We had a pretty decent year last year but this year is pitif...
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We had a pretty decent year last year but this year is pitiful. Any suggestions for our TN property? We should be booked from...
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Hi everyone,
I'm Isabella, and I'm a small business owner with dreams of opening up an Airbnb in the next few years. I currently work as a residential interior designer and have had a few questions on social media from Airbnb owners looking for tips.
I'm curious if any owners on here have ever used an interior designer, or if it's something you would consider. I do residential design, so my website and brand is really built around that. I'm debating offering airbnb design services, but not sure if there's really a market for it, or if you all prefer to design things yourselves?
If you have thought about hiring an interior designer for your Airbnb, what are some things that would be important to you? Local to your area? Flat fee? Etc.
I'm not sharing my website / company name here because I don't want this to come off as a self-promotion - genuinely just looking for some more information and any tips you all could give me.
Thank you in advance!
Isabella Stephens
@Isabella410 You may want to look at social media to see if there is a local AirBnB group that you can "talk" to.
As far as what a new host may want, I have seen a lot of posts from hosts who need advice or someone to furnish their listing. If you can provide various levels of service, from a critique to a full refurnish, you will probably make a lot of hosts happy.
I once paid to have a local "designer" critique my property -- it was interesting as she hated everything about the shabby chic rustic cabin and gave me an expensive upscale metro industrial refurnish design to implement -- I thanked her for her services and just kept on with some nicer linens.
Thank you for the advice @Lorna170 . That's great to note that you've worked with someone in a similar way - sorry to hear they didn't do the best job!
I am interested to talk regarding interior design. Thanks
@Isabella410 First of all, let me thank you for respecting that this is a discussion forum and not a free advertising site. Advertising one's business is in fact against the forum policy and posts which do that, including their contact info, get reported by users and removed.
Many Airbnb hosts are quite adept at design themselves, which is one of the things that attracted them to start hosting in the first place- they enjoy creating comfortable, attractive spaces.
But I see a lot of listings where hosts really could use some interior design help, so I think this is a viable service to offer. As long as you yourself understand how an Airbnb needs to be designed, which is different from designing for someone's own home. Airbnbs need to be as damage-proof as possible, and easily cleanable. They shouldn't contain a bunch of purely decorative items- guests aren't interested in knicknacks- they want a clean, comfortable, uncluttered space with plenty of room to put their own belongings. They want bedside tables on both sides of a bed for 2 people, with a reading lamp on both sides. The amount of living room and dining room table seating needs to jive with the number of guests they list for. We see new hosts listing for 8 guests, bedding people down on sofas, yet they only have a dining table adequate for 4, or living room seating for 6. So as a designer for Airbnbs, you need to put yourself in the shoes of guests as well as hosts.
And I second Lorna's point that you need to be able to adapt your designing to the uniqueness of the listing, and the aesthetics of the host, as opposed to having your own favored style which gets applied to all. A place may be basically fine, but need some tweaking- rearrangement of furniture, some colorful throw rugs to make a basically monochrome place "pop", better lighting, that sort of thing. So you would do well to offer that sort of minimal help if that's all the place really needs, in addition to full on whole house designing.
When I put my house in Canada up for sale, the real estate agent told me I should repaint the interior all white.
But it was a 100 year old house, quite unique. 4 bedrooms, but only 1 small bathroom. It was only going to appeal to a limited demographic of people, regardless of the wall colors. I had walls and stairs painted in a quite an array of colors (I'm good at design and color, it looked cool)
There was no way I was repainted it. The very first people who came to the open house walked in, said "OMG, we've been looking for a house like this for 2 years. And we love all the colors!"
They put in an offer right then and there and ended up buying it.
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for the feedback! I definitely agree airbnb's are vastly different from someone's home. I actually have been inspired by a few vacation rentals I've stayed in where I thought they could've done better with things that you mentioned like less decor / more storage for my personal belongings, etc. so I'm glad you brought that up.
Best,
Isabella
If you're looking for decor for your Airbnb space. Feel free to contact me. I also do commission sculptures
sculpt@cassiechris.com
@Isabella410 Thanks for bringing up this topic, I think it is a great topic for discussion! In my opinion, I believe that there is definitely a market for helping owners and hosts with interior design. Personally, I do all of my own interior design but it can be very time consuming! I enjoy designing, thrifting, refurbishing pieces of furniture, etc but now that I own more than a few Airbnb's I don't have as much time anymore and having someone design or give input can be very useful. Also, thinking about keeping Airbnb's up to date, current, replacing items, redecorating are all equally important. I have also come across many people who say they "don't have the eye for design," or "don't have the time" and for these types of owners interior design can help make things easier for them and give their place some options that can be very useful! Helping with design can be great for startup Airbnb's to use the space properly and efficiently but also with owners who are looking to redo their properties to keep them current and fresh.
Thanks for bringing this up Isabella. I have been an interior designer for almost 20 years and we are just about to embark on our own Airbnb's. We have found that there is a big difference between traditional design and design for STR. Sarah is absolutely right to say that furnishings need to be as bullet proof as possible. We really educate our renters about where it's important to spend the money on hard working pieces and where we can ease up on the budget.
We provide a really detailed checklist so that they have all the information they need up front and then feel like they have control over the whole process.
We definitely want a partnership.
A well designed home increases the ROI and helps everyone!
Hi Isabella. I’d love to connect with you on the potential opportunity I have for you. **
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