Life Lessons: Starting an Airbnb

Damaged Caused by a Guest

I am notorious for learning things the hard way and often being incredibly naïve, even at fifty-eight years of age. Recent events reminded me of both these facts. Initial starting an Airbnb seemed like a pretty straight forward process. For me, it was building a unit, furnish it, find a management company to manage it and get it listed on various hosting platforms. Sounds easy peasy right? Not so… here a quick synopsis of past events and lessons combined with current events and more painful lessons learned.

Building a unit – lesson

Have a plan, research and interview at least three contractors, I did five. Pick a contractor that has both the credentials and feels right and give them a clear timeline. Lesson, just because you are clear and they acknowledge said time line, if they are not good at time management, you can kiss your target goal out the window! My goal was to have the Airbnb up and operational September 2024. September came and went and the Cottage was not finished. Two months later and a lot of thumbscrews it was finally done. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the work, started to suffer and I didn’t discover this until months later. Discoveries like this, often have cost tied to them. Lesson – as your Airbnb brings in money, make a point of stashing some of those funds away so that you have the funds to make repairs and or complete finishing details that should have been completed during construction. Lesson – Also, don’t rely on your contractor to fix and or repair, they might be willing and or have time to do it, and they might not which them leaves you in a bind as these are important aspects of guests have a positive experience staying in your vacation rental.  Painful Lesson – find a reliable maintenance person or company that is dedicated to the care of your unit. Reliability is key, unreliability means you risk having to close the rental until repairs are made; Closing down means loss of income.

Furnishing a unit – lesson

Furnishing the Cottage was enjoyable, and I learned that my artistic skills were useful and that I could take on the role of interior designer and be pleased with the outcome. So in regard to building confidence, that was a huge positive. When furnishing an Airbnb you need to have at least two of everything. This is helpful so that you can have quick turn around time, for example while one set of sheets are being washed the other set is in use.  Lesson – two is the bare minimum, depending on what it is you might want to have multiple sets. For example, you have a guest who is less considerate and damages your property with stains, holes, smoke and or physically breaks items. Painful Lesson – any one of these scenarios can happen and it is not beyond the possibility that they can happen all at once! Either way, it’s a painful financially, and especially so when they all occur at the same time. The pain is not just in the pocketbook. If you invested yourself in the creation, like I did, it is also emotionally and psychologically painful. I was naïve to think that strangers would respect and care for a home that was not theirs. That was an especially hard pill to swallow both financially and emotionally and I think a part of me is still recovering from that life lesson.

Finding a management Company – lesson

Many people who have an Airbnb often act as their own host, aka management company. Because Palisade Posh has a number of venues, the Market Garden, Art Studio, Artist Retreats as well as the Airbnb, and Andy and I wanted our rental to truly be ‘passive income’ we decided to have a management company oversee its operations. I opted to use a company that was recommended by a friend. Painful Lesson – Always do your due diligence even when the company is recommended by someone you trust(ed). I failed to do this step, only to discover that the company I hired has terrible reviews. In addition, I was so far removed from the process that the Palisade Posh brand not present, the personal touches and hospitality warm was not there. The key aspects of the property were not marketed to the full potential and the pricing was so low and the cleaning fees so high that bookings were few and far between. We were already behind in opening due to construction delays. Now we were open but limited reservations. In fact over a four month period, we only had three guests. The last guest, although very nice, did major damage to the place, including smoking cannabis inside the Cottage which is Non-smoking home, and break one of the pottery pieces that were features as original art. Painful Lesson – If you must fight with your management company to hold the guest responsible for their actions, you’ve hired the wrong company. If your management company uses photographs to represent your rental and they’ve edited out the outside environment that makes your place unique and tied to a specific location in the country, you’ve hired the wrong management company! Looking back, there were so many red flags that had I been paying attention I would never have signed with the company.

Another thing to make sure you are clear on are the company’s policies regarding termination. If you have a hard time finding the policies, that too is another red flag. Once you find them, read them clearly and gather your documentation as to why you want to terminate the partnership. Write it out and organize it so that when you have that dreaded meeting, you present your reasons clearly and succinctly and in a manner that gives them very little room to argue or contest. This I did and I did it well.  I also had another management company lined up so that Posh Cottage had a place to land. I knew the CEO of this company and was familiar with her work. However, having learned my lesson, I did my due diligence and researched her company’s ratings, and requested references.

So, I fired, hired and started to rebuild the Cottage’s listing platform in three days. To say it was stressful would be an understatement. Having been burned once, trusting the new company even though I vetted them was and is hard. I’m a lot more hands on with them. For example, I am now listed as the Host and the management company as the Co-Host in the Airbnb platform. This allows me to monitor the daily rental activities such as the communication with the guests, check their Airbnb ratings and keep an active on the pricing. My Co-host handles the communication; however, it comes from me and is written in my voice. They also set and adjust the prices according to the seasons and specific events going on in Palisade, but I have a say in the pricing. This set up is truly a partnership and conveys the kind of warm hospitality that I want associated with Posh Cottage. Because they are a local company, they are also keenly aware of what sells our location; The other company was not.

As my trust in the new management company develops over time, I should be able to step away from the daily operations knowing that we are on the same page and that Posh Cottage is in good hands. Life lessons are hard.  Being naïve, even at 58, doesn’t help. Remembering that I often, if not always, learn things the hard way helped me digest all that has happened as I get the Airbnb off the ground. Starting a business is not easy, but even with the bumps along the way it is rewarding, and I am confident that in the end, Posh Cottage will thrive.