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How to Make Your Airbnb Suitable for All Ages

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Your Airbnb tenants will often just be looking for a place to sleep whilst they travel – but you still want to provide high quality and aesthetic experiences for them. You should aim to make it special for everyone regardless of who comes through the door. 

You want to be proud of what you have created. 

This guide will help you figure out how to make your Airbnb suitable and unique for every generation of occupants that may come.  

three houses in a row
Your Airbnb should be given as much effort as your real home! 

What Makes an Airbnb Unique? 

Airbnb’s come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from apartment buildings to cottages in the countryside. Whatever your Airbnb may be, it needs to be unique and be aesthetically pleasing for your occupants.  

An Airbnb can be unique due to the decorations, themes, and colours it portrays.  

Setting up your Airbnb to portray local surroundings, local urban legends or just a general theme to accompany the Airbnb will not only intrigue but improve the occupant’s morale of the location. 

It could also bring repeat occupants and allow more word-of-mouth recommendations that will bring more upon more occupants to seek out your Airbnb to experience it.  

There is also the option of creating a theme that reflects national holidays. This could include subtle décor that changes depending on the holiday. You might decorate for: 

  • Halloween 
  • St. Patricks Day 
  • Christmas 
  • Thanksgiving 

This would be very fitting for Halloween for example, by adapting the space to the holiday – even having the option to turn an actual haunted house into an Airbnb by giving the occupants the ability to “search for ghosts” using equipment. Placing haunted items will also make this a unique experience for occupants. 

Read Now: The Best Style for Your Airbnb 

Sticking to a Theme 

Sticking to an interesting theme is the key to making your Airbnb stand out. Not every theme is suited to every rental home; find something unique that utilises the space well and grabs attention. 

The key thing to change is the interior, which could be the wallpaper, tables, seats, beds, or lamps. You can buy these items from anywhere; Amazon is probably your best bet for budget décor. However, if you want more strange, unique, interesting items then an antique or charity shop is for you.  

The colours you use also reflect different moods – different colours have different psychological effects on the brain. Most Airbnb’s use white or grey as it is a neutral colour that makes everything stand out.  

Don’t use themes that are too provocative – you don’t want to offend anyone.  

woman choosing colors for decorating
Building a good theme takes time, it will be worth it in the end! 

Local Venues 

It’s not just about interior decoration, but it also matters what kind of venues surround your Airbnb. Whether or not it is suitable for children, teens, or adults will affect the interest and popularity of your Airbnb.  

An Airbnb that lacks venues for children may have less popularity with families who want to stay, whereas an Airbnb that lacks adult venues will most likely be very unpopular among adults. Before actually buying a property, it is best to know what the best location is for one. 

Read Now: The Best Places to Buy a Property for Airbnb 

As said previously, you can also set up themes regarding the location of your Airbnb – befitting local legends, historical moments or just general information about it. It’s kind of like turning it into a museum of sorts that you can sleep in.  

There could also be hidden gems or landmarks that can be unique and attractive to people. These sorts of things can be found on sites like TripAdvisor, which lists lots of unique attractions for different locations. 

Suitability 

There is always the worry that maybe your Airbnb isn’t good enough. You don’t need to worry at all. If you have put in the effort and tried your best then your Airbnb will be perfect.  

No matter the theme, decoration or local venues; your Airbnb may still be unsuitable for all ages so place items that are relevant to those age brackets. This could include games consoles, knitting needles or toys like Lego. This can give your occupants something to do on a rainy day. 

Don’t forget to make sure you have a TV with the relevant video streaming services to allow your occupants to have something to do on their off time. Recreational activities are a must-have for Airbnb’s because they allow your brain to be occupied.  

Read Now: How to Impress your Airbnb Guests 

woman and man using their smart devices
Recreational activities will give your guests more happiness!

 

Conclusion 

Your Airbnb after extensive thinking would provide so much to your occupants. It will surely become an intriguing and unique place to stay. It should become suitable for all ages, and this will provide a lot more interest and popularity towards the Airbnb market as a whole and your place.  

There are many more positives that lay within the use of themes and decorations. These are only a minute few; to find out more about Airbnb’s then feel free to contact Keey today! 

What To Know Before Investing in a Property for Airbnb

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With the rise of Airbnb’s coming into fruition lately; You may be interested in developing your own Airbnb. 2 million people stay at an Airbnb each night, a statistic that may surprise you. However, there are some key elements you should look out for when buying a property before you get started.  

This article will help you figure out what to look out for before buying one and whether your investment will work out well.  

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Choose your Airbnb wisely!  

Hidden Maintenance Fees 

Properties, whether for Airbnb purposes or not, will always have some sort of maintenance fees attached silently to them. Especially if the previous residents were evicted, as these are usually the reason they got evicted in the first place.  

