb host, and a guest as well, and I’ve always had a great experience with the platform.
In this article, you’ll learn how to become an Airbnb host and make passive income. You’ll learn how to create an amazing listing, how to increase the number of bookings, how to handle some unpredictable situations, and much more.
1. What is Airbnb
One of the most popular vacation rental sites in the world. It lets people rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. Airbnb hosts can rent their entire houses, tree houses, apartments, camper vans, etc.
The hosts have complete control over their listings, so they can choose the number of guests they want to host, a minimum and a maximum number of days they can stay in their homes, as well as set the price they want.
Guests can search for a specific property by using the filters, such as price range, reviews, home type, amenities, etc. Before making a reservation the guest can contact the host via the Airbnb messaging service.
2. How to Start a Profitable Airbnb Business Without Owning a Home
You can become an Airbnb host and make a lot of money even though you don’t own any property.
What is rental arbitrage?
Rental arbitrage is when your daily rental rate is higher than your daily rental costs. For example, you have a nice apartment and you pay $2000 in rent a month. Then, you do research and you find out that your neighbor who has a similar apartment rent it on Airbnb at $200 per day. That means that if you rent out your apartment for only 10 days of the month, you would pay for your rent. And if you could rent it for 30 days a month, you would earn $6000 what is 3x renting the apartment per month.
3. Is Airbnb Safe for Hosts
Many people don’t want to become Airbnb hosts because they are worried about safety. Although there is a possibility that you may have some problems with a guest, Airbnb is still very safe. I may have been very lucky, but I’ve never had any problem with my guests. Airbnb also tries to protect both hosts and guests, so every host and guest are required to verify their account with a valid ID.
Before confirming your reservation you should communicate with your guest and get to know each other. Write your house rules and make sure the guest read them. If you aren’t comfortable with a guest you should never accept their booking request.
By listing your property on Airbnb you’ll automatically be covered under Airbnb Host Protection Insurance, which comes at no extra cost and it covers up to $1 million USD per occurrence. It protects hosts in the event of third-party claims of bodily injury (if someone is injured on your property) or property damage.
There are lots of other ways to protect your property, such as using keypads to lock your doors instead of keys. Anyway, you must change your codes with every new guest in order to avoid putting yourself at risk. The biggest disadvantage of the keypads is that you need to be there physically to accomplish this task. It can’t be done remotely.
Therefore, you may consider a remote locking system(smart locks) that allows you to lock, and unlock, your property from anywhere in the world.
4. How to Create an Airbnb Account
In order to become an Airbnb host, you’ll have to visit the website and register. Then, you’ll need to create a profile, verify your email address, phone number, ID card, and payment method. When you have this done, you can follow the following steps and learn how to list your space on Airbnb.
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Home Type and Room Type
First, you need to specify ”home type” and ”room type” – whether you’re offering an entire place, a shared room, or a private room.
As you can see, you can rent an apartment, a tree house, bed & breakfast, etc.
An entire place means that a guest will have an entire place for yourself. It can be a tree house, a yacht, a house, an apartment, or any kind of property. This kind of property is perfect for people who want to have total privacy.
A private room is a great choice for guests who want to meet local people but still have a little privacy. They’ll have their own room in a shared apartment, where common areas, such as kitchen, living room, and sometimes bathroom, are shared. Private rooms are usually for one or two persons.
While both, an entire place and a private room, offer some privacy, a shared room doesn’t offer privacy at all. The guests who choose a shared room will share the entire space – the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room. Those rooms usually have 3 or more beds and guests pay for a single bed.
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Amenities
If you don’t know how to make your guests happy, offer them as many amenities as you can. They’ll love it.
One of the most important amenities is Wifi, so make sure your Internet connection is good and stable. Place a Wifi password on their table so they can get online at any time.
You can offer some basic amenities such as towels, clean bed sheets, soap, toilet paper, soap, some basic toiletries (shampoo, conditioner and gel shower). But, if you really want to impress them you can offer them some luxury toiletries, high-quality towels, a basket with chocolates, fresh flowers, fruits, magazines, etc.
Some other amenities they’ll appreciate are laundry service, hairdryer, washer/dryer, an iron, maps, and guides. You can recommend some things to do in the area, best places to eat and drink, and much more.
Get more towels and bed sheets, so you can always be prepared for your next guests.
If there’s a kitchen there must be some cleaning supplies, cutlery, and crockery which they can use to prepare their meals. Likewise, leave them some space in the fridge so they can keep their food there.
5. How to Choose Photos
Choosing photos is one of the most important things. I recommend you to take inside, outside, your neighborhood, etc. Take photos during the daylight in order to get a bright photo. Use a bigger format, at least 1024x683px format. I recommend you to take photos of some unique amenities which can call guests’ attention. Also, you can roll your towels instead of just folding them and place them on a bed. Guests really like details so make sure to offer lots of them.
