If you’re thinking about becoming a short-term rental host, or if you’ve already started hosting but want to make the process smoother, read on for 10 short-term rental hosting tips and tricks! These Airbnb hacks will help make your life easier and ensure that your guests have a great experience.

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today! 

Invest in Refillable Soaps and Shampoos

A great way to save money and make your short-term rental more eco-friendly is to use refillable soaps and shampoos. Buying refillable soaps in bulk is cost-effective and dramatically lowers your managing costs.

In addition, you can pick out great looking containers for your soaps and shampoos to add style to your bathroom. A posh-looking bottle is much more pleasing to guests than a standard disposable one!

Add a Sofa Bed

It’s essential to invest in quality furniture, and adding a couch with a built-in sofa bed is a great way to market your home to a larger audience. Potential guests will filter their search for properties that can hold the number of people they are traveling with.

You can easily turn your two-person one-bedroom property into a four-person listing with the simple addition of a sofa bed. While you don’t need to market your listing to larger groups, this simple change will allow your listing to appear in front of more guests and have the possibility to impact your long-term profits significantly.

Send an After-Check-Out Message

Schedule an automated message to your guest after check-out that thanks them for staying with you and leaving your home in good condition. Ask them to leave a review if they enjoyed their stay, or to let you know if therewere any issues. Sending a follow-up message and reminding your guests to leave your property a review and inspire them to make it a great one.

Invest in Keyless Entry

As a host, the key to a seamless rental experience is keyless entry. This allows you and your guests to come and go as you please without coordinating schedules or worrying about lost keys.

There are many different types of keyless entry systems on the market, but we highly suggest the August Yale Keypad lock. This lock is exceptionally reliable, easy to use, and integrates perfectly with Host Tools. 

Create a Welcome Basket

When guests arrive at your property, it’s always nice to greet them with a little something special. A Welcome Basket is the perfect way to do this! It can include snacks, drinks, and local information about the area. Here are some ideas for what to have in your Welcome Basket:

• A bottle of wine or champagne
• Local snacks and drinks
• Maps of the area
• Information about local attractions
• Complimentary toiletries (shampoo, soap, etc.)
• A note from the host welcoming the guests to the property

Purchase Quality Linens and Towels

It is extremely important to purchase quality linens and towels. Not only will this make your guests feel more comfortable, but it will also help to set your property apart from the competition.

In order to find the best sheets for Airbnb, it is important to do your research. There are a number of factors that you will need to consider, such as thread count, fabric type, and color. 

See Related: Best Towels and Sheets for Airbnb: A Complete Guide to Bedding for Airbnb

Provide Extremely Dependable Internet

Most guests filter their search by WiFi availability. It is imperative to provide excellent internet connections in your vacation rental.

If you want to ensure that your vacation rental property has dependable WiFi then you need to invest in a business-grade broadband connection. This type of connection is designed to provide much higher speeds and reliability than a typical residential connection, so you can be sure that your guests will always have the online access they need.

Create Social Media Profiles for Your Listing

Having a Facebook page allows potential guests to learn more about your listing and see photos and reviews from past guests. This can help them decide if they want to book your listing. Additionally, Facebook is a great way to keep guests updated on what’s happening in your area and answer any questions they may have.

Instagram is also a great platform for promoting your listing. You can post photos of your listing, the surrounding area, and even delicious food from local restaurants. This will help potential guests get a better sense of what it’s like to stay in your listing and give them ideas of things to do during their stay. Plus, you can create a hashtag for your listing and ask guests to use it, and offer to potentially reshare their photos.

See Related: Tips to Promote Short-Term Rentals on TikTok

Surprise Guests with a Late Check-Out

Giving guests a late check-out can be a great way to surprise them and make their stay more comfortable. Sometimes, unexpected things come up, and people need a little extra time to check out.

By giving them a late check-out, you’re letting them know that you appreciate them choosing your listing and that you want to do whatever you can to make their stay more enjoyable. It’s also a great way to show your guests that you’re willing to go the extra mile for them.

If they have a late flight or just need a little more time to relax, a late check-out can be a real life-saver. And, best of all, it doesn’t have to cost you anything extra. You can list your check-out time as something earlier than it actually is and build in that time to always offer a late check-out as a “surprise.”

Automate Your Management Tasks with Host Tools

Upon integrating your listing with Host Tools, you gain access to numerous message templates that you can easily automate between guests and cleaners. Plus, you will have smart lock integration and multi-channel calendar synchronization to prevent double bookings and easily manage your listing across multiple channels. 

Final Thoughts

By following these Airbnb hacks, you can make your life a lot easier while providing an exceptional experience for your guests. With a little bit of planning and effort, you can be sure that your guests will have a memorable stay at your vacation rental property.

And, who knows, they may even come back to stay with you again! Hosting a short-term rental can be a lot of work, but you can save up to 80% of the time you spend messaging guests, updating availability, or chasing reviews when you automate your listing with Host Tools. 

Host Tools provides an automated, unified calendar for short-term rental hosts, allowing you to seamlessly list on all major channels. Start your free trial today!