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Property management apps can come in handy for Airbnb hosts in a number of ways, making your life as a host much easier as a result.

Each application will have a different approach to simplifying your life as a host, and as you'll see, each comes in at a very different price point.

However, whether you're a big scale property manager, or a minnow host like me, I'm sure you'll be able to find something that floats your boat in the list below.

So…What Do You Think?

Now I want to hear from you. What do you think of this list?

Or maybe I missed one of your favorite apps.

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below.

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Airbnb pricing tools automate the process of optimising prices for your Airbnb listing. A listing with optimised prices will get more bookings, at better prices than one that doesn't.

Channel managers give you one centralised location to control all of your listings across multiple different platforms, synchronise calendars, pricing and more.

Digital guidebooks are more than just fluffy, pretty little add-ons for your guest.  In fact, used correctly they can reduce your workload as a host, and add a tonne of value to your guests.

It's now possible to get a cash advance on the future earnings of your Airbnb rental.  A few different services have sprung up in this space recently, and I'm sure its something that's only going to grow.

If you're looking to invest in a property to list on Airbnb, then it's a good idea to understand the competition and demand in your area.  That's where market research tools like these come in handy.

Airbnb SEO is the process of manipulating your listing to impact your position in Airbnb's search results pages.  These tools help to give you feedback so you can make improvements and track your results.

So…What Do You Think?

Now I want to hear from you.

What do you think of this list?

Or maybe I missed one of your favorite tools.

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below.

Once you have a deep understanding of the numbers specific to your area, with accurate, data backed information, you’re now qualified to uncover real arbitrage opportunities.

Naturally, you’re looking for low longterm rental costs, with the potential for high nightly rates on Airbnb.

Be prepared to spend money on furnishings and potential decorating costs to bring the property up to standard, so make sure to account for that in your figures.

STEP 3. NEGOTIATE WITH LANDLORD

So you’ve found a property with potential, you’ve crunched the numbers, and there’s arbitrage profits to be made.

Now comes the next step of negotiating with the landlord.

At first glance it might seem like a lopsided, no deal situation.

That may often be the case, but not always, and it’s these open minded landlords that you’re looking to do business with.

Remember, you’re coming to the table with an opportunity.

You’re taking on a landlords property in good faith, open and transparent about your intended use, and they’re getting reliable, trustworthy income each month guaranteed.

Now negotiating with a landlord like takes skill, and a certain tact. Remember to make it win win, and frame the positive outcomes they’ll get from the deal.

STEP 4. SHOOT FOR LONGER TERM LEASE

This might sound counterintuitive at first, but hear me out.

Oftentimes, arbitraged properties will need a little TLC, require furniture, a lick of paint, etc.

All these things cost money.

Longer term leases help to spread out that outlay over a longer period, minimising their impact.

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STEP 5. DRAFT UP A LEASE ADDENDUM

A lease addendum is legal document that modifies or adds specific terms to an existing lease agreement.

It’s within this lease addendum that extra conditions can be added to update the agreement and make it work for both parties.

Thinks to consider are:

A lease addendum is a legal document, as such, you’ll need professional help to help draft one as this is way out of my jurisdiction.

STEP 6. CREATE A COST PROFILE FOR FURNISHINGS

It’s important to be fully prepared for all the costs required to get the property unto the spec needed to rent it on Airbnb, as these are real costs that need to be factored in.

They don’t need to cost a fortune, and can be sourced cheaply if you know where to look.

Regardless of how much they cost, don’t dig your head in the sand when accounting for them - as it’ll come back to bite you in the butt.

STEP 7. LIST PROPERTY ON AIRBNB

If you’ve got this far you’re doing well, and you’re now ready to finally list the property on Airbnb.

Naturally you’re going to want to make your listing as good as it can possibly be, that’ll mean a full, complete listing, alongside pro-level photography.

Take your time with this, go through it with a fine tooth comb, and make it the best it can possibly be.

STEP 8. OPTIMISE PRICES

To get the best nightly rate possible, for every date range, you need to pay very, very close attention to your pricing.

What you really need is an Airbnb pricing strategy in place, something that’ll adjust with the ebbs and flows of the market demand.

Doing this manually is a very time consuming task, something that can be done, but is very difficult.

However, the whole process can be managed using a dynamic pricing tool, I personally use Wheelhouse.

This clever bit of software connects to your Airbnb account and automatically adjusts your pricing in real time, for every date range, for the next 365 day time horizon.

With a tool like this in place you’re guaranteed to be charging the best rate possible, every time.

The investment in a tool like this will pay for itself instantly.

STEP 9. HIRE A CLEANING SERVICE

If you’re going to do the cleaning yourself you can skip this section.

But if you’re looking to hire a cleaning service there are a few things you should know.

Good cleaners are hard to come by, and reliable good cleaners even harder.

So, you’re going to need to do some digging around to find a cleaner you can trust, one that’s reliable, that’s also flexible.

This is a lot to ask, but these unicorns are out there, you’ve just got to do your due diligence and keep looking to find your gem.

STEP 10. AUTOMATE EVERYTHING

Whether you’re a small time host, or you’ve made it big, you need to take advantage of the time savings and ease of the automation options on the market.

