Ideas to leverage airbnb.com

12 replies
I live in a town where the primary income is from tourism. I see online many people doing well from airbnb. We have a large real estate market here which is simply "unoccupied" . As much as 60% winter 40% summer homes just sitting empty.

How could I leverage airbnb or get a cut of rentals thereof?

I have thought of getting folks on airbnb and managing the rentals.
Taking a cut from managing the listing.
Are there techniques for airbnb to be at the top?
Is it that competitive?

Just lookin for ideas for a brainstorm.
Thanks
#airbnbcom #ideas #leverage
  • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
    AirBnB can be very lucrative, but it does take a ton of work to run a successful business, both in marketing as well as managing each aspect of the guest cycle. We've stayed in about a dozen AirBnB properties, (I'm actually writing to you from one right now), and it's clear that the hosts who make the real money, (as in "quit their day job"), are the ones who take the role very seriously. Yes, I can see an intermediary/manager job (such as what you propose), working out well, as long as you are, in fact, willing to work very hard to make it succeed.

    Update: Someone in WF management felt that the link here to my article, (on how to make money with AirBnB), somehow broke a rule. It didn't, but rather than fight them, I'll simply mention that if anyone wants the URL to my personal blog post, please feel free to either PM or email me, (David at Beroff dot com).
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    • Profile picture of the author TWalker
      Ok Thanks.

      I was thinking of approaching or do a direct mail to the thousands of empty homes here offering to rent them for the owners. Of course as you said I need to be prepared for the amount of effort needed to put it into place. I could offer a split to the homeowners and use airbnb to rent them.

      I wonder if I would then be crossing the line into rental agent/real estate agent licensing and legalities.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
    I'd start with tens and then hundreds before approaching thousands. "Crawl, Walk, Run!" Remember that you're building your reputation on the site, and you don't want to burn that along the way.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Rather than being the rental manager, why not set up a web site directory of local available properties and just charge a listing fee and possibly a success fee for those listings that get booked.

      There will be plenty of work involved with that just drumming up advertisers (properties) and taking care of the web site. If you are successful, you might expand to the region around you.

      Who wants to be a property manager with all that's involved? You are simply the home owner's venue for advertising (like a newspaper) and would have no other RE listing duties or agent responsibilities.

      Keep it simple and hands off the property. If you have a large tourism real estate market you will have your hands full right in your office.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
    I like the advice from Steve. I operate his recommended setup (with my own twists) for guest houses and hotels. Once setup, and if you can send traffic, the advertisers literally come to you. Many of them do, anyway. Hotels and guest houses, in my experience, are heavy buyers of advertising. Once you get a few in your directory, many others tend to follow.

    Saying that, though, I've been enjoying David's comments a lot. I know literally zilch about airbnb so it's been an education. (Great blog post, BTW, David.)

    - Tom
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    • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
      Originally Posted by Tom Addams View Post

      Saying that, though, I've been enjoying David's comments a lot. I know literally zilch about airbnb so it's been an education. (Great blog post, BTW, David.)
      Thank you, Sir! We're (obviously) fans of the system, and actually wish we could promote them more heavily, but the T&C of the site don't permit general advertising methods. They will allow their affiliate link to appear on one's personal blog, so that post (above) is where my friends can find a link to claim a $25 travel voucher good toward their first experience. The affiliate program, in turn, pays up to $100 for each new registrant. (If it weren't for that T&C restriction, we could actually travel for free.) I do hope my close, personal WF friends understand what I'm saying here.

      I think our best AirBnB story was when I was awarded a sales incentive trip to the US Virgin Islands. We got three nights all-expenses-paid, and were then allowed to extend the trip three more days, but on our dime. We checked out of the $500/night hotel after the first three nights, and our hostess picked us up (free) to take us to her place, for only $50/night. The views from our room were stunning, much better than those from the hotel, and we actually had a much nicer time there.

      The social aspects of the system are hard to quantify, but they definitely can enhance the whole travel experience, (compared to a sterile hotel), for both hosts and guests. Many of our stays have been at our hosts' personal residences, but today we're at beach house which is one of its owner's four properties. It has four bedrooms, almost 100% occupied the entire (off-season) week we're here, and we all chit-chat in the common area when we're not either in our rooms or outside. One of the guests found the house and flew here from across the country because of his involvement with a certain well-known Atlantic City beauty pageant. Oh, did I mention that the property owner only listed these rooms on the site about a month ago?
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      • Profile picture of the author Tom Addams
        Originally Posted by David Beroff View Post

        Thank you, Sir! We're (obviously) fans of the system, and actually wish we could promote them more heavily, but the T&C of the site don't permit general advertising methods. They will allow their affiliate link to appear on one's personal blog, so that post (above) is where my friends can find a link to claim a $25 travel voucher good toward their first experience. The affiliate program, in turn, pays up to $100 for each new registrant. (If it weren't for that T&C restriction, we could actually travel for free.) I do hope my close, personal WF friends understand what I'm saying here.

        I think our best AirBnB story was when I was awarded a sales incentive trip to the US Virgin Islands. We got three nights all-expenses-paid, and were then allowed to extend the trip three more days, but on our dime. We checked out of the $500/night hotel after the first three nights, and our hostess picked us up (free) to take us to her place, for only $50/night. The views from our room were stunning, much better than those from the hotel, and we actually had a much nicer time there.

