Airbnb hosting — how to crush it

5 min readMar 30, 2018

In the past recent years, I have been experiencing with Airbnb, both as a guest and as a lander. In the past year, I took it one step further and hosted an apartment for Airbnb only guests.

In this post, I want to share with you the 4 most important lessons I learned by hosting an apartment in Airbnb, including a Google Sheet for how to determine a price for 1 night in your Airbnb.

Also, if you’re interested in becoming a host, please use my referral link which will help me grow in Airbnb and don’t harm you.

Lesson #1: Renting an Airbnb requires work

I underestimated the amount of required work renting an Airbnb apartment, compared to a long-term rental and I want to help you prepare for that:

After creating your listing, you will have to invest an ongoing effort in updating and adjusting it constantly; you would like to test various texts and prices and check the effect on your overall revenue, guests will have ideas and complaints about your property that you would like to include in your description, and Airbnb will introduce new features from time to time you would like to utilize for the benefit of your guests
You will have to keep an open communication with guests, answering their questions before ordering, while they are checking in and when they check out
You will have to take care of cleaning and refreshing the apartment as soon as a guest checking out in order to be ready for instant check in guests. Also, as soon as a guest checks out make sure to ask them to leave a 5-star review to your rental and check for damages and

Airbnb requires work but its a hell of fun

Lesson #2: Price the property correctly

Finding the correct price can be a bit tricky. On the one hand, you want to make the most money, and from the other hand, you have competition from nearby properties (your guests are not comparing your apartment to alternative hotels, they compare it to alternative Airbnb apartments nearby.)

When I thought about pricing, I guesstimated the price using the following:

I started by getting rent approximation from long-term rental websites (i.e. craigslist)
To that monthly price, I added 20% for vacancy rate (Airbnb is a vacation rental, thus there will be low season times), 15% for utilities and 5% for maintenance (i.e. washing the sheets, and refilling wine)
There is a one-time setup price I didn’t have to pay and you should include if you do have to pay
Cleaning fees are collected separately, thus not part of the price per night

And I got my number. You can check a Google spreadsheet I made to help you price your property based on my experience.

Once I got the desired monthly income, I divided the price into 2 — weekdays and weekends; weekdays price is lower than weekends. My formula is:

Weekday price = (Desired rent * 85%) / 30 days
Weekends = weekday price + (Desired rent * 15%) / 9 weekend days

Now that I got a price per night, my job wasn’t over.

I had to search Airbnb for nearby apartments and see their price. These apartments are my competition and I needed to compare. This taught me the boundaries of my price, as I didn’t want to be the cheapest option in my area neither the most expensive one.

Fortunately, my price was lower than my competition so I adjusted my price a bit up and voila, I have my price.

Some additional issues regarding price:

If you need tax recommendations, read the book: Tax Guide for Short-Term Rentals: Airbnb and more
You should test the price and see how guests react, especially after you receive guest awards and your listing is getting great reviews
You should adjust your price up for national holidays by 10–20%
Whether you’re living in a country that the utilities are being paid by the landlord or by the renter when renting by Airbnb you are the one that pays. Also, be sure to calculate at least 15% extra costs as the guests are on vacation, thus spend more.
It will cost you extra money to keep the property in great condition

P.S. if you like my writing style, I can write for you — have a look.

Lesson #3: Spoil the guests

Your guests are coming for a holiday, and they deserve a treat. I spoiled my guests by offering a bottle of wine, milk, some chocolates, etc. free of charge.

This is super important for several reasons:

As a local with the ability to buy in large packs, the price is negligible
It shows the guests that you care for them and their well being
Your guests will respect you and your property better
The guests are more forgiving to small hick-ups that can occur through the renting time

Ways to spoil the guests:

Have a coffee machine (Nespresso, Keurig, or whatever)
Have all the essentials, including shampoo and tissues
Have power adapters for out of state guests (here is universal i.e.)
Have a luggage rack (expensive or cheap)

Lesson #4: Chase Airbnb rating and badges

As an Airbnb host, you are part of an ecosystem. This ecosystem has rules, and they prize great hosts. Invest time and energy in making sure your place stands out — ask the guests kindly to leave you a good review, make an effort to get the super host badge, and the work and family collection. These will increase the likelihood of guests to book your place and will expose your listing to vast audiences, as well as boost your property in search results.

If you’re into reading (like I am), Amazon have 30 days free trial for kindle books and audio books you should take a look at, and there are great books to further reading, i.e.:

Make money on Airbnb — How To Quickly And Easily Earn $2,500 A Month From Your Home
Tax guide for short term rentals — Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO and More
100 Tips for Hoteliers: What Every Successful Hotel Professional Needs to Know and do
And many more

I hope you found it useful and I will be happy to answer any follow-up question. If you are interested in becoming a host, please use my referral link which will help me grow in Airbnb.

Like it? Clap and share with your friends.