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Getting into the AirBnB business was exciting at the beginning. Calendars were full, and guests were on their best behavior.
But when we found ourselves struggling to stay occupied during the slow season, prices started to drop and the complexities of running a business on AirBnB started to come up.
We had to learn about every aspect of improving our listing, from taxes to copywriting, and we wish someone would have told us about these books when we first got started as hosts.
So which are the best books for Airbnb hosts?
For taxes, you’ll want to read Taxes for Airbnb Hosts. Interior Design For Your Space is excellent for the best practices of designing your home, and Optimize Your Airbnb is a must-read book for running a successful business. Copywriting and photography are also essential, listed below.
Table of Contents
Summary
- Taxes, deductions, benefits, etc. surrounding your short term rental is crucial for maximizing your business.
- Listing optimization for your AirBnB property will take you step by step on how to dominate your local market.
- Knowing how to design a great interior will help set you apart and make your property unique.
- Learn how to take great interior shots of your property so your listing can shine.
- Copywriting is the skill of getting people to act when they read your description.
Top 5 Books Every AirBnB Host Must Read
If you’re looking for the most useful books for AirBnB hosts, then your search is over.
Below is a list of books that will directly impact the success of your short term rental, which requires new skills that every host needs to have in our competitive market.
Gone are the days of slapping up a property on AirBnB and lying on a hammock while your bank account fills up (not that it happened before), but now it’s REALLY not like that anymore!
The first book we will start with relates to taxes and how you can use them to your advantage.
Taxes For AirBnB Hosts
| Info | Every Airbnb Host’s Tax Guide |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen Fishman J.D. |
| Purchase | Get It On Amazon |
If you’re not taking advantage of tax deductions and depreciating assets then you’re leaving some serious money on the table. Similarly, if you’re not doing your taxes properly then you can owe some serious money at the end of each season.
Every AirBnB Host’s Tax Guide is the first of its kind and the only tax book dedicated for short term rental hosts that we could find.
It’s full of very important information regarding deductions, what records you should keep, and how to separate business and personal use.
However, it is directed towards hosts who rent out their residences and doesn’t appear to be very comprehensive for dedicated short term rental businesses. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it, because the rest of the information will help you navigate the murky waters of taxes.
AirBnB Listing Optimization
| Info | Optimize Your Airbnb |
|---|---|
| Author | Daniel Rusteen |
| Purchase | Get It On Amazon |
How would you like some insights from a former employee over at AirBnB?
Optimize Your AirBnB is THE best book on running an AirBnB like a well oiled machine. It doesn’t just have tips and tricks for best practices, but also contains check lists for managing your cleaning team and Superhost status.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Work flow tools and strategies for getting more reviews, screening bad guests, and message templates help streamline the process even more to make you look like you’ve been hosting for decades.
This little book contains as much information as $1000 courses and dummy-proofs your AirBnB.
Interior Design For Your Space
| Info | Interior Design Master Class |
|---|---|
| Author | Carl Dellatore |
| Purchase | Get It On Amazon |
Have you ever booked a place that had clutter everywhere, outdated furniture that didn’t match, and family pictures on the walls?
Neither have I, and neither have your guests.
Interior design is a creative skill that takes decades to master. However, it is based on inherent rules that we find in nature, like the Golden Ratio. Although not obvious, our human instincts have us gravitating to certain designs, layouts, colors and textures over others.
So being able to understand the process and controlling the feeling one gets by being in your space is a skill that every AirBnB host must have.
The Interior Design Master Class offers insights into the designers thought processes that will help you design your space to appeal to your target traveler. You’ll be able to come up with your own designs that fit your personal style that gives a uniqueness to your place that no one else can copy.
Or at the very least, find inspiration.
Interior Photography For Your Listing
| Info | Photography for Real Estate Interiors |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathan Cool |
| Purchase | Get It On Amazon |
Think you can just pull out your phone and take pictures of your space that will sell bookings like hot-cakes?
Maybe.
First you need to have a good understanding of lighting, composition, exposure, and white balance when it comes to shooting your interior.
Photography for Real Estate Interiors is just that book, and is the first book in a series dedicated to real estate photography (check out the entire series on Amazon by Clicking Here). It is a gold mine of information regarding work flow, what shots to take, and has links to video tutorials for editing your photos.
As professional AirBnB photographers, we understand that only 15% of hosts actually have high quality pictures of their short term rental. That means there is a quality-gap as large as 85% that you can take advantage of in order to stand out!
Photos that look professional and are well composed are what get people on to your listing and builds the expectation that guests can trust you to be a professional host.
And copywriting is what closes the deal.
Copywriting For Your Listing
| Info | Copywriting Secrets |
|---|---|
| Author | Jim Edwards |
| Purchase | Get It On Amazon |
Also known as Weaponized Words. It’s what you’ve been reading this whole time (whether or not my copywriting is any good is a different discussion).
Copywriting is what intrigues your readers to keep going, revealing new information, making them feel the way you want them to feel (when you want them to feel it). It is very much an art that is also backed by data, particularly consumer behavior.
However, it takes decades to master – and every industry will respond differently to different styles of copy.
Copywriting Secrets is a book that will take you through the entire process of writing your own original content that includes example headlines and when you would want to use them. And it’s written by a copywriter who writes his OWN copy, so you know he practices what he preaches!
Your description on AirBnB/Vrbo isn’t just about facts that describe your space, but is your chance to get visitors to choose your place over your competitors.
And copywriting is the vehicle that will take your listing where you want it to go.
Final Thoughts
It’s taken us years of study, as well as trial and error, to figure out the skills necessary for competing in the digital age. And hosting on AirBnB is no different.
We truly believe that these are the only books you will ever need to squeeze out every ounce of efficiency and profit from your short term rental properties. From interior design to taxes and photography, everything works together to build on top of each other.
So with all of this information arming you for massive success on AirBnB, there is absolutely NO excuse for an empty calendar.
NONE.
Okay, except for maybe Coronavirus. Didn’t see that one coming. If you’re having trouble, check out our post on the 6 ways hosts are surviving the pandemic.
Know any other books that should have made this list? Let me know in the comments below!
