My husband and I have been hosting an Airbnb in the basement of our home for 5 months now. We have had over 100 guests and have managed to hit the coveted ‘super-host’ status! Airbnb is not either of our full-time jobs, but has been a helpful bump to our income. It has been quite an adventure and we have learned a lot along the way. Here are 6 things that took us by surprise and provided some helpful lessons.
1 …Plumbing emergencies
I would say in general, one likes to be prepared for catastrophes. Well, in the series of unfortunate events below, were were not prepared. Please do not be us and learn from our experience! We were cleaning the space and had about 4 hours until the next guest had to check-in… plenty of time, right? Not right. Noticing a toilet clog 4 hours before the next guest is set to arrive is not ideal. Needless to say, this was not your ordinary snake-it-away clogs. I frantically called around to find a plumber that could come with such short notice (After trying some local guys, Rotorooter was who able to send someone out quickly) as Kasey nervously texted updates to our next guests. 3 o’clock check-in rolled around and the toilet was still off her bearings. (I’m panicking a little on the inside just reliving this, lol) Chuck the plumber, our new bestie, came through for us with the mega-blade-toilet-unclogger (aka the beast) and we ended up being only a couple hours late for check-in. We were upfront with our guests and kept them in the loop. In return they were truly understanding and patient. We apologized with a Post-mates gift card and a discount on that night and they ended up leaving a 5 star review. What did we learn? Check for clogs asap, continue to be besties with Chuck and limit the toilet paper provided to guests 😉 This slightly traumatizing experience also feeds into why we do #4 as well.
2 …A dislike for everything bagels
I, for one, can never turn down an everything bagel, nor can I blame anyone for indulging in such a staple, however, it sure does make for a lot of vacuuming (sweeping if yinz are from Pittsburgh).. Sesames and poppies everywhere. We have had a surprisingly high rate of occurrence, 3 EBO’s so far (Everything Bagel Offenders). This is Kasey’s biggest pet peeve. The hand-held Bissell vacuum has been hands-down the most helpful cleaning tool so far and great for sweeping those wee poppies!
3 …A 100% booking rate!
I had calculated 53% based on a random sampling from the Airbnb’s around us. Summers had a tendency to be more booked and winters less. While the latter still holds true as we move deeper into winter (our average is 83% overall), our best month was October, which had 100% occupancy! Can I get a whoop whoop? The guests so far seem to have responded to the time we put into the finishing touches as well as keeping things super clean. In light of the pandemic, I hope to see continued success once we have a vaccine and people are back to traveling. Below is a snap shot of the review compliments from our guests (there are 7 that a guest can select from if they rated 4 or 5 stars) and is currently what people are excited about in our space. (Here is the link to our posting if you want to take a look)
4 …How helpful blocking time between guests has been
For those who work and do the cleaning, it’s just not feasible to flip the bnb mid-day. What we did not expect, is that sometimes it is really nice to have an extra day in between guests for our sanity. With the pandemic it feels safer and there is less of a rush after work to take an hour to flip it. Kasey and I decided that the extra day of revenue wasn’t worth our sanity and have been blocking time before or after has made the experience more enjoyable. Right now we do all of the cleaning, but if we wanted to bring in a service, we might be able to eliminate this practice eventually.
5 …My new appreciation for make-up wipes
While everything bagels are Kasey’s pet-peeve, stain treating make-up stained towels is mine. Most guests have been great and have taken the hint about using the make-up wipes provided, but there are a few that have used all of the towels to remove their makeup. A combination of shout, soaking in oxiclean and bleach seems to have been successful in saving our towels. So far, knock on wood, we haven’t lost a towel… still, I might add the black make-up face cloths to up our defenses. For those starting up, some kind of make-up defense is key!
6 … How easy to use the Airbnb platform is
Kasey and I have used Airbnb for years as travelers and have loved the experience. A universal Rosetta stone for travel. One less hurdle for finding a great place to stay while traveling. They have translated hospitality for the digital generation. With that being said, we had little idea for what awaited us on the host side of things. We have been delightfully surprised how simple and useful the platform is. All of the transactions can be done from your phone, the financial side of things is neatly buttoned up and the performance statistics they give you are very helpful. Other than the EBOs and towel travesties, this has really been a wonderful experience.