As the year comes to a close, it’s more important than ever to look into how you can make your life easier in 2021. One of the best ways to increase your revenue without increasing your workload is to invest in Airbnb automation.
Now is a great time to review your processes and figure out ways to save time and energy. Here are 5 things you can do.
1. Mark down any trends.
2020 has caused unprecedented changes in the vacation rental industry, and the seasonal trends of years past might not apply in the age of the pandemic. However, at least in the United States, we’re likely to see the effects of this virus continue into 2021.
To start your year-end review, it’s worth looking at how this year compared to previous years in terms of trends to see how the pandemic affected your business. Were people traveling during different seasons than usual, or traveling in smaller groups than previous years? Keep these new trends in mind as you update and optimize your listings for the new year.
2. Write down your FAQs.
Look back over your communication with potential guests from the past year. What questions were asked that you don’t already answer on your listing?
It’s worth saving a document of form responses or message templates for the most common questions so you don’t have to keep typing up your correspondence from scratch.
3. Consider property management.
A property management company can automate many aspects of the Airbnb process for you, from tackling customer service to optimizing your listings. The year’s end is a great time to look over your profits from the past 12 months and decide if hiring a property management company is right for your budget.
If you’ve been using a property management company, it’s also a good time to evaluate how well it’s been working for you. If you haven’t noticed a dramatic increase in profits, you might want to consider switching companies.
4. Use Smart Pricing, if it’s right for you.
Airbnb’s Smart Pricing considers over 70 factors when adjusting your prices for you. For property owners who don’t want to keep track of optimal pricing, especially when the world is so unpredictable, this can be an attractive way to automate your listings.
Smart Pricing can be helpful to some Airbnb owners, but others may find more success with manually adjusting their pricing. You might find that Smart Pricing isn’t as accurate as researching your competition can be. It all depends on your area and what works for your property, so play around with it before setting and forgetting.
5. Try touchless check-in.
Many hosts are finding that automating their check-in process not only makes their lives easier, but is a hit with guests, as well.
Touchless check-in is more popular than ever due to the pandemic. You can automate this by opting for keypad entry or a lockbox with a key for your rental property, then letting guests know the code before they arrive.
The end of the year is always a great time to re-evaluate your Airbnb strategies, but especially now that so much has changed in 2020. Hosts have had to make many adjustments, but you can make your job much easier moving forward by automating your business for 2021.
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