It’s now possible to automate:

My favourite tools for this are Hospitable (automates all guest communication, cleaner reminders, reviews, etc) and Wheelhouse (automates pricing).

If you’re serious about running an Airbnb arbitrage rental business you’ll need to utilise these tools compete.

I offer a service helping hosts to get set up with these tools which you can find out more about here.

EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

The steps above will serve you well in getting you off the ground, but there are a few additional things you can do to increase your chances of success.

BUILD A DIRECT BOOKING SITE

Bookings that come through the Airbnb platform incur considerable guest fees, up to 20%+

These fees go straight into Airbnb’s pockets and not yours.

Bookings that go through a direct booking site on the other hand do not have these fees whatsoever, and all that extra cash can flow straight to you.

Furthermore, you don’t need any tech skills to create a direct booking site, simple sign up for a tool like Hospitable and their platform will do it all for you.

Simples.

MARKET ON MORE CHANNELS

Airbnb is great don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t the only short term rental platform people use.

There are plenty of others like Booking.com, VRBO, Home Away, and more.

Advertising your property on multiple platforms like this can only increase your chances of getting more bookings at the best rates.

Managing this manually is virtually impossible, but using channel manager software like Lodgify, the whole process is easy.

You listing will be sold on multiple platforms, with a unified inbox for all your guest messaging, and real time calendar availability.

CONCLUSION

By now you’ve probably seen how involved arbitraging rental property through Airbnb can be, and the investment in time and money it takes to get things off the ground.

However, there is money to be made in arbitraging still - if you have the knowledge and skills to make it work.

Anyway, I hope this article serves you well, and wishing you the best of luck. 

I want to share with you the Airbnb host tips I’ve learnt over the past 10 years. 

These tips will help you to:

And a whole bunch more. 

Every tip you’re about to learn has been tried, and battle tested on hundreds of guests - and they work.

Implement one, or all of these proven tips for Airbnb hosts and let the results speak for themselves. 

There’s a lot to get through, so grab yourself a beer, a cup of tea, or whatever your particular tipple might be, and let's go!

19 AIRBNB HOST TIPS TO GET MORE BOOKINGS, AT BETTER RATES - AND LESS WORK...

Everything on this list of host tips for Airbnb has been used and battle tested by me - and they work. 

1. OPTIMISE PRICING

Without doubt the biggest, most impactful tip on this whole list is to optimise your pricing. 

What does that mean? 

It means creating an Airbnb pricing strategy, whereby you adjust the nightly price of your property to compete - and win - in your local market. 

Competing for ever availability, and every date range possible. 

Doing this manually is virtually impossible, and you’ll need a dynamic pricing tool to do it effectively (I personally use Wheelhouse for this), but it is an investment that’ll pay you back instantly so it’s well worth doing. 

With an automated pricing tool in place, your listing prices will be optimised for the next 365 day time horizon, dynamically fluctuation to charge the best rates possible at all times. 

2. OPTIMISE FOR SEARCH

Most people think it’s mere luck of the draw as to which listings place at the top of Airbnb’s search results.

But it’s not luck, in fact it’s a science in and of itself. 

And a valuable science at that. 

Put simply, listings at the top of Airbnb’s search results get more bookings at better rates than those that don’t. 

So if getting more bookings at better rates sounds good to you, it’s something you’re going to want to pay attention to. 

I’ve built a whole course teaching you the exact steps I use to rank number 1 on Airbnb here that’ll teach you how it’s done, but for the sake of this post just know that it’s something that:

a) you can impact. 

b) something that’s well worth doing. 

3. CANNED RESPONSES

Communicating with guests on Airbnb is a time consuming affair, that can soon become burdensome once bookings are flowing in regularly. 

Many of these guest questions though, are asking the same things, time and time again. 

So, rather than re-hashing the same message over and over, simply create a message template and save it as a canned response (a canned response is a pre-built message template) inside Airbnb. 

Then, when a guest asks a question you’ve got a thoughtful, well written response at hand ready to send at the click of a button.

Simples. 

4. AUTOMATE CLEANER NOTIFICATIONS

If you outsource your cleaning, chances are that you’ve had mild, if not extreme anxiety that they’ll miss a changeover and your guests will be checking into a dirty home. 

Firstly, this is definitely something you don’t want to happen. 

And secondly, is easily avoidable with automated cleaner notifications. 

With these in place, your cleaner will be notified by SMS and email at pre-set intervals before each check-in and departure. 

To set up these automated reminders, here’s how:

5. AUTOMATE GUEST COMMUNICATION

We touched on canned messages a little earlier, and how they can save you a bunch of time, but now let’s step it up a notch. 

Let’s do away with the manual approach, and let’s automate the whole thing.

Once set up, 90%+ of all guest communication will be automatically sent - and no, you won’t sound like a robot doing it.

Here’s how it’s done:

If you’re not sure what to write, when to send which message, and why - you can buy my personal templates here. 

6. AUTOMATE GUEST REVIEWS

Over time, leaving guest reviews can become a little tedious at best. A constant niggle in the back of your mind that you know you’ve got to do, but keep putting off. 

And, like a lot of monotonous tasks they can now be automated.

Here’s how:

7. UPSELL DORMANT NIGHTS

Dormant nights are those pesky vacancies in your calendar, wedged between two bookings. 

