Author: hannah mandapat

8 Best AirDNA alternatives for 2023 (Free and Paid)

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date October 2, 2021

Best AirDNA alternatives

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Fueled by the rise of Airbnb, AirDNA has become known to many Airbnb hosts as a short-term rental analytics tool. AirDNA provides two products:

1) MarketMinder

2) Investment Explorer

The product is priced at around $299/mo for most of the major cities in the world.

AirDNA may be a well-known short-term rental analytics software option, but many users have been complaining about the data not being accurate. What most Airbnb hosts and short-term rental investors don’t know is that there are currently AirDNA alternatives out there and people are starting to look for alternatives so they can make better investment decisions.

There are actually so many awesome short-term rental analytics tools in 2023! Choosing the right short-term rental analytics application is a hard task because it is probably your first time hearing about the alternatives or considering subscribing to one.

We have tried our best to list out all the AirDNA alternatives to help you find what’s best for you, but first, let’s quickly review why you would want to use a short-term rental analytics tool in the first place.

We also included one free AirDNA alternative at the end of the article!

What is the use of Short-term Rental Analytics?

To understand the potential cash return of a new short-term rental investment

People who are thinking of buying a vacation home need to figure out how much they will make if they buy a certain property. It’s especially important for short-term rental investments because depending upon the location and demand for the property, the net rental yield can vary from 1% to 25% annually. The right data points should allow you to differentiate high-yield properties from low ones.

To increase Airbnb’s income by pricing better

If you already own rentals, pricing is one of the most important aspects if you’d like to increase your revenue. The correct pricing helps you to get more bookings at better prices, attract the right guests, and keep running a profitable short-term rental business! The right short-term rental analytics should provide actionable insights into the prices you should set for your property.

To set benchmarks based on the top-performing properties

The saying goes, “If you can’t measure, you can’t improve”. If you’d like to improve your short-term rental business, you need to compare your property against the market’s top performers and average performers. What is your property’s performance (occupancy rate, daily rate, booking lead time) when measured against your market? The right short-term rental analytics should allow you to benchmark your property against competitors.

There are two points to mention in our coverage of short-term rental analytics options.

Data quality is important and we measured data quality by the type of metrics shown and the granularity of the data.

Data coverage is another essential factor, and we measured data coverage by geographic coverage and data update frequency. Now, let’s get to the tools we looked at for this article.

Review of Top 8 AirDNA alternatives & competitors

1. Airbtics

Airbtics provides all the short-term rental data for investing in and managing your Airbnb business smarter. To begin with, we gave five stars for data coverage since they cover global markets and update data every day or every week, depending on which plan you choose. For data quality, we would give it e five stars because they provide individual booking and pricing projections, guest origin, detailed revenue breakdown, and individual property performance data. Furthermore, they have the best Airbnb Calculator.

The only downside is that their pricing isn’t as cheap as other providers. (Updated in 2022: Their pricing is now lower, $74/market, than AirDNA and AllTheRooms!!!) Nevertheless, Airbtics customers seem to be pretty happy with the value they’re getting.

2. AllTheRooms Analytics

AllTheRooms Analytics helps you to analyze short-term rental markets and monitor your short-term rental competition.

First, we gave four stars for data coverage since they cover global markets, but they don’t clearly state how frequently they update their data. What our analysts found is that their market data seems to be updated every month.

Secondly, we gave three stars for data quality because AllTheRooms provides supply, booking lead time, and future booking data at the market level. Unlike Airbtics, the platform doesn’t have guest origin or individual property performance data. All The Rooms have basic and pro plans which cost $19 and $49 per month. Their filter allows you to get insights into the market performance of various types of properties and has a few more options than AirDNA.

3. Mashvisor

Mashvisor helps property investors immediately find out what kind of returns a property will provide and what you need to outperform the rental market. We gave one star for data coverage since Mashvisor only has U.S. market data.

Next, we gave two stars for data quality because Mashvisor doesn’t provide details for important metrics like booking lead time, property level future pricing data, extra guest fees, and the like.

Even though they don’t provide detailed short-term rental metrics, their pricing seems to be attractive for U.S. property investors. At this time, you can explore market data of a few U.S. neighborhoods at $75/month.

4. SeeTransparent

See Transparent offers data solutions for real estate, investment, and property managers. Users can compare Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and Trip Advisor to distribute properties and strategize occupancy rates. However, since their website isn’t clear on its services, there are no reputable reviews with the tool. You can explore its Smart Rental Pro subscription for $240.25 per month.

5. Data Rabbu

Data Rabbu is an online platform that tracks the performance of Airbnb properties in the USA. Particularly assisting real estate investors and property managers to determine profitability and optimize business, Data Rabbu offers end-to-end property management services. Although it has a feature that presents insights into Average Daily Rates, Occupancy Rates, and Monthly Revenue, one of the downsides of using Data Rabbu is it could be difficult for new users to navigate data. It’s also limited to accessing data only within the USA, therefore, property investors who want to invest in other places outside America will need to use the right software that focuses on short-term rental analytics with the option to analyze data from other countries in the world.

Data Rabbu’s pricing offers Airbnb data for $30 either by zip code, state or county from third-party providers. Access to Data Rabbu’s Marketplace costs $299 monthly and offers no annual subscriptions. Their terms and cancellations also state that subscriptions can be canceled at any time via email and phone.

6. Awning

Awning offers more services aside from providing short-term rental inisghts. This tool is highly recommended if you want an all-in-one software which also takes care of message automation, property management, and even Airbnb licensing. Awning offers revenue simulation based on comps and their major data source is Airbtics.

The pricing for Awning’s services starts at 15% of revenue and depends on the contract term.

7. STR Insights

STR Insights is a new option that features the US market for your short-term rental property. Similar to other short-term rental tools, STR insights presents comprehensive data for revenue potential and property values. According to their website, a monthly subscription with STR insights costs $194.99, quarterly for $449.99, and annually for $1,599.99. On a personal note, it’s a little difficult to gauge this software’s reliability as there aren’t a lot of user reviews yet.

8. WheelHouse, PriceLabs, DPGO and others

Before we sum up, we’d also like to mention the above dynamic pricing solution providers in this post since AirDNA also offers future pricing data to properly set a price for your rentals. But did you know that these dynamic pricing tools also show some basic market insights and advanced pricing data for your markets? If you already manage properties and you are looking for a tool for pricing, these 3 tools are for you.

Still, many tech-savvy revenue managers (or Airbnb hosts) are not happy with dynamic pricing solutions because they constantly have to override the suggestions. If this sounds reasonable to you, you may want to check out Airbtics CompSet page, which allows you to build your own Competitor Sets and track their next 365 days’ rates and booking situations.

To learn more, here is a youtube video that explains more about the CompSet feature.

What are the best AirDNA alternatives?

To sum up, Airbtics, AllTheRooms, and SeeTransparent are AirDNA’s direct competitors. On the other hand, Mashvisor, WheelHouse Pricing, and Beyond Pricing are AirDNA’s indirect competitors.

After our analysts compared all the tools, they concluded that Airbtics is the best AirDNA alternative based on our criteria (data volume, data coverage, pricing). Here are the things we liked best about Airbtics:

Covers markets globally and has daily updated data
Has 12 months of projected pricing data at the property level
Features historical individual listing performance data
Has advanced filtering options

A growing number of people are choosing Airbtics over AirDNA in 2021, but as you can see, choosing the right short-term rental analytics tool for your property investment or Airbnb management business requires you to evaluate quite a few things! Not a simple task. Hope our post guided you a little better.

Are there any free AirDNA alternatives?

InsideAirbnb: It’s a free website launched by Murray Cox in 2016 to debunk illegal Airbnb listings in NYC. It only has coverage in a few cities. Therefore, if you are looking for data points for investing or managing Airbnb, this might not be the best tool.

Conclusion

In summary, there is a wide variety of best short-term rental analytics in the market that are extremely reliable and accurate. Airbnb investors should certainly not make impulsive decisions without conducting thorough market research.

It’s 2023 – and you shouldn’t settle for less! Basing your investment decisions on guesses and intuitions are no longer applicable in the digital era. The AirDNA alternatives mentioned in this article will open doors to even greater opportunities to leverage your business.

Whether you are a property investor, manager, or an Airbnb host running a short-term property business, it’s highly recommended to check on several alternatives to find the best fit for you. With the help of comprehensive and updated STR software like Airbtics, you can stand out from vast competitors within your area and make the wisest investment decisions based on accurate data.

Tags hostBlogs, seeall

Podcast - Into the Airbnb

Into the Airbnb EP 15: Managing four Airbnb listings in Albany, New York remotely

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date March 9, 2021

Welcome to the latest episode of Into the Airbnb, where we talk to Airbnb hosts about their short term rental experience. Today’s guest is Earl from Denver, Colorado. Together with his old uni classmate as his business partner, he purchased and converted a duplex into 4 Airbnb listings all the way in Albany, New York. He tells us about how he manages the property remotely and the challenges that came with that. So far, he has made above $80,000 gross revenue on his $230,000 property.

This episode is sponsored by Airbtics, the all-in-one analytics dashboard for short-term rental investors and managers where you can find precise Airbnb data such as occupancy rates, revenue, and average daily rates of your area.

So without further ado, let’s get into it.

Summary
How did you get started with your first short-term rental property? 1:06
How has COVID-19 affected your short-term rentals? 4:33
When are your busiest seasons? 6:10
What is your occupancy rate like in the last 12 months? 8:19
What’s your revenue like? 9:15
What are your expenses? How much profit do you make? 10:39
Are you looking to expand? 15:58
How are you managing your Airbnb rentals remotely? 16:21

How did you get started with your first short-term rental property? 1:06

Jae

So my first question is, yeah, I can see that you have four listings. And are they all in the same location, same building?

Earl

They’re in the same building? Yeah.

Jae

How did you get started with your first rental?

Earl

So, this is my first and only short term rental property for now with the four listings. My first long term rental was… I got it the year prior. I had done some creative financing. Not the short term rental. The short term rents I can go into a little bit as well, but the long term rental I have is a three family also in the Albany area. I had saved up about $23,000 but the cash to close was about $38,000 I was short 15 grand. I pulled it from a credit card balance transferred from a 0% APR credit card and then, you know, deposited a check into my savings account and let it season. So when it comes time to close, you know, it showed enough cash to close for the loan to approve for the remaining 75% of the loan to value of the property. That was the first one.

