An Airbnb virtual assistant can make the difference between an average guest experience and a stellar guest experience. If you’re one of the millions of Airbnb hosts building your business, there are two ways to do it.
One is the hard way.
The other is the smart way.
And the smart way involves saving you time, unnecessary effort, and a whole lot of stress. Simply by using an Airbnb virtual assistant. Hiring a virtual admin assistant could just be the best thing you ever do for your business.
So, You’re an Airbnb Host? Welcome to the Rush
For many people, the idea of becoming an Airbnb host is an attractive one. Take a room, part of your property, holiday house or apartment, and put it to work earning an income for you. In theory, it’s simple enough. Set yourself up, define your price range and potential audience, and let the dollars roll in! An almost passive income! The truth is that Airbnb can be really profitable, if you provide a great service.
But, for anyone who’s tried providing a hospitality service (either through Airbnb or privately), the practicalities can be starkly different.
A Daily Dose of Reality
Your days are likely to include some of these challenges, too:
- Dealing with queries and providing additional information while simultaneously juggling multiple clients.
- Maintenance and cleaning – a never-ending cycle!
- Repairs and upgrades. Not to mention the occasional insurance claim, and claiming back costs of damages from those guests who you’d rather not have again.
- Calendar management, with constant updates as new bookings are made. Cancellations are received, or potential clients request information or change their plans. Scheduling is the key to organization. This is one key area where you can use an Airbnb virtual assistant to schedule your tasks and guests.
- Monitoring reviews and working to increase your ratings and visibility.
- Maintaining an attractive social media presence and keeping your offering fresh across a number of platforms
- Shopping for provisions and accessories.
- Arranging key pickups and drop-offs. Dealing with special requests, and interfacing with other local business owners to co-promote your businesses.
- Arranging outside services if needed, like deep cleaners, sanitization crews, window washers, and property inspectors.
- Ensuring all your statutory obligations are kept up to date and that and that paperwork and records are tracked and reported.
… and those are just some of the more immediate tasks you’ll need to be juggling!
Playing the Middleman
Being a good host means more than just keeping your house in order. It means curating and managing a highly visible and critically important online presence. This can be a delicate balancing act between ensuring you’re compliant with all the key Airbnb requirements, while creating a relaxed, bespoke experience for your guests.
The whole point of Airbnb, as a brand, is that a guest should feel a sense of homeliness during a stay. More like a sleepover at a friend’s and less like a hotel room. Pricing versus what they’re getting is the deal-maker here. And what they’re getting comes down to one thing: the personal touch.
That’s you – or whoever you appoint, be it a full-time property manager or an Airbnb virtual assistant.
Trading Time for Money
In addition to all the practical tasks that keep you on the run, the one thing that demands time and attention is the personal interaction with your guests. Now, obviously, that doesn’t mean that you need to be physically present. But a great hosting experience is characterized by a feeling of friendliness, availability, and attentive care.
If you get those things right, you have guests who come back (hopefully many times) and who not only tell their friends, but who tell the world by giving you fantastic reviews and ratings. And of course, the more positively you’re perceived, the more desirable your destination becomes, and the more you’re able to charge.
Get the Balance Right
Again, in theory, simple enough, but here’s the catch: to get all of that done, consistently and excellently, you’re trading your time for money. Your ‘passive’ income starts feeling very much like a high-pressure day job. But without the fun of the water cooler gossip and the Karaoke at the end of year party.
The goal of running an Airbnb property (or several, if you have them) is to have the business work for you, not the other way round.
Identifying the Energy Drains in Your Airbnb Business
As a business owner, it’s good practice to play to your strengths. There are some things that you do brilliantly. You should keep doing those things. But take a moment to think about the tasks you’d rather not do. The ones that deplete your energy and destroy your motivation. Wouldn’t it be amazing to know that someone else is handling those for you? (And possibly doing them better than you could!)
Enter the Airbnb virtual assistant.
Working in Your Business vs Working on Your Business
As a business owner, it’s critically important to distinguish between working in your business, and working on your business. In the hospitality sector, it’s easy to get sucked into the day-to-day running of things. And to be so overwhelmed that you have no time to focus on growing your business. Taking a strategic view of where you’re going is an impossibility.
Why You Need an Airbnb Virtual Assistant
Picture your typical day as an Airbnb host, if you didn’t need to do any of these things:
- Organizing your calendar, confirming bookings, and coordinating arrival and departure details.
- Constantly sending out information about check-in arrangements, house rules, and local attractions.
- Scheduling laundry, repairs, and maintenance.
- Responding directly and professionally to guests on your behalf.
- Uploading and refreshing (and perhaps even helping to create) your social media content.
- Dealing with the deluge of email that you typically need to respond to.
- Contact guests before and after a stay to get feedback, will prompt great reviews for you.
Imagine What You Can Do With the Extra Time
Imagine you were relieved of even some of these time-intensive tasks. Just think about how much more effectively you could spend time planning and coming up with new ideas. Or exploring new options, maybe even taking some well-deserved time off.
Making use of an Airbnb virtual assistant is far easier than you think. And it’s remarkably cost-effective.
Are you ready to create an even more amazing experience for your guests? Here’s how to free up more of your valuable time!
Book a discovery call with us today and find out just how valuable a virtual assistant can be to your Airbnb business.
