Start Your Own Travel Hosting Business

Airbnb, VRBO, Homeaway, and More

The Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Jason R. Rich

• Publisher: Entrepreneur Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781613083666
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

GET PAID FOR YOUR PAD An ever-growing number of travelers are searching for more convenient and low-cost accommodation alternatives, as opposed to staying at traditional hotels. As a result, online-based services like Airbnb, FlipKey, HomeAway, Roomorama, and VRBO are making it easy for you to list extra bedrooms or your entire home, condo, or apartment, as a short-term rental option for travelers. Start Your Own Travel Hosting Business will help you make intelligent renting decisions, take appropriate actions and precautions, and deal with realistic expectations while protecting yourself, your property, and your personal belongings. It will help you quickly acquire the core knowledge you need to become a successful travel host and teach you how to:• Prepare your property, maximize amenities, and create a house manual for your guests
• Create a listing that generates the highest possible revenue using tips from Superhosts
• Attract a constant flow of short-term renters and business travelers with the perfect nightly rate
• Apply a variety of tools and resources that will make handling your responsibilities as a travel host easier and less time consuming
• Interact with your guests, earn the best possible ratings and reviews, and avoid the most common pitfalls and mistakes made by first-time hosts
• Calculate your expenses, understand your tax obligations, and generate the highest possible revenueYou'll also gain valuable insight from in-depth and exclusive interviews with veteran Airbnb hosts and executives within the travel hosting industry. Whether you choose to rent through Airbnb, HomeSuite, Kid & Coe, or take your rentals to sea via Yachtico, this book will help you get started.

CHAPTER 1

Changing the Way People Travel

Do you have a clean and comfortable spare room in your apartment or home where your friends and family enjoy staying when they visit? Perhaps you have a second apartment or vacation home that you don’t use as often as you’d like, so it sits vacant for much of the year. Well, without making any long-term commitments, thanks to online-based hosting services, it’s possible to share extra living spaces with other people, on a short-term basis, and generate some extra income in the process.

The main focus of this book is to teach you the ins and outs of being a successful Airbnb host (the most popular service of its type, by far) so that you’re able to avoid the pitfalls, generate the highest revenue possible, and earn the best possible reviews and ratings from your guests.

In addition to Airbnb, however, there are a handful of other services (also online) that offer similar functionality and serve as a tool for matching up hosts with travelers. Some of these services are more specialized than Airbnb and cater to a specific clientele, or work only with hosts that offer a specific type of accommodation (see “Hosting Options Beyond Airbnb” on page 12).

While this book will introduce you to some of these other services, consider investing some time in your own research to determine, based on your own preferences and what you’re offering, which service (in addition to or instead of Airbnb) will offer the best opportunity for you as a host. At first glance, the concept behind Airbnb and similar services is rather straightforward and simple. You provide guests with a place to stay, and they pay a nightly fee. However, before you opt to become a host, there are a handful of important factors you’ll need to consider, misconceptions you’ll need to overcome, preparations you’ll need to make, and expenses you’ll need to factor into your budget. There are also local and state laws you’ll need to abide by, insurance to acquire, and additional planning to do.

It’s important to understand, right from the start, that becoming an Airbnb host (or a host with a similar service) is not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor is it a viable money-making opportunity for everyone. Many factors, which you’ll learn about shortly, go into whether you’ll be able to consistently generate enough revenue as a host to make this opportunity worthwhile. However, if you make all the right moves, as a property owner, you can be successful. For example, out of the more than two million Airbnb hosts worldwide, some are making consistent money, continue to meet awesome new people, and absolutely love the opportunities that Airbnb provides.

According to research conducted by HomeAway (www.homeaway.com; see page 12) and its VacationRentals (www.vacationrentals.com) subsidiary, “. . . in 2016, nearly three-quarters (70 percent) of vacation rental owners are able to cover more than half of their mortgage through renting, and more than half (54 percent) cover three-quarters or more of their mortgage.”

