Toronto, as we know, is a hotbed for short-term stay accommodation, or home sharing services. House, condo and apartment owners with available space or multiple properties are renting their spaces out for a premium across the city to short-term stay guests. It is a fantastic way to make money for those with the space. The most dominant of these services is AirBnB. However, AirBnB is not all fun and games. Paying guests expect certain things for the space they pay for, and it is worth significant effort to avoid complaints or bad reviews from guests.  Here are a few things you can do, or keep in mind, if you plan on listing your space on a home sharing service.

• Exceed AirBnB’s ‘Standards and Expectations’  There is a lot of money to be made for a stellar AirBnB host in a city like Toronto. AirBnB has very kindly created an entire portal on their website dedicated to the standards and expectations for hosts. A host looking to avoid complaints and who wants to give each guest a consistently awesome experience would do well to ensure that their space at a minimum meets AirBnB’s standards. Going the extra mile to keep the rented space safe, clean and accurate to the in-app/online representation of the space pays dividends.

• Be Accessible. If we take Murphy’s Law to be at least somewhat true, (‘anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’), it stands to reason that guests can run into issues. A good rule of thumb to follow is to stay accessible to guests for the first 24 hours of their stay, or throughout the stay in the case of a weekend visit. If for whatever reason something is not the way the guests want it to be (or if something happens to the property), it is of utmost importance that they are able to reach their host.

• Amenities are key! When listing a property or space on AirBnB, hosts are given the opportunity to list amenities that a guest would have access to. Amenities are where many hosts make or break their chance to even land a guest in an area with as many hosts as the GTA.  Amenities can include proximity to transit/local nightlife, building or complex perks such as a games hall, workout facility or pool, or even amenities within the space such as access to home entertainment, gaming systems and wifi. Another thing to consider is access to household items. A very clever tip is to keep a ready supply of paper towels and disposable drinkware, plates, bowls and cutlery. The standard dollar store variety will do, especially if the host does not want to offer their own cutlery and food/drink ware.

• Clean, clean, clean! While cleaning was mentioned earlier, it cannot be stressed enough how important it is for a rented space to be clean. While AirBnB has specific cleanliness standards for how the space should look prior to a guest’s check in, paying extra attention to this piece above all can only help. The normal reaction to a pristinely cleaned space is a gasp, or an appraising look of appreciation. That look fits perfectly on the face of an AirBnB guest, and is the best way to ensure a guest’s first impression of a space is positive. It also helps to keep cleaning supplies on the premises so that guests can deal with the inevitable spills and messes.

As a final tip, AirBnB allows hosts to a charge a cleaning fee and use the extra money to pay for a professional cleaning service. Hosts in the Toronto area who want the shortest turnaround possible between guest’s will appreciate the on-demand nature of our cleaning service, and our commitment to professionalism promptness and a personal touch.