Although Airbnb is a great opportunity to connect travellers to your home and earn some serious cash, it can be incredibly time-consuming and take over your life. Here are some top tips so you can spend less time in the laundry room and more time enjoying that extra income.
Waiting, waiting, and more waiting…
If you are a host who welcomes your guest personally and gives them a tour of the property every time, you will probably spend a lot of time waiting around for guests with delayed flights or those who decided to take a detour. Just because you welcome someone at the door, it does not guarantee you a 5-star review. In fact, it often just gets in the way of your own life – having to cancel plans depending on your guest’s ETA. So, we have the answer to all your problems: Self-check-in.
Think about it, no more feeling uncomfortable or awkward chit-chat. To replace your personal introduction, you simply need to create a clear step-by-step check-in guide via the Airbnb App – be sure to include photos to make it super easy and clear. We’re sure you are thinking, okay, but what about the key? Instead of personally handing over the keys, you can simply buy a lock box or a keypad entry right on the door. No more having to greet late-night guests!
Turnaround time
It can be incredibly stressful when one guest leaves and you have to get the property looking like a showroom within a short 3-hour window. The solution is to make sure that for every bed, you have 3-4 sets of the following all in your cleaning cupboard:
- White bed linens
- Bath towels
- Hand towels
- Facecloths
This will save you so much time and stress, and if the laundry gets backed up for a day or so, it won’t matter.
Also, make your life easier by setting specific check-in and check-out times. We suggest 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Any window less than this and you may leave yourself stretched for time. If guests need a later check-out or an earlier check-in, they can request this from you, and you can try to accommodate them whenever possible.
Responses
Messages should always be polite and welcoming, but ensure you are not spending too much time communicating with guests back and forth.
There are seven steps to communication which we teach about in our courses, but for now, here are two messages you will need to send to every guest.
- Booking Confirmation – A friendly welcome message
- 48 hours before arrival – Parking and check-in instructions
Make sure you use the saved responses tool in the app so that you can efficiently send these messages off at the right times – just don’t forget to change the guest’s name!
Repeat questions
You may find that you keep getting messages like “Where’s the WiFi code?” or What time is check-out?” These can be eliminated by either including this information in message templates like we just covered in Tip 3 or by having a clear and concise welcome book in your Airbnb property. The welcome book should cover EVERYTHING imaginable that a guest could possibly message you about. This will save time spent communicating with guests as they will have everything they need.
These are 4 top tips to save time hosting – we hope they helped!
So, what next…?
The more you know about Airbnb, the more you will be able to use this knowledge to manage your guests, help you rank your listing higher in searches and become a Superhost. There’s so much more to know. There is definitely a learning curve to Airbnb and it will cost you money and time to try to learn everything on your own. So why wait… start your learning journey now with HeimHost and you’ll be a top host in no time, maximising your profits through the Airbnb platform.
