How do hotels make money?

Before Airbnb was on fire, I didn't know that there were all kinds of homestays besides farmhouses, and I didn't know that I could reach so many interesting people through homestays.

I worked as a photographer a few years ago and got to know many people in the industry. Accidentally brushed into a circle of friends. A female photographer works as a homestay in Changsha. The industrial decoration style of the whole house attracted me at once, but more importantly, because she also lives in a homestay, she met many interesting tenants and shared her interaction with tenants in a circle of friends every day, which made my heart itch.

Changsha female photographer's homestay

Later, when I traveled back to Suzhou, I experienced the shared B&B for the first time. Because the second bedroom has been vacant for a long time, the couple opened a B&B. The owners are very kind and feel like living in a friend's house.

After that, I plan to open my own homestay.

First, how to choose a site

Because I also want to live in a homestay, I combine the needs of tourists and myself, and consider the location from these two aspects:

1. Convenient travel

I work in CBD, and there are many business districts around, so it is convenient to eat, drink and have fun. The railway station is also nearby, and the embassies are also very close. Guang Zhouta, which tourists like to visit, is also on the same line, so priority is given to the vicinity of the company. The disadvantage is that the rent is relatively expensive, so we should consider returning to this issue.

2. Safety and environment

There are quite a few villages in the city in Guangzhou. Although the rent is very cheap and the interior can be well decorated, the tenants in the village in the city are mixed, insecure and unable to guarantee the safety. If it is a homestay, it will not be considered. Secondly, the environment, because I have been a photographer for several years, I have high requirements on the lighting layout of the room, and all houses with poor lighting are not considered.

Although renting a house in Guangzhou is a little friendlier than renting a house in Beishangguang, after all, the city center is not cheap, so at this time, we should look at the pricing of the surrounding homestays, estimate the income of our future homestays, how much rent cost can be covered, and then decide the final rent budget.

Second, about decoration.

After looking at the house for half a month, I finally rented a three-bedroom and one-bedroom apartment near Sports West Subway Station, and then began to decorate it.

First of all, I decided on the decoration style, mainly considering my own preferences and the popularity of the style itself. I don't need to decorate except the room where I live. The other two rooms are Japanese tatami style and retro harbor style.

Decorate a Japanese tatami room

Retro-decorated harbour-style rooms

Then set the budget, in line with the principle of saving money, after paying the rent and deposit, there is really not much deposit, and I dare not invest too much money in the decoration. The decoration cost of two rooms+living room, as well as all kinds of linen and cleaning consumables. , probably spent more than10 million in the early stage.

Decorated living room

There are many things on fish. Here's a money-saving trick:

Try to find a fish not far from you when shopping. Small pieces can be taken back directly, and the handling fee for large pieces will not be too expensive.

In order to save more labor costs, I bought a tatami wooden pallet and carried it upstairs by myself. The skirting line of the living room was originally a strange gradient green, but I used wallpaper to paste it into gray, which looked much more harmonious as a whole.

Bring your own wooden pallet

Although the process is really hard and I don't want to go through it again, it's really a sense of accomplishment to see my house rebuilt a little bit.

Third, the business part.

As the business hours get longer and longer, the guests I meet are more and more diverse. On the whole, all the guests I met were very nice.

Many guests will bring me accompanying gifts when they check in, such as moon cakes, chocolates, tea, special snacks, lip balm and even buy me a cup of milk tea downstairs.

I have several cats at home, and they will also bring some canned cats and cat teasing sticks to my cats.

A gift from a guest

The message board on the living room wall is covered with notes, photos, scratch music and tickets ... The message book on the coffee table also records many people's stories.

Message board and message book

But running a homestay is not about making money with your fingers lying down.

Although most of them are friendly guests, some are not so friendly. I even met a guest who called me after three o'clock in the morning and said that I couldn't open the entrance guard. Obviously, the check-in guide map has clearly marked every step, but some people don't look at it, so there is nothing they can do. If they don't receive it correctly, they are likely to get bad reviews.

At first, in order to save money, I didn't invite my cleaning aunt, but after the guests checked out at noon every day, I rushed home from the company to change linen and clean myself. I often go back to work before I have time to eat rice, not to mention cleaning the toilet, washing the air conditioner and cleaning the bathroom myself every weekend. ......

After working as a homestay for several years, I learned simple maintenance, such as the lights at home don't work, the faucet leaks, the switch doesn't respond, the door lock is broken and so on. Dealing with all kinds of small problems in person can save me.

Fourth, how to operate a more popular homestay?

B&B has got full marks since it was first put on Airbnb. Airbnb also has an exclusive name "Niu Niu Landlord", which has been praised by the landlord for several years in a row, and the guest evaluations are all five stars. I think I might talk about how to make B&B more popular.

Airbnb evaluation screenshot

It may seem a bit vulgar to say it, but it is, that is, "get the details right."

The first is before booking:

Explain the room information from many angles from the pictures of houses and scenes, and try to ensure that the pictures are consistent with reality; Then there is the speed of replying to messages. If it is too slow, some guests will be lost, and the tone of reply is also very important. Using more modal particles will make you feel more cordial.

Su Min bathroom

Su Min ke ting

Next is before check-in:

I will send a very detailed address map and check-in guide to tell them what they can use at home. In addition to basic toiletries and kitchen utensils, there are refrigerators, microwave ovens, coffee makers and rice cookers ... I also prepared extra skin care products in case some guests forget to bring them when they go out. There are also fruits, drinks, snacks, board games, books, projectors and even a record player. These things are provided free of charge, just hoping to make the guests feel warmer and more humane from the details.

All these are free of charge.

Finally, I checked in:

The most basic bedding is changed one by one, and alcohol wipes are always available in the bathroom to make guests feel more at ease when going to the toilet; Every time I see a guest, I will greet him warmly. I like to greet my friends. I will invite them to eat and watch movies in the living room. Any reasonable demand will be answered at the first time, and I will ask the guests how they feel after checking out.

Have dinner with the tenant

In fact, setting up a host family is easier said than done. I want to save some rent and make friends at the same time. Through the tenants, I can see a wider world. As long as you can enjoy it, you won't feel too tired.