An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Communication is key. Try to get back to your guests as quickly as possible. They will be happier to have the info they need right away and ultimately leave a better review. And always be fair and nice when responding, even if your guest isn’t being so pleasant.
Many people dream of becoming an Airbnb host but don’t know where to start. In this series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host” we are interviewing successful Airbnb hosts who share lessons from their experience about how to run a very successful Airbnb property. As part of this series I had the pleasure of interviewing Annie Sloan.
Annie Sloan is the CEO and cofounder of The Host Co., a company that adds the mini-bar and concierge to Airbnb’s. She and her co-founder, who met as directors at HGTV, are professional Airbnb hosts as well as frequent travel companions. Annie hosts guests in Oakland and Joshua Tree, California.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
I am a life-long traveler and have spent a cumulative five years on the road. A good deal of my travel has been work related, as I worked in TV and film for many years. In the states, I was a director and writer for HGTV shows Curb Appeal, Landscape Smart, Designed to Sell, and more. I’m also an Airbnb host and I have supplemented many of my international travels by hosting. I’ve had such incredible life experiences as both a frequent host and guest — from clubbing in Turkey to dancing the night away in Brazil, to finding secret beach parties in India and so many more exciting and unforgettable times.
What led you to first start becoming an Airbnb host?
I’ll be straight up about this… the money! The first time I hosted was in my apartment in San Francisco. I was headed to Central America for a few weeks and looking for ways to supplement both my rent and trip. Many short-term rental platforms like to say that hosts are in this to meet new people, to make friends. And, while this is certainly true, most hosts that I know started as a way to make extra income. I like to look at hosts as small business owners first and welcoming friends second.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this?
I’ve got hundreds of interesting stories. Not only from my own properties, but also from the 9,000 hosts in The Host Co. community. Some of my favorites… a guest stealing a chandelier and replacing it with a cheaper one. Guests asking if the drawer pulls can be changed before they arrive. And my favorite: a text message from a guest asking, “Can I take my cat in your pool?”
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of my major mistakes was leaving out lots of everything. I’ll never understand how on earth two people can go through a Costco-sized bottle of dish soap or six months worth of toilet paper in a weekend. Or a cord of wood in a night! Do they stay up all night roasting something? I learned that you should leave out enough for people to use, but not too much or it will go to waste (or in the trunk of a car).
What are some of the common mistakes you have seen people make when they first start hosting with Airbnb?
Photos are everything! Make sure you style the home and take killer photos, even if you hire a photographer because the photos sell your listing. People are buying into the pictures. So even if you have to move things around a little to look good in a photograph, do it. Guests won’t be bothered if it doesn’t look exactly the same when they arrive.
Some beginner hosts make too many rules or put up too many signs. People want to feel welcomed and not accused of a bunch of stuff they didn’t even do before they arrive. So build trust by trusting your guests and put your info in the manual, not posted all over the house.
If you can get any repairs done or buy new furniture before you list, do it. Hosts often assume they can improve over time. While, yes, you can to an extent, if you don’t start off strong, you’ll have to shut the house down and take new photos when you make the improvements later. Plus, the sooner you invest, the sooner you’ll make more money. From the get go is a wise choice!
What are some of the things that can be done to avoid these errors?
(Answered above.)
Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the Airbnb experience? In your opinion, what makes you different from the rest?
Our company adds the digital mini-bar, gift shop, and concierge to short-term rentals. We bring the amenities that guests are missing from a hotel and created a way for hosts to make extra money from every booking.
I mean, imagine you’re a guest the morning after Coachella and your Airbnb is already stocked with Advil and Gatorade. What a value-added service! As hosts, we know that guests REALLY want to buy items out of our rentals. And as guests, we know that added items makes a stay much better.
Our digital stores are different from anything that has come before because, first, they are free for hosts. There’s no subscription or downloads, just an easy-to-use store that takes 30 seconds to shop in and check out. Second, our stores recommend local items, like handmade ceramics or local artisan honey, that can be shipped home. We are able to support and boost local community makers and connect them with tourists who might otherwise miss their stuff.
Wonderful. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host”? Please share a story or example for each.
Communication is key. Try to get back to your guests as quickly as possible. They will be happier to have the info they need right away and ultimately leave a better review. And always be fair and nice when responding, even if your guest isn’t being so pleasant.
Stay in your own Airbnb at least once every few months to understand what it’s missing, what’s broken, and what you can add to improve the guest experience.
Get a good cleaner. This person can make or break your Airbnb. They’re not only your eyes and ears on the ground, since they’re in the space every few days, but they can also help get supplies when they’re low and assist guests when you can’t be on site. Plus, a thorough cleaning will keep complaints down and ratings up.
Study the market. See what your competitors are charging and what amenities, such as a hot tub or firepit, you need to boost your rates. Don’t just blindly follow the suggested pricing of your platform, actively find out when festivals are coming, add multiple night minimums over holidays, and charge more at first. Then lower your price as it gets closer to the date and you haven’t booked.
Read your reviews. Your guests will tell you what’s working and not working but you have to stay on top of reading the reviews and taking them seriously. You may think your guest said the heat didn’t work because they couldn’t figure it out, but you may be wrong. And then how many guests are going to be cold before you can actually get someone out there to fix it?
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that someone’s idea of a “perfect vacation experience” changes about every few years. I have two small children so my current perfect vacation experience involves daily spa treatments and not cooking anything for an entire week. But high on my list of other vacation experiences: horseback riding in Mongolia, seeing the Northern Lights in Finland, and riding the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia.
Can you share with our readers how you’ve used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Something that often comes as a surprise: the majority of short-term rental hosts, both in the US and abroad, are female. And, many are over 40. In fact, the fastest growing demographic of hosts is women over 60. Our stores enable hosts to make as much money from selling items as they can from booking their place. Imagine a grandmother who can finally sell her grandkids handicrafts that guests always ask about, but the grandmother didn’t share the same language or currency as her guests. Our stores make sales possible in minutes, with no barriers.
Our core mission is to bring upward financial mobility to hosts around the world. Airbnb is in 220 countries and, in many of these, even a small amount of extra money can make a big impact.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am so lucky to be living my dream, supporting makers around the world, and building a global business that is working towards women’s economic equality. It’s been a wild and winding path to get here, and I’ve learned that it is often the smaller, less flashy things that end up making the biggest difference
How can our readers further follow you on social media?
Join our community of 10,000 hosts over on Instagram. We’d love to see you there!
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Thank you! This was super fun!
Annie Sloan Of The Host: 5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
