How to list
On Airbnb
HOW TO AIRBNB YOUR APARTMENT!
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Hey Youtube this is Richard, founder of
Short Term Rental Secrets .com. Today in
10 easy steps i'm going to walk you
through what you need to do to get
started with your apartment on Airbnb. So
the first thing to consider is what
exactly is it that you're renting are -
you renting your entire apartment when
you say you're out of town or do you
have an extra apartment all together
that you want to do this as a side
business or is it a private room in your
apartment maybe you have a spare second
bedroom or third bedroom and you want to
rent the room privately and then the
third option that some people do is
what's considered a shared space maybe
you're going to put a sleeper sofa in
your living room and that's what you're
renting the second thing you want to do
is literally do some research understand
the market take a look on air B&B for
your exact unit pretend you were
searching for your unit type in the size
and the location in the neighborhood and
whatever amenities you require try and
find your unit get the closest one you
possibly can and look for people that
have a lot of reviews and preferably
five star reviews they're going to guide
you that sort of the vision and that
will tell you what you can command over
time again as we've said in other videos
you're going to start lower to build
your presence and your reputation but at
least have an idea of where you can go
so the third thing you want to do now
that you know that there's demand for
your size unit in your neighborhood and
how much money you might actually make
doing this you want to go ahead and be
really critical as you walk through your
apartment and say what could make a
guest experience better and what do I
need to do to secure my private
belongings that they don't get damaged
so the way that you should do that is
think about a guest comfort they want
their own linens they want their own
towels they should be comfortable spend
what you can to make it as luxurious and
as much of a hotel like stay as possible
and then also take a look at what's
missing do i need a sleeper sofa do I
need a coffee maker do I eat whether you
use them or not it's about the guest so
think about what the guest requires and
then think about what you require for
privacy I might want to put a deadlock
or a deadbolt on this closet and that's
where I'm securing whatever is important
whether it's your golf clubs or whatever
is important to you that you don't want
to get to play with the fourth thing you
need to do is to make sure that
everything works in your home we all
have things in our home that don't
really work or we know the work around
like
don't have the closet light working or
the door doesn't quite close right
doesn't really bother me realize as a
host it's not about you it's about your
guests so you don't know how they're
going to use your home you don't know
why they might use that closet light but
instead of just assuming that it's no
big deal assume it is in fact a big deal
and take the proactive measure to just
get it fixed because that will lead to
more five star reviews which is your
goal vs the home isn't well maintained
none of the lights work etc that shows
up in your review that's going to hurt
your business so be really really
critical go through step by step make
sure every single thing that's in your
home works as it was designed and
intended the fifth thing that's
critically important and they can't
stress this enough in fact I'm sitting
here underlining it take high-quality
professional photos Airbnb has a great
service it's free so take advantage of
it they will send a professional
photographer to your home to photograph
your home not only are the photos
fantastic but there's a second benefit
they also put a stamp or a seal on each
photo that says this is Airbnb certified
and what that means to your guests is
this is legitimate Airbnb saw it with
their own eyes in fact they took the
photo so I can believe it if for
whatever reason Airbnb can't send a
professional photographer to your home
either you're to rural or taking too
long go ahead and click on the link in
the bio we're going to put out a video
on how to take professional quality
photos for your airbnb listing because
the quality of the photography is
probably the single most important thing
about you getting listings in addition
to the quality of the reviews so please
take your time and do this right it's
really important so a six thing for you
to consider is unless I think deters a
lot of people but it really shouldn't
it's easy to overcome is the key
exchange how are you going to get your
guests into your apartment now a lot of
people will want to meet their guests in
person and that's fine it doesn't
particularly work for me because I know
firsthand that guests come and go at all
hours of the night and on weekends and I
take vacation and so I'm not always
there to meet my guests but if you are
and that's your solution great if you're
not always there or you don't always
want to be there then there's other
things you should consider like a
lockbox is there a place that you can
put
a secure lock box with a code so that
your guests can go and unlock it and
have access to your apartment if not
there's a couple of other things to
consider using services such as key cafe
and we have an upcoming video so again
go ahead and subscribe that talks about
key cafe and how that works another
option is to use a full service company
like Guesty and again there's going to
be a video on that but that will
actually meet your guest and let them in
if your apartment allows or you don't
have a common key as well there's even
technologies that we're going to talk
about that allow doors to open as a
smartphone gets closed or you use a code
but it'll automatically unlock the door
so there's a variety of things figure
out what works best for you and the key
thing is that it's reliable and
consistent nobody wants a lockout or an
emergency on fourth of July weekend on a
Saturday night so figure out what works
for you make sure that you implement it
properly and then you communicate those
directions and instructions to your
guests so they can come quickly and
easily tip number seven is to login to
Airbnb create your account and actually
go through fill in all the blanks and
put your listing on the Airbnb site they
do a really great job of onboarding and
it's really straightforward they give
you all the fields that you need to fill
in I would encourage you to be as
thoughtful and descriptive as possible
again we've created videos on
suggestions on how to do that in short
you want to sell the dream not the
features so tell people how they're
going to use it tell people why being in
your neighborhood is great not just
described it don't assume they know
anything sell the dream and people will
book you want to take your time to make
sure that you fill in as much
information in all the blanks because
people are you looking at this from all
over the world they don't know what's in
your head so assume nothing be really
descriptive about your house rules I
would rather deter a bad guest then host
a bad guest so if you don't want parties
you don't want events you don't want
people below a certain age or whatever
is your house will no smoking no parties
whatever it is put it in there you would
rather not have the booking then have
the booking and have a problem and the
final thing you're going to need to do
once your guest departs is figure out
the key exchange in reverse where are
they leaving the key how is the place
being secured
how are you getting your key back and
you want to make sure that they don't
take the key that's actually happened to
me in a few instances they've had such a
good time and they're running late for
the airport and lock the doors and they
put the key in their pocket so make sure
that you communicate in advance exactly
what your expectations are and what your
process is to get your key back so
congratulations your first guest came
and left and they left you wonderful
reviews you've got your key back and now
the question is what's next simple more
the same do exactly what you just did
only do it better more consistently more
reliably with more hospitality if you
keep doing that you're going to grow
your business the other thing you can do
is subscribe to our channel because
we're putting out value-added content
like this all the time for free to help
you improve your hosting skills and your
hospitality skills and to grow your
business so go ahead and subscribe I
really appreciate your interest please
share this with anybody you think might
be interested in growing their business
and in the meantime happy hosting!
