Home: How To Pimp Your Airbnb

How To Pimp Your Airbnb

The great thing about Airbnb is you can do it YOUR way! If you have a second home or holiday apartment that you want to rent as as much of the year as you can, you can do that, or maybe you are going on holiday and you want to get a little extra money in your pocket rather than leaving it vacant for a week, that’s also possible. You can keep things simple and paired back, or you can pimp it up and make it a fabu-luxe experience you can charge top dollar for. In the words of 90’s Take That you can ‘Do What u Like’. As many of you might know already, this year we launched our own little Airbnb apartment which we love and we are super proud of. We have had some amazing guests and had some great feedback, but recently I was thinking ‘how can I make this even better?!’. Yes, we have 3 showers in our wet room, and yes, we have a £3,000 sofa which feels like a DREAM to sit on and a cool AF neon sign on the exposed pink brick wall, but what else can we do. How can we make it better… My friends, today I’m talking about how to pimp your Airbnb! BTW, if you want to become an Airbnb host yourself, click this link and you’ll get money for signing up!

Coffee Table Books Filled with Inspiration

When we first launched our Airbnb, we put lots of nice books on the shelf and on the coffee table, but as time has gone on, I’ve added some, taken others away and generally made it a bit of a better selection. In our daily lives, it can be hard to find the time to pick up a coffee table book and enjoy all the beautiful images and text, but when on holiday, there’s something so nice about listening to the radio and having a flick through the beautiful books. I’ve created a rather lovely mini library of art and fashion book, with a couple of extra’s like recipe books and autobiographies of inspirational (and super cool) people. Favourites of mine include the Todd Selby Books, The Coveteur and these new Vogue books. Oh and where possible, I theme them by colour so they look nice on display! When I go away I love to come home feeling refreshed and inspired and books always help me come up with new and exciting ideas!

Super Luxe Toiletries

The best hotels in the world have Molton Brown Toiletries in them right?! Well, maybe the best Airbnb’s have it too! How about stocking up on a whole heap of lush Molton Brown goodies and leaving them in the bathroom for them to use during their stay. Personally, I would recommend a variety of unisex scents and leave a selection of shampoo, condition, shower gel, hand wash and hand and body lotion. Worried people will pack them in their suitcase when they leave? I was too, but it hasn’t happened yet! 99.9% of guests are really respectful of your belonging and even if you say to your guests (like we do) feel free to use the products in the bathroom, they never take them home with them at the end of the stay! Just so ya know!

DAB Radio

This is something we put in our apartment from day one, a DAB Radio. We have had so much feedback from our guests of how much they have liked using it and I think it’s so nice to be on holiday and have the radio on in the background. Maybe your guests want a bit of a digital detox on holiday and find it more relaxing listening to the radio rather than watching TV. Whatever the reason, it’s so nice to leave a vintage looking DAB radio in the room. We have a VQ Radio, we love it! Oh and use the code KIRSTY30 for £30 off the Hepburn – thank me later, it’s the best one!

Christy Towels

Don’t you love it when your hotel has AMAZING towels?! Thick, fluffy and huge?! Me too! They cost a little more, but I swear to god, Christy Towels are like stepping out of a bath and stepping into a hug. They cost £30 each, but damn, they feel amazing and they are incredible quality too so providing you look after them, they are a great luxurious addition to your apartment!

His ‘n’ Hers Fragrances

Staying in the bathroom for this one, I think it’s a really fun touch to have a His ‘n’ Her fragrance collection they can use whilst they are staying at an Airbnb. Personally, I picked Zadig & Voltaire This Is Him and This Is Her, because firstly, I love both the male and female fragrance, I think the branding of the bottle fits perfectly with our decor and I also think the scents of the fragrances are really universal so noone is going to spritz and regret! Also, isn’t it nice that your guests could potentially go home with a new favourite fragrance which will forever remind them of their holiday?!

Vintage Board Games

Again, this is something we have had in our Airbnb from day one. Firstly, we thought it was a really cute touch, and secondly, we thought it was a lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon at the british seaside. We have a section of great Vintage Board Games, but so far we’ve found scrabble to the the most popular. I mean, who doesn’t love a good scrabble match!? Oh and don’t forget to leave a pen a note pad in the room so people can work out their scrabble scores the old fashioned way!

iPad (with Netflix Login)

What is it about watching TV on a TV which no longer feels exciting?! It feels SO much better to watch it on a laptop or iPad and have the freedom to switch from film, to boxset, to documentary and pause whenever you fancy or switch from the sofa to bed without interrupting your viewing. I know it seems like quite the extravagance, but an iPad with a Netflix login as part of the Airbnb experience will make your guests SO happy! With your Netflix account you can choose to have multiple devises under the same account, so you might not pay any extra on your monthly bill (as long as you are already a subscriber) and as for the iPad, just put it in a case and ask your guests not to take it out of the apartment during the day. If any damage is done to it (cracks in the screen etc.) then that would be the fault of the guests and it could be fixed using the security deposit, but let’s be honest, that’s a worst case scenario and it’s unlikely to happen! Ps. This is next on my list of things to add to our Airbnb!

