Turn Your Home Into a Side Income with AIRBNB
How WE FUND OUR FAMILY ADVENTURES
Key Takeaways
Frame this as an Opportunity for Adventure
Renting out your home requires big effort but also provides a massive opportunity to have more adventures and unique experiences either solo or as a family. Frame this as an opportunity for new experiences and more weekends away, while getting paid. If that doesn’t appeal to you, it might be difficult to find the balance to enjoy both your personal lives and the benefits of hosting.
Importance of Clear Communication, House Rules and Setup
Setting clear expectations and house rules is essential to ensure guests respect our home, but we also have to ensure our house is prepared in a way we are comfortable with. Clear communication helps manage guest behavior and prevents misunderstandings. By establishing these guidelines, we can maintain our property's condition and provide a pleasant experience for our guests.
Hosting Requires Significant Effort
Hosting on Airbnb can be financially rewarding, but it also requires significant effort and dedication. From cleaning and maintaining the property to handling bookings and guest interactions, the workload can be substantial. Understanding and preparing for these demands is key to successful and sustainable hosting.
Overview
In this episode of Elevate Our 30s, we dive into the dynamic world of Airbnb hosting your personal home. We share our experience, challenges, and insights, offering a candid look at what it takes to manage short-term rentals while balancing family and work life. From the adventures we’re able to have as a family and financial benefits to the tangible details of maintaining a guest-ready home, this episode provides valuable lessons for anyone considering becoming an Airbnb host.
Why We Started Airbnbing Our Home
After a weekend in London where we spent over £500 for accommodation, I thought wow, it would be such a hack if we were also renting out our house and having this little weekend of museums and shopping paid for. We recently renovated our house and went on a big trip to Bali and Australia, among other things, so more big vacations weren’t really in the financial cards.
Near the end of 2023 we started to reflect and look back at what really went well that year. We realised some of our best memories from 2023 were the weekends away, the longer trip we took back to Canada, of course our Bali and Australia trip and UK destinations like Pembrokeshire and Cornwall. We loved enjoying our home but also really enjoyed time away and getting to explore with our baby (now a toddler).
But at the same time we were looking ahead and making big financial commitments to ourselves. Commitments to save money not spend money, to make this the year of getting ahead in that department.
You can see where I’m going, we wanted to find the best of both worlds. And I would say we’ve found it. Here’s what we learned.
Preparing Our Home For Guests
Since this is our personal home, we had to find a good system to make our home in condition for guests to stay, keeping our personal items secure, while also being functional for us while we’re there.
1.Declutter & Tidy
I used this experience as an excuse to really declutter our home. All those little things that just sat around in drawers and cupboards, did we really need them? I went through the house and checked every nook and cranny. Some things could be sold or posted on Facebook Marketplace for free, other things I put away for when we needed them again. I didn’t put everything away to be inaccessible, but most things I found a nice neat place for them at least out of sight.
2. Personal Photos & Decor
This was harder, our home is decked out in big prints and smaller family photos. Knowing we want to commit to this for this year made it easier. And it only takes an hour or two to switch out all the personal photos. I left up any nondescript photos, like scenery, and purchased some posters for our bigger frames.
3. Door Locks
One of our ‘bedroom’s is more like a closet, so we put a lock on the outside of that one and transformed it into a functional closet. We put all our frequently used items that we don’t want guests accessing there. We use it during the week and lock it up when guests are there. We also put locks on two of four of our bedroom wardrobes so we didn’t have to continuously move our clothes around.
4. Final Sprucing
Our bathroom was in need of a renovation, but in lieu of that I ended up giving it a spruce with new paint, vinyl tiles and some new decor. The whole project took me a day or two and I actually don’t feel the need to renovate it quite so soon now! And it looks much fresher for guests.
Where We Stay
Smaller Airbnbs
In our case we are renting out a house that accommodates eight people, while we only need space for the three of us (plus two dogs). Quite often we can find cheap accommodation and can manage a smaller space for a night or two.
Camping & Caravanning
In spring we started testing out camping. It’s a fun way to be more in nature and tech free with your family. We ended up loving camping but wanted to have a few more comforts, especially with a toddler, so we bought a cheap caravan! We will plan to solely go explore in our caravan all spring, summer and early fall.
Big Trips
We still go on the bigger, nicer trips too. We plan out at the beginning of the year where we want to go and put our home on for a deal around these times to increase chances it gets booked. This year we booked a trip to Mauritius, Canada and Cornwall and all of these have had some bookings come in that have paid for most or all of these more expensive trips.
Guest Behaviour & Property Care
Our biggest concern when starting this was how would people treat our home. Would they try to have parties or totally trash it? Surprisingly to me, most people have left our house in perfect condition. We come home after a weekend away and only a light vacuum and new bedding and towels are needed to be back to a clean home.
