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Okay, so you’ve decided to take the plunge and delve deep into the exciting world of Airbnb hosting. You’ve contacted your Airbnb management agency, your property is furnished and ready to go, your ad is now live, and now all that there is to do is sit back and wait for the bookings to come flooding in.
Once you start receiving bookings, the countdown until your guests arrive will begin, but that is only one half of the story. Being an Airbnb host is not easy. If it was, the demand for holiday home management Sydney properties wouldn’t be so high, and everybody would try their hand at being a host.
The simple fact of the matter is that your hosting skills are what will determine whether your guests enjoy their stay, recommend your property to others, and pledge to come back, or whether or not you get a bad review and lose out on a returning customer.
Here’s a look at 5 hacks to make you a better Airbnb host.
Hire an Airbnb management agency – We’ll begin our list by looking at what we consider to be one of the most important hacks for Airbnb hosts. If you’ve a property, or properties, listed on Airbnb, one of the best decisions you can make is to hire an Airbnb management specialist. A short term rental management company, or long term for that matter, will be one of the best investments you will make. These companies basically take care of all of the heavy lifting for you. They handle customer queries, complaints, and feedback, they do the meet and greets, they do guest check-in and outs, guest turnover, the cleaning, inventory, and much more besides. What’s more, as these companies are specialists, their hosting skills are not notch which means that guests are much more likely to have a happy and enjoyable stay.
Go with a self-check-in option – Okay, if you decide to contact an Airbnb property management service, this won’t be an issue but if you decide to go it alone, one of the best things you can do is to implement a self-check-in option for your guests. You see, if you insist on guests checking in with you first, picking up the keys from you and so on, this is very inconvenient for you and your guests. Guests can arrive at different times of the day, they could be late, they could get lost, and much more besides. When waiting on guests, you need to make sure you’re in, otherwise how can they be expected to get the keys? A self-check-in option such as a lock box is a great way around this, as you simply give your guests the code, lock the key inside, and they can then check themselves in when they arrive.
Provide a welcome hamper – As the saying goes ‘you need to spend money to make money’ and in the hospitality world, that’s truer than ever. As an Airbnb host, it is the small gestures that make the biggest differences. Before your guests arrive, provide them with a welcome hamper as this will put a smile on their face and help set the tone for their stay. You needn’t go mad, just things like tea, coffee, milk, sugar, biscuits, and maybe some local produce such as local honey or eggs? You could even provide a bottle of wine, or a nice fruit juice. One of the best things about hiring Airbnb management companies is the fact that they will ensure that a hamper is indeed present before each guest arrives.
Spruce up the property each year – Airbnb styling services are also in high demand at the moment, as more and more hosts are furnishing their properties each year, ready for new guests to arrive. One of the best things you can do as a host is close down for a couple of weeks in the height of winter when it’s likely to be quiet anyways, and spruce up your property. If carpets need replacing, go ahead and do that, give the walls a fresh coat of paint, and have your holiday home maintenance team give the property a once over in order to repair any damages or breakages that may have occurred over the last season. Again, it may seem like unnecessary work if the property is in good condition already, but these little changes can make the biggest differences.
Be flexible with check ins and outs – Finally, when it comes to Airbnb hosting, flexibility can go a long way. Guests are staying at your property to relax and get away, not to be told what to do and pressured into ensuring they arrive and leave at a specific time, without fail. When it comes to checking in and out, try to be flexible and relaxed. Kindly suggest that guests arrive and leave at a certain time, but don’t order them to. Instruct your Airbnb management agency to do the same and to be a little flexible with guest check ins and outs.
If you would like to learn more about Airbnb property management, or about Airbnb property management companies like HomeHost, click here to schedule a free phone call with us. We’ll chat about how much your property may be worth, how other similar properties in your area have been performing, and why HomeHost has so many great reviews on Google and Facebook.
