Vacation rental management is a dynamic and ever-growing industry. Being an Airbnb property manager, therefore, requires you to constantly stay ahead of the curve and ensure that you’re providing top-notch service. Whether you’re wondering how to start a vacation rental management business, or just wondering how to get more bookings on your existing properties, this guide will offer valuable tips.
#1. Upgrade the Interior Design
In recent years, the vacation rental industry has become increasingly competitive, and it’s becoming harder for vacation rental managers to distinguish their listings. As a consequence, vacation rental occupancy rates can often be underwhelming. One of the biggest ways you can give the vacation rentals under your management that edge is by making upgrades to a property’s interior design.
In a sea of generic listings, the well-designed and well-kept properties have the highest chance of being rented — and at higher rates, no less! Consider ways to upgrade your clients’ spaces, including unique furnishings, decorative items, and plants. Your booking rate should go up in no time! Working with your clients to create a reasonable budget for interior design upgrades can substantially improve the rental income, and help you make more money.
Related: Maximize Your Airbnb Rental Income Through Renovation and Decoration
#2. Stay on Top of Customer Relationships
One of the biggest predictors of a high Airbnb occupancy rate is the positive reviews associated with a property. For top-notch vacation rental management, you should consistently reach out to former guests to ask for honest reviews which can bolster your online reviews. Maintaining transparency and consistency in your communication with former Airbnb guests can go a long way to ensuring that your short-term rental property is in high demand.
Taking the time to respond to your guest reviews can also go a long way to encouraging repeat business. Taking the time to thank your customers for their kind review will leave a long-lasting, positive impression!
#3. Employ Dynamic Pricing
One of the keys to good vacation rental management is employing dynamic pricing. As a vacation rental manager, you should keep an eye on the multitude of factors that impact demand for overnight stays in your city. Specifically, you should be on the lookout for changes in seasonal demand, major festivals, sporting events, or overall trends in the vacation rental industry. These will give you a great idea of how to properly price your rental properties to reap maximum income.
Related: How to Set Your Airbnb Pricing Strategy for 2019
#4. Stay on Top of Local Laws
One of the biggest obstacles in vacation rental property management is the ever-changing nature of the industry. Since the sharing economy has boomed in only the last few years, many states and municipalities are still in the process of creating the relevant laws. Unfortunately, these can often come as a curveball to those managing vacation properties. A crucial part of vacation rental management is to consistently be up-to-date on the relevant laws associated with this type of property. If you know which permits are needed, which taxes must be paid, and general regulations surrounding short-term rental property, you can save your clients thousands of dollars in the long-run. Not to mention the peace of mind that they will enjoy!
#5. Hire a Professional Photographer
There is no shortage of Airbnb vacation rentals on the market, and its increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd. Using professional photographs gives your listings a definite edge over the competition, and puts you in a great position to improve your booking rate. Being a good property manager entails providing your clients with the highest quality product and professional photographs in your listings should be standard practice when managing rental properties.
Related: 4 Tips to Improve Your Airbnb Marketing Strategy
#6. Leave a Detailed Manual for Overnight Renters
Trying to figure out the workings of a new apartment can oftentimes be a headache. Including a manual with instructions on using the apartment’s facilities — things like the heating system, television, Wi-Fi, and kitchen appliances — can go a long way to creating a positive customer experience. Furthermore, this will greatly reduce the number of messages you receive from guests requesting help, which means a smaller overall workload.
#7. Be Mindful of Your Guests’ Safety
One of the most crucial steps to ensuring proper vacation rental management is guaranteeing that your guests are enjoying a safe trip. Becoming a property manager entails scheduling preventative maintenance and consistently inspecting safety features. This includes regular maintenance and inspection of things such as fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. These are relatively small steps to take, but they are crucially important. Ensuring your guests’ safety is a routine part of good property management.
#8. Look Into a Good Insurance Plan
Vacation properties experience heavy traffic of individuals coming and going. In the long-run, this can leave quite a bit of wear-and-tear on the investment property you’re managing. It is, therefore, a wise idea for anyone involved in vacation rental management to secure a good insurance policy. In the circumstance that major damage is incurred during one of your renters’ stays, you can rest assured that you won’t face a major financial setback.
#9. Consider Investing in Vacation Rental Management Software
The advent of vacation rental services has brought along innovations in how to take care of them as well. In order to streamline and simplify your job, consider investing in good vacation rental management software. This can assist you in scheduling the stays of your upcoming guests’, managing their reviews, and constantly staying on top of everything related to your vacation rental.
Check out Mashboard to provide your clients with a unique service: finding them more profitable Airbnb properties to buy.
#10. Pay Attention to the Language in Your Listings
After some time managing your rental property, it would be useful to look into the major trends among your renters; are they tourists? Families? Business travelers?
Once you have a solid idea of where the demand for your rental property is coming from, you can alter and edit your listing to more closely cater to your specific demographic. For listings which cater to business travelers, for example, you can advertise close proximity to a city’s downtown business center. Meanwhile, listings which cater to tourists will be better off advertising the proximity to popular attractions. The language in your listing can have a huge impact on who your property draws in.
Conclusion
Running an Airbnb or other types of vacation rentals comes with a whole host of challenges. Even the most experienced vacation rental management company is not immune to the ever-changing nature of the industry. By using the tips above, you can guarantee that both your guests and clients are satisfied!
