Top tips for Hosting without burnout

Kelly3
Level 10
Seoul, South Korea

Top tips for Hosting without burnout

Let's share our tips for keep hosting without burnout.

 

I have been active in the hosts community in my city, and I see a lot of hosts stop hosting after 2~3 years.

Some of them were such enthusiastic hosts, yet they loose that energy over time (sometimes even faster than other hosts) and leave Airbnb. 

 

They say hosting becomes repetitive, occasional 'negative' guests makes them under-appreciated, and it is just not as exciting as before.

 

I certainly have had my ups and downs, now I think I am at some what of mental equilibrium - also I started a new project so that excites me these days.

 

What are your tips to prevent Host Burnout?

 

 

55 Replies 55
James1
Level 10
SF, CA

Host burn-out seems to be widespread. What's also interesting is the panolply of strategies for coping. After four years and a couple periods of serious burn-out here's my 'strategy': I treat each hosting experience as a performance. My job is to act a role. I'm the happy host in San Francisco. I give my guests a good show (regardless of whatever may be ongoing in my 'real' life). They get more than their moneys worth. I get their money and keep my sanity. Everyone wins. 

Thanks for this, 'strategy': I treat each hosting experience as a performance. My job is to act a role. I'm the happy host in San Francisco. I give my guests a good show (regardless of whatever may be ongoing in my 'real' life). They get more than their moneys worth. I get their money and keep my sanity. Everyone wins. Going to take this strategy as barely months in and am near fed up. It’s taking up too much of my time too and some guests don’t want to leave reviews despite being reminded 🥺. I’ll keeps going as I don’t care for LTR, I have 3 LTR units already but wanted to turn the fourth one which is part of an Up/down duplex into an STR and get creative with it. Just sucks the energy from me sometimes but I’ll keep going with breaks in between as moat have suggested. 

@Anne10908  Treating each booking as a performance, acting a role, is exhausting. Just be your natural self and it will feel much more relaxing. I've never acted any differently with guests than I do with friends or acquaintances. It's worked out fine.

Thank you Sarah for your response.  I didn't even look at it that way, but now that you say it, yes I agree that can turn exhausting because it also anticipates the guest's own role/script and may not be authentic.  As an introvert, I find myself tiring easily with chit chat, particularly when it seems forced or inauthentic or scripted, so I may never have done well with that approach in the long run.  Thanks for helping me realize that I'd much rather really be myself.  Since this post, I started thinking of other things that I can do to help with burnout and part of the ideas come from what many here have already shared.  I summarized really for myself but sharing below:

  • Tap into your creativity to keep it fun.  Find something new to implement with each experience.  The beauty of STR over LTR is that with each guest turnover, there is always something to take away, something to use to improve your listing, policies, approach, cleaning etc.   This learning in my opinion seems to happens much faster for short-term rentals (STR) than LTR.  
  • Keep cleaning up your listing with each lesson learned.
  • Study and Learn from the competition.
  • Learn from Social Media Groups
  • Learn from the STR Communities on the actual platforms
  • Stay busy, but add variety so that it is not all just Airbnb 24/7.  
  • Have a schedule to facilitate a balanced day and keep from neglecting other areas of your life.  NOTE:  Just actually completed a schedule 🙂
  • STOP CARING I.e. STOP OBSESSING OVER THE REVIEWS - THIS HAS THE HORRIBLE EFFECT OF TYING YOUR WORTH/VALUE TO WHAT OTHERS THINK/SAY ABOUT YOU. CREATES CO-DEPENDENCY AND SEEKING OF CONSTANT EXTERNAL VALIDATION WHICH IF NEGATIVE CAN BE DAMAGING TO A CO-DEPENDENT.
    • Believe in your product and focus on maintaining a high standard to keep your business successful.
    • Don’t focus on the review, focus on your delivery, consistency and continued improvement to help grow your business.  Certainly do your part in earning the review, send subtle reminders to guest then let it go.  I post on different areas and then do just one reminder if we are getting close to the 14 day period with no guest review.
  • Discounts?  No instead add value and highlight the value you are adding so it is clear to them.  NOTE:  I have stopped giving upfront discounts as it has the unwanted effect in some cases of lowering the value of your product and setting the guest up to wanting to ask for more when they have not given much.  Am fairly priced and tend to provide more in amenities and the hosting experience and that I feel more to be a better approach for me.  As such I deleted all discounts, weekly, monthly or other as I just prefer highlighted value add at a set price than discounts.

