Renting Your Airbnb for the Holidays: Tips for Hosts
Vacation rentals open the door to more intimate lodging for holiday travelers. Families, couples, and individuals enjoy taking time off during this season to relax and unwind. From winter getaways to tropical destinations, vacation rental hosts need to be prepared for travelers of all kinds.
Here are 5 tips for vacation rental hosts to ensure their guests have a safe, fun, and memorable stay over the holiday season.
1. Use Smart Pricing
During the holidays, there are many events and festivities that will draw visitors to both urban and rural areas. One way to keep your vacation rental competitive during this time is by setting your pricing at a competitive rate.
For Airbnb listings, Airbnb’s Smart Pricing Tool allows you to automatically adjust pricing according to demand. Smart Pricing also bases nightly rates on the season, local market, and 70+ other factors.
This valuable tool, paired with your own market research determining local rental pricing, will allow you to keep your rental competitive during your holiday hosting season.
2. Review Your Property’s Rules
Review your property’s rules with your guests to emphasize your occupancy limit and other rules about gathering.
Keep in mind that Airbnb’s party ban is still in place indefinitely; the occupancy for any rental is set at 16 people. Sending guests a pre-arrival welcome email with your rules, and having a book or laminated sheet in the rental, will communicate your guidelines clearly.
Lastly, it’s important to keep in good communication with guests at every touchpoint. Be open to their concerns and let them know you’re available to answer any questions from check-in to check-out.
3. Add a Few Decorations
Many holiday travelers will enjoy — or even anticipate — some seasonal, homey touches at your vacation rental.
Including a few inexpensive decorations can really boost the guest experience, especially for families. Because some people do not celebrate religious holidays, like Christmas or Hanukkah, featuring winter-themed décor may be more suitable.
Either way, customizing the guest experience starts with getting to know your guests and adding special touches for each check-in. Making your rental family-friendly can also boost your reviews from people traveling with children.
4. Keep Tabs on Occupancy
The last thing you need during the holidays as a vacation rental manager is having to deal with neighbors complaining about a party. For both your own and your neighbors’ peace of mind, you may want to look at guest-vetting tools to help avoid noisy gatherings and potential property damage.
Technologies for vacation rental management now include guest monitoring capabilities. For example, the PartySquasher occupancy monitoring sensor alerts you when a certain number of devices have entered the rental. Once alerted, you can contact the guests and assess the situation before it escalates.
5. Have a Cleaning Service Lined Up
Whether you’re cleaning the rental yourself or hiring professionals, you’ll need the proper scheduling tools for the service. Even more, automating the process and putting your cleaning services on autopilot will give you the reassurance that your vacation rental will always be spick and span for each new guest.
The TurnoverBnB app finds and schedules local cleaners to handle your vacation rental cleaning. For any mess that was made during the holiday season, make sure your cleaning service is ready to tackle each and every turnover.
Vacation Rental Holiday Hosting Made Easy
As a vacation rental owner or manager, holiday hosting is a wonderful way to create lasting, 5-star-worthy memories for your guests.
To ensure your renters stay comfortable and cooperative, consider investing in occupancy monitoring technology, using cleaning scheduling software, and following the other tips outlined above. Your renters will appreciate the thoughtful holiday touches, and you’ll have peace of mind knowing your property is well taken care of.
Written by TurnoverBnB
