Profit per guest? per night? any ideas? where are the better reports?

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Good Morning Everyone!

So I have some guests from Nevada who sat at breakfast and couldn’t stop exclaiming about the birds and squirrels in my yard. Now the mom of the group is giving my son a little piano lesson.

So there is the whole ‘experience’ benefit to hosting, right?

But there’s also a very real cost, as we all know. We’ve been in business since last June but didn’t look to closely at the profit, we were pouring all the money into the business and knew that, on paper, we were losing money so wouldn’t have to worry about adding to our tax liability.

Now I’ve calculated an after-tax profit. I used the tax number to estimate my seca and income taxes, then factored back in the expenses that are constant to the house, such as insurance, mortgage interest, wifi, etc. So this is the cash I have left over after paying for the additional expenses created by airbnb and paying my taxes.

OK, now, I’m sure I’ve lost many of you, but I’m hoping there are some still paying attention that can help me.

What I want to know is, how much did I make per night, or, per person? I can’t find any decent reports on the airbnb website that gives me number of guests, or number of nights, etc.

Does anyone know where these are? I know Beyond Pricing gives more reports, but I’m not using them so don’t know what they provide.

Does anyone else analyze to this detail? We all know ‘pricing tips’ are really ‘pricing traps’.

I’m quitting a part-time job to focus on this. We need to charge enough. We could just open the rooms to students and have much less work - but they don’t go away and give us breaks; they can cause problems as well.

Any thoughts? Anyone use Beyond Pricing or Everbooked get better tools? @ianmchenry What do you think?

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I think you’re looking for the Transaction History.

Go to “stats”, then “transaction history”, then “gross earnings”, then “earnings history”. You can export the relevant info as a CSV, then calculate everything you want in your own spreadsheet.

Personally I also keep my own spreadsheet which includes all future bookings, in addition to completed ones. I record:

  • every guest’s contact info
  • number of nights they are due to stay
  • how much they paid
  • the associated TOT
  • how much AirBnB will pay me
  • guest-related expenses (per booking
  • house upkeep expenses (per month)
  • estimated/predicted income taxes (per month)

and also…

  • Ratings each guest left, so i’ll be able to spot any tends.
  • When certain consumables run out, so I can predict how much I have to buy how often.
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Yeah, I started a spreadsheet way-back-when but didn’t keep it up. Wish I had now! I want to get a good idea of what people have paid, what future guests have paid, so I can get an idea of a ‘base price’. The ever elusive ‘base price’. I know we are supposed to compare to other listings, but that’s not easy with people (like I initially did) giving it away without a clue.

Oh, brilliant, @Lucy_R, thanks. I saw ‘completed’ and ‘future’ and never even saw the third tab.

I guess it’s not just guests who don’t read all the details, lol.

Thanks! That will help!

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It doesn’t help that the site is constantly changing, so these things tend to move around!

I should also have said that I think it’s a really beautiful thing that hosts like you are doing - hosting at least partially for the joy of it. That’s what makes AirBnB special.

I’m just in a different situation, and am hosting mainly to justify keeping a second home. I have to be fastidious about the financial side if i’m to make a case against selling the house to my husband :wink:

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Oh, it’s a tough balance. Yes it’s fun and we’ve met some great people, but it’s also a lot of work and investment. I need to know I can make more doing this work than if we just get two students in (we are 5 min from University of Maryland). I’m all for ‘we are the world’ but I’ve also got kid’s ballet, karate, and football expenses to consider. (Do you have any idea what pointe shoes cost? Gad!!)

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I just compare my Air or short term rental intake with what I could get for a long term rental. Even if I am not full all year, it’s still way more in comparison. For example, at the most I could ask maybe $900 a month for a long term rental. In comparison, via Air, FK and Wimdu, last year, I made $1833 per month and this was considering the entire 2015 summer was dead.

I know you did renovations, so that’s a consideration in the amortization of your profit versus expense. My place mostly is just the same as it ever was. A few linens, a table and chairs, a few dishes and a new BBQ,a new toilet and fan and I was in business. Some paint, new screening. Minor things.

Do you also dance en pointe???

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We did no renovations but did get a new bed and mattress, new linens, china etc.

It depends on the rental and the pricing of course, but six months Airbnb = one year long term. I’m surprised to see that Airbnb expenses are less than full term ones.

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Not remotely on topic, but I like West Coast Swing, and the DC area is a great place for it. Plus ballet isn’t good for the feet.

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I like your math equation! Admittedly, I’m in an area where the winters are so brutal and unpredictable that I usually block off from Dec to end of Feb. But, I’m doing things all wrong obviously! If I take my yearly total, divide it by 9 months (considering i normally turn it off for about 3 months), I’m making about 1/2 what I could get with a long term tenant. And that is not factoring in costs of laundry and cleaning on my end. But then again, I’m only renting the upstairs bedroom and bathroom and sharing the kitchen and living room, so maybe that is why the math doesn’t work for me? Then again, I can barely stand having people here more than 3 days in a row, so I can’t imagine a full time tenant. Usually, I block off at least 2 days after people leave. I need my alone time, and time to clean/launder at my leisure.

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Even if the profit were a bit less than a traditional rental (which is isn’t), it would be worth it to be able to say, “I need the space for this week or that holiday.”

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Not necessarily! It so much depends on the rental, the area and the host. One of the factors that makes short term rentals more profitable in our area is the power usage. (Bearing in mind that we rent an entire apartment). People who come here on vacation tend not to use air-conditioning very much because more often than not, they have come from a colder climate and revel in the heat. But people who live here year round can be fed up of the heat so have the AC zapped to a really low temperature which costs a fortune.

Airbnb guests also don’t cook often because there are so many local restaurants, cafes and delivery places whereas long term renters who cook a lot and bake can really raise the electricity costs sky high.

Our last long term people worked from home so the AC and cooker were being used all the time whereas vacationers spend their time at the beach or sight-seeing. So the wear and tear is less too.

I know exactly how much the laundry costs because we have a coin operated washing machine! What isn’t factored in is my time - I work from home so I’m flexible when it comes to getting the place ready so we don’t employ cleaners or any outside services.

Everyone is different :slight_smile:

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This is so very true! There are plenty of times I have my place blocked off just because I want to enjoy the weekend I’m not working by having the whole house to myself. And there have been times that I’ve neglected to block it, and declined requests because I just don’t feel like vacuuming and dusting and spit-shine polishing everything! Even though I get good comments and I really do enjoy engaging with my guests, my alone time is so important to me.

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It sounds like you have a good solution for you. We have had long-term tenants in the past (students) and a good one is very very good, but a bad one is a pain in the a**. I like that my guests come, and I like that they GO!

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Oh, yes, we block off rest days once the month gets full and we have little blocks in between long bookings. Our family revels in being able to stomp, yell, sing, slam, and bang without me going SHHHHH!!! ; )

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My two favorite parts of hosting are PAYOUT and CHECKOUT!

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