Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / 5 Strategies to Build Airbnb Income Alongside Your 9-to-5

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5 Strategies to Build Airbnb Income Alongside Your 9-to-5 · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Think you can't run an Airbnb with a full time job?
• 0:03
  You can, but only if your business runs without you.
• 0:06
  In this episode, we're breaking down five ways to do exactly
• 0:10
  that. In this episode of Host Planet
• 0:12
  by Size, powered by Host Fully, I'm joined by Coulter Robinson.
• 0:16
  Coulter works with thousands of hosts around the world, and he's
• 0:19
  seen exactly what separates those who scale successfully
• 0:23
  from those who burn out. If you've got a full time job
• 0:26
  and want to build a short term rental business as a side
• 0:28
  hustle, this episode SO is essential.
• 0:31
  Let's get straight into it. Coulter, thank you for joining
• 0:37
  us on House Planet Bite Size. You've got 5 tips to share for
• 0:41
  hosts who are working a full time job, so take it away with
• 0:45
  tip #1. I sure do and appreciate you
• 0:47
  having me on James. I'm I'm excited to get to share
• 0:50
  some of my insights here with your listeners.
• 0:53
  So getting right into things with tip #1 and this is easy.
• 0:58
  I'll preface this with, obviously, I work in SAS, so
• 1:01
  this is one of those tips that kind of relates to that.
• 1:04
  But automate everything from day one.
• 1:07
  I kind of note that you should build this almost like a SAS
• 1:11
  company and not a side hustle. So with that, I think it's
• 1:15
  implementing the proper tools to make sure that you've got the
• 1:18
  bandwidth. If you're working a full time
• 1:20
  job, bandwidth is probably going to be one of those number one
• 1:22
  issues. So automation is going to be the
• 1:24
  way to solve that. The first easy point is the core
• 1:27
  back end software of those day-to-day operations, which is
• 1:30
  going to be the property management software.
• 1:33
  And of course that's the world I live in and that's kind of the
• 1:35
  core back end system. But there's a lot that also can
• 1:38
  stack on top of that that to develop just an efficient tech
• 1:41
  stack for those automations. I would say a couple of key
• 1:44
  areas that I would really emphasize are smart home
• 1:47
  automations, whether that's locks, whether that's
• 1:50
  thermostats. And that is ultimately going to
• 1:52
  contribute not only to you freeing up time, but also
• 1:54
  contribute positively to the guest experience.
• 1:57
  And the guest experience is going to be one of the, if not
• 2:00
  the most important item when managing short term rental.
• 2:04
  So I think starting with that tech stack, property management
• 2:07
  software, smart home automations for folks at scale, I think
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  dynamic pricing tools are also something to look into.
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  In my case, when I was managing properties, it was about 15
• 2:18
  homes. I didn't have the time to
• 2:19
  micromanage my rates. These homes were different
• 2:22
  shapes, different sizes, different amenities.
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  So having a pricing tool that can kind of work behind the
• 2:28
  scenes and work within your comfort level of maximums and
• 2:32
  minimums will help free up a lot of your time as well.
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  Again, just trying to take off some of those minor tasks that
• 2:39
  ultimately take up a lot of your time.
• 2:42
  I think turnover tools and automation, I'm going to touch
• 2:44
  more on turnovers and one of my next tips as well.
• 2:47
  But turnover tools and automations just to enable and
• 2:49
  empower a cleaning team for efficient turnovers And then
• 2:52
  damage and screening protection, especially for hosts that want
• 2:56
  to take bookings all off of the major OTAs or just have more
• 3:00
  protection in addition to what the OTAs offer.
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  So that's my my tip #1 is automate everything from day
• 3:06
  one. Fantastic, yeah.
• 3:09
  And yeah, I'm a big fan of smart locks.
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  I think they are fantastic from a security point of view and
• 3:15
  just for just ease of hosting because you don't have to worry
• 3:18
  about keys going missing or anything like that.
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  And I'm really sure that the the guests prefer it as well.
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  And another thing with automation I think as well is,
• 3:26
  is your guest communication setting up those automated
• 3:29
  replies for as soon as a booking comes in and you know, trying to
• 3:33
  tee up the reviews and all that kind of thing.
• 3:35
  The mid stay message, I think that's some something something
• 3:38
  really important as well. All right then Coulter.
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  So tip #2. Beautiful.
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  And I kind of just alluded to this or hinted at this is build
• 3:47
  a clean, a killer cleaning and turnover team.
