New To Hosting

[Matteo1140]

Hello! I’m new to hosting and am planning to put our current apartment on Airbnb (as we’ll be buying our first home and moving before the lease ends). Just wondering, how do you recommend we set up the apartment and the price for rental?

We have a 1-BD with a small den, does it make sense to add a second bed to the den so the apt can be shared by more people? (that den doesn’t have a door so it won’t have much privacy). Or would that den have more value if we set it up as a mini-office?

For context, our apartment is in a very safe & central area of a HCOL city in the US. Our building has amenities like a pool, hot tub, gym, etc. Our mgmt company is fine with the apts being rented on Airbnb, they just take a % on every booking.

Am I correct in assuming that Airbnb takes 15% off the top? Should I set a minimum number of days to be booked? What kind of traveler is usually looking for 7+ days?

Apologies for the flurry of questions. Any other advice for a newbie host would be much appreciated!

[Helen3]

Have a look at the Airbnb Help website it has FAQS @Matteo1140 @on most aspects of managing your STR business on Airbnb

what facilities you need depends on who you've identified as your target guest.

do some market research with competitors to get an idea of how you prices'

[Rebecca]

Hey @Matteo1140 👋

Welcome to the Airbnb Community and your hosting journey! 🎉

You've got a reply here from @Helen3, did you manage to have a moment to read it? 

I'm going to invite @Bea2137, @Emmanuel9 and @Dawn241 to the conversation to see if they can share any of their insights! Thanks so much in advance and I hope you don't mind me tagging you! 😍

[Lorina14 · Accepted solution]

@Matteo1140 

Congrats on your new home and beginning your new adventure hosting with your apartment!

Many hosts will put a sofa bed in the den for multifunctional use, and include a desk too. You will want to have as much amenities that make sense (without cluttering a space or costing too much for your budget). Do market research by searching the platform as a guest in your city with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom to see what is being offered, their price points, reviews, amenities, how your space is unique etc.

Please refer to the FAQ section as it spells out many things on what you need to address with hosting including making sure you can do a STR with your complex, getting STR insurance coverage, creating a house manual (very important), writing your listing/description, how to set expectations, instant book or not, dynamic pricing or not, a trying minimum nights (recommended; the amt varies depending on your cleaning crew, who is your target market, it could be 2-3 nights, 7 nights, 28 nights) and more. The number of nights makes sense if you have business travelers, are near a hospital (for people who visit for medical appointments/surgeries, or are traveling nurses), are near a college (visiting professors, parents of students, prospective students visiting, alumni coming in for a football game, etc), are near national parks or big attractions.

Some larger management companies absorb the entire host and guest fee for Airbnb while most hosts pay the 3% from each booking and the guest pays 12% of each booking.  

Make sure to know what the long term rules are in your city as to when a guest is considered a tenant as then they have a whole new set of rules that you must abide by including tenant’s rights (many hosts do not allow stays beyond 28 days because that is usually the long term threshold for most cities). 

Hapoy hosting!

[Emmanuel9]

Hi  @Matteo1140, if you want we can arrange a zoom video call and give you advices as an experienced host, i would need half an hour writing..  i do not know your market and target groups in your area, so my suggestion will not be accurate. 
I suggest you to read on Airbnb website the best ways to promote your house, write a description etc.. they are detailed..

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/writing-an-effective-listing-description-13

Here is for description... check also about photos, title etc.. they will help you a lot and make it more clear to you the next steps ..