Five Things Being an Airbnb Host for 25 Families Taught Us

Our first summer being an Airbnb host was a success. We had guests come to stay from all over the world from places like Italy, South America, and even New Jersey.

The unit has stayed in good shape and we have been managing everything ourselves – learning a TON. There have been a few hiccups along the way that we wanted to share with everyone.

1. Cleaning fees & upfront rates. We learned that having a high cleaning fee decreases your booking substantially. After we get 10 reviews we decided to try to increase our rate to $75 total (rate + fees) to test the waters with our market here in Seminole Heights Tampa. Quickly we saw a sharp decline in both VIEWS and BOOKINGS. After waiting 7 days we adjusted our pricing to be a lower rate upfront with a $17 cleaning fee totaling $52 per night.
   
2. Blocking dates. Sarah and I quickly realized that when “instant book” is enabled its a feeding frenzy on the calendar so you need to block personal days. Bookings start happening quickly so we decided to start blocking personal days each week to “take a deep breath.” This has helped us manage the calendar MUCH better as we make sure every guest has an amazing experience
   
3. Multi-Calendar. There are some incredible resources out there for Airbnb hosts and we’ve been following Automated Airbnb on YouTube. He does some amazing content to help hosts scale their businesses and frequently talks about the importance of checking the calendar. We’ve since learned that when you check your calendar daily Airbnb’s algorithm actually gives you an SEO boost!
   
4. Payouts. When you add your business account (or personal account) to Airbnb they will payout to that account and attribute that revenue to the month the payout takes place. For example, if you make $1600 in June and July but the payout happens in August that $1600 counts only towards August’s revenue. This is valuable for when you’re projecting what to spend.
   
5. The 5% “goodie” rule. We make sure every guest has an amazing experience and based on what our research shows the 5% rule is super powerful. This means you should only invest 5% of the nightly rate into “goodies” for the guest while they stay. For example, we give guests trail mix, water, and Bevita cookies which is less than 5% of the $50 nightly rate. This helps you as a host manage your margins effectively.

We’ve learned much more and are excited to share everything with you! To follow along with our next Airbnb unit (coming soon!) you can subscribe here to our blog or on YouTube!

We’re coming close to becoming an Airbnb super host next month so we’ll keep everyone updated!

Love,
Scooch and Steve