Last updated on October 4th, 2022
Welcome back to another episode of Into The Airbnb, where we chat with Airbnb hosts about their short-term rental experience.
Our guest for today is Gabriel Aramayo, an Airbnb remote co-host based in Bolivia. Gabriel manages several listings located in Seattle, Pittsburgh, Miami, Tampa Bay Area and Los Angeles, providing different services like messaging, schedule cleanings, schedule maintenance, listing optimization, calendar management and guest support among others. Most of his clients are professional hosts with over ten listings who may don’t have time to manage all their listings, so, if you’re one of them, this episode is for you! Keep listening to hear more about Gabriel’s story and experiences as remote co-host and also what he offers.
This episode is sponsored by Airbtics, short-term rental analytics for high return investments, comprehensive data for insights, ideas, and inspiration. Go to app.airbtics.com to 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 Podcast S2 EP 59: Remote Co-hosting from Bolivia all the way to your listing 🌎 In conversation with AirHospitality Pro – CEO & Founder
Delia:
So can you tell me how did you get started with your co-hosting services?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Sure. So I started working with an agency here in my country, the agency was working for a Canadian company, it was quite a big company with 100 listings, mainly in Toronto, a few of them in Montreal, and then as well as spreaded in the US, in LA and Miami. And after I worked with them for about three years, decided I wanted to do it on my own. So I started freelancing and get clients, get hosts, so I can help them with co-hosting of their listings.
Delia:
And you told me previously that you’re currently located in Bolivia, right?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes, I’m located in Bolivia and I perform this service from here.
Delia:
Yes, that’s right. And you offer your services for listings located all over the US, right?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes, correct. Right now, I’m helping with listings located in Seattle, Pittsburgh, Miami, Tampa, the Tampa Bay area and LA.
Delia:
And what are those services that you offer as a remote co-host?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Anything that can be done remotely, we can do it. Started freelancing on my own and then now I have a team, I have three people helping me. So we do everything that can be done remotely, we can do it. Our service is tailor made for the needs that every host is requiring because every house is completely different, their processes are different, so they have different needs in their business. So we offer a tailor made service we do, the only thing that we don’t do is pricing because the hosts are local to their listing, so they know much better the market and they know how to feel the market, how to feel the difference between supply and demand and they do a better job regarding pricing. So anything else that can be done remotely we can do it.
Delia:
So for example, you do the messaging with the guest, right?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Right. We do messaging, we respond to inquiries, try to keep the occupancy at the maximum possible, schedule cleanings, get to repairs if needed, manage the calendars and set up the auto messages if needed. Many hosts work with PMS with property management software’s like Guesty, so we can set that up as well. Yeah, among many other tasks.
Delia:
Okay, and can you tell me a little bit more about your customers? For example, you told me that there are some hosts that are local to their listing, so am I right to assume that most of your clients are local hosts that can deal with some things for example, checking and maybe also the pricing as you told me, but they don’t have much time to do like messaging, scheduling and everything else you get to do, right?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Right. So my clients are actually professional hosts. They don’t host one or two listings and a client that has less properties that I have, has 10. So between 10 and 50 to 60 properties where we can help them. So yeah, they don’t usually deal with the operational side of the things, they don’t like do the check ins, they don’t meet the guests, they only manage their portfolio, they focus on growing and we focus on everything that can be operational of all the operational tasks that can be done remotely, we help them with that. And they also have a team on the ground to help with repairs, to drop off supplies if needed, to restocking. So yes, my clients are actually growing companies and we help them to grow even more, and get more properties in their respective markets.
Delia:
Oh, that’s super interesting! And can you tell me a little bit more about your clients? For example, do they usually guide you through what would they like service to be made? Like you said, the tailor made service or do they usually just like you do your thing? Like they set up, you know, these are my 10 listings, I want you to do whatever you want to do with this, you just tell me what you’re going to do and I’ll prove it. Is it like that or do they usually guide you with what you’re going to do?
Gabriel Aramayo:
They gave me a lot. The good thing is that we know the basics because of the experience that we have on Airbnb and short-term rentals in general. So they don’t need to teach me how Airbnb works, how to navigate and that industry because it can be, specifically Airbnb can be very sided with the guests and many hosts have complaints about that. So we are very careful on how to navigate the Airbnb industry, and then not getting in trouble with them. So they don’t need to teach me that they only teach us their processes. They have different processes. They have different ways of escalating issues, of handling repairs and things like that. They tell me they get me on their processes, but the basics, the fundamentals on how Airbnb works and short-term rentals in general, we already know that. So that’s a good thing about this, that we already know the basics.
Delia:
I understand. And now that you’ve commented about Airbnb siding with the guests, do you usually also deal with the problems that they have with guests?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes, we deal with Airbnb in behalf of the owner, as a co-host with a co-hosting account. From time to time we encounter a difficult guest who just complains, and then maybe it’s more focused on getting a refund or getting a discount on their state than the actual experience that we’re providing. So no matter what they are going to complain. I think that many experienced hosts already experienced this kind of things, and these type of guests. So yes, we also deal with Airbnb in behalf of the hosts and then try to just come up with the best possible resolution for us.
