
While tinkering with my hosting strategy recently, I started thinking about what I would do differently if I set up a short-term rental today (writes HCH Founder, James Varley). With my first rental, I did what many first-time hosts do: I bunged it on Airbnb and hoped for the best. I’m the first to admit I didn’t know anything about dynamic pricing, digital guidebooks, tech solutions (or much else) back in the day. For me – like many people – it’s been a constant learning curve.
So, in the spirit of sharing, here are some key hosting essentials that I didn’t quite nail from the very beginning.
Dynamic pricing
At the start, I priced my rental low to encourage bookings and good reviews – and frankly, I still think this is a solid strategy. However, what I didn’t implement was a dynamic pricing tool like Beyond (HCH sponsor). For the first year or so, I was manually setting rates; putting them higher in summer and at Christmas time, and lower during the shoulder seasons. This meant I missed out on revenue when demand was high. My rental must have been incredibly cheap when a festival was held nearby! When I finally did implement a dynamic pricing solution, I earned noticeably more revenue, so would recommend that any host gives them a try.
One-night stays
I was all about high occupancy at the start. A night without a booking was a wasted opportunity as far as I was concerned. However, what I’ve learned is that one-night bookings can be a scourge. Firstly, they cause more wear and tear, and they markedly increase the number of turnovers (and cleaning fees of course). And often, one-night stays cause the most hassle. Guests often want to check-in early and leave late. And sometimes the one-night guests are the noisy ones who cause damage. I’m quite sure that if I reviewed my years of hosting, I would quickly notice that it’s the one-night stays that caused the most problems. Another issue with one-night stays is they can prevent longer bookings. If your calendar is wide open months in advance, that pesky little one-night stay could be blocking a guest who wants to stay for a week or longer.
Cleaning
On day one, I employed a domestic cleaner to look after the property – and unfortunately, she didn’t really understand the attention to detail required for short-term rentals. Cleaners need clear instructions and training when it comes to holiday lets – especially if they normally focus on domestic cleans. My advice would be to hire a cleaning company – rather than an individual – who has experience and knowledge of cleaning short-term rentals.
Digital guidebook
This tech is cheap, and it supercharges the guest experience. They are easy to edit and simple to share with your guests. They look the part, cut the amount of paper you need, and will impress your guests. Plus, there are plenty of excellent solutions on the market, including Hostfully, Orana Stay, and Touch Stay (all HCH sponsors).
Be a good neighbour
You need to keep your neighbours onside – especially if they raise an eyebrow when you tell them the property is going to be a short-term rental (like mine did). Talk to your neighbours and share your contact details. Turn them into allies rather than opponents. If they ever complain, deal with it immediately. If I was setting up a rental tomorrow, I’d be knocking on all my neighbours’ doors and sharing my phone number and email. I would also be using a monitoring tool like Minut (HCH sponsor) – which detects overcrowding, noise, cigarette smoke, and much more.
What about you? If you could go back, what would you get right from day one? Let us know in the comments or email james@holidaycottagehandbook.com.
I recommend doing the whole cleaning / laundry process yourself a couple of times at the very beginning so you actually know what it involves . It clarifies what you want and expect from your cleaning team/ laundry .
Trial the accommodation you are offering- this may help you see the ‘ shortfalls/ missing / potential problems before guests tell you !
Thank you , what a great advice. I definitely agree with you 💯 %