Why an Airbnb Virtual Assistant Could Be Your Key to Hassle-Free Hosting
Juggling multiple short-term rental (STR) properties often leaves hosts feeling overwhelmed rather than enjoying entrepreneurship. Even if you only have one property, a lot of time and effort goes into making your Airbnb a top-notch destination that is popular with new guests and wins repeat bookings. Efficient management doesn’t just maximize your profit margins; it also improves the guest experience and reduces your stress levels.
Hiring an Airbnb virtual assistant (VA) gives you a level of professional support that can take your business to a new level. Let’s look into the concept of focused VA services to see if it’s the right way to streamline your experience as an STR host.
What is an Airbnb Virtual Assistant?
Virtual assistants function similarly to executive assistants who might take care of your phone calls and appointment-setting chores in an office. However, the virtual equivalents are much more flexible and well-adapted to helping professionals like Airbnb hosts who don’t necessarily work in an office. Your Airbnb VA can live and work anywhere in the world, providing great services for you without requiring face-to-face meetings or limiting you to local labor options. They’re a little less hands-on than an STR manager or management company, but they can take a lot of the hard work off of your plate.
Core Tasks Handled by Your VA
Every VA is unique and offers services that make the most of their personal skills, but you can expect services like:
- Managing bookings from start to finish
- Communicating with guests
- Checking and updating property listings as needed
- Verifying calendars on multiple platforms and preventing double bookings
- Coordinating inspectors, maintenance, and cleaning schedules
- Promoting listings
- Reporting problems and helping to organize solutions by researching local professionals to hire for repairs
Tasks Typically Not Handled by the VA
However, an Airbnb virtual assistant can’t handle everything needed to manage your STRs. In general, you should still expect to handle:
- Hiring service professionals like cleaners or repair professionals
- On-site interventions or emergencies
- Completely personalized guest experiences like booking restaurant reservations or visits to local attractions
- Market research
- Creation of new promotional and marketing materials
- Managing details of daily routines like cleaning and guest turnover
Airbnb specialists may offer the last two services, but you’ll rarely find them offered by more generalist VAs.
Specialized Tools for You and Your VA
Creating a joint system that combines human expertise in the form of a VA and software assistance with cutting-edge management software is the best path to success. For example, software like Turno makes it a snap to manage complex cleaning schedules for multiple properties. You and your Airbnb virtual assistant can work together to find the right outsourced cleaners in your area, manage schedules, and verify the results.
While Turno is primarily designed to connect you with Airbnb cleaning services, our system also integrates with other valuable tools like Hospitable for automated guest communication and Futurestay for direct booking website software.
How Much Does an Airbnb Virtual Assistant Cost?
Most Airbnb virtual assistant services charge a flat fee per month for a certain number of hours worked. If you prefer to pay hourly, you’ll likely want to hire a VA independently. Experienced VAs can charge as much as $35 per hour for their work, while less experienced VAs may command only a fraction of that. Don’t forget about hidden costs like training and onboarding fees, along with the subscription costs for any tools and software they’ll need while working.
The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Virtual Assistant
While there are many benefits to working with a skilled VA to deal with details like managing Airbnb cleaners, there can be some drawbacks, too. Before you rush to start interviewing an Airbnb virtual assistant, consider the pros and cons.
Benefits of Working with a VA
Choosing a VA experienced with the tasks required for STR property management can take most of the stress off of your shoulders. They can tackle repetitive daily tasks like answering guest questions and checking calendars while you focus on advertising, emergencies, and other details more worthy of your attention. If you’re a newcomer to the world of STRs, an experienced VA can ensure you don’t stumble into any common mistakes.
Potential Drawbacks
Don’t overestimate the usefulness of hiring a VA. Since they’re not a management firm and are usually a single individual with a limited reach from their remote location, they can’t always handle every task an Airbnb property may require. If you’re paying a high rate per hour or per month, you might get more from hiring a property management firm instead that can take on every step of the process. There are also the issues that come along with hiring any employee to work for you, including the need to verify their skills and trustworthiness, as well as payment tracking and tax reporting.
