Airbnb Co-Hosting in the Los Angeles Area

[Ethan Hanes]

I'm looking at getting started with Airbnb/STR co-hosting. I need advice and any tips and tricks for getting started!

I have a partner that I’m going to be starting the business with. We are mainly going to market those who are managing Airbnb’s themselves and would like to give the day-to-day operations to a manager (myself).

I’m brand new to this and don’t know too much about it, but I could use any advice you have.

We’re planning on starting in the Los Angeles area. I live near Malibu and my partner lives near West Hollywood, so we have a fantastic amount of Airbnb owners to market to.

How do we sell ourselves to these Airbnb owners and how do we differentiate from other short term rental management companies like Evolve and Vacasa?

Thank you,
Ethan Hanes

[Dave Stokley]

Quote from @Ethan Hanes:

Quote from @Michael Baum:

Hey @Ethan Hanes, why would someone hire you do something you have never done before? You want to learn on the job with someone else's investment.

Basically you could ruin someone's property on VRBO and AirBNB so they have to start over. I understand you want to get started, but maybe you should start saving and buy a property and learn that way.

Michael,

Thanks for your response. The same reason anyone would ever hire a beginner. To give them experience and to get a discount. There would be no one starting any career if they weren’t allowed to be a “beginner”. In our situation, we would be sure that the expectations are laid out clearly with the owner. We would create a contract that demonstrates that the owner can relieve us of our co-hosting duties whenever. However, we both are commercial real estate agents and know the ins and outs of property management, solely by listening to other property owners. 

I get and appreciate your mentality, Ethan, because I’m the same way: I’m super self-confident and pretty damn sure I can be good at whatever I decide to dedicate myself to. But, I agree with Michael. In almost any industry most people don’t start out on their own with no experience. Rather they typically get a job working under someone with experience to learn the ropes, or like Michael is suggesting and like I did, create their own experience it by doing it for themselves first. 

Lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, etc., all typically get a job at a firm where they learn from a veteran. I would NEVER hire a brand new professional in any of these fields no matter how much of a discount they were offering. Same goes for someone managing my real estate.

It seems like you have two options to gain some experience:
1. Buy your own property for STR and learn the ropes there, or
2. Go work for another PM for a year. 
Or you could probably do both!

I don’t think anyone is saying you shouldn’t do it, but just that it’s unreasonable to ask someone to trust you with a hugely valuable asset which you have no prior experience with. 

good luck!