Requesting to AirBnB a Landlord's Property

[Gabrielle E.]

I'm trying come up with the best strategy for finding landlords who would be interested in allowing me to rent their property to AirBnB tenants. The owner would benefit from the relationship because I would ensure the landlord will receive their originally-advertised rent payment each month and I would take care of property upkeep. This would allow the owner to basically have a no-hassle rental and I would have a rental that I control without much money out of pocket.  I've considered contacting landlords to take a look at their property as a prospective tenant, then after building rapport I could pitch the AirBnB concept.

I plan to contact landlords who have properties in areas with high demand in my city. I'm in the Richmond, VA market so this would be properties downtown, near colleges, etc. I plan to get a pretty good sense of demand in certain areas by searching on Airbnb in specific areas throughout my city and checking out various listings. I can ensure the spread is there between the landlord's rent rate and the AirBnB price by checking local rates, how many reviews other listers have, and whether those reviews are concentrated or spread out over many months. (A listing with 30 reviews in the past four months shows good demand. A listing with 30 reviews over the past three years, not so much.)

My main question is, as a landlord, what is the best approach to pitch an AirBnB opportunity to a landlord? Any advice about how I should go about this process?