I started Airbnb in Maadi Egypt
Earning extra bucks while sitting at home
For 2 years now I’ve been living in this big apartment in Maadi. I and my flatmate rented this place with nothing inside, we had some tough time buying furniture one by one, and even buying appliances. Dman we lived without a fridge for 6 months.
Now the place is livable, and we have an extra room. So I told my flatmate. “Hey why don’t we rent this extra room on Airbnb?!” we don’t use it, and we don’t a third flatmate as we are just fine together, so an occasional tourist that will stay up to 2 weeks is fun.
Actually the idea of setting up an Airbnb room in the house started when I was booking my accommodation in Chicago for the Chicago marathon and stayed in an Airbnb for my first time.
Steps to starting Airbnb:
1- Install the app on your phone ..duhh!
2- Clean your apartment and tidy it
3- Take several pictures of the room, Bathrooms, Common areas, the views out of the room. (Make sure it’s morning time with plenty of sunlight)
4- Add the description and titles, be friendly and be funny
5- now wait for your first guest.
For me, the income of Airbnb is not a steady one as my flat is not in a prime location. but I got several requests from Egyptians and ex-pats, for one reason.
In Egypt, no unmarried couple can live together. No hotel will accept them, and no broker will rent them a place. It’s sad I know but it’s the laws of the country.
So couples tend to go for Airbnb to find locations that accept unmarried couples, and my Airbnb was full of such requests.
Common ppl, I don’t mind what you want to do, but I can’t be involved in an illegal transaction that might get me to jail. so I had to reject all these requests and switch my room details form a 2 person room to a 1 person room. that way I’ll be less spammed with couples who want to escape reality.
Finally, I got my first legit request. A Korean who want to stay for one night only.
“That’s easy money. let's do it” I told my flatmate. accepted the request of the young male, he had a weird request, “I’ll arrive 2 am” ok this is 10 hours pre-check in time but no worries, I want my first Airbnb experience to be nice.
He came straight from the airport, showed him the place and it was fine.
The second day “I want to stay 1 more day” for me it’s ok, but you can’t book it on Airbnb the same day, so he paid this day in cash.
and he kept doing this for another 4 nights, then left. I enjoyed getting the cash in my hand not through Airbnb as this saves a lot of bank and transfer hassles.
Evaluating this experience, Income versus efforts made. It’s a good deal, you make use of some extra space in your apartment. Host your first Airbnb now and get extra cash.
And if you are traveling, always compare Airbnb to the other accommodation options in the country, sometimes ist’s better to book an Airbnb