        The social aspects of the system are hard to quantify, but they definitely can enhance the whole travel experience, (compared to a sterile hotel), for both hosts and guests. Many of our stays have been at our hosts' personal residences, but today we're at beach house which is one of its owner's four properties. It has four bedrooms, almost 100% occupied the entire (off-season) week we're here, and we all chit-chat in the common area when we're not either in our rooms or outside. One of the guests found the house and flew here from across the country because of his involvement with a certain well-known Atlantic City beauty pageant. Oh, did I mention that the property owner only listed these rooms on the site about a month ago?
        Haha. Ditto- thank you, Sir. Tell you what, absolutely fascinating. I've been rushed off my feet today but I'm going to grab a drink now and devote half an hour to exploring everything. Something else to mention. I'm probably not about to suggest anything that hasn't occurred to you, but in your shoes I'd consider putting together a WSO. Some marketers like myself love the flexibility of being an expat or even traveling around in the home country. Only recently have I settled back in the UK (Mum not terribly well, so I want to be close by), but I love to work and travel. I think with your experience and the potential of what we're discussing here (and beyond) you'd do great in the WSO market. Just a thought anyway, buddy, and likely not a new one to you. lol

        Cheers - Tom
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        • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
          Originally Posted by Tom Addams View Post

          Haha. Ditto- thank you, Sir. Tell you what, absolutely fascinating. I've been rushed off my feet today but I'm going to grab a drink now and devote half an hour to exploring everything. Something else to mention. I'm probably not about to suggest anything that hasn't occurred to you, but in your shoes I'd consider putting together a WSO. Some marketers like myself love the flexibility of being an expat or even traveling around in the home country. Only recently have I settled back in the UK (Mum not terribly well, so I want to be close by), but I love to work and travel. I think with your experience and the potential of what we're discussing here (and beyond) you'd do great in the WSO market. Just a thought anyway, buddy, and likely not a new one to you. lol

          Cheers - Tom
          Thanks, Tom! Yes, I actually have considered creating some sort of education package, and possibly even a live road show for specific events, (e.g., prior to the total solar eclipse of August 2017). One big hesitation is the point I mention above, that the one obvious income source, their own affiliate program, is rather limited. After this WF thread, I'm considering approaching them to see if maybe I can at least get a personal exemption from the rule, if not get them to reconsider it altogether. They're certainly looking to expand; right now, they're making a huge push to house Chinese tourists.

          In all fairness to them, I do understand their policy. A face-to-face referral from a friend is far more likely to yield an eventual conversion to sale, as well as naturally provide some very rudimentary education about how it all works and what the basic expectations are. (Sadly, some people actually need to be told to "not be an *ss".) None-the-less, the affiliate program is based on sales, not leads, so, short of some rare possible fraud, I think it would still prove fair to all parties. (There's also the interesting thought that if I was "too" successful, I would never be able to actually use all of the travel vouchers earned.) Admittedly, their conversion stats would get skewed, but even there, if they were to approve this, they could also track my referrals into a separate data set.

          Sorry to hear about your mother!
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  • Profile picture of the author TWalker
    I have a local business directory so I could start there.
    The problem with the approach of building your own is:

    Why compete? It is extremely difficult to build your own Amazon, Ebay, Zillow or Airbnb.
    They own the market and have the resources to crush competitors at will.
    I found this out the hard way with real estate. I wrote a book on how to dominate your market with Zillow.
    I advise RE pros to not try and compete with Zilllow and Trulia but how to play by their rules and use their traffic.

    Just my 2 cents but building your own site, making it popular and getting traffic is a long hard road before any results might be seen.

    The advise above of not going after thousands was good though, not sure why I even said that because I know I only need a few.
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    I would avoid getting involved directly renting for other people or managing other people's property unless you have plans and insurance against things going wrong. Like this:


    Airbnb nightmare renters leave Calgary home trashed - Calgary - CBC News


    PICTURES: Airbnb Guests Trashed This $2.5 Million Condo - Business Insider
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  • Profile picture of the author Caleb Spilchen
    For the past two weeks, I've lived in one of the worst airbnb's I've ever rented from (Actually just moving out at the end of the week), but the guy has a very interesting business model (although not as well executed as I would).

    Basically, he works with friends that own a house or a condo, and ask them if they are interested in renting out some rooms, or renting out the entire condo (Some of them used to be former secondary rental units) on AirBNB. He charges them a fee (I think its close to 30%) just to do the check ins. He also has a house that rents monthly for $3200 (Renting by the room for $800). The average rental rate for the area is $435 monthly for a similar room. He is literally getting double almost year round by using AirBNB.

    So a quick business model, leverage friends extra rooms / condos that aren't rented, charge fee etc. You could start with your friends / people you know, get a few reviews on AirBNB and start marketing it as a booking service in your area.

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    I live in an AirBnB and I'm currently with a top rated host.

    I think he simply got that accolade from being one of the first to sign up in the London area, and the fact the property is in a great location (always key with property). He's also always on hand to give his guests advice if they need it (important if your guests are mainly tourists).

    AirBnB runs courses for hosts, so maybe you could do this? Tell them how to set their prices and get their booking numbers up etc.
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