Shampoo & Booze 6: Interview with Bekah, Airbnb Host in New Orleans

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Bekah, a trained professional nurse, and her husband Brian kind of accidentally became very, very successful Airbnb hosts. They own a multi-family in a lovely New Orleans neighborhood not far from The French Quarter. Not wanting to become a long term renting landlord, Bekah thought she'd give Airbnb a try. That was three years ago. In that time, she was able to cut her hours down at work to almost nothing and make a full time income through Airbnb. We have been inspired by her work and we know you will be too. Thanks Bekah!

Check out how freakin' cute Bekah's place is!

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 5: Zombie Airbnb Listings, Hiring A Caretaker

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Moving apartments in Amsterdam, we found that lots of listings that had totally open calendars, were not actually available, making our search a little bit frustrating. We dubbed these apartments 'Zombie Listings'. Eventually, we found a lovely apartment in a great neighborhood by some Airbnb first timers and we're fully enjoying it. Meanwhile on the home front, our caretaker dealt with a house emergency when the central air conditioning unit stopped working. Luckily it was only a $150 fix and it's back and running like new. Phew!

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 4: Airbnb Amsterdam Party Flats vs Sleepy Portuguese Villas

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While hanging out in Amsterdam, we talk with our good friend Mark about his experiences with Airbnb. He's seen all sides of the business- from renting places all over the world, to working for one of the biggest Airbnb managers in The Netherlands, to renting out his grandparents' sleepy villa in the Portugal countryside.

The questions we wonder are: will people rent any space just because it's available? Do renters care if an apartment is run by an impersonal management company or do they expect a personal touch? We'd love to hear your experience in the comments.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 3: Airbnb Hosts Traveling As Guests

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We currently have the pleasure of traveling in Europe (Amsterdam at the moment) as guests rather than hosts for the next month. While our friend manages our Airbnb rental while we're away, we get to re-experience the other side of Airbnb as travelers. We were always picky about the places we stay (place to put our clothes? cooking oil? clean shower?), but now we have a new perspective on what it takes to really make guests happy. Another topic we dive into- under promising, over delivering. How do you do it? We'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 2: How We Clean Our Airbnb Rental

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Cleaning is a huge part of the world of hospitality, including Airbnb. We basically realized that this job requires that you become a professional house cleaner and laundry do-er. Many people hire these jobs out, we do not. With the help of the book Speed Cleaning by Jeff Campbell, we've got an efficient system down to clean the entire house in under 2 hours. We are still learning the fastest ways to clean, but for now the system is working. See all the cleaning supplies we use and recommend here.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!

Shampoo & Booze 1: How We Started Hosting on Airbnb

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Welcome to the first episode of Shampoo and Booze, a podcast about making a living on Airbnb. You can see more about who we are on our About page. Basically we are two tech nerds that moved from the city (nyc and sf) to a beautiful rural area in the US. We could still make a living on the internet, but also decided to go out on our own and (open an ebay business first) start an Airbnb vacation rental. After 3 years of blood, sweat and tears, the house opened for business in Feb 2015 and we've been booked ever since.

Thinking of becoming an Airbnb host or guest? Use our referral code and get $20 off your next stay or $80 credit if you become a host!