Let’s be real, hosting is not easy. It requires a lot of upfront investment of your time and money and if you’re just starting out, there could be that lingering feeling of “will this actually work??”.It would not have been so overwhelming if I had a list of airbnb host tips for beginners, so I put that together for you!
Before we hosted our first guest at the Modern Bungalow I was just totally overwhelmed and very controlling of the process. Like, I wanted to clean the property and check it out after every guest left immediately. This is NOT the way to set up your short term rental and will genuinely scare your guests.
This post has 17 insanely helpful airbnb host tips for beginners.
Best Airbnb Host Tips for Beginners
Airbnb Tips & Tricks for Beginners
First off, before you dive into this article, I encourage you to start the set up process on your listing. If you haven’t done this yet, many things in this article may not make sense. So pause your read and go to the airbnb site and start your set up! (P.S. If you want to make an extra $24 for hosting your first guest, you can use my referral link!)
The Enemy Method
The next thing I want you to do is look at other listings in your area that would directly compete with your property. For example, if you have a 1 bed/1 bath listing that sleeps 4 people, only look at listings that are 1 bed/1 bath for 4 guests. Make a favorites list in the app and analyze each listing. Give them a grade from A-F and then focus on the A grade properties. An A level will have the most booked nights, best amenties, professional photos and best listing description. Now study those different items and this is what you will use to craft your listing.
Create Your Listing
Now finish that you have this info, finish creating your listing. If you can’t afford A-level amenities, make a punch list of things to add once you have reserves built up to reinvest. Airbnb has a great tool that will allow you to pay for professional photos out of your first payout. Leverage this if you can’t afford a professional photo shoot right away. Craft a killer description and everything Airbnb suggests you add, add it! This will all help with ranking on the search page.
Airbnb Tips for Owners
Now here are the 17 insanely helpful airbnb host tips for beginners:
1. Create a favorites list
I talked about this in the beginning but create a favorites list of all the A grade competition in your market. Put it in your calendar to go back and study monthly. This is the best way to make sure your listing stays relevant and you have the latest amenities without over investing. As new A grade listings come on market, add them to your list.
2. Hire the best cleaners
Your cleaning team is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your short term rental team. Do not sacrifice quality here. Pay them well and tip them when they do a great job and guests note it in their review. You want an ally, not an enemy here. Create a checklist in partnership with your cleaning team on everything they will do on each turnover. The best tip I have received is to have multiple sets of linens and towels (1 out for washing, 1 for back up and 1 for using). This is the best way to ensure turnovers are fast and the cleaners have enough time to address issues autonomously. If a set of towels is ruined, they have a back up set and you have time to purchase another set.
3. Have a handyman on speed dial
Toilet was clogged or oven won’t turn on? You want to have a maintenance person that can respond to guest issues immediately. Little things like this will come up no matter how excellent your cleaning team is. You can still secure that 5 star review when issues arise if they are addressed quickly!
4. Create an owners closet inside and outside the house (if possible)
Owners closet is mainly all your back stock items for the house. I like to have one inside and outside the house. The one outside that house would ideally be in a spot where you could access and restock anything and not be in the way of the guests renting the home. This is a great tool we have for our properties and allows us the freedom to get stuff done regardless of the calendar. Our cleaners pull from the outside backstock when they need something inside the owners/cleaners closet in the house. I would also recommend having a combo lock, not a key lock, on the one inside the house. This has saved us trips out to properties! Example, one time we had guests spill something on the sheets and request a new sheet set. Instead of sending out our cleaners, we gave them the combo lock code to the owners closet and said they could help themselves to another set. We requested they lock it back up and they did.
5. Hang signs around the house to explain anything that could be confusing for guests
Walk through the listing and mark anything that could be confusing. Are there 3 way light switches that take a minute to figure out? Do you have a complicated coffee maker? Is there a gas fire pit in the house? Make signs and make them cute in Canva or Illustrator and post helpful notes around the house to make not so intuitive things easy for guests to figure out. This will greatly reduce the amount of messages you get and guests will so appreciate being able to help themselves around the property. I use these 4×6 acrylic signs and they work perfectly.
