hey guys this is Richard founder of
short-term rentals secrets.com
today the top five things I wish I knew
before I got started on the Airbnb I
hope you enjoy have a lower minimum
night stay requirement when I got
started I thought it would be really
difficult to have one or two night
minimums and I thought it would be a
pain and I didn't think that people
would book like the Monday Tuesday night
so I thought gee I'm gonna make this a
little bit more convenient and a little
bit longer term and that's gonna help me
fill up the entire month if I have a
five night minimum I only need four or
five guests to fill up the entire month
but in reality what I found is having a
shorter period of time and I you
typically use two night minimums means
that I have more gas more turnover I
have less concern about those Tuesday
Wednesday periods because believe it or
not people want to travel so don't worry
about the number of night minimum unless
you're in a resort place and it's only
weekends but if you're anywhere that has
any sort of business associated with it
or conferences or events and
entertainment worry not about the middle
of the week as much as you think you
might and what I've found is that's
actually increased my revenue
tremendously I know I've talked about it
a lot is to try dynamic pricing I happen
to use beyond pricing I think it's
fabulous and if you click up here you
can actually watch an interview that I
did with Ian the founder but changing
your prices on a daily basis is really
important because there's things that
happen that affects supply and demand
like if there was a big event happening
in your neck of the woods you wouldn't
necessarily know about it and you might
get picked off and leave money on the
table but conversely if there's a big
event in your neighborhood and you could
double or triple your income for two or
three nights that might make your month
so using something like beyond pricing
is fantastic you can go ahead and in the
comment section will put the affiliate
link where you can sign up for a free
trial we get a little bit of help it'll
help you I highly recommend it try
dynamic pricing it'll really make a big
difference for you the third thing I
wish I knew is just how important
reviews are and how to get them so what
I've learned over time is to ask for
them it's really easy just ask for them
when I send a guests check-in
instructions at the very end I say we
really care we want to earn your 5-star
review please let me know what we can do
to make your
stay better and earn that review
likewise then they check out we send a
follow-up that says you know we hope you
had a great time please take a moment to
leave us a 5-star review and just being
real subtle about like five-star review
it sort of sets their expectations it
lets them know what you're hoping for
lets them know what you're striving for
so just ask for it what we've found is
it really makes a huge difference people
are more than happy to do it they just
need that little bit of reminder and
once you set their expectations that
you're looking for a five-star review
they actually give it unless there's
something that's wrong now five star
reviews mean a lot more money in your
pocket because for an SEO perspective
Airbnb is gonna put you up higher you're
gonna earn super host status so you
really want that and the best way to do
it like anything else in life is ask for
it Airbnb is more than just a booking
platform in fact it's an entire
ecosystem it's a universe of companies
that have built their entire businesses
around servicing Airbnb hosts and guests
go to the Airbnb site check out the
partner links there's all sorts of
companies and services that connect via
API to your calendar they know who's
coming and who's going and when so
whatever your headache is whether it's
check-in and tea drop or cleaning after
they depart you name it it's there the
fifth and final tip I wish I'd known
when I started my business is the
importance of instant book make sure
that you accept instant bookings it will
drive more revenue and if you're
concerned use a setting that I use which
limits people the ability to book on
instant book they have to be Airbnb
current guests and they also have to
have favorable reviews so if they've
used Airbnb in the past and other hosts
have rated them favorably that's good
enough for me I oughta mate it I scale
and it saves me so much back-and-forth
and waiting and the user experience is
better and I get better placement all
that translates into more revenue for me
so I hope you found this video helpful
if you did smash the like button down
here and go ahead and subscribe up here
we're gonna be filming more content like
this that is going to put more revenue
in your pocket tips advice suggestions
stay tuned there's a lot more coming
thanks so very much have a great day