Do you wish you knew what amenities were most important for success as an Airbnb investor? Are you looking for design and renovation direction with your STR? Would it be amazing to have an expert completely design, renovate, and furnish your next investment or at least know what they would suggest?
If so, don’t miss Episode 33 of the Host Coach Airbnb Podcast where Mark Lumpkin of STR Cribs shares from his experience setting up more than 500 short-term rentals, how the use of Airbnbs has changed over time.
Read on to learn the most important aspects of Airbnb design for standing out in your market, as well as the most desirable amenities you can put into your Airbnb to increase bookings and guest satisfaction!
Topics discussed in this episode:
- The changing guest expectation for Airbnb use
- How to appeal to the largest traveling demographic in the U.S.
- The least expensive amenity that gives you the biggest bang for your buck
- The most important room to renovate in an Airbnb
- 3 expert tips for setting up your first short-term rental
- The one amenity that will make your Airbnb the most desirable in your market
Host Coach Airbnb Podcast Episode 33 Show Notes:
Mark, how did you end up in the Airbnb design space?
I really just fell into it. I had always loved traveling. We're avid Airbnb users. We're super hosts ourselves. I've always really enjoyed traveling, real estate and being a real estate investor. I had had a friend in a real estate mastermind group tell me that he was starting a short-term rental startup and doing design - which I knew very little about but, I knew a lot about business development and things like that. So I just jumped in with him to help him out and five years later we've set up about 500 properties in my career and it's definitely been a learning experience!
How STR Cribs Helps Airbnb Investors
So you're the sales director at STR Cribs. What is the company and what is the goal of the company?
We're a renovation and a design general contractors. We focus on creating the top 1 percent listings in each market that we work in. So when you see homes that are just over-the-top fantastic with a lot of amenities, with pop off the screen designs that separate themselves from the pack, so to speak - that's us. Our goal is to create those experiences. STR Cribs has been around for about four years. We've worked on properties in about 30 markets, and we just love helping investors create amazing spaces.
So, for our listeners, if you're the investor that doesn't have that flair for design - STR Cribs could come in, implement and execute on this top 1% type design for you.
Definitely. And I would say what really separates us from other designers out there is our breadth of work. We are licensed general contractors. And when another designer might say no, we say, "yes." We do everything. So we'll replace roofs. We'll remodel kitchens. We'll install hot tubs. We'll build pickleball courts in the backyard. We'll take a garage and turn it into a game room with county permitting and AC units. We handle all the stuff that's necessary, so it really is a turnkey solution.
As you guys know from building your Airbnb portfolio, there's so many things that you need done, right? Your TVs have to be mounted, plugged in, hooked up to the WiFi. Your barbecue needs a propane tank. You need smart locks. You need cups and plates and extra towels and linens. There's so many little things. We wrap all that up and hand the keys back to our clients.
STR Cribs works in any U.S state but Hawaii and Alaska. It's pretty difficult to get there logistically, but the continental United Stateswe're wide open to. We primarily see most of our work happening in about 15 markets - the busy ones that most people are setting up short term rentals in. So, we're going to Bethel, Maine. We just did a property in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Most Important Airbnb Design Concepts
What would you say a couple, of the most important things that you've learned about design and amenity execution through setting up 500 different Airbnbs? What a great breadth of experience to draw from.
Number one, I would say is being really strategic and thoughtful in what you do and focusing on what is the competition doing from a design standpoint? And how can you stand out? So, if I were to pull up Airbnb right now and go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee - we would see houses that all almost look exactly the same. They have brown leather couches. They've got the little mountain mural in the back and they've got a bear on the countertop, right? Those houses look exactly the same. So my suggestion would be: do something very different that stands out. And that's really what we do at STR Cribs.
Match your STR Amenities to Your Market
The next important thing would be: be thoughtful about your amenities. If you're going to Florida, a really hot tropical market. I live in Florida. I can tell you that hot tubs are not a great amenity. We would never even sit in a hot tub in our house in Florida because it's a hundred percent humidity and it's a hundred degrees every night. That amenity in that market is not necessarily a great high ROI driving amenity.
You need to ask yourself, "what could be a really high ROI driving amenity in that market specifically for my guests that are coming in?" So, if I'm in a city that has a lot of families traveling and maybe I'm thinking about kids and doing playgrounds and game rooms that are really thoughtful about my guest avatar. So think about those type of amenities strategically. Who's coming to stay in my Airbnb and what market am I in?
