Styling an Air Bnb

[Shauna101]

Hello!

I'm Shauna and I'm a Melbourne (Australian) based Interior Designer. I work full time as a Property Stylist. I am starting my own side business- styling Air BnBs.

Since we have lots of hosts in this forum I was hoping to ask a few questions - and I'd love some feedback.

a) Would a styling service interest you?

b) Would you prefer styling when you first list your Air Bnb or for a refresh ?

c) Is there anything about styling that concerns you? Ect. value for money, quality ect.

d) Do you think a well styled Air Bnb increased rental revenue for the host?

Thanks for your help and I look forward to hearing your replies 🙂 

Shauna 

[Robin4]

@Shauna101 

Shauna, when I started out as a host a wise person said to me...."Don't put anything out there that you are not prepared to lose".

As nice as most guests are we have all had experiences where guests have misused, ruined, stolen or broken something, and these days we tend to look to a more utilitarian approach rather than a stylistic one. What ever you style it must be durable and practical.

What you are offering sounds fine but If you are going to offer a styling service remember guests like individuality, they joined Airbnb to experience a more homely environment. They don't want to go from one Hilton room to another and I would think individuality could be rather hard to keep coming up with!

What works for us as hosts works because we are all different we have differing sets of priorities and approach our hosting with differing ideals. It provides our guests with variety and value, and that is what they are looking for.

The main things a guest remembers is, how good was the nights sleep and the shower. Most hosts operate on a limited budget and have already stamped their property with their style and, I could be wrong but you might find getting your concepts across to hosts on a paid service basis could be challenging.....but I wish you luck! 

Cheers........Rob

[Helen3]

Hi @Shauna101 

this is a community for hosts and guests . 

if you want to carry out market research for your business you need to contact hosts in your country who you have identified as your target market 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Shauna101  I am sure there is a market for you. Not all hosts are small, private hosts who are on a tight budget, there are also agencies and hosts with multiple properties and they need and want designers.

a) Would a styling service interest you?

b) Would you prefer styling when you first list your Air Bnb or for a refresh ?

c) Is there anything about styling that concerns you? Ect. value for money, quality ect.

For me and many other small private hosts, the most important was/is to create a comfortable, eye-catching and not generic-looking space with easily replaceable, durable, and not expensive furniture and decoration. This is important because guests are sometimes hard on things, get drunk and do stupid things and turnover time between guests is sometimes just a few hours, barely enough for cleaning and not enough for repairs. So, it is very important how easy and fast the space can be cleaned.

Besides, guests and Airbnb host guarantee are more willing to pay if the damaged item costs 50$ than 300$ and it is much easier to prove the cost of replacement if it is Ikea than some limited edition of designer's furniture or antique piece.

d) Do you think a well-styled Air Bnb increased rental revenue for the host?

Of course, but the question is how much the host has to spend to be able to rise the nightly price for 10$ and how long would it take for his investment to be returned?

[Sarah977]

@Shauna101  No, I wouldn't personally be interested in such a thing. Many hosts, including me, were attracted to hosting in the first place because we enjoy, and are good at, creating visually attractive, comfortable, and practical interiors. 

So your market would likely be mostly non-hands-on hosts whose Airbnbs are simply investment properties, rather than something they take a personal interest in.

I would be wary of hiring an interior designer who had no experience with strs. Because they need to be furnished and decorated quite differently than one would when staging homes for real estate sale purposes, or a private client for their own home.

Guests are not interested in purely decorative items all over the place, for instance, and can be hard on furnishings. Materials and furniture need to be tough and stand up to abuse. And strs need to be designed with ease of fast and thorough cleaning in mind. 

[Sarah977]

@Robin4  You should post your photo of indestructible Airbnb decor here for Shauna- the one that looks like a prison cell. 🙂

[Huma0]

@Shauna101 

a) Would a styling service interest you?

Not personally, no. Firstly because I am a stylist myself (fashion more than interiors but have done both) and have a very clear idea of how I want my home to look but also because I don't think small, homeshare hosts are your market. Like others have said, you should be targeting landlords and agencies with multiple STRs. I imagine those should be in a high end sector of the market where customers will expect a more stylish interior rather than a utilitarian or homely one.

b) Would you prefer styling when you first list your Air Bnb or for a refresh ?

N/a because of the above. Probably either would work but, again, I think you need this feedback from the market I mentioned above.

c) Is there anything about styling that concerns you? Ect. value for money, quality ect.

I personally wouldn't pay someone else to style my space because of the reasons give in answer to a) but if I had a concern, it would be that the stylist would try to push me towards something that just isn't me. I would certainly not want anything too generic or 'on trend' but rather tailored to my property, which is quirky and characterful.

d) Do you think a well styled Air Bnb increased rental revenue for the host?

Yes. It's one of the main reasons that people book my listings so I am sure that it does in my case, but that again depends on your market. My guests are not paying a fortune at all, but they could certainly find cheaper, more basic listings if they didn't care about the appearance of the space. They seem to like the extra styling touches a lot.