Howdy to all you happy hosts and rental rock stars! I hope your June was full of booked nights and 5-star reviews. I know many hosts are hitting the peak vacation travel time so they are busy keeping their rentals booked. But I just wanted to take a moment to remind you that no matter how annoying a guest gets, never put anything in writing that you wouldn't be okay with be posted in your listing. This rule of thumb will help you win arguments with outside arbitrators, and avoid having it quoted later out of context. Done with the PSA and on to the June Host Wrap-Up!
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New Accessibility Photo Requirements
It seems like this is becoming a monthly tradition of letting hosts know about changes in Airbnb policy. This new policy is regarding homes that offer accommodations for guests with disabilities. In short, the new policy is if you list that your property is accessible to those with a disability than you need to include a pic of the accommodation. This policy is common sense to me for hosts and guests. As hosts, we should always be including pictures of any special features your home offers. Pictures will always trump words in your listing. And for guests, it lets them see exactly what accessibility is available so they can judge if it fits their needs. Otherwise, they are left to hope that the host's definition of accessible meets their needs. This seems like a win-win for all parties. If you have any questions about the new policy you read exactly what Airbnb had to say about it on their blog.
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Airbnb 80 Day World Trip Bunders
In case you missed it Airbnb is starting a new campaign called Airbnb Adventures to help promote the Airbnb experiences. The first major promotion is titled
Around the world in 80 days. A $5,000 trip that took guests to 6 continents and 18 countries. I have to say that I thought it looked pretty amazing until I remembered that being an early adopter on Airbnb products rarely pays off. Apparently, many of the tour operators warned Airbnb that planning multi-day tours would come with a number of difficulties. One of them apparently being your credit card would be charged $20,000 more than what you expected. If you really want to see all the gory details of what went wrong
you can read about them here. I expect they will work out the details and eventually this will be an amazing trip that is worth the money, but for now, I am going to try and avoid being the first guests or host to try any Airbnb products.
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Listing Spotlight
This month's listing spotlight is a lakeside cabin that recently rose to fame for being scene in the mega-hit movie,
Avengers: Endgame.
That is right you can rent out Tony Stark's cabin by the lake. It goes for a cool $800 a night with a strict 3-night minimum and can sleep 6 guests. Now I have to say the photos are sub-par as they have poor lighting and framing, and the write up is okay, but certainly not very inviting. So what can we learn from this listing? If you have an amazing hook or know that demand is going to spike don't be shy about reaching for the stars with pricing. You can always reduce the price as the demand lowers but don't be shy to try out high pricing for special events or times of the year, because high demand can overcome a lot of flaws in your listing. Got a listing you want us to feature? Send it our way at
hello@goodhostshop.com.
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Hosting Tip: 5 Ways in Increase Rental Income
Meeting new people from around the world is a nice perk of running an Airbnb, but let's get to the bottom line. You run an Airbnb to make money. If you weren't making money, you wouldn't be letting strangers from around the globe stay at your place and sleep in your beds. Being a rental host is a business, and yes you can have fun running your business but it needs to profitable or its a hobby and not a business. So, if you are going to treat it like a business, hosts need to constantly be looking at ways to make the most money they can. So in this spirit, we have compiled a list of the top 5 tips from experienced hosts on how you can maximize your rental income.
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Question of the Month
Rental hosts rarely receive the opportunity to see how other hosts operate. Which makes it hard to learn and improve. The solution? Every month I ask a question so we can all learn from each other. Let's take a look at last month's question:
How do you handle early check-in requests?
- 10% - Never allow it
- 82% - If I can accommodate the request I will
- 8% - Allow it for a fee
So it looks like most of the hosts are fairly accommodating. To me, this goes under the philosophy of under promise and over-deliver. If a guest asks for a reasonable early check (an hour or two), I always tell them I can not guarantee an early check in as I need to make sure the rental is properly cleaned for them, but I will do my best to get them in as early as possible. Usually, I am able to get them a little early which helps start their stay off on the right foot.
This month, I want to look at discounts:
web survey
