8. Making Money Online with Airbnb
Brigid Prinsloo built a property portfolio through Airbnb
A trip to London and Dublin changed Brigid’s life – but not in the way she expected. She had such a great experience booking her accommodation through Airbnb that when she returned, she convinced her fiancé to rent out their spare room on the platform. Within an hour they had an enquiry, and a day later they hosted their first guest. Now Brigid makes in excess of R23 000 monthly from one of the various properties she bought for this specific purpose.
Leveraging Airbnb to Make Money Online:
The explosive success of Airbnb has revolutionised the property investment landscape. More property owners are turning to the platform as a short-term rental option as it’s proving to be far more lucrative to rent out a property by the night than to install a long-term tenant.
“We had a very ‘Lean Start-up’ approach to the whole exercise. Our small room acted as a minimum viable product (MVP), we listed it simply as a way of gauging interest,” explains Brigid. “Within the first day, we had our first booking. We weren’t prepared.
How this entrepreneur used Airbnb to Make Money Online:
“We ended up moving our own comfy bed into the room, just to ensure our guest could enjoy a decent night’s sleep and slept on the spare bed ourselves,” she recalls.
By the end of that first month, Brigid and her fiancé had earned enough to cover the majority of their R10 500 rent and realised that renting out an entire flat could earn them significantly more.
“We started a service called Superhost SA, which assists Airbnb hosts in managing their listings. As the popularity of Airbnb has grown, companies focusing on offer management services have popped up in lots of major cities,” says Brigid. “For around 17% of the revenue earned, a company like Superhost will assist with the nitty gritty of renting out a space on Airbnb.”
Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Airbnb Online:
While Airbnb provides an exciting alternative to the traditional approach of purchasing properties and renting them out to long-term tenants to pay them off, you’re not going to become a millionaire overnight, says Brigid.
“Building up a portfolio will take time,” she says. “We might be able to pay off the bond on our flat in four years instead of 20 thanks to Airbnb, for example, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will still take time.”