Last updated on July 16th, 2022
Welcome back to another episode of Into The Airbnb, where we talk with Airbnb hosts about their short-term rental experience. Today’s guest is Katelyn Almeda, based in Richmond, Virginia, who is an experienced Airbnb host and Airbnb ambassador. In this episode, Katelyn will share with us her experiences doing own rentals, rental average in co-hosting, along with some great tips for Airbnb hosts.
This episode is sponsored by Airbnb, the only one analystics dashboard for short-term rental investors and managers, where you can find precise Airbnb data such as occupancy rate, revenue, average daily rate, and so on. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Into The Airbnb S2 EP 5:
Great Tips for Hosts from an Airbnb Ambassador
You can also listen to this Into The Airbnb Podcast Episode on Otter.
Delia:
Can you tell us how did you get started on Airbnb?
Katelyn Almeda:
Sure. So I really started as a traveller, I started using Airbnb to stay at places in 2014 and I just really fell in love with the platform. The hosts that I was able to stay with, really inspired me and motivated me to give hosting a go. I’ve always loved to create warm and inviting spaces through interior design, and I love just meeting people, I’m a people person. So I felt like this was a great way to do all of that. So when I was 24, I purchased my first home and I set up my first listing, which was just a private bedroom and bathroom within my primary residence.
Delia:
How was your experience renting in your house?
Katelyn Almeda:
It was great, I loved it. No issues at all. I met some really cool people. Yeah, no issues whatsoever.
Delia:
Oh, so you have good luck with that. That’s great!
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, it’s really fun. I have met some of my best friends through hosting private bedrooms on Airbnb. It’s been a few years since I’ve done that I was able to purchase another house and now I only rent out full spaces. But just getting started, that was a fantastic way to kind of get my foot in the door.
Delia:
Yes, that’s right. I agree. You told me previously that you have done rental arbitrage in co-hosting in the past, can you tell us a bit of your experience with that?
Katelyn Almeda:
My experience with that was, I’m grateful for it, because it has led me to a lot of opportunities. But at the end of the day, I was not building any equity with those spaces. I was putting a lot of love and energy and money into fixing these spaces up and I didn’t own them. I was paying rent and I didn’t make a lot of money because my rent was really high because they knew what I was doing with rental arbitrage. I always try to get people if they’re able to purchase like that is the best thing that you can do because you’re building equity, you will be able to sell that house in the long run and get that money plus some back. Co-hosting is a great way to get your foot in the door without even, you know, worrying about paying a lease every month. So I tried to get people to look into co-hosting. I know it can be kind of hard sometimes to find property owners to work with. But that is great, because you’re just making a percentage right of each reservation. You don’t have to pay monthly to be renting that space. So I think that was a perk.
Delia:
If it’s not too personal… Can you tell us about how do you see the difference between the revenue you’re getting right now that you own a property in your right now that than the revenue you saw before doing rental arbitrage?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, so it’s a lot more with rental arbitrage the property owner again, they knew that I was subleasing the space out and because of that my rent was very, very high. I basically was just making the cleaning fees and a little bit on top of that. With my property now that I own, you know, it’s all mine, 100% of the profit that I’m making is mine. I just have to pay my mortgage. But I’m certainly making a larger profit, that’s for sure with the property that I own.
Delia:
Okay, that sounds good. How was your experience? How did you get to convince landlords to do rental arbitrage? Because some hosts right now who would like to get started on Airbnb might not have the money to buy a property right now and are interested in doing rental arbitrage to get started, see how it goes. Was there any particular thing you did to convince the landlord?
Katelyn Almeda:
I think one thing that really helped me was the fact that I already had a listing, I was already an Airbnb host. So I was able to show that and say “hey, look, I’m already a super host, these are my reviews, here’s like, what my listing looks like”. I had background in hospitality. So that helped and also marketing, I was a brand manager for a long time for a marketing agency. So really focusing on that the fact that I was living at the property was a huge plus for the property owner, because they knew that I was going to be there on site all the time, just in case anything were to happen and I think a big plus is that I was keeping these spaces really, really nice, you know, because it mattered for my own business. So the property owners knew that like it was clean all the time, like, in better shape than it ever had been before and I was constantly putting love into making it better and better and better. So it’s nice, with just short-term rentals in general, that you can constantly improve the property, it’s more flexible, you have time between guests to make things better. So that was something that I really focused on when I was chatting with the property owner at the beginning. But so that was like a mom and pop just a singular property owner investor that I worked with. Now another route that you can go if you’re interested in rental arbitrage is actually looking for apartment complexes that actually allow it. This is becoming a lot more popular because there’s so much demand for this. So in a lot of larger cities, there’s apartment complexes that specifically allow home sharing or flexible living. I had an apartment in San Francisco that allowed that and that’s the whole reason why we signed a lease was because they allowed home sharing. So that could be an easier way for people who are interested in rental arbitrage to find the spaces just by looking for Airbnb friendly apartments.