This mindset of thinking about your guests in terms of amenities is also setting you up for success from a property management standpoint. So making sure that you have the right quality items from towels and linens. And little things like do I have USB lamps on my nightstand so that people can just plug their phone in and , they're not moving my nightstand every night back and forth to plug their phone in? Those are for me, the three hot topics, a design that's different from the market that stands out and pops, amenities that are thoughtful, strategic and that are to drive ROI, and then setting you up for success on that property management side.
That's actually a chapter in our Airbnb investing book - design that make it pop. I get a great deal of joy out of designing with guests in mind and anticipating the experiences that these families and travelers are going to have when they're in our spaces.
Airbnb Redesign Before/After
I love the finished product. I love to see the before and afters where it's like, "Man this house was so nasty and so gross and now it just absolutely pops." We should have an hgtv show for what it's worth. You go from this old house that's really dated and then now it has new floors and it's got a new paint job and it's got crazy murals and beautiful design, beautiful furniture, and a game room. So that before and after for me, it's so much fun. I love it!
We do too. Sometimes "during" can be a little wearing because we don't have a design crew. It's us.
You have that pile of boxes andbthe cardboard nightmare, right? Lots of recycling.
Airbnb Tips for New Investors
Do you have any tools that would help our listeners as they're setting up their first Airbnb?
I would really think about this in a few ways. One is it's a lot more work than you're going to anticipate. And so give yourself some extra time. If you think a project is going to take you two or three days, it's probably going to take you two weeks. And I would also get some extra hands. I found several times trying to do it by yourself, almost be impossible, right? If you're building a bunk bed that comes in a hundred pieces - it just requires two or three people simply to build that thing. And so give yourself some extra time, get yourself some extra help, and then know that things are gonna happen. You're not gonna have the correct hardware to an item that you bought. It just won't show up in the box. If are you in the middle of nowhere, three hours away from the nearest hardware store - that's a terrible time suck.
You're giving me flashbacks.
Try to predict the unexpected, because it's gonna happen to you, especially with hundreds of items going into your house. Things will be broken in shipping, hardware will be missing.. Have a plan for trash. On my first job, we did a cabin in Tennessee and I was like, "Oh, we'll just burn the cardboard boxes." I thought we'd have a little bonfire. I romanticized this. It's me and my buddies. We're going to do this. We'll have a little bonfire in the backyard. And then as soon as I opened the first box, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is completely full of styrofoam. We can't burn all this stuff - that's a biohazard." So trash removal is important. Getting some extra help, giving yourself a little extra time. I think those tips will really make sure that people don't get overwhelmed.
Great advice. We actually use our teenage son as child labor when we're assembling all different kinds of furniture. He's now an expert with a allen key. So that's a very important thing. Have more than one person, actually having at least three people for some of these things and knowing that you're going to have to drill the holes for tables that weren't drilled in the factory. There's always "extra fun" things - so bring your toolkit. I have a massive box of miscellaneous to get it done.
I like that you guys are using your son for cheap labor. I'm sure you're ordering some pizza keeps him happy,
The Importance of Airbnb Amenities
So you had touched on amenities earlier, but I would love to have you unpack that a little bit further. How important do you think amenities are in setting an Airbnb apart from its competition? Particularly today's Airbnb environment? I love that you call it the Airbnb amenity arms race!
I think amenities are the most important thing for Airbnb success, and what used to work in short term rentals doesn't work anymore. And it used to be me and my wife were laughing at this. We looked at some pictures of one of the first Airbnbs we ever stayed at. And it was literally an air mattress on the floor in an apartment in Barcelona. The host didn't speak any English and it was just like the coolest experience. That's really not what Airbnb is starting to morph into. It is turning into larger groups traveling, corporate retreats, families, people are thinking about the property as part of the vacation, right?
If you're going to Scottsdale, yes, you're going to play golf and see a baseball game, but you're also going for the property that you're staying at. And I think when you start thinking about it like that, as an investor and a host is: "Okay, they're coming to my city to go to this Taylor Swift concert, the Taylor Swift concert is only two or three hours and then they're going to go to a restaurant and they're going to spend a vast majority of their vacation in my property. And so what can I do to differentiate my property from the competition?" And I think it's the amenities, right? You're spending all this time in the property. What do I provide that you don't have to leave? If you don't have to go to the putt putt place around the corner and I've got a little golfing course in my backyard, like how cool is that? People will definitely pay a premium on that property and if you don't have it and your competition has it, they're going to choose your competitor.