These dates are the hardest to sell by far. 

So, why not try and upsell these dormant nights at discount to the guests already booked?

They win by getting a discounted extra night stay and extending their trip, and you win by selling the virtually un-bookable night. 

8. DISCOUNT ADJACENT NIGHTS

Just like dormant nights above, the nights adjacent to your current bookings are immediately harder to sell. 

Why?

Well, due to the way Airbnb’s search algorithm works, their orders of magnitude harder for guests to find. 

A tip for increasing your chances of booking these nights is to systematically discount these nights. 

This can be done manually by going adjusting the prices in your calendar, or can be done programatically using a pricing tool like Wheelhouse. 

Setting it up automatically is simple, here’s how:

9. INCENTIVISE FOR THE RIGHT GUESTS

Not all the guests you host will be equal, with some less desirable than others - namely the party folk.

If you’ve got instant book switched on (which you should), then it’s very difficult to vet, and screen the guests before they book. 

So, a sneaky tip for avoiding bad guests is to incentivise your booking flow for the right ones instead. 

For example, if partygoers are only booking for Friday and Saturday night, why not try and incentivise pricing for 3 or 4 night stays to encourage a different clientele.

Simple pricing fluctuations like this can go a long way to attracting the right guests to your property, whilst simultaneously avoiding the wrong ones. 

10. REMOVE DAMAGEABLES

All hosts have a certain pride in their homes, as they should, but that doesn’t mean you should decorate and furnish your property with expensive items that are easily damaged. 

In my experience, if it can break, it will. 

So if you’ve got anything precious that you can’t live without, be sure to remove it from your property, as your guests will undoubtably do it for you. 

11. PREPARE FOR PROBLEMS

It’s not a case of if, but when, before something goes wrong in your property during a guest stay. 

If you host on Airbnb for long enough, something WILL go wrong. 

But that’s all part of the game, nothing to lose sleep over, but definitely something to prepare for. 

So, rather than being reactive when things go wrong have a plan.

In short, don’t dig your head in the sand and just hope for the best as things will go wrong from time to time - guaranteed. 

Instead, be prepared, have a plan for any/all eventualities and simply follow the procedure when shit hits the fan.

12. PREPARE FOR BAD REVIEWS (DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY)

I’ve heard many hosts over the years hold serious resentment, even completely remove their properties from Airbnb, all over negative reviews. 

Look, people are people, and every now and then you’re going to get a nightmare guest, it’s just a numbers game. 

My advice, don’t take it to heart, it is what it is. 

Take any criticism on board of course, then let it go and move on. 

13. CREATE A REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE PLAN

A stitch in time saves nine…

In other words, fix shit before it’s a problem. 

I know first hand the downsides of putting off work, kicking the can down the road because I couldn’t face spending the cash on a job that didn’t really need doing. 

The end result?

A massive job, with massive issues, that costs way more than it could have. 

I learned my lesson though and I now have a regular maintenance and repair plan carried out quarterly.

Since implementing this system, yeah I’ve spent a bit of money up front, but all big jobs have been fixed before they got serious, and before they escalated.

14. INVEST IN HARD SYSTEMS

If you haven’t noticed already, I’m a bit of a systems guy/nerd. 

As unattractive as it is (sorry ladies) I just bloody love ‘em. 

And hard systems are my favourite. 

Here are a few of my favourites:

I could keep going but you get the idea. 

Think not just about aesthetics, but about the cost implications of wear, tear, and cleaning too. 

15. AIRBNB WELCOME BOOK

You might not think it, but a guest specific Airbnb Welcome Book can be a great way to reduce guest questions during their stay (reducing your workload), but you can add a tonne of value to your guests too. 

You can create a laminated Welcome Book and have it inside your property which is great, and you can even create a digital one too. 

Either way, they’re a good thing to add to your property regardless. 

16. LIST ON MULTIPLE CHANNELS

Did you know that it’s possible to list your property on multiple different platforms at the same time? 

Think Booking.com, VRBO, Home Away, etc. 

Well it is.

Whereas previously this was very, very, very hard to manage with multiple calendars and double bookings, now channel manager software can do it for you.

All that’s required is to go through the listing process on each platform then the system will generate a universal inbox with real time booking calendar, completely avoiding double bookings altogether. 

Giving you the upside of a bigger, broader market, without the stresses of day to day running. 

17. CREATE YOUR OWN BOOKABLE WEBSITE

If you haven’t noticed already, Airbnb’s fees have gone through the roof - up to 23% in some cases. 

Now that’s a whole lotta money going out the door, that could be in your pocket instead, if you only had a way of booking in those guests outside of the platform.

That’s where having your own bookable website comes in. 

Any/all bookings that come via your own system will put those same fees in your bank rather than Airbnb’s. 

What’s more, it’s now really easy to do, with no tech experience nessasary. 

Simply sign up to a service like Lodgify, or Hospitable, and they’ll auto generate the website for you - ready for bookings in no time. 

18. ENABLE SELF CHECK IN

An oldie, but a goodie. 

If you haven’t got the ability for self check in yet not only are you missing a trick as this is a feature that guests are actively looking for (not to mention will help with your ranking), but it makes your life way easier too. 

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a basic secure lockbox will do.