When Can a VA Provide the Most Assistance?
There are certain points in your journey as an Airbnb owner where you can benefit more from hiring a VA than others. For example, managing listings in different time zones is a challenge for a solo operator to handle alone. If you’re scaling from one property to a portfolio of Airbnb rentals, especially if they’re spread out over a large area and not close to your time zone, you’ll definitely need extra help. Are you hiring a whole new vacation rental cleaning team? You might need a VA to make the process smoother. A specialist virtual assistant for Airbnb is also helpful when you’re:
- Completely new to the STR world
- Dealing with family challenges or other matters that take your attention away from your business
- Going on vacation or an extended period of travel
- Facing a lot of repairs that need planning and management
- Struggling with a sudden increase in demand in your area
Is an Airbnb Virtual Assistant Right for You?
If you’re already using helpful apps for hosts like Turno to simplify short-term rental cleaning, you might assume that you don’t need a VA. However, you might still benefit if you answer yes to at least two of the four following questions.
- Are you struggling to keep up with guest messages, scheduling, or other day-to-day administrative tasks?
- Do you manage multiple properties already or foresee rapid scaling in the future?
- Do you lack the time to maintain individual guest satisfaction levels or want to increase your revenue opportunities without increasing your existing workload?
- Do you feel comfortable delegating tasks and are more relaxed when you know the details are handled?
Some Airbnb owners just don’t need the help of a VA, at least not at the moment. If you actively enjoy the management process and have time for it, you may not benefit much from hiring a VA. If your property management software already automates enough of the admin tasks for you, such as scheduling Airbnb cleaning on Turno, then you’re probably doing just fine on your own. Don’t forget that you’ll have to spend a percentage of your rental income on VA support, so it may not make sense if you’re already working with a tight budget.
How to Find, Hire, and Manage an Airbnb Virtual Assistant
Finding the right virtual assistant begins with choosing your platform. You can hire a VA through gig work websites and apps like Fiverr and Upwork. However, you’ll have to search for VAs who specialize in the STR industry. For faster results, you might try a specialized VA firm that can connect you with experienced assistants. You can also try contacting other rental hosts to find out who they recommend.
Hiring Process
Start by writing out a clear job description with all of the specific responsibilities for the position. Make sure you’re asking relevant questions during the interview stage, such as the specific STR software they have experience with and examples of their communication skills. Don’t neglect to check their references and consider conducting a short trial period before giving them full access to your Airbnb accounts.
Managing Your VA
How you handle your side of the arrangement will set the tone for your VA’s performance. Establish clear expectations and key performance indicators for essential details like message response time, guest satisfaction ratings, advertising metrics, and anything else that applies to your particular needs. Use a collaboration tool like Trello or Slack to lay out tasks and verify that they’re being followed up on. Turno is a great tool for managing the cleaning schedule while also connecting you and your VA to a number of other STR apps. Finally, provide regular feedback to your VA and acknowledge what they’re doing right to keep them motivated.
Software Tools That Help Your Virtual Assistant Streamline Hosting
Finding Airbnb cleaners near you has never been easier. Turno simplifies the work of scheduling cleanings and communicating with your cleaning crews. You can easily delegate these tasks to your VA if you’d like or handle them yourself. Turno also offers useful software integrations and Partner Perks to make your management process as streamlined as possible, including Clearing for financial operations, Happy Guest for guest communication and upsells, Proper Insurance for specialized STR coverage, and more.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
Hiring a VA can help you make the most of your Airbnb hosting experience. An experienced assistant can handle everything from messaging guests to organizing schedules on Turno’s Airbnb cleaning app. If you’re still looking for the right solution to help improve your operational efficiency, consider the Turno Cleaner Marketplace for experienced pros in your area. Thoughtful planning and careful use of technology like VAs and software will give you the tools needed to succeed as an STR owner.
