How to become a successful Airbnb manager

Homeowners are not always good Airbnb managers. They may not have the qualifications and time to acquire these qualifications. Moreover, short-term rental likely represents a part of passive income, while active income is work in a radically different field.

In such situations, the Airbnb management business comes to the rescue, in cooperation with which there are advantages:

• Managers are interested in the results of their work. Specialists are ready to deal with the tasks and get paid, and the owners save their time and energy.
• Experienced managers can find an approach to any client. They can also weed out those potential guests with whom you would have many problems.
• Since this is their principal occupation, managers devote enough time to it and quickly respond to incidents.

Let’s take a closer look at what specific issues Airbnb manager is helpful for and sometimes irreplaceable.

Airbnb manager’s duties

Firstly, the Airbnb manager is a skilled strategist. In managing a real estate object, it is essential to establish all processes so they do not interfere with each other and the rental business. From this follow all the subsequent responsibilities of the manager.

An Airbnb property manager may be responsible for the following:

• Confirming check-ins and check-outs and communicating with guests.
• The Airbnb manager is responsible for maintaining the properties. The call of a plumber, electrician, or cleaning service falls on the shoulders of the manager.
• An Airbnb manager monitors up-to-date information about objects, updates it if necessary, and works with ratings and reviews.
• Solving legal issues. A relatively extensive area of manager’s responsibilities, ranging from studying local laws for the safe conduct of business, ending with the registration of Airbnb host insurance.

Skills of a successful Airbnb manager

The Airbnb manager career is different in that it usually doesn’t require any formal education or degree, but that’s also where it gets tricky because you have to learn everything on your own. A good manager is aware of the specifics of the area where he works, understands the law, and can communicate with people. To meet these criteria, professionals are constantly learning:

• Taking courses.
• Listening to podcasts.
• Attending events and following industry news and Airbnb platform updates.
• Reading vacation rental books.

So regular brushing up on the knowledge is a critical principle in management.

Of course, people with experience in sales, marketing, or management are more likely to adapt to the challenges an Airbnb manager faces because they understand the basics. But this does not mean that a hardworking novice specialist has no chance of success. If you’re used to working on your terms and multitasking, this career might be right for you.

Let’s discuss another important point: the necessity to obtain an RE (Real Estate) license. It all depends on your circumstances: limiting your activity to managing short-term rentals may not need a license. But in some states, an RE license is required. Also, when you engage in long-term rentals, the document may be required per local law. As you can see, the work of an Airbnb manager is primarily determined by the law.

How to Start an Airbnb Management Business

Now that you have an idea of the role of an Airbnb manager, let’s see how you can become one. There are two options for starting a career in this area: with Airbnb host experience and without experience, but with a desire to get it.

Co-hosting

As a host, you have a significant advantage – you have already encountered management and learned from mistakes. Perhaps you even have a network of service contacts, like cleaning, that you are willing to work with, and you know how to work with Airbnb Software tools to automate some tasks. Then your work will go like clockwork. When you offer your services as a manager to other Airbnb hosts, you will prove your expertise through a personal case.

If you don’t have real-world experience, co-hosting will be a bit more challenging to negotiate. Real estate owners are in no hurry to entrust their business to newcomers because the owner’s income and reputation directly depend on their work. Consider offering your services to friends and acquaintances with whom you have already established contact. In the real estate rental industry, trusting relationships play an essential role. And so that you do not limit yourself to just words, we advise you to take courses for Airbnb managers, which are available in the public domain, to receive a certificate confirming your knowledge and skills.

Business plan

When you negotiate to co-host, you can prepare a business plan and finalize it after a successful transaction. A business plan provides a specific course of action you and your subordinates will follow to achieve goals. At its core, this is a step-by-step guide to implementing an Airbnb strategy.

The business plan should distribute the tasks and indicate the time intervals for which the charges must be completed. Scheduled repairs, cleaning, the time when housing will be available for rent or vice versa is closed – all this is desirable to take into account. Expected and actual expenses and revenues can also be added to the business plan to evaluate performance. If necessary, Airbnb loans may need to be taken out in order to secure funding and ensure that all expenses can be dealt with.

Useful Software and Services

We mentioned above that the Airbnb manager could use automation. Indeed, in this work, it is crucial to understand how to use existing resources most effectively and how best to optimize them. In other words, if there is an opportunity to simplify your life using special programs, Airbnb managers will resort to them. Software products allow you to automate communication with clients, payment from tenants, your channel distribution, and more.

A rental manager can also seek help from third-party companies servicing short-term rental businesses.

Conclusions

Airbnb manager is, in many aspects, a problematic but promising and profitable career. By choosing this profession, you will have to master skills from different categories: technical components to soft skills such as flexibility and trainability. Airbnb manager is stress-resistant and does not give up until he does everything in his power. Indeed, the efforts pay off in the end, and you become a specialist whose role in the Airbnb industry is hard to overestimate.