AIE 125: Tactical Short-Term Rental Tips from Former Airbnb Employee

<p>Danny Rusteen wrote the book on hosting. Actually, he’s written 2 of them. According to him, living in Airbnbs is a life hack, it actually makes your life less complicated. That’s why he does it! Lauren has been rotating among her own units for years. This is a good thing – hosts should stay in their places at least a couple of times per year, according to Danny. He suggests spending time in the towns where you’re going to invest. Controversy alert: he thinks you should take your own pictures. Danny talks about being employee number 700 at Airbnb. Lauren and Danny touched on the relationship Airbnb has with both guests and hosts. Will they always be so dominant? Airbnb has been souring its relationship with hosts for a few years now. Lauren suggested thinking of Airbnb as a marketing platform, and definitely using other platforms and direct bookings as well. How about getting bad reviews removed? Make the customer service rep’s job easier. A gap may be widening between all star hosts and others. Danny’s new book helps hosts from soup to nuts. Listing tip: highlight in your listing copy what they can’t see in the pictures. He talks about cleaners: go local! Finally, he talks about undiscovered vs discovered markets. </p> <p><strong>About Danny:</strong></p> <p> Danny Rusteen is a former Airbnb employee, Superhost, and author of the best-selling book for Airbnb hosts &quot;Optimize YOUR Bnb: The Definitive Guide to Ranking #1 in Airbnb Search&quot;. He recently published a new book for short-term rental hosts titled &quot;Profitable Properties&quot;. He lives in Airbnbs (more than 2,000 nights), runs a remote property management company and invested in a vacation rental in Colombia last year.</p> <p><strong>Sponsored by TouchStay Digital Guidebooks:</strong> <a href="https://touchstay.com/">https://touchstay.com/ </a></p> <p>If you liked this episode, you will also like Episode 96: Branding Your STRs and Episode 118: STR Regulations.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Connect with Danny:</strong></p> <p><a href="https:/