3 Tips to A Great Start for New Airbnb Hosts

[Amber-Jeanne0]

Everyone's experience as a new Airbnb Host will be different, of course! There are so many varying factors, such as location, type of Airbnb, our regional cultures, personal experiences, and the guests who visit us! That's all pretty exciting!

But just starting out as a Host might also seem a bit overwhelming. With so much information and advice to soak up,  not to mention all those amazing ideas you have yourself... it's hard to focus on what matters, when everything seems to matter!

The following list is what I chose to focus on a a newie. It helped keep things in perspective and led to a great start as an Airbnb Host. 

If something here helps you, leave a comment!I f you need clarification, feel free to ask a question!

I wish you happy hosting on your journey down Airbnb Lane!

Top 3 Tips For Newbie Hosts

1. Do your research

-Be a guest somewhere else a few times (it's great perspective). I had hotel management and travel experience, so I knew on a high level what I was doing, however the personal Airbnb experiences over the past couple of years helped me to understand the inner workings of being a guest at an establishment such as these.

- Read everything that Airbnb provides for you (there's plenty of clear instructions, tools and guidance, plus I just found the community today so that was exciting. 

-Do your research on other Airbnb rentals in your neighborhood (or in the vicinity- city wise). This is not necessarily for you to use for you to ramp up your Airbnb, but more so for valuable insight into other Airbnb comparisons like yours. You get insight into what they offer, how they price, and quickly know what not to do or what guests appreciate via the reviews. 

2. Let Airbnb set your main rental pricing to start out

- It saved time and made sense

-then add your own reasonable cleaning fees, pet etc. 

3. Most importantly, and if you do anything BEST, be honest

-My Airbnb is a just a spruced up spare room in my basement. It was my daughter's room which I updated after she left home (adding some amenities and furniture).

-We have one bathroom. None of this is 5-star, but it's charming, clean, and we are hospitable.

-Our location is the bomb (best neighborhood in the city) and we are local to anything and everything including main highways, though it's quiet here with walking for people and dogs near the lake).

So be honest- because they're going to see it anyway and we ALl know we really dislike being misled.

My guests are more comfortable knowing in advance what the situation is. Whether or not it's what they love or want, at least they aren't facing any surprises when they get here.

Though be sure to highlight the greatest things about your Airbnb (or area) as well. (Like for me it's our location "it's in our title", the neighborhood, and our hospitality, cleanliness, and kindness.)

A Bonus?

Be hospitable.

1. If you're just starting out, but never worked in hospitality, EXCELLENT ATTITUDE & CUSTOMER SERVICE will go along way ☺️. If you're not sure how to be a great host, Google it. Better yet, think back to instances when you received amazing service during your travels at Airbnbs or elsewhere! List some of your favorites! Then apply  a little of those if possible to your services or location. 

2. You're always going to miss something. Don't panic, just make a note for the next time someone books with you. 

3. Make sure it's clean, comfortable, and things work. That's the least we can do for our guests....and quite often these are their main concern. 

See, so it doesn't have to be complicated or fancy in the beginning. Time and experience will help you get better. But for now, you want to get started!

Wishing you the best!

[Greg2406]

@Amber-Jeanne0 

Great advise.   We are working on a editable document that will help both new Hosts as well as seasoned Hosts with everything from before booking until after the Guests leave.   We hope that all beginning Hosts have smooth sailing in their bookings and experiences, but we also realize that this is not always the case.  In our document, we will expand on how to handle difficult bookings, scams, damages and many more issues.   Here are a few suggestions to go along with your detailed newbie guide.

> While turning on 'instant booking' may seem to be a good idea, we believe for a new Host we disagree.    New Hosts have not learned to vet adequately and we believe that coaching and experience utilizing 'booking request' is much better and lessens the chances that the new Hosts will experience the less desirable Guests.

> Have an Olympic Gold Medal set of House Rules.   This takes practice and more than not, experienced Hosts can greatly assist new Hosts towards this development.   We offer any Host editable set of HR's to get them going on the right direction.  

> With the exponential rise in guests filing false claims on properties, for the sole reason of attempting to get a refund, we suggest before and after photos.   From what we have read, over repeated instances, there is also a rise of guests that file a complaint after their booking period, again attempting to get either a full refund or partial refunds through the booking site.  In the HR's, we have put a requirement that "any discrepancies or other issues with the property are to be immediately brought to the Host attention" and "that failure to do so during the booking period will result in denial of any claims".   Once Guest signs the HR's, which we list is mandatory at Check-In, this signed document now becomes a legal and binding agreement.  (This is reference for the US, and has not been validated in other countries.)

> We also assist in learning how to handle difficult guests and even evictions.  

