2021, week 45
Charles Meng, Monterey Peninsula, California 🇺🇸

This week let’s meet Charles 😊

Charles lives in Monterey Peninsula, California. He has recently started hosting and he is already a super host at Airbnb and a premier host at Vrbo. Charles joined the short-term rental industry, in order to take advantage of his newly bought property, which is close to the ocean. He now earns an extra helpful income and enjoys hosting.

Let’s hear their story! 🔊

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

We started in March 2021, and it was not something we had planned for. We rented a place closer to the ocean and wanted to rent out our house on a long-term basis. However, the new place did not have a place to store tons of stuff in our garage, thus we decided to try short-term rental so that we could keep the stuff in the garage.

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

We are the owners, and we manage the property ourselves. My wife and I both have full-time jobs, and, as it has turned out, managing the short-term rental does not take much of our time.

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

The extra income is very helpful. There have been a few minor issues, and we took care of them immediately.

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

With passion and a plan, starting a short-term rental business is not that hard.

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

Hire a very good interior designer and a very good photographer.

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?

The smart lock makes things very easy. We also have installed Ring to monitor the front yard. We use PriceLabs to manage pricing and Hospitable (used to be called smartbnb) to send out emails to guests. The latter two have been of tremendous help in saving our time and energy.

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

Initially, we were only listed on Airbnb, and VRBO was added a few months later. It has been 70% Airbnb and 30% VRBO in the past 2 months.

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

Amenities. Good and timely communication with guests. Something unique about your property.

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