Airbnb Rental: The Landlord's Bible.

This is the ultimate guide to managing short-term vacation rentals across all platforms like Airbnb, Abritel, Booking.com, and more. If you are a property owner and have just acquired a property to rent out, this article is essential. Plain and simple.

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I want to list my property for short-term vacation rental; what should I do?

You own a property and want to rent it out. You are most interested in short-term vacation rentals because you think it will be more profitable. You are right. However, all sorts of questions are weighing on your mind. You feel completely lost, and it’s discouraging you from starting your rental management journey. Like a ship at the dock preparing to set sail, Welkeys will guide you into open waters and help you fully launch what will quickly become an exciting and profitable business. Here is our owner’s bible. Happy reading.

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The first thing to do is to get informed.

Yes, get informed. Research all the rental platforms. What are the differences between them? What are the unique features of each? Indeed, every rental platform has its own identity, value proposition, visibility, and so on. For Airbnb, for example, we are in the realm of the sharing economy and a certain narrative that aims to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy a home away from home. Airbnb is currently the market leader. You need to ask yourself: is my property a good fit for this platform? Who is its target audience? For instance, if you have a luxury villa in the south, it might be wiser (though this is relative, not absolute) to opt for a specialized platform better suited to that type of high-end, highly targeted clientele.

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The second thing to do is to properly prepare your property.

To prepare a great listing, you must first prepare the property itself! What does that mean? Simply that your rental should be fully equipped and stocked with all the necessary furniture. These items will be real assets for your rental:

a washing machine a dishwasher a dryer a fully equipped kitchen Wi-Fi (essential) comfortable beds storage furniture fridge oven microwave toilet paper (but we know you already knew that ;) ) etc.

This list is, of course, an ideal one; if you can't provide everything, it's not the end of the world. Highlight the strengths of your rental, for example, if you have a balcony, a very useful shop two steps away, or a pool! Basically, any selling point that will make you STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD.

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Third thing to do: take beautiful photos and publish your listing.

Once everything is set up, you need to take beautiful photos to showcase everything in your listing. Airbnb, for instance, offers a professional photographer who comes to take photos for free. It is also free if you use our Welkeys Premium turnkey service. Create your listing very carefully; don't hesitate to spend an hour or two providing all the details, and organize your calendar as soon as possible. Remember to select your booking criteria:

do you accept last-minute bookings? If so, your concierge needs to be aware of it. will you require a security deposit or not? how much will you charge for cleaning? Our simple answer: the same amount you will have to pay the concierge each time. will you set a checkout time? Our answer: yes, it's better, simpler, and will allow you to better organize your rental transitions. will you set check-in times? If you do, offer solutions to your guests, such as leaving their luggage at Nannybag lockers or having it transported from the airport/train station to the rental using the Eelway mobile luggage service. etc.

Fourth commandment: You must research the competition.

How do you position your property well on all these platforms? The goal is to have VISIBILITY! That is your watchword, oh owner! But how do you do it with all this competition? You have to adapt, look at what the competition is doing in terms of pricing based on the location of the rental, the neighborhood, shops, landmarks, services, etc. Don't hesitate to lower your price for the first request; the goal is to get a first good review very quickly. You can increase your prices later.

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Fifth thing to do: Anticipate the entire concierge and listing management side.

Even before putting your listing online, make sure you are capable of managing everything this activity entails:

listing management tenant management (contact, customer service, etc.) check-in/check-out management bed linen/household linen management.
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Know that Welkeys offers all sorts of possibilities:

a Welkeys Premium all-inclusive service where we manage everything from A to Z, including the listing, and where we only take a 20% commission on the income generated by your rental. These 20% naturally include all concierge and listing management, in addition to the management of bed and household linens. Soon, an intermediate service, balancing the two options, will be offered online (we'll tell you more when the time is right ;) )... to be continued!
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You can meet one of our concierges, get to know them, and entrust them with a spare set of keys in advance if you wish. That way, the day you receive a booking request, no matter where you are, our Welkeys concierge will be on-site to welcome your guests.

Sixth: Make several spare sets of keys.

one set for the tenants another for the concierge 1 for yourself another set at the agency if you live in Paris.

We will also be setting up local ambassadors very soon who will be able to hold your keys in major French cities. We will keep you informed as soon as they are operational on the ground; it's in progress! Welkeys takes care of everything with our top-notch Premium team, provided our service is available in your city.

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Bonus. The little extras for your rental.

Also, consider offering your guests additional services, especially those from our preferred partners:

Eelway for mobile luggage storage that transports your tenants' bags between the airport and your rental, allowing them to enjoy their last or first day of travel without the hassle of luggage.‍ Nannybag, luggage storage all over town in hotels and shops if you want to have your bags handy while getting rid of them on your last day of travel.‍ For home dining experiences, suggest the following sites: Viz Eat, AnotherChef.‍ For ride-sharing/taxis/driver bookings: Le Taximètre, Snapcar. Also, point them toward the Heetch and Uber apps, of course!‍ For food delivery, guide them to Deliveroo, Foodora, and Allo Resto!
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Communication tool.

Get the WhatsApp app if you have a smartphone to communicate more easily with your tenants without it costing you a cent.

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Moving? No worries, Souscritoo handles transferring your contracts.

Do you suffer from a very common condition these days called administrative phobia? Souscritoo takes care of moving all your contracts from one property to another, which will speed up getting your rental ready. Also, for your energy contract, you can access all the useful info; no need to panic about opening your meter in your new home.