Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are the best times to make the most money with your Airbnb! But, it's also the biggest season of costly host blunders and nightmare guest situations. You don't have to guess and stress! Use the hacks we've honed over our 147 holidays as Airbnb hosts to maximize your revenue - while minimizing guest and housekeeper meltdowns.

Tune into Episode 107 of the Host Coach Airbnb Investing Podcast to learn our exact pre-holiday protocol to ensure a smooth season. Why not to decorate your Airbnb. The must-haves for each season, and our best suggestions to surprise and delight both your housekeepers and guests!

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The #1 holiday item to never put in your Airbnb
• The pre-holiday protocol you need to follow
• Safety items and rules you need to have in place to protect your guests and property
• Holiday hacks for your housekeeping
• The best holiday surprise and delight items for your guests

Host Coach Airbnb Podcast Episode 107 Show Notes:

Smart Airbnb Hosting for Holidays

Maximum revenue really comes down to maximum price, and that equals maximum guest expectations, so you've got to be ready for that. Our Stargazer cabin is $700 per night for Christmas through New Year Week, and that's on a normal base price of $315. So, make sure that your Airbnb is ready and your housekeepers are ready.

It's crucial to make sure that your calendar is set up to prevent housekeepers from having to clean on the actual holidays. I just did this week. I went into Pricelabs, and I clicked November 27th to not allow checkouts on that date. This way, our housekeepers aren't having to clean on Thanksgiving Day. I'll do the same thing for Christmas. If your housekeeper does end up needing to clean on a holiday, make sure to pay them a little extra. We tend to pay time and a half on those days. They're missing out with time on their families and they deserve compensation for that.

Airbnb Inventories and Deep Cleans - Be Prepared

Along with maximum prices, expect maximum guest counts. And this means you need to do some inventory. Do you have enough linens, pillows, towels, silverware, plates? Also inventory for quality and replace anything that's not at brand standard. Do you need to replace worn sheets, stain towels, or the throw blankets that have gone through the washing machine about a hundred times between guests? You also need to make sure that your fireplace and any of your major amenities are an optimal working order.

We also like to schedule deep cleans, taking a day for the housekeeper to do a deep, extra clean to take care of things they don't have time to do during regular turnovers. People are pickier about cleanliness when they're paying more. The holidays also mean older relatives as guests who may not be used to Airbnbs. They might be used to that five-star hotel experience and holding your Airbnb to that standard.

This time of year we also like to check for our power outage kits. We make sure that we've got the flashlights and batteries, maybe some candles, and an extra lighter. It's also a good time to make sure that your snow shovels haven't disappeared and you've got some salt for the driveway. Ask your housekeeper exactly where those things are so you can tell your guests where to find them in case of emergency. Danielle grew up in Pennsylvania and definitely experienced some white Thanksgivings.

Another thing to think about as we hit the holidays is pre-writing thank you notes to your guests just saying how grateful you are that they chose your place for each upcoming holiday and It doesn't have to be personalized. You don't have to wait until you know the guests because there are cancellations. But just a nice note saying, thank you for choosing our Airbnb to host your family and holiday. It's that extra little bit of hospitality that sets off a great holiday experience.

Your Airbnb Thanksgiving Checklist

Let's talk about Thanksgiving then. Is your Airbnb equipped for guests to cook a full Thanksgiving meal? Inventory your plates, silverware, spoons that might have disappeared and expect your maximum guest count. Four plates for 10 people is not a good way to start the holidays. Another thing to think about is open up your cabinets. Do you have mixing bowls, baking pans, muffin tins, a hand mixer, and a couple large serving platters? Again, those aren't something you need on weekends and regular two person stays, but as we hit Thanksgiving, you 100% need to have those. In fact, a guest messaged us yesterday asking if we had a crockpot at the cabin because they were planning their Thanksgiving menu in advance. Of course, we have a crockpot! We have one at all 14 properties because I'm that person. If you have room and you don't have a crockpot, now is a great time to add a $20 amenity that will definitely make your guests' holiday that much better.

Another thing to think about as we hit the holidays is surprise and delight. You may already leave out something nice for your guests: a little soap, a special coffee, something like that. If you have the time and inclination, Thanksgiving is rife with great things to put out for guests! You could do pumpkin flavored coffee pods, apple cider packets, fall themed puzzles, little chocolates shaped like leaves. Anything like that. This is the place to spend a little bit of extra money. Remember, your guests are paying top dollar, and if you can wow them when they walk in the door with a few little surprise and delight items they wouldn't necessarily get at a hotel or a relative's house, you're one step closer to that five star review on Airbnb.

Let's try to refrain from putting up tons and tons of Thanksgiving signs and kitschy decorations. We stayed at an Airbnb a little while ago and counted 21 different signs in a room. And those can be the Happy Thanksgiving signs or the little stick its that are on every single light switch. I think that drives people a little crazy. I know. It drives me crazy. Also let's not overdo it with the pumpkin and the spice scented plugin air fresheners. Guests with allergies really hate them. We often get messages from guests making sure you know that something like that hasn't been used before their stay, I don't have allergies, but they just give me headaches and that's just not a great way to kick off a positive holiday stay. You don't want crabby Culin in your Airbnb kicking off a holiday. It's just not good. And he's a happy guy, so don't use the plugins. It's a temptation for housekeepers to cover up, like maybe a garbage scent or something else. Use an ozone generator if you have an odor issue, but don't cover it up with any kind of artificial scent. It's a no-no. Check out the private note a recent guest sent us.

