Latest / Thanks For Visiting / 244. Hosting Hotline: Live in Your Own Airbnb Like a Pro

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244. Hosting Hotline: Live in Your Own Airbnb Like a Pro · Thanks For Visiting

• 0:00
  Sarah: Welcome back from the great week.
• 0:01
  My name is Sarah Karakaian.
• 0:02
  Annette: I am Annette Grant, and together we are--
• 0:04
  Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
• 0:05
  Sarah: And this is the--
• 0:06
  Both Annette & Sarah: Hosting Hotline.
• 0:07
  Sarah: If you don't know what the Hosting Hotline is, it's where you,
• 0:09
  our listener or viewer can call in, record your voice and will answer
• 0:13
  your question here on the podcast.
• 0:15
  If you go to thanksforvisiting.me, in the upper right hand corner is a
• 0:19
  bread button that says, "Ask TFV".
• 0:20
  It's a real simple process.
• 0:22
  Record your question.
• 0:23
  Anything about business or the short term rental industry
• 0:25
  operations, or whatever you want to talk, we are happy to answer it.
• 0:29
  And this week we have a great question about taking it back to the roots of
• 0:34
  short-term rentals as they are today.
• 0:36
  Questions: Hi there.
• 0:36
  My name's Paul.
• 0:37
  This is a question I'd like to get your take on vacation
• 0:41
  rentals specifically cottages.
• 0:43
  I don't know if you do a lot of that.
• 0:44
  We have a cottage on a little lake, two hours North of Toronto, and I've renovated
• 0:50
  the lower unit to be a livable unit.
• 0:53
  So I got basement to the lakes with a beautiful lake view.
• 0:55
  And that leaves the rest of the cottage three bedrooms to
• 1:00
  be enjoyed by another family.
• 1:01
  And I know most families would like to have the whole property to themselves, but
• 1:06
  this is my sole residence, so I thought, why not stay in the basement while having
• 1:10
  guests in the summer for a week upstairs?
• 1:13
  They can rent it weekly and I can stay downstairs, keep an eye on things, make
• 1:17
  sure they have everything taken care of.
• 1:19
  And I know the favorite places I've stayed in usually don't have the host around.
• 1:24
  Well, it depends on the host, but what's your take on--
• 1:27
  Sarah: So it cut off a little bit there, but we get the gist.
• 1:29
  Annette: Yeah, Paul.
• 1:30
  Sarah: And that's a great question because Annette and I are excited to answer this.
• 1:33
  This is how I got started.
• 1:34
  I had a house, a little house, and we had a basement, and we were in New York City,
• 1:38
  and we knew that lots of people liked to come to New York City and explore.
• 1:41
  And so Nick and I--
• 1:43
  Annette: I'm now--
• 1:44
  Sarah: My business life partner.
• 1:46
  No, my other life partner, my husband Nick, he and I decided to take the plunge
• 1:50
  back in 2010 and share part of our home.
• 1:54
  And it was like Paul's situation.
• 1:55
  It was a separate space but obviously under the same roof.
• 1:59
  And we had a great experience.
• 2:01
  Annette: AD MARKER
• 2:01
  And I am so pumped for you, Paul.
• 2:03
  I'm like, let's go.
• 2:04
  And one thing that you didn't mention, Paul, and I want you to expand your
• 2:08
  thought on this, you were thinking you would go to the lower level living
• 2:13
  quarters and the guests could be upstairs.
• 2:16
  I love that.
• 2:17
  But you could also have both opportunities.
• 2:20
  What if it's maybe a singular person that wants to come to this
• 2:24
  amazing lake and visit, and they don't need all three bedrooms?
• 2:28
  To me, you have two possibilities under this one roof, which is amazing.
• 2:32
  You could open up both spaces if you're that ambitious and eager.
• 2:36
  But I think this is the actual best place to get started
• 2:40
  because you already live there.
• 2:41
  You already know all the ins and outs of the property, the daily use of it.
• 2:46
  Sounds like you're already living there full-time.
• 2:48
  So if you could get any revenue on top of, you're obviously paying for
• 2:52
  everything now, so you have this huge upside financially for yourself,
• 2:56
  and really minimum downside because you're already paying for everything,
• 3:00
  so you know that you can swing that.
• 3:02
  But I would get this ready for the season that's upcoming.
• 3:06
  Give it a try.
• 3:07
  I have a feeling that you'll be like most of our listeners and this will completely
• 3:11
  change, hopefully change your life.
• 3:13
  It'll be awesome.
• 3:14
  And those guests, be transparent.
• 3:15
  This is the thing that we want to just touch on is that your guest
• 3:19
  some of them do want to be-- they don't mind if there's a host there.
• 3:22
  They want a host to be onsite.
• 3:24
  So Sarah, let's go into that a little bit of just the transparency part
• 3:27
  of you being onsite with the guest.
