Its been 2 weeks since I’ve started running my Airbnb business. Fortunately for me my investment has done pretty well booking 13 of the past 17 days I have been operational. A 76% occupancy rate which I wasn’t expecting at all. God really is good.
However, there are some challenges which I would like to share as it is not all rainbows and butterflies.
You can also read about my beginnings by clicking on my first Airbnb article here.
If you are planning to start your own hospitality business then make sure to follow me and let me know in the comments so we could connect and share best practices as well as exchange ideas. I will be posting regular updates on how the business is running so stay tuned for that.
The first challenge as a host is time commitment. I thought at first that all I needed to do was hand the keys and go Netflix and chill until they checkout. Well I’m sorely mistaken. This is a hands on business as I need to greet guests. Contact security to inform them of my guests arrival. And then prepare to meet them again for checkout. I also have to be on my phone, ipad, or laptop as booking requests and inquiries will arrive any time of the day (or night)
Another challenge is that, while I get to charge for a cleaning fee, I do the cleaning myself. I do not have a trusted cleaning service yet. And I only have 2 hours to prep the place for another guest during back to back bookings. Sure I get to pocket the cleaning fee, but truth be told I would rather pay someone to do this for me.
All my previous guests have been wonderfully amazing. They left the place in a manner that is easy to clean and tidy up and have few, very reasonable requests. However, there are guests which I have to turn down these are what I would call potentially difficult guests who has a ton of asks and demands and has very high expectations from me and my place. I run a home sharing business and not a 5 star hotel. My place isn’t a staycation destiny which I’ve clearly outlined in my listing. These types of guests I have to politely decline as I’d rather lose income than set up unrealistic expectations and be unable to deliver.
Parking is another challenge which I wasn't expecting at all. I have 2 parking slots across my name, first one is what I actually use. The second, I had rented out long term to a tenant. This might have been a wrong move as many of my guests are inquiring about using parking. I was under the impression that I would be dealing with backpackers most of the time. Needless to say I had to turn down a number of guests because I can't guarantee their parking.
And while I only encountered one instance of something that needed repairing (I'm actually at fault due to oversight ). I still would need to find the right person to have it fixed.
A potential challenge and something which I wish would not happen anymore is the threat of another global pandemic. Needless to say, this would cripple many businesses all around the globe. A recession would cause profits to slow down making my income lower.
So that pretty much sums up all the downsides that I have recently experienced. I hope that this post doesn't discourage anyone who is planning to start their short term rental business as there are different ways to overcome this. Plus the fact that I haven't mentioned any of the positive sides yet. Did I mention that the money is very very very good? I will make sure to write about that later.
Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha
Thank you for sharing these downsides you've encountered. I've always imagined of having the same business if my finances permit it. Sa imagination ko lang pala glorious ang pag-aasikaso ng bnb business.
By the way if your bnb is near my place, my mom and/or her friends can service your room for cleaning. They have been in the business for quite a while and they are really good at what they do.
It has its ups and downs. One thing I could see is that once I get the hang of it things would get easier and better.
Sure. Ill message you nasa hiveph discord ka ba?
Yes! Nasa HivePH Discord ako 😍
Yown. Chat you there
Thanks for sharing @beerbod. I'm actually planning to run an Airbnb business in the future.
I didn't know it would be as hectic as this.
Pa stay naman sa place mo when I go there. charot
If youre up for the challenge then it is good and it compensates well. Pwede din naman maging hands off. Kuha ka lang property managers, it will reduce your earnings by say 20% but might be worth it.
Go lang. You are more than welcome. Ill give you tons of discounts. Ill accept hive payment din. Haha
Ayayayyyy hahahaa ayan naaaaa pwede na pala makitira este maki stay lang pala
Pwede naman kahit anong gusto mo. 🥹
hahahaha hala
Airbnb can be a really good thing if you're in a "touristy" location, I'm sure.
In many places, the "problem" with Airbnb is that it can strangle local housing markets; we've seen that around here. Which makes sense... after all, would you rather collect $100 a night, or $1500 a month for a long term rental? Problem is, we see people moving away because they can't find places to rent, since so many property owners have converted their rentals to Airbnb.
Of course, when you're just doing Airbnb with extra space in your own place of residence, that's a whole different thing.
=^..^=
Good point. It's true it participates in the orientation towards more "gig economy".
I was wondering if we could launch a Hive based dApp to foster the exchange of lodging services among Hivers? With payments in Hive, HBD & BTC.
I'd be including my place here, in El Salvador 🙃.
that's an interesting proposition. and something I would love to see come into reality and I would like to be a part of.
That's really great! Aside from helping each other here in Hive, we also got to meet another Hiver!
Yeah I came across a Youtube video before discussing the negative effects of Airbnb. not only does it drive rates up but also pushes long term renters away from prime locations. Revenue of hotel also saw drops since so many are converting their spaces to airbnb and their rates are lower than that of a hotel. For what it's worth, the way I price mine is not opportunistic and I am still hoping to find long term renters.
Hi (-ve) again, Beerbod! It's great to see a Hiver share this kind of experience, as it for sure can inspire others 🙃.
When reading about the time that booking requests and inquiries take, I was wondering if you've looked for an automatized agent (like A.I. driven) to process them for you? I'm globally quite distrustful towards A.I. models, nevertheless in your case it seems it'd allow you to shift more of your time to your guests' in-person service, more "quality time" in a way.
This is something I haven't looked into yet. And to be honest I have no idea on where to begin with. But you've just given me a great idea where I could set ups ome quick replies to commonly asked questions. It's not AI but pretty much would help me spend less time manually replying to inquiries I have already answered in the past.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome, brother!
In case you'd give a try to an A.I. run model, I'd suggest you'd use a free & open source software one, and one that will run locally on your device, so that no personal data or data related to your guests and your business as a whole will be tracked and stored by malicious actors (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc.).
There are some very vibrant FOSS A.I. communities out there, where you can ask for open source & self-hosted A.I. tools.
alright ill be sure to check them out. thank you.
Where do you advertise your airbb? A friend might be visiting your country.
Thanks for the info!
Just on the app itself. But I can share once your friend is already looking.
Congratulations @beerbod! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
Just a few more days to go and i will unlock that monthly badge. Let’s go beerbod!
Pa stay sa place mo, don't worry, I will ask for the regular rates because our relationship shouldn't be at a discount UwU
Sure thing as long as hindi pa na book all Hivers are welcome.