How to set up your Airbnb holiday rental property 

Adding your property to the Airbnb website isn’t as simple as it seems. If you are thinking about setting up your home to be made available as a short term holiday rental then there are quite a few things you should consider.

Why?

Getting the set up right will mean the difference between getting lots of bookings vs having an empty holiday rental home that isn’t earning any rental income. Our property management team are experts at getting this right as we have learnt the hard way managing our own properties and also more then 200 others for home owners on our website. 

1. Creating privacy for your Airbnb guests

It really doesn’t matter what kind of holiday rental property you’re trying to rent out, you need to ensure that your guests have privacy at all times whether they’re inside the property or in the garden areas. These are some of the areas you should pay attention to in order to ensure maximum privacy for your guests.

If there are any neighbouring properties you’ll want to make sure there’s good fencing that is high enough to ensure complete privacy. Guests are far less likely to book an unfenced property, especially if they are travelling with a pet.

If fencing isn’t adequate or high enough to stop neighbours peering in, you may want to consider investing in higher fences, or plant fast-growing hedges, shrubs or trees to help obscure the views into your holiday rental.

If you’re renting out a property that is attached to another residence, you need to ensure the entrance is completely separate and that the other property or residents can’t see into the holiday rental. You’ll also want to ensure that you take all the necessary steps to ensure your holiday rental is adequately soundproofed.

If your property is attached to another residence it’s also crucial that you list that clearly in the description. Be completely transparent with your listing description, no matter how private the property may be some guests will always prefer a separate residence and may end up leaving negative reviews if they don’t think the property description was accurate.

2. Ensuring the plumbing and hot water is adequate

Guests on holiday aren’t counting the amount of water they use as they aren’t the ones paying the bill. You will probably find that the costs of water are far higher in your holiday rental than what you would be paying in your own home. 

Guests may even shower or take a bath multiple times a day, especially if they’re out doing activities during their stay or your home is used mainly in hot summer months.

This could mean the amount of people showering is double what it would normally be, you’ll want to make sure your hot water system can cope with more than your guest capacity to account for people taking multiple showers. You’ll also want to have your hot water system serviced regularly so your guests are never left with a cold shower.

Most hot water systems have a life expectancy of about 1o years but they will almost always last for 15. You’ll want to replace your hot water system every 12.5 years during an off season week rather than risk having your hot water system explode and risk an emergency call-out at an exorbitant rate just to fix your system in anticipation for guests.

You should also make sure that every tap has water saving flow rate fittings as well.

3. Electricity requirements in an Airbnb

Travellers these days want to be able to use their devices in every room, watch the TV, use the air conditioning or other electrical devices in the property. So apart from making sure the electrical wiring in the home is safe, you need to have a modern switchboard with the right level of safety switches.

Around the holiday home you should also consider how many power points you have, where are they located and do they have USB ports.

Sounds like a small thing but making it easy for guests to use your property makes all the difference and improves the chances of getting a great review and repeat bookings. Of course to minise costs you could install solar panels to help manage the usage.

4. What lighting is needed for an Airbnb property

Lighting is often overlooked, but it’s super important. In most cases you will want to replace any existing conventional light globes with LED light globes to reduce your electricity usage. Not only will they save you a whole lot of money, they will also last a whole lot longer than traditional globes.

LED light globes typically last for about 10 years so you won’t have to worry about guests complaining about blown light globes. If you have any fixtures that are non-LED globes, it’s always important to have a stockpile of spare globes in case they blow before, during or after a guest’s stay but ideally they are converted to use LED.

Speak to your local council or government before replacing LED’s as many have subsidised rates such as the NSW lighting upgrade scheme designed to make homes greener.

The other consideration is what mood they create, so if you have bright white globes everywhere, while it is safe, it may not create a feeling of warmth. So some consideration should be given to the feeling that your property creates at night time as couples may wish to use the property as opposed to a family with kids.

Outdoor lighting for guest areas such as decks or paths is also vitally important, particularly for safety reasons.

5. Furnishing and decorating an Airbnb rental home

Apart from the structural integrity and service provisions of your property you have to really consider what it looks like. Yes most people will be choosing a location to visit because of the local attractions, the region etc but ultimately their final choice will come down to how great your property looks.

So furnishing your holiday rental is likely going to be your biggest expense during the setup process. You’ll want to ensure you keep all your receipts of any items you buy for your holiday rental, whether it’s a one off expense (like furniture) or an on-going expense (like teabags), you may be able to claim these purchases on your tax when tax time rolls around.

You’ll want to consider a common aesthetic when setting up your holiday rental. Try to purchase furniture that matches with the overall vibe of your property.  We know furnishing your holiday rental can be expensive and whilst second hand furniture might be a cheaper option to furniture your place, try to get cohesive pieces that are in good condition – you don’t want any furniture that looks too worn or has been poorly maintained.

Also seek out entertainment pieces like flat screen TV, bluetooth speaker, game consoles or content streaming devices that may entice guests to choose your property over your competitors.

White some property owners will give their home a ‘theme’, this can sometimes limit its appeal and you want to ensure as many people as possible consider staying in your home.

To help you get furnishing right we have created the Ultimate Holiday Home Setup Checklist which you can download here absolutely free!

How can you get help to set up an Airbnb holiday rental property

If you’re in the midst of setting up your holiday rental and you’d like to get help from a holiday rental management service to take care of the day-to-day runnings of your holiday rental, our team at Professional Holiday Homes can help you out. 

Book an appointment with us today to see what we can do for you.