How do you manage your listing while on holiday/vacation?

[Rebecca]

Hello hosts! 👋

I bet that taking a well-deserved holiday can sometimes feel tricky when you have guests to consider. How do you balance your travel plans with managing your listings?

What do you do to make sure your homes are in good hands while we soak up the sun? Do you have a go-to co-host, use automated messaging, or perhaps offer special discounts for guests who can accommodate your schedule?

Share your insights and experiences below! Whether you're an experienced host or just starting out, your ideas could really help someone else. 😊

Looking forward to hearing from you, 

Rebecca 

[Giannis87]

Ciao Fretello Andrea from Athens Greece
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[Dorothy319]

We do not live near our property so vacationing is just another day in our property mgmt lives. We use a Schlage wifi lock so everyone automatically receives a personalized door code with their check-in details. The code is activated for their arrival time and checkout time.  I have access to the codes on my phone app and can make any necessary changes from wherever I am.  If for some reason the code is not working, I have placed a lock box on the property with a key.  We haven't had to use it yet - thankfully. We also partner with Turno for our cleaning services which eliminates the necessity of me having to set up a cleaning project.  The Airbnb app communicates with the Turno app so our cleaning crew is automatically notified when a booking is made.  I am also notified through the Turno app when a project is started and the Schlage app when the cleaning crew accesses the property with their own personalized code.  It is all pretty streamlined now...

[Rebecca]

Wow @Dorothy319 - you sound like a long distance host pro! 

The smart locks are an excellent feature and using a trusted cleaning service definitely sounds great.

How far away are you from your listing?  Do you have anyone there that your trust to go and check it out, for emergencies, or are you close enough to get there? 

[Basha0]

Since I manage and clean myself, I choose to block those days I am on vacation. My permit states that I have to be 45 minutes from the rental or have a manager which I have not trusted my home to

[Rebecca]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us @Basha0, it's great to have another perspective. Do you lose a lot of income from blocking the dates? Would you consider having a co-host or manager in the future? 

[Ferne10]

Hi Rececca, our Airbnb is next door to our home. We are actually away at the moment for 3 weeks so we decided to only open it up for a longer term booking to go in before we left so we could settle them in and be home to clean when they vacate. Luckily our children have stayed home so they have been able to assist our guests whenever needed.

If we all go away I block the time off so I don't have to worry about it.

[Rebecca]

@Ferne10 thank you so much for sharing how you manage when you're going away. What a great idea with the longer term booking (and kids being able to support!) - it's nice that you have that flexibility. 

Did you have to let the guests know that you were going away? 

[Elizabeth-And-Steve0]

Sometimes we block the dates so we don’t host when we are away. When possible, we have somebody on call for any issues and to clean. It works out great but luckily haven’t had any major problems while we were away. 

[Emily2037]

Great question Rebecca!

It really depends on how much work you normally do on your airbnb. For our airbnb, it is in a different state so I am not physically there anyways. I have my co-host handle all the cleanings & maintenance and they are very reliable & trustworthy. I think to have a trust worthy team is the key.

I manage all the guest communications so I take my laptop and cell phone with me when I vacation anyways. It really has not cause any issues and I can still enjoy my vacation time with family. I usually make sure I have at least wifi connection available wherever I'm going. 

Best wishes!