15 Ways To Make More Money From Your Vacation Rental

If you operate a short-term rental, you know that your average nightly booking rate is crucial to determining how much you'll make from your property. That and the occupancy rate are essentially the only factors affecting your revenue, while your costs -- primarily a mortgage -- are mostly fixed. That's why increasing the nightly rate is key to maximizing your profit.

Keep reading to see 15 ways you can make more money from your vacation rental.

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Top-rated homes are more attractive to guests, and if you have high ratings on a platform like Airbnb, you could become a Superhost. Your rental could earn another certificate that will help draw in guests.

Some rating criteria are hard to change, like location, but as the host, you have full control over things like communication and cleanliness. So make sure you don't lose points in those areas.

ALSO READ: How To Earn Passive Income as an Airbnb Host

Vacation rental guests will have diverse interests. For some, cable TV or streaming will be a valuable amenity. Others might enjoy a pool table in the basement or a hot tub or barbecue grill on the porch. Consider reasons different guests might visit your property and add a variety of amenities to appeal to more people and improve their stay. Making your guests' experiences better will improve your ratings and may enable you to charge more.

If you know something about why your guests are visiting, it helps to add a personal touch to their stay. Is a couple staying for a weekend getaway? Consider leaving a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates. Do you have a family with young children booked to stay? You could leave some coloring books or little toys out for the kids.

Personalizing your home is something that separates vacation rentals from hotels. Take advantage of this opportunity and you'll be more likely to create a memorable experience for your guests.

Chances are you know the area around your vacation rental as well as anybody, and you likely have valuable information to share with your guests.

Have a favorite restaurant nearby? Tell them. Is there a nearby museum, park, or other tourist attraction they absolutely must visit? Let them know. Practical tips about things like transportation or parking could also be helpful, and your guests will appreciate the inside info.

ALSO READ: 7 Things You Absolutely Should Not Do as an Airbnb Host

Ultimately, your guests stay at your vacation rental because they need a place to sleep. And a comfortable bed can make an otherwise ordinary stay feel like a luxury experience.

Test out your mattresses. Maybe even sleep on them for a night if you can. If they're not comfortable, it's time to upgrade. The good news is you can get a quality memory foam mattress for just a few hundred bucks, and that investment will likely deliver a good return.

You should also consider getting high-quality bedding to ensure a good night's sleep is one of the highlights of their stay.

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Airbnb's original name was Airbed and Breakfast, as the founders first conceived the idea by offering airbeds and breakfast to conference-goers in San Francisco.

While most hosts don't provide breakfast these days, you can make your listing stand out by offering a morning meal. If you're on-site and enjoy cooking, you could even make breakfast for your guests. If not, you could leave breakfast items for them or consider dropping off fresh pastries.

For vacation rental listings, there may be nothing more important than photos to pique the interest of potential guests.

Good photos of your place and the surrounding area can make a world of difference. It's best to take pictures in bright light and make sure your place is clean. Depending on how much you're willing to spend, it might even be worthwhile to hire a professional photographer to stage your home and take pictures.

ALSO READ: Air Travel Recovery Gives Boost to Vacation Rentals

Ensuring a positive experience is a key component of maximizing the value of your short-term rental, but you also want to avoid any negative experiences. One of the worst things that can go wrong for a vacation rental guest is to have difficulty gaining entry.

Make sure the directions you give guests for gaining access are clear. If you're using a lockbox, make sure it's easy for guests to use.

Almost every guest nowadays will want to connect to your Wi-Fi; some may even be planning to work from your short-term rental. If they're planning on doing Zoom calls for work, fast Wi-Fi speeds are essential.

Airbnb even posts Wi-Fi speeds for some of its stays. So if you have fast Wi-Fi, you can use it as a selling point. Additionally, it's a good idea to make sure the login information to connect to the Wi-Fi network is easily accessible.

If your guests are vacationing at your place, they'll likely want to share their experience on social media. Help them out by making your place attractive for sites like Instagram. Funky decor, bright colors, modern lighting, and something that identifies the locale can help your place look fun and stand out on social media. Your rental may even get some buzz if the right person posts about it. Improving your decor will also make the photos on your listing more attractive.

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One way to improve your earnings on your short-term rental is by optimizing your pricing. Airbnb has tools that will suggest the best prices, but you may want to experiment with your own pricing, especially if your area gets visitors for special events.

It's also important to be aware of seasonality, as you'll want to raise prices during the high season to take advantage of increased demand.

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Saving costs on a short-term rental isn't so easy, but one way to do it is by ensuring your home is as energy efficient as possible. Replace incandescent light bulbs with LEDs, get a smart thermostat, and upgrade your insulation if needed. You may also want to update your appliances to ensure they aren't wasting energy.

Remember, your guests won't care about saving you money on air conditioning costs or turning the lights off when they leave, but you can make it easy on yourself by investing in energy efficiency.

If your vacation rental has outdoor space, you can bet your guests will want to take advantage of it. That means it's worth investing in. That could include anything from improving your landscaping to adding comfortable patio furniture, a hammock, or a fire pit. You could also include a hot tub or even a pool.

Games like cornhole or bocce can also help guests enjoy your outdoor space.

A big-ticket repair could blow a hole in your profit-and-loss statement. The best way to prevent that is to keep up with preventative maintenance. Don't slack off on inspections, and keep an eye on areas like your roof or your heating and cooling system. It may be worth investing in a monitoring system like SmartRent's SmartHub that can notify property owners if there's an issue, such as a leak in the basement or something similar.

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If your Airbnb or VRBO rental is in a popular area, there may be several pages of listing guests can choose from. So you'll want to get your listing as close to the top as possible.

Some ways you can do that include becoming an Airbnb Superhost, responding quickly to guests or automating your communications, updating or improving your listing, and ensuring you have a long booking window so guests who like the place can see available dates.

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As a short-term rental operator, you can do a lot to make your property more lucrative. Start with low-hanging fruit like improving your photos, making easy energy-efficient upgrades, and creating a list of local recommendations.

The good news for vacation rental owners is that the travel recovery continues to be robust despite broader macroeconomic concerns. There's plenty of opportunity for hosts to take advantage of the recovery.

Jeremy Bowman has positions in Airbnb, Inc. and Zoom Video Communications. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Airbnb, Inc. and Zoom Video Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.