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5 Ways to Improve Your Airbnb’s Curb Appeal

Curb appeal can make people feel at home when they arrive at your Airbnb property. Curb appeal also makes your property more enticing to potential guests. Are you seeking ways to improve your Airbnb’s curb appeal? Here’s what we recommend.

1. Keep Up the Paint Job

Most houses that have been painted need to be repainted approximately every 5 years or so. Repainting your Airbnb home on a regular basis will help keep the property looking its best. Know the signs that your Airbnb needs to be repainted. Look for:

  • Peeling or bubbling paint
  • Faded paint
  • Bare wood siding showing through

2. Maintain the Landscaping

Good landscaping can help make your home look cheerful, well-maintained and inviting. Some suggestions for keeping up with the landscaping around your property:

  • Keep the grass and other plants watered
  • Pull weeds regularly
  • Lay down fresh mulch at least once per year
  • Plant easy to maintain annuals or plant perennials that tolerate the natural weather conditions where your property is located
  • Prune overgrown plants that either don’t look very good or which are blocking sunshine from entering your Airbnb home

3. Keep Your Property Free of Debris

Get rid of any debris on your property following wind storms. Check the property regularly for trash and other things that need to be cleaned up. This is especially important if your home is on a busy street with a lot of foot traffic.

4. Inspect the Property Regularly

Walk around your property on a regular basis to look for problems that need to be addressed. You might see anything from insect nests to a broken fence. Once you’ve inspected the property, make repairs as needed.

5. Want to Maintain Your Airbnb Property? Contact Sojourn Properties

You may not be around to keep your Airbnb property in the best condition all the time. That’s why you need a property management company that can help you keep your property looking its best. At Sojourn Properties, we help maintain Airbnb homes, so that you don’t have to. To get started maintaining your Airbnb’s curb appeal, call us today.

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5 Ways to Draw More Guests With Your Airbnb Listing

Your Airbnb listing does a lot to attract guests at your property. A well-written listing could make all the difference. There are many things you can do to make your property sound attractive to potential guests, so here’s what you need to know.

1. Write a Detailed Listing

Write a detailed listing that is accurate, creative, and clearly states what is unique about your property. Use words that convey the personality of your property and of course discuss the condition of the property. The more descriptive words, the better. When you’re done, have a friend or family member edit the listing and make suggestions as appropriate.

2. Keep Up-to-Date Listing Information

Did something about your property change? Maybe a room was added, or a space was opened up to make an open layout? Did you change the color of the home’s exterior? Make edits on your listing so that people will know what they’re getting when they book a room. This will also prevent confusion when your guests arrive.

3. Set Clear Expectations In the Rules Of Your Listing

It’s always best to ensure that your guests know where they stand when they arrive. They’ll feel more comfortable booking a room or a house if they know what your expectations are. Write clear rules and policies for your property to ensure your guests will feel comfortable reserving your property.

4. Make the Photos Stand Out

The photos you take of your property should be well-lit, should reveal as much detail about your property as possible, and should be generally attractive. Feel free to take as many pictures of your property as need be in order to ensure that your pictures provide a clear picture of what your property is like.

5. Update Your Profile

Make sure that your profile reveals something about you, like your personality or hobbies. The more you sound like a relatable person, the more people will want to book your property.

Contact Sojourn Properties to Take Care of Your Airbnb

You can’t attract people to your Airbnb property if it isn’t being maintained. To ensure your property is in good hands, contact Sojourn Properties today. We offer a range of Airbnb property management services in Scottsdale, AZ.

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Is Your Airbnb Prepared for a Busy Travel Season?

After a year of questionable travel for corporate professionals and vacationers alike, it appears that 2021 is set to be quite the busy year for everyone in the travel industry, including those with short-term rentals. A survey hosted by Airbnb found that 54 percent of people asked are either planning to travel soon or have already booked their travel plans.

While the world was paused to contend with a pandemic, many people claimed they missed traveling the most. As we get further into 2021, taking a moment to make sure your Airbnb rentals are prepared would be an excellent plan. Take a look at a few aspects of your properties to examine in preparation for a busy travel season.

1. Schedule your maintenance check-ups and repair tasks now.

HVAC system checkups, the leaky faucets, repairing the door latch—take care of all of these tasks before the busy travel season settles in. Small issues can get even bigger when you have a guest at your short-term rental every day. The last thing you will want is to delay these pertinent tasks, run into an issue later, and have to cancel a guest’s stay because of a massive problem.

2. Stock up on the essential items you provide for guests.

Those essential items that you keep your Airbnb stocked with should always be on-hand, ready, and waiting to restock as needed. For example, if you keep white sheets on your beds, make sure you have a set to keep on the bed, a set to have in the wash, and a set or two for spares. Other items to keep on hand in bulk before your busy travel season include:

  • Toilet paper, paper towels, and other paper items
  • Trash bags
  • Hand soap
  • Shower toiletries
  • Snacks and pantry items you choose to provide
  • Towels, washcloths, and hand towels

3. Have well-established cleaning routines in place.

Keeping the Airbnb properties clean between guests becomes even more daunting during a busy travel season. You will need a good plan or a good contracted cleaning crew you can rely on to get in and get out before your next guest arrives. Tack down these details before the onset of the busy travel season.

Prepare Your Airbnb with a Little Help from an Airbnb Management Company

If you are feeling a little overwhelmed about the prospect of a busy travel year, you may need a little help along the way. Reach out to us at Sojourn properties to discuss our Airbnb management services to get you aptly prepared for a profitable year.

