Whether your kids have left you with an empty nest or you simply find yourself with more room than you know what to do with, setting your home up as an Airbnb is a fantastic way to generate secondary income. Downsizing is becoming more and more difficult as the median price of smaller, single-family homes rises across the nation, so it only makes sense to make the most out of the extra space you have in your home. Getting your home set up for Airbnb guests can be a bit stressful, but you can make things easier by doing a little bit of research.
Get Creative When You Design The New Space
One of the most important aspects to consider when setting up your home as an Airbnb is not only how it looks in photographs but how it feels in person. Your home should be inviting, instilling a powerful sense of comfortability, and welcome to those who book a stay there. It should also be accessible to tenants of all ages and abilities. Focus on a design that appeals across generations and benefits those who might have mobility issues. This will ultimately allow you to rent to far more individuals in the long run.
When it comes to looks, interior design relies on many of the same principles as other art forms including photography and painting. Understanding proportions can help immensely with creating a stunning and inviting space, and implementing the rule of thirds will allow you to create a gorgeous, interesting living area that shines, both in the photographs you use to create your listing and in person. The opportunities available to you are limitless when designing your Airbnb rental, and they give you a chance to really flex your creative muscles in a way that will generate profit.
It is important when designing a living space for paying guests to not only focus on the bedroom they will be staying in, but the entire area as a whole. While you should absolutely make sure the bedroom is spotless and inviting, the kitchen, bathroom, and living areas are also key components to a successful Airbnb and shouldn’t be neglected. When guests stay at your Airbnb, they should feel at home; anything that they decide to do while staying there should be as effortless for them as possible.
Making Sure You Get The Most Out Of Your Airbnb
Becoming an Airbnb host is an excellent way to obtain an extra source of income. However, after the initial investment of redesigning and sprucing up your home, there are other factors to consider that can affect how much money you’ll actually generate as an Airbnb host.
Now you’ve set up your space as an Airbnb and made sure that you’re compliant with all local laws and regulations. The next step, setting your price, is arguably the most important. While Airbnb itself will recommend nightly rates for your listing, you can always go over or under that recommendation based on the rates of similar Airbnbs in your area. If your home has easy access to public transportation, unique features such as pet friendliness, or the use of a private yard, or is situated in a highly desirable area, you’ll find that you can potentially charge much more than you may have thought.
After you’ve settled on your prices and fees, there is the issue of the continued costs associated with hosting an Airbnb. While the cleaning fee will offset the cost of professional cleaners, there are still toiletries and kitchen essentials that you’ll need to regularly restock. One of the easiest ways to see just how much money you’ll actually be making is to use a cash flow calculator that factors in your Airbnb profits with any other sources of income and expenditures you have.
How To Deal With Bad Guests
Hosting an Airbnb is a great way to not only make extra money, but to meet interesting people from around the world. Unfortunately, not everyone is an excellent tenant for an Airbnb, and if you’ve renovated your home to act as a host, you’ll want to protect your investment.
Screening Airbnb guests prior to their stay is the best way to avoid damage to your property, theft, and personal safety. Airbnb has a great in-app tool for reviewing potential guests, but there is absolutely no harm in doing a bit of digging on your own to ensure that the person is who they say they are. Social media is a fantastic way to verify someone by seeing how many connections they have and if they seem valid or give you a bad vibe.
It is absolutely fine to decline rental inquiries for a variety of reasons including their inability to arrive during the check-in window or because of simple scheduling conflicts. If you uncover that a potential client harbors racist beliefs or outwardly displays hate symbols on their social media, you are well within your right to refuse them service, but if you simply don’t like how many tattoos they have, it might get you into some legal troubles to decline to host them on that basis.
Hosting an Airbnb can be a fun, exciting, and profitable way to use the extra space in your home. Taking the time to go the extra mile with design can attract the right guests and increase the overall value of your rental. Now, get out there and start making money!
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