It is important to manage these maintenance fees as you are planning to have residents move in and you want to have their utmost safety in mind.  

These maintenance fees may involve: 

  • Boiler repair 
  • Light repair 
  • Plug socket repair 
  • Electric box repair 

Each of these plays a crucial role in maximising how well your Airbnb runs. There is the chance that a property may have outstanding bills from previous tenants for electric or gas suppliers but rest assured; you do not need to pay these. These are registered to the previous tenant and a quick call-up will rectify this mistake. 

Learn about these hidden maintenance fees before buying the property, perhaps by a neighbour or the council themselves. This will lead to you knowing how much more money you need to spend on the property. 

Competition from Other Airbnb’s 

With the growing rise of Airbnb, there is no doubt that there will be other rentals in your area, especially if you have chosen a great spot to buy one. This can cause a rivalry between them in marketing. It can mean that if someone knows better marketing techniques than you, then they may attract more tenants.

Making sure that you are prepared to market your Airbnb and make it look as amazing as it can be is the key to an outstanding Airbnb. You may get some hosts that are nice to you, and some that may see you as a rival.  

It’s always a good idea to meet with these Airbnb hosts to learn about the area and see if there’s anyone who might cause trouble down the line. 

Read Now: Why Monitoring other Airbnb Hosts is Important 

Slow Days 

Before buying a property, you must be prepared for slow days in the least popular months. These are days where you may get little to no tenants which can make handling two properties very difficult for you and your wallet. 

Keeping a saving account specifically for your Airbnb’s slow days can help significantly with this inevitable effect.

Read Now: Strategies for a Successful Airbnb in the Slow Season 

Local Laws 

Local laws can affect your Airbnb in a good way or a bad way. Some local laws determine you can only rent out an Airbnb for a certain amount of time, or perhaps a monthly maintenance routine check is required. These will determine whether your Airbnb is suitable to stay open or not. 

Check with the local areas laws to find out these things. A quick call to the council will answer most of your questions.  

Property for Airbnb
Laws can differentiate between regions, so make sure you pay attention to them! 

Taxes and Insurance Fees 

Taxes and insurance fees are one of the least appealing aspects of property management. You would have to pay more taxes for owning two properties, so you must be prepared for this sudden surge in tax fees.  

Find out how much taxes would be by asking the estate agent; they will have this information for you.  

You may also have to pay more in maintenance fees, and insurance regarding damage or theft. If you have a great spot for an Airbnb then you will easily make a net profit, but a less popular location may leech your wallet and you may make little to no return.  

Decoration and Furniture 

Finally, you will pay for furniture and decoration for your property. Choosing colours that are not too vibrant but appealing can bring morale to your tenants and increase their opinion of your Airbnb.  

It can be quite daunting to draw up a furniture and décor plan for your Airbnb. The easiest way is to get a floor plan and imagine what you want each room to look like.  

Appealing furniture and paint are recommended but you could get some unique, cool items to put on shelves. Maybe some rare vinyl’s, figures, paintings or vases. Things that are intriguing create curiosity in your tenants.  

It won’t be too much to pay for furniture so get a basic plan, and slowly expand on the property. It may look dull at first but over time it will grow into a vibrant property that tells a story.  

Read Now: Top Tips: How To Promote your Airbnb 

What To Know Before Investing in a Property for Airbnb
Your Airbnb will grow into a home for your tenants!

 

Conclusion 

Your Airbnb property must be managed and planned before buying. If you jump straight into the deep end, then it may be too demanding and result in you losing the property.  

Hopefully, this article has helped you plan and figure out what needs to be planned before buying a property.  

If you have any further queries with Airbnb properties, then please contact us at Keey today! 

The Best Places to Buy a Property for Airbnb

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Before ever buying a property for Airbnb you need to consider the location of where the Airbnb should be. This will maximise tenants and profits to make sure the money you spent on the property doesn’t damage you economically.  

There are a lot of variables you need to keep in mind when buying one, but this guide will try and help you pinpoint them. 

Popularity & Entertainment 

One of the first things to check out is how popular the area is. You need to choose a location that has a lot of people living there. Typically, people choose their Airbnb to have a place to stop at while they are out on a weekend or holiday. 

By having a popular location, you guarantee that your tenants have a lot of needs met in terms of shops, venues and restaurants to visit during their stay.  

You can check out popularity by looking at the property’s location and looking up the local population. A larger population will likely have a lot of venues available for tenants, whereas a lower population will have less.  

By checking out the property on a map you can also see the distance between entertainment venues to maximise accessibility for your tenants. When you choose a location that is closer than most to these types of venues it can make tenants a lot happier and more comfortable. 