There have been a few instances where there is a little bit more mess, leaving dishes unwashed, rings on tables, cigarette butts in the garden, children’s toys everywhere, strong perfumes, but we are getting nit picky now aren’t we? That’s less than 25% of the time. Guests are generally quite neat and tidy. And Airbnb does make an effort to block any potential parties, we’ve had this happen twice, and while we felt quite sure the booking wouldn’t have resulted in a party, we were glad for the extra precaution.
Having clear rules and communication for the property are key to avoid any mishaps. For example we allow dogs but charge extra for them, and I always double check if a guest is bringing a dog and hasn’t added it to the booking to avoid issues. We have a nosy neighbour so have very specific parking guidelines which I always provide very clearly, with pictures and descriptions. We haven’t had an issue yet!
Financial Aspects of Hosting
The financial benefits of hosting are now a significant motivation for us to continue this. We do the cleaning ourselves when we can and we price competitively, especially on Saturday nights which almost always get booked up.
At the same time, finding balance between this and our other jobs is crucial and so we do block off time periods if we know we don’t want the hassle, or we up the price so it is worth it for us to rent our home during this times.
Hosting requires signifiant effort and dedication, especially when you’re renting your own home and doing the cleaning every week. If you want to do this but don’t have as much time to dedicate, hiring a cleaner would significantly streamline the load of managing this. It also reduces profit by about £100-150 depending on where you live.
Reviews and Hosting Reputation
Good reviews are incredibly important. Positive reviews contribute to our reputation and attract more guests. At the beginning, I would reach out to guests after their stay and ask if they had a good stay to leave a review.
Over time you see the little things that guests appreciate and what leads to good reviews. At our house, guests almost always use the fireplace so I make sure it’s well stocked for use. I’m always readily available and quick to respond with well thought out recommendations or solutions for anything that comes up.
Effort and Challenges of Hosting
In your own home, hosting on Airbnb is not for the faint-hearted. It requires significant effort and dedication. From cleaning and maintaining the property to managing bookings and guest communications, hosting can be demanding. Prospective hosts need to be prepared for the challenges and rewards that come with the territory.
Conclusion
For our family, Airbnbing our home has been the answer to ‘having it all’ - travelling, having more adventures as a family and making additional income. It takes a toll, but having a goal in mind helps as we know we are doing it for 2024 and then will reevaluate how often we want to continue in 2025.. Whether you're a seasoned host or just starting, there’s something to learn from our experiences. Listen to the full podcast episode on Elevate Our 30s, available on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If this has inspired you, leave a comment and let us know what resonated!
Show Notes
00:00:00 - 00:01:01: Introduction and casual greeting.
00:01:01 - 00:02:04: Challenges relaxing with a toddler.
00:02:04 - 00:03:05: Issues with toddler sleep environments.
00:03:05 - 00:04:06: Using Airbnb for family adventures.
00:04:06 - 00:05:07: Colleague's experience renting a flat.
00:05:07 - 00:06:10: Concerns about guest behavior and care.
00:06:10 - 00:07:11: Updating listings and guest bookings.
00:07:11 - 00:08:14: Financial aspects and guest costs.
00:08:14 - 00:09:16: Balancing family time and guest bookings.
00:09:16 - 00:10:17: Issues with guests not cleaning bedding.
00:10:17 - 00:11:19: High booking rates during holidays.
00:11:19 - 00:12:21: Variability in guest cleanliness.
00:12:21 - 00:13:22: Guests leaving the place tidy.
00:13:22 - 00:14:24: Discomfort with guests in the home.
00:14:24 - 00:15:25: Issues with dog hair and cleanliness.
00:15:25 - 00:16:29: Challenges with hosting guests with dogs.
00:16:29 - 00:17:30: Experiences with different types of guests.
00:17:30 - 00:18:33: Managing finances and cleaning duties.
00:18:33 - 00:19:34: Adjusting to hosting schedule.
00:19:34 - 00:20:35: Differences from normal routines.
00:20:35 - 00:21:36: Morning routines and simple pleasures.
00:21:36 - 00:22:39: Ordering supplies and organizing the house.
00:22:39 - 00:23:41: Removing old toys and setting up.
00:23:41 - 00:24:42: Most guests stay for one night.
00:24:42 - 00:25:43: Managing personal spaces and guest areas.
00:25:43 - 00:26:44: Balancing rental and family use.
00:26:44 - 00:27:47: Importance of good reviews.
00:27:47 - 00:28:52: Hosting takes effort and work.
00:28:52 - 00:29:55: Not for the faint-hearted.
