How to approach renovating your Airbnb holiday rental property
Whether you own an existing holiday rental property or you are thinking about setting one up as an Airbnb short term rental you might consider renovating it to improve its appeal or range of amenities offered.
If it is an old home it would make sense to renovate it to give it a modern, fresh feeling before it is made available on the market to rent. Renovating can be done to create a theme or style for the holiday rental property that suits the local area. More importantly renovating can improve the overall quality and feeling of luxury that will attract more potential guests.
Of course, depending how your renovations are done it can help you either raise or set a premium rental price especially if local competition look a bit older and tired in comparison.
Should you renovate your holiday rental property yourself?
If the renovations will be limited to painting the walls, changing door handles and other small cosmetic touches, then it’s quite possible to do it all yourself to save some money. Although for anything more extensive like changing carpets to floor boards, moving walls, adding a deck or installing new lighting, then hiring local professional tradespeople will make sense.
If you decide to do it yourself keep in mind it could take a lot longer vs using professionals and therefore cost you days or weeks of potential rental income.
If your holiday rental is quite a distance from your home, you will also want to keep in mind that that brings its own set of unique challenges. Before you start, stress to your tradespersons that you’ll require regular updates (via emails, texts and most importantly photos) to be sent showing progress and be very clear and firm on when work needs to be completed.
What steps should you take before you begin renovating?
Renovating a holiday home to be used as an Airbnb rental in New South Wales requires some strategic planning to ensure the investment yields the best returns. Our property management team can help you with some of the decision making as we have seen the great results that are possible by making the right decisions.
- Market Research
- Analyse the Market: Study successful Airbnb listings in your area to understand what attracts guests. Pay attention to amenities, decor styles, and price points. Read a lot of the reviews from other properties including some of the negative ones to get a feel for what people love or want more of.
- Target Audience: Define your target audience (families, couples, business travellers, etc.) and tailor the renovation to meet their needs in terms of the room layouts, type of furniture or even room set ups. In most cases you want to appeal to ‘everyone’ but at least decide on what price range level you want to compete in.
- Budget: Establish a realistic budget that includes costs for materials, labour, and unexpected expenses.
- Prioritise Essential Upgrades
- Safety and Compliance: Ensure the property meets all local safety regulations and standards, including smoke alarms, secure locks, and childproofing if necessary. Also think about useful safety features like automatic exterior lights on pathways, the entrance area.
- Structural Integrity: Address any foundational issues, roofing problems, old timber decks or outdated plumbing and electrical systems.
- Energy efficiency: Think about swapping all light fittings to use LED lighting, maybe even look at the option of solar power to cater to energy conscious travellers.
- Maximise Space and Functionality
- Floor Plans: Spend time considering how open your floor plan is so that it feels large and inviting, remember it isn’t your everyday home, so removing cupboards, furniture or even shelving could make sense in different rooms considering people won’t need to store lots of things but will enjoy a spacious place to stay..
- Multifunctional Spaces: Consider designing your rooms to serve muliple purposes, so for example a living room might have two sofa beds suitable for kids to increase the total number of guests if needed.
- Storage Solutions: Include sensible storage options to keep the space tidy and functional for guests.
- Upgrade Kitchens and Bathrooms
- Modern Amenities: Invest in modern, high-quality appliances and fixtures. Stainless steel appliances, stone countertops, and stylish backsplashes can make a big impression while creating a touch of luxury.
- Luxurious Touches: Changing taps, adding a rain shower head, heated towel racks or even a heat lamp can be small things that create a sense of luxury without fully renovating the bathroom.
- Exterior Appeal
- Landscaping: While you may not need to use a professional landscaper it’s important to create an inviting exterior. What’s important here is simplicity and using native plants that require little maintenance.
- Outdoor Spaces: Create appealing outdoor areas with comfortable seating, a BBQ area, and outdoor lighting for evening enjoyment (especially if the property is on a coastal location)
- Privacy & boundaries: Depending on the type of property it is it may make sense to have a fully enclosed rear or front yard to make the holiday rental suitable for children or even pets.
- Interior Design and Decor
- Neutral Palettes: You might have a property that has styling from the 70’s or 80’s that use feature walls or bright colours. Changing all of this to be a home that uses neutral colour schemes with pops of colour can appeal to a wider range of guests and date really well without needing to be changed again for some time.
- Quality Furniture: Invest in durable, comfortable furniture. Avoid overly trendy pieces that might date quickly or even pieces that are cheap to buy second hand, but may not last too long..
- Local Flair: Incorporate local art and decor to give the property a unique, Australian feel and to suit the location. Keep in mind your local area be it a lake, coastal location or inner city apartment.
- Smart Technology: Installing smart home devices such as keyless entry, noise measuring devices, streaming services or maybe even automatic blinds or lighting can really elevate the feeling of luxury of the home and appeal to tech-savvy guests.
- Guest Comfort and Convenience
- Comfortable Beds: Invest in high-quality mattresses and bedding. Comfortable sleep is a top priority for guests and one of the things they remember for a long time and will even mention in reviews. Remember for most people they are renting your home to get away and relax.
- Essentials: Provide essential items like kitchen utensils, plates, cups, towels, cleaning products or even tools to light a fire if you have a fireplace. While you don’t have to provide every single little thing a normal home would have, try and cover all the day to day necessities that would make a stay comfortable and better than a hotel
- Local Guide: Think about providing a guidebook with recommendations for local restaurants, attractions, and transportation options. Professional Holiday Homes actually helps every one of our owners with doing this.
What time of year should you renovate a holiday rental property?
It goes without saying that you should schedule your renovations to be done during the low season so you don’t miss out on the revenue during peak periods. The only thing to consider is a lot of other home owners will be thinking the same thing so tradespeople might be in high demand.
If you acquire your property immediately prior to a busy season it may be worth just furnishing the house, renting it through the peak season and then renovating during the low season to maximise your revenue.
Obviously this may not be an option if your holiday rental requires immediate attention, if that is the case and you have to do work over peak season, you may want to consider paying a more premium price for tradespeople who are able to get the job done quicker.
If you’re choosing to just rent out your holiday rental during the peak season and renovate during the low season, you could use the extra funds you make from renting your property out to help with your renovations.
Where can you get advice about renovating a holiday rental home?
Our team at Professional Holiday Homes are well-versed in ensuring you make the most revenue possible from your holiday rental. If you need help working out whether to renovate your property then our team of experienced property managers area available to have a chat to ensure you plan to make the most profit possible.
