New Listing tips and co-hosting - Help

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Hi All

This is my first time hosting. Appreciate if anyone has any comments or suggestions on my listing, which is currently live.

I have added a co-host which is my cleaning service, but I can’t seem to find the setting where the listing admin can limit the co-host’s authority?

Thanks everyone.

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Be really clear on your rules. If something is not in the rules you have no comeback.

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If you have your cleaning service as a cohost I believe they can message your guests, accept or decline reservations, etc. is this your intent? You can no longer pay your cohost via Airbnb. They just took that away.
I will go check my settings and update if I can find anything.

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Be willing to enforce boundaries and say no when you need to. People will try to push your boundaries. Don’t let them push you around and always remember that it is YOUR home.

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Regarding my mention of payment:
As of August 1, 2018, hosts will no longer be able to share payments with co-hosts through the Airbnb platform. All earnings including cleaning fees will go to the host, who you’ll work with directly to arrange payment for your co-hosting services. You’ll still be able to access listings that you’re co-hosting and perform all the same duties that you could before.

From the “What can a co-host do”:
From airbnb page, “what can co-hosts do”
What can co-hosts do?
The hosts you add to your listing can:

Accept, decline, cancel, or alter reservations
See and respond to guest messages
Edit pricing and availability
Edit the listing description (such as pricing, photos, etc.)
Interact with customer service on your behalf

Co-host can’t access your payout information or personal details. As the listing owner, you can remove them at any time.
Guests will see your co-host(s) on your listing page, the itinerary, and in all messages sent from their account.
Here is a link to airbnb’s page of everything they can do:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1534/what-can-a-co-host-do

I found this on my co-host page:
Activity
You can view a record of activity—such as who made an edit or accepted a reservation—when you have co-hosts for your listing.
See listing activity

And I click there and I can see exactly what I did vs my cohost:
Listing name updated. (co-host)
Calendar updated for 2018-01-07 - 2018-01-11. Price set to 155. (co-host)
Listing status changed to listed. (me)

I did not find…
I have found no way to restrict what the co-host can or cannot do. My co-host has access to do everything that I do.

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Thank you @jumoe. It’s the same with my co-host page. Looks like I’ll have to give access to guest communication, or otherwise I’ll have to notify my cleaner for each and every reservation.

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I’m thinking of marketing my apartment as something a little more upmarket. My apartment is a 2BR with 2 beds, and my sofa is not the kind that converts into a “bed”.

It’s really difficult to compete with the litany of 1BR listings touting 3-4 guests when in reality the second bed is just a convertible couch. My listing just gets lost in this crowded space because my prices will almost certainly be higher than a 1BR. The current going rate is as low as $80 for 4 guests in Melbourne! I’ve even considered just listing it as 2 separate bedrooms, since the pricing for a private room at around $55-$60 is just a bit lower but way less hassle.

Any tips and suggestions appreciated.

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Now for cohosts (or anyone else you wish to pay) you can still split payments between multiple people based on % earned for each person. You can no longer assign where the cleaning fee goes. You have to re-enter the banking info for the other person(s) (or co-hosts) and their taxpayer info. It looks like you can assign multiple and different pay out methods/people per listing. These people you are dividing payments to don’t have to be “co-hosts” per se, but they can be. This does not affect the co-host privileges or access…This worked for my situation thankfully but many hosts/cohosts probably do not find this work-around too helpful b/c of cleaning fee issues.
How do I split income between multiple people?

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Update on the post.

I’m now trying to source for a co-host in the area purely for key-exchange and to be on standby for urgent maintenance, if any. He doesn’t have to do guest communication outside of check-in and he won’t be doing cleaning or listing maintenance either.

I thought really long and hard about the remuneration. Our local key exchange services charge between $15 - $25 per use and includes key collection and dropoff. I’m considering a remuneration structure where the co-host gets paid $5 fixed + $10 for every night he’s on standby. Since my minimum is 2 nights, he gets paid $25 at the minimum. If it is a 10 day booking, he gets paid $105. Just wondering if this is a fair and enticing remuneration structure. Any thoughts?

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With regards to your listing, we can share the following three tips:

  1. Include the precise details of your Airbnb properties
  2. Describe your neighborhood
  3. Remember to promote yourself as host too

Good luck!

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There is a free online portal where you can list your co-host services for free called: FindCoHost

Also, hosts and investors will also be able to reach out to co-hosts easily.

Google “findcohost” and you should get it straight away.