Delia:
And can I ask which are the most like common types of problems you deal with? I imagine that there can be maybe some damage into property in that case, do you also deal with that? Or in that case, the host deals with that?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Okay, so yes, we had cases where the cleaning team arrives and they say “Hey, the place smells like marijuana or smells like cigarette and we need to take action”, we have on our rules and almost all of our clients have these on their rules that we need to find a guest if they smoke, so the first thing is to collect evidence of course we coordinate with the cleaning team, with the people that’s on site to gather all the photos as much evidence as possible and we first contact the guest and we deal with Airbnb, we escalate the issue to Airbnb if that’s required, but yes, we also can help with that.
Delia:
I see, that’s very helpful then. And what about the reviews if for example after good staying, maybe you didn’t have much contact with the guest, they leave a bad review. Do you also deal with that?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes, we deal with the reviews mainly if everything goes smoothly and we get a five star reviews, we make a nice response to the review, we respond to the review politically but if we had a review that we believe it’s unfair we tried to dispute it. We know the terms of Airbnb on how to handle the reviews, what’s allowed on the Airbnb side and what’s not, so we just try to find reasons to get a review removed as per the Airbnb Terms of Service and yes, we also help with that as well.
Delia:
Okay, that’s really helpful then and what about listing optimization? Do you also work providing that service?
Gabriel Aramayo:
We do. Most of our clients are already very experienced. So they just guide us on what needs to be done with the listing. And of course, with the experience that I have, I also give my opinion to another clients who perhaps are not too experienced, specifically, things that need to be on the listing just to avoid issues with a guest afterwards, like, for example, if there is a camera outside, it needs to be disclosed or we can get in a big call with Airbnb, if I noticed that we have a camera and it’s not disclosed on the listing, I give the suggestion to the host to add it as well. That’s what we do in terms of listing optimization.
Delia:
I see right now. And previously, you mentioned that you also help getting the occupancy rate up for them, right?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes.
Delia:
And can you tell me a little bit of what are the steps that you take? And what services do you provide to get the listing to get a higher occupancy rate?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Sure, so for one of my clients, I have permission to change the price because as I mentioned, that’s perhaps what many hosts don’t want to delegate, but I have a client that delegated me the pricing of a few units. So regarding the pricing, to maintain occupancy high is just to play a little bit with the prices on the takings and take out dates to avoid gaps. Perhaps lower the price when we are closer to the to the dates that helps us well, and keeping an eye on on days with high demands. And that’s if we are not connected with a pricing software, like PriceLabs or Beyond Pricing. That’s what can be done in terms of pricing to keep occupancy high. But I think that we have more influence with inquiries, when we’re receiving an inquiry, we try to respond as soon as possible and we try to sell the unit without our promising because that could generate high expectations and end up like, perhaps we cannot fulfill some things if we over promise. So we try to sell the listing, if we notice that it’s not a good fit, we cross sell between our listings that the same host also has. So that way, we noticed that it can be a really good difference to respond to the inquiries as soon as possible and to be able to sell their properties or cross sell if needed.
Delia:
That sounds pretty good. And can you tell me a little bit for our listeners that might be interested in also hiring you and your team, can you tell me how much can they expect to like pay you for your services? I know you make many like different types of services according to every host needs. But if you can give me a range of your prices that would be really good.
Gabriel Aramayo:
Absolutely. So when we start with a host and it’s a house that doesn’t have many units, let’s say between 5 and 10, we charge around $120 and $90 per month per listing. If it’s a professional host and the tasks are only guest communication mainly and escalate issues, then it’s not a lot of workload for us, so we can lower the price. If the host has many listings, perhaps I will say above 20, above 20 listings we can negotiate the price if the tasks are not very time demanding because if the tasks are demanding, then I will need to add more people to my team and the price will increase. But that’s basically the range.
Delia:
Okay, so the range would be, can you repeat it once more?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Sure, between $90 and $120 per month per listing.
Delia:
Per listing, okay, that sounds pretty good then. And can you tell me how can they expect them for you to leverage their listings? Like, what results can they expect from you? They can expect for you to rise the occupancy rate, maybe rise the revenue, take a lot of time off of them, you know?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Yes. So it depends on the goals of each host, but we focus on give the hosts peace of mind. We focus on giving the hosts the opportunity to relieve their workload and have more time to focus on their portfolio and we follow the instructions we try to make everything a streamlined process, so they don’t have to like being on top of everything or micromanaging. We try to free their time and give them peace of mind in that we are taking good care of their properties.
Delia:
Yeah, I understand. I understand totally, so that sounds really really great. And can you tell me, is there any way they can contact you?
Gabriel Aramayo:
Sure, absolutely. My email address is [email protected] that’s the name of my company.
Delia:
AirHospitality then. So that would be it for today. Thank you a lot for being my guest today and for give us all this useful information. I bet our listeners are going to love this.
Gabriel Aramayo:
Sounds great. Thank you so much for the interview and for the opportunity to share my experience with your audience.
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