Delia:
Yes, I agree with that. I didn’t know about it. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, and just keep in mind also that every city has different rules as far as short-term rental regulations go. So in some cities actually do not allow rent rental arbitrage. So if anyone is interested, if anyone’s listening to this and they’re interested, the first thing you want to do is check in with your local laws to familiarise yourself with that and know exactly what is legal and what is not legal in your area.
Delia:
So in the area you’re hosting, right now, what is the seasonality like?
Katelyn Almeda:
In Richmond, the peak season is definitely the summertime, so like May through August is more popular. It’s not really much of a vacation town. Some people come in, I mean, it’s a fun city, but it’s not like you know, Miami or LA or anything like that. I do get a lot of weekenders that come in, so they check in on Fridays, check out on Sundays. But I’m definitely able to increase the rate on during the summer season the most.
Delia:
Are there any particular regulations there?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yes. So in Richmond, it has to be your primary residence. So you have to reside there at least 180 days out of the year. That’s the biggest regulation, you have to have a permit. You have to apply with the city and get a short-term rental permit in order to host under 30 nights, like reservations that are under 30 nights, a lot of hosts around here to kind of get around that will have a furnished space that they rent out for 30 or more nights. So kind of during that mid term stay, so kind of attracting like travelling nurses are really popular around here or folks that are relocating, maybe they’re buying new property and they just need a place to live for like a month or two that’s furnished. So that’s kind of the demographic that a lot of folks hosts here in particular, trying to target. But yeah, for as far as regulations go, it’s just has to be a part residence. That’s pretty much it and just get that permit and then make sure that you have smoke detectors in your house and carbon monoxide, if you have gas, just safety requirements, nothing crazy.
Delia:
I see and is it hard to get that permit? That’s why other hosts are wrongly hosting 30 days or more?
Katelyn Almeda:
It’s hard to get a permit if it’s not your primary residence. It took me a while to get a permit, just because it was just very slow, the city just wasn’t in a rush to get it to me. I know that in Richmond in particular, there’s about 800 short-term rental units currently live in the city, but only 14 of them have permits. So most hosts actually do not get a permit in Richmond. So that’s something that the city needs to be more active with. There’s not really any consequences right now, so a lot of people are like “okay, I’m just gonna put it up on Airbnb and see what happens”.
Delia:
I see, so it’s not that regulated then.
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, like there are laws, but there’s no consequences. Yeah, it’s something that the city is working on and I know that they’re looking to change the regulations and make more of a pathway for folks, that’s easier. I know that there’s a lot of push from real estate investors, of course, to allow them to Airbnb a space out all year round that is not their primary residence. So that’s something that they’re pushing very hard right now with Richmond. Also to allow rental arbitrage, because currently, rental arbitrage is actually illegal in the city of Richmond, but there’s a huge demand for it.
Delia:
Okay, good to know that thank you for sharing that with us. In the high season versus low season, how is your average occupancy rate?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, so I mean, my pricing is dynamic. I change it all the time. So my occupancy rates stay pretty consistent year round. I’m just making a little bit less money in like the winter months.
Delia:
Can we know how does your revenue change in this month?
Katelyn Almeda:
Revenue? Yeah, it’s definitely lower in the summer months, or sorry, in the winter months, much higher in the summer months. I just started renting out my listing in Richmond as an entire house in December, so it’s only been a few months that I’ve been doing it with the entire space. But so far, I’ve definitely seen that like June, like the farther into the summer I’m getting the more people are paying. So yeah, but I’m constantly going in there every day pretty much and tinkering with the pricing and, of course, it’s higher for the holidays and the weekends, in general for the summer months. But occupancy rates stay pretty much consistent. I like to have my space booked about 50% of each month and I’ve always able to do that.
