Getting my Unit ready for Airbnb

[Jake Walroth]

Hey guys, so I just closed on my first duplex... I'll be living in one of the units.... however, I travel Mon-Thurs each week and going to really try this Airbnb thing out. The house is very close to University of Cincinnati, all major hospital, highways, downtown, and with walking distance of one of Cincy's entertainment districts. The other homes near mine that airbnb, based on their reviews seem like they do very well and are pretty full. My goal is to market it towards business travelers so that it syncs up with my schedule... . I'd love suggestions on what you think i should have at the residence for people's stays outside the obvious- bed, empty drawers, linens, towels, silverware, etc.. as well as any other tips or suggestions for having a successful AIRBNB property-how to price, how to attain good reviews early on and get near top of the list, etc. Also, I'm going to renovate the kitchen, update with Stainless steal appliances, new flooring..... I feel this will really help visually for the whole airbnb thing. I've added some pics as well.
 

Thanks in advance,

Jake 

[James Carlson]

@Jake Walroth. Congrats! What a nice looking space. That will show well on Airbnb. As @Sean Walton said, use Airbnb's free photography. Check out the below example from a "garden level" unit I used to rent on Airbnb. The second is what Airbnb can do for your place. 

There are plenty of threads on here about Airbnb, so instead of reinventing the wheel, I'll just copy from an old post of mine:

Staging and photography

Maybe the most important step. You've got to remember that potential guests are looking at 18 listings per page and making snap judgments based on a quick glance. Remove everything that's not necessary and use Airbnb's free photography to get some nicely lit photos. (You wouldn't believe the dimly-lit-sheets-askew photos some people throw up there and hope to get booked.)

Pricing

Positive reviews are one of only a few factors Airbnb has publicly said affect where your listing lands in the Airbnb search results. So getting a couple good reviews quickly is key, and to do that, you need to get people in quick.

To find your base price, play like you're a guest and search for similar homes in your immediate vicinity. (Don't put in any dates. That will filter out people who are booked, and you want to see the prices for people who get booked.) Be sure to look for ones that have similar features as yours, similar design and space and ones that have a good number of reviews. (You don't want to base your price off a listing that never gets booked.) Then start your prices 20-30 percent lower. That's the only way you'll differentiate yourself in a tight market with other listings that already have reviews. Treat those first few guests like royalty. Get some great reviews, then start bumping up your price.

Calendaring

If you're looking to fully book your place (and watch out what you wish for; it's a lot of work), then learn to manipulate the minimum-and-maximum-stay feature. When you start out, for instance, you might pick a 3-day minimum stay. So then you get a booking for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and another booking for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. You're left with 2 days floating in between these stays that, because of your 3-day minimum, will not even be seen by anyone searching. As soon as you see that two-day block, then you'd go into the calendar, click on "Availability Settings" then "Add another requirement" and change your minimum-stay requirement to only 2 days for those floaters.

Be nice!

I can't emphasize this enough. Be enthusiastic and nice in your first message, in all subsequent responses, in your first face-to-face interaction and in any phone calls/texts you have during your guests' stay. This is both an offensive and a defensive tactic. It's offensive because your kindness may spill into the good review they'll leave. That's a good thing! It's defensive because I've found that even if a guest has a bad time at your place, if they like you, they don't want to leave a bad review. I've hosted tens of people who I know had something go wrong during their stay, and they either don't leave a review or leave a review that simply says the host was super attentive and nice.

Good luck!