The Room Hosting Podcast: Recent Episodes
Shane Gallagher
Shane Gallagher Airbnb Super Host and creator of the Room Hosting System shares his process for converting spare or underutilized space in your house into income-generating space. Discover how you can quickly start earning side income each month without a major upfront investment of time or money. In 2016 Shane put an air mattress in his little-used home office and started his room hosting journey on Airbnb. In the six years since then, he has hosted over six different rooms in the two different houses, he has called home. Learn Shane’s process, including what works, what doesn’t, all while being entertained by real-world hosting stories. Subscribe today and get ready to host your first guest.
Learn how to write guest reviews in a way that is useful to other hosts. The better hosts write reviews the better trust is built on the Airbnb platform. It's important to be honest in reviews so that other guests are able to make an informed decision about whether they want to host a specific guest.
Trust is one of the critical components of hosting. Hosts need to trust guests and guests need to trust hosts or the whole system starts to fall apart. When people stay at hotels this trust is built from the brand name on the hotel, even know the brand does not own nor operate that hotel in most cases. When it comes room hosts you do not have a brand for your guests to trust. This is where reviews come in. The reviews that past guests have left about their stays and your listing are what builds trust with perspective guests that they are going to have a safe and enjoyable stay in your property.
There is a lot going on in the United Sates right now and it can be difficult to understand what your responsibilities are as a host. In this episode I attempt to provide some guidance and tips on how to handle hosting during unpredictable times.
The best room hosts make use of food and beverage amenities to stand out in crowded markets and differentiate themselves from hotels and motels. While it may not seem like free coffee, free filtered water, and/or free snacks would make a big difference for a traveler not having to go to the local convince store after a long trip make a huge difference and leaves them with a positive perception of your place and you.
The bedroom is the core of your offering as a room host making it important for you to carefully consider which amenities you provide in the bedroom. In this fourth episode in our amenities series we drive into the mandatory, recommended, and optional amenities for the bedroom. As always be sure to consider your local market and your guests when deciding on what amenities to offer.
The bathroom you provide to your guests is sure to leave an impression. Learn how to left a good impression by providing the right bathroom amenities.
As a room host, your guest is likely going to require access to some shared or common spaces in your house in order to get to their room. This episode walks through a set of "required" and recommended amenities that room hosts should consider providing to their guests in the common spaces.
Amenities are defined as things that make you comfortable and at ease. As a Room Host amenities are an important tool for marketing your listing and for increasing your income potential. Learn more about the importance of amenities in this episode.
You don't have a second chance to make a first good impression and the check-in experience is going to be a guest's first real-world interaction with you. Tune into this episode to learn why the check-in experience is so important and get some tips on how to make the check-in experience excellent for the guest while easy on you,
Airbnb announced that beginning 31 May, they are updating their Extenuating Circumstances policy to no longer cover COVID-19 related circumstances as a reason for a refund for bookings made on or after this date. This includes cases where a guest or Host is sick with COVID-19. Instead, the Host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual to these bookings.
Airbnb Announcement Link: Updating our Extenuating Circumstances policy (airbnb.com)
In business, pricing is part art, part science, and often a total pain for business owners. In this episode learn how to make pricing easy while optimizing your earnings potential.
Airbnb is an amazing tool for room hosts that makes our businesses easier to run. Airbnb has completely changed the way people use real estate and the way people travel. Anything causing this level of disruption in the world is going to have critics. Learn about some of the key criticisms of Airbnb and why they most, if not all, do not apply to how room hosts use the Airbnb platform in this episode.
As a Room Host Airbnb is the platform that powers your room hosting business. Learn more about all the benefits of using Airbnb and how it makes room hosting easy.
Hosting requires you to provide a guest with sleeping space and a bathing/bathroom space. Airbnb provides you with a lot of flexibility in what space you can provide in order to meet these two requirements, In this episode, I talk about your option here and how you are always in control of the space you choose to include in your listing.
It's only happened to me twice and it's still a huge shock and surprise to me when a guest arrives and decides they do not want to stay at my place. Hopefully, this will never happen to you as a host but if it does this episode will prepare you to handle a guest deciding not to stay.
One of the reasons that I am confident in saying that almost anyone who owns a home can become a Room Host is due to the flexibility of space you can list on Airbnb. When I first started as a Room Host I put an air mattress in my home office and started listing the space on Airbnb for $25 a night. In this episode, I explore this flexibility and walk through how you can get started as a host without even needing a traditional bed.
While it is generally universally agreed that no one controls the weather there are often differing opinions about who should bear the cost of trips that are impacted as a result of the weather. This episode offers guidance on how to handle weather-related trip impacts both from the perspective of Airbnb policies and from the perspective of "doing the right thing."
As a new Room Host, the notion of having to do "business" taxes can seem overwhelming. In this episode, I explain why you have nothing to fear and walk you through how to keep room hosting taxes simple and straightforward.
Room Hosting is a great way to make side income and get closer to a life free of financial worry. Learn more about how much money room hosts make in this episode. Shane shares his actual Room Hosting income numbers as one real-world example of the money a room host can make.
Learn more about Shane's room hosting income on his YouTube channel.
Get acclimated with the concept of Room Hosting. Room Hosting is a simple concept but not necessarily one that everyone thinks about naturally. In this episode, Room Hosting is explained in simple terms, along with a discussion about what Room Hosting is, what it isn't, and everything in between.
Inspired to get started as a room host? Check out The Room Hosting System.
Welcome to the Room Hosting Podcast!
Discover how you can quickly start earning side income each month without a major upfront investment of time or money. In 2016 Shane put an air mattress in his little-used home office and started his room hosting journey on Airbnb. In the six years since then, he has hosted over six different rooms in the two different houses, he has called home. Learn Shane’s process, including what works, what doesn’t, all while being entertained by real-world hosting stories. Subscribe today and get ready to host your first guest.