Get Paid For Your Pad | Airbnb Hosting | Vacation Rentals | STR Revenue Management

Creating a unique experience for your guests leads to five-star reviews and returning clients. And if you live near the water, you can take advantage of this open market for one-of-a-kind spaces by renting out houseboats on Airbnb. So, how is hosting on land different from hosting by sea? What are the special considerations for running a STR that floats? Nicole Young is an Airbnb Superhost based i...

“Honestly, it was a gamble … but I knew, if I put in the same amount of time that I did at my job, I knew I could make that much or even more through Airbnb because I saw how much it could actually grow.” So, you’ve got a good, steady job, but it doesn’t light you up. You know you’re self-motivated enough to be an entrepreneur, and you LOVE the idea of deciding for yourself how to spend your time....

What do top short-term rental (STR) operators from around the world have in common? This past summer, Eric Moeller and I hosted the STR Legends Live Mastermind in Puerto Rico, and we uncovered three buckets that successful Airbnb hosts focus on, whether their business is in South Africa or Siberia or San Diego. So, we are compiling this information in a three-part series and providing you with the...

Vacation rentals have been around for a long time. But the advent of Airbnb put the industry on our radar in a new way, inspiring significant growth and change. And today, there’s an entire ecosystem of bespoke products and services that cater to the multibillion-dollar short-term rental (STR) industry. Evian Gutman is the Founder and CEO of Padlifter , the world’s largest marketplace of STR servi...

A lot of short-term rental hosts underestimate the power of effective guest communication. How well you convey the information your guests need has a big influence on their experience. And that, in turn, impacts the reviews they leave you on Airbnb. So, what does good guest communication look like? How often should you message your guests? And WHEN is the best time to send WHAT information? Today,...

Are you annoyed with your Airbnb guests or overwhelmed with the responsibility of managing your listing? If you’ve been a short-term rental host for a while now, you may be tired of answering the same questions and frustrated with guests who complain about things you can’t control. This condition is known as Airbnb hosting fatigue. So, what can you do about it? Can you prevent hosting fatigue from...

“I vowed to change the company’s vision … from putting roofs over people’s heads to creating memories and stirring emotions.” It is easy to build relationships with guests when you have a small number of listings, and you can be there in person to check them in. But how do you keep that connection as you scale up to 50 units or more? What can you do to show people you care and maintain superior ho...

If you have a small number of Airbnb listings, screening guests (and rejecting the bad ones) is not a problem once you know what to look for. But what if you want to grow your short-term rental business to 20, 50, or even 100 properties? What tools are available to STR rental managers to vet and monitor guests? How can you leverage effective screening to make more money AND acquire new listings? A...

If you’ve had a bad experience with a guest on Airbnb, chances are you did not screen that guest effectively. But if you know what to look out for and what questions to ask, it is fairly easy to determine which guests are likely to break your house rules—and which ones might be engaged in criminal activity like fraud or identity theft. Anton Zilberberg is the Founder and CEO of Autohost , a new AI...

Accommodations account for 40% of the global travel industry, bringing in a jaw-dropping $675B in 2018. And according to a recent report by Cleveland Research Company , accommodations also happen to represent the largest, fastest growing, and most profitable segment of the online travel market. So, how much of that $675B is credited to Airbnb and other short-term rental opportunities? Margot Schmo...

Looking for ways to supplement your STR income? Chances are, most of your Airbnb guests are renting a car locally to explore the area while they travel. Why not make extra money by offering YOUR car on a site like Getaround? John William Johnson is the founder of Happy Healthy Long Life , an online store dedicated to products that promote health and wellbeing. He is also a veteran short-term renta...

What’s the biggest obstacle hosts and property managers face in growing a short-term rental business? For most, the frustration comes from the sheer volume of communication necessary to run a large portfolio of properties. But what if you could automate both your guest messaging and operations—without sacrificing personalization? Pierre-Camille Hamana is the founder and CEO of Smartbnb. the leadin...