Delia:
Oh, and now that you talked about that, what is your pricing strategy?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, so I go the DIY route, I do it my own. I’ve never paid for like an automated pricing service or anything. Like I said, I tinker with the pricing almost every day, I add when I have a brand new listing, of course, I find comparable listings or comps on Airbnb and at the beginning of with any brand new listing, you don’t have reviews, so you have to have a really high value to get some guests. So I usually go about 20% lower at the very beginning and something that I do is I’ll only open up my calendar three months in advance at any time. So I only have three months in advance that I’m booking and that way I can keep a really close eye on all the dates. You know, I’m not allowing people to book a year from now because like who knows there might be a big event that’s happening and it’s like not announced yet. I like to really keep a close eye on those things and like I said, I charge a lot more on Friday nights and Saturday nights because I’m trying to attract a lot of weekenders in Richmond. Holidays days where there’s special events, sporting events, concerts, I can charge a bit more. Usually Sunday through Wednesday is quite a bit lower in price from the weekends. But yeah, I kind of just feel it out, you know, and I tell a lot of my hosts that I work with to do this as well, like if you go live with a new listing and the first day you’re live, you get 10 reservations, like you might want to increase your price a bit or if you’re not getting any reservations for a few days, decrease it by a little bit and like over time, you’ll kind of find that healthy, happy medium.
Delia:
Do you also check on the pricing of your competition to set out your pricing?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, like comparable listings in the area? For sure. Yeah, I’m very familiar with the other Airbnbs that are in the neighbourhood. How big they are, you know, how long they’ve been around because of course, like, the more reviews you have and if you’re super host status and all that, you’ll be able to increase the price a bit too. But yes, I always suggest you know, if you have a brand new listing, or even if you’re thinking about like purchasing this house and you know where it is like look for comparable listings, go on to Airbnb as a guest and do a search, just as you know, as if you were going to stay there and add in the filters, you know, how many bedrooms, bathrooms and beds and the special amenities that it has, that your place has, and see what the prices are alike and actually click in on them and look the photos and see how similar they are to your design and whatnot. Yeah, just like a real estate agent, but you’re right finding comps, very important.
Delia:
Yeah, right, that’s right. So throughout the years, what have been your top challenges while running Airbnb?
Katelyn Almeda:
Let’s see, I think a challenge for me and this was me going from having a nine to five job my whole life to becoming a full time Airbnb super host. This isn’t gonna be as challenging if you just have one or two units that you’re doing like part time. But for me, it was a big challenge was just being available and in keeping in mind that my guests are paying a premium to stay at my spaces, on weekends, on holidays on those special events, which I might want to attend as well. So just like being available and also having solid internet access 24/7 during guests days, is something that I’ve had to get used to. You know, being available in the middle of the night on Friday night, it’s like somebody can’t get through the door, like that doesn’t really happen anymore, but that is something that you just have to be really proactive about. Or if you know that you’re going to be on vacation with your own family for the Fourth of July weekend and you have guests coming, you want to make sure that there’s somebody there, maybe a co-host or a cleaner that can answer questions, should they arise and you’re not available. So that was a pretty big challenge for me just being available 24/7 during your guests days. What else… like city regulations, of course can be a bit challenging depending on where you live. It honestly, it wasn’t that bad for me to get a permit here in Richmond, but I know that it can sometimes take months, depending on where you live and there’s a lot of hoops that you have to jump through to get a permit for short-term rental in the area. Also thinking what other challenges, finding a cleaner, or just you know, having the time to clean all these spaces is quite a challenge that I hear from a lot of new hosts, finding a really dependable cleaner that can do your turnovers. I have a cleaner now, but even with her, she’s amazing, but I still go in after every cleaning and I make sure it’s all staged to grip correctly and the pillows are fluffed and there’s fresh cookies on the counter and like those little things. But yeah, finding a good cleaner was quite a challenge at the beginning.
Delia:
Can you tell us how did you manage to find a good cleaner or how did you deal with that? What are the filters they have to go through to stay as your cleaner?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, so there’s a really awesome website now, it’s an app as well. It’s called TurnoverBnB. Have you heard of it?
Delia:
Yes, I have.