When I had done that, shortly after I’d done that, some folks that I went, well, one guy I went to school with, at NYU, he was just about getting his real estate agent licence. But he ultimately wanted to do investing and real estate agent doesn’t teach you how to become an investor. So he partnered up with me and brought along another friend of his to go into this next deal. My second deal – their first – and this is what ended up being the short term rental. So the short term rental, we had acquired that last… we had acquired in November of 2018, after you know, spending a lot of 2018, trying to find the right property. We weren’t necessarily targeting short term rental initially, actually, it was a bit of an accident, we found a property that had some bonus units, and we’re like, “Oh, we could do long term rentals on the main units and short term rentals on the bonus units”.

So we started with, you know, purchasing that. So I went into that deal, actually with them, they had put up the downpayment and closing costs of about $48,000 on a 240,000- $233,000, purchase price. So they put in the down payment and closing costs for that one, but borrowing my credit, really putting it on my credit. That’s the way we went about it, just to get their foot in the door. And then, so I had used some promotional credit cards to furnish one unit, then two units, then eventually three and four units. And then we had paid that back from the profits right away so that I was all in my own pocket, you know, about three grand only from my credit cards, ultimately, which I paid back from the subsequent profits, of this unit, of the property

Jae

Your first short term rental, you mentioned that it was $230,000.

Earl

Yeah, the whole building. Yeah, it’s four units.

Jae

Oh, so it’s with the four units.

Earl

It’s all yeah, it’s technically a duplex, but it’s got the bonus basement and attic. So we were initially thinking those would be the only short term rentals. However, it worked out that, you know, we just decided to turn all four units into short term rentals.

Jae

Right. Okay. Makes sense.

Earl

Yep.

How has COVID-19 affected your short-term rentals? 4:33

Jae

And what’s your current situation with your rental? Like, among the COVID situation?

Earl

Yeah. So I was surprised, you know, in the second half of March, I had a whole wave of cancellations. You know, my phone just kept dinging, and dinging and dinging. And everything, everyone was cancelling straight through, you know, April and May. And right now, you know, it’s, I was quite surprised when I started April, it was about 5% occupancy, or something very, very low. That was the beginning. And usually you want to start the month. A good start of the month would be about 50% occupancy, and then as the month goes on, the rest of the remaining 50% gets filled up. But we started the month with 4%. And we ended the month at 95%. So that was cool.

Jae

Wow. So you’ve managed to hit like 95% across the four listings.

Earl

Yeah. And I didn’t really change anything. It was a matter of guests who stayed there. And similar to you know, your guests, they, they stay there for a week, and then they stay there for another week and another week. Anyway, had some people checked out and then other guests filled in and then you know, those guests came back later. So it’s a bit of intermittent guests, repeat guests. And yeah, it just ended up being… there was a good chunk early April for one of my units that was like, you know, over a little over a week long that was empty, but the other three units made up for it. So that’s why it came out to be 95% occupancy. That’s across the four units.

When are your busiest seasons? 6:10

Jae

Okay, that’s awesome. When are the busy seasons and when is the quietest month for your rentals?

Earl

The busiest… so I have noticed that similar to others, it is a little bit seasonal, but not quite. January is surprisingly busy. For some reason. February, is you know, normally dead and you know, so didn’t think much of it, February and March. But you know, until all the cancellations came in, you know, I thought it was just normal February and March. July and August are also very busy and actually so is May. May is always booked because it’s graduation season and there’s several colleges in the area that have graduations. So a lot of family members use Airbnb instead of hotels.

Jae

Right? So do you increase the price during the graduation season?

Earl

Yeah, I don’t do much of it. I don’t do much manual price. I don’t do any manual pricing. I use tools like Smartbnb and Beyond Pricing. Actually, Beyond Pricing is not available in Albany. So I use PriceLabs instead of Beyond Pricing. In other cities like Denver, New York City, the bigger cities have Beyond Pricing is available. But for PriceLabs, I set a minimum price, a base price and a maximum price. And with the Coronavirus and the lower demands, it’s been tending towards the minimum price, sometimes it will eat up a little bit for each unit. I actually have that only set for three of the units because the basement unit I just have smart pricing on. And surprisingly, the smart pricing has been pricing it higher than what I used to have as the minimum price. I had the basement unit for typically around $45 to $50. And I’ve been seeing people book it for $65 regularly. So it’s the Airbnb algorithms.

What is your occupancy rate like in the last 12 months? 8:19

Jae

How has been your occupancy rate like throughout the season? You’ve mentioned 95%. But how is it like in the last 12 months?

Earl

Last twelve months? Yeah. So the occupancy in the last 12 months typically hovers between 85% and 95% on average. I have not seen it dip significantly. You know, I think on a slow month, a typical slow month, and a slow month might be you know, October, November. That slow month is about 80%.

Jae

Understood. When I had a look on your…

Earl

84%, that was for last November. I believe October was slower. Oh, no, it was not. October was 94%.

Jae

Yeah, that’s awesome.

Earl

And how’s December? December’s 87%. All right. Well, I guess I don’t have a slow month.

What’s your revenue like? 9:15

Jae

What’s your revenue like? If your occupancy is 80-90%?

Earl

Yeah, yeah. So okay, I found a slow month. That was February of this year, February 2020 was 80%. There we go. And in terms of revenue, that varies a little bit, but across the four units, gross revenue is averaging about $9000- $8500 to $10,000. One month or so I might have had slightly higher. February was low. So about 80% I was getting this past February was $6747. So that’s cool. And if I look at November. That was $8407. And December was $8700. So the most I got was in June of last year. Actually that was uh, that bumped up over 10,500, it seems.

Jae

That number seems to be…

Earl

…$10,600. Yeah. For four units. Yeah. That’s pretty good for gross. So yeah, in terms of just you know, not occupancy, but rather revenues. I can see June and August is your typical, you know, seasonal bump, right? But May is actually, May and October are surprisingly a close second.

What are your expenses? How much profit do you make? 10:39

Jae

Yeah. And what’s your expense, like for the cleaning supplies and all those things. So let’s say, if you make $10,000 per month in revenue. What’s your actual profit?

Earl

Yeah. So, other models, I know they own a property… or they don’t own the property. They might rent it but since we own the property, we also have you know, PITI: principal, interest, taxes and insurance. But not including that, you know, cleaning expenses tend to be approximately $2000 a month. And utilities, electricity and gas are about $500 a month. And then water, sewer, extra $30 small stuff and supplies, approximately, you know, for all four units, this one I haven’t, you know, really calculated out, but I would guesstimate about $150 a month, maybe less.

Jae

Right. So that’s giving around $90,000 to like $100,000 profit per year? Before like tax and insurance and all those things, PITI?

Earl

Yeah. So yeah. Without the mortgage,you mean?

Jae

Right.

Earl

Yeah, I mean, with the mortgage, I would net up probably about $5000. This was pre-COVID level. So we’ll see what 2020 will turn out, but we’re expecting about $4500 in net revenue. That’s after the mortgage.

Jae

After the mortgage. So you’re actually like earning interest-free? I mean, what’s that? You’re not buying equity at all? Or are you building…?

Earl

That’s also building equity. So that’s with the, you know, principal and interest and taxes and insurance, the principal part building the equity. So, you know, if we use other strategies on top of that, we could really knock out that mortgage payment in very, very short amount of time.

Jae

Yeah. How much of the equity are you building per year for that?

Earl

So that’s, that’s dependent on… For the whole building, you mean?

Jae

I mean, yeah, for the whole building, but for the rate of the mortgage that you’re paying.

Earl

Yeah, that’s based on the amortization schedule, and here in the US, you know… I’m not sure about the UK, but we have a standard 30-year, mortgage, conventional loan, right? And that’s based on an amortization schedule, where it’s front-loaded interest. So you’re paying much of interest. So very, very, very little principle gets built up in the first, you know, seven years or so, unless we apply other strategies like velocity banking, to apply the cash flow against the mortgage and accelerate it to build up equity way, way faster and save on the interest.

Jae

So yeah, if I just assume that you’re building towards the equity around $7000-8000, roughly, a year. That means that actually your gross yield is above 25%. Considering that your property was like $235k, and you’re making $45,000. And building some equity on top of it.

Earl

Yeah, yeah, I guess that’s one way to think about it. I believe, you know, that would be the capitalization rate. Right? But, you know, we were more looking at the cash-on-cash return, meaning the partners had put in $48k, when are they expected to get paid back essentially, from the profits? And we’re estimating about three years.

Jae

About three years. Yeah, for the cash-on-cash return.

Earl

For the cash-on-cash return. Yep.

Jae

Right. How does that work with you? Your net revenue is $45,000 a year?

Earl

Approximately, yeah.

Jae

That’s your

Earl

Yeah. If that’s the net revenue, then they would be paid back in one year. Right. Is that what you’re saying?

Jae

Yeah.

Earl

And we also split it up a different way. So because they put in the money, and I did not put the money in. So I get a fraction of that. But also, let’s see. So that would actually Yeah, no, I think you’re right, that the two, three years was prior estimates for when we would be getting the money back. However, the setup costs also played a factor into the first year. That first year was basic, like, yeah, it netted $85,000… No, sorry, it grossed $85000 in the first year, that one I know from just the Airbnb’s printout, transaction report. However, there was a lot of setup costs that were used to, you know… the revenue was not the profit. So profit was probably closer to $30k.

Jae

Right, in the first year.

Earl

In the first year, so there’s that first year. And then the second year will be, you know, we’ll make up for the difference. And so we’ll have all our money back. Or at least the partners will have all their money back. After the second year, hopefully. So we’re in our second year now.

Are you looking to expand? 15:58

Jae

I see. Are you running Airbnb elsewhere?

Earl

Nope, not yet. Not yet, have not gone to expand that yet.

Jae

Right. Are you planning to expand it into like other areas? Or that area?

Earl

Probably not in that area? You know, but I’m not sure yet. We haven’t really like… especially with, you know, with a little bit of downturn here. A couple months ago, we were looking to expand a little bit, but those plans have changed.

