Short rentals are the next big thing in global tourism. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many are preferring renting a villa or an AirBnb apartment over staying in a Hotel with other 600 people. Understandable. If you have a condo in Playa del Carmen or the Riviera Maya, you can take advantage of this trend! Even if you are renting a space here for tourists over the year, you can block days just for yourself. It’s a win-win situation. So how can you turn your Condo into an AirBnb rental?
By the way, if you don’t own a condo but are interested in looking for one, this is the right place! Check the rest of our website. Now, let’s begin our journey into this article:
Redesign the place
If you are going to offer your Condo to tourists in an AirBnb rental, you might need to redefine how the space is distributed. The needs of tourists are not the same of a local, so here are a few recommendations.
First, air conditioner is a must in the Riviera Maya. Not only is it a very warm and humid area, but also it is expected by global tourists to find it. As we are aiming for perfect reviews, have a good temperature in mind.
If you are going to divide the Condo in many AirBnb rentals, make sure each rental has everything a guest may need. This is: a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen (or mini-kitchen), an area to eat, surfaces, some storage space and a viable entry. Regarding the latter, many people choose to build outer doors from every room to the outside. Other condos already have various entrances to the house.
Surfaces are an important part of a vacation rental. Your guests will arrive with their luggage, and most of them will need somewhere to put their belongings other than their bags. Make sure you cover for that with a lot of shelves, storage space and tables.
As the vast majority of tourists visit the beach, the swimming pool and cenotes, make sure each rental has a clothes-drying place. In a humid coastal area, this means that there must be wind and/or sunlight.
Get good photographs.
If you intend to make money honey, you should hire a professional photographer. When a potential client is choosing which place to book, the visual factor plays a key role. As a result, mediocre photographs will most likely take away points from you.
Your photos have to be the best. Spending 200 or 300 USD is a perfectly good investment, considering the benefits generated by more reservations.
Looking for a professional photographer? Here is a short list of good professionals in Playa del Carmen.
- Chanes – Emmanuel Flores. Facebook.
- Pixtore Photography. Facebook.
- Marco Sánchez. Facebook.
- DreamArt Photography. Facebook.
Good check-in experience.
There are a few keys to make check-ins right:
- Give your guests the proper contact information so that they can reach you when they arrive for the plane.
- Give the guests a recommended route to arrive to your place, with easy instructions (many will understand basic English).
- Hand them one key per guest. For this, avoid putting the address on the keys, as they might lose them.
- For contact-less check-ins, put the keys in a easy to use locker. There are many password-protected options. Tell them the password and be available in case there is any problem. For the rest, that would solve it.
Amenities
Let’s start with the obvious: all areas in the house need a good Wifi with a strong and stable signal. Plus a writable password. The last does not change much the overall experience of your guests, but they are a real pain.
If you want to keep a five star rating, you need to offer your guests as many items as they may need. You decide the level of needs you will cover.
- Shower gel, shampoo, two nice towels per person (one for the beach).
- Ear plugs, a small sewing kit, a comb.
- Hand sanitizer, face masks.
- Guides to Playa del Carmen.
- The printed instructions to the house. This will not only make their stay easier, but your role as a host too! It will make you avoid complaints too.
- Water, a snack, tea bags, coffee. Imagine coming from a 5 hour flight, arriving at night and not having it easy to calm your thirst and hunger because everything is closed! Guests really appreciate that.
- Champagne, chocolates, bathdrobes, that is if we’re going fancy or receiving honeymooners.
The cleanliest
When it comes to AirBnb rentals, you need to keep it really clean. The reasons for that is that people’s definition of clean may vary across cultures, because your star rating depends on it, and because some people are knit-picking everything, for whatever reason.
Many hosts decide to hire a cleaning service. We suggest trying companies or cleaners who have experience in cleaning hotels and vacation rentals. In turn, cleaners should check for items stolen and everything that was left behind by guests.
Legal aspects
If you are to turn your beach condo into a marvelous and profitable AirBnb rental, make sure you investigate the tax legislation of Mexico and Quintana Roo for AirBnb, so that you can continue your activities without worrying about taxes.
Apart from that, you might want to consider a short-term rental insurance for your property. Even though AirBnb includes its own insurance policy, an extra insurance will cover you more comprehensively. Another option is asking for a security deposit, but it is not the most common in AirBnb vacation rentals.
