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How to turn your property into profit with the help of these 5 Superhost tips.
Nick and Sarah Roussos-Karakaian are a husband and wife Superhost team (@nestrs) who have turned hosting into a full-time business in Columbus, Ohio. After listing their New York City basement on Airbnb in 2012, they became hooked. Since then, they’ve made it their dream job. Sarah also co-hosts the podcast "Thanks for Visiting,” a resource for experienced hosts and newcomers alike. Here, they share their knowledge and tips on how to launch an Airbnb business.
Nick and Sarah’s Tips to Launch an Airbnb Business
How it all began
Sarah: “For us, it started in Queens, New York. I was an actor. I was also bartending a lot.”
Nick: “And I was an intern with a master’s degree in architecture who was barely able to feed myself…”
Sarah: “And we both really wanted to own property but didn’t know how. One day, I saw this tiny house—it was the smallest one on the block and was expensive for us—but I was determined to find a way to get it.”
Nick: “With the right financial education, savings, and support from family, we were able to get a loan.”
Sarah: “And as all of this was all happening, I learned that my friend was listing a room in his apartment on Airbnb, which was helping him pay his rent in New York City—it was so wild to me. Not many people knew about Airbnb at the time. I told Nick about the potential for us to list our property, and he was hesitant—but I was intrigued. We jumped in and that was the beginning of it all.”
Nick: “I remember scrubbing toilets and being so happy to do so. It was paying for our mortgage so I thought: ‘Yes, this is amazing! How can we do more of this?’”
Sarah: “I was able to bring a lot of my hospitality experience working at luxury hotels—and I loved it. After four years of hosting and homeownership in NYC, we were fortunate enough to get a knock on the door from a developer who wanted to buy the place from us, furnishings and all.”
Nick: “After some soul searching, a long spreadsheet of places we could go next, and road trips around the country talking to locals, we found ourselves in Columbus, Ohio.”
Sarah: “To be able to blend design, hospitality, and real estate—and have the freedom to make our own creative choices—has been a dream come true. It’s why we’re so passionate about helping others learn how to host.”
01. Start with a mission statement
Sarah: “Before you get started, we recommend creating a mission statement for yourself. This will be your ethos and your north star, which is especially helpful during those moments when you might be uncertain about a direction or a decision. Your mission statement can help steer you in the right place. It’ll also inform how you create and craft your space.”
Nick: “When creating a mission statement, take the time to ask yourself a few questions:
Sarah: “For us, our mission is to transform spaces that transform lives. And we try to remember that in all that we do.”
02. Survey the market
Nick: “Before you jump in, it’s important to do your research and look at the competitive landscape in your area. This initial research will inform how you design, brand, and market your own space.
03. Price it for profit
Sarah: “Creating a budget, while it may not be very sexy, is super important. We recommend using a spreadsheet and categorizing your costs into three buckets:
1. Upfront costs: These are the initial investments you pour into your space before anyone experiences it, such as renovations, decor, furniture, and photography.
2. Ongoing costs: Core items consumed by the guest that will need to be replenished, including toiletries, toilet paper, paper towels, batteries, and lightbulbs.
3. Maintenance and management costs: This covers everything needed to keep your space safe, warm, and livable, including lawn, outdoor, and exterior spaces. Will you be hiring a cleaning person to help you with turnarounds or a co-host?
Add these numbers up and make sure you’re comfortable with your investment numbers and your realistic goals. If they don’t, then maybe you need to do a bit more saving upfront so you can create a space you’re proud of.”
04. Think like a guest
Sarah: “This is one of my favorite tips to share with hosts, and that’s to enlist an honest, blunt friend to stay at your space. You’re so close to it day in and day out that you might forget the things that a traveler might need—such as a toothbrush or toothpaste—or a design flaw that you’ve overlooked. A friend can help provide feedback on those pesky but important details. You don’t want a paying guest to be the one to point them out.”
Nick: “We like to include a ‘Forget something?’ basket of toiletries and items that guests may need last minute. Having a hospitality mindset has to be at the core of your business in order to succeed. It’s the reason people go to the different brand hotels they love—because they know what to expect: a space that feels like they’re the first people to ever arrive in it, the towels have been folded with care, and they know they can count on all the details such as having a phone charger next to the bedside table. You want to bring that same level of service to your guests so they want to come back again and again.”
05. Automate it
Nick: “Hosting is challenging, but it’s also a different game now than it was when Airbnb first arrived. There’s a lot more technology, tools, resources, and support to help you organize the process and make your life a little easier as a host.”
Sarah: “When hosts are starting out, we recommend doing the end-to-end process of each stay: from the initial booking message, to greeting your guests, to doing the cleaning and turnaround. Once you’ve understood the ins and outs, then you can automate it in a number of different ways, for example:
Nick: “Creating an Airbnb business takes hard work. But we really hope to show people that owning a home and doing it full-time is possible—and that there’s more than one way to do it.”