How are you managing your Airbnb rentals remotely? 16:21

Jae

Right? Is your partner living near there? Who is managing the Airbnb?

Earl

I’m managing it remotely,

Jae

Like, completely remotely?

Earl

Yeah. Yep. Completely remotely.

Jae

How many times have you visited there this year?

Earl

When’s the last time I was there? I think I was there for the holiday season. Yeah. So December, late December, I was there.

Jae

Right.

Earl

And the other two partners are actually living in New York City or no… One guy lives in New York City, the other guy moved back to Taiwan. But they’re more silent capital partners than anything.

Jae

Okay, what are the tough challenges about running remotely?

Earl

You got to have the systems in place. I think. Challenges involve… Okay, so I was on vacation once in Hawaii. So there was a big time difference. So time difference, I’ve gotten used to at least, with only a two-hour difference. It’s not too much. And we used to have a lot of, you know, a lot of guests, you know, one night stays, so there’d be constant turnover. So handling that was, you know, I have automated messaging with Smartbnb, and all that. So that was crucial, but some challenges still exists.

And you know, and those usually lie when guests don’t read the instructions. I have all the instructions in place, and maybe too much instructions. But sometimes they just straight up don’t read it, and maybe they don’t read it because it’s too much. I don’t know. But the point is that they get an email, I have August Home locks, they get an email as soon as they book with the codes in it and also the instructions if they wanted to use the app. Sometimes they completely miss it. Maybe it goes to spam. I’m not sure, but I do have in my Airbnb chat to confirm that they received it and most people do confirm that they receive it but the ones that don’t, then it gets a little wary.

But 48 hours prior to check in I have an automated message as well that gets sent out with all of the detailed step by step instructions. The instructions include “Hey, get that code from that email. If I can just figure out a way to get the August Home codes directly into the Airbnb chat message then that would slightly streamline some things but you know…

When I was in Hawaii, there was a sewage backup. So the basements started getting flooded with sewage.

Jae

Oh and the guests were there…

Earl

The guests were there.

Jae

How did you do?

Earl

So yeah, they reported it, I got emergency plumber to come by. My cleaner had done a lot of work cleaning that up and I believe we had also shut off the main water supply just to prevent it from getting worse. But yeah, I had a plumber, you know, commercial plumbers clean that up, but just like clean out the pipes. And then I had the guests the guest situation obviously- well not obviously- but they couldn’t stay there. I believe I had ended up, what did I do with them? Either I moved them to a unit upstairs or I had booked a hotel, you know, at my cost, at my expense for them.

Outro

Many thanks to our guest, Earl, again for sharing his story with us. If you’d like to hear more about what it’s like to host and manage Airbnb properties, make sure to follow us to be notified of the latest episodes.

OCCUPANCY RATES IN NEW YORK CITY?

Learn more about how to find Airbnb occupancy rates in the major cities of the world!

Tags seeall

Blog posts

Airbnb hosting: Why you should be checking out your competition

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date February 15, 2021

Whether you’re an Airbnb host as a full-time business or renting out your spare room for some extra cash, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to be able to do it well. Creating your listings, taking photos of your property, ensuring the calendar is accurate, confirming bookings, etc. And that’s just the beginning. There are various tasks you need to complete before and after every booking to ensure a pleasant experience for your guests.

Yet after all the hard work already put in, your bookings don’t seem to be going up and the calendar remains empty. Especially in the middle of a pandemic when travel is limited, every booking you make is valuable. It makes you wonder if it’s even worth it.

While each host’s situation is different, checking out what the competition is up to should give you an idea of what steps you can take to improve your situation.

Here are four reasons why you should check out your competitors today.

1. Gives you a benchmark

How is your pricing compared to other vacation rentals in your area? Too high? Too low?

If you’re just starting out with Airbnb hosting, checking out what other Airbnb hosts in your area are already doing would give you a good idea of how you should price your property and what to provide. It would also give you a chance to see how much revenue you can potentially make. Doing a search on the Airbnb site for available properties in the area and checking out each listing or using Airbnb’s own pricing suggestion tool are a few ways to do it.

But if you’re short on time or want to see more in-depth information in a given area at once then using a vacation rental analytics platform would be the best option. This type of platform can provide you with a breakdown of various metrics such as the occupancy rate and average daily rate of your area over a period of time. You can easily slice and dice the data available to get a better understanding of your market.

2. Helps you understand your target audience better

You might feel that your offerings are already at a competitive level, but might still be struggling to draw in those extra guests.

Regularly checking out your competition ensures you have your finger on the pulse. Reading your competitors’ review section will allow you to find out qualitative information on what customers enjoy or don’t enjoy in certain accommodations, what their needs are, and what gaps are there that you can fill in with your own offerings.

3. Improves your marketing

How did others promote their listings? Did they mainly rely on just the Airbnb listing or have they posted on other sites too? Do they also have a dedicated website or social media accounts for their vacation rentals?

How can people book your place if they don’t know about it? Once you’ve got a good grasp of the people you can target, you would be able to ramp up your efforts to make sure your marketing is personalised to your prospective customers. With COVID-19 changing the way we travel, it’s important to showcase that you’ve taken such considerations, such as an increased emphasis on cleanliness or staycations becoming more commonplace. Here are some of our suggestions on increasing your Airbnb bookings during the pandemic.

4. Determines whether it’s worth the investment

As mentioned earlier, great Airbnb hosting, while can be fun and extremely rewarding, is no walk in the park. If you’re just starting out, seeing what’s already out there and understanding how they’re performing means that you can determine whether it’s worth putting in the time and resources for you.

Airbtics analytics platform’s upcoming update will make price benchmarking and finding out your potential revenue a lot easier. The new Benchmark dashboard means you’d be able to see the top ten listings of your area by revenue, along with property type, ADR and reviews at a glance. If you’d like to get a firsthand look, make sure to join the community and receive news about our latest feature updates and releases.

Tags propertymanager, seeall

Podcast - Into the Airbnb

Into the Airbnb EP 14: Successful long-short rentals in Savannah, GA

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date September 2, 2020

Welcome back to another episode of ‘Into the Airbnb’. Today’s guest is Julie from Savannah, Georgia State. It’s a coastal city on the ocean between Florida and South Carolina. She currently runs 19 Airbnb listings, a mixture of mid-term rental, corporate rental and short-term rentals, but all on the Airbnb platform. So Julie shares about how she has built a direct booking website without technical knowledge and shares a great tip on how she managed to get plenty of bookings through a direct booking website. This episode is sponsored by Airbtics, a precise Airbnb analytics platform. So if you’re just getting started with Airbnb and want to find out about objective information about occupancy rates and daily rate of your area, this is the app for you.

Summary
Which year did you start running your first Airbnb? 1:03
How many properties are you running? 5:44
What platforms do you use for your rental home listings? 8:41
How do you market your rental home listings? 13:20
How do you decide the themes of your rental homes? 19:07
What are your top challenges in running Airbnb rentals? 23:43

Check out Julie’s personal website: https://sidwashere.com/

Which year did you start running your first Airbnb?

Julie 1:03

I started in 2017.

Jae Seok An 1:07

Right. And what was your motivation for starting it?

Julie 1:12

Well, I wanted to get.. we had some real estate and we wanted to buy long-term rental properties. So we bought two, my husband and I, when I say we, I’m speaking about my husband, we bought two and then we weren’t able to buy anymore, you know, you have to have a down payment. And I said, ‘What can I do?’ And we had, we had what we called our guesthouse on our property. And I, my husband and I just happened to be on a road trip together. And we were listening to a lot of books and podcasts as we drove. It was quite a long drive. And we heard someone speaking about Airbnb and I had heard of it, but I really had never considered it and so I said, ‘hey, what if we start you know, Airbnb out our little guest house and then we’ll use the money to buy more properties’. And so that’s what we did. We said ‘Oh, no one will ever book this house’. You know, this is kind of crazy. But it went really well and we actually loved it. I loved being a host it was like a duck to water as soon as I started, you know, hosting I just I loved it. So that’s how we got started and then I said, ‘Oh, I want to do more of these’. So…

Jae Seok An 2:26

Okay, so ever since then you bought new properties, just to run on Airbnb?

Julie 2:34

I did start doing that. Yes, we ended up taking two houses that we already had and making them into Airbnbs, one of them was my guest house. And then the third property that I put on Airbnb, I actually started seeing I had so many people contacting me wanting it for longer stays like travel nurses, and other people moving different things. And because the house was right next to my house we had just never really been super interested in having long-term renters there just because we, you know, enjoy our privacy and we enjoy using the home for family and things like that. So I said, ‘Well hey, I see a need here’. So the next I bought the next rental house that I bought, I actually bought it just specifically for the purpose of longer stays. So we bought it and rehab and I really enjoyed all the process and it’s in Savannah. And the third property I’m speaking about and it’s actually out of the tourist section so you cannot get a short-term rental licence in this area, which I was okay with because I really kind of envisioned the house the whole time as being for more like a corporate rental or like a long-short. So I put it on Airbnb and a few other sites and it has been booked ever since. It’s been a great purchase for us. So I’ve actually kind of spread out I do quite a bit with vacation rentals, but I also have you know for several years now I have several houses that I do as corporate rentals are, I call them a long-short. So it’s a long term, short term stay. So 30 days or more 30 days is the minimum for several of these homes. Um, but I’ve had a lot of people stay two-three months, I actually have a company that has leased one of my homes. They’ve been there over a year and I’m expecting them to be there another six or seven months. And I really enjoy that there’s a need for both. So I really enjoy the furnished rentals.

Jae Seok An 4:27

Yeah, so you mentioned that you have like long, long-short rental, which is 30 days…

Julie 4:34

Minimum of 30 days. That’s right.

Jae Seok An 4:36

30 days. Are they only on Airbnb?

