Is anyone here doing Airbnb full time, like for a living?

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I quit my regular job one year ago, now renting vacation rentals full time. No regrets so far.

Is there anyone else who has made Airbnb for a living?

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Full time short time rentals YES, full time AirBnB hell NO…

This summer I managed to rent out all my apartments without the use of AirBnB or any other channel… better guests and better revenue.

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Sounds great. How did you manage to get so many direct bookings?

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  • Make sure you have your own website.
  • Use social media a lot. (I spend about an hour each day on FB and others to update my page en promote in groups)
  • Check in all your guests and make sure you get their email address. (So you can send out a personal mailing).
  • Tell guests that book through AirBnB to contact you directly next time.

It takes 3 - 5 years to get a good customer base.

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But they probably have friends wanting to do the same.
So remembering them of your existence once in a while could bring you their friends.

Look for forums about your local area, or facebook groups about your area.
For example: Redirecting...

Get active and regularly post about interesting things going on where you live.
People will start to notice you and want to visit your place.

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@Chris I´d like to see your website to learn how to do it well. Could you share it?

I’m also thinking on take a foot out from the VR platform sites. By sure, they have bigger traffic than your own website but then people need to find you between thousands of other listings. Seems to me that this VR sites are more suitable for aeras where the supply is low. Paris, New York, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Rio and big touristic cities are flooded with listings, so taking a different approach to advertising your place is kind of a must.

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Yes, I have been a full-time host for over 2 years. Two listings only… I had too much time on my hands. I didn’t want to pick up more properties or do it for other people. So I decided to start coaching and teaching how to host which is why I started the website, podcast and FB group The Hosting Journey.

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@Evelyn - Your website looks great. Here’s mine: http://the-airbnb-tips-blog.webnode.com

I know it’s a bit unorganized and not all content is great, but I’m working on improvements :slight_smile:

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Looks good first glance @Jan_J. Have you considered getting your own domain name?

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Definitely get the domain name that has your place name in it. We are considering building a new place to rent out in a few years, and we have already purchased the domain name. I think it costs about $75 US per year.

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@astaire
Not yet. Considering. Need to work on the content and get more visitors first. If anyone has any suggestions for improvements or would like to help or contribute, let me know :slight_smile:

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Hey Jan_J!

Any good tips you can share about doing a living out of this gig?

Thanks!

Andres

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Yes, read all the threads of discussion this forum has.

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@Andres

Some tips to succeed with your own vacation rental business:

  1. Location location location. Like all other businesses, there must be a market for what you’re selling. If you want to make a living from renting apartments and rooms, your places must be in a popular areas with many travelers, otherwise you’ll struggle.
  2. Keep it elegant and stylish, but simple. Provide only the key amenities your travelers really need - noting more - nothing less. I’ve learnt that providing too many amenities will only lead to confusion, too many questions from guests and too much time to clean and maintain. It’s better to provide less amenities, guests will rarely complain if the basics are in place and in good order.
  3. Advertise your property on multiple sites such as Booking, Flipkey, Wimdu, Roomorama, Homeaway, VRBO etc. There are many more. More exposure means more bookings.
  4. Create your own vacation rental website and try to take as many direct bookings as possible to avoid fees. I’m using Lodgify website builder, which also includes a great payment collector and channel manager
  5. Never slack off even if things are going well. Every guest is important and must be given special attention. Always be there for your guests before, during and after their stay
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Excellent stuff Jan_J! thanks!

Anything to say about how to manage all these different listings? any way to centralize?

Thanks,

Andres

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@andres Thanks :slight_smile: I only have 3 apartments for rent, in addition to a spare room in my own apartment I rent out sometimes. I manage everything myself most of the time but sometimes I hire people for cleaning if I’m on travel or really busy with other things. But as a rule, I try to be present as much as I can to take care of things and interact with guests if they need me.
The units are all in short walking distance, making it easy to quickly get from one to another.

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I am using a channel manager called HostAway but they are many in the market

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Hi Jan_J. Thanks again for your response!

Am on the way of deciding what to do with my spare time and assets (or skills). That is why am trying to figure how to maximize the businesses in the Sharing Economy. AirBnB standalone sounds like a good option… wondering if it would be worth to do something else aside?

Thanks for your insights. Hopefully I can contribute to this kind of topics soon!

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Thanks sylvainbg. I will look into this.

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I am also do it for a living at the moment. I have a large appartment that can have up to 8 guests and maximise occupancy with many different listing websites + my own website and taking care to maximise the price depending the days.
I am earning around 4 time a regular rent for the place