Read Now: 8 Tips on How to Have a Healthy Tenant Landlord Relationship 

Affordable & Availability 

Your property should be in an affordable area and not be too expensive otherwise fewer tenants will be able to afford to stay. Having access to a few expensive restaurants but a lot of affordable ones gives your tenants a great variety of places to explore for a range of different budgets.  

Room availability should also be important when buying a property as the average tenant group size will consist of between two and three people. So, having at least two to three bedrooms is important to make sure you can maximise the number of tenants that can come and stay in your Airbnb. 

Safety & Cleanliness 

General safety in regards to crime, noise and cleanliness is extremely important on your property. A high crime rate may deter tenants but worse, it may also cause criminal damage to your property. Check this site to see the crime rate in your area. This will help you find a safe location to host your tenants.

The crime rate could put your tenants in danger if it is high and may affect you and your property. An empty Airbnb could be more prone to criminal damage. 

Noise pollution can also be a factor in the quality of a property; too much noise pollution may end up creating sleepless nights for tenants. Extrium checks noise pollution and air quality for a specific location. You also don’t want your Airbnb to be causing noise pollution for your neighbours either! 

Read Now: How to Keep Your Neighbours Happy as an Airbnb Host 

General cleanliness is a key aspect of a property – it’s nice to have your tenants in a comfortable place that is clean inside and outside. It’s not nice living somewhere that may look like a junkyard, especially as it’s more likely to attract danger and vermin.

Conclusion 

Hopefully, this has helped you pinpoint and look out for certain signs that may encourage you to buy a property in a different place. After all, you not only want to get back the money you spent, you also want to make sure the tenants feel safe and happy there.  

So, keep an eye out for these key aspects of a property before buying it. If you need any help with creating a guide, read this article: How You Can Elevate Your Airbnb with a Guidebook 

If you need any further help with anything Airbnb related, feel free to contact us for help at Keey!  

Top Tips: How to Promote Your Airbnb

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Once you’ve listed your Airbnb property, the next key step is promotion. If you set up shop and then do nothing, you might be missing out on visitors who would snap up a stay at your property in an instant!  

Promoting your Airbnb on social media can alert potential customers to your property and even get you featured on compilation pages, bringing a lot of web traffic to your listing. 

This guide will provide you with tips on how to promote your Airbnb, and before you know it, you’ll have visitors in no time! 

Using Social Media 

Social media is the perfect way for you to promote your Airbnb, as these sites experience non-stop traffic every second of every day. There are countless different social media sites to choose from, but these three are a good place to start: 

Instagram

With an estimated 1.41 billion users, Instagram is the ideal social media site for you to share photos of your Airbnb to potential guests. You never know how impactful photography of home and lifestyle can be – the right photo could lead to someone knocking on your door. 

As with any other social media website, you’ll be needing the right hashtags to get things going. Be sure to use “#airbnb”, as Airbnb’s own official Instagram often shares their favourite posts. 

Read Now: How to Market Your Property on Instagram! 

Facebook 

Facebook has an estimated 2.91 billion users every month, and as with all social networking platforms, those numbers show no signs of decreasing. 

Facebook has a whole plethora of ways for you to customise your content, so make sure you create a separate page – not a profile – for your specific rental to make it stand out. Just as with Instagram, make sure you add high quality photos and even videos to showcase what your rental has to offer. Think – what does your place have that other Airbnb’s don’t? 

A Facebook business page offers a section that displays reviews from visitors, an extremely helpful feature as customers trust reviews as much as reccomendations from friends. Using Facebook for businesss also gives you the chance to place paid ads. 

Read Now: 5 Important Steps to Promote Your Airbnb on Social Media 

TikTok 

Created in 2016, TikTok has approximately 1 billion users and is currently one of the most-used apps. Consisting of short videos (with their length varying anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds), you can share everything that your rental has to offer in a small span of time.  

TikTok curates its videos to the interests of its users, which is the ideal chance for you to promote yourself to an audience who are considerably persuadable. 

Emphasise Your Location 

When promoting your Airbnb, a key thing to emphasise is its location. What’s nearby – a great park? A particular tourist attraction? A famous landmark? How long is the walking distance to reach them? You should highlight these features to attract potential guests who might be on the fence. 

Also consider other attractive features of your rental’s location… is your rental in peaceful countryside? Just far enough outside a busy town or city to get a great night’s sleep? Draw on the bright side of your rental’s location to paint a great picture of a stay at your property.  

Promote with Help From Local Businesses 

Sometimes, promoting your property online isn’t the be-all and end-all. There’s nothing wrong with the old-fashioned referral by word of mouth; if anything, the recommendation carries more weight than a review on the internet.  

