In less than 3 years I made it to 400 five star reviews!

[Donald28]

I am pretty happy about this so I've decided to share it here where everyone who hosts can appreciate it. I have 403 reviews but only 400 show up in my visible count. I did have at least one that wasn't a 5 star so my rating is 4.99 for what seems like forever! Someday maybe I'll overcome that .01 and reach 5? I have been a superhost since the first qualifying period after we started in 2017.

I'm amazed at how quickly this whole thing has taken off. We were charging $39 a night when we started... per airbnbs original recommendation! We're now at $160 during the slow winter season and $225 on weekend nights during the busy summer season. 

I have numerous repeat guests. One family has been here 10 times!

The first year 2017 we made $19k. In 2018 we made $25K. In 2019 we made $35K. Because I've added an airbnb "experience" recently (which has been pretty successful so far), I'm shooting for $50k this year! I am making more money renting a single 134 sq ft tinyhouse (working MAYBE an hour a day cleaning/laundry) than  I made when I worked 40 hours a week @$16.10/hour as a forklift operator in a grocery warehouse! There are things we all can complain about regarding airbnb but we have to agree that it has provided us a unique opportunity to make money very unconventionally and quite easily. 

[Ann72]

@Donald28  Kudos to you - I love those numbers!

[Lawrene0]

Congratulations, @Donald28 ! You've got a cool place that people love, and you're a cool host that people love 🙂

[Stephen-and-Adam0]

@Donald28  Congratulations, that is awesome!  Such a cool place and no easy thing to keep 400+ satisfied to that level 🙂  

[Lizzie]

Wow, this is amazing @Donald28. Huge congratulations this achievement. 400+ bookings is heck of a lot of people to meet. I love you have some guests that have been 10 times to your listing, I feel you should start your own super category especially for them–they must feel like family now. 

Here's to a bright future ahead and a huge well done. 🙂 

[Donald28]

Some of the repeat guests have become friends and are invited to our annual open house and monthly arcade parties... all free of course. 

[Gordon0]

Airbnb isn't the monster some would have us believe. Well done, @Donald28.

[Ute42]

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@Gordon0 

@Donald28  is successful despite airbnb being a monster.

Airbnb is great as long as there are no issues.

If there is an issue, You'd better be a guest, not a host.

[Patti59]

@Donald28 Congratulations on your success Donald!  I also had success for 6 years and as a result invested in another listing last summer.  We worked on it over this winter and are all ready and guess what.  My listing is gone from airbnb!  No explanation - I didn't even realize it was gone since I see everything as usual.  I even edited my listing with the improvements we had made.  But no inquiries.  I only found out when I wanted to book an airbnb for our vacation and found out I was blocked.  Still didn't realize my listing was gone until this week.  I am not giving up and am calling and texting them but have no satisfaction as of yet. Very upsetting!  

[Lydia94]

Make sure your listing is a legal - short term rental - some cities finaly butting in and proteting

all legal short term rentals

[Lydia94]

I totaly agree with you, you hit the nail on the head

[Daniela1586]

@Donald2 Congratulations - that is not an easy thing to achieve.  May I ask what your secret sauce is?  I am still somewhat new and sadly 2 guests have given a not so good "unfair" review so I'm curious how you make "everyone" happy.  Thank you for sharing!

[Donald28]

That's a good question?! I think maybe my dream job was always to be an airbnb host... I just didn't know it. I am not an overly social person. But I seem to LOVE meeting all the guests, showing them around the property or hanging with them by the pool or in the arcade. 

The space we rent is by itself in the back corner of our 3/4 acre yard. People have their privacy BUT I am close by if they need anything.  I think that alone lends to some of the good reviews. If I was offering a room inside my home, that would be much more difficult. I commend you hosts who do that. It is not for everyone. 

I do everything myself. Cleaning, laundry, stocking the food and drinks, fixing arcade games, maintaining the pool, the yard and more. I strive to make it the exact same experience for each guest or even better. Everything is always clean and everything works as it should. I think that helps keep people happy with the condition of the airbnb tinyhouse and meets their expectations.  

I've taken almost 3 years of questions and turned it into a long but informative welcome message. With this message, guests can arrive, enter the property, use the arcade and even checkout without meeting me. I've gotten the process "down" so well that I don't need to be home to do airbnb. I have also taught a responsible, trustworthy, local young man how to clean the tinyhouse and turn it for the next guests should I ever be away for a night or longer. He's done it a few times and does it as I would. I am very particular about the guests 1st impression. 

I put york peppermint patties on the pillows. People LOVE that. I have 3 small battery powered led lanterns and a bluetooth speaker for people to use. I put a "sleep machine" & USB chargers on the nightstand. It's the little things. 

In the end, all I really do is picture myself renting the space and what would I want it to look like when I 1st walk in. If you do that to your space, you should get lots of good reviews. 

One other thing... I will never use instant book again. I tried it early on and got MORE bookings but I had no way to vet the potential guests before they had access to my property. By forcing all potential guests to 1st message me, I get a chance to "read" the person through their words. If they ask for a discount, they're declined. People who want a discount as usually the worst guests and leave the worst reviews. If their very first question is can they can smoke pot here I usually decline them. I'm fine with smoking anything here OUTSIDE but if that's their 1st question, they're probably not a good fit. And yes after a booking is confirmed and I have the person's full name and city, i look them up on facebook. Maybe that sounds creepy or weird but I want to know who's coming to my property. You can learn so much from a persons FB page. Of course, not everyone has one but I'd say 80% of my guests were easily found on FB. If I know what to expect, then I can speak to any behaviors that they MIGHT do here because they're showing themselves doing it on FB. It's a tool. I suggest using it. 

[Maria3176]

Thank you for taking the time out to write all of this informative information.  I often read what experience others have and I am thankful to learn from other successful Host. Thank you again for your time. 

[Sarah977]

@Daniela1586  You can't really make everyone happy. To some extent it's the luck of the draw, although vetting procedures like @Donald28 mentions definitely go a long way towards getting good guests. But there are some people who you simply can't make happy- they are always determined to find fault somewhere. And it's pointless to try to bend over backwards to make those types satisfied, as evidenced by so many posts on this forum- those people don't appreciate what you do, and if you try to accommodate them, they see it as weakness and just ask for more. Then grouse about what was wrong in the review.