• 3:30
  Sarah: Yeah, I was trying to think if there's anything back in the day that I
• 3:33
  could give Paul, anyone listening advice to how it would be different from being
• 3:38
  offsite and honestly, other than making sure they understand the host lives
• 3:42
  on property, and when you might feel comfortable getting a knock on the door.
• 3:47
  I mean, maybe setting some boundaries.
• 3:48
  I could think of that.
• 3:50
  But it was just a really lovely experience.
• 3:52
  This is back in the day before people even knew how to really
• 3:54
  behave booking via Airbnb.
• 3:56
  So I don't know what downsides there are.
• 3:59
  Annette: Yeah, I think the biggest thing, and we didn't hear you mention it Paul,
• 4:01
  but I'm sure you have it arranged, is just making sure that the entryways
• 4:05
  between the two units are secure and that there's a way for you to lock yourselves
• 4:08
  out from the guest and vice versa there.
• 4:10
  I just want to be honest about that.
• 4:12
  Sarah: Again, no matter what, you want to make sure your home is a good
• 4:16
  fit for anyone looking to book, Paul.
• 4:18
  Especially as you get started and you start to learn how your listing
• 4:22
  sounds to a potential guest, maybe for the beginning part of it have a
• 4:27
  conversation before people can book, just to make sure they understand and
• 4:30
  it's the right fit for both of you.
• 4:32
  Annette: Yeah.
• 4:32
  Reiterate that you will be there.
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  It's your primary residence.
• 4:35
  Sarah: But other than that, Paul, and everyone listening who might
• 4:37
  have an opportunity like this in your own home, or you feel comfortable
• 4:40
  doing this, I say go for it.
• 4:43
  Annette: Yeah.
• 4:43
  And the other great thing, Paul, you can just open your calendar
• 4:46
  up for a small amount of time.
• 4:47
  Test it.
• 4:48
  That's what I think the beauty of short-term rentals and doing this
• 4:51
  is that you don't have to commit the perpetuity of your property is going
• 4:55
  to turn into a short-term rental.
• 4:57
  You can try it in smaller segments, see if it works for you.
• 4:59
  And maybe you're like, hey, I'm going to-- you have a financial goal, you
• 5:03
  hit that goal each year and then you close your calendar down, who knows?
• 5:06
  Sarah: Yeah.
• 5:06
  And I like that Paul's asking this question now because I feel like
• 5:09
  obviously short-term rentals have exploded since COVID, drivable destinations,
• 5:15
  the professionalism of the co-host.
• 5:18
  I mean, vacation rentals have grown forever, but this home sharing
• 5:21
  concept has really exploded.
• 5:23
  But I like this taking it a step back and not forgetting that setups like this
• 5:28
  still are-- I know a host in town here in Columbus, she still shares her bedroom in
• 5:32
  her home and it really helps her offset--
• 5:34
  Annette: Her actual bedroom or a bedroom?
• 5:36
  Sarah: A bedroom in her home.
• 5:37
  Annette: Okay.
• 5:37
  I was like, that sounds--
• 5:38
  Sarah: She does own the--
• 5:39
  Annette: That's a little bit during the--
• 5:40
  Sarah: She does own the bedroom but--
• 5:42
  Annette: Okay.
• 5:43
  Sarah: A bedroom in her home and she's down the hall, and she still loves it.
• 5:47
  She has a lot of great success and she doesn't just limit it to
• 5:52
  people who identify as female.
• 5:53
  She'll welcome anyone.
• 5:54
  Annette: And that's the key too, Paul.
• 5:57
  There are going to be a lot of guests that, maybe depending on the
• 6:00
  price points since it is shared, might be a little bit different.
• 6:03
  That's why so many hotel chains are successful because there
• 6:06
  is a traveler for each of them.
• 6:09
  So open it up and let us know, Paul.
• 6:11
  We're excited for you.
• 6:12
  Sarah: And if you're listening right now and you share a part of your home, whether
• 6:15
  it's completely blocked off or a bedroom down the hall from yours, let us know.
• 6:20
  I would love to check in with those hosts who are still doing that concept.
• 6:24
  Let us know how that's going for you.
• 6:25
  If you need tips or tricks for Paul, we'll definitely update all of you with that.
• 6:29
  But great question, Paul.
• 6:31
  And again, if you have a question about the short-term rental industry
• 6:35
  operations side of the business, analyzing properties, go to thanksforvisiting.me.
• 6:38
  Upper we hand corner is a red button, record your quick question and we
• 6:41
  will answer it here on the podcast.
• 6:42
  And with that, I am Sarah Karakaian.
• 6:44
  Annette: I'm Annette Grant, and together we are--
• 6:46
  Both Annette & Sarah: Thanks for Visiting.
• 6:47
  Sarah: talk to you next time.