But this little bit of kit will save you enormous headaches of meeting and greeting guests in the long run I promise. 

19. CREATE A CLEANING CHECKLIST

In hotels they have cleaning checklists to ensure that every part of every room gets checked, cleaned, and ticked off. 

You should have something similar too. 

If you hire a cleaner this is something that you should definitely do, but even if it’s just for yourself, having a checklist will ensure that nothing gets missed, ever. 

CONCLUSION

This list of Airbnb host tips is a compilation of everything that I’ve learned over the past ten years hosting. 

It’s served me well in that time, and I hope it does the same for you. 

You might not want to implement everything in this list and that’s fine, but if you do, I guarantee they’ll help.

Got any tips of your own that absolutely have to be on this list?

Let me know in the comments below. 

Now there’s a lot to get through in this article, so buckle up, as you’re about to switch your Airbnb listing into overdrive…

AIRBNB PRICING STRATEGIES FOR DIFFERENT HOSTS

Airbnb pricing can be a complex subject for hosts that really want to maximise the revenue of their properties, but understandably, not everyone will want to invest the same time and energy into the process. 

Naturally, casual hosts with just a single dwelling may not put such emphasis on pricing strategy as hosts with multiple properties (although they definitely should), so what I’ve done is created three different pricing strategies from novice to advanced to cover all bases. 

Regardless of which strategy you choose, be sure of one thing, that having a strategy beats pricing blindly every day of the week. 

LEVEL 1 PRICING STRATEGY (NOVICE)

The novice host is someone that’s new to hosting on Airbnb, knows they need a pricing strategy to compete, but doesn’t know where to start.

If that’s you, then following with the suggestions below:

SET WEEKEND & WEEKDAY PRICING

Like I mentioned earlier, any pricing strategy is better than none, and the most primitive form comes by having different nightly rates for weekends and weekdays. 

Simply adjusting your rates in this way will increase your revenue during the busier periods where you can price your listing higher like on weekends. 

To get an idea of the price increase you should charge for weekend rates, simply do a bit of competitor research to find a realistic rate. 

AIRBNB SMART PRICING + 20%

Airbnb has an inbuilt smart pricing tool that will dynamically set the pricing for you. The benefits of a tool such as this are great as your price per night will rise and fall with the fluctuations of demand. 

Word of warning however, this pricing tool is programmatically set to maximise bookings, not maximise revenue. 

So to account for this misalignment, I recommend using the smart pricing recommendations as a base price, then adding roughly 20% to the figure as the price you set for your listing. 

With this strategy you’ll have a dynamic pricing model that fluctuates with demand, that’s also set to maximise revenue at the same time. 

LEVEL 1 ROUND UP

At level 1 what you’re really looking for is a proactive approach to setting your Airbnb prices. Unlike most hosts that set it and forget it, with little to no pricing strategy to think of, these two methods will get you in the game and help you to start competing. 

LEVEL 2 PRICING STRATEGY (INTERMEDIATE)

Level 2 is for hosts that really want to step up their game, that likely understand the impact effective pricing has on their bottom line.

DYNAMIC PRICING TOOL: WHEELHOUSE

Dynamic pricing is the term used for prices that adjust to the ebbs and flows of market demand. 

In times of peak demand prices will rise, and in quiet times they fall. 

These price fluctuations are handled automatically, in real time, by complex algorithms that track the market data adjusting the price of your listing automatically for you. 

Using a dynamic pricing tool is an incredible way to boost your revenue instantly, and have you competing on price for every date range for the next 365 day time horizon. 

My favourite pricing tool by far (and the one I personally use) is Wheelhouse. 

I’ve found their pricing models better than any other, plus their fees are miniscule. 

By simply investing in a tool like this you’re guaranteed to have a pricing strategy that beats 99% of the market instantly, with immediate impacts to the number of bookings you’ll get, plus the rates you’re able to charge. 

I can’t recommend this tool highly enough. 

LEVEL 2 ROUND UP:

Simply opting to use a paid dynamic pricing tool like Wheelhouse, setting it and forgetting it, will dramatically increase the revenue you generate from your property.

A one time setup process, that’ll work for you every minute of every day. 

LEVEL 3 PRICING STRATEGY (PRO)

At level 3 we’re stepping things up a notch, with pro level strategy to maximise the earning potential of your property, minimise issues and bad guests, and mitigate cashflow risks too. 

For level 3 I still recommend using a dynamic pricing tool like Wheelhouse, but this time we’re going to pimp the tool at every level to optimise everything possible. 

By default, Wheelhouse will use its own algorithm to give you the best data set possible to set your prices, however, no one knows your property better than you, so this is where you can get really granular, to set everything bespoke to you. 

BASE PRICE RULE SET

The base price of your listing is the price associated for your listing without any market forces impacting its price. 

Natively, Wheelhouse has its own settings for this: Conservative, Recommended, & Aggressive. 

These setting are great, but you can override them by creating your own base price; 

From this, all other price fluctuations will be derived. 

INCENTIVISING FOR LONGER STAYS

Longer stay bookings require less admin, and much less labour as your property will need to be cleaned less. 

Furthermore, longer stay bookings can help to reduce vacant unsold nights too. 

To encourage longer stays, consider offering discounts for weekly or monthly bookings.

