New to Airbnb Hosting - can use some guidance!

Hello Friends,

I am new to Airbnb Hosting and looking for sharing a room in my apartment. I was hoping if you can guide me to begin my journey with Airbnb. If possible, please share

  • valuable insights to be successful and get good reviews
  • some of the challenges you faced or still facing
  • any specific pain areas I must be careful about

Your inputs would be extremely useful.

Thank You!

We have a lot of positive reviews. I spend a few minutes talking to each guest to find out what would make their stay special. A few examples: Our current guest was born in Tibet. When he was a child his family fled to India. I told him that we have a Nepalese restaurant within walking distance. He liked it so much he’s gone twice in two days. Our last guest was following a gluten free diet. I offered to share the curry we were having for dinner and offered that she could cook rice for herself. I am willing to overlook glitches if I’m treated as a special person, not just a paycheck. I assume that this is true of others and act accordingly. Also, our dogs are our secret weapon. They are great icebreakers.

One of the big challenges for me is getting the guests to tell me what time they will arrive. I spend way too much time waiting for guests.

Look at the prior reviews the potential guest has received and the reviews they’ve left for prior hosts. If they are too picky, decline them. I have Instant Book enabled, but in my experience guests who use Instant Book aren’t as picky.

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Good advice from @EllenN

One of the very best things to you to do is read this forum thoroughly - there is a lot of great advice.

I think that one of the most important aspects is to be thoroughly prepared for every eventuality - and you’ll read a lot about them here - before you make your listing live. You’ll get the new host boost and the chances are that you’ll get bookings immediately so be ready. Have plans for what you’ll do if a guest’s flight is delayed and they’ll be arriving late, who you’ll call if there’s a plumbing emergency, how you’ll cope if a guest is taken ill, how you’ll handle guests who are breaking house rules etc. etc. etc.

The chances are good that most of the things you prepare for won’t happen but some will so be ready and you’ll feel a lot more confident about hosting.

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How long have you been hosting? I think reading this forum and other forums like it can help.

I posted my top tips on another post but here you go:

  1. Be loyal to your guest.
  2. Give them more than they expect.
  3. ABI - Always Be Improving.
  4. Clean, clean, clean.
  5. Take forum criticism lightly, some humans love to tear you down.
  6. Don’t negative rant about guests, unprofessional and bad karma. Guests have access to this forum too!
  7. Expect success and it will come.
  8. Stop when it isn’t fun anymore.
  9. Practice gratitude daily.
    10 . Shoot for Superhost (just made mine.) Some hosts say it doesn’t matter but I think it does. It just makes your listing stand out more.

Although most of these tips are somewhat general and vague, they all encompass a positive state of mind, after all, doesn’t it all start with the mind?

Some might not agree with the 10 above but I’ve taken them to heart and it got me my Superhost status.

Good luck to you!

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Many forums are not the place to be to get accurate advice, unfortunately. Here though, you’ll find that there are many long term hosts who have a wealth of experience to share. But at any forum, you’ll find that there are trolls and some pretty weird people. That’s simply the nature of the internet.

But it’s pretty easy to spot the experienced hosts and equally easy to recognise those who are here to cause trouble or here to promote their own services or product. Like any other forum, you have to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Bear in mind too that all hosts have different opinions. There is no ‘right’ way of hosting and new hosts need to find their own hosting style. So much depends on your listing, your area, your own personality and many more factors. There are no golden rules.

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We’re all here to promote or learn to promote our product.

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Fortunately, we keep the self-promoting to a minimum here. If all we did was promote our listings here we wouldn’t have substantive topics. There is a long and active topic called “show off your listing” where we encourage hosts to share if they like. Others prefer to be anonymous.

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Well, not really :slight_smile:

I think that you’re making a bit of a mistake about this forum by thinking that way. This is a place to come to learn and to get advice. Or at worst, to get a shoulder to cry on when things go wrong.

There are many better ways of promoting our product (by which I assume you mean your Airbnb listing) and this forum isn’t the place to do it. We are a bunch of dedicated hosts and most of us have been in this business for many years. The more experienced hosts help the new people with their advice but truly aren’t here to promote their own listings. Even with experienced hosts, we;'re still learning all the time. Every guest brings a lesson of some sort.

There is a load of absolute nonsense on the internet about the ‘Airbnb secrets’ which are normally written by people who have been hosting only for a couple of years - or less. But suddenly, a few months of hosting makes them into Airbnb gurus.

This forum is very different.

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Oh I agree, I’ve seen the Airbnb "Guru’ thing as well. I consider myself an Airbnb-Guru- in-training. OMG, I think I’m going to use that term in one of my vids or podcasts, Airbnb-guru-in- training. That’s good!

I’m still trying to learn this forum thing, awesome that so many people are willing to help!

No it isn’t! :slight_smile:

The word ‘guru’ is SO 2002. I’d avoid it if I was you. The thing is with an ‘expert’ online is that you truly have to be able to back yourself up with facts and statistics. You have to have a reputable history of your field of expertise.

