You’ve already got your listing; you know you want to earn some money from it, whether that’s just to pay the mortgage and overheads, or just for a bit of extra cash – why not reach your properties full potential and make extra on top?
We’ve compiled a list of 7 different tips and tricks to help you can increase your income. Let’s check them out:
1. Can Your Airbnb Host More People?
You might be thinking “no, I can’t. I don’t have the space for it”.
Well, actually, if you have a sofa, then you most likely do. If you haven’t already, you should consider buying a sofa bed. If you can sleep more people; you can charge more too.
You might be against the idea of a sofa bed because you think they’re kind of uncomfortable, look ugly and more expensive for no reason – spoiler: they’re actually pretty great.
The main reason why hosts opt for a sofa bed is because it offers a temporary solution for sleeping space. If you already have a living room area, or a sofa in your rental place, then why not just add an extra “store away” bedroom?
A sofa bed adds an enourmous amount of value to your Airbnb and opens you up to flexible bookings and accommodating more people – ultimately, increasing your income.
Check out some of the great reasons why you should get a sofa bed for your Airbnb, here.
2. Consider Opening up to a Wider Guest Audience
You know your space better than anyone else does, so, do you accommodate families? Couples? Students? Remote workers? And/or children and pets?
You can make your Airbnb easily adaptable by adding some key features to your property to open up your space to a larger audience of guests.
Here’s some ideas to add to your space for accommodating a wider guest audience:
- Consider a revamp of your Airbnb. Strip back and go more neutral. Your interior design can tell a potential guest a lot about your Airbnb. For more interior design advice, check this out.
- Add a desk and chair for remote workers or students’ needs. You could add this to an empty corner of a bedroom or in the communal area of your rental. If you don’t have the space, then focus on making your dining room table as an alternative workspace.
- Offer a crib for a family stay – the crib doesn’t need to be a permanent fixture; you can offer it on arrival or buy a foldable crib to stay in your spaces’ storage.
- Invest in Zip and Link beds for the bedrooms. You can have king sized beds that can be unzipped into two single beds. Perfect for various guests sleeping requirements.
- Adding secure fencing to your garden or outdoor space for pets.
These are just some of the smaller tweaks you can make to your Airbnb to appear more versatile to your audience.
3. Better Your Photography Game
Photography is the one of the most important marketing tools to increase your bookings.
According to Airbnb’s data, listings with professional photography tend to charge 26% extra per night as well as a get a 24% increase on bookings overall.
4. Offer Discounts and Great Deals!
A very good and eye-catching strategy for hosts is to offer discounts for longer stays.
For example, if your nightly price is around £150 per night, then you could consider offering money off when your guests’ book for 7 days or longer.
It’s important to work out your costs before offering any kind of discount to ensure you are still covering your overheads and making a profit.
Discounts will appeal massively to your guests, as they may have only wanted to stay for five or six nights, but have now decided to stay for seven nights because of the fabulous deal.
Overall, your guests will feel that they’re getting a great deal from you and in return, you’ve guaranteed your Airbnb will be rented out for longer. It’s a win-win situation!
5. Consider Adding Extra Services
Don’t be shy about going the extra mile for your guests – especially when it benefits you too.
Offering guests local experiences or tickets at a special price could make you some extra cash on top. You could bulk buy tickets for local transportation or events and then sell them to your guests for cheaper than the regular asking price.
Not to mention, your guests will be happy that they’ve received a discount on a purchase they most likely would have made regardless of your extra services. If your guests are happy, your reviews will be too!
Here’s some additional services you can add to your guests’ stay:
- Guided tours around your Airbnb’s location
- Airport pick up and drop off
- Tickets to local events
- Public transportation offers
- Extra luggage storage
- Mini bar (drinks and snacks) on arrival
- Car and bike hire
When a guest chooses to book with you or makes an enquiry about your Airbnb, be sure to mention your additional services and the advantages of booking these services through you – you should mention your unique discounts here.
Remember to always be honest about what your extra services are and the extra cost to your guest. You don’t want to run into any misunderstandings, ruining your reviews and overall scores!
6. Become a Super Host
Super Hosts are selected as the top-rated and most experienced hosts by Airbnb, so, it sounds obvious that you should become a Super Host.
But why? Because there are loads of benefits that Super Hosts receive, here:
- You can earn extra money, because you’re more likely to be recommended on Airbnb’s website for guests browsing online.
- Attract more guests because of your Super Host badge and status. There is a feature for website viewers to search for Super Host only accommodation. People want to get good value for money and trust other people’s recommendations and reviews.
- Gain access to exclusive rewards, such as, credit to spend on overnight stays with other Airbnb hosts around the world.
To become a super host, you need to meet the following criteria:
- You need to have an overall rating of 4.8+ (there’s some flexibility to this rule)
- 10+ stays or 100 overnight bookings
- Less than 1% cancellation rate
- 90% response rate
Being a super host can be a lot of hard work when starting out your Airbnb rentals. However, the results and rewards are there.
7. Consider a Management Company
Are you new to hosting or are your bookings struggling? Maybe it’s because of your listing strategy. If you don’t have a good listing strategy or don’t have one at all – this is most likely your downfall.
You shouldn’t overlook asking for a professional management company to take a look at your listing to see what you need to improve on. It could be your photography, your prices, and or your guest communication.
A good management company is a hassle-free way of ensuring that everything is being done to increase your properties revenue and profit. They are designed to help your rental flourish in the short-term rental market with its marketing strategies and services.
Read now: How to Maximise Your Profit on Your Airbnb.
Keey offers online and full management for your short-term rental. To get in touch with one of our team advisors at Keey, be sure to check out our website.