• 3:49
  Your cleaners are really going to be your operating partners
• 3:52
  and in a lot of cases, your eyes and ears for these properties as
• 3:55
  well, especially for folks that are managing properties that
• 3:58
  might not be local to them. So, and again, it goes back to
• 4:02
  if you're doing a full time job, you might not have there's some
• 4:05
  hosts that say, hey, I do the cleanings myself.
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  But if you're getting a lot of reservations and you've got a
• 4:09
  full time job, that's probably not going to be your reality for
• 4:12
  quick turnovers is doing it yourself.
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  So I always say, I think it's ideal to have at least a minimum
• 4:17
  of two cleaners. That way you've got backup,
• 4:20
  which is going to be critical. And again, this will vary based
• 4:22
  on how many listings that you're managing.
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  But you know, if you're just getting started out, I think at
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  least having a minimum of two cleaners will be great people
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  that they're, you know, trusted and reliable.
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  And then someone who can restock, restock, inspect report
• 4:37
  issues. And this falls back into that
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  first tip that I gave is automating everything.
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  This is where those turnover tools come into place where you
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  can have checklist that they can can complete, they can have
• 4:49
  photos that they can upload. That way, while you're not
• 4:52
  physically at the property, they can report back in real time
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  some of those items that might need a little bit more
• 4:58
  attention. So I think that photo, photo
• 5:00
  verification after every clean or during every clean is going
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  to be critical. And then like I said, checklists
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  not only for your Peace of Mind that everything is being done
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  within the property, but no two properties are the same
• 5:12
  cleaners. There's no, you know, there's
• 5:16
  not. I don't think the ideal way is a
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  templated cookie cutter approach to cleaning.
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  Every property has nuances, areas that get forgotten about
• 5:24
  during a clean, whether it's at the top of the fan or whatever
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  it might be. So I think empowering your
• 5:29
  cleaners with a checklist that way and make sure that nothing
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  could possibly be missed. And then it makes it a little
• 5:35
  bit more mindless for them too. They know those expectations.
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  So those are my, my tips. Number 2 is build a killer
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  cleaning and turnover team and empower them and enable them
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  with the tools to to be successful.
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  So important to have a killer cleaning team like you say.
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  And yeah, I'm a big fan of a checklist as well.
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  And just how important is it called to to kind of train your
• 5:57
  cleaners so they understand your expectations in in terms of the
• 6:01
  hospitality that you want to deliver?
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  Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's going to be one
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  of the most important things that you can do and it goes back
• 6:08
  into providing A5 star experience.
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  Ultimately, the guest experience is the most important thing
• 6:14
  within short term rentals in the cleanliness of the property.
• 6:18
  And setting those expectations appropriately with your cleaner
• 6:21
  are going to lead you to a lot less headaches down the road,
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  less guest account management, for lack of a better word, or
• 6:29
  you know, like dealing with those guest complaints or
• 6:31
  issues. So I think setting those
• 6:32
  cleaning expectations with your team are going to be critical.
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  And again, expectations, I think with anything we do in life is
• 6:39
  almost that first impression. And the first impression is
• 6:42
  always going to be the most important, that a guest wants to
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  walk into a home and see it as if no one has been there before.
• 6:50
  So absolutely, expectation setting is critical.
• 6:54
  Correct Yeah, you cannot compromise on cleaning.
• 6:57
  All right then quick one before we get to tip 3.
• 6:59
  This episode is powered by house Fully, the property management
• 7:03
  platform trusted by professional hosts and managers around the
• 7:06
  world. From automation to digital
• 7:08
  guidebooks and direct booking tools, House fully helps you
• 7:11
  build a stronger, more scalable short term rental business.
• 7:15
  If you're watching on YouTube, simply scan the QR code on
• 7:18
  screen or hit the link in the show notes to book a demo with
• 7:21
  Frank Bosey, who's a big friend of our show and one one of the
• 7:24
  nicest guys in the STR space. And remember House Planet
• 7:28
  listeners get 2 exclusive offers, $500 off onboarding for
• 7:32
  the property management software, and 30% of digital
• 7:35
  guidebooks for life. All right, back to it, Coulter,
• 7:39
  What's tip #3? Awesome.
• 7:40
  Let's move on to tip #3 and real quick James, I got to give you a
• 7:44
  a really brief shout out. Frank was just running his all
• 7:46
  hands presentation for hostfully and right when I had to jump
• 7:50
  out, he was speaking about about you.
• 7:51
  So kudos to you and Frank on this partnership.
• 7:54
  It's been tremendous, but. Excellent.
• 7:56
  Well, that's lovely to hear. Thank you.