After choosing the photos you should write a detailed description. Try to include what makes your home unique, what’s make about your location and amenities. For example, if there’s a terrace with a sea view you should mention it. If there are some famous historical buildings in your neighborhood or some famous streets, you should include it in your description.
6. How to Write an Outstanding Title
Choosing a good title is very important since it’s the first thing that will grab a guest’s attention. It must be catchy, it must stand out and provide valuable information. If you want to write an outstanding title you should use some catchy words, such as cozy, spacious, comfortable, getaway, oasis, etc. You can also use some words that describe your place well. For example, if your place is perfect for people who want to disconnect and relax you can write a title ”Hidden luxury oasis”, or similar. As well, you should use some special characters to help your title stand out.
7. Your Interaction with Guests
Having good communication with your guests will increase your chances of getting a good rating. But, how to build good communication and let to know each other if they are staying only for a night or two at your place?
Firstly, you should build good communication with your guests before their stay. When they text you, you should reply as soon as possible and provide them with detailed information related to their stay. Secondly, when guests arrive at your house you should make them feel welcome by inviting them for tea or coffee. If you are not so busy and you would like to spend some time with your guests, you can invite them for some drinks or lunch/ dinner, or offer to show them some attractions in the city. Finally, be always available to them. Let them know that if they need something they can contact you at any time.
If you are too busy and you don’t have time for your guests, you should mention it in the section and let them know what to expect from you.
8. How to Get 5-star Reviews
- Give some personalized tips
Instead of offering some generic travel guides to your guests, offer them tailored guides with your personal recommendations and tips based on guests specific interests. For example, if a guest likes hiking recommend him/her some hiking trails in the area, or if he/she likes eating delicious food, recommend him/her the best restaurants in the city, etc.
- Be Flexible with Check-in and Check-out Times
From my experience, this is one of the most important things for getting a good review. Many guests asked me if they can check-in earlier than the listed check-in time. If you have other guests staying in the flat, you don’t need to let new guests check-in but leave their luggage in the flat, so they don’t have to carry that around the city.
- Make them feel welcome
You should make your guests feel comfortable at your home. Be warm and friendly with them, and try to meet them better.
- Say ”Thank You” to Your Guests After Their Stay
Saying ”Thank you” to your guests will cost you nothing but can bring you some good reviews. There are 2 ways to thank them: one of them is saying ”thank you” when they are about to leave your place, and another one is sending a private message after they leave your place. Let them know that you are very happy that they stayed with you and that they are always welcome at your home.
9. How to Rank Higher and Get More Bookings
- Make your listing stands out
The first thing you need to do is to complete each section of your listing and describe your place well. Make sure your title is catchy, your photos are good and your house rules are detailed and clear.
If you are not a good photographer you can use Airbnb photography service if it’s available in your city.
- Be responsive
When you get a booking request, try to respond as soon as possible (within an hour), and make sure your response rate is 100%. If you are not able to respond within an hour, you should get back to your guest at most in 24 hours. But, if you are not even able to communicate with your guests within 24 hours, your answer will be counted as a late response and it will decrease your response rate.
- Update your calendar regularly
If you want to improve your ranking you should visit your calendar page every day. You can set your availability daily and make sure to unblock as many days as you can.
- Use Instant Book
Although with Instant Book you have less control over who stays at your home, it’s recommended for new Airbnb listings. It will help them get first bookings and improve their chances of being ”found” in Airbnb search results. Many guests will search for a listing which offers Instant book because it’s more convenient and they don’t need to wait for a host response.
- Get great reviews
Getting a lot of great reviews is very important for higher ranking. Guests, as well as hosts, have 14 days to write a review after they check-out. The best way to encourage them to write a good review is to send them a private message and thank them for their stay.
- Link to your listing from social networks
You can link to your listing from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. This will drive traffic to your profile and improve your ranking.
10. How to Get First Reviews
As soon as you become an Airbnb host you’ll need to get some reviews in order to start a successful Airbnb business. But, how to get the first reviews when everyone prefers to book a place that already has a lot of good reviews?
The easiest and fastest way to get the first reviews is to ask your friends to book your place and review you. You can set a minimum price on your listing and refund the total booking amount to them.
Another way to get the first reviews is to offer competitive prices. Along with a low price, you can offer breakfast to your guests, which can include cereals, milk, coffee, tea, fruits, etc. You can put it on the shelves so they can take whatever they want.
11. How Do You Get Paid
The website offers many payment methods, such as ACH/Direct Deposit, International Wire, Payoneer Bank Transfer/Debit Card, Pay Pal and Western Union. Air Bnb releases your payout 24 hours after your guest’s scheduled check-in time.
You can also add an extra payout method to your Air Bnb account by going to https://www.airbnb.com/users/payout_preferences (Account -> Payout Preferences).
If you have some spare space, become an Airbnb host and make passive income!
Thanks I am a mother and very busy! This helped me alot!