Hi all having our house as a rental for some 10 years i would like to try something new. We had thought about this for a while and are discussing airbnbhandsfree to manage the property. My husband and i work full time in demanding roles and are sure we wont have the time to manage it. Any thoughts from experiences you've had for these newbies on the block. Cheers and would appreciate some honest feedback.The property is in Rye Victoria and is about a 14 min walk to the beach and shops. Close to all wineries and hotsprings so we feel it has great potential as it is a busy holiday area. Cheers Emcee
If you are both working then I would not add managing a tourism venture to the mix. As a hospitality professional most people grossly underestimate the work required to do a good job and look after people. There are insurance and other issues specific to Airbnb type arrangements as well. The cleaning alone will ruin your time outside work.
Emcee said in her opening post that she is going to use a company called airbnbhandsfree to manage the property. They will do everything - including the meet and greet. So it gets down to what % they take and the cost to set up the Airbnb - fully furnishing a house to a good standard can cost a lot of money. Holiday rentals there are going to be very seasonal.
I would recommend trying to manage yourself if at all possible- hosting fees can cost up to 20% (not including cleaning or meeting and greeting) which can really cut into profits. Here is what we do: - Use an app called smartbnb which does all auto-messaging (welcome instructions, checking in, check-out reminder etc)- I think this has saved approximately 2 hours a week and ensures we don't forget to send anything - Hire a cleaner. You charge a cleaning fee anyway which can cover some or all of the cleaner cost. When you can, clean yourself and that's extra money in your pocket - install a lock box solution to allow for self check-in. Guests prefer it and you don't have to worry about them running late/ early and it doesn't cost anything. Up until recently we had two full time airbnb's that we manged from interstate. I would estimate it took approximately 1-2 hours of our time a week (maximum) and we have been super hosts since the beginning (that's not a humble brag, more to say, it can be done well on minimal time as long as you have everything set up).