• 7:58
  Thank you. Absolutely.
• 7:59
  But, but moving on to, to tip #3 here is use your W2 job as
• 8:05
  leverage or whatever other job that you have, use that as
• 8:08
  leverage for reinvesting into the short term rental business.
• 8:12
  Because ultimately if you're doing this, even if it's a side
• 8:14
  gig, you need to treat this as if it is a proper full time
• 8:19
  business. And again, that's where the
• 8:20
  automations come into play. But using your job, your main
• 8:23
  job is leverage. It will help you qualify for
• 8:26
  loans, fund furnishings, float the slow months, especially as
• 8:30
  you initially get started. There's a lot of people that
• 8:33
  quit whatever job they're doing cold Turkey to go into short
• 8:36
  term rentals and all the power to them.
• 8:38
  A lot of them are successful, but there's definitely a handful
• 8:42
  that might get a little over their skis.
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  And I think that's a great power of using your primary job as
• 8:48
  leverage. So you do have a little bit more
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  flexibility to do this the right way, I think.
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  And this goes with anything, rushing into something and just
• 8:57
  trying to make it happen right away ultimately is going to end
• 9:02
  up leading to some shortcomings. But if you invest in doing this
• 9:05
  the right way and doing it, you know, maybe not as quick as you
• 9:09
  would ideally want to, it's going to go a lot further in the
• 9:13
  long run. So I think this affords you a
• 9:15
  little bit more of that flexibility to really make sure
• 9:18
  that these details are fine-tuned.
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  And then it and then it all goes back to reducing pressure to
• 9:23
  make emotional decisions. I feel like when everyone is in
• 9:27
  a pinch financially, that's where you make emotional
• 9:29
  decisions which don't ultimately end up playing in your favor
• 9:32
  often. So definitely use that that
• 9:34
  primary job as leverage to give you some flexibility.
• 9:38
  Definitely gives you the foundation, doesn't it?
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  And helps you to sleep at night. If you're going all in from day
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  one with a side hustle, it can be tricky.
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  So yeah, but build it up. Build it up first.
• 9:49
  Or I think also tip #4. Yeah, absolutely.
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  Create a 0 confusion property and there's a couple of ways
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  that at least I, in my experience as a host, but then
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  transitioning to host flee on the other side, selling tech
• 10:04
  have been able to kind of curate a little bit of that zero
• 10:08
  confusion property. The 1st that I always relate to,
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  and this was how I was introduced to host fleet was I
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  was a user of their digital guidebooks.
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  And I think going back to the guest experience, something like
• 10:18
  a digital guidebook will help set those guests expectations
• 10:23
  appropriately and it gives them everything they need at their
• 10:25
  fingertips, whether that's local recommendations, check in
• 10:29
  information, check out information, the door codes.
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  So that immediately creates that 0 confusion property.
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  There's a lot properties that have those physical welcome
• 10:38
  books in the the house, which is great as well, but getting a
• 10:42
  little bit more streamlined and digital with that can allow you
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  to send this to the guests before they arrive.
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  So they have all those expectations up front,
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  eliminating, eliminating any of that confusion.
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  And again, the first impression is going to be the most
• 10:55
  important thing on this guest journey.
• 10:58
  And then a couple of other items to just highlight confusing
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  light switches. I find this even within my own
• 11:03
  personal property that I had bought about a year ago.
• 11:06
  There's a couple of switches that I I turn on and off every
• 11:09
  day trying to figure out which light is ultimately going to
• 11:12
  work and I'm like, I need to fix this within my own home.
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  Same thing goes for short term rentals, just making it as
• 11:19
  streamlined as possible, as black and white as possible, and
• 11:22
  that's going to help you cut down on your guest communication
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  and the need for them to go out of their way to ask you these
• 11:27
  questions that should be just simply addressable within the
• 11:31
  home. Same goes with complicated
• 11:33
  remotes. I think anyone who's worked in
• 11:35
  hospitality has had a lot of remote questions.
• 11:38
  I used to be a bellhop at a hotel in the amount of room
• 11:41
  calls I had to do to just turn on the TV for someone was
• 11:44
  actually ridiculous. So simplifying.
• 11:47
  And again, that can go back to digital guidebooks or house
• 11:50
  manuals where it has tutorials or videos on how to operate
• 11:54
  those hard to use things. Same goes with hard to use
• 11:57
  thermostats, unclear parking, unclear access information, and
• 12:03
  then local recommendation. So that's just my quick hot list
• 12:07
  of some of those most commonly confused items within a
• 12:11
  property. I think that's a great phrase 0
• 12:14
  confusion and there's no excuse these days as well because one
• 12:19
  thing we use in the property to try and get direct bookings, but
• 12:22
  also to help people understand maybe it might be an appliance
• 12:24
  or how to switch on the TV QR codes.