Tea & Snacks

I always leave our guests an array of tea, coffee, biscuits, porridge oats and cereal bars. We only ever provide Teapigs Tea (it’s our fave, use the code Fashionforlunch20 for a 20% discount code) and we love Lavazza coffee (we have a coffee maker and pods) and my favourite cereal bars are by the super cool indie brand, Hangry.

Bluetooth Speaker

Personally, I think it’s well worth thinking about investing in a wireless Bluetooth speaker which your guests can easily pair with their iPhones (or laptops) and play their music, podcasts or movies out of to get a way better sound quality. I’m a huge fan of the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom speakers because they are SO user friendly (seriously, even I was shocked!) and the sound quality is amazing. I honestly can’t recommend these enough, my boyfriend and I have them scattered around the house.

Umbrellas, Deck Chairs & Parasols

Let’s be honest, the weather is SO changeable in the UK, so it’s nice to consider something for every eventuality. If you live by the beach (like us!) why not leave your guests a set of mini deck chairs and a parasol to take to the beach on sunny days. As for the rainy days, why not get a few umbrellas and let your guests know that they are welcome to use them. Alternatively, if your Airbnb is in the countryside, for example, in the Lake District, you could leave your guests mini umbrellas, bottles of water and a map of local walks.

Record Player & Records

Is there anything better than a glass of wine and playing classic records in the evening?! I think not! A vintage record player and a whole heap of great albums would make a nice evening in, to a perfect evening in! Personally, I adore the Crosley Record Players and albums like Arcade Fire Funeral, Pulp His ‘n’ Hers and Nirvana MTV Unplugged.

PlayStation

OK! I might be crazy here, but why not! I’m sure there’s plenty of people who would LOVE to walk into their Airbnb to discover an old school PlayStation waiting for them with a classic Sonic game ready to be played! Why not right?! Failing that, what about a pinball machine? It’s a holiday after all! Why not?

Super Fun Mugs

When we first launched our Airbnb we had cute mugs from Ikea, but as time went on, I really wanted to up our mug game! I knew I could do better! I wanted to provide our guests mugs to remember, after all, our guests drink Teapigs tea and Lavazza coffee, they should have mugs just as fabulous. It’s possibly I put wayyyy too much thought into this but I eventually found the coolest mugs at Truffleshuffle.com. I picked four which were the same size and shape so they have a cohesive look, with each mug having a different print. Peppermint tea in a Rainbow Brite mug? Yes please!

Somewhere To Selfie

Maybe it’s because I’m an Instagram addict, but I wanted to give my guests somewhere to do a good ‘gram! Personally I like a selfie in the bedroom mirror or a cheeky snap of the neon sign! Follow me @labelsforlunch.

This Works Pillow Spray

One of my personal all-time favourite treats, This Works Pillow Spray. Honestly, I LOVE this stuff! It makes everywhere feel like home and it gives me the BEST nights sleep! I have bought oodles of bottles of this for myself, friends and family and it always does the trick. Why not buy a bottle for your airbnb and give your guests the luxury of a great nights sleep?

Fancy Cocktail Glasses & A Drink On The House

I got these cocktail glasses from Matalan, aren’t they fabulous? A sneaky cocktail in a cactus-shaped glass is the best way to start a holiday! I mean… they are too cool!

A Kilner of Candy

Contrary to everyone’s belief, this was my boyfriend’s idea! He came home front Tesco with his eyes bright and a HUGE bag of retro candies. He filled a kilner jar with Fizzers, Mr Chews and drumsticks and said ‘these are for our guests!’. The next thing I knew, a stash of pink and white sweet shop bags arrived so that our guests could fill a bag for their journey home!

Birthday Balloon

When guests mention they are visiting for their birthday; I try to leave a helium balloon in the living room as a surprise! I think it’s a really fun and unexpected touch!

A Little Souvenir

This is something I love to do! I leave our guests a little treat to enjoy whilst they are there or maybe save until they are back home. It might be a small tube of hand cream, a stick of rock, bar of artisan chocolate or maybe a box of Teapigs tea. I put a little tag on it so it’s obvious they can take it home; it’s the little things that count!

♥

PS. For complete transparency, some of these ideas I have implemented myself, others are ideas for things I might do in the future and I wanted to share them with fellow Airbnb hosts!