Furnishing Your Property for Airbnb Rental
How does furnishing work for ST rentals?
Furnishing your home elegantly is important to provide the best guest experience. You want to make sure the guests have access to the bare minimum they would have come to expect nowadays and also deliver pleasant surprises to make their stay memorable in a positive way. Furnishing is also important because you have to consider the logistics of cleaning before and after each stay. Getting the wrong materials, for instance, could make it difficult for you to clean which will then make that furnishing look old and dirty pretty quickly. In order to maximise the return on your investment in furnishing, you need to select the design and material of every item carefully and intentionally.
Don’t get overwhelmed. We’ll walk you through it step by step.
- Determine the ambience you want to create based on the target customer type
- Identify furniture items and decorations you’ll need for such customers
- Define your design/brand guidelines including considerations for ease of cleaning
- Shop the best deals
- Maximise your furniture’s lifespan
1. Determine the ambience you want to create for your customer
Just like any business, clearly identifying the target customer segment is the first step to attracting sales. First, start with the simple demographics. Is your place big enough and thus likely to be rented out by a family or a large group of friends? Or is it a quaint spot for a couple? Will they likely be business travellers or tourists? If your property is located in a more quiet/remote area, the guests who are interested in staying could be quieter and searching for a peaceful time closer to nature. The opposite may be the case for a property located in a city centre.
For a big house for larger groups, you’d want to accentuate the open space and have each room serve a singular purpose. For a small studio in the city, you want to minimise clutter by getting multipurpose furniture and create a cozy feel to make up for the limited space.
So who do you think your customer is?
2. Identify the required furniture items
Your property should include all the basics – bed and closet/dresser in each room, lounge sofa and a table in the living room, and stools and chairs for the kitchen/outdoor area. Make sure you have enough for the maximum # of guests you’d set for the property plus 2 for buffer. If your property takes up to 5 guests, you’d want to get a couch (or couches) in the living room area big enough to comfortably seat 7 people. This way, you can guarantee the high standard of comfort level for your guests and also possibly charge extra fees for additional guests.
Once you know who you are targeting, you can determine the furniture items that’ll provide the functional needs of the guests during their stay. For instance, if you are likely going to be accommodating a family, you want to think about the needs of parents with kids of all ages. You could provide cribs, bath toys, bottle warmers, nappy bins, changing mats, smaller bath towels, comprehensive kitchenware, etc. to make the family feel welcome. For young professionals on a fun holiday, you may want to offer a beer pong table, grill, speakers, board games, and beach towels.
It’s recommended you also consider add-ons such as cute couch pillows, comfortable throws, and beach towels to make your guests feel more at home. You should also add some decorations to emphasise the desired ambience such as decorative wooden letters, candles, plants and paintings.
3. Define the branding and cleaning guidelines
Be sure to pick a theme (colour, patterns or environment) and make it consistent throughout the shared space and assign a unique theme to each room. The visual effects of a pattern whether in consistent colours or shapes allow people to feel more at ease. It’s an easy win. Well-styled furnishing stands out in photos as well, improving the success rate of your listing.
In order to maximise your profit, you also have to think about the logistics of cleaning the furnishings. Anything that could visibly decay or easily get dirty is too high maintenance for short-term rentals and guests may appreciate the house less if those flaws are noticed. You can avoid these risks by selecting the right materials for your furniture items – things that are easier to wash or clean. You definitely do not want to be replacing stuff every time a guest spills something on it.
Here are some tips for the most common furniture items:
- Sofa: Leather or velvet fabric is the easiest to clean. You can also get a sofa cover to minimise the risk of any damages.
- Rug: Wool and polypropylene tend to be durable and easy to clean.
- Bed Sheets: While cotton is the best for breathability, microfibre sheets tend to be much more stain-resistant. You don’t want drink spills, blood stains, or sex stains to leave noticeable marks on the sheets for the next guest so ensuring you pick the right sheets is very crucial. Dark colours such as navy blue, brown or black are great for hiding wine/blood stains but more neutral colours are better for sweat or sex stains.
- Table / Countertop: For any table/countertop that could be used frequently, you want to get surface materials that are easy to wipe such as glass or marble. Any damage will be less visible on glass and marble than it would on wood.
4. Shop the best deals
You want to prioritise your investment based on the level of interaction each furniture will have with the guests. Items such as kitchen table and bed are going to be used frequently and thus are worth investing in. For large items such as a living room sofa, you’d find the best deals by looking at sets. Sets could come with couches of different sizes as well as an ottoman at a bulk discount. When decorating a large house, you can pick and choose the items in the set for various areas. It allows you to keep a consistent theme throughout the house at a bargain!
For the add-on items, you can shop at discount stores/sites (such as Target, eBay, or Etsy) to find the cheapest deals. You want to get furniture with the best warranty as well as the general wear and tear could happen faster for yours. Make sure to get some extra parts in advance so you can fix any small issues more quickly.
5. Maximise your furniture’s lifespan
Anything you can do to extend the durability of your furniture is worth planning for. You can do this by buying covers to put on top of the furniture. It’s much easier and cheaper to replace the covers than to replace the entire furniture. Place the furniture in a way that reduces the risk of your guests accidentally hitting or falling on them. Put coasters everywhere to minimise the damage to your table surface. You can also add years to your furniture’s life by carefully screening your guests. If you are going to hire a property manager or cleaning professionals to manage the housekeeping service, then provide clear guidelines to them so that you’ll be notified of any damage timely. You can file a claim with Airbnb in case of any damages caused by the guests.
Carefully consider all of the following aspects of airbnb hosting to maximise your success.