Traditional real estate investing requires saving for a down payment and securing a bank loan before you purchase an asset. And this process limits how often you can add properties to your portfolio. But that is not the only way to acquire real estate, and Scott Glass contends that with a little creativity, you can own more properties and accelerate the growth of your STR listings! Scott Glass is...

STR Legends Live hosted 25 top operators from all over the world. Attendees represented 10 countries on 5 continents, with a grand total of more than 1,000 combined listings. So, what can we learn from these Airbnb big fish running businesses at scale? What were some of our top takeaways from the mastermind retreat? Eric Moeller is the creator of Cohost Mastery and the cohost of STR Legends Live ....

Jot down your top three travel experiences. What made your stay so special? If you are looking for inspiration to create a unique Airbnb, considering what you appreciated most about those spaces is a good place to start. Nadia Rodriguez is a property appraiser and successful Airbnb Superhost with an upscale listing on the beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Today, she joins me to discuss where she goe...

87% of consumers prefer to work with businesses that align with their values. So, how can we create a social impact as Airbnb hosts? How do we attract guests by doing good? Lynn Thurston is the founder and principal at Watersound Management , a firm dedicated to helping business owners develop social impact initiatives. With 20-plus years of experience as a social impact professional, Lynn often s...

Artists and creatives need space to work their magic, and a unique Airbnb can offer the perfect backdrop for a photo or film shoot, a podcast recording, or even a pop-up art show. But it can be costly to rent a listing overnight, especially if you only need the space for an hour or two. So, how can STR hosts collaborate with local creative entrepreneurs to make the most of the space available AND...

One of the most challenging aspects of growing a short-term rental property management business is managing host relationships. How do you decide which property owners to work with? How do you build trust with hosts early on? What is the best way to onboard new clients so that they understand your process? Zac Rushton is the co-owner and Host Relations Specialist at Great Dwellings , a DC-based pr...

We know that special events afford Airbnb hosts the opportunity to make extra money on the platform. But how do you decide how much to charge for your listing? When do guests start making reservations for events like the Super Bowl or SXSW? Are there ways you might earn additional revenue by offering add-on services? Tyler Olson is the founder and CEO of Away Agents , a unique property management...

How do you go from managing a single vacation rental to 50? Alma Bair got her start renting out her family’s luxury villa in Puerto Rico. Before long, neighbors in Dorado Beach asked her to take on their properties, and the business grew organically by word of mouth from there. So, what challenges has she faced in scaling up? How does she market and manage her listings remotely? And how is she wor...

There are any number of forums and online groups for short-term rental hosts. But Airbnb operators who manage 25-plus listings don’t seem to have a community where they can share the unique challenges of scaling and managing a vacation rental business with multiple units. Enter STR Legends Live Mastermind Retreat , an epic live event planned for this summer in Puerto Rico. A master at organizing l...

Airbnb is a momentum game. The more bookings you get, the more users see your listing in search results. Build a solid reputation, and you become one of the top Airbnbs in your city. But in order to get those initial bookings and build that momentum, you have to make it as easy as possible for guests to book your Airbnb! My friend, Simon Lewis, lists his home in Cape Town, South Africa, and it’s a...

Today I chat with Kevin Mah, founder of  Rankbreeze . Kevin is an Airbnb SEO specialist and he did a study to find out how Airbnb personalization affects search results. Airbnb's search algorithm takes into account the user's unique profile when calculating which listings to show. Factors include historic data such as what listings the user has clicked on in the past and historic booking...

In today's episode I discuss news updates in short term rental land with Margot Schmorak, CEO of Hostfully. Items discussed: Skift Forum Europe: Airbnb Is Doubling Down on Experiences The Airbnb Invasion of Barcelona Airbnb Leads $160 Million Investment Into Hospitality Startup Lyric Airbnb improves security deposit feature STR Legends Live Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

Today I chat with John Oden, superhost with properties in Nashville and Florida. John hosts his properties with his wife Ellen under the brand Stay in the South. He's a firm believer in offering his guests the best hospitality possible by creating outstanding guest experiences. Here's how he does it. We really focus on building a great guest experience, and we do so by making sure we absolutely na...