The last few years have seen food and energy prices skyrocket Most people are having to look around and find other ways to generate income in order to pay household bills. Read below on how to Airbnb your spare bedroom.
If you’re lucky enough to have a spare room you can let out for the night, this is a great and easy way to get some extra cash. You can do this without any real huge expense to yourself.
Airbnb started as a community platform for cheap overnight accommodation for travelers on a budget. In the early days a blow-up mattress on the living room floor in the heart of all different cities across the world was commonplace.
The platform has changed dramatically and so have guest expectations. Nowadays more and more varieties of hosts exist. But essentially the core of Airbnb – a sense of community and friendly home-sharing hospitality – still remains.
Most spare bedrooms homeowners are looking to rent out will be fully equipped with a bed and adequate furniture already. But there are a few changes you can make to spruce up the room and make it suitable for guests on a short term let platform.
Guests will have an overall better experience if the room you are offering is an en-suite with access to a private bathroom. This can help to increase your nightly price, however this isn’t a necessity. The below tips will vary depending on what you are able to offer but can provide you with food for thought when you’re setting up your guest room.
Do I have permission to rent on Airbnb?
If you own your property, then you’ll be able to use the platform. If you rent your accommodation from a landlord and want to resent out a spare room in the property on Airbnb your landlord may consider this subletting, which they may not like.
You will need the owner’s permission before you start renting a room in the property. I would encourage you to keep any permission granted from them in writing. Be clear with your intentions from the start.
Having a permenant tenant hosting someone for the night may sound like a big no-no for an owner renting a property but actually if the tenant will be there constantly, there is very little for an owner to worry about. Hosting someone for the night isn’t really ‘renting’ but some owners might not like the idea of it.
Start by comparing what else is locally available.
Check on Airbnb for rooms and properties available nearby to you to see who you’ll be competing with. This will give you an idea of what other hosts are offering.
See what is available and try and find ways to improve on what they are providing. Doing this will also give you an idea of what nightly price range you can be charging for you room.
De-clutter.
Decorative clutter and knick-knacks on side tables and shelves serve no purpose but dust collecting. A spare room may have been used by yourself as a storage space for extra clutter that you can’t find a home for.
Clear out anything from the room that a guest wouldn’t need and find somewhere else to store it. A guest staying will want a calm, relaxing and clean environment to stay in.
We often get so accustomed to our home environment that we don’t notice any clutter laying around. Try and view the room with a pair of fresh eyes as a guest would.
Better yet, ask a family member who doesn’t live with you to give their opinion. Family members will often be more honest than friends who may not want to offend you!
It’s also important to declutter areas which will be available to the guest. You won’t want to remove the homely feel that you are used to – it still needs to stay your home after all! But any items laying around that don’t need to be there can be put into appropriate storage.
By removing clutter, the room will be easier to clean between guest stays. Plus it will be easier to keep clean in the long run. It can also give the illusion of a larger space.
Deep clean the room.
And I mean clean. A guest will be left on their own in this space and any scrutinization of cleanliness will occur when your eyes aren’t around. This is the space that will be the main part a guest will judge your cleanliness rating, so it needs to be faultless.
Move all pieces of furniture to vacuum behind them Depending on the age of the room you can even lightly wash walls. Wash curtains or wipe blinds and make sure all surfaces are dusted and fresh. If the carpet or flooring has any stains or marks, scrub them clean and vacuum everything. If you have an existing mattress, vacuum this too.
It’s important that the bathroom the guest is going to use is cleaned thoroughly for a sparkling clean finish.
Make sure the bed is comfortable.
The single most important aspect of accommodating a guest overnight is a good nights sleep – the sole reason why a guest is staying with you!
You don’t need to go out and buy all new pillows or a new mattress, your current one will do but It’s imperative that you provide pillow, duvet and mattress protectors to keep the bedding cleaner, especially if you intend on having lots of visitors staying with you.
If the bed you have is particularly uncomfortable and you can’t afford huge changes – a mattress topper can be an affordable option without breaking the bank and can transform and uncomfortable bed. IKEA do some great mattress toppers for under £100 that soften a hard or springy mattress to make it like new.