Am thankful for this thread.  I went searching for any information on burnout and glad to have run into this article.  Next time I know to start by checking the Airbnb Community, as I have got more here than any other random online articles.  Thanks again Sarah and all those that shared their experiences on this thread.  There is definitely something to be taken away from each comment!  😊

ADDING TO MY LIST NEWLY FOUND IDEAS:  Rev01 (12/20/21)

  1. VISUALIZATION:  Visualize what your success looks like and focus on that vs. fears and the negative guest/guest from hell or negative review.
  2. WINS:  Remind yourself of the wins that you have accomplished thus far to help keep your positive and optimistic vs. trapped in a negative place.  
Andrew90
Level 10
New York, NY

Great thread!

 

I've been renting my condo on various platforms for the last 10 years.  The key for me has been to streamline and atomate as much of the workflow as possible. Sites like Airbnb are great they take care of the booking and collecting money.  I use rental managment SW to help manage the bookings from various sources. 

 

This lets me focus on being a host and ensuring my guests stays are as great as they can be.  

 

So in net taking as much of the work out of managing the "business" was possible, well worth a few hundred a year I pay in fees for the services I use.   The solution I use is not affilated with Airbnb but was checking out one rooftop. https://www.onerooftop.com/ who is an offical partner of AirBNB and they seem to have a pretty robust soltuion and of all the other services out there they are priced reasonably for the indiviual owner vs the property manager.  They do offer full integration with Airbnb if you wnat Instant Booking but even the inquiry and reservation management tempaltes are pretty robust and worth considering. 

 

Andrew

Andrew - see community help guides for many great FAQ

i have 4 cheap and cheerful rooms in my home. To reduce stress, I scoured threads like this one and came up with ideas that helped. I am constantly looking for inspiration on minimizing stress because it can creep up on me. Here's what works.

 

PROFILE

 

"You play a role in your own happiness." People are as happy as they want to be. It's not my job to keep them happy. It's my job to offer accommodation and to deliver what I promise. Period.

 

I borrowed heavily from the YMCA core values in stating that this is a shared experience and that Guests must co-operate.

 

INSTANT BOOK

 

All of the rooms are groomed immediately after checkout. I don't really like IB but it keeps my SEO ratings higher. When booking, I respond with "Is there anything about the rules, terms, House Manual, or the description that needs explanation?"  This way I protect myself from another "oh, I didn't know there were cats here!"

 

RULES

 

I was fortunate in the begining to have a man who planted himself in the living room every waking moment. Changing a lightbulb was a 10-minute safety hazard discussion. Now I state quiet hours, and add that this Host may need privacy during the daytime to work. I also ask guests what the purpose of their trip is, and what their plans are. 

 

My rules include no access to oven and stove. The smell of frying hamburger or eggs throughout the house has never really appealed to me. There is also something weird (to me) about cooking and not sharing. This rule tends to attract more professionals.

 

I don't allow couples because extra bodies in a little home complicate my life. 

 

I do not allow smoking or alcohol. In previous lives I have had to deal with guests under the influence and it is not pleasant. Drinking on your own in a roomm = recipe for disaster. Again, this tends to attract a better quality of guest. 

 

ACCESS

 

My checkins are 4PM-midnight. I live near 4 international airports, and people come in at all hours. I also have self-check in, so I can go to concerts and generally have a life. I simply set up a meet up time for introductions and orientation.  However there is no admission otherwise, due to those changeouts.

 

AIRBNB CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

My biggest ally is Airbnb Customer Service. Despite 20 years' prior experience as a landlord, I am still flummoxed by certain situations. I call them and ask for advice. Sometimes it's just to reinforce my gut reaction. Guests who have no photo (or are obscured), have multiple names on their reviews, offer no reviews, have no bio, no verification, offer limited information, and/or don't respond to queries give me the creeps. My arrangement is heavily dependent on interpersonal skills, and if it's bugging me, it will probably bug my other guests. 

 

They are the best! They are positive, supportive, and can make suggestions that I hadn't considered. When push comes to shove - and it has, occasionally - we ask the guest to cancel.

