Advice from those who are doing really well in Airbnb

[Naeem Barbour]

Hello my name is Naeem, I am 26 and I stay in the Chicagoland area. Currently I have two Airbnbs in Chicago and one in Houston. I've been hosting on the platform since 2020. Although I have already gained some knowledge and experience, I would like to find someone that is not opposed to sharing with me ways to maximize my profits. New days I'm only breaking even and it leaves me questioning if I should continue to do Airbnb and short term rentals because of the hassle that I deal with and not enough pay out. If you are making a decent profit I would like to know how and what key strategies that seem to work do you have in place to generate the most income in a pretty popular market. The biggest problem I'm seeing is pricing, the dynamic pricing that I use isn't really effective in fact it seems like its slowing down my bookings. Just would like some advice on a continuous bases to help me in the right direction of success.

[Scott E.]

If you are barely breaking even on your Airbnb properties, you need to see if there is an opportunity to increase your income (because with Airbnb, decreasing your expenses significantly is not realistic)

Look at other homes in your area that are renting for more than your home per night. How many nights per month are they booked? What are those homes offering that yours don't?

A few quick ideas for increasing your airbnb income are:

1) Increase the number of people your home sleeps (pull-out couch, air mattress, etc)

2) Furnish the place nicely with some good looking pieces and pops of color

3) Hire a PROFESSIONAL photographer for your listing photos if you have not done so already

4) Add some amenities for guests like hot tub, pool table, dart board, corn hole, fire pit, etc

5) Rewrite your listing title description to be more attractive, get more clicks, and get more bookings