As a potential Pretoria Airbnb host, you may be wondering what benefits come with hosting on the popular vacation rental platform and whether you should consider it for yourself. There are numerous advantages to becoming an Airbnb Pretoria host and a few considerations. This article will explore them at a high level and contain links to further info.
The benefits of becoming an Airbnb PRETORIA host and why you should consider it
Earn Extra Income
This is the primary driver for most people considering it, since you’re able to make a lot of money as an Airbnb host. The amount of money you earn largely depends on the type of host you are, the type of property you have and the number of nights per year that you are able to host, along with the costs of hosting.
Flexibility and Control
You can entirely choose when to host people. This allows you to have full control of when you host people and you’re able to enjoy your own property when you want to – truly giving you the best of both worlds.
Meeting New People
This is a great benefit, but also entirely optional. I’ve met many wonderful people in the past and today I haven’t met a guest in person in 3 years. You can choose to do it either way. I recommend meeting your first few guests in person (if they’d like it too).
Positive Impact on Your Community
Boost local businesses by allowing more travelers to find awesome accommodation in your area. This one depends on whether there is already demand in your area, but you can positively influence this by being a great host and pointing your guests to local attractions and businesses.
It can be a relatively hands off business, if you do it right
After a few months of hosting (or even from the get go) you can automate and outsource a lot of the tasks that go along with hosting, all whilst still providing exceptional service to your guests.
The main considerations to have in place:
Property
You have many options to become a host, namely from:
- Property you own, which you can rent out in full or in part. Many a host has listed an entire home (whether their primary or a secondary home) and many more have listed a room in their primary residence or investment properties.
- Property which you rent from a landlord and then sublet on Airbnb. This requires permission from the landlord and you will have to include it in your rental contract. This is the primary strategy that I follow, but it works better in areas where the cost to buy is much higher than the cost to rent, like Cape Town.
- Properties where you do not own or lease the property, but you simply act as the co-host on the property. This means you perform all or part of the functions of the hosting process, and you charge a percentage of the income. Like a property manager, but you co-host in your full or partial capacity on the Airbnb platform (this refers to whether you are the primary or secondary host on the Airbnb platform).
Listing it
This is referring to creating your Airbnb listing on the Airbnb platform. You’ll be joining millions of hosts and list yours in your suburb of Pretoria.
There are a lot of important things that go into creating a great Airbnb listing, which I will cover in future articles, but the primary considerations are as follows:
- Great photos. Always opt for professional photography. Never take them with your phone – unless you are a professional photographer and can edit them well. Otherwise – spend the money. Trust me on this one, as it will drastically increase your bookings.
- An accurate listing. Make sure you take the time to fill in all the necessary information, from amenities to extra things for guests to consider. Leave NOTHING blank. Not only does this help your guest, but it also contributes to the algorithm.
- An up to date calendar. No one likes double bookings or booking a place that’s not actually available – not you and especially not your guests – so make sure your calendar is up to date from the start and try your utmost best to keep it that way.
- Pricing. My advice is to study your competition. Look for listings in your area with similar amenities, specs and quality of furnishings and price yourself just under them when starting out. Then start pricing higher as you go a long. It’s important to get booked as quickly as possible (hence the lower pricing) and then to give a great experience to your guests. This will set you up for success on the platform, as the algorithm will see interest in your place, plus good reviews in your first month. You can also use tools like AirDNA – which I will cover in a future article.
- Required items to buy for your property. There are a number of items which are must haves, from linen to amenities in the kitchen and elsewhere.
Arranging the inner workings of being a host
Cleaning
You have a few options here. You can either clean it yourself, hire a cleaner that works for you full or part time or you can outsource this to a cleaning company. Each has its pros and cons.
Guest communication & guest lifecycle
This is the meat & bones of hosting. It’s important that you plan for the various stages of the guest lifecycle, both in terms of communication as well as physical things that need to be in place. You need communicate and put things in place during the following phases:
- Pre booking
- Booking
- Pre arrival
- Arrival
- Stay
- Departure
- Review
- Damage & other claims (if any)
Maintenance
As with all properties, routine maintenance will occur. It’s important to have an electrician, plumber and handyman ready for your hosting journey if you cannot perform these tasks yourself. My advice is also to inspect your property regularly and fix issues proactively, as this will drastically reduce guest complaints and admin for you to deal with during a guest’s stay.
The best places for your Pretoria Airbnb
Lastly, whilst you can Airbnb your property anywhere in Pretoria, Airbnb Pretoria East is superior in many ways due to the number of amenities for travelers in this area. These are the areas that work best for Airbnb in the East of Pretoria:
- Menlyn
- Menlyn Maine
- Lynnwood
- Hatfield
- Brooklyn
- Colbyn
- Waterfloof (and Ridge)
- Willow Park
- Silver Lakes and surrounds
Conclusion
That covers the ”need to know” highlights of getting ready. Further articles will dive a little deeper so you can explore each section in turn.
There are many way to get involved in the Airbnb game that doesn’t involve a property and you can also make your property so hands off, that you can do it remotely, whilst still being a superhost.
Happy hosting!