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How to Ensure Good Reviews For Your Airbnb

The success of your Airbnb relies on good reviews. Ultimately, you can have the best pictures, the most comfortable place in the best location; but if you have bad reviews, then chances are that at least one person will pass on renting your Airbnb. The best way to make sure you get consistently good reviews is to make sure it happens. Don’t rely on chance. Here is how to ensure good reviews for your Airbnb every time you rent it out.

Use a Property Manager

Even if you are really diligent about making sure your Airbnb is outstanding, things have a way of going awry. You need to make sure that your guests have a point of contact to take care of the little things that can interrupt a serene Airbnb stay. These unanticipated events can ruin your guest’s stay and result in less than positive reviews for your property.

  • Running out of propane for the stove
  • Running out of bottled water
  • Internet goes down
  • The Interior door gets accidentally locked
  • Toilet gets stopped up
  • Plumbing pipe breaks
  • Water valve breaks and faucet won’t turn off
  • Electric shower malfunctions

When you hire an Airbnb property manager, these unfortunate events can be swiftly taken care of, ensuring a positive review.

Check-in on Your Guests

The best way to ensure good reviews for your Airbnb is to simply check in on your guests every now and then. You or your property manager can avail of the messaging system to just say, “Hi, is everything okay? Is there anything you need?” This lets your guests know that you remember they are there and that you are committed to their enjoyable stay in your property. This enables your guests to vocalize their needs to you in a private setting rather than to complain about something publicly later.

Be Responsive

If your guests do reach out with any kind of question or problem, be responsive. Don’t wait 24 hours to address their question about what to do with their trash. Answer as quickly as you reasonably can, so that your guests feel that they are being listened to and that their concerns are being taken seriously. Good reviews for your Airbnb are essential for the continued success of your rental property in Scottsdale and Phoenix.

Sojourn Can Handle All This For You!

Let us give you a free property analysis and show you why we are the top short-term rental management company in the Scottsdale and Phoenix, AZ area. We have the team and the experience to maximize your property’s revenue. For assistance managing your Airbnb or other rental property, please contact us today.

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3 Ways Short-Term Rental Management Can Be Optimized Through Technology

Managing your short-term rental can involve many facets, and some of those facets can be aptly optimized through technology. Here is a look at just a few of the ways you can better manage your short-term rental properties in Scottsdale with the help of technology.

1. Stay in close contact with your guests.

Communicating with guests, both prospects, current guests, and previous guests, is ever-important in the short-term rental business. Prospects want to know the property manager is accessible if they have questions. Guests staying in one of your properties need to be able to get in touch with someone when something is wrong. And reaching out to guests after their stay for a quick thank you and invite to leave feedback or to give a review can work wonders for your reputation. All of this can be better achieved through technology. From email and instant messaging on social media to text messages, communication is simplified via technological platforms.

2. Ensure seamless booking experiences for your guests.

No guest appreciates a clunky booking experience. The average guest should be able to get on your website, make a reservation, and secure their stay with payment. Technology can make the booking process as seamless as possible so guests are more likely to have a positive experience. While you may not have your own well-established website or online platform where guests can book a stay, a good property management company like Sojourn Properties will.

3. Keep better track of your revenue and operational costs.

Technology allows you to keep better track of things like occupancy, maintenance costs, cleaning fees, and more. For example, when you work with a property management company, they will typically keep digital tabs on your total revenue for all units in a year compared to maintenance costs. This data can help you adjust pricing as needed to ensure your bottom line is covered and you still have ample room for profit.

Allow Sojourn Properties LLC to Help with Rental Property Management

When you have a good rental property management team on your side for help with your short-term rentals, you can see drastic improvements in how your business runs, your profit margins, and more. If you would like help with your short-term rentals, reach out to us at Sojourn Properties LLC in Scottsdale, AZ to find out more about our services.

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Is It Time to Adjust the Rates for Your Airbnb Rental? 

What started out as a small trend has rapidly grown into one of the most popular ways for travelers to stay comfortable while on the move. By 2022, the statistics project that over 45 million American travelers will be Airbnb users. In order to reap the true advantages of being an Airbnb property owner, it is critical that your price aligns with the expectations of your prospects. Many short-term rental property owners start out at a set right and they are never confident about when they should adjust those initial rates. Here are a few things to consider.

Examine rental prices of similar properties in the area.

Periodically, it is a good idea to get a look at similar Airbnb and short-term rental properties in the area where your property is located. Just as it is with the standard housing market, the costs of short-term rental can rise and fall with various changes in the area. For example, if a high number of new rentals show up, you naturally have more competition and more availability, so prices can go down. Every few months, it doesn’t hurt to take a look at competing properties and see if your property offers a competitive price per stay. If not, it is a good time to adjust.

Look at your profit/cost margins.

Rental property, specifically short-term rental property, can come along with good profit margins, but you do also have costs to contend with. If you have noticed your costs have grown a bit and your profit margin has shrunk, it is a good sign that you need to adjust. The occasional uptick in property upkeep costs, utilities, and more is a normal change with time; adjusting your rates to compensate for those costs is important.

Determine what factors influence guest cost decisions.

The factors that influence a prospective guest’s decisions about what they pay can be diverse depending on what may be taking place at any given time. Of course, there will be personal factors that are out of your realm of possibly knowing, but economic factors are easy enough to examine. For example, if the economy is not at its strongest due to some type of societal issues like a pandemic or falling stocks, you may need to adjust your rates if your property is not getting enough interest.

Keeping your Airbnb rental at a healthy price point is the key to a continuous and healthy income. If you need help with property management for your Airbnb rentals, reach out to us at Sojourn Properties for help.

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