hello youtube this is richard founder of
short-term rental secrets.com and
Airbnb super host look one of the things
that I recommend as a host is to go and
actually stay in Airbnb and check it
out because I think you can learn not
only from the best practices but also
from the little mistakes that others
make so I actually just got back from an
Airbnb upstate New York near Woodstock a
friend of mine invited me up and I took
the opportunity to get out of the city
and go check it out and I want to share
with you some of the things that I
learned and hopefully you'll find them
interesting and beneficial to you so the
first thing I thought was amazing about
the property was the design and the
aesthetic here we were in an antique old
barn but it had a really eclectic mix of
modern influence and furniture and it
was wide open and just really cool the
bathrooms were exceptional and so just
from a design perspective kudos to the
host there and I think it photographed
really well it probably gets a lot of
attention people want to stay there and
that sort of barn with modern open space
in you know historic town is kind of
cool and different and so I think that
they did that really well and it
probably drives a lot of revenue in
their pocket with people wanting to stay
in that sort of unique experience second
thing I think these hosts did
exceptionally well was they put together
a really beautiful guidebook now the
content was spot-on it's walked you
through where the local coffee shops are
and the activities from swimming to
hiking to biking and grocery stores and
post office and all the content was
spot-on so therefore super helpful for
anybody staying in new to the area but
more importantly the thing that really
resonated with me and was eye-opening
was it was beautiful they took the time
and energy to make this like a
beautifully designed guidebook the
design and the aesthetic and the graphic
design was really really beautiful and
it just sends a very subliminal message
to somebody which is like we care about
you we care about our home we pay
attention all the details we want you to
enjoy and so after looking at that
guidebook personally I know I can
improve mine and I'm going to do to
exactly that the third thing I found
really helpful was they took the time
and energy to use a label maker and
labeled all of the different lights and
then some of the accessories such as
like the heat
in the system and said it was heat only
or this was radiant they have a airplay
speaker so you could listen to music and
they told you what the Wi-Fi name was on
the unit and I'll share photos with you
but somebody's walking in to your home
they've never been there before they
have no idea what the lights which is
what the heat is how to get the airplay
working what the wireless is and so I
think taking the time and energy in a
very discreet fashion so it's not like
you know glaring and bold and detracting
but just helpful was super helpful so
let's contrast that with some of the
things I think that they could have done
better and there's room for improvement
the labels were super helpful when they
were intended to help the guest the
labels could be considered obtrusive and
a detraction from the comfort of staying
in your home when it's purely to help
the host so think about whether the
label is there to help the guest or
whether it's there to help you and I
understand that we all have had septic
issues and people that have flooded you
know the shower and so on and so forth
but this is one of the risks that you
take and if you don't see these labels
either at hotels that you stay at or in
your friends homes when you go over
there for a dinner party then it's
probably inappropriate to have them in
your home as you welcome guests from all
over the world even though it may be
important to you the second thing and
this is much more minor but you know one
of our members of our parties sort of
mentioned it it would be nice to have a
little bit more privacy landscape
between the house and the road privet
hedge or whatever hedge but at the end
of the day realize that there's guests
and they may not feel that comfortable
with either the neighbors or the people
driving by and so I put yourself in
their shoes and think gee would it be
nice to have a little bit more privacy
from the main road or from our neighbors
generally speaking the answer is yes and
the third thing is really just a
personal decision and a liability issue
they had a really beautiful wood burning
fireplace that we took advantage of and
totally enjoyed so it's a great perk as
a guest and I love that however as a
host I may not have that open and
available to guests who you know who
knows they may have never lit a fire in
their life they may put seven million
pieces of wood in there and burn the
whole house too you just have no idea
and you're not around right so just like
you assume that people are comfortable
with like no privacy you should also
assume the opp
which is people have no clue how to take
care of a fireplace and they might burn
your house down so that's a personal
decision I understand the benefits they
probably get some bookings because of
the fireplace but I don't really care
about four hundred dollars a night I
care about the long-term nature of this
business and I kind of need my house to
be intact and not burned down and not to
mention human danger right like I the
last thing I want is people passing out
or carbon monoxide or they don't open
the flue I mean it's just filled with
risk and not something that I would
personally take and don't recommend that
any of the viewers here take it so in
closing I really encourage all of us
hosts to stay in other host homes and
learn and photograph what you think is
best and share with our community we can
all do things better and enjoy other
people's homes so this was really
eye-opening I'm going to personally
improve my guidebook in all of my
different properties i'm going to start
labeling some of the things that are
more difficult to find like some of the
lights can be challenging so i'm going
to incorporate that and i hope you found
this helpful go ahead and like the video
subscribe to the YouTube channel we're
going to be making many more of these
kinds of videos at Airbnb s and villas
as we travel around and hope you enjoyed
it share it with a friend and in the
meantime happy hosting have a great day