Say, for example, there’s a popular local café or corner shop near your property. While you can recommend them to your guests, you can also request that the owners of the establishment recommend your services in return. If they have countless visitors day-in and day-out, and they help promote you, you may find yourself receiving many requests for guests to stay at your Airbnb! 

Read Now: How You Can Elevate Your Airbnb with a Guidebook 

This was just a small handful of ways for you to promote your Airbnb rental. If you’d like more advice on boosting bookings, contact us at Keey today. 

What to Look for When Choosing Private Student Housing

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Unsure About How to Choose Your First Student House? Here Are Some Things You Might Want to Consider When Selecting Your Off-Campus Accommodation. 

Renting privately owned property is the most popular option for university students seeking accommodation. New Undergraduate students often look to live on-campus for their Freshers year, but after that, once they’ve found their footing and friends they’d like to live with, they tend to move off-campus into a shared rented house or flat. 

So, if you too are a student looking to move off-campus with some friends, you might want to consider a few things about your new place first. Organising your own accommodation without the go-between of a parent or your university can be daunting; what do you need to look out for when finding a good place?  

We’re here to help; read on for a few factors to consider before signing that contract!

Location

The location of your property should be very relevant to your search.  

As teaching thankfully moves back to in-person, you’ll need to be within a reasonable distance of your campus. To save yourself an arduous journey to each of your lectures, you should look to be either within walking distance of your campus or within walking distance of some decent transport links that can get you there. Especially if your timetable includes some early-morning lectures, you don’t want to be getting up at 5am to compensate for a long journey to class! 

Location also factors into your quality of life at uni. Make sure your place is within reasonable distance of all the necessities; grocery shops, a GP, transport links into town. If you have particular wants in your location, check those too! Whether the property is close to a gym, or a 24-hour Starbucks, or a nice park, might be the make-or-break as to whether you’d want to live there! 

To get a feel of the area it might be worth having a walk around the neighbourhood when you view the property, or even a virtual exploration on Google Maps, to check for all the local amenities. 

Making sure the location suits your needs (and wants) is vital in making a good choice in your property hunt. 

What’s Included in the Rent Price 

If you’re coming from living in university halls, you likely haven’t had to worry about bills. As standard, halls prices have the cost for things like water, heating and internet included. Sadly, that’s not always the case for private student housing. 

A comparatively low rent price, while initially exciting, usually means bills aren’t included. Luckily, though, it’s usually made clear as to whether the price includes bills on whatever property compare or estate agent site that you’re using for your house search. Often the cost with bills is also included, albeit less prominently, on the listing. 

Be wary of what the advertised rent price actually includes, especially if your budget is tight! 

Issues with the House 

The house and its contents are also things to look out for. You don’t want to have to spend all your free time chasing up your landlord with issues that you could have spotted during your viewing. Here’s things to check for before you decide on a place. 

  • Damp 

A black looking mould, damp can not only ruin your clothes or furnishings, but if you have asthma, hay fever, or other breathing-related health issues, it can severely exacerbate them. 

  • Pests 

Pests can come in many forms- slugs, ants, bedbugs, fleas or rats to name a few. All are tiresome and potentially traumatic to deal with, and will negatively impact your quality of life and ability to study. Some pests, or their excrement, will be fairly easy to spot, while others hide out in specific places. Bed bugs, for example, will make themselves known with black or brown dots on your mattresses.  

  • Security 

Good security measures allow peace of mind in your own home – something every tenant wants. Check window and door locks are present and in good working order, as well as there being a functional fire alarm and extinguishers or fire blankets. Bonus points if there’s a burglar alarm! 

  • Water 

While weak water pressure might just be an annoying inconvenience, there’s a chance it could also be a sign there’s an issue with the plumbing. Try out the taps during your viewing to make sure the water is running strong and clear, or try flushing the toilet. Signs of leaks are well worth checking for too; incorrectly installed or sealed showers, sinks, baths or toilets can lead to disastrous structural issues should they go on leaking unnoticed. 

  • Internet 

As we found during Covid, the internet isn’t just a luxury, but a necessity, allowing continued work, socialising and living when in-person contact just isn’t possible. Knowing how important the internet is to us nowadays, you will want to check the property’s area’s broadband speeds, using a tool like the uSwitch Broadband Speed Checker. 

To Summarise

Viewing before you make any commitments is vital. Viewing will allow you to check personally as to whether the property and its surroundings are right for you. 

Remember the three main points:  

  • Is the location right for you? 
  • Are bills included in the price? 
  • Does the house have any issues? 

Checking all three will ensure you find a property suitable for you and your studies! 

If you need help sourcing a property, or if you’re a landlord looking to improve your Airbnb listings, take a look at Keey’s FAQs today!

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