Vacation Rental Managers’ Guide to Scaling Your Airbnb Business

Almost anyone, anywhere, can start an Airbnb business, but the right kind of savvy is required to scale your short-term rentals—and your profits.

The process isn’t always as hands-off as we’d like, whether you’re located nearby or monitoring your Airbnbs remotely. But Airbnb management also doesn’t have to feel like guesswork, and not every obstacle needs to be hurdled all at once. Opportunities abound when it comes to pricing, planning, and financial investment. You just need to know where to start.

Here are six tips for any property manager in any market who’s looking to scale and separate their short-term rental offerings from the competition.

1. Be strategic when determining your Airbnb cleaning fees

One of the most hotly contested pricing considerations is the often-bemoaned Airbnb cleaning fee. Lots of guests complain that fees are too high, while property owners and managers often struggle to find a middle ground between revenue and approachability. Ultimately, it’s always worth investigating your competitors to compare and contrast costs.

Fortunately, because you’re scaling your Airbnb inventory, you’re likely able to hire a short-term rental cleaning service to maintain multiple properties in your area. This means you may be able to undercut the competition’s fees by striking an agreement with your service provider. 

However, it may take some tweaking to find the right Airbnb cleaning service and determine pricing, especially if you’re moving into a new market. Just remember: What works in one part of a city or market might not work elsewhere. Investing in a trustworthy staff is your best bet for netting positive reviews. After all, guests expect cleanliness and won’t hesitate to leave a negative review if they discover less-than-pleasant accommodations. 

2. Rely on property management software to maintain inventory

No matter how many properties you’re managing, a successful manager cannot afford to sacrifice quality for quantity. (If you do, what’s the point of investing the money into new short-term rentals in the first place?) You need to give just as much thought to amenities, pricing, location, upkeep, communication, and all the other factors that made your first rentals successful. And without property management software, you can become overwhelmed and inefficient.

As you scale your Airbnb inventory, property management software (PMS) can reduce stress by helping you track all of the little details. There’s a growing number of available Airbnb management platforms, too, and it’s worth doing your own research to determine which one makes the most sense for your Airbnb business goals. (Not all PMSs are created or priced equally, so dedicate some time and thought to this.)

3. Allow data to drive your new property and market investments

Nothing will likely compare to your first Airbnb property, whether it was the home you still live in or a cabin 1,000 miles away. It’s a special place that taught you invaluable lessons and ultimately positioned you to scale your Airbnb inventory.

Now, because you’re ready to scale, you need to identify markets that offer the best growth opportunities. And we’ve made that process easier for you. AirDNA has compiled in-depth but easily readable data on thousands of large, medium, and small markets in the United States (and a few other countries). All you have to do is check out our Best Places to Invest in Vacation Rentals database, sort by your preference, and you’ll have a huge head start.

Remember that the most successful vacation rental managers never act arbitrarily when it comes to adding new properties to their portfolio. They scale their businesses strategically, not just for the sake of scaling.

4. Reference custom comparisons to better understand your market

Once you’ve pinpointed one or more promising markets, take a deep dive into MarketMinder, our flagship intelligence platform for short-term rental hosts and investors. Once you’re in, you can compare multiple markets side by side, review a property’s earning potential, its year-over-year growth, and other key metrics that will help you put plans into motion. 

After uploading your own properties into MarketMinder, you can create a Custom Comps set to evaluate other properties with features similar to your own. These comparisons will allow you to truly benchmark your listings against the real competition in your market. You’ll also be able to see competitors’ average daily rates (ADR) relative to market rates to get a clearer sense of the big picture in your area.

5. Rely on a pricing tool to eliminate guesswork

Next, it’s time to actually set prices. That’s where our best-in-class Airbnb pricing tool, Smart Rates, comes in.

Smart Rates will help you optimize your pricing strategy by providing conservative, balanced, or aggressive pricing recommendations that are updated every 24 hours. The tool also explains why rates vary by detailing key variables such as holidays, seasonality, market demand, days of the week, and more.

You might be asking yourself, “Why bother with all of this planning?” Well, the answer is simple: It moves the needle. Managers who onboard their properties to MarketMinder andactively use Smart Rates have reported a 24% increase in annual business revenue.

Smart Rates is especially helpful when it comes to pricing for scaled management groups, as managers can quickly review pricing fluctuations in multiple markets and adjust accordingly.

6. Separate yourself from the competition

The journey to successfully scaling a vacation rental business isn’t one that’s completed overnight or in only a few steps. The opportunities and considerations are almost endless. But this guide should give you the confidence to get your feet wet.

And while it’s important to know how you compare to the competition, look for ways to stand out, too, whether that’s with attractive furniture, unique color schemes, high-end appliances, a beautiful outdoor space, etc. When done right, these touches can all contribute to positive reviews and, in turn, more revenue.

However, remember that your guests have no obligation to be nicer than needed in their reviews. If they have constructive feedback (or possibly even some harsh words), you should take them with more than a grain of salt; they might be giving you the free advice you need to scale and improve. After all, you’re in the business of delivering an experience. Without satisfied guests, it’s much harder (or even pointless) to scale.

As a manager, just ensure your sense of ownership goes far beyond a property’s paperwork and four walls—whether that means data or decor.