2021, week 46
Andriana, Protaras, Cyprus 🇨🇾

This week let’s meet Andriana 😊

Andriana is from Cyprus but, for the last 8 years, she is living in New Zealand with her husband and daughter.

She is the owner of “Blue Island Villa” located at the heart of Protaras in Cyprus, which is only 200m from the beach.

Andriana was born and raised around the Protaras area and she considers herself an expert on knowing the area. She is a very organized and prepared new host, who loves to welcome guests to her beautiful, modern villa.

Let’s hear her story! 🔊

So Andriana, tell us, how long have you been hosting for? How and why did you start? How many properties do you manage?

I have been hosting for just 3 months. I go to Cyprus with my family every year for summer vacations or Christmas holidays. It is good to be there every year to see our families and friends and spend some time in our beautiful country. So, we decided to buy a holiday home next to our favorite beach and stay there when we go to Cyprus and we thought that it will be a great idea to rent our villa for the rest of the year. I have only one property.

Are you an owner or a manager? Is this a part-time or full-time occupation for you?

I am the owner and the manager on a part-time basis

What is the best thing about hosting, and what are the biggest problems you face?

My villa is located next to my favorite beach and area and I designed my villa with so much love so the best thing about hosting is being able to share this place with other people and let them know my favorite restaurants and places.
My biggest problem is to find a good company to manage my property because I am not living in Cyprus and I cannot do the management by myself.

What is one thing you wish you knew when you started hosting?

I just started hosting and I organized and prepared everything so well. I have not had any difficult situation yet.

What is the most important advice/tip you would give someone interested in becoming a short-term rental host?

The most important advice I would give to future hosts is, to be honest with the guest from the beginning and create a place with love so guests will enjoy your place as you will.

Besides Hosthub, are there any tools, devices, or software (eg. Remote keylocks, cameras, local guide apps, power meters, etc) you use? What is your experience with them?

I use key box and my guests can self-check-in which is really helpful and easy, and I have a system alarm so my guests feel safe.

Which channels do you list on? How much has your revenue increased since listing on multiple channels?

Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, Agoda, TripAdvisor

Most of my reservations come from booking.com and Airbnb and the rest fill the gaps in between. It is good to list your property in multiple channels because you have different types of guests in each channel and can have more reservations.

Besides listing on multiple channels, what other things can a host do to increase his/her bookings and revenue?

I am building my own website with Hosthub to be able to have some bookings and don’t pay the commission to other websites. It is really important to have great reviews because you can increase your price.

Here are some photos to give you a better vision of  Andriana’s property (click for larger versions) 🧐