We knew little about Hosting and initially we had a 33% damage incident rates that cost over 3K in repairs.  We learned quickly that in many instances, customer service favors the Guest when they should be in support of the Host.   Since we made wholesale changes from detailed HR's to a extensive list of other items and procedures, the incident rate has dropped to less than 2%.    All new and existing Hosts want those perfect 5-star guests all the time, but reality shows it will not be the case.   

Again @Amber-Jeanne0 , excellent ideas in your items.  

[Amber-Jeanne0]

Thank you so much for sharing all of this! Fabulous advice and insight!

There are always going to be ups and downs as a host and your frank advice and shared experience is very valuable! I appreciate the time you took to invest in writing this out for us!

There are many scams out there so this very insightful and I'll be taking your tips into practice. 

I absolutely agree with newbies not turning on automatic bookings! I used that when I started out and it helped me to get some back story and gather information on guests. 

Very valuable insight and thank you for sharing your knowledge to educate our host community!

😊

[Paula]

Hi @Amber-Jeanne0, I am tagging @Helen3 and @Greg2406 here so they receive a notification of your message. This way, we increase the chances of them getting back to us.

Quick tip: To tag someone, tap "@" and select the host's username from the dropdown menu 😊

[Helen3]

Hi @Amber-Jeanne0 

I can see you’re a very new host to Airbnb - welcome - it would be great to understand how you came up with these suggestions - are they from a blog you found online?  

And what’s your thinking around your advice that Airbnb should  set a hosts pricing? 

[Amber-Jeanne0]

Hello and thank you for the welcome. 

I am new, yes.

So these tips are not from a blog, they are from my own beginner's experience. 

I just felt that these approaches were logical for me starting my own Airbnb without any previous experience.

Regarding allowing Airbnb to set my pricing (as a new host):

I did this (and suggested it) because I have real estate knowledge in my background, and I wanted to get my Airbnb started quickly so I to used the automatic pricing tool to make this quick and easy. Without enough local Airbnb pricing knowledge myself of other similar host locations, I  trusted the tool would do what it's intended to which (I assume) is give my Airbnb a pricing per night that is fair and reasonable according to comparisons in the area. I did my research of other area Airbnbs and did feel this was right for my location. 

Now with that being said, this is all for someone just starting out. 

As I gain experience as a host, receive feedback from guests, and my offerings increase and/my host location improves, that price will change (I will slightly increase my prices for upgrades or to cover things if I feel it's necessary). 

In the end, this is still a Host' own business, and they are to do what best works for them. This is what works for me and it's a logical start for someone who is new and wants to gain guests quickly. 

Now with having been successful in the past of moving a product or services with my own price points,  the automatic pricing tool with Airbnb met my expectations of a ballpark price I had thought might work. And it  did work to help me get guests quickly at the start. It's like real estate, where I continue to gauge the market of nearby comparable Airbnb prices and evaluate the calendar for holidays and can adjust accordingly. 

[Paula]

Amazing tips, @Amber-Jeanne0, Thank you so much for sharing them with our host community 🙏

We look forward to reading more of your contributions.

Thank you 🌻

[Amber-Jeanne0]

Totally a pleasure, Paula.

I appreciate the opportunity and am always willing to share.

Amber 

[Sharon1981]

Hi @Amber-Jeanne0 , I hope you don't mind, but as a recent user of ~8 Airbnbs across Europe, I have some hints for any owners, old or new, I'd like to share.

'BnB' stands for bed & breakfast. If you choose not to supply anything, please say so. Your renter can stop on the way and get basics, especially if its a late arrival. The Italian places we stayed in were over supplied with breakfast choices including coffee (pod) machines, but the UK places, not so much as a decent teabag, let alone milk.

Don't leave stolen coffee/sugar sachets from hotels.

A loaf of bread (in the freezer) is st least an option.

If there are any items that might cause  mobility issues, say so in your ad. One place we visited had a steep staircase immediately as you entered, the 2 further short starlircases to access bedrooms - no mention in ad and big issues for us.

Towels - get bath sheets/ ex large sized, slightly more expensive, but luxurious ++: the places we stayed had tiny towels - useless and feels skimpy.

Tea towels - we don't always need to use the dishwasher, but still need to dry dishes.

If you're asking a cleaning fee (£50 in one place) don't then expect me to strip the beds! Bins fair enough, but not beds.

If you cater for 6/8 etc then have enough dishes, cutlery, glasses, mugs for those numbers. Consider wine & beer glasses as well.

Instructions for all appliances.

Dish washer pods & washing machine pods - just a couple, but there.

Just a few trivial, but annoying things that could have made our stays nicer, and for the money we were paying (we weren't staying 'cheap') should have been included.

Hope these assist anyone setting up 🙂

[Paula]

Hi @Amber-Jeanne0! I wanted to let you know that we’ve moved your post to our Host guide section, as we truly believe it will be helpful for many hosts in our community.

Thank you so much for sharing, and I look forward to reading more of your valuable contributions!