How to prepare your property for Airbnb in Portland

Airbnb encourages its hosts to offer maximum comfort, convenience and a superior experience to their guests. To ensure this, Airbnb takes on an active role to standardize their offerings. They request hosts to make their rental space pleasant to stay in. Airbnb has gone as far as to offer loans to hosts in Portland for making house improvements. These home improvement loans are part of the Airbnb Portland Select program which are aimed at travelers who seek a more upscale hotel-like experience. This program offers guidance and support to Airbnb hosts to improve their rental space and make it more appealing to this particular segment. 

Safety and Security:

Airbnb has partnered with the American Red Cross to increase awareness about security and safety and provides related information to the hosts. They mainly focus on preventing house fires and carbon monoxide poisoning. Airbnb provides related information on its website to provide more clarity to their users and has gone as far as to distribute around 30,000 smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to hosts worldwide.

The hosts are provided with this information through email, dashboard notifications as well as the newly introduced home safety page on the Airbnb website. Airbnb has also donated around $1 million to support the Red Cross home fire campaign in 2014. Moreover, Airbnb Portland has also made it a requirement for Airbnb plus program to have hosts install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their homes.  

Steps to prepare your property for Airbnb

Substantial Investment:

The conversion of a property to an Airbnb requires a substantial investment from the host. The investment is of both time and money in order to deliver superior customer experience and get high ratings.

Firstly, the host would have to consider whether his home is feasible to become a furnished or unfurnished Airbnb rental. The rules and regulations to register for an Airbnb in Portland will also need to be considered.

Permissions for the Rental Services:

Hosts will have to get a short-term rental permit which accrues for stays under 30 days and taxes for each stay will also have to be filed. There will also be a requirement to intimate Portland authorities and neighbors before running the Airbnb and the hosts will be bound to share their data with the authorities by the end of December 2019. There will also be a need to assess the return on investment of running an Airbnb. The Airbnb usually bring in higher revenues for short term stays depending on the location but there is also a higher vacancy rate and overhead costs also need to be considered before starting an Airbnb in Portland. 

Assessment of the Rental Space:

There is a vital need for an initial assessment of the rental space including walls, floorboards, paint, kitchen, any valuables, and high-end equipment, garage, garden, fire alarms, beds, kitchen appliances, etc. This will make it easier for the host to know which items to repair or replace to make it fit for the guests.

Checking the Amenities:

The host can make an amenities checklist to make sure all the requirements are met. Next, the host needs to make sure that their rental space is clean and hygienic as per Airbnb Portland requirements in order to get high ratings.

After that, the host will need to choose insurance and Airbnb policy from Airbnb's cancellation policy that is best suited to their particular situation.

Select the Rates:

The most important part is to select a nightly and weekly rate for your Airbnb depending on your location. This can be done by comparing other Airbnb's in your location and considering your unique value proposition offered to guests to determine the rates.

The last step is to list your property. The property should be described accurately and the unique options must be presented in an attractive way to garner the attention of potential guests.