Seller will add me as a co-host on their existing Airbnb account….

[Hali Cordle]

I am in the process of purchasing my first STR. I found a condo I like that already is an established STR. The seller is booked out until August. She said the way it would work is she would add me as a co-host on her Airbnb account while all those dates are fulfilled and I would take all the earnings. After the dates are fulfilled, the Airbnb property would be removed from her account and I would add the property to my own Airbnb account. To me the seller seems very knowledgeable and I would most likely benefit from working with her the first couple months in learning more about STR while we are "sharing" the Airbnb account. Is this how it works? Should I not do it this way? I am aware that Avery Carl's book says to have seller cancel all future bookings and ask renter to book again with the new buyer. Like she also mentions in her book, that already leaves a bad taste in the renters mouth. I'd appreciate your opinions as like I said I am new to this and I'm sure I still have a lot to learn.

[Sarah Kensinger]

We do this with self-managing clients that transition to our company. But here are a few key points...

~Have the owner make you the primary user and they are just the admin of the listing.

~Change over bank account info, as much contact info as possible, and remove all traces of the previous owner as possible. 

~Make sure all the messaging has your name at the bottom, since the previous owner's profile photo appears with the messages.

~Unlist the old listing from the previous owner and create your own, blocking out the booked dates.

~Lastly make sure to get everything in writing from the previous owner, that way you don't have to worry about them interfering. Experience or not, we each host a little different, and having the pressure of them looking over everything you do is not fun! Getting the login info and changing the password isn't a bad idea either!