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah. So I love it. It’s wonderful. That’s how I met my current cleaner. You can pop in your properties address, how many bedrooms and bathrooms it has and it will notify local cleaners in your area that actually specialise in short-term rental turnovers because you know, it is a bit different from a general cleaning. So you can go to their profiles read their reviews from past hosts they worked with, you can interview them. I had her come over, we met in person and I gave her a tour of the house and I showed her exactly how it should look after every turnover before each guest arrives and I pointed out little things like, “this is how I like the bed to be made and this is you know, your cleaners closet where you can find all of the bulk items that you might need” and we just hit it off. She’s a fantastic cleaner and she’s been my main cleaner ever since then. We still go through TurnoverBnB, so she can like check-in when she starts a cleaning and I can see that she has arrived. There’s like a checklists and I can see exactly what she’s working on during her time there. She can upload photos when she’s done with the cleaning and when she’s done, it will automatically pay her so my credit card is attached with my TurnoverBnB account and as soon as she’s done, she clicks done and she gets paid. So that’s really nice, because I don’t even have to worry about that. It’s like all automated now. So as much of a DIY as I am, that is one website that I find a really helpful as a host.
Delia:
Glad to hear your experience with that! I’ve heard from other previous guests on these podcasts that they mostly search for cleaners in their local area and just find them through interviews and stuff like that. So it’s good to hear a new, fresh way to do it.
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, I always told new hosts like check out TurnoverBnB. But if you have a hard time finding it there, because it’s not super popular in every city yet, it’s definitely great for larger cities. But if you have a hard time finding a cleaner there, ask a local real estate agent. Like real estate agents are great to be friends because they tend to have a lot of connections, can probably introduce you to a good cleaner, or even like also an electrician or a plumber or other people that you might need during your hosting adventures.
Delia:
That’s great advice. You already gave us a lot of tips, but is there any particular tip you’d like to share for other Airbnb hosts or new Airbnb hosts?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, sure! I think a big thing that I, this is kind of another challenge that I had and something to just keep in mind is, when you first start hosting, don’t be perfect. It’s okay to not be perfect, you’re not going to be perfect, to your listing, you’re going to learn so much and you’re going to get better and better over time. You just got to dive in, you know, and every day you’ll like learn little things and little nuggets of information, you’ll make your listing better and take new photos over time and get new amenities and that’s okay, you know, that’s enjoy the journey. It doesn’t have to be perfect right from the beginning. Another tip is to hire a professional photographer because photos are extremely important to the success of your listing and people are very visual creatures. Listings with high quality photos do tend to get booked more and in my experience, it has been totally worth it to hire a professional real estate photographer. As with everything, communication is key. Fill out as much information as you can on your listing. Really take advantage of the scheduled messages and message templates that you can use to help automate things. Just make sure that your guests knows that you care about their experience and that you’re there if should they need anything during their stay. Then finally, my last little tip is just to connect with local hosts in your area. It’s great to have that network of other people who are doing something similar and living in the same area just to bounce ideas off of or ask questions too. It’s great to be involved with not only the local hosts in your area, but just in general, your neighbourhood HOA your city like going to board meetings, staying up to date on changes that might be happening with short-term rental regulations in your are. It’s really important to show up to get involved.
Delia:
I agree with that totally. Is there any particular experience you’ve had in the past with trouble guests because many hosts have had an encounter with these people and usually when they tell their story online, they scare a lot like the new hosts or soon to be host. So it will be great for you to share that if you have any experience with that?
