How to start an Airbnb and make money renting your space in 2023.

My name is John. Did you know that you can you learn Airbnb for free? I have been helping hosts like you for a decade optimize their Airbnb businesses. I teach the latest airbnb income-boosting growth hacks to take your vacation rental to the next level. My tried-and-true tactics work. Thanks to this industry and its wonderful people, I have had the honor and privilege to take part in 10,000+ guest stays as a consultant, turnover expert, and host. I want to share my experiences, triumphs, and pitfalls with you. You can do this, I hope you find value and growth opportunities with the content shared through the blog, podcast, and newsletter.

In my younger years, I started cleaning vacation homes to pay my way through college. Since then, I have started and sold a vacation rental management company, a consulting firm for short term rentals, and the largest airbnb cleaning platform in Florida.

I consider myself, by all accounts, a pretty normal guy. I love spending time with my family, the special lady in my life, and my little dog Milo. If I can work remotely at 30 years old in a mortgage-free home I was able to buy from this business – believe me, you can too!

My name is John. I want to help you learn Airbnb for free. I have been helping hosts for a decade optimize their Airbnb businesses. Since its inception, Airbnb has grown into a behemoth. They have single handedly taken the attention away from hotels and the other major OTAs (Booking.com, VRBO). I have helped dozens of hosts grow from $0 in bookings to over $100K in bookings in their first year. I can help you achieve the same results too. 

What is Airbnb?

Airbnb is an online booking platform that connects hosts that have available property for rent and guests who want to rent that property on a short-term basis.

Since its inception, Airbnb has grown into a behemoth. They have single handedly taken the attention away from hotels and the other major OTAs (Booking.com, VRBO). I have helped dozens of hosts grow from $0 in bookings to over $100K in bookings in their first year. I can help you achieve the same results too. 

Before you start hosting on Airbnb, ask yourself the following questions

How much money do I expect to earn by hosting on airbnb?

Airbnb hosting can be lucrative. However, you need to be realistic about your income goals. A lot of social media personalities brag about their airbnb arbitrage success with numbers that are exaggerated or flat out false. Many of these same personalities show screenshots of ‘their accounts’ and go on about how easy it is to achieve the same success if you buy their course. Yeah…right! Be realistic about your income expectations, you can look to earn a 15-20% ROI (return on investment) if you are running an optimized Airbnb. Airbnb listings with 51-100 reviews on average earned $21,569 in the U.S. in 2021, and listings with more than 100 reviews on average earned even more – $23,862 in 2021. Here is the latest host income data directly from Airbnb.

There are rare exceptions that knock it out of the park, but calculating ROI can be done with some pretty unrealistic assumptions that inflate the return percentage…But yes, you can earn a living on Airbnb! 

How much work is involved in Airbnb hosting?

This question depends on if you self-manage or hire a property manager that specializes in short term rentals. If you host your airbnb with your spouse or on your own, you can look to spend 5-10 hours a week on it answering messages, calling contractors, and optimizing your listing. Want to perform the airbnb cleaning yourself, you can add 10-20 more hours or more! By hiring out a property manager, you do not have to do much, but they charge 10-25% and that is actually your ROI so yeah, if your Airbnb does not knock it out of the park, the property management route will leave you broke. 

Do I have the right personality and experience for Airbnb?

Remember, you are allowing strangers into your property. As a host, you are dealing with the public. If you are not great with people, this is not for you. An ideal host puts the guest experience first always and jumps at the opportunity to please their guests. This is afterall, the hospitality business.

In my experience, the first years of my airbnb journey were hard. I was managing multiple airbnbs and businesses in the space and it was super easy to get burnt out. Lucky I had my best friend, a very special lady in my life, Yaya and my lovable dog Milo to get me through.

Am I allowed to operate an Airbnb in my community?

A lot of communities restrict Airbnbs and short term rentals. Now more than ever, with airbnb investors flooding the housing market, many residential neighborhoods are restricting Airbnb. The biggest complaint (which is extremely valid) is the pressure airbnb is putting on the affordable housing supply. The answer is, yes, airbnb does take affordable housing off the markets and in many cases, ruins neighborhoods. While I am a huge fan of this asset class for the right people, we cannot deny the impact Airbnb has on communities and we have to play by the rules. First, before operating any short term rental, you must find out your local laws.

How much competition does your short term rental market have and can you compete? 

In Central Florida, there is an oversupply of rental units on the market. Pull up the map of available units on Airbnb, there are so many rentals out there. If you do not have a key differentiating factor, you will not be profitable. Getting an airbnb payout does not mean you are profitable, so get real. Running an airbnb is super expensive and you need to make sure your market and your rental can support the ever increasing costs, especially in an inflationary environment.

If your market is oversaturated (and you can tell by how many available properties there are in a busy season like Christmas), you will have a harder time turning a profit and it may not be the best idea for you. I know there are a ton of optimists overpromising overnight success with airbnb arbitrage, but I am contrarian. My goal is to provide you with my experiences and facts so you can make an informed decision.

Learn how to make money on airbnb for free.

I decided to try podcasting to share my experiences in a short, daily format with anyone who is interested. I want to give back, I am not selling a masterclass – the tools and resources here are completely free. Listen to the daily podcast and subscribe here. I will teach the following topics on the daily podcast:

1. Vacation rental and airbnb operations management
2. Vacation rental marketing
3. Lodging tax and compliance with local laws
4. How to manage vacation rental accounting
5. Vacation rental and airbnb cleaning process
6. Airbnb’s cancellation and refund policies
7. Security deposits and insuring your short term rental
8. Making money on airbnb
9. Investing in short term rentals
10. Market updates
11. Short term rental pricing strategies

And much, much more. Listen to the daily podcast and subscribe to my weekly newsletter to receive my top insights for the week and free tools such as:

1. Airbnb calculator
2. Comparable analysis worksheets
3. Pricing guides
4. Vacation rental agreement templates
5. Welcome book templates
6. Airbnb cleaning checklists