Julie 4:39

No, I actually I get a lot of direct business. And we have a lot of military here in Savannah. We do some travel nurses as well. And then we actually have a very strong movie industry here at entertainment. Um, the crazy thing is one of my markets is there. A movie studio actually right down the street and so they’re always needing housing. So I actually work with a lot of different industries. I’ve worked very hard to build up these contacts but um, you know, when these guys come to town, they need three or four, seven houses. And so I’m able to provide a lot of that and that’s also helped me get owners to manage for because they like, they like having it furnished and it’s, you know, you better make better money than a long term renter. But also, you know, they’re there for two/three/four months, and then they head on and the property is well cared for and stuff like that. So I actually work with quite a few industries that way as well. But I do put things on Airbnb, and vrbo and my own website, and then I just, I do a lot by hand, I guess.

How many properties are you running?

Jae Seok An 5:44

Okay, that makes sense. Right. So like, right now, how many properties are you running? And how many of them are you doing the like co-hosting and using either strategy to manage?

Julie 5:59

Okay, eight are mine that I have purchased, you know as an investment properties and then I have a total I’m gonna say 19 listings so I have, you know, I manage for other people which I really I really enjoy both.

Jae Seok An 6:16

Right. Yep. And out of those 19 listings, how many of them are minimum 30 days?

Julie 6:26

That’s a good question. I’m going to say 12.

Jae Seok An 6:31

Okay, so most of them are actually pretty long term stay.

Julie 6:35

Yes, I just have seen there’s just been a big need the more. I always short on houses Sometimes though, I will have a couple of vacancies that I hate that. But a lot of times like in the moving season, I’ll have a waiting list. We have a lot of military here as well. And you know, they it’s great because they can stay with us while they wait to move out of town or in town. So yeah, I kind of do both. And then one thing that was kind of neat was, you know, during the whole COVID crisis, they shut down short-term rentals. And I don’t know if you experienced that where you are, but I’m in Georgia and our governor, you know, kind of in late March, she said, ‘No more short term rentals, no more vacation rentals, or whatever, until the end of April’. And so, of course, I was dealing with quite a bit at that time, I was under a lot of stress. And I for some reason, I just never thought about turning off the listings for the vacation rentals. And we got several bookings in Savannah in the Historic District, which is where the tourists go, and of course, the owners were very concerned they didn’t want to get in trouble. And I said, ‘Look, I’m not a quitter’. We need these bookings. We had very low income, little very little income for those vacation rentals, the suburban homes and suburbs did very well but it for the vacation, you know, area of Savannah and so I said, you know ‘There’s a way around this’. So I contacted each guest. And I said, ‘Hello’, you know, ‘we’re so glad you booked with us’, you know, as of course, they all know what’s going on. And so I said, ‘Would it be okay with you if I extend your stay to 30 days at no cost to you?’ And they said, ‘Oh, sure,’ you know, it didn’t hurt them at all. So I just added on the extra days to their stay at zero charge. And then we were technically within the law. And you know, it also saved them on taxes too, because that move them to a longer term stay, but the owners were very happy. They were very happy just to make, you know, those bookings and be able to honour them. So it’s kind of a nice to be able to switch back and forth.

What platforms do you use for your rental home listings?

Jae Seok An 8:41

Right, right. I see. That’s interesting story. You’ve mentioned earlier that you also have a personal website to get the bookings. So what kind of website is it?

Julie 8:56

I use a channel manager called Your Porter which is fantastic. I also created the main website that I use, like if someone calls me directly, I send them a link to the house that’s available for longer stays. And so I actually created a website and I manage it myself on through GoDaddy. Are you familiar with GoDaddy?

Jae Seok An 9:16

Oh, yeah, that’s the hosting website.

Julie 9:20

Right, they did a great job for me. They helped me create it, it really wasn’t that bad. So I created my own website, because I had my home section by areas of Savannah. So I’ll, I’ll say, you know, what kind of area you’re looking for how many bedrooms and then I’ll send them links to each house. But then I can also take direct bookings on my website because of the Your Porter functionality. They, they kind of manage my listings, but they also create as part of the fee. You get a free website where guests can book directly, so it’s been a great – I guess I do both.

Jae Seok An 9:53

Oh, I see. So you’ve built a website using the Your Porter service. They’ve built a website, like to generate it.

Julie 10:01

Well, I built a website on GoDaddy originally and then I link when it when I have a button that says book now and you click on that it goes over to the Your Porter website where they can actually pay and book the home. So it’s kind of a hybrid. I don’t know, maybe I do everything the hard way. I’m not really sure. But it works for my system, because like I said, someone don’t like let’s say, the tourist, the bureau will call me and say we’ve got a movie coming. We need four houses. And I will send them links to several links to my website. I’ll say this one’s available. This one’s available. This one’s available, send it to your director. Tell him to pick one and then I’ll get it set up and each page is for a house. I have a page for each house that I manage. And that way they can see the pictures, they can see the price, they can see, you know, everything. So it’s been very helpful to have my own website other than just the Your Porter is just pulled from the Airbnb listings, but that doesn’t exactly, you know, show them everything.

Jae Seok An 11:03

Yeah, I think that’s a good strategy that you have your own website. And whenever you see one like specific house, you just link it to the Your Porter, those listing website, personalised, direct booking page.

Julie 11:19

Exactly. And it’s very much tailored for what I wanted to say versus Airbnb, you’re kind of stuck with their, their setup, which is fine. I mean, you know, but I like, like the Your Porter is just pulling from my Airbnb listing. But when I send them directly to my site, I can show them, you know, everything that I want them to see and it’s organised a little bit better. I just have a lot more control. So…

Jae Seok An 11:43

Right. And did you have to hire a web developer to build a website on GoDaddy?

Julie 11:49

I didn’t they, they actually helped me they have templates. And of course, you know, just like everything else. There’s a lot of work in the beginning to set it up. But it really wasn’t that bad I enjoy technology and so they helped me get set up. I think it was maybe $20-25 like it really was not a tonne of money and I’m gonna say maybe I don’t even know what it is a year maybe $150 a year to host my site like it’s really affordable. I have been happy I sound like a GoDaddy salesman, but whenever I get stuck on something, I call them and they help me for free. You know, so I as far as financially I don’t think it’s bad. Is it the most amazing website? No, but it works for my business and I try to you know, tweak it a little bit and I don’t have a lot of fancy stuff on there. I’d like to add like a local Savannah weather thing to it, but I can’t you know, it doesn’t have a tonne of capability, but I’ve been really happy with mostly the price like if I can keep my expenses low, then I can make more money, you know, and I don’t want to work hard to just pay everybody else. So I appreciate GoDaddy and Your Porter as well, I pay $7 per house. So it’s just very affordable. I used to use a much more expensive management, property management. And I’ve been very happy with the switch. I’ve cut my costs by about 60-70% with that.

How do you market your rental home listings?

Jae Seok An 13:20

Right. And how do you do marketing? How do you find the people to directly book on your website?

Julie 13:29

You know what, I have really, I have really worked in around town, just kind of getting my name out there. Once I had one house and I started getting calls. And I said, I need a few more houses. So like I said, I built that way. And then I just started it’s a lot of word of mouth. But I did register my business, you know, with the different movie industry sites, there are a few that they use. But yeah, I’ve just kind of, I’ve just learned as I’ve gone, but haven’t been moving people in the travel industry, and then the military, you know, they, once you kind of get your name out, they’ll spread it around. I do have a lot of business cards, I hand those out to anyone that sounds interested, you know, real estate agents, there’s all kinds of different people you can market to. It’s not easy. The easy way, honestly, is putting up that listing on Airbnb and vrbo. And they do bring you people, but I have found it very valuable to also have, you know, people sending me business, and I always meticulously, I send out thank you cards when someone sends me a booking and I’m talking someone that’s gonna stay with me for several months. I’m not talking about a weekend where I’m going to make $80 you know, but like, if someone sends me a family that’s going to book with me for a couple months, I go, I get them an Amazon gift card or I go get them like a $50 gift card to the tanger outlets. We have a lot of outlets. So I have I do feel that that’s important to always write a handwritten note and say, thank you so much, you know for sending these people and that has actually paid off in spades because that person then goes and tell someone else Oh hey, you know You need housing. These guys are she’s great. And you know, I really try to appreciate my referral sources.

Jae Seok An 15:06

Right? Okay, then, um, how about these? Like, let’s say there is someone who just moved to your town in Savannah. So that person doesn’t know anybody but when that person wants to run Airbnb in your area, and but let’s say how can they get the direct bookings? What would you advise them to do first thing to get started with word of mouth strategy?

Julie 15:35

One person with one house just new to the area? I would say if I was brand new to the area and I had one house, I would put my house up on the OTAs which is the outside travel agencies. I would put it up on every website. And then I would put my website up in the house and I would ask the guests ‘Hey, next time book with me directly’. Like usually that’s like the quickest way is to say Hey, tell your friends you know, and then you spread it out all like I’m in Savannah, which is a big tourist, you’re in London, you know like you tell all your friends Hey, if you know anybody coming to London, please give them my website I’ll make them a great deal they can stay with me like you have to put in that footwork at the beginning. Sites like Airbnb and vrbo make it actually very easy on us because they do all that work for us. But it really is possible to get direct bookings and people are seeing the value but you do have to kind of put in the footwork upfront but once you get a few people that talk about you and share your spot, you know it does get easier you can also do an Instagram profile and I really have been meaning to do this. But you know, you can do like a wall in the house or something that’s very photographable and put a hashtag your unit. I know a lot of hosts that do that very successfully. And there are a lot of artists that will do some great stuff for you. One of my listings, it’s called Summertime I just had to do I’m big on themes. I did a watermelon theme for this house because it’s an old house and I said, let me take this negative and make it positive. So I’m just gonna really push like how awesome it is to be an old house. So I said, this is gonna be called Summertime. I did an old not a brand new actually a red glider, which is a very old kind of thing. I put a big glider on the porch I put watermelons everywhere, and I hired an artist to do these insane watermelon murals and she really enjoyed it. But I’ve had a lot of feedback from it. And a lot of people have enjoyed the social media aspect of being able to, you know, have this giant slice of watermelon, you know, in their picture. So it’s been there are a lot of different ways you know, to do that you just have to create a little bit of buzz about yourself. But if you love what you’re doing, it’s really easy to talk about it all the time. And I mean, I am always telling people how excited I am about doing stuff, you know, this is crazy. I was working on this house, I call it the Tiny Seahorse. It’s 600 square feet. I was so excited about this house, I could not be quiet about it, blah, blah, blah. I’m in Alabama with my son at a baseball tournament talking about it. And I actually ended up meeting a realtor from my area, and she has sent me so much business and it’s just because I couldn’t stop talking about how excited I was. And she was like, I just I love that you love what you’re doing. And I actually know someone who needs something. And so you know, if you’re excited about it, and you’re passionate about it, which I definitely am, and people pay attention and they really enjoy, you know, staying with someone who’s enjoying what they’re doing. But if you hate hosting, they’re going to know and if you love hosting, they’ll definitely know.