Simple Ways to Thank Your Airbnb Team

Thank is in Thanksgiving... this is a great time to write a handwritten note to all of the team members that support your Airbnb, your housekeepers, your handymen, your lawn crew, anybody that is working on your business to make your guest experience better. Sending them a note takes you five minutes and costs you a stamp. And every time I do this, I get flooded with text messages. People are so touched that someone took time to write a note. It's a very low dollar way to make a high impact on everybody that's helping you run your Airbnb business.

In addition to notes, we like to send Christmas bonuses, and we've found that before Black Friday is a great time to do that. Housekeepers can use extra money around that time of year. In terms of how much we send - it's atleast what the cost of a cleaning would be. You may feel a little more generous, but it's just a great way to thank them and remember them and appreciate all that they do for us all year long. And again, we're going to have some bigger guest stays, during these holiday seasons too. So it's a great way to thank them and show gratitude.

Holiday Décor That Doesn’t Overwhelm

So Danielle, how do you feel about Christmas decorations and our Airbnbs? I hate Airbnb Christmas decorations! I love them in my own home. But you must resist the urge to decorate your Airbnb over the top for Christmas, even though every retail store in America is exploding with beautiful, fun decor and you want to buy it. Don't do it! Remember it's not your house, it's an Airbnb. It's a place where people you don't know come and make memories and feel comfortable.

Holiday decor is expensive. You have to pay someone to put it up, pay someone to take it down, find a place to store it, and another angle is it may offend your guests. It could be somebody that has a different religion that doesn't celebrate that particular holiday. It could be someone who's purposely not staying in their own home because they're trying to get away from a painful holiday memory, a lost loved one, that sort of thing. So you don't want to have a million cheery Christmas decorations and freak out your guests. I'm not the Grinch. I'm not saying you can't decorate. If you do want to do some small decorations, go for something really tasteful, like white Christmas lights, greenery, snowflakes, more of a light winter theming that you can leave up for more of this season and really isn't going to chafe any guest for any particular reason.

Another thing to think about when it comes to holiday decorations is you're going to get guests asking you, "Hey, can I bring my own decorations?" And of course, you're a good person, you're going to say yes. Please listen to me and add: if you bring decorations, please make sure that you take them down and take them with you. This sounds really silly until you think about a live Christmas tree and your poor housekeeper having to haul a live Christmas tree with all the sap and the needles through your house dropping bits into the floorboards, into the door jam. It's a nightmare. So again, the "but please take it with you" is an easy way to solve that and keep things simple.

Airbnb Trip Insurance is a Must for Holidays

Another note for guests during this time of year is encouraging them to purchase Airbnb's trip insurance. It's very inexpensiv,e and it's a great way to hedge against bad weather or last-minute holiday plan changes. Airbnb will refund the guests if there's a snow storm, and trust us you don't want to be stuck with a cancellation that you're having to refund at that peak price. Yeah, it's a moral dilemma. On one side you guests can't get there, and you want to refund them for their holiday, but it's also your business and this is thousands of dollars that you can't rebook. So we actually have an automated message in our booking stream that encourages guests to purchase the Airbnb insurance and it's super inexpensive.

Christmas Suprise and Delight Ideas

Moving from that kind of gritty topic to one of my favorite topics, we're back to surprise and delight. Shocker! Christmas is a gre time to surprise and delight your guests. You can put out a little hot cocoa bar if kids are coming. You can put out individually wrapped cookies - just nothing with nuts for guest allergies. Holiday puzzles, holiday books, and anything that is just that little bit of extra that makes someone come in and be like, "you know what? I'm not in my own home, but I feel incredibly welcomed and warm." We have this ridiculous snowman cookie jar that came in a ski chalet that we inherited, and normally I would never buy it, but it's there and it matches the color scheme, and so I filled it with Scotty's shortbread cookies that are in the individual wrappings. It's super cute and popular. Lean into it!

New Year's Eve Airbnb Checklist

New Year's Eve often is accompanied by fireworks. So let's be clear to our guests about what your house rules are. Maybe you're located in a wooded setting, maybe you're in an HOA. Communicate to the guests about any restrictions around fireworks. No one wants to be calling the Fire Department on New Year's Eve or getting a notice from the HOA president on New Year's Eve when you're at home celebrating. If there are fireworks in the area - provide that time and location to your guests.

Another thing in the whole inventory concept is make sure you have enough champagne flutes for your max number of guests in your property. You can be inexpensive and get little plastic/acrylic ones. I get glass stemless champage flutes on Amazon because they last the entire year, and without the stem they don't tip over and break as easily. They're a nice little amenity to add in for a holiday, but they carry through for people's anniversaries, birthdays, and the other celebrations that are in your Airbnb for the rest of the year.

New Years Eve has easy suprise and delight items. You can do noise makers, you could do fun little paper sunglasses, hats, a bottle of sparkling wine. Do not put out confetti. Your housekeeper will thank you. And speaking of housekeepers. If they haven't experienced a New Year's in your Airbnb, you need to have them braced for maximum guests for late checkouts because people have stayed up late and probably had a few cocktails and larger messes for the same reasons. A lot of times our housekeepers will bring a helper for the day after New Year's to make sure that they can get everything back to sparkling clean before our next guest check in.

So there you have it. You now know how to turn potential chaos into peak season profits by preemptively inventorying your Airbnb, preparing for those maximum guest counts, managing your calendar, avoiding over-decorating and adding surprise and delight items for your guests.

Keep listening to the Host Coach show. We're here every Tuesday sharing actionable real life advice systems and software to help you fast track your success of your Airbnb and achieve a life of financial freedom. If you're ready to start Airbnb investing journey, but feel like you need some guidance, that's what we do.

Looking to fast-track your success? Book a free 30-minute Airbnb coaching call with us. We love helping people build financial freedom through Airbnb investing!

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