 

BEING MY OWN BEST FRIEND

 

On that note, it's necessary to be very firm. I often make snacks, offer a lift (if I'm going that way) etc. as gestures of goodwill. I ask them not to mention this in reviews, as this will become the expectation. I also use the "no" word, and yes, I'm not always nice about it, because being asked (for example) to make multiple room changes during a 6 day stay is a PITA. Instead, I agree on the condition that they pay the cleaner (@$20CAD/hr). Sound fair?

 

THOSE REVIEWS

 

I make no bones about the fact that I want 5 star ratings in a 1-2 star price. I am also well aware that my offer is excellent value, and, that they are also dependent on good reviews for future trips. Each time a guest departs, I send them a note reminding them of the experience, the extra little things I did, and ask them to support my growing business with an appropriate rating. It works. It's win-win, too, because they will get a 5-star from me. And that opers up a world of opportunity for them.

 

Cheers!

 

Elizabeth164
Level 9
Portland, ME

This is my 7th year as a host. I have 2-3 bedrooms I host--for singles or couples. I am booked from March through August, and then often again in October, during leaf-peeping season. Right now, I am fried. I haven't blocked off enough days so I can "get out of Dodge" and wander in the woods, reviving myself. Taking care of others that much.... ugh, I want someone to take care of me.  I had one very stressful situation recently that wasn't the guest's fault, nor mine, but a total system malfunction, which no one at the big corp side admitted. Guest was able to write a review of me without ever staying at my house--because although he seemed to be booked on his end, he was not on my end. So, I got paid and he demanded a refund, which I couldn't do, because he wasn't "booked" on my end. In short, it was a technical snafu of the major order. I was able to get that review removed, but it was a hassle and Airbnb basically blamed me. This is very poor business on the big corp side and I was ready to write a letter to the corp's legal department. This kind of stress, on top of being super busy, can really burn one out.

Hello! Glad to know that I am not alone!

 

I burned out after 2 years as a SUPERHOST who got the one star bullet. The guy was completely disgusting. 

 

Desperation does NOT look good on me. I finally admitted to myself that this wasn't working. I started renting longer term and am very happy. I still do the odd Airbnb gig, but I turned off IB.

Elizabeth164
Level 9
Portland, ME

I've been hosting for 7 years. What is burn-out? it is the fact that the company pushes folks to have undue expectations, with their Five Star ratings... but then, also, 7 years of taking care of "others" will burn you out. I'm whipped. All I want is someone else to iron my sheets and clean the human dust out of my room. I want someone else to give me the lee-way of arriving exactly when I want, rather than between certain time slots. This is totally unreasonable and rude. But, it's what I've experienced over the past year: rude and unreasonable people. I'm whpped. 

@Elizabeth164 I’m sorry you feel this way- it’s very relatable. 


1. Iron

 

look for commercial dry cleaners in your area. They charge more for washing than ironing (at least in the U.K.) and could give you the same or At least similar pricing to their “professional dry cleaning” clients. Much cheaper than using dry cleaners and Some also do same day turnover but planning ahead is better. 

Maybe also consider putting out a flyer for ironing works in your neighbourhood- some people love this and the added income is not bad. Maybe just factor this additional cost in your cleaning rate/nightly costs. 

it’s always good to know someone who can help you out on this for those days when your schedule is impossible. Also overstock in linen as to not be restricted in when you need to clean them and can bulk iron/clean etc. Saves a lot of time, at least for us.

 

2. Check in 

 

Self check in is awesome. Install exterior cameras (disclose properly and obviously in listing)  to avoid additional parties and install key boxes etc or use key collection services from a local business-  change/share code information about 2 days prior to their arrival. 

Combined this has helped us a lot and helped with the burnout but every year my father (my biggest help) goes on holiday for a month and I stay and manage the whole workload (with help if needed) and I take some holidays but due to work etc I am more restricted but instead prioritise random time for myself. 

 

i leave my phone in the other room or go to dinner with someone without it (which they also appreciate) and every so often we block a couple of nights here/there.

 

i use the house manual to direct our guests with any major questions they have and always direct them to it upon booking. Also leaving hard copies etc help. 

 

Good luck to you but remember money is great but nothing is worth your peace, much else your health (I learnt this in a very harsh way)! Xx