Should you remodel your airbnb?
It’s 2023 and I would assume that most of us at one point or another, have either stayed at an Airbnb or have browsed the thousands of homes in hopes of a little vacation. A lot of times, we are stuck between the nightly rate, fee’s and taxes while also wanting to stay somewhere that’s not just at the minimum, clean and comfortable. But somewhere that also stands out, leaves an impression and creates a place you will want to come back to. From the guest stand point, if you can check all of those boxes while being price conscious, you’ve just scored big time and can’t wait to leave a review! From the host stand point, if you have created a space that checks all of those boxes, you will end up with full calendars of guests checking in and out, raving reviews, referrals and a solid revenue stream that will help pay down your mortgage.
So the question stands, should you or should you not remodel your short term rental? Owning a short term rental offers many advantages especially when you’re using large platforms like “Airbnb” & “VRBO”. For a small fee, your home is being advertised to thousands of people. With impressive reviews, your home can become one of the most sought homes on the market for vacation go-ers and will allow you to increase your price per night in order to keep up with demand. While a lot plays a part in generating wonderful reviews, remodeling or updating your home is the first step to getting guests to click the “book now” button. Updating your home can increase revenue and in some cases exponentially. Can this be expensive and time consuming? Yes, absolutely. However, when looking at the rate of return and longevity of this investment, it’s a small price to pay to boost your bookings. If you’re contemplating remodeling, restyling or refreshing your home, consider the following recommendations.
Are you making the most of your space?
Do you have a room that just accumulates storage when it could be an extra bedroom? A loft that is never used? A functionable dining table to gather at? Unused space that you don’t know what to do with is a great indicator that you should remodel. Consider making the space more functional and accommodating to additional guests. Sometimes, updating or rearranging your furniture will help fill up that unused space.
2. The Homes In Your Area are More Up To Date
If you haven’t had your home appraised in a while, now is a great time to do so in order to find out your homes value. This will help you compare your homes value to recent home sales in your neighborhood. If the properties in your area are higher than yours, a remodel would be in great benefit to you. This is especially true should you decide to sell your investment property in the future.
3. You’re looking for higher reviews & increased revenue
After you’ve been a hosting for a while you’ll start to notice that your competitors are gaining better reviews than you and they’re also charging a higher amount. If you want to stay in the competition with the Airbnb’s in your area, a remodel or a space face lift will be the best way to do that. In fact, just by doing so, you could potentially double your bookings. Updating your space to reflect a unique guest stay that goes above and beyond minimum accommodations will no doubt increase your bookings, increase your revenue and gain tons of business,
4. Does your short term rental have its own unique charm?
If you have an older home, look into signs of deterioration (room, rotting floorboards, dysfunctional cabinets, stained bath tub). If any of those signs are giving, then you most definitely need to update your home. Which can be a great thing! Giving your old and quaint home an update allows a blank canvas to create a fun visual aesthetic that guests are wanting to experience.
Whether your short term rental isn’t bringing in as much revenue as you’d like, you’d like to increase your property value or you want to upgrade the overall functionality of your home, an upgrade can go a long ways. An upgrade can be as small as rearranging your furniture, updating accessories and paint or as big as a full remodel. Either way, I would love the opportunity to help guide you through the process. Over the last five years of my career, I have worked in Mortgage, managed short term rentals which were primarily based on Airbnb and have been simultaneously growing Salt & Linen. Without knowing it, all of my career paths have cultivated an expertise that I am truly passionate about. I love to design living spaces but there’s something so exciting to me about designing short term rentals!
Contact us to learn more about our services and get your project started today.
Let us do the design work so you can do the hosting!
