After completing our big renovation, we were ready to claim the title “short term rental hosts.” So how did we get there? And how you can you get there too?
Before “going live,” we need to think about the following two main ideas:
- Setting up your space
- Setting up your systems
When setting up your space, there can be lots to think about, so let’s start with the most important part, the entrance. We’ll review the other rooms in separate posts.
Entrance
We use smart locks for our rental entrance. This allows us to set codes for the cleaners and allows AirBnB to set codes for the guests. The lock we use is called the Schlage Encode.
We also have a cute “be our guest” sign, which we hope helps guests feel invited and welcome.
Lastly, we have a letterboard sign as soon as you walk in that says “Welcome to Denver” and we always add the name or names of people checking in. We hear over and over again how special this makes our guests feel, so it is worth the minute or two it takes to change the sign every turnover.
Systems
- Short term rental license: In Denver you need a short term rental license to operate as a host. We were nervous this was going to take a long time, but it was fairly quick. It costs $100 a year to renew. Of course this varies from city to city, so make sure to check the short term rental rules and regulations in your local city, county, or HOA.
- Calendar management: we can’t say enough how much we love using Hospitable. It syncs with all the hosting websites (AirBnB, VRBO) so that if someone books a day on AirBnb, it shows as blocked on VRBO, and vice versa. It is also where we receive messages from guests, and Hospitable suggests responses to questions, sends out check-in and check-out instructions, and more. It’s our one stop shop and we love it!
- Dynamic pricing: we use PriceLabs to push our pricing out to the different hosting websites, taking into consideration demand during different times of the year and different days of the week (e.g. charging more for a weekend than a weekday,). It’s worth it!
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