How To Be a Great Airbnb Host and Make Money Doing It

Posted By Helen Anne Travis in Editors' Choice, Features, How To, Lifehacks, Lifestyle, Travel

BreakingModern — Put your spare room to work. Airbnb isn’t just a fantastic service for travelers looking to save money on accommodations. It’s also a great way for hosts to make money renting out their homes, an extra bedroom or even an air mattress on the living room floor.

How much money are we talking? Paula Pant of AffordAnything.com, a lifestyle blog for people looking to ditch the cube, estimated she netted an average of $1,705 per month on a rental unit that would pull in about $1,100 with a traditional one-year lease. Not bad.

Whether you have a spare house or a spare couch, here are six tips to help you be the best Airbnb host and, more importantly, make a ton of money in the process.

Have Strong, Reliable Wi-Fi

You love Wi-Fi. I love Wi-Fi. The whole world loves Wi-Fi. That’s why it’s critical the wireless signal is strong in the house, room or living room corner you’re renting out to travelers. List this amenity high up in your profile. Once your guests arrive, be sure your welcome package (we’ll get to that later) contains a card listing your network’s login and password. You don’t want to waste your time writing this down for every new guest.

Make Your House Look Good

Airbnb offers a free photography service for hosts. Use it. These photographers have the equipment and know-how to make your house shine. As an added bonus, listings that use this service appear higher in travelers’ search results.

Sell Yourself

Take a minute to fill out your Airbnb host profile. Include a friendly “I’m not a serial killer” headshot and a few sentences about your hometown and interests. Trust goes both ways on Airbnb. Make potential guests like you and the bookings will pour in.

Manage Expectations

Guests don’t like to be surprised. Especially after they’ve traveled halfway across the globe to sleep in your spare room. Be accurate about your amenities. If the kitchen is a little dated or your neighborhood is a little, um, “up and coming” don’t hide this from guests. You’re more likely to get a negative review in the end if you’re not upfront. Be clear about what guests should expect and price accordingly.

Review Your Guests

A few days after the rental period ends, Airbnb will prompt you to review your guests. Do it, especially if you had a positive hosting experience. Heck, do it even if you had only a neutral hosting experience. On Airbnb, reviews are currency. If you write a review you’re more likely to get one in return. Positive reviews equal bookings, and bookings equal big bucks.

Go a Little Above and Beyond

You can’t stop at clean sheets and fresh towels if you want to be an Airbnb superhost. Take a few minutes to create a little welcome package for each guest. Throw in a bottle or two from your local brewery, a loaf of bread and maybe a handful of chocolates. Include an area map, a list of your favorite restaurants and the phone numbers of local taxi companies. This is a great way of saying “welcome to my home, now give me an awesome review.”

For BMod, I’m Helen Anne Travis.

Feature/First image: “Historic Walk 1893” by Jim Bauer via Flickr Creative Commons

Second image: “bedroom” by The Wu’s Photo Land via Flickr Creative Commons