Jae Seok An 18:45

Right? I see. That’s a good tip that you should really love and enjoy. What you can do as an Airbnb host.

Julie 18:55

Make it fun, like it should be fun and creative. That’s one thing I love about this space. It’s very creative, I’m able to just kind of go crazy like I have a different theme for every house and I get really excited about it.

How do you decide the themes of your rental homes?

Jae Seok An 19:07

So you mentioned about watermelon theme. What are those seem like? What’s the theme of the themes? What kind of themes do you have?

Julie 19:13

No, it’s a very creative process. When I get a house, I pray over that house and I think about that house. And once I figure out my theme, like the Tiny Seahorse I know that sounds ridiculous. We’re on the coast. So everything here is very coastal anyway. But this house again, the negative was the house is 600 square feet. It’s very small. It’s a two bedroom house. The hallway between the kitchen and the living room is 26 inches wide. Okay, this is like if you are a heavy person, you won’t be walking in the house. It’s really small. But I was like how can I take this negative and make it positive so I named it the Tiny Seahorse so I wanted the small the word you know, like a small word of the name so they would know and then I brightened it up with white and then I just threw little seahorses, everywhere. I just think it just turned out really cute. I made it like a beach bungalow theme, if that makes sense because people are used to little beach bungalows being very small and kitschy and so I actually had a really good time with that theme. But every like I said, every house I do, I kind of, I just really submerge myself into it and have a good time. I am definitely not an interior designer or anything but um, I just have a lot of fun with it. I have another house I have. It’s called the Starfish House. That’s probably our best Airbnb that I own. And I mean, it’s like a starfish threw up in there. There are starfish everywhere, but it’s just so beautiful and calm and coastal and, and people really love it. I’m really proud of it.

Jae Seok An 20:42

Right? Oh, yeah, I can even see that in the starfish house. You have like starfish shapes. Everywhere?

Julie 20:51

Right. It’s everywhere. It’s awful. But to me, like if you’re staying in an Airbnb, you’re just there for a few nights or a few weeks or a few months. It’s a vacation rental. So it’s tend to be shorter stays. But to me, I want to stay in something that I wouldn’t normally live in like the Summertime with all the watermelons. No one wants to live in a watermelon house forever, but it’s really beautiful and comfortable and unique, you know, for a short term stay. So just like that’s why, you know, no one goes, Oh, I can’t wait to go stay at a motel six. That’s a very basic, you know, inexpensive hotel here. It’s fine to stay in. But you don’t talk about that to your friends that are you don’t take pictures of yourself with their logo. So I want to create an experience where they go, That was really cool. You know, I have a house called Cake. It’s the theme is cake. And there’s cake everywhere. Like I just tried to have fun. Yeah, I was gonna end it let them eat cake, but I ended up just naming a cake and there’s cake and donuts and cupcakes just everywhere. It’s really fun.

Jae Seok An 21:58

Yeah, I think that’s really inspiring that? Yeah, you make it like, you make a theme. And you actually make it very special because each vacation rental that people want to stay once a year, twice a year.

Julie 22:09

Exactly, exactly. We want it to be memorable. And I am proud. I’m really proud to say that I think this is the highest compliment. I get a lot of repeat customers, a lot of repeat guests, and that’s such a big deal to me. I know they would not come back and stay with me if they hated it. And I’m really, really proud to say that I’m not trying to brag, but I am really proud to say people I’ve had just in the last couple of months, people going, Oh, it’s booked. I wanted to stay next week. And I’m like, Oh, can you adjust your dates? We’d love to have you. You know, it means a lot to me. It really does.

Jae Seok An 22:45

Right? Yeah, that explains why you’ve like how you managed to get your website working like direct booking working, because people love it. So they’re going to visit again. They’re going to tell the people and that explains.

Julie 23:01

That’s true. But you know what word of mouth is huge. Seeing out a house on a website is it’s okay. But when someone tells you they do a good job, you’ll be very happy there. That’s a big deal. You know, that’s really the best form of advertising is that word of mouth. So, and one of the ladies that sends me a lot of the movie people, she told me, she goes, you always get my people taken care of. She said, these other companies that are bigger than you are on my list, and she said, they just kind of act like they don’t care. And she said, Every time you get people what they need, and I that’s why I call you first and I’m like, Thank you like I work very hard for my success, but I am really proud of that. You know, it’s I enjoy it.

What are your top challenges in running Airbnb rentals?

Jae Seok An 23:43

Right? Yeah. So let’s wrap up with the last question. What are the top challenges about running Airbnb for you?

Julie 23:55

Top challenges. I’m sorry, I don’t have a quick response. There are always challenges. You know, definitely when things break, it is tough. And it is impossible. I had a water heater stop working, and I can’t make a guy up here today and I want to, but they had to wait a day and I felt terrible. Um, but you know, there’s always stuff definitely comes up even though we try to be perfect, but I am probably an over apologizer and I have really found that if I’m telling them I’m so sorry. You know, I apologise like 28 times, and I do my best and I keep communicating with them. But that’s probably the toughest because I want their state to be perfect and you just can’t always deliver that I mean stuff does happen. And I and I have to say if you don’t mind my throwing in one more story. One of my proudest reviews honestly is the first review I ever got on my Starfish House. We were in the middle of rehabbing it, it was nowhere near ready. It didn’t even have a kitchen sink. And we had a huge hurricane hitting Florida Hurricane Irma. And it was coming right for Tampa. And I said people are going to need this house because people were evacuating like crazy. So I put it on Airbnb the Starfish House my second Airbnb that ever did. And I didn’t put the price for a house. I think I charged maybe $135 a night and this is for a three bedroom home. Right? It was pretty good sized house on five acres. And I said look, it’s not ready. I had mattresses on the floor. I don’t even have beds, okay, I got mattresses. I had one couch. And as people were evacuating Savannah, I was at Home Goods buying sheets like it was kind of crazy, but I just had a feeling someone’s in this house. And I was very upfront with them. It doesn’t have a kitchen sink. I hadn’t had a chance to rip out the bathroom yet. Like it had an old bathroom. I said but there is a washer and dryer there is electricity, there’s running water, there’s beds or sheets, you know. So I had two families in there actually for this hurricane. We lost power. So I ended up with my home and then the two homes nearby which are both there being these I had three or five families, I want to say I was responsible for no electricity. We’re in the middle of a hurricane. We’re kind of on the outer edges of the hurricane. But we got through it. We took generators, we’re taking care of our guests. I mean, we did everything we possibly could. And we got five star reviews for our people. Like I, I was so proud of that, like the guy wrote me just the nicest review and I was like, Oh, my word, the house that didn’t have a kitchen sink. And I got a five star review, but I really did my absolute best for the people. And they knew I was not trying to take their money I just wanted to get keep them safe, you know, for the hurricane and I was I’m just really proud of that. So stuff can happen where you don’t have a kitchen sink and you can still take really great care of people. So you know, just don’t ever give up. Keep being a hustler. I’m a hustler.

Jae Seok An 26:48

Yeah, that’s nice story. Thanks for sharing.

Podcast - Into the Airbnb

Into the Airbnb EP 13: ‘International jungle’ 1BR with 80% occupancy rate in Washington, DC

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date August 28, 2020

Welcome back to another episode of ‘Into the Airbnb’. Today I’ve spoken to an interesting Airbnb host named Becky. She’s been an Airbnb host since 2011. And now she has four listings that are managed completely remotely, where she visits those properties only once a year. She is now hosting guests in her living room in a one-bedroom apartment in Washington DC, which covers her monthly rent. So we are going to talk more about this specific listing in this episode.

This episode is brought to you by Airbtics, a precise Airbnb analytics platform. If you’re just getting started with Airbnb and want to find out objective information about occupancy rate and daily rate of your area, this is the app for you.

Summary
What was your first Airbnb rental? 0:54
Airbnb listing in Washington, DC 1:21
Buy-to-rent or rent-to-rent Airbnb properties? 5:20
Managing other Airbnb listings in Texas and San Francisco 5:20
Breaking even: Airbnb rental property monthly revenue 9:27
Occupancy rates: pre-COVID vs post-COVID? 14:09
Creating a unique experience for guests 16:20

What was your first Airbnb rental?

Becky 0:54

My first Airbnb rental was in San Francisco, California about 2011. One bedroom studio in an apartment complex with probably 50 units in Nob Hill, which is about a 10 minute walk from downtown San Francisco. It’s probably about 100-year-old building one bedroom studio with a Murphy bed but a hot tub.

Airbnb listing in Washington, DC

Jae Seok An 1:21

Hmm, interesting. So yeah, I saw that you have a very interesting listing right now in Washington DC, where you’re actually staying as well. So when did you start that listing?

Becky 1:33

I started that back in September. So very recent, probably less than a year and the reason why I started that is because I was in between jobs and I wanted to supplement my income. But I wasn’t expecting any hits because I thought who would really want to stay at an Airbnb in a shared one bedroom den, thousand square foot. So if I wanted to make a listing, the only thing that I had going was a good location right I’m about two blocks away from the mall all in free museums and so I had to really think about my listing and how it’s going to be different from everybody else. So that was just recent and then since then I’ve sort of, you know, became a super host I’ve gotten a bad from that have gotten my incredible reviews, etc etc. So yes, that’s my shared shared I call it the title is international jungle stay

Jae Seok An 2:35

Yeah, international jungle is because you have like, unique items from all over the world. So what kind of items do you have in that house?

