How To Find Tenants Without Relying On Airbnb

With more and more cities bringing in restrictions and bans on short-term rentals, homeowners and landlords are looking for alternative ways to keep their rental properties booked and keep the cashflow-flowing.

During the 2021 and 2022 housing boom we saw a lot of demand for short-term rentals, but since that peak, people have struggled to stay booked and profitable. A lot of people are turning to mid-term rentals or monthly rentals as an alternative or even a hybrid of both as a way to have minimum vacancy, fewer turn overs and less headaches.

Some of the biggest challenges of using platforms like Airbnb or VRBO include:

• High fees of 15-25% eating into your profits

• Changing algorithms like the platform not pushing your property if you have a cleaning fee

• Unreliable bookings and cancellations

• Restrictions on the level of due diligence you can do on your guests

These platforms are designed to work well for short-term rentals but not mid-term rentals, they don’t prioritize monthly rentals where locations have 30 or 31 day minimum stays as opposed to 28 days.

Another risk of building your business on someone else’s business is that if Airbnb were to shut down tomorrow, would you still have a business? We need to be realistic and diversify our strategies to give ourselves the maximum opportunities for success.

Here are some great ways to find tenants and keep opportunities open to maximize your occupancy:

• Using multiple platforms like Aros which target a higher quality of tenant and longer stays with corporate housing, insurance housing and relocations

• Partner with local businesses and insurance companies to house displaced families

• Use social media and networking - join real estate and rental groups where you can market your rental property

• Optimize your direct booking website - create a simple and effective landing page for people to book directly, add reviews from past guests.

The best way to find tenants and keep your rental property booked is to have as many opportunities for visibility. Registering your property with multiple sites and telling people about your properties will be the most effective way. 

Sign up to Aros here , to start getting potential tenant leads directly to your inbox.