This can be a powerful strategy in the offseason for maintaining cash flow too. 

INCENTIVISING FOR THE RIGHT GUESTS

Some destinations are more prone to undesirable guests than others, namely party towns that encourage drinking. 

If this is you, then optimising your listing to incentivise the type of guests you want in your property is going to save you a lot fo headaches, and money from damages too. 

To do this consider offering multi day discounts 3,4 or 5 days to attract a different clientele. 

For example, increase the nightly rate for weekends (to discourage party goers) and add a healthy discount for longer stays to price your property attractively for your ideal guests. 

MAXIMISING VISIBILITY

The more restrictions you place on your booking criteria, the less likely you are to show up in Airbnb’s search results. 

The rule that will have the biggest effect on this is the minimum nightly stay you set. 

My recommendation is to open up your calendar to allow for single nightly stays, but here’s the trick, add a rule to your listing to increase single nightly stays dramatically to discourage booking. 

Why?

The more eyeballs you get on your listing the better, and, it’s widely thought that clicks on your listing are a positive ranking factor, helping your listing to be shown to more people across the board. 

UPSELLING DORMANT NIGHTS

Dormant nights are those pesky, single days wedged between two bookings. 

These nights are the hardest to sell by far, and here’s why. 

You see, Airbnb’s search engine uses what’s known as a bolean search algorithm. 

In an effort to not bore you to death it can be explained like this. 

If this, then that. 

So, in the context of a dormant night you’d need a user to search for the exact date, for a single night only, in order for your listing to ever be shown as bookable. 

Now the chances of this happening are very slim, which means you have to have a strategy for when such times arise. 

Here’s what I do.

I have two approaches. 

Firstly, I heavily discount the date. I do this so that if anyone did happen to meet the booking conditions above, I want to ensure that I’m top of the search results to convert that booking.

Secondly, I have an automation set up within my property management software (I use Hospitable) and it will automatically message my guests an upsell of the dormant night at the discounted rate. 

This way, I maximise the chances of selling the night, automatically, every time.

I suggest you do the same.

BOOKING LEAD TIME DEDUCTIONS

The lead time is the amount of time before a booking is made for your property. 

Let me explain.

If your property gets booked out on average thirty days in advance then your lead time is thirty days, and naturally, you want your lead time to be as big as possible, but if you’re looking to get the best prices for your property, that’s not always the case.

So you need a pricing strategy for unbooked calendar dates to get them filled to avoid unwanted vancancies. 

The best way to do this is to set price reduction rules for different time horizons prior to booking. 

Naturally, bigger more expensive properties will want to begin offering discounted rates earlier than smaller, budget listings, as the demographics that usually book out such properties usually do so in advance. 

There is no set rule for how much to discount and when as there are so many variables at play, from property to property, but the exact amount is not as important as having a plan of action to follow. 

With a pricing action plan you’ll be maximising the probabilities of securing bookings at all times. 

SEASONALITY RISK REDUCTION

During low season, bookings can be hard to come by, so a different pricing strategy may be needed. 

With a small pool of potential customers to compete for, it’s imperative that you try to maximise the revenue from the bookings you do get. 

This is where I suggest highly incentivising longer term stays, weekly or monthly, by offering discounted rates. 

Much better to have two week-long bookings than two single night stays - even if the nightly rate is reduced. 

A strategy like this will help to smooth out your cash flow during lean times, better equipping you to compete in the market. 

SEARCHABILITY

I’ve created a whole course on searchability and how to to rank number one on Airbnb’s search results, so I won’t go too in depth here, but it’s safe to say that your position in the search results massively impacts the price you can charge, and the number of bookings you get. 

Rank at the top and you’ll get the lion’s share of the bookings, rank at the bottom and you’ll be scratching around for scraps, charging pennies when you could be charging hundreds. 

GAME THEORY - COMPETING IN THE MARKET

Most people don’t see performance on Airbnb as a competition, but it is, and it’s ruthless. 

You’re literally competing with hundreds of other hosts all vying for the same prospective customers, and sometimes winning at this game requires thinking outside the box and going against the grain. 

For instance, let's say that everyone in your market was aggressively competing for weekend bookings, with high rates on Friday and Saturday, and reduced rates during the week. 

To create your own blue ocean why not try creating a rule discounting 3 or 4 day bookings, that include the weekends? 

A simple tactic like this would help you to secure the discounted weekend booking rate, alongside extra weekday revenue too.

This is just one idea but it serves to highlight how thinking outside the box can help you out-fox your competitors.

EMULATING BOOKING BEHAVIOUR

The pricing strategy you implement should emulate the booking behaviour of your target audience. 

For example, if you’re targeting families and have a larger property you’re going to want to incentivise for weekly bookings - so set your pricing to reflect that. 

Likewise, if you have a small studio, you should optimise your strategy for shorter nightly stays too. 

Whatever the booking habits are of your ideal customers, be sure to replicate that in the way that you set your prices. 

HIGH SEASON VS LOW SEASON STRATEGY

Some locations have more extreme demand fluctuations than others, and this requires a nimble all-weather pricing strategy that optimises for each season.

In high season, a lower lead time is likely more palatable, alongside a more aggressive approach holding out for top prices. 