Becky 2:45

Yeah, so I have kind of mix of both. So I bring things from all over the world from from my travels. So I have things from beautiful paintings, you know, kind of memories from travelling, but it covers a wide range from countries from Middle East, you know, from Africa, to China to Asia to Morocco, so it’s kind of part of the experience so it’s relatable to a lot of international you know, travellers who want to come here and that’s the kind of the first thing that they connect to. The second thing I think I do really well is because I call it a jungle I bring the earth inside my apartment so if you come into my apartment and you see for my pictures it’s not a standard you know Airbnb house with a you know, with a bed and a couch and you know, that amenities actually sell the jungle part, which is all the beautiful plants that I bring from all over the world. So when you come in and looks like a tropical paradise. I even have a hammock that you can sleep on in the living room that goes wall to wall. And then I have things from the earth like I have pillows, like pillows made from you know, beautiful from flowers and then I have a little water fountain. I even have an herb garden and like things that are made out of reclaimed wood out of art so if you can sense it you know when you first come in you really sense… the most commented things on my Airbnb is ‘Wow Becky, it’s so Zen in here’.

Jae Seok An 4:19

So ‘Zen’… Z-E-N, what does that mean?

Becky 4:25

Zen, it’s like very peaceful and spiritual.

Jae Seok An 4:28

Yeah, okay. Yeah, I see. Right. I see.

Buy-to-rent or rent-to-rent Airbnb?

So, you started this Airbnb listing in September. So did you just rent this place to do an Airbnb or did you buy or how did it work?

Becky 4:44

I actually I’m a renter in my place, and so I rented my space, but I happen to live in a condo that you can also there’s also owners. So yes, the other properties I own or I mean are 100% ownership, this is the only place I rent because I actually work

Jae Seok An 5:02

Yeah. Okay, interesting. So, did you move in first or did you start Airbnb, like as soon as you start living [there]?

Becky 5:11

I moved in first. I’ve been here for about four years and then I started Airbnb, but I had an Airbnb before that, and then I decided to list my place.

Managing other Airbnb listings in Texas and San Francisco

Jae Seok An 5:20

Right? So you are managing, like Airbnb in different locations like Texas and San Francisco?

Becky 5:29

Yes, yes.

Jae Seok An 5:30

Okay. So do you have any like, how often do you have to visit those Airbnb listings in San Francisco and Texas?

Becky 5:43

Actually, not that often. The reason why I say that is because my Airbnb usually gets booked, you know, like almost a over 90%, sometimes hundred percent. So I would say Texas, I go about once every three months to six months. And then in San Francisco, I go maybe once a year.

Jae Seok An 6:06

Once a year. And the property has been remained, like, properly cleaned and everything right?

Becky 6:13

Yes. I have a whole turnkey operation. Very easy to do. Started in San Francisco and yeah…

Jae Seok An 6:23

How does that work? Do you work with like, third party agency? Or do you do it yourself? Like, did you hire cleaner privately?

Becky 6:31

I actually like doing it myself, because I like to know the quality of the service. So it’s kind of like a test thing at first. And so like, for example, in San Francisco, I wanted to find out who would be a good cleaner, someone who’s reliable, right? Consistent. And so it really started with that. I think you can hire a third party, but I just don’t know any third parties out there. So it depends on what you need. But you know, for example, the one in Texas. I kind of gotten, you know, like a good cleaning service that between two, two people right, two kind of companies, small companies. And the rest are like if anything needs to get fixed, I really have one person that I completely rely on if I need to. So it’s actually very manageable. I do things like I have a keyless entry, as well in my property. So I don’t even have to be there. I just open the door by my phone.

Jae Seok An 7:28

I see and everything is like automated so you don’t have to be there at all. You can do it remotely.

Becky 7:36

Yeah, yes. And it’s not. It doesn’t work for everybody. But it has to be it depends on the property, I think.

Jae Seok An 7:42

Right? Have you ever had any kind of incident where you really have to visit there?

Becky 7:48

I do when it’s like in between, like renovations. Yeah, I’ve had one incident. So when I actually come down to Texas, just to make sure everything was good, but actually haven’t had any really horrible guests. Actually, I actually, I actually clean my guests a little bit as well. You know, I don’t I don’t, I’m a little different cuz I work remote. I mean, I’m a remote. So I, every time I list my properties, I always don’t do an automatic booking, which doesn’t work for me. Right? I do it where I actually allow them to ask for it. Then I pre-approve by looking at their listing I actually asked, I normally have kind of my own criteria, you know, for, for picking people. Most of the time I pick them. Yes, it’s a yes. But, you know, there’s there’s one or two red flags that I don’t you know, pick the, I don’t accept it, but it just really depends. Like zero. Like, you know, no history. It’s like renting with someone with no rental history.

Jae Seok An 8:53

Right. So don’t accept if someone doesn’t have any history.

Becky 8:57

Yeah, I’m probably more leaning on the No, you know? And then and I think that’s just worked out for me, yeah.

Jae Seok An 9:07

I see do you ask any, like a follow up question before? Like to screen the guests?

Becky 9:14

Um, the only thing I like to know is like, who’s coming and how many guests. Really basic and the reason why, you know, and it’s really more for curiosity and nothing more.

Breaking even: Airbnb rental property monthly revenue

Jae Seok An 9:27

Okay. I see. All right. So I think what people, the audience are gonna be really interested. Is that how much you’re actually making from your own rental property? Because you’re living there and how much is your rent per month?

Becky 9:43

Yeah, sure. My rent per month is 1850.

Jae Seok An 9:47

Right?

Becky 9:50

Ah, so that’s not including utility. So I would say breakeven like 2100, right. 2000-2100, just depends on utilities. I make a range when I’m listing it for myself, just outright with myself. It’s about, I list it for about 120 per day, which is about you know, I think over $3,000 right? 3700. And when I’m here as a shared, which is the majority of time, it’s about, I put it in a $70. And that’s about 2100. So I pretty much I’m sorry, 70 to $80 per month, I’m sorry, per for the rating. So I definitely break even on the low side, or I make a little bit of a profit. Does that make sense?

Jae Seok An 10:41

Yeah, that makes sense. So breakeven means that your Airbnb revenue or profit is going to cover your rental completely. That’s the breakeven for you. Right?

Becky 10:51

Yeah. breakeven like it. But based on like, um, you know, based upon, depending on what my goal is, right, so I think they’re breaking even, and I have increased it as well. So it depends on seasons off, right? Yeah. So what might give you that number is on the very low side, right? I’ve actually listed it for, you know, 80 to $90 per day shared, and it’s, it covers it, it depends on also on, if I want to be here 100% right, depends on the occupancy. So it actually works out well. And, and given the test market that I’ve been doing this since September, it’s actually working out well. But I’ve also underpriced myself, you know, so I’m learning as I go, right. So I’m giving you early market data.

Jae Seok An 11:36

Right. So until now around how many like percentage of the days that you’ve stayed there while Airbnb guests are there?

Becky 11:48

I was saying the percentage, I would say, mean shared or are shared. I would say 70% I’ve stayed here when it was a shared listing.

Jae Seok An 12:04

I see and rest of the 30% or you’re, you’re away.

Becky 12:11

Yes. And it’s usually the ones that are like, booked over a week. Does that make sense? I’ve had bookings. We shared you would be surprised for over a week. And I might just kind of leave for you know, a couple days and, you know, go somewhere else.

Jae Seok An 12:28

I see. So do you like, sounds like you decide your travel plans based on the Airbnb bookings you get?

Becky 12:39

Yes, I do.

Jae Seok An 12:40

Okay, I see. That’s, that’s really smart and interesting that that concept can work. So you’ve been breaking even, like for past, since September. And okay.

Becky 12:55

Yeah, yep. And some months I like even make more, right? Just depends on the request and when right so I kind of, I kind of also do test things on Airbnb, the code smart pricing on there as well. So you can figure out you can put that in advance in your calendar and you can see people coming in and requesting your Airbnb instead, right? So I kind of do that as well like putting it out a month or two out, just to see. And then I adjust my kind of just my, you know, what I want to do, it just really depends. It’s really interesting because like, with all the data analytics now, I mean, that helps. However, you know, I can’t predict when people want to stay, but I do. I do can control what I can control with my listing.

Jae Seok An 13:43

I see. So, do you also do cleaning yourself for these property?

Becky 13:50

Yes, and no, most of the time I actually hire somebody. And honestly, it’s not really much difficulty in cleaning this this place. You know, it’s not a huge house, but most of the time I hire somebody and sometimes I don’t. But definitely It comes with a, you know, if you look at my pictures, it looks super clean. Right?

Occupancy rates: pre-COVID vs post-COVID?

Jae Seok An 14:09

Right. Yeah. Okay, great. All right. So also wondered, so since September, how many of the night? Like what was your occupancy rate? I’m talking about like before the COVID-19.

Becky 14:24

When people I would say meaning, I would say it was probably around 80-85%. It was, it was pretty good. Actually, it was pretty decent. And then COVID, obviously nothing, right? I actually unlisted it. But I also listed it recently as 100%. You know, you can take it over. Okay. And so, I’ve gotten one or two inquiries, but not a lot. I think we’re still in that situation a little bit. People aren’t ready to travel so much.

Jae Seok An 14:56

Right. Okay. That’s clear.

Becky 14:59

However in my other properties, like in Texas, people are ready to travel there, you know, it’s really state to state. So I’ve got 100% occupancy there, like 90 to 100%. It’s very high, because everyone wants to move there or, you know, or, you know, depends on the city. So it’s very interesting. It’s different.

Jae Seok An 15:18

Right? So, what’s the situation in San Francisco in contrast to for in comparison to Texas?

Becky 15:29

San Francisco right now is actually 100% occupied, I’ve actually had very long term folks that want to stay there and a lot of travellers want to stay there for business or like for work, you know, the inventory and go other properties are very high. There’s little more restrictions in terms of like how you list specifically in San Francisco with occupancy, tax, you got to list it as a business. So it’s a little bit more challenging, right. But I was kind of grandfathered in and done it for 10 years, that my listing has been UP for 10 years, but so my listing there. The difference is it’s I have someone staying around for the next six months. So I don’t really have to worry about and part of it is because I’m just not a lot of inventory. I have a really good listing and the way I listed it, you know, people kind of scoop it up. I’ve got it scooped up in about a day.

Creating a unique experience for guests

Jae Seok An 16:20

All right. Yes. Oh, what’s the like unique things about that? The property in San Francisco like, how did you do differently?

