The following excerpt is from the staff of Entrepreneur Media’s book Start Your Own Travel Hosting Business. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
One of the first steps required when joining Airbnb or a similar service is to create a personal profile and a listing for your property on the website.
Before you can effectively promote your service, it’s important to do an honest self-assessment and a thorough analysis of your property. This is an opportunity to promote what you have to offer and why potential guests should stay with you.
It’s important to establish what you’re willing to offer related to your property. Your options may include:
- A single private room within your home
- A shared room within your home
- Your entire home or apartment
- A special type of property, such as a guesthouse, cabin, ski chalet, treehouse, castle, studio apartment, multi-floor apartment, finished basement, private island, oceanfront villa, loft, townhouse, boat/yacht or bungalow
Next, determine why people will want to stay with you and what you can promote within your property listing in order to get their attention. Some of the key things potential guests might look for include:
Your geographic location. How close is your property to popular tourist attractions, landmarks, special events happening in your area and/or public transportation? What’s desirable about the location?
Available value-added services. Things like on-site or nearby parking, laundry facilities or being walking distance to local shopping or restaurants are always a plus.
Amenities you offer. Being able to offer your guests a private, clean and fully functional bathroom (as opposed to a shared bathroom) is often appreciated by potential guests. Some of the more commonly sought after amenities that potential guests will appreciate include:
- Access to a full kitchen, with a coffee maker
- Bedroom windows that open (with a view) but that have curtains or shades for privacy
- Closets with hangers and/or drawer space within a dresser
- Desk and/or workspace
- Easily accessible and available on-site or nearby parking
- Fireplace
- Fully equipped dining room (you provide dishes, silverware, glasses, etc.)
- Heat and/or air conditioning
- Hot tub/swimming pool
- In-home gym (workout equipment)
- In-home WiFi
- Iron and ironing board
- Multiple power outlets and/or an available power strip within each bedroom
- Nightstand with reading lamp
- Premium bedding, blankets and pillows (If you offer Egyptian cotton sheets with a high thread count, for example, this should be promoted within your property listing.)
- Secure lock on the bedroom door
- Shampoo, conditioner, hair dryer and other extra toiletries in the bathroom
- Television with cable/satellite TV programming available
- Travel-size toiletries (complementary), ranging from shampoo and conditioner, to soap, mouth wash, toothpaste, etc. (These can be purchased for about $1.00 each from…