Providing Amenities in the room
Guests may be too tired to come out of the room and ask for things. Just like a hotel room, you can make sure the guest is still comfortable by offering a tray of simple drinks supplies. This can include a Kettle to plug in, a large bottle of water to fill it up with (especially if there is no en suite), some mugs, and simple tea and coffee supplies.
You may also want to include a little welcome sign with the Wi-Fi name and password. Thi way they don’t have to ask if they haven’t already.
Guests will likely not want to disturb you. So providing these little bits in the room can make them feel at home without having to find you or to wait for you to be around.
Provide a full-length mirror.
It astounds me the number of places I’ve stayed in where a full-length mirror isn’t provided. If you have a guest staying on business, they’ll want to check their appearance over before leaving for work in the morning.
Likewise, if a guest is going for a night out they’ll want to do the same. It’s not practical when a guest is getting ready for them to keep leaving their room to use a larger more suitable mirror elsewhere in your home.
If you are unable to provide this in the guest’s room, I’d add this to a bathroom. If not the bathroom, somewhere accessible to the guest and at the very least somewhere by the front door as this is something guests will likely ask for or want to use.
Providing hanging space with clothing hangers
If the room you are looking to let does not have a wardrobe and this isn’t an option for you you can look at other options. I’d recommend adding simple neat wall hooks or hanging devices such as shelves with hangers underneath to allow guests to hang up garments they don’t want to crease. You’ll be able to source these easily at little expense, but this will greatly improve the convenience of the room.
I’d also recommend providing all hangers of the same type. It can look cluttered and messy to have a mix of different hangers.
Simple wooden hangers are cheap to buy and look nicer than wire or plastic ones. Keeping them all uniform makes for a professional finish.
Luggage racks are also useful and a good investment. These will encourage guests to keep their cases (and dirty case wheels) off the bed linen and carpets.
Designating spaces
Figure out from the start which spaces the guest can use. If they are able to have free use of the entire house such as kitchen and living room you’ll want to deep clean these areas that the guest will be using.
Where possible, the guest should have their own private bathroom to use during their stay. If you have more than one bathroom, let this be known to the guest.
Taking good photos
Take bright and clear images of all the spaces guests will have access to. Most smartphones have cameras which can take perfectly good shots. For more information on taking good photos read this article here.
It’s important that these images are honest and show a true reflection of the room. Whilst a little bit of photo editing to brighten the photos is acceptable, heavily editing or photoshopping to remove or add extra elements within reason should be avoided to prevent misleading and disappointing guests.
Creating your listing
Once you’ve signed up to Airbnb, follow the process to fill in your listing information. Airbnb have simplified this to make things easier for guests and hosts. You have many parts to fill in clear instructions and descriptions about what you are offering.
As frustrating as it is, most guests won’t read all of your listing. Keeping it clear, simple and light on wordy information will help you increase bookings.
As you’ll have compared what other properties are around you can see how they’ve worded their listings and presented their own properties. Use these as a guide to get a feel for what you can include on yours.
When you’re ready, make your listing go live!
Airbnb will encourage you to turn on Instant book to encourage bookings. For your first one, you may wish to keep this switched off until you feel more comfortable.
Get familiar with the Airbnb Hosting Calendar
While you’re waiting for bookings, I’d recommend familiarising yourself with the Airbnb calendar early on. This allows you to block and restrict dates that you don’t want booked.
Airbnb takes host cancellations seriously. You’ll be removed from the platform if you’re too unreliable with bookings. Fitting your lifestyle around times when you are able to book is really important. Block off any holidays or times when you don’t want guests as and when you need to.
And that’s pretty much it! Good luck with your first booking and the hopefully ongoing journey and experience you’ll have as a host.
I’ve written a quick article about what to expect from your first booking when renting out your spare room here. All experiences will be different but there are things you can prepare to make it go as smoothly as possible.
Best of luck with your hosting journey and welcome to the community!