Sarah: “You know I went through a career change, and I was terrified that I would never find anything as much as I loved performing. But Airbnb has been life-changing for us. We can make our own creative choices, be our own boss—and that just makes it so much more special.”
Nick: “It allows us to remain flexible and enjoy our lives a little bit more. We hope that you can find a way to launch an Airbnb business and make it yours. If you need any more advice, you can find us.”
Happy hosting!
Nick + Sarah, Nestrs
Try incorporating Nick and Sarah’s for yourself then update your listing. Not a host yet? Become one today.
Check out the full #howtohost series here.
Book a stay at one of Nick and Sarah’s Columbus homes, follow @nestrs on Instagram, or visit their blog.
I appreciate the bullet points. Great read. Great Tips!
cool reading!
Thanks for the tips 🙂
I really like the mission statement tip and keeping in check periodically with the market surrounding my stay. I need to balance and fluctuate better, even though I’ve been booked pretty solid for the past year and a half. I get a lot of long timers for business (2-3 months). Because of this, I try to address their needs without overcrowding the short stays.
super insightful! Thank you for sharing your experience and practices with the rest of us!
Appreciate your true sharing experiences. Having started Airbnb from zero base, couple of months ago, reading your story makes me realise some of the tiny details and attentions which I would not probably put too much thoughts with before reading your article. Your 'Forget something" is a nice touch, your automation is smart energy zapper saver, and old fashion checklist. Eversince I started hosting, its been a real life enrichment journey for me, learning and sharing with all my guests are priceless. Now, I can improve on my gusets sharing exerience. Thanks
Regards
Ken
I enjoyed reading your tips! I’m going to add a « l forgot basket »
We just started hosting in July and I always put myself in the shoes of an Airbnb guests. As an Airbnb guest, I too want to stay in a sparkling clean place and a place that I find hair, well they’ve just drop down a notch. As a host I am zealous about leaving our Airbnb spotless and hairless! 😉
Cheers
Liliane
Hi Nick and Sara,
great tips! Thank you. I am new to this and I just listed My Bessemer with two bedrooms to two guest for the first time and got two long term guestS and I am happy. They share the common area. What do you do with the long term guests? Do you keep checking on them? Sometimes I feel like the guests need privacy and you do not want to check on them and keep asking if they need anything , but on the other hand I like to get good reviews. I also want to know where to get the punch in lock you mentioned. I do not want to keep giving the basement key to people.I appreciate your feedback. Thanks
ozzy
Heya there... I saw your comments and thought I can share my thoughts, hoping it's helpful.
For the lock, I use this lock: https://www.igloohome.co
You can automatically synchronize it with Airbnb reservations, where guests will get a code for the duration of their stay. Very handy!
As for the long term guest, it primarily depends on how long their long stay is. But in all cases, I would suggest leaving them a note in a very private and non-disturbing way: either leave them a note at the door to not hesitate to let you know if they need anything OR an easier note to leave is through airbnb messaging.
What should the note say though? You can either leave a message saying something like 'Hope all is well, pls don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything' OR better yet the message should recommend ONE location they should visit, such as: a special event in the area, a recommended restaurant, or a must visit/try site/restaurant/cafe/etc.
If their stay is longer than a month, you can do an event recommendation once a month, but I would say: it also depends on their reaction to the first note, and how much they appreciated it.
Hope those tips are helpful!
Really enjoyed reading Nick and Sarah's experience. Thank you for sharing! I realized I naturally started doing similar things, I guess the logic of getting organized and being on top of it. It is definitely not as easy as it seems.
Thank you again, and please let us know of new tips you find to be super useful.
This is so helpful! thank you Sarah & Nick!
Thank you for the interesting article! Another great way to automate is to automate many of the standard messages that go out to guest. I use a fantastic free tool call Aviva IQ. I'm also looking into automating pricing updates.
Thanks for these thoughts. Super helpful. Do you mind sharing some details on how you use IFTTT to send a text to your cleaning team upon getting a booking confirmation email? I'm trying to do the same but can't find the right tool.
Cheers from Virginia Beach
Wills
Sarah you and I have a lot in common. From the hospitality experience in big hotels to scrubbing toilets and being completely happy about it. I clean and stock each house so carefully to create an amazing experience for each of our guests. I love what I do, the flexibility I have to be my own boss and be creative. Thanks for these tips
One thing I see so many people doing is trying to compete on price. DON'T... Prices on this platform are so much lower then other places...
Thanks Sarah and Nick for sharing, my wife and I have been hosting for almost 2 years in Siem Reap, Cambodia next to Angkor Wat Temples, and enjoyed sharing our Villa.
We do provide a mobile phone to our guests while staying in our Villa with all important phone number and internet access so then can reach to us anytime they need, I would be very interested to know if anyone else in other countries do provide a mobile phone to their guests too ?
Thanks a lot for your input
Best regards
Gael & Bovin