Chattanooga welcomes around 3 million visitors every year. If you want to make some extra income, inviting these visitors into your home is a great idea.
Renting out your home to travelers can be a great way to make extra money. But you need to do it right to get the best profits. It can take a lot of work to find guests for your home while ensuring they have a comfortable and enjoyable stay.
With that in mind, here are 5 tips to remember when offering your home as a short-term rental.
1. Decide How You'll Find Guests
First of all, you'll need to develop a strategy for finding guests. You might want to use a short-term rental platform or post on websites such as Craigslist.
Airbnb and VRBO are two of the most popular vacation rental platforms that are worth considering.
Typically Airbnb is best if you're offering a shared space, such as a private room in your home. VRBO might be better if you're renting out an entire vacation rental, such as a full apartment or house.
2. Perfect Your Listing
If you want to operate a short-term rental successfully, put effort into vacation rental listing optimization
Add high-quality photos to the listing that do a great job of showing a guest what to expect. Also, ensure the description is enticing. It should be descriptive and highlight all of the best features and amenities of your rental.
3. Offer a Great Guest Experience
You should also give guests a great experience. Go above and beyond to offer them a great stay.
Ensure that you're responsive in all communications with guests. Also, verify that everything in your vacation rental is clean and works well. Guests should have everything they'll need in the spaces they use.
Professional property managers can help you manage a short-term rental property and keep it running smoothly.
4. Improve Property Safety
Opening your home up to vacationers and travelers is not without its risks. Take safety into consideration for both you and your family, as well as for your guests.
Screening guests and clearly outlining house rules can be helpful in improving safety. It can also be helpful to change keycodes and take other measures to prevent access from a guest after they check out.
5. Understand Local Rules
If you're operating a short-term rental in Chattanooga, understand all of the local rules and comply with them.
Due to the recent short-term vacation rental (STVR) reform, you can only rent out a home to travelers in residential zones if you also live in the home yourself. For absentee STVRs, ensure it's located in a commercial district that allows hotels.
There are many other legal considerations for vacation rentals to know, so learn about them before getting started.
Successfully Renting Your Home to Travelers
If you plan on renting your home to travelers, use these tips to do it right. Market your property in the right places, perfect your listings, and offer a great experience to guests if you want to be profitable.
Interested in vacation rental property management? Get in touch today to learn more about what we can do for you.
