Airbnb Superhost Turned Ambassador

I have always been a fan of the sharing economy but it wasn't until 2020 that I became a host with Airbnb and VRBO in Annapolis as another strategy in my real estate portfolio. 

When the pandemic exploded I found myself buying a sailboat at a bargain with the intention to start a boatel. But what I hadn't realized then was that the income potential on my primary residence was a hidden goldmine. It was so much bigger than the boat potential (and far less trouble, as I also learned later*) that I ended up moving my small family onto the boat and renting out the house nearly full-time on a short-term basis.

In 2021, through the short term rental of my 3-bedroom single family house, I generated about 2.8 times the gross income I would have with in a long-term unfurnished scenario. My performance with the house must have been fairly good because my accountant congratulated me when we filed my taxes...

What I didn't expect is that I now have a second income stream from Airbnb completely unrelated to the performance of my properties*. In the Fall of 2021, Airbnb invited me to become an Ambassador and help onboard new hosts. There are about 200 Ambassadors in the US. Our role is to provide feedback to Airbnb on how to improve the program as well as coach new potential hosts at no cost to them. I earn a small referral fee when the new host welcomes their first guest. A brilliant program, really! 

The STR income and the Ambassador referrals combined add up to over 4x the income I would have generated with the long-term route.

I can't wait to see where 2022 will take me!

How do you measure your success in your STR journey?

* the house & the sailboat -- that boat is only rarely rented because it requires in-person check in to walk people through the systems and it's a hassle I don't want to deal with at the moment - I am a real estate agent, if I had nothing else to I probably wouldn't mind!