Here’s the truth about managing an Airbnb: it’s hard! A lot harder than it may seem. Plus, starting your very first short-term rental is scary, time-consuming, and filled with uncertainty. But anything worth doing doesn’t come easy! If you’re thinking about becoming an Airbnb host (or are already knee-deep in getting started!) then you know that it’s absolutely crucial you have a plan for how to manage and maintain your Airbnb long-term.

Maybe you work full-time and can’t respond to urgent problems that will inevitably come up from time-to-time. Maybe you’re a busy parent with a million other things you need to do and simply don’t have time to take on everything that comes with running an Airbnb. Or maybe you live far from your Airbnb and need to figure out how you’ll keep your place in 5-star shape.

Whatever the case may be, this post will help you figure out exactly how to maintain your 5-star Airbnb.

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How to Maintain Your Airbnb While Working Full Time

What it takes to run an Airbnb

When it comes to running your own Airbnb, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades. Many days, you’ll be responding to messages from future, current, and past guests. Other days, you’ll work to ensure your property is well-stocked, clean, and guest-ready. And a few times a year, you’ll be focused on updating and optimizing your listing.

All of that, of course, takes time! Sometimes, you won’t even be able to do it on your own schedule because your Airbnb will need you urgently–especially when problems inevitably pop up. So, you need to think long and hard about whether or not managing all that yourself is feasible.

Consider how many hours a day you can dedicate to managing your Airbnb. Think about how and when you’ll be able to respond to messages, especially when something urgent arises. Put a plan together for how managing your Airbnb will fit into your daily life. Doing so will help you decide whether you want to self-manage your Airbnb or outsource the day-to-day management.

Recommended: Get your step-by-step guide to getting more bookings!

Self-managing vs. outsourcing

If you’re ready and able to handle all of that on your own, then self-managing your Airbnb may be a great fit for you! Doing so will allow you to stay in control of everything that happens at your property and save some money in management fees. You might also love the day-to-day guest interaction and getting to be hands-on with creating the ideal experience for your guests!

But, if you don’t have time or simply don’t want to want to do everything required to run your Airbnb, then outsourcing the day-to-day management by hiring a co-host might be a great fit for you! This can be an especially good option if you work full-time and don’t have the flexibility to respond to guests right away or resolve problems at the drop of a hat. It can also be especially helpful if you manage your Airbnb remotely and can’t frequently visit the property in person.

5 helpful tips for self-managing your Airbnb

If you do choose to self-manage your Airbnb, it’s crucial that you develop strategies and processes to make running your Airbnb sustainable long-term.

Here are 5 key ways to make self-managing your Airbnb a breeze:

1. Avoid common messaging mistakes. The only way you’ll interact with most of your short-term rental guests is by messaging them on the platform they booked with. Future, current, and past guests can message you at any time, so you’ve got to be great at responding efficiently and effectively. Here are 10 ways to efficiently and effectively communicate with your guests.
2. Create the right pricing strategy. As a host, one of the hardest things you’ll do is determine your short-term rental pricing. That’s because determining your nightly rate is tricky, time-consuming, and filled with uncertainty. At the same time, pricing your short-term rental correctly is the single biggest factor impacting your income, so you’ve got to get it right. To help, here are 7 insider secrets to nailing your Airbnb pricing.
3. Don’t skip optimizing your listing. Many first-time Airbnb hosts overlook the importance of an optimized Airbnb listing (meaning one that is designed specifically to maximize bookings from top to bottom). Here’s how to easily create a listing that gets more bookings and helps you reach your revenue goals!
4. Ensure your Airbnb is in 5-star shape and always guest-ready. To do that, you need a plan for how you’ll quickly fix anything that breaks at your Airbnb, communicate repairs as needed with guests, and ensure your property meets guests’ expectations from the moment they walk in until the moment they head home.
5. Quickly restock your property. Staying on top of everything that needs to get replenished at your Airbnb can feel like an impossible task, so make sure you have a plan for how you’ll restock all the essentials–toilet paper, soap, shampoo, and so on–so your guests always have what they need. Make reorders a breeze by using my checklist with 100+ essential items for your Airbnb (every single item on this list has been vetted personally by me to ensure it’s high-quality and inexpensive–perfect for your Airbnb!)

Outsource the right way

If all that sounds like too much and you want some help getting it all done, then hiring a co-host might be a great fit for you. Unlike property managers, Airbnb co-hosts don’t do everything required to run your Airbnb. Many will only do specific tasks you need help with, like communicating with guests or restocking supplies. This allows you to do what you enjoy and outsource everything else while staying in control of your property–win, win, win!

If you think hiring someone to help manage your Airbnb might be right for you, check out this blog post. In it, I’m breaking down what exactly Airbnb co-hosts do and how to know if hiring a co-host is right for you.

Recommended: Don’t Hire An Airbnb Co-Host Without Reading This First

The secret to a 5-star Airbnb

All that said, whether you choose to self-manage your Airbnb or outsource the day-to-day management, there’s no substitute for visiting your property yourself! No matter how well you manage your Airbnb day-to-day, many things are simply going to get overlooked as you quickly turn over the property between guests. When you visit your property yourself and really do a thorough property maintenance check, you’re sure to find many things that weren’t high-priority enough to address between bookings, but are important to fix before issues pile up and guests start noticing.

Taking the time to visit your rental property yourself at least every six months will help ensure that you’re addressing small issues before they become disasters that impact your business–that’s the secret to keeping your Airbnb in 5-star shape! Here’s how to make the most of your property maintenance checks.

Recommended: WARNING: Visiting Your Vacation Rental Isn’t A Vacation

Takeaway

While managing an Airbnb is tough, you’re now well-equipped with tons of great ways to make running your Airbnb much smoother. You now know what running an Airbnb requires, how to do it all with ease, how to find a great team to handle the day-to-day management, and the secret to keeping your Airbnb in 5-star shape long term. Great work!

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