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  You know, just use them nearby and like if you need any
• 12:30
  information about a particular appliance or whatever it is or
• 12:35
  the TV, you can easily get it by asking ChatGPT.
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  So you can get all the the information there, put it in
• 12:41
  your digital guidebook, have it in AQR code and make things as
• 12:45
  idiot proof 0 confusion as possible.
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  And and what I love about the digital guidebooks as well.
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  No printing and you can update it whenever you like.
• 12:55
  Exactly, It is so quick and easy to update.
• 12:57
  You're not printing and then driving it back to the property
• 12:59
  or some baby throws up on a physical version that you got to
• 13:02
  replace the whole thing. So absolutely.
• 13:04
  And I love what you say, James, about the QR codes because a lot
• 13:07
  of people worry, well, if I just send a guest a link to a
• 13:10
  guidebook, the other 9 guests on that reservation don't have that
• 13:13
  link. That's where QR codes come into
• 13:15
  place. What I did in the properties I
• 13:17
  managed, I knew the first thing guests wanted to do was access
• 13:20
  the Wi-Fi information. I put a little QR code right on
• 13:23
  the kitchen counter and I had written on a rack card to access
• 13:27
  Wi-Fi in house information, scan QR code, typically the first
• 13:30
  thing guests do and then they've got the guidebook right on their
• 13:32
  phone. So absolutely. 100% all right
• 13:35
  then calls it 5th and final tip. Yeah, 5th and final tip, and
• 13:39
  this gets a little bit more fun is designing for revenue and not
• 13:43
  just aesthetics. And ultimately this is going to
• 13:45
  play back into the guest experience your and your
• 13:50
  property. This is how I kind of looked at
• 13:52
  a lot of the properties I managed was your property should
• 13:55
  photograph like a brand, be able to brand your property, make it
• 13:59
  memorable, make it something that when guests think about
• 14:03
  their vacations in the past year that they took, that's one of
• 14:06
  the first memories and impressions that they had.
• 14:09
  I think a couple of ways to do this.
• 14:11
  One is you can try to create one to two Instagrammable moments
• 14:14
  within the property, whether that is an appealing backdrop in
• 14:19
  the home, some really cute nook that has beautiful art or a neon
• 14:24
  sign that's glowed up, you know, replicating.
• 14:27
  Maybe it's a a property outside of Lambeau Field and in Packers
• 14:31
  country in Wisconsin, and you can create those Instagrammable
• 14:34
  moments within that property. I saw at that pops to mind
• 14:37
  because I saw the coolest Packer theme property that just
• 14:40
  screamed Instagrammable moments. And I'm a Broncos fan, not a
• 14:43
  Packers fan, but I got to give kudos to that to that host.
• 14:47
  The next I think is enhance easy and automated upsells for more
• 14:51
  revenue. I think 1 guests are willing and
• 14:55
  enjoy the option to add additions on to their their
• 14:59
  reservations, but two, as a host and especially someone doing
• 15:02
  this as their second job, I think revenue is going to be
• 15:07
  critical and upsells can be some of the easiest ways to drive
• 15:10
  additional revenue and cut down on some of those margins that
• 15:14
  you might be struggling with. I say common upsells or early
• 15:17
  check in, late check out, which almost unanimously every guest
• 15:22
  requests an early check in and check out and they will be
• 15:24
  willing to pay for that early check in and check out.
• 15:26
  And there's very little lift on your end as the host unless
• 15:29
  you've got a same day turnover, which is completely
• 15:32
  understandable. But that's where technology and
• 15:34
  automations can help make sure that you've got those optimized
• 15:38
  and then leverage direct bookings for repeat bookings.
• 15:41
  A lot of guests, they prefer to book direct.
• 15:42
  A lot of hosts prefer to get direct bookings because you're
• 15:45
  cutting down on the fees both from the guest perspective and
• 15:48
  the host perspective. That's again where technology
• 15:51
  can help you out. Any property management software
• 15:54
  host fully of course included, does have direct booking
• 15:57
  websites, especially for smaller hosts that might not have a
• 16:01
  custom website already built. We can populate a website within
• 16:04
  a matter of minutes. I think it's great value to your
• 16:06
  guests and it makes it easier for you to not be as reliant on
• 16:08
  the major OTAs, and more exposure is always great.
