Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 941 votes
I list one side of a duplex in North Austin on Airbnb as a medium term rental (30+ days). I found there are 3 ways to increase revenue on a medium-term rental:
1. The most obvious one is increasing your nightly rate. I have been successful at increasing our nightly rate by 7% in the past 3 months.
2. Decreasing your monthly discounts. Most Airbnb hosts offer discounts for renting a home for 30+ days. This is still true for hosts that exclusively offer medium-term rentals. I decreased my monthly discount from 20% to 15% so my revenue increased by 5%!
3. Some hosts require regular cleanings for tenants staying for extended periods of time. I've heard hosts tell guests that it needs to be cleaned every two weeks by our cleaners and the guest has to pay for it. As a host you can charge guests a rate above your cleaning fee and pocket the difference. (I have only heard a couple hosts doing this, I haven't tried it myself)
I have implemented #1 and #2 and have increased our revenue by $325/month over the last 3 months!
It's crazy how low the vacancy is for the 30+ day rentals. I've also had about 3% vacancy with the 30+ day rentals over the past 2 years. I feel like Airbnb's algorithms have improved to minimize your vacancy and often have a guest check in within a day or two of a guest leaving.
I don't know if I agree with #2 though, I would just increase your nightly rate and leave in the 20% discount.
Hi @Account Closed, I started in July 2021. I have less then 3% vacancy for the second half of the year! I talked to some other owners in my area and they are seeing around 5%.
It's crazy how low the vacancy is for the 30+ day rentals. I've also had about 3% vacancy with the 30+ day rentals over the past 2 years. I feel like Airbnb's algorithms have improved to minimize your vacancy and often have a guest check in within a day or two of a guest leaving.
I don't know if I agree with #2 though, I would just increase your nightly rate and leave in the 20% discount.
I haven't experimented increasing/decreasing the long-term stay discount too much, but I know people love to see a discount!
I'd also recommend adding a "Last Minute Discount" as well which allows you to discount vacant days that are a certain number of days from now. I've set mine up like this:
30% discount for the nights that are within 10 days of today, 20% discount for the nights that are within 11-20 days of today, and a 10% discount for the nights that are within 21-30 days before today,
So if I have a guest who is leaving in 5 days with no other booking on the schedule, my first 5 nights of vacancy are discounted by 30%, the next 10 are discounted by 20%, the following 10 are discounted by 10%, and the rest of the nights are regular price. This incentivizes bookings that work well with your vacancy. I often have only 1-2 nights of vacancy between stays.
I've had my first STR property listed on Airbnb for about 2.5 months now. It has been renting fairly well and I just got my first mid-term stay request. The guests are looking for 2-3 month stay and asking for the best rates. I was thinking to offer them a 20% discount (primarily based on the logic that we would just extend them the new property discount that we are currently offering), it sounds like that is in line with the monthly discount that has worked for you...thanks for sharing!
I'm curious, are there requirements you put in place for screening guests for mid-term stays? They will book through Airbnb, but the primary guest doesn't have a photo and only has one review from 2017. Want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success here...so any additional insight would be appreciated!