Extra Income Stream: Airbnb Hosting

I was for 2 years host of a beautiful Airbnb in Blenheim, Marlborough. It was the perfect place to relax and recharge after a day of wine tasting, work or a hike on the Wither Hills.

It was a 65sqm (700 sqft) self-contained private cottage with a solar-heated pool, a fully equipped kitchen and a designated office space.

When the cottage was booked, we gave the guests privacy. When the cottage was not booked, we loved to enjoy this place ourselves and swim.

For the following reasons I like this project:

1. It was a great way to meet new people

We found that roughly the 30% of our guests travel for business and 70% are on vacation.

Business people appreciate the quietness, the desk and the relaxing environment after a long day of work.

Vacationers love the quietness, pool and relaxing environment after a day of wine tastings.

Some people you never saw, but others enjoy chatting and telling you about their journey. Both are good. Interactions were always super relaxed and casual!

2. It was a great way to earn extra income

The extra income stream provided me with the safety net (primarily psychological) I needed to take the leap and pursue entrepreneurship full-time.

Costs were minimal. Mainly related to cleaning products, towels, bedding, pool chemicals, power and cleaning services.

Hosting people takes some time and effort. How much is determined by the number of daily turnovers. Sometimes you have 5 turnovers per week. Some people stay for a week, and you only have one turnover. Some days, the Airbnb does not get booked.

We find that Airbnb tasks generally take between 1 and 2 hours per week, and we earned between $400 and $1,000 a week. We find it worth it!

3. You will learn valuable skills

It’s a must to develop basic business skills to:

• Build systems
• Set prices
• Organize supplies
• Plan the cleaner
• Deal with taxes
• Communicate professionally

Your career will benefit from all of these skills.

4. Profit from the systems that Airbnb has put in place

Airbnb organizes payments, cover damage, screen guests, offer 24-hour support, have an easy-to-use app, supply cleaning checklists, promote your listing, provide text templates to send to guests, etc.

They have really solid systems in place that you can take advantage of.

This will save you a lot of time and worry.

5. You’re surprisingly still very in control

Block out the days when it does not suit to host guests.

Kindly refuse people's booking requests if you don’t feel comfortable with them.

You can cancel an existing booking at any time.

Unlike hotels where everybody can just book.

Those were my main reasons why I liked it.

People often asked me:

“Does it not take a lot of time to make breakfast for the guests every morning?”

It’s not a bed & breakfast. You don’t have to cook for guests…

“Don’t you find it annoying to clean all the time?”

We had a cleaner on call that helped us out.

Overall, it was a super fun and profitable activity on the side!