People are coming in droves to Florida, and this is your opportunity to make a passive income off of your vacation rental. 

More and more, people are realizing that they can have a great vacation without staying at a hotel, and opting for AirBnB rentals instead. 

Vacation rental homes in Southwest Florida are more popular than ever (especially in places like Cape Coral and Fort Myers). 

Be warned, like most entrepreneurial ventures, some of these tips might require an investment– perhaps a little time or a little money.

But these tips work if they’re implemented properly, and we’ve seen owners break even fairly quickly, and enjoy the profits that followed. 

It’s time to start your passive income stream. In this article, we’ll help you start making money automatically with your vacation rental by standing out from the pack and getting more bookings.

Make Your Listing Awesome

If your listing is amazing, people will book your vacation rental home.

If your listing is lacking, many people won’t take the gamble that it’s “better in person.” 

There are two major pillars to any listing: the photos and the description.

Photos 

Arguably the most important thing for your listing: if people don’t like the photos at a glance they aren’t even going to read the description or look at anything else you have to offer. Take time and care with your photographs

Our Tip: It’s worth the investment to hire a professional photographer. They can help you arrange and stage areas and get incredible photos.

If you choose to do it yourself, be sure to use a current smartphone or camera, be certain the photos are in focus and show the beauty of the rooms, and err on the side of more photos than less.

Description

Don’t get too wordy, and focus on the benefits of why they should rent your vacation rental and not your neighbor’s. 

The description should focus on the things that set your vacation rental apart.

Are you a beach vacation rental? List “beach access”. Do you have the most stunning view in Southwest Florida? Mention it. Do you have smart locks as an extra layer of security? Make that abundantly clear.

Put any valuable information that you yourself would personally want to know if the table were turned, and you were choosing a vacation rental home.

Be Current With Amenities

When was the last time you updated your WiFi router?

If you can’t remember, it’s probably time to get a new one so your guests can enjoy modern, lightning-fast internet as they stream their favorite shows and make dinner reservations on their phones.

You’d be surprised the impact that good or bad internet has on the overall guest experience.

Also, though a bit more pricey, make sure your TV is current enough to have HDMI hookups. If you want to take that a step further, a Smart TV is ideal so people can log into their streaming services easily. 

Consider offering extras like bicycles and beach chairs for people to use as their leisure. These sorts of amenities help the renter envision the fun times they’re going to be having when they rent your home. They’ll also appreciate that they don’t have to schlep their own bikes, chairs, etc., to your house.  

Finally, many AirBnB hosts don’t allow pets, and frankly, it costs them a fortune on rentals. This is a big leap for most vacation home renters, but it’s staggering how many potential guests have a pet they want to bring along and have to settle for a subpar listing because of it.

You may have to do a bit of extra cleaning afterward, but making your rental pet-friendly it’s certainly worth consideration because it will make your listing attractive to more potential customers. 

(Note: Be sure to add any of these amenities in the description discussed above.)

Get Your Pricing in a Sweet Spot

Pricing can be tricky, but there are some guidelines to follow to figure out what works best for you. 

First, the quickest and easiest way to get a starting point is to look at properties similar to yours and figure out what they’re charging. It’s important to look at competitors in your area, because rates may differ from Siesta Key to Fort Myers Beach and so on. 

Once you establish a starting point, you’ll have to factor in your costs. Everyone does this differently but think of anything that costs you money. Consider things like:

–  Water and electricity the guests will use (assume they’ll crank the air conditioner) 

–  Think of what you’re  paying for your mortgage, insurance, and taxes (divide it by ~30 to see what that breaks out to daily)

–  Are you using a third-party rental company? (If so consider their fee.) 

–  Are you cleaning the rental up yourself afterward or paying someone else to? 

Considering all of these things (and any other expenses applicable to your rental) should give you a solid starting point for a nightly rate. Make sure you’re profitable. Also, it’s customary to offer discounts for long-term rental versus short-term rentals.

Let Us Handle Your Southwest Florida Vacation Rentals

As you can see, the takeaway is that you can automatically start making money on your vacation rentals in Southwest Florida… but it is a lot of work.  

Many people love the idea of leveraging their current assets to make income but find out quickly that between guest communication, managing an Airbnb listing, vacation rental marketing, and everything else that’s required, it becomes a full-time job.  

If you want to make a truly automatic passive income off of your vacation rental without having to lift a finger, then we’re here to help. 

Sunshine Cohosting is a management company that specializes in AirBnB property management for a much more competitive price than any other company in the area.

Our quality is unmatched, and we can handle as much or as little as you need from turnkey full service, or just cleaning, managing your AirBnb listing, and much more.

No matter your need, let’s see if we’re a fit for each other so you can make the most profit on your vacation rental home automatically, today.