Lessons learned hosting this year

Peter1854
Level 2
Walnut Creek, CA

Lessons learned hosting this year

In hosting my real estate investments on Airbnb, I have learned and have some best practices which I think are worth sharing. 

Here's a brief summation of what I've learned, I hope that you find it helpful and you can apply some of these to your listings. 

Note, my properties are higher end investments and so my concerns may be different than typical because of this. 

 

1-  I make sure to update my property description frequently.  if a guest questions something or something isn't clear, then I update description to address the question.

2- I  care about who rents my property and want a high quality guest. The only way I have found to manage this is by saying in listing that I look at your profile, positive reviews are required to rent my properties.   If someone has a new profile with no information,  I say no.

3- Don't allow 1 or 2 night stays.  For me it's not worth it, 3 days is my off season minimum, in season it's 5 nights, establish minimums that make sense.

4- I do not allow instant booking. Airbnb claims they vet the guests for you. that is absolute BS, they do not care about that, they don't care about your property, they only care about revenue.  As long as they can get the funds, that person can rent your property.  Never instant book.  

5- Never use recommended pricing by airbnb, they will recommend a price to create maximum booking,  not value for you.  Price too low and you get guests who will abuse your property.  Too high and you know because no one books, that's an easy fix, lower gradually.  Don't panic, if you'r vacant, someone will find you and be happy it's available.

6- In your listing disclose that you have a required rental agreement that must be signed after the reservation confirmation. it is also important to send a copy of the agreement prior to approving any rental request.   My agreement includes a rental deposit. that deposit is taken by airbnb as a CC charge authorization. So you have to update airbnb after the guest leaves, you have to provide  photos and information about damage or loss to get paid.   

7- Never do rental or any business off platform, if they found you here, everything stays here.   Doing anything off platform gives airbnb  the excuse not to support you, not worth it.

8- I have camera's installed outside near entries and parking,  no sound just visual.  I disclose this specifically, it is listed in rental agreement document that all get a copy of in advance.

9- I use digital door locks, no keys, the digital locks record all activity and expire when guests check out

 

Thanks,

Peter

 

5 Replies 5
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Peter1854 

Thank you for sharing this.

I wondered regarding deposit:

"My agreement includes a rental deposit. that deposit is taken by airbnb as a CC charge authorization". Is this something different then a "security deposit" ?

good question @Emiel1

Pete69
Level 10
Los Angeles, CA

9. One reason that I passed on getting a digital door lock is that I read a few reviews on Home Depot's site about these gadgets failing. If you have guests self-checking in, that could be a disaster if you're not on-site to get them inside. If a guest can't open my lockbox, I always have a plan-B hidden key that they can use.

Pete, you right the digital door locks do fail, or the users phone won't work with it. so yes, keep a   share key on site.   I use a masterlock shackle lock - on site with a key inside. for back up 

I also  have been using the August digital lock, because on the outside, the key lock remains in place and you can't tell there is a digital lock on the inside. the reliability has been in the 90% area. and you get a log of who goes in and  out of the house  

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Peter1854 @Pete69 

 

If you use digital locks or key safes/lock boxes, it's worth double checking the fine print of your insurance.

 

I'm in the UK, and things could be different here, but when I had my front door lock changed, I asked the locksmith about the above. He said that most insurers require an approved lock and installing a digital one or lock box would likely void my insurance. 

 

That was a few years ago, so things might have changed as digital locks have become more commonplace, but it's something worth checking.

 

I do accept guests with no reviews (but not for instant booking) because everyone has to start somewhere. I understand hosts who don't want them to start at their listing though! I give them the benefit of the doubt, but I ask all my guests quite a lot of questions and I find that the communication is more telling than the reviews.

 

I've had many lovely guests who had no reviews, while my most problematic guests had several positive reviews and no negative ones. A lot of hosts don't like to say anything negative in the review or don't leave one at all when there were problems. There's a common misconception that, if you don't leave a review for the guest, they can't leave one for you, or sometimes it's a case of "If you can't say something nice..."