Whereas in low season, a bigger lead time is preferable to secure cash flow to sail you through the lean months stress free.

Consider making rule based adjustments to pre-empt the booking behaviour of your guests to maximise occupancy year round. 

DISCOUNT ADJACENT DAYS

When a booking is made on your calendar, the day/s preceding it become instantly harder to sell. Let me explain. 

Due to the way Airbnb search works, it’s now orders of magnitude more difficult for your listing to show up in the search results on the days before a booking as search it’s much less likely for your listing to meet a searchers criteria. 

For this reason, I recommend creating a rule for discounting the adjacent days prior to a booking to increase the chances of selling the nights. 

CONCLUSION

It cannot be overstated the impact a successful Airbnb pricing strategy will have on your end of year financials. 

This one simple factor will dwarf the impact of all other optimisations by an order of magnitude. 

Take the time to get it right, and you could well turn your property into a gold mine you never thought possible.

Got any questions?

Pop them in the comments to get the conversation started. 

You ready?

Lets go!

What does an Airbnb property manager do?

The job of a property manager is to (you guessed it) manage your property - so that you don’t have to.

That means taking care of:

And in some cases they’ll even optimise your listing, create a full-scale pricing strategy and work to ensure you’re beating the competition in your area.

Airbnb property management fees

So how do Airbnb property managers structure their fees?

Let’s dig a little deeper.

Fixed rate:  The property management company will charge you a fixed monthly fee.

Flexi: Fixed monthly fee (base rate), plus additional fee per booking

Commission only: Pay a fee for each successful booking.

There’s no one right answer, but for me, alignment of interest and skin in the game are the most important factors in mitigating the principle/agent problem that exists in this game.  

What Is the Principal-Agent Problem?

The principal-agent problem is a conflict in priorities between a person or group and the representative authorized to act on their behalf. An agent may act in a way that is contrary to the best interests of the principal.

And it’s for that reason that my personal preference is the commission only model.

Although if truth be told, my favourite option of all is to automate the entire process using a cocktail of tools for the job, more on that in a minute...

How much do airbnb property managers charge?

Ok, so we covered the different ways that Airbnb property managers structure their fees, but what are the actual numbers?  How much do they normally charge?

Well, the average is generally anywhere between 20% - 30% of the rental revenue - however these fees can vary considerably depending upon the level of service and quality you're looking for.

Obviously, for a high-end service you'll be paying a premium.

It's also worth noting that many property managers also require a set-up fee too.  

This fee is to cover any marketing, paperwork etc.  And you can expect to pay anywhere up to around $300 for this.

*Important: Whenever you're negotiating to hire an Airbnb property manager for your place make sure you are aware of ALL the fees and charges you'll be responsible before moving ahead with the contract.  As these hidden fees can oftentimes turn around to bite you in the butt down the road.

How to find an Airbnb property manager

Unfortunately, there isn’t (yet) a centralised location where you can go and find an Airbnb property manager and compare their fees, reviews etc. Instead, the process of finding an Airbnb property manager is quite fractured.

Which means you’re going to have to get your hands dirty and do a bit of Googling & calling around in your area to find a good fit.

Here are a few good questions to ask when deciding on the right property manager for you:

The alternative: An Airbnb that manages itself…

I’m going to be a little bit brutal here, but much of the work that Airbnb managers do can be automated - if you know what you’re doing.

In fact, if truth be told, most of the businesses advertising property management services for Airbnb hosts like you will likely be doing a lot of what I’ll be sharing with you here anyway, and doing very little of the work themselves.

Here’s how it works:

First up you must break down the guest journey - and the associated tasks to manage them - into steps so that you can get a better idea of the entire guest guest flow, and the steps you need to take to make sure all tasks are covered.

And for that you need a system that covers:

First up, you've got to remove 'you' from the equation.

Let me explain.

The only way to free yourself from the day to day tasks of running and managing your Airbnb rental is to remove yourself from the process, and build a solid system to replace the work you do.

The biggest sticking points for most people at this point is their pride.

The argument that I hear most often against this is: 

"Nobody would be able to run it like I do.  The whole thing would fall apart!"

Ever the perfectionists...

"If you want a job done well, do it yourself!"

Well, if you want Airbnb to change the way you live your life, and you want to have the ability to manage your Airbnb in a remote way, then you will have to remove this way of thinking.

You must embrace the loss of control, and learn to welcome the freedom it gives you.

The second key step to manage Airbnb in a remote way is to set up your house in a maintenance-friendly way.

Here's what I mean.

When you're managing things from a distance you need maintenance to be as minimal as possible.  Not just because it'll be cheaper to operate - which it is - but because it'll save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Here's a list the measures I took before becoming a full-time remote host:

These were the steps I took to make things run smoother whilst I was away for long periods of time.

Here's some other potential headaches to consider:

Basically, anything that can go wrong, probably will go wrong, so you need to prepare yourself as much as you possibly for worst case scenarios to minimise their impact.

To make everything run like clockwork you need a solid system.

Your system must identify and delegate EVERY task that is currently carried out by you.

These tasks include the following:

The system I'm about to show you provides solutions to managing all of these major friction points no matter where you are in the world. 

Step 1. How to check-in guests without being present.

A big-time burden and headache for Airbnb hosts is the check-in.

