How To Make Money as an Airbnb Host In Kenya

Airbnb is the largest online platform that connects people who want to rent out their homes with people who are looking for accommodations in that region. As a host, the beauty of being an Airbnb agent is making some decent income from renting your single rooms, a suite of rooms, apartments, houseboats or even the entire house to guests, at your stated price per night, per week or per month.

With the company valued at Sh3.09 trillion, having over three million listings in more than 65,000 cities around the world, Kenya is one of the countries where the service has penetrated fast. Out of 1,800 listings in Kenya, Nairobi leads with 1,000, with projections highlighting potential growth in the business. There are many factors to be considered before investing in the Airbnb business in Kenya.

1. In-depth Industry Analysis.

How the landscape of the Airbnb in  Kenya looks like in terms of market trends and customer expectations is very critical. This entails the pricing strategy in your proposed location, your target customers in terms of their tastes and preferences is your property an upscale apartment that will attract a particular class of people or simply a modest property that is affordable to the most guest. Identifying your direct competitors, analyze their business, to understand how you can operate profitably in the environment.

2. Product differentiation

Setting yourself different from the rest of the hosts is your stronghold in surviving the competition. This is the so-called, Unique Value Proposition; how best are you solving your target customer’s problems, fine-tuning your services to improve their current situation and meet their demands? There are a number of factors to consider ie Location; how tranquil and off from the street noise is it? How cozy, revamped and tucked away in the serene beautiful suburbs of Kenya, is it? How different is it from the ordinary bungalow or mansion?

3. Financial Plan

This is where the money comes to play. If you are looking to venture into the Airbnb business will you self finance the buying of a new property or get a mortgage or will you buy an already existing one and furnish it? A financial plan will help guide you on the estimated projections in terms of initial costs, project income, operations expenditure, returns on investments. It becomes an effective tool in tracking your progress. Without a financial plan, your resources might get swallowed in the name of investing in Airbnb industry.

4. Operations Strategy.

How will you be running your business each day if its existence? In entails handling books of account, filing KRA returns,  dealing with bookings, airport pickups, and drop-offs,  checking in guests just to mention but a few. You need to manage your business very well once you are listed on the  Airbnb platform. The good thing about being listed on the platform is you can add up to three cohosts to help in handling the operations. Everything must fall in place.

5. Registration 

Hosts can give one up to a maximum of six rooms for tourist accommodation in one house. There’s no cost to sign up. Airbnb generally charges hosts a flat 3% per reservation. You can visit Airbnb.com and start your application today! You can earn up to Ksh 60,000 per month from Airbnb.

After registration, your home will be listed to millions of travellers on Airbnb.com.

6. Booking

Airbnb always charges each guest who makes a booking before arrival to ensure you get paid on time when you host. You will be notified via email whenever a booking has been made.

7. How You Get Paid 

Once a guest checks in, Airbnb will send your money by Paypal, direct deposit, or other available methods that you chose during registration. Airbnb typically releases your money about 24 hours after the guest is scheduled to arrive to make sure check-in goes smoothly.

One good thing about Airbnb is the fact that you are in full control of your home’s availability, prices, house rules, and how you interact with guests.

Life is be beautiful, time is precious. Make the most out of it.