3 strategies for optimising your Airbnb private room listing

Airbnb is increasingly becoming a holiday rental marketplace as opposed to its mantra of the sharing economy. According to statistics, in 2015, 63% of all airbnb listings in the US were for entire homes, and only 34% were for private listings.

Entire homes offer a level of privacy, personal space and autonomy that private rooms are seen as lacking. But as a traditional "private room" host, here are three simple strategies you can employ to make your private room listing stand out from the crowd:

Six months on Airbnb - thoughts and reflections

Let's go back to the very beginning.

After three years living in Canberra, I moved back to my beloved Melbourne in 2015, ready to purchase my first apartment (principal place of residence), settle down, and live a fabulous life.

To my dismay, the housing boom in Melbourne had gotten so out of hand that I - a reasonably well-paid Gen Y - was completely unable to afford an apartment in a location close to work, and of a decent size and quality.

What does a gal have to do? Splurge above my budget and struggle under the weight of a mortgage too large for my income? Buy a sub-standard inner city high rise apartment? Or move to the outer suburbs and deal with the hourly commute to work every day?

In the end, I 'splurged', and got creative. I bought my two bedroom apartment in a small art deco block, and put the smaller bedroom up on Airbnb to help pay off the mortgage.

And thus began my journey in home-sharing.

A new home

At some point when I was studying at uni, I used to identify myself as a blogger. I blogged, I wrote, I took photographs, and I had an internet community of readers and fellow bloggers to which I belonged.

All that changed when I graduated and started my full time job. I was reading all the time, but for business. I wrote, but for clients. I spent my days intensely litigating, advising, doing what a lawyer does, and my nights in a daze in front of the TV, too tired to think critically and creatively.

This blog used to be on tumblr as a record of my life and my travels. I've since moved it to Blogger, and the intention that I would document more of my travels and a new aspect of my life that has happened in the last six months - my experience as an Airbnb host.

I am hoping that this move inspires me to read for pleasure, write for self-expression, and get back in touch with my creative, adventurous self that I know lies underneath the "legal eagle" exterior.

Let's see what the future holds.