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How to Rent Your Property on Airbnb

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Chris
    Twitter

Introduction

Welcome to my review and tutorial of renting your second home on Airbnb. I made this income stream because we have a second home, thanks in part to mining cryptocurrency, and I had seen people on facebook reporting they were making money renting out their homes on online vacation rental market places. I chose our home in Ocotal, Costa Rica, because it's in a resort, has beautiful views and we're there less than our primary home.

Here's what I made Villa in Ocotal Bahia Pez Vela, Ocean View & Beach

As always, this information is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be personal financial advice. There's an inherent risk involved with financial decisions and the website owner will not be held liable for decisions others make.

Results

View from Villa 27

On Oct 10, 2022, I created the Listing and made it live on Airbnb. I followed the resort's pricing for 1 year with no results. At about 1 year, I looked at the pricing by other owners in the resort. I updated our pricing to be competitive.

One month later, we have 6 bookings for a total of 38 days. The net payout after Airbnb's fees is $8314.83. After the resort's fees for cleaning, etc., carrying costs such as resort, HOA, utilities for the time period and cleaning, the net income will be $5000. I updated the photos. We put in a new 55" 4K smart TV.

At 2 months after updating the prices, we have 13 bookings over 3 months for $13591.63 after Airbnb fees. The net income will be about $11,000 after the resort fees.

Summary

I used Airbnb's website to create an account and the listing. A host was assigned to me to guide me when I created the account. It took 1 day to enter the basic information and make the listing live. It took another day to enter all of the additional information, set pricing and coordinate the calendar.

Steps

Step 1. Create an account on Airbnb.

If you don't have an account on Airbnb, here is my referral link: https://www.Airbnb.com/r/ckj85?s=6&t=061n0g. Use it and you'll receive $40. I'll receive money when you complete your listing and your first qualifying stay.

Step 2. Define your product

  1. I looked around on Airbnb to get some background info on what users include in their listing.

  2. I decided to list our villa in Ocotal, Costa Rica because it's in a resort, has beautiful views and we're there less than our primary home.

Step 3. Make the listing

  1. I clicked "switch to hosting." From the top menu, I clicked "menu" and "create a new listing."

Step 4. Tell Airbnb basics about the property

  1. Property Type: I picked "House" because our villa is a house. But you can also pick apartment, barn, bed & breakfast, boat, cabin, camper/rv, casa particular, castle, cave, container, cycladic home, dammuso, dome, earth home, farm, guesthouse, hotel, houseboat, kezhan, minsu, riad, ryokan, shepard's hut, tent, tiny home, tower, treehouse, trullo, windmill or yurt.

  2. What type of space: I picked "Entire Place" but you can also pick room or shared room.

  3. Where it's located: I searched and selected our resort's name in the field. I then confirmed the address on the following page.

  4. Basics about the place: for number of guests, I entered 6, for bedroom I entered 3, for beds I entered 4 and for bathrooms I entered 1.

Step 5. Maket the place stand out

  1. Amenities: I selected the amenities our place offers. I selected most of them because our villa has them. The amenities are things like: wifi, tv, kitchen, etc.

  2. Photos: Airbnb lets you add 5 or more photos. I added 13.

  3. Title: I made the title, "Villa in Ocotal Bahia Pez Vela, Ocean View & Beach." I chose that title because most of the places I reviewed highlight major attractions but limit the exact location.

  4. 2 descriptive qualities: I selected peaceful and spacious. You could also have picked unique, family-friendly, stylish and central.

  5. Description: I made the description for the property based on the types of descriptions I saw in other listings.

I started by telling the reader some things they can enjoy.

Relax and rejuvenate with the ocean air of Costa Rica. Enjoy the sea and mountain views from the patio area overlooking the Pacific. The Villa is located in the enclave of Playa Azul (Blue Beach), a secluded spot with fine black sand.

I then gave specs for the home, the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room and each of the 3 bedrooms. I provided some other things to note and closed by welcoming the reader. You can see the description in the listing: Villa in Ocotal Bahia Pez Vela, Ocean View & Beach

Step 6. Finish up and publish

  1. Choose who to welcome for your first reservation: I chose any Airbnb guest. You could also choose any guest.

  2. Set price: I followed the resort's recommendation to match their pricing. Later, I learned other villa owners don't do that so this pricing wasn't effective.

  3. Add discount: I left all of them selected. They were: Offer 20% discount on first 3 bookings, 10% weekly discount for bookings of 7 days or more, and 25% monthly discount for stays of 28 days or more.

  4. Last step: I answered the questions about security cameras, weapons and dangerous animals.

  5. Publish: I published the listing.

Step 7. After Setup.

  1. I opened the menu and selected listing. I went through all of the sections, filling in the additional information that wasn't collected during the wizard.

  2. I went to the calendar and setup the pricing for the high season, low season and the special periods like the holidays.

  3. On the right panel of the calendar, under calendar sync, I added a calendar. This allows me to add bookings on my laptop calendar and will allow me to sync with out online reservation systems.

Conclusion

This income stream was easy to make but has high requirements to start, minimal requirements to make effective and moderate requirements to sustain. To start, it requires a property to list. To make it effective, it required research to discover effective pricing. To sustain, it would require some property management outside of a resort atmosphere. It requires minimum effort to respond to inquiries from potential guests. I can see some effort making this more financially rewarding. Repeating the process would amplify returns but of course would increase the carrying costs.

Support

Using this tutorial? Support this effort by using my referral link, https://www.Airbnb.com/r/ckj85?s=6&t=061n0g, to create an account, list your property and get a booking. More of a traveler? Check out the place and see if you'd like to stay: Villa in Ocotal Bahia Pez Vela, Ocean View & Beach

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