Becky 16:30

Yeah, so I listed… Well, it’s a one bed.. it’s a studio apartment with a Murphy bed and one of the things I listed it was the features of the apartment. So like gingerbread, I listed two things that are unique. I have a hot tub there. Yep, I have bamboo floors and a beautiful kitchen where you right near a farmers market. So I kind of talked about… I give a little glimpse of, of what the user can use the apartment for, right. It’s great location. You’re trying to town you can cook big meals. You know, there’s a it’s beautifully decorated as well in terms of like the furniture in there as well. So what’s unique about that we, we it’s right near Nob Hill. So there’s a lot of history to the building as well. Going the elevator right in there. You have to go into one of those gated elevators. So you pull like a ricochet elevator. Right?

Jae Seok An 17:25

Okay, like you have to like open the elevator

Becky 17:28

So I actually show pictures of that look like you’re walking into a building that is like 100 years old, but has modern features in the middle of Nob Hill. So I kind of listed it like that. You know, I have a church like stained glass windows in my apartment, like as one of the door features. And so I show those little things that yeah, I think they really appreciate that. It’s very unique to San Francisco. You know, when they think about San Francisco, they think of those big beautiful houses. So like the gingerbread shells is very unique to San Francisco, I’m 10 minutes away from a lot of different things. So you don’t need a car and you don’t need, you know, you don’t need to use public transportation. I also leave things like little things that make it easy for them to get around. Like I leave them a subway card, road, free subway car, they put money on it, and it’s very convenient by it. So they, they make it easy. I put a little book of history of San Francisco in the house. And so they kind of know what to do. So it’s just little things like that, but I think the key is is you know, great pictures indication of like what benefits are there and you know, and kind of envision what their stay is like already. Does that make sense?

Jae Seok An 18:54

Yeah, that makes sense. So like you described it really like in details, showed the pictures which They’re like, description as well.

Becky 19:02

Yeah, you can put a manual together and all my properties, I put a manual in the bottom Where, where, you know, I describe like things. So things to see things off, I do it a little bit further. For example, in DC I have a separate manual for best top 10 Instagram pictures in DC, and I throw it show the pictures and they it’s like a little scavenger hunt. So they get to go do that. And so, you know, I was gonna do that for San Francisco. Just go next, but someone’s staying there.

Jae Seok An 19:31

Yeah, I think that Instagram is a really good idea. But are there like specific demographics that are more interested in your, like, style?

Becky 19:44

I would say yes. So for example, the demographics like in DC is definitely the short term vacationers who want to visit DC. You know, I get a lot of the folks that are here for business short term conferences. We get a lot of that, you know, two, three days stay. In Texas, I would say it’s more people, you know, moving there, like short term stays that are moving. They’re in transition in their house. You know, they’re either transitioning to a city or they’re transitioning in between homes. So I, that’s why my bookings are up a month, two months 100% occupancy, right, but short term. And then San Francisco, I would say, it is definitely more of a long term stay, I would say. And partly because of their strip, you know, it’s just a part of the restrictions to this, the inventory is different. And so I have a lot of folks that are wanting to work there. Find a place so I provide them a you know, I provide him a place to stay for a couple for a couple months and they end up staying almost like a long term lease. I don’t really have to worry about that. Does that make sense?

Jae Seok An 20:55

Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah. And earlier you’ve mentioned that you are looking for new properties to on Airbnb. And what areas are you looking for? And what kind of criteria do you have?

Becky 21:10

So my next criteria actually feels like is is I want to do. I think the next big thing for me is doing a even more unique experience like, like a teeny home or tree house. So I’ve been looking at properties that have that, like potential or, or like a place where it’s near certain features or location where people go down there, travel will be a short term stay. Yeah, it’s also a part living in that space like it but it has to be a unique space. It’s not going to be any house that I buy, it’s going to be I might build it or I might come up with a different concept. It’s going to be either a tree house tiny house, with like, with smart home features, like

Jae Seok An 21:58

I see, are you thinking about any like location, location-wise?

Becky 22:04

Yeah, I actually have been looking at warmer locations. I’m going to try that next. So I’ve been looking down and I just started so I’ve been looking down and actually like Carolinas Florida that area.

Jae Seok An 22:16

Yep. Yeah. I see. Yeah, I also wanted to ask you this since you are sharing your leaving space with on Airbnb guest as well. Like, not all the time, but like, 70% of the time. How do you find it?

Becky 22:39

Um, you know, I didn’t have any expectations as ever, maybe it’s gonna be a little bit, you know, a, you know, an adjustment. But it actually has been such a positive experience. And the reason why is because I’ve met people from all over the world. From like minded travellers. You know, who love You know, the most most of them are foreigners international because I book as an international jungle, I do have a Americans as well but it it has been so positive. I’ve met people from you know, come here for their conferences, I just have very unique jobs, from all walks of life, different age groups, we’ve had meals together in our kitchen, you know, it’s not a requirement, I say that I’m not going to really be here and vice versa, but if it happens to be that way, great. I’ve actually been their Uber before where they’re, you know, where they, you know, didn’t know how to go to the Monument. So I gave him a ride, you know, like things like that experiences. It really has evolved and I didn’t expect anything from it. But the appreciation that I get from just I think that there is a hospitality component of it. You know, it depends on how involved you want to get. But the reviews I’ve gotten have been like ‘Becky’s been the best host I’ve ever had’ or like This and that I think it’s part of the experience. So it really depends, but it’s been extremely positive some of the guests, I still keep in touch with as well. So I hear from them a lot, you know, when we keep in touch on Instagram. But I have had, I have not had any bad experience, if anything, it’s been only positive. You know, and very unique and people that I think the best part is that these people I would never meet in my daily life, you know? Yeah. So I think the most unique person I’ve met was someone who came here to look at who’s coming here for the Smithsonian. Right? And he’s here. He specialises in dinosaur bones, photographing them. You know, he’s like a scientist. So he was coming here to photograph these ancient bones that he had to report back to his nonprofit. So the times that I we spoke, it was about these dinosaur bones that he was looking at, I would never met him on the street.

Jae Seok An 25:00

Yeah, that’s the kind of experience that you can only get by doing this kind of like, rental house.

Becky 25:07

Yeah. And I love it. So, you know, it’s it’s you gotta have you have I think it has to be a unique, unique stay.

Jae Seok An 25:19

Yeah, yeah. So you also told me that you are doing a side business where you help other Airbnb host to have some like unique decorations and items.

Becky 25:36

Yeah, I have two things that I do to help other Airbnb hosts I, I do I do digital design websites so I actually do a direct booking website for them. If you need it, you know, that’s a supplement to Airbnb. It offers them an ability to control their website, their booking their content and come up with those are the best… The customers that I have are the ones that can’t come up with the content or don’t know how to go about that. And so I, I built this custom based website for them. That is easy. They can do direct billing, direct bookings, all from their phone, his mobile app and also direct, I suppose, do their search, search engine optimization. So it lists them on a high ranking if they do that. The second part I do is, kind of new, is curate my Airbnb, which is really the curating the like the furniture, the pieces in your home, like little things that you can purchase that might make your Airbnb a little bit more, you know, interesting. So that is coming to play. And it’s, it’s funny, it’s a request that I’ve had from some of my customers saying, ‘gosh, Becky, I wish I had your ideas of this’. XYZ or whether it’s furniture or things like that they could purchase it because I purchased it from my website. That makes sense?

Jae Seok An 27:02

Yeah, that makes sense. And I’m just curious, like, what kind of tech stack do you use to build a customised website?

Becky 27:11

I actually use, what do you mean tech stack?

Jae Seok An 27:14

From hosting to from building like WordPress…?

Becky 27:18

Yeah, I do. I actually do a couple I can do a Wix, WordPress or I can do you know, there’s so many that you can use a GoDaddy you can do a couple, it just depends. This depends on the customer and how complex they want it right. They want to let you know you can do that on WordPress pretty quickly just depends and it also depends on the on how, how much they want to manage, right or how easy it is to manage. So I try to tailor it towards that.

Jae Seok An 27:48

Right? So do you also listed your listings on your personal website, private website?

Becky 27:55

I have only for my DC, I don’t need to do yet for my Texas in San Francisco, so right I but I will. So depending on what happens in the future with Airbnb, I might do that on separately just as a test. I mean you have nothing to lose, right? Yeah, yeah. Nothing to lose.

Podcast - Into the Airbnb

Into the Airbnb EP 8: $100k Penthouses for Airbnb in Quezon City

Post author By hannah mandapat
Post date April 19, 2020

Today’s guest is Joyce from Quezon City, Philippines – a home for 3 million people and located next to Manila. Joyce owns 10 AirBnB properties, mostly penhouses in a condominium. 7 out of 10 listings are now closed due to the pandemic, 3 of them are rented for nurses.

Typical similar penthouse costs around $100,000 now, and net profit is around $1,500 per unit. The occupancy rate throughout the year is above 90%.

Podcast summary
From the first condominium rental to the tenth Airbnb listing 0:45
$100,000 condominium in Quezon City 2:37
Above 90% occupancy rate 4:20
Net profit of $1,500 7:18
Benefits of Airbnb smart pricing 7:51
Penthouses are best 11:23
Supporting the COVID-19 front liners 12:52

From the first condominium rental to the tenth Airbnb listing

jaeseok an

Can you tell me about how you got started with your first vacation rental?

Joyce

In April 2017.

jaeseok an

So you started on April 2017.

Joyce

Yes, I started 10 years ago. I posted on other sites.

jaeseok an

Right, which website did you use?

Joyce

Homeaway, booking.com. That was 10 years ago. After that, I use only Airbnb [Jae: Right.] til now.

jaeseok an

Okay.

Joyce

I’ve had a great experience with Airbnb. That’s why I continue using it.

jaeseok an

Right. So, you mentioned that you started 10 years ago so that was 2010. [Joyce: Yup, 2010.] And how did you start it?

Joyce

I started with one condominium at the back of a hospital. Then after that, when the business is very good then I buy another condominium. And another one and then another one. And it becomes 10 units.

jaeseok an

Right. So, did you buy it or did you rent it out?

Joyce

I buy it.

jaeseok an

Right, so you bought it with mortgage or did you just buy it in cash?