I completely agree. The stay is becoming a more important part of the guest experience. I look at our Airbnb properties as mini luxury hotels.
The Least Expensive Airbnb Amenity with the Biggest Impact
What is the least expensive amenity an Airbnb owner can purchase with the biggest impact?
I can rattle off a few. The first one is full length mirrors. 99.9% of women want a full length mirror. Let's be honest, 90% of guys want a full length mirror as well. You can go to Target or Ikea and spend a hundred bucks and get a good full length mirror. So it does a few things: it's an amenity that everyone likes to have, it photographs really well, it reflects light into the room, and it creates a little unique space in a corner where a lot of bedrooms just have a dead corner that there's nothing there. So, I love full length mirrors in properties.
I also really like arcade games as Airbnb amenities. You can get cool arcade games for relatively inexpensive prices, and it's so nostalgic, right? I'm totally a numbers junkie and I always like to look at the traveling statistics that come out. And if you look Millennials are the largest group of people traveling. We all grew up in arcade centers, so I think it's really nostalgic for the largest traveling demographic in the United States right now.
Top Airbnb Amenities in the Near Future
What amenities do you see increasing in popularity over the next few years?
When I think about Airbnb amenities, I think about "really nice to have" and then "checkbox amenities." So if you look at a market like Gatlinburg, Tennessee - 10 or 15 years ago, a hot tub was a really nice to have amenity. If you had a hot tub at your cabin in Gatlinburg, you advertise that in your title description: Cabin in the Woods with a Hot Tub. Well, if you look now, every single property has a hot tub and that's just a checkbox amenity. You don't stand out with a hot tub. You just have to have it. Right? So when I think about the future, I think that there are some amenities that are going to become checkboxes, and if you don't have them, you just can't compete. When I look at outside spaces with fire pits, outdoor bowling, mini golf, some of those things - creating a fun environment for people to do stuff. Those are going to become checkbox amenities that you've got to have, if you have the space.
I'm trying to think about where we could fit a pickleball cart. You heard it here first, people. Pickleball carts are the amenity of the future. Hang on to that and start looking in your, backyard. All right. What is the wsingle most important room to update if you could only update one in your first Airbnb?rts. And I like to see how far out they're booked. A lot of times it's a couple weeks before you can even rent a court for maybe $50 or 475 an hour in a lot of markets. So, if you can squeeze a pickleball court into your backyard, no one will be able to compete with you. You'll grab a huge demographic of people.
I'm trying to think about where we could fit a pickleball cart. You heard it here first, people - pickleball courts are the amenity of the future. Hang on to that and start looking in your STR's backyard.
The Most Important Room to Update in an Airbnb
What is the single most important room to update if you could only update one in your first Airbnb?
I'm going to give a two part answer. One, if you can only update one room, I would focus on the primary bedroom. The person paying with the credit card is always going to stay in that primary bedroom. And they're not thinking about rooms two, three, and four. They're thinking about how nice the room is that they're going to stay in. So I'd really focus on that. That can be inexpensive to upgrade a primary bedroom, and then I would also think about additional spaces in the property that you can capitalize on that you wouldn't have otherwise. So if you have a second dining room repurpose it into a game room or a pool table room. Don't just put a second dining room table in there.
Same thing with garages. If you're in a market that people need to park in your garage because you're in a winter market where it's always snowing. I get it. Keep it as a garage. but a lot of these markets, there's no need to have a garage in a short term rental. So can you utilize that? Can you turn it into additional square footage? Can you add a fourth bedroom. Can you add a game room? What can you do there to help utilize that square footage?
Kind of makes me think of our garden pub. We purchased this property and had this shed in the back and it had power pulled to it. We're trying to figure out what to do with it. And we turned it into a little pub, a space where the adults could put the kids to bed and step out in the backyard,play some darts, and have a drink in a quiet place.
Mark, thank you for the value that you've added in importance of design and amenities for our listeners. For those listeners who would like to reach out to you and get more specific advice or perhaps engage with STR cribs, what's the best way to reach out to you?
Look for Mark Lumpkin on LinkedIn and message him! He's super responsive and amazing to work with.
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