Katelyn Almeda:
You know, nothing, I’m going to be honest. I’ve hosted well over 1000 guests and there’s not really any time where there’s been a guest that was like a really bad egg. I’ve gotten really lucky. I think it’s because I bet my guests well and I am very make things very personalised, I’m trying to think of like a bad thing that happened. I know one time I was threatened a bad review because and maybe this is true, the guest said that there was a bit of like, the top of the refrigerator, or the back of the refrigerator had some dust on it and so she threatened to give me a bad review if I didn’t give her money back for this day. That was really challenging for me, it kind of broke my heart to be honest because I put so much time and love into creating the space and making her cookies. I said multiple times throughout her stay like if you need anything at all, let me know and live right next door. Nothing, not a peep and then once she checked out, she sent me a message demanding the money or sending me a bad review. At the time, I didn’t know, I sent her like half the money, I was just really upset about it. If that happens now, I know that I can just call Airbnb and let them know that the guest is threatening a bad review and they can take the review off. That’s a thing that Airbnb will do for you if there’s clear evidence. But that was the bummer for me because I just put so much love into it and I felt like it wasn’t appreciated in that particular instance. But like, no one’s ever hosted a party as far as I know or like left the house a mess or anything like that, I really had fabulous guests. If anything, you know, like I’ve said, I’ve met some of my best friends, people leave me presents all the time like, it’s very rewarding to be a host. And I know sometimes, especially in like groups on Facebook for hosts and whatnot, it’s easy to focus on the bad things that happen. You can have 200 amazing guests and five star reviews and it’s great, but like the one guest that comes in and doesn’t follow a rule or leaves a bad review, it really sticks with you. You know what I mean? So it’s easy to focus on and I understand why you see those on line and whatnot, but you can’t. That’s not the majority of the experiences.
Delia:
You got very lucky with guests then. Is there any particular thing you do that make you have these really good relationship with guests?
Katelyn Almeda:
I think just having a very personalised experience, like, you know, whenever they message me, even though I have templates where I can, like upload them for all the check in directions, for example, I still always add, you know, at the top of it “hey, Jen, I hope you’re looking forward to your birthday weekend”. You know, just like those little things that they tell me, I’ll remember them and I’ll talk about them and just really try to make it as personalised as I can. If they say it’s a birthday weekend, I’ll get them some cupcakes from a local bakery or like have a little gift that’s waiting for them when they arrive. Those little things can make such a big difference for our guests, even just having a personalised welcome board that has you know, “welcome, Jen!”, when they arrive and they see that as soon as they walk through the door, it can completely make the whole experience like it started off on a positive note. So I just think those little things and I call them cherry on top items, CoT items. I think these are our big reason why I’ve had so many respectful guests and so many fabulous reviews because they know that I really truly care about their experience. It’s not just about the money for me, I’m doing it because I love people.
Delia:
Right, right, that’s great. So I’ll like to know lastly, how do you choose your guests or how do you decide to accept their booking? Do you usually check on their background? Something particular you do for this?
Katelyn Almeda:
Yeah, great question. So I have opted into the verified ID process that Airbnb has. So Airbnb verifies every guest who stays in my space has to have a verified ID. That is something that Airbnb does for me, I never asked for guests IDs, but they have to upload it onto Airbnb and be verified by them in order to book one of my listings. So that’s one thing I do. Another thing I do allow Instant Booking, but only guests who already have positive five star reviews from past hosts can book my spaces instantly and if they don’t, maybe they’re just a newbie to the website and they just haven’t booked before that would come to me and manually to approve or decline. So if that’s the situation, I’ll ask them some extra questions “hey, what brings you to town? Any special occasions? Is this your first time coming here? I noticed the number of guests on the reservation is two, is this correct? What is the name of that their guest?”. Usually I get a pretty good sense of somebody just from having a bit of a conversation. I feel like the more communication I have, the better I feel about a reservation and I feel like a lot of hosts are like that. So I’m just asking those questions and again letting them know that I’m available. Should any questions arise throughout the whole process, I’m always free, message me anytime. I think those have helped. I know that, when I was in San Diego, I met a lot of my guests in person when they first arrived and I know that really helped because when they meet somebody in person face to face, there’s just something about that human connection and they’re like, “oh, this is actually a cool person and like they seem like a friend” and I want to respect their space. They’d also use I lived right next door so like I could hear you know, they’re being loud or something, but I had very respectful guests. Today, I’m trying to do a bit more remote hosting, so not meeting every single guest in person. But I do send a welcome video of myself just “hey, welcome to wristband like let me know if you need anything” and I’ll just include that little video in the welcome message that I send and I think that also helps.
Delia:
Yeah, that’s good! Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Katelyn Almeda:
You know, if anyone’s listening and they’re interested in hosting on Airbnb, go for it. It’s the best thing that I’ve ever done. It’s completely changed my life in so many positive ways, which is why I get so amped on helping new people start their own Airbnb businesses. So just just do it. Just dive in. You won’t regret it.
Delia:
Great. Thank you so much for your time today!
Katelyn Almeda:
Absolutely. Have a good one!
Delia:
Bye bye. Thank you.
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