Business

How to Optimize Your Airbnb Systems

Experiment with elimination, automation, delegation, and batching (in that order).

Sound Familiar?

Pesky Problem

You’re making hosting harder than it has to be.

Of course, that’s not your goal. You didn’t set out to overcomplicate your short term rental business. You’d love your Airbnb systems to feel more streamlined. But every time you consider tweaking your current routine, you’ve got a really good excuse that keeps things exactly the same.

“Everything I do is absolutely necessary.” Or “I really have to be present for that.” Or “No one else could do it as well as it needs to be done.” Or “What if I make things worse?”

As rock solid as your reasoning feels, the truth is that fear underpins many of these lines of thinking. And these excuses (let’s call a spade a spade) prevent you from testing out new strategies that might very well create a more sustainable and joyful form of hosting.

Let's Try This

Bite-Size Solution

Experiment with elimination, automation, delegation, and batching (in that order).

In business, the system optimization wisdom goes in the following order. First, eliminate anything that’s unnecessary. Then, automate anything that can be done without a human present. Next, delegate tasks to another trusted individual and provide exceptional step-by-step instructions. (Emphasis on exceptional.) And finally, take the remaining items on your to-do list and process identical or similar tasks in sizable batches.

With that framework in mind, ask yourself where you might apply it in your hosting routine. Here are a few ideas to get your wheels turning about how you might optimize your Airbnb systems.

Eliminate:

Allow guests to check in by themselves and eliminate your self-imposed obligation to be present. (We’ve got a whole post here about why we love self check in as guests!)

Automate:

Create communication templates that you can rinse and repeat with each guest.
Turn on instant book and allow guests to book with you immediately.

Delegate:

Amplify your cleaning crew’s effectiveness by creating photo instructions of exactly what each room should look like to be ready for the next guests.
Test out hiring a local co-host while you take a week each month to step away from the demands of being perpetually available.

Batch:

Create all of your welcome notes to guests for the month in a single sitting.
Review your business finances once a month during a focused, strategic session (instead of sporadically from your phone).

Think of these optimization opportunities as experiments. Remember, this is your business! You can try a new approach to a stubborn problem for 30 or 60 days, and then reevaluate. If you love the new approach, stick with it! And if the new system leaves something to be desired, switch it up and test out a different solution.

5 Minutes

Here's Your First Step

Start by tackling the worst problem from last year.

Optimizing your hosting workflow doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an ever-evolving process of experiments, changes, and tiny tweaks to find the right combination of strategies to create the most enjoyable experience for you.

So if you’re wondering where to dive into optimizing your Airbnb systems, we’d usually recommend starting at the bottom. Here’s what we mean: start by addressing the very worst part of your hosting routine.

That’s right: go straight into the belly of the beast. Think through the most frustrating, time-consuming, or stressful part of hosting from the last year. (If that sounds like a cathartic ten minute brainstorming exercise for you, consider this your overdue invitation to set the timer and vent!)

Once you’ve identified the biggest culprit of your hosting dissatisfaction, brainstorm different strategies to either eliminate, automate, delegate or batch process that pesky to-do item. Aim for at least two to three ideas for each category.

Then make the leap and actually test out a few of your new ideas. You may be surprised by how effective your new approach is! By this time next year, you might very well look back at your big, gnarly problem and think, “Turns out I was making that so much harder than it needed to be. Thank goodness I tried something different!”

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big heart hosting

we help hosts thrive

You’re an ambitious Airbnb host with a big heart. But on some days, hosting isn’t exactly what you had imagined. Maybe it’s overwhelming. Or isolating. Or just not making the kind of money you had envisioned. At Big Heart Hosting, we’re on a mission to help hosts like you thrive, not just get by. We create step-by-step resources that bring together the best hosting strategies from around the world. We’ll give you the knowledge and community you need to create the joyful, prosperous Airbnb you deserve.

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