You’ll need social media accounts with very many followers. You’ll need to show your professionalism and seriousness on sites such as LinkedIn. Your Twitter, Facebook, Flipboard and Google + accounts should be flawless with many followers.

You’ll need your own website that is updated daily with articles that provide great value to your viewers. They will have to be your own original content You’ll have to have your own books published and available online, preferably on Amazon.

I promise you that being a ‘guru’, even one in training, is hard work :slight_smile:

@Izzy_MB:

Honestly, Izzy, those are your top 10 tips to offer a newbie host? Sorry, it’s just that I find some of the tips not self-explanatory or unusual.

“Be loyal to your guest.” (huh?)

“Give them more than they expect.” Again, I’m a bit puzzled. If one has provided ample photographs and detailed descriptions, what might we add to exceed a guest’s “expectation”? Do we even know what a guest’s expectation is, and will giving them “more than they expect” add to our costs?

"Take forum criticism lightly, some humans love to tear you down."
Wow, where did that edict come from? Why wouldn’t a newbie or anyone else take criticism in the vein in which it was given, and on this board, it is 99% of the time constructive in nature. We’re all here to help and share and offer critique when asked. Most everyone offers it gently and kindly, or in stronger terms but I don’t know of anyone here whose mission it is to tear anyone down. (I suspect there are a few of us though who might want to bring you down to earth a bit.) : )
That particular “top tip” seems strange and unsupported in my opinion.

"Don’t negative rant about guests, unprofessional and bad karma."
Are you talking about on this forum? Hey, she’s a newbie, let her learn and evolve as we all do by communicating her experiences on this board to fellow hosts. I don’t get where you’re coming from by stating that it is unprofessional and bad karma but it does come across as a little presumptuous to this reader.

All I’m saying is it might be wise to ease up a bit with the flaunting.

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Point taken and well put!

Ughhh, did u say “work”? I guess I better step it up a bit, thanks for the feedback.

But seriously, I think I’m up to the task. I better get serious starting now! We all have to start somewhere.

Why are we seeing this again?
I take exception to the idea that forum members like to tear you down.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Sometimes we talk about guests and kibbutz with each other about what to do. I don’t see that as bad karma.

If you don’t like this forum, or the advice offered, please deactivate your account and go elsewhere.

Excuse me, we are NOT. You are mistaken. We are NOT here to promote our products.
Some of us share listings because we ask for honest advice for improvement. There is a difference.
If you want to share your listing, visit the thread Cats mentioned above.

Let me say again, there is NOT room for self promotion here. Sorry. (By order of the owner of the site, who has given his directives to his admins here.)

(If there was room for self promotion, you’d see both my W\websites, my complete portfolio and anything else I might have to sell, such as my Craigslist postings.)

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Oh well, some get it and some don’t. Thanks though for ur input. You’ seem to be right on the money on a few points. I’m gonna keep on trucking and try my best.

Lots and lots of work, dear :slight_smile:

Yes. we all have to start somewhere. You’re bit late to the game but never mind. It’s a huge undertaking, especially if you have no background in the field. (I’m not saying that you haven’t but if you’re starting from scratch be prepared for a LOT of work).

Good that you’re up for it - it’s going to be hard work but it’s worth it in the end :slight_smile:

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Because she asked for advice.

I get it, I guess I was wrong. Wouldn’t it be funny though if we started to post CL ads?

That’s the way I feel though, my top 10 will probably change as my Air develops but right now that’s what it is. Sometimes new eyes can see what old eyes can’t anymore. If I’m being vulgar or obscene please alert me, I don’t want to seem that way. Honestly though, every personal opinion given doesn’t have to be rebutted by 50 users(myself included). Besides, she asked for it and I’m trying to be honest with what I’ve found here. Am I wrong for being polite to the original poster and answering honestly or is their a policy against that? If there is then chop my fingers and braid my hair.

I think this a great forum and I love that users have such strong opinions. It’s refreshing to connect with peeps that aren’t afraid to say what’s in their hearts. I think if we all spoke honestly and weren’t afraid of what other people might say this would be a better world. I guess I have strong opinions as well and like to share them too.

Just don’t get frustrated with me or banish me to the highlands, I’m a work in progress.

I know it will be, but what else do i have? If this doesn’t work then it’s clown college and you ever wonder what they do to you if they find out CC was your last resort?

Kidding, thanks for the input. I guess I’m late to the game, again! But really, thanks for words.

But you have said you are new yourself, so how does this qualify you to offer anything more than a few general platitudes?

And even though I think you are trying to help, a few points on this list do the opposite. You also say you are trying to be positive but #5 is anything but and is a dig at all of us here. I’ve been a host with Air almost 7 years. I don’t find that giving out a list of generalized platitudes that sound like they came off Oprah is going to really help someone brand new. The actual truth is that they just need to learn it baptism by fire like we all did. They need to host a few times to get the hang of it.

The best thing for them to do is read through all the forum threads. It will give the good, the bad and the ugly.