6. Have a welcome book
This is a great tool for you to explain things about the property to the guests staying at your house! Utilize this to talk about all the amenities and how guests can best use them. I’d even leave instruction manuals to the appliances in there to really make it simple. Include your check out instructions, local hot spots and recommendations on places to visit. This is also a great opportunity for you to advertise a direct booking site, social media platforms you feature your property and further ways to get in touch.
7. Post to multiple OTAs
I love airbnb and utilize them as a one stop shop but I do see tons of value in getting a property listed on multiple sites to get a full calendar. Airbnb is getting really competitive and listing on VRBO and Booking.com will increase your visibility. Make sure you have a calendar management tool to avoid double booking dates. Guesty is a great software for that.
8. Have a pricing strategy
Airbnb’s pricing tool is getting better all the time and I’ve grown to like it! They have a smart pricing option that does something called dynamic pricing where they will change the price per night based on local demand and other listings that are getting booked. It’s in their favor for you to book at an optimum price point because they earn a % of each booking on both the guest and host side. However, I have always used Price Labs and swear by this tool. I linked my referral code there if you want to look into it. It’s about $20/mo for your first listing and pays for itself in my opinion!
9. Say “YES” to all of Airbnb’s suggestions
When you’re first starting out, take all of airbnb’s suggestions and implement them. I truly believe this will help you rank on the first page of search results for your area because you are pleasing the algorithm. You’ll get a handful of suggestions as you set up your listing, just say yes!
10. Have a plan for trash
In most towns, a trash service comes one day a week and if you’re not able to take the cans out and back that service day, you need someone who can do it. We pay our landscaper at one property and a handyman at others to manage this for us. There’s nothing tackier than asking a guest to manage this for you. Remember they are on vacation and your goal is to deliver a relaxing experience!
11. Clearly communicate your availability and how guests can reach you
I love the airbnb platform because they clearly have you check how guests can reach you and how you are available. I reinforce this selected communication platform in all my messages, welcome book and signs in the house. I personally prefer all my communication through the airbnb messaging platform that way if there’s ever an issue, the airbnb rep can clearly read all my messages with the guest. Others prefer to be contacted in other ways, which is what works for them! Also, I recommend putting in your host profile, messages and welcome book what hours you will be very accessible and what hours it may be hard to reach out. Example, available from 8am-8pm and after 8pm my response may be delayed. This is SUPER important for overall guest experience!
12. Avoid check out chores
Check out chores is a thing of the past, I like to call them suggestions so the guest feels like they have power over the situation. I’ve been doing this for over a year now and only 1 time did a guest not follow our check out procedure suggestions. With that being said, keep them reasonable. Do not ask them to do laundry or anything crazy. Keep it simple and doable!
13. Have a self check in process
You have to have a contactless, self check-in process now. It’s absolutely vital. No one wants to meet you or pick up keys. Use a smart lock, this is the one we like, and set a code. Have a back up key if batteries die but use the smart lock. Also, set up a photo led check in instruction guide for your guests so they know exactly where to go and how to get into the property.
14. Don’t hide weird quirks
If there’s anything super unusual about the property, put it in your listing description so guests see and know about it right away. Then, reinforce those quirks in your house manual and send it to the guests prior to check in. You do not want them to be surprised by anything upon check in. They need to know what they are paying for and getting themselves into.
15. Automate messaging
Set up automated welcome, check in, house manual and check out instructions. If there’s any other messages you’re going to be sending to your guests during their stay, just automate it. There will be one off questions you need to answer but this will eliminate SO much repetitive work.
16. have security cameras
You need a security camera at the front door but you do not need to check it every day. Turn off notifications and have it if guests have questions. My favorite way to use it is to see when the cleaners leave and let guests know the house is ready early. This is my secret weapon to securing a 5 star review regardless of the rest of their experience. This makes the guests feel like their getting extra time they didn’t pay for!
17. Be hands off
Do not, under any circ*mstances, be an annoying host. Your guests are on vacation and most likely wanting to relax and get away from the stress of every day life. If you think about this as you’re building out your listing, decorating and messages, you will be successful and have repeat customers!