This research also showed that, “Vacation rental income comprises about a quarter (24 percent) of the average owner’s income, from investing just fewer than 10 hours per week in the management and marketing of their vacation rental.

“From that relatively small amount of time spent advertising, fielding traveler inquiries, and coordinating the cleaning and maintenance of their property, owners use the money to pay off the mortgage (38 percent), upgrade and renovate the property (70 percent), fund their everyday living expenses (23 percent), and save for retirement (11 percent).”

Just be aware that there are many other hosts who have had to deal with a wide range of problems and frustrations, such as inconsiderate guests, unexpected fines, and, in some cases, fraud or crime and financial losses.

Discover Airbnb and What So Many Travelers Are Raving About

Founded in August 2008, Airbnb (www.airbnb.com) has evolved into a massive online community and marketplace that allows travelers from all walks of life to discover, book, and pay for short-term, nightly accommodations almost anywhere in the world. The Airbnb experience starts online, by visiting the Airbnb website or utilizing the official Airbnb mobile app on any smartphone or tablet that has internet access.

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Types of Accommodations That Can Be Offered on Airbnb

Airbnb allows hosts to offer a private guestroom or shared room (within a home, condo, or apartment, for example), an entire apartment, or an entire home (or condo living space) to guests. Accommodations should include a private or shared bathroom, as well as other amenities and options, such as use of a kitchen, in-home wifi, laundry facilities, and private or nearby parking.

When a private or shared guestroom is offered, this typically means that the property’s host is living onsite. Based on space available, additional Airbnb guests may also be sharing the property.

When a traveler books an entire apartment or home, this means he is reserving the entire place for himself (and his travel companions). The host will initially greet him and be available during the guest’s stay, but not living/staying on the actual premises.

Airbnb also offers unique or unusual places for travelers to stay, including historic castles, lakefront cottages, ski chalets, or even treehouses (that can be lived in). Other services that are similar to Airbnb (some of which you’ll learn about later in this book) also offer yachts, family-friendly homes, or other types of unique accommodations.

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Instead of offering traditional, full-service hotel rooms, bed-and-breakfast accommodations, timeshare opportunities, or resorts accommodations, for example, the entire focus of Airbnb is to provide travelers with a fast, easy, and low-cost way to stay in someone’s guestroom, apartment, entire home, or even a castle.

Currently when travelers visit Airbnb they’ll discover in excess of two million different places to stay, offered by Airbnb hosts in more than 34,000 cities (within more than 191 countries) around the world.

The vast majority of people who become Airbnb hosts are not full-time hospitality professionals. Instead, they’re ordinary people, from all walks of life, with a vast assortment of backgrounds, who want to invite travelers to stay with them as a way to earn some extra income and meet new people.

For travelers, Airbnb is attractive for several reasons, including:

Accommodations offer a less commercial, homier alternative to chain hotels and traditional accommodations.

The nightly cost to stay at an Airbnb property is typically much less than a traditional hotel in that same area. As you’ll discover, nightly pricing offered on Airbnb is based on a handful of criteria, but it is set by the host.

Finding and booking a reservation is all done online, via the Airbnb.com website or mobile app.

Travelers can quickly learn about a place to stay by reading its description, viewing the provided property photos, reading the host’s profile, and reviewing the ratings and reviews that property and host have received from past Airbnb gu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Changing the Way People Travel
• Chapter 2: Get Started as an Airbnb Host
• Chapter 3: How to Use the Airbnb Website and Mobile App
• Chapter 4: Preparing Your Property
• Chapter 5: Responding to Broken Rules
• Chapter 6: Best Practices for Communicating with Guests
• Chapter 7: The Power of Positive Reviews
• Chapter 8: Managing Finances for an Airbnb Hosting Business
• Chapter 9: Other Related Services You Should Be Aware Of
• Appendix: Travel Hosting Resources
• Glossary
• About the Authors
• Index