Joyce

No, I just buy it in cash, because I have other businesses in different locations of condominiums in Philippines.

jaeseok an

Right.

Joyce

So I have three locations. [Jae: Okay.] One is at the back of hospital, other is near a park, the other is *inaudible*

jaeseok an

So all of them are in Quezon city?

Joyce

No, different. Three in Quezon city, at the back of hospital, five in business area, one in university.

$100,000 condominium in Quezon City

jaeseok an

Right. How much are they usually cost to acquire a studio condominium in Quezon City or those in the business area?

Joyce

In Philippine peso, it’s around 4-6 million.

jaeseok an

Right, so that’s around 100,000 US dollars per unit?

Joyce

Yes, and it’s rented out for $1000 a month.

jaeseok an

What do you mean by $1,000 a month?

Joyce

For each unit. 50,000 pesos

jaeseok an

So you’re saying that you have made around 50,000 pesos per month from your rentals? [Joyce: Yes, from my rentals.] Right. And at that time you posted your rental on agoda and homeaway?

Joyce

Agoda and homeaway.

jaeseok an

Right, I understand and when did you buy your second property for short term rental?

Joyce

I find the first condominium 2010 [Jae: Right.] And the second one is November 2011. And I can’t quite remember the others.

jaeseok an

Right, so can you tell me about the timeline? Like from your first one in 2010? Second one in 2011? And how did you get to the 10?

Joyce

2014, I buy three.

jaeseok an

Right.

Joyce

Then in 2015 I buy one and another one in 2018 and ’19. That’s it.*inaudible*

Above 90% occupancy rate

jaeseok an

Right, that makes sense. So yeah, you bought your first one in 2010 and then one on 2011 and three on 2014. And you bought one every year since 2018. [Joyce: Yes.] Right. Okay, I understand that. So you have now 10 listings and what’s your average occupancy rate of those 10 listings?

Joyce

Before the pandemic [Jae: Right.] in March, almost no vacant space.

jaeseok an

Oh, so does that mean above 90%?

Joyce

Yes, 90-100%. Everyday I have a lot of guests. [Jae: Wow.] But now [Jae: Right.] only three condominiums are functional, seven of them are closed because of COVID-19.

jaeseok an

Right, those three condominiums are fully booked for next how many days? [Joyce: Until April 22.] Right until around April 22. So is it just one of the condominium or three of them or…?

Joyce

The three of them. Actually, one of them is long-term. [Jae: Right.] Two years.. more.. And the two condominiums for Airbnb rentals.

jaeseok an

Right, on Airbnb?

Joyce

Yeah, on Airbnb. Because on Airbnb it’s more profitable. High rental.

jaeseok an

Right. So you mentioned that you had to close down seven other rental properties. Is it because of the regulations or is it just not profitable?

Joyce

No, because of the COVID-19. Safety first before money.

jaeseok an

Right. So, is it that you opened up the bookings, but people are not booking it? Or is it that you should…?

Joyce

Actually, there’s lots of guests who want to book, but the condominium refuse to [Jae: Oh.] accept guests. They don’t allow us to accept guests. Also I have *inaudible*…also closed now. Because of the COVID-19.

jaeseok an

Right. I see, so is the condominium refusing to getting the guest?

Joyce

Yes, only the condominiums near the hospitals are allowed to accept guests.

Net profit of $1,500

jaeseok an

Right, interesting. Right and that’s the three ones in Quezon that you’re still running. I see. I see. So you mentioned that you have achieved around 90-100% occupancy rate for your 10 listings. What was your revenue per unit? So let’s talk about just one unit. Let’s just talk about one unit near hospital, or what’s your average revenue per month?

Joyce

Around $2,000 per month.

jaeseok an

Around $2,000 per month, and how much was the profit per month?

Joyce

$1,500. 25,000PHP for the utilities, electricity and cleaning… that’s all.

jaeseok an

Right. So that means it should be around $70 per night for that Airbnb listing. Is that correct?

Joyce

Yeah, sometimes it’s high, sometimes it’s low. [Jae: Right.] Depends on the month.

Benefits of Airbnb smart pricing

jaeseok an

How do you do pricing then?

Joyce

Actually Airbnb send me the pricing [Jae: Right.] if I can go higher or lower. It depends on the season.

jaeseok an

Right, so you’re using the smart pricing from Airbnb?

Joyce

Yeah, the smart pricing.

jaeseok an

Right.

Joyce

We’re using it. Pretty updated. They, Airbnb staff call me or message me. You can upgrade or downgrade or discount for the guests, so that we don’t have idle days. [Jae: Right.] No vacancies. That’s their strategy.

jaeseok an

I see. It’s interesting, because I have talked to a few hosts and most of them doesn’t trust Airbnb smart pricing anymore. Because it’s pricing too low. Have you ever thought about it or those the price work for you?

Joyce

Yes, the price works for me. [Jae: Interesting.] They know the statistics of the guests.

jaeseok an

Right.

Joyce

*inaudible*

jaeseok an

Right. Yeah, so it seems like yeah, smart pricing might work better in your area. So what’s the price they’re suggesting to you? That’s around $70 per night for a studio?

Joyce

Yeah. Because extra guest, there’s additional fee.

jaeseok an

Right, I see.

Joyce

Yeah, one of my condominium can accommodate up to five, [Jae: Right] but the base price is without any *inaudible*. Then after additional first one there’s another fee.

jaeseok an

Are they 50 pesos per night?

Joyce

No, another 500 pesos. [Jae: 500 pesos.] For every person. So it would be around…1,800 plus 500..two thousand-

jaeseok an

That’s around $10 per new person.

Joyce

Yeah, $10 per new person. [Jae: Right.] So for four persons so is $40, plus another… how much is 1,800? Also $40, so $80 per night.

jaeseok an

Right. Yeah, that makes sense. So it sounds like Philippines like especially Quezon and other areas that you’ve purchased your properties seems to be very lucrative to the Airbnb. And because…how much are the condominium price right now to buy a studio? You mentioned it was $100,000 it was $4-6 million pesos 10 years ago, or is it current price?

Joyce

No, it’s the current price. Ten years ago, it’s lower. Almost half the price.

jaeseok an

Right. I understand now. Okay, that makes sense. And do you hire cleaners to buy supplies?

Joyce

Yeah, I have cleaners.

jaeseok an

Right. And how much do they cost in your area?

Joyce

It’s only $10 per unit [Jae: Right.] or less. Sometimes less, because actually the units are very clean.

Penthouses are best

jaeseok an

Right, okay. And how do you do your market research before acquiring a new property?

Joyce

Actually, I’m a business graduate.

jaeseok an

Right?

Joyce

I research by the best condominium. I always find the best unit. For example, I find in Sanchez hospital a penthouse with a very beautiful view.

jaeseok an

Right.

Joyce

Yeah, and a balcony. I always buy the quality units, almost all my units are penthouses.

jaeseok an

Right. So I’m pretty sure when you buy a new penthouse, there will be different penthouse in different locations or different condominiums and how do you choose which one is the best for you?

Joyce

Morning sun and best view, always. *inaudible* You can see the picture.

jaeseok an

I see, right. What’s the price difference between penthouse and just like normal house in the same condominium?

Joyce

Purchasing price? [Jae: Yeah. How much are they?] It’s more expensive in the penthouse.

jaeseok an

Around by how many percent?

Joyce

Around, I think, 20-30%

jaeseok an

Right, interesting.

Joyce

But the profit you will get is bigger than normal flat.

Supporting the COVID-19 front liners

jaeseok an

Right. I mean yeah, it’s quite interesting that you can buy a penthouse in Quezon at 100,000 US dollars and you can make around thousand 500 US dollars per month. I think that’s really good return on investment, very good rental net profit. So my last question here is, how are you dealing with the Coronavirus situation?

Joyce

I paused the seven units. [Jae: Right.] Because for me, safety first then money. Then only the three condominiums now is renting. And actually I give them 50% off for month of March to April. They only renting it, it’s usually 1,500, now renting it only for 750 for this month.

jaeseok an

Right, so you lowered your price by 50%

Joyce

Yes, I lowered the price by 50%. And I did not ask for additional fee for that additional person [Jae: Right.] They only pay for one person, so the four person is for free because they are nurses in Philippine health center. They are the front liners in the COVID-19.

jaeseok an

Right, I respect your will. That’s really kind of you and it’s nice that you have the places to help them, support them.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

What is the use of Short-term Rental Analytics?

To understand the potential cash return of a new short-term rental investment

To increase Airbnb’s income by pricing better

To set benchmarks based on the top-performing properties

Review of Top 8 AirDNA alternatives & competitors

1. Airbtics

2. AllTheRooms Analytics

3. Mashvisor

4. SeeTransparent

5. Data Rabbu

6. Awning

7. STR Insights

8. WheelHouse, PriceLabs, DPGO and others

What are the best AirDNA alternatives?

Are there any free AirDNA alternatives?

Conclusion

How did you get started with your first short-term rental property? 1:06

How has COVID-19 affected your short-term rentals? 4:33

When are your busiest seasons? 6:10

What is your occupancy rate like in the last 12 months? 8:19

What’s your revenue like? 9:15

What are your expenses? How much profit do you make? 10:39

Are you looking to expand? 15:58

How are you managing your Airbnb rentals remotely? 16:21

Outro

1. Gives you a benchmark

2. Helps you understand your target audience better

3. Improves your marketing

4. Determines whether it’s worth the investment

Which year did you start running your first Airbnb?

How many properties are you running?

What platforms do you use for your rental home listings?

How do you market your rental home listings?

How do you decide the themes of your rental homes?

What are your top challenges in running Airbnb rentals?

What was your first Airbnb rental?

Airbnb listing in Washington, DC

Buy-to-rent or rent-to-rent Airbnb?

Managing other Airbnb listings in Texas and San Francisco

Breaking even: Airbnb rental property monthly revenue

Occupancy rates: pre-COVID vs post-COVID?

Creating a unique experience for guests

From the first condominium rental to the tenth Airbnb listing

$100,000 condominium in Quezon City

Above 90% occupancy rate

Net profit of $1,500

Benefits of Airbnb smart pricing

Penthouses are best

Supporting the COVID-19 front liners

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