In today’s financial climate, earning a little extra money every month is a no-brainer. An Airbnb passive income is easier to secure than you might think. The idea that you need to own an entirely separate property in order to rent on Airbnb is a myth that seriously needs busting because it’s simply not true.
We have long since advocated for a hands-off, automated style of vacation rental ownership, and it’s something we are very passionate about. That’s why we created DPGO to make your life easier and we now integrate with so many property management systems that you can set up your listing and just walk away.
In addition to that, we’ve also crafted all sorts of guides and how-to pages aimed at helping you make the most of your business. Remote property management technologies are worth their weight in gold. Innovation is another factor, as guests expect things like self-check-in technologies and fast response times.
First, let’s examine what an Airbnb passive income looks like…
What is a Passive Income?
A passive income can be any money made as a secondary income to your main earnings. Think of your passive income as the money you make ‘on the side’. These supplementary jobs or business ventures are not supposed to take up the majority of your time. If they do, they’ll interfere with your primary earning and that could spell trouble for your mental health and time management.
What Are Some Classic Passive Income Types?
Secondary income jobs are usually things that do not take up the majority of your time. Here are a few examples of this type of income:
- Selling your artwork or photography online
- Affiliate marketing
- Dividend stocks
- Currency exchange
- Sponsored posts on social media
- Posting sponsored blog posts
Airbnb hosting is a notoriously high-maintenance activity, so how can I earn a passive income from vacation rentals?
Ways to Make a Passive Income from Airbnb
There are a few iron-clad ways to make your Airbnb hosting experience as easy as possible. These are some of our favorite ways to master the Airbnb passive income hustle:
Keep It Stocked
Nobody likes having to run to the grocery store every day and when you’re running a vacation rental, you really don’t have the time to head out for fresh supplies every single day. Instead, head to Costco once a month and stock up on toilet paper, stain remover, coffee, and so on. Also, it’s always a good idea to have a few spare sets of towels and maybe some bed linen too.
Automate Your Pricing
The battle for success in the vacation rental world heavily depends on the expertise of your pricing strategy. Again and again, price crops up as the deciding factor for the majority of guests, which means you’d be setting yourself up to fail if you didn’t offer optimized pricing. There is no quicker way to optimizing your pricing than making use of dynamic pricing services like DPGO. Unlike our nearest competitors, we use live data collected only from your local market to ensure your pricing is competitive at all times. Set rules for minimum and maximum prices, as well as weekend, seasonal, and special period adjustments.
We’ll update your prices once per day and you won’t have to lift a finger!
Aim for Superhost Status
While Superhost status is not necessarily a factor in running a listing remotely, it helps with bookings as it guarantees guests a certain level of service. Achieving Superhost status is easier than you might expect. However, it will take some time, so try to be patient and just stick to the same practices.
According to Airbnb, you need the following to qualify as a Superhost:
- Completed at least 10 trips or 3 reservations that total at least 100 nights
- Maintained a 90% response rate or higher
- Maintained a less than 1% cancellation rate, with exceptions made for those that fall under our Extenuating Circumstances policy
- Maintained a 4.8 overall rating (A review counts towards Superhost status when either both the guest and the Host have submitted a review or the 14-day window for reviews is over, whichever comes first).
There are four review periods per year, and they start on the following dates:
- January 1st
- April 1st
- July 1st
- October 1st
Invest in Self-Check-In Technologies
One of the primary drawing cards for Airbnb over classic hotels is the unmatched convenience. A quick way to fall at the first hurdle is to make your guests wait at the property for you to manually check them in. Instead, make use of lockboxes, automated door locks, or a co-host to ensure that your guest’s convenience is the most important thing.
Make Use of Property Management Software
Property Management Software makes life so much easier. If you want to be a full-time host and you have no other jobs or business endeavors, then you could probably manage without a PMS, but we’d still recommend having one. Either way, when an Airbnb passive income is the target, you’ll need to take as many operational shortcuts as you can.
Companies like iGMS, Hostfully, and Guesty all provide vacation rental hosts with the freedom to explore other business frontiers without compromising on the quality of their rental operations. This is why they’re perfect for people wanting to earn a passive income from Airbnb.
Hire a Co-Host
One solution to most Airbnb management problems is to hire a co-host. A co-host is a second pair of hands to help run the property and take the majority of the daily operations away from you, depending on the deal you’ve agreed with them.
However, co-hosts do have their drawbacks. They aren’t able to optimize pricing as a dynamic pricing service can. They can’t automate messaging, allocate cleaning tasks as quickly, and so on. For passive income businesses, paying a co-host and usage fees for multiple automation services doesn’t make sense because it’ll cost too much money.
In Conclusion
For those looking to earn a little extra money on the side, renting out a room or a spare property on Airbnb is a great way to start. You don’t need to buy a new property, quit your job to manage it, or have any experience in hosting. All you need is a room, a few automation services, and the drive to provide a great service for your guests!
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