Waiting around all day for someone to arrive is no fun at all.  It restricts your movement, it's super frustrating and it's very inefficient.

This is a process that has to be changed.

The way to solve this problem is to invest in a remote key system.

There are numerous options on the market, varying from simple secure coded lockboxes to digital locks with timed passcodes.

The choices are endless but the most important factor is that you have a method for your guests to gain access to your property, without the need for you being personally present.

Step 2. Drip-fed guest messaging sequence

Step 3. Cleaner - The vital piece of the puzzle

Hiring a top-class cleaner is paramount to ensure this system works smoothly.

The biggest qualities your cleaner must have are attention to detail - and most of all - flexibility.

Flexibility is the key component to keeping things running smoothly.

The reason?

With Airbnb you have so many random check-in days and late bookings, you need someone who's flexible enough to manage it.

Hiring a flexible cleaner that's ok with last minute bookings will probably boost your end of year earnings by 10%+.

Also, as you won’t be present to double check your cleaners work, you must devise a system that rewards and motivates your cleaner to maintain your high standards.

A system I have used in the past to good effect is as follows:

I pay my cleaner a base fee for each clean of the property and reward a bonus for every 5 Star cleanliness review that I get.

I also make sure that all reviews - good and bad - are shared with my cleaner.  This way, my cleaner has a vested interest in keeping the property immaculate.

Having a system like this in place gives me peace of mind knowing that my cleaners interests are aligned with mine, even when I'm on the other side of the world.

Step 4. House Manual - How to make sure your guests actually read it

Remember, you really want your guests to actually read it, so make it as easy to palate as possible.

Also, it's good practice to have a hard copy for your guests present in the property, so before you head off on your travels, get a few copies laminated to leave in the property.

*Bonus Tip: Timing is key when sending guests your house manual.  Too early and they won't bother reading it.  Too late and you'll end up getting heaps of questions.  I like to send it on the morning of arrival (it works!).

*Bonus, Bonus Tip: Why not go the extra mile and provide a personalised welcome letter too!

Step 5. Welcome Pack - Keeping it simple

Guests arriving at your place will expect a few essentials like Tea, Coffee, soap, toilet roll, washing up liquid, etc.  These essentials will need to be replenished for each new guest arrival.

This is something that can be arranged with your cleaner.

I suggest creating a checklist of exactly what needs to be present for every check-in so that your cleaner can easily follow along.

I would recommend isolating a cupboard or storage box to use as storage for all replenishments.  This way you can buy in bulk and stay stocked up.

These essentials will need to be replenished from time to time, so arrange in advance for your cleaner to carry out this task, and get them to send you a photo of any receipts to keep track of all expenses.

Step 6. Check-Out Time - Here's what to do

For each guest Check-out, there must be a set criterion.

It's super important that your guests leave on time for your cleaner to get your place prepared for your next guests.

A good way to encourage timely departures is to politely notify them of their check-out time (I have this message automated to send out the day before departure using Smartbnb).

I also remind my guests to make sure that the key is safely put back into the secure lock box ready for the next arrival.

This is all done with a polite reminder prior to check-out, as well as an overpriced replacement fee should the key get lost.

This has worked 100% of the time for me so far, and I’m sure it will be the same for you.

Step 7. Laundry - Rinse and repeat

The laundry may well be something that your cleaner will organize.  If not, you will have to outsource this work to a laundry service.

To ensure that your cleaner never has to wait for fresh linen from the laundry service, I suggest having multiple linen sets.

Whilst one set is in use, the other is getting cleaned.

Rinse and repeat!

Step 8. Reminders - and how to automate them

Co-ordinating everyone in your team manually is complicated and time consuming for every Airbnb host.  But it gets a whole new level of complexity and stress when you're in a totally different time zone.

Reminders (especially as a remote host) make you sleep well at night, safe in the knowledge that everyone in your team knows exactly what's going on. 

But, doing this all remotely gets crazy complicated very quickly.

Let me explain.

The whole reason that a reminder is effective is that it's sent at the right time.

Too early and it's get ignored, too late renders it pointless.

So, how is it possible to organise cleaner and team reminders as a remote host?

Again I rely on Smartbnb to do this for me

I have my account set up to fire reminder emails to my team at certain points during a guests stay, plus SMS reminders at crucial points.

This whole process is automated, and it's never failed me once.

Step 9. Reviews - the automated way

Step 10. Maintenance - Preparation is key

From time to time it’s inevitable that there will be issues that crop up with your property that need to be fixed.

This can be very stressful, especially when guests are in the property.

Time invested in organizing tradespeople before any problems arise will pay off handsomely.  It will minimize the stress caused for everyone involved.

Depending on your cleaner, they may also be happy to help organize tradespeople on your behalf.

The key here is to take preventative measures to avoid any emergencies down the track

Plus, you’ll get access to my personal Airbnb welcome letter template.

So, lets dive in shall we!

What is an Airbnb Welcome letter & why do I need one?

An Airbnb welcome letter is a personalised letter given as a welcome gesture to new guests at your property.

This letter is valuable for a number of reasons:

The result?

More guests reading your welcome book, which has the knock-on effect of reducing guest questions, and increasing guest satisfaction all round.