• 16:12
  You got channels like Google Now, which can expand the
• 16:15
  visibility of your listings. And then clear theme is my next
• 16:20
  tip within this topic. And this kind of goes back to
• 16:23
  Instagrammable moments. I live in a a little ski town,
• 16:26
  so my theme is obvious. I want people to come here and
• 16:29
  feel the Rocky Mountain theme. If it's ski season, I can place
• 16:33
  a couple things within the properties that give more of a
• 16:36
  winter and ski season. Where it's summer, it might be
• 16:38
  more fishing orientated and hiking.
• 16:40
  So just have a theme within your property and a lot of guests,
• 16:44
  they really lean into to those themes and that inherently
• 16:47
  becomes Instagram able moments in and of itself and just more
• 16:49
  memorable. And then the final things, and
• 16:52
  this just goes back to the, the fine details of your properties
• 16:56
  or high end bedding and lighting and then professional
• 16:58
  photography. The bedding.
• 17:00
  I think that's one thing any guest anywhere, whether it's a
• 17:02
  hotel, short term rental, they notice is that bedding in the
• 17:06
  linens, a good night's sleep goes such a long way for a
• 17:10
  great, great guest impression. So high end bedding and lighting
• 17:13
  and that lighting is another topic.
• 17:16
  There's a lot of lights I turn on in my home and I am just
• 17:18
  like, that's, that's not it. So and then the professional
• 17:22
  photography, that's going to go a long way differentiating your
• 17:26
  your property as well. And excuse my dog in the
• 17:28
  background, I guess she likes that tip.
• 17:31
  She must love that tip, yeah. Those are going to be my my 5
• 17:34
  tips in a nutshell. I love it.
• 17:36
  I love it. Yeah.
• 17:37
  The professional photography, absolute non negotiable,
• 17:40
  Instagrammable. And I love what you said there
• 17:42
  about being part of your kind of geographic area.
• 17:46
  If you're in the Rockies, it's going to be snow related.
• 17:49
  And I think it's what, you know, you're talking there about kind
• 17:51
  of branding the rental, which I think is so important as well,
• 17:54
  because I, I saw some listings recently and all the bedding was
• 17:58
  different colours. It just looks like a mishmash of
• 18:01
  different furniture. There was no theme or reason to,
• 18:04
  to any of it. So yeah, having stuff that's
• 18:07
  clear, it's got a theme, It looks, it looks like it's been
• 18:10
  thought about. I think that's that's really,
• 18:12
  really important. All right, Colton, 5 brilliant
• 18:15
  tips. I, I feel like we got a lot more
• 18:17
  than five actually there we got, we got so many tips before you
• 18:20
  go, just give us the lowdown on how useful A and where people
• 18:23
  can find out more information. Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:26
  Appreciate, James. So hopefully, and I feel like a
• 18:28
  lot of people probably have a synopsis through just these 5
• 18:31
  tips, hopefully, or a full solution.
• 18:33
  Property management software help you automate your
• 18:36
  day-to-day operations. Make sure that you've got the
• 18:38
  most exposure across all the channels that you want to work
• 18:41
  with. Airbnb, Verbo, Booking, Google.
• 18:44
  And then again, making sure that that guest experience comes into
• 18:47
  play, which is where our digital guidebooks come in for local
• 18:51
  recommendations. Making sure that you have the
• 18:53
  proper expectation settings before that guest arrives, but
• 18:56
  also cut down on the need for the guest to ask you questions
• 18:59
  during their stay. Empower them to have everything
• 19:02
  at their fingertips. So if you do want more
• 19:04
  information on Hostfully, please feel free to just go to
• 19:07
  hostfully.com. For anyone who would like a
• 19:09
  demo, you can book that through our website.
• 19:11
  But I do encourage you to reach out to Frank Bosi.
• 19:15
  That's going to be frank@hostfully.com.
• 19:18
  Just how it sounds, host and and Foley, but all one word and
• 19:22
  Frank will make sure that you are well taken care of.
• 19:24
  But yeah, we're just here to empower hosts with their
• 19:27
  day-to-day experience, but also empower the guests with their
• 19:30
  guest experience as well. Superb.
• 19:32
  And we'll put all those details in the show notes, including
• 19:35
  that link to book a demo with Frank Coulter.
• 19:38
  It's been a real pleasure. Thank you for joining us on host
• 19:40
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• 19:43
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• 19:45
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• 19:49
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• 19:52
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• 19:55
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• 20:02
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• 20:04
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• 20:08
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