6. Important rules

Your welcome letter definitely isn’t a place to lecture your guests and rant, but it can be a place to casually drop any important house rules.  

Things like remembering to lock the front door, or to keep the noise to a minimum after 10pm, etc.

Just remember, don’t go overboard with this information. 

And if in doubt, just refer them to the House rules section of your welcome book.

7. Contact information

Just writing a welcome letter in the first place shows that you care, but it’s also important to make note of your contact details (or the property managers) too.

And, to push the needle even further, remember to remind your guests that they can reach out to you at any time - whatever the issue may be - in case of any problems during their stay.

A simple gesture like this goes a long way!

8. Well wishes

It kind of goes without saying that you want your guests to get the most out of their stay, but there’s no harm in re-iterating it in your welcome letter too.

That’s why I recommend you sign off your welcome letter with gratitude and well wishes.  

Even something simple like:

“Thank you so much for choosing to stay at %your _house%.  Please make yourself at home, and I hope you really enjoy your stay”

Wrapping it up

A well written Airbnb welcome letter - used as part of an overall guest nurture strategy - is an important piece of the hosting puzzle.

Of course it’s not the be all and end all if you choose not to provide a welcome letter. But if you’re committed to optimising every aspect of your Airbnb operations, and you want to create efficiencies as well as add value wherever possible…

Then it’s a cheap gesture, that goes a long way.

Let me know if you have any tips I missed in the comments below.

Chat soon.

Rowan

All of that, and lots, lots more.

Lets go!

Why you need a Welcome Book for your Airbnb?

Question: Do you really need a Welcome Book?

I’d argue yes, and here’s why.

You see, a Welcome Book is more than just a ring-binder full of local information - much, much more.

Instead it’s a vehicle for influencing your guests behaviour in a positive way.

Just think about it.

On the one hand you’re able to share the very best things to do in your area, and that’s great.  Guests that enjoy their stay at your place as a whole, will likely recommend their friends and leave glowing reviews.

But there’s more to it than that.

It can be used in such a way to remove friction points within a guests journey.

Things like easily locating the WIFI code, or knowing where heater switches are, or how the cooker works, etc.

These things seem trivial I know, but if your goal is to create a frictionless guest nurture system for your Airbnb, then it’s things like this that need to be addressed.  Otherwise, these turn into guest questions that YOU need to answer.

Which isn’t great for your guests, and it certainly isn’t good for you.

What a well constructed Welcome Book should accomplish.

A well constructed Welcome Book should primarily accomplish these four things:

If you can nail all four of these points, then you’re onto a winner!

What to include in your Airbnb Welcome Book?

You’re probably now wondering what to write in your Welcome Book, so lets take a closer look.

So, for it to ‘hammer-home’ on all four of the points above, here’s what you need to include:

Bonus tip: If you do a little looking around you’ll often find that businesses will offer you money or freebies in exchange for recommendations.  So don’t be afraid to ask around, as you never know, this could be a nice little additional revenue stream you never even thought of.

How to design your Welcome Book

If you can remember earlier in the post, one of the main things is to make it informative and engaging.

The informative part of the equation should be pretty straight forward.  The engaging part however, takes a little more thought.

That’s where design, and well written copy come in.

Now I’m not going to give you a lecture on design principles and copy writing best practices in this post, but I will just give you a couple of tips to guide you in the right direction.

Writing

Design

Airbnb Welcome Book ideas

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few Airbnb Welcome Book examples to get you started:

Example 1.

Example 2.

Example 3.

How to build a beautiful Welcome Book - Easily (with this free tool)

Alright, now that you know what should be included (and why), it’s now time to learn how to build it.

Luckily, it’s actually pretty easy using this free tool - Canva.

Once your account is set up, click on Create a design.

And in the search box, search for “Magazine Cover”.

Scroll through each of the magazine templates until you find a one that suits your property, and the look and feel you’re after.

Click it to select it, and then go ahead and edit and manipulate until your hearts content.

*A word of warning for the non designers among us… don’t go crazy trying to change anything and everything, instead try not to deviate too far from the original design.  Not only will it save you a tonne of time, but the end result will be far better I promise.

How about a DIGITAL Welcome Book too?

Did you know that it’s possible to create a digital Welcome Book for Airbnb?  

Pretty cool right?

I think they’re a great idea and in my opinion should be in every hosts arsenal of tools.

Not that it should replace the physical hard copy (because that’s important too), but in addition to it for all of the reasons we mentioned earlier in this post - to remove friction points, and create an enhanced guest experience.

Best digital Welcome Book tools for Airbnb

If you’re interested in digging a little deeper and finding out a bit more about which digital welcome book is best for you, here’s a few you should check out:

And that's just the beginning!

But, with so many different software options to choose from, how do you know which ones best?

Maybe I can help...

In this guide I'll help you find out which is the best Airbnb management software for you and your situation, and which ones to avoid like the plague!

In this guide I'll be judging each tool by a certain criteria.  

Using this criteria, you'll get an unbiased breakdown of each tool so you can make an informed decision.

1. Lodgify - From $32p/m

2. Smartbnb - From €15p/m

3. Hostfully - From $79p/m (+$400 setup fee)

4. Guesty - *Price on application.

5. Your Porter - $7p/m +

6. iGMS - From $18p/m