How do you reconcile rental accommodations with a full-time job?
Do you run a lodging facility and work a full-time job at the same time? We suggest how to combine both forms of income, so that you can not only meet all the challenges, but also find time for a well-deserved rest.
Investment in a tourist property
Running a lodging facility, regardless of its size, requires time and commitment. Some devote themselves fully to this occupation, giving up their current jobs. Others, on the other hand, treat the rental of accommodations as a way of earning additional income to their salary or financially securing their future. They invest in a tourist property or renovate the one they received as a donation or inheritance. If you fall into the latter group of people and combine your professional work with renting accommodation, you certainly can’t complain of a lack of activities.
Promoting accommodations and attracting tenants, repairing current malfunctions in the property, cleaning the property regularly, and planning renovations. The list of responsibilities involved in running a guesthouse or renting an apartment is long. Interspersing them with professional work requires excellent organization, but over time your body may say STOP. Lack of rest is the easiest way to professional burnout, neglect of duties, loss of tenants’ trust and… health. The middle of the season, holidays, vacations or around New Year’s Eve are the busiest times of the year for the travel industry. On the one hand, you need to be constantly available to potential customers, on the other hand, you would like to take advantage of the weather, vacations, the presence of loved ones. If you want to ensure the comfort of your customers, good performance at work and time for yourself or your family, make a few changes in the management of your facility.
Use technology – bet on a reliable online booking system
How do you combine work and rental accommodation? Learn how to delegate tasks, although to begin with we will focus not on co-workers, but on giving some of your responsibilities… to the latest technologies. Use proven tools for managing your lodging establishment, which will successfully perform the functions of your reception desk and online calendar. In the case of the BedBooking calendar application, you get a bundled online booking system – customers themselves search for available dates and check prices for accommodation, then book the facility. You can place the booking calendar on the facility’s website, generate a link to it and insert it in social media posts or add it to an ad on accommodation portals.
The booking calendar “works” on its own, and you can forget about answering the phone at different times of the day. About replying to messages and text messages. About checking room availability in calendars on individual sites – in BedBooking you have everything synchronized, and you can check room availability, payments or reservations both online and offline. However, it may happen that a potential customer sends you a message asking about room availability. As you know, this is where quick response counts, after all, the competition doesn’t sleep. In BedBooking you can use message templates, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to help tenants interested in accommodation during business hours.
Good organization of time
In the flurry of activities, it’s easy to forget something important, so it’s a good idea to keep a calendar and write down things to do on a given day or week. Plan purchases of cleaning and toiletries, bedding, towels. It’s better to keep a stock of them at your facility (you can store them in a lockable cabinet) than to buy them before every guest arrival. To ensure that your facility is constantly promoted, it’s a good idea to be active on social media. However, this doesn’t mean you have to dedicate hours each day to online work. Schedule posts in advance. Create content, choose photos and publish dates for posts – the app will add them on its own. This is quite a convenience and saves time.
One of the duties that require your availability is direct contact with tourists. We are talking, of course, about the moment of check-in and check-out, or the need to repair current malfunctions in the facility during the stay of customers. Even if you live close to your accommodation facility, being “on the phone” is tiring and, due to your professional work, sometimes even impossible. The solution to the situation is to introduce self check-in and check-out from the facility. You give tourists the pin code to the door or locker where the keys are. You give back any deposit then, when you check the condition of the property after the guests leave. When it comes to repairing malfunctions, it’s a good idea to work with a trusted person, a so-called “handyman. The specialist will do the job, and you won’t even have to show up at the property. Perhaps you have someone in your neighborhood who offers this type of service as part of his job or is already retired and wants to manage his free time in this way.
Find a good cleaning company
Cleaning your facility or keeping your garden in order takes time. You can outsource this task to professionals. You will gain peace of mind, and your guests will get top-quality service. You’re probably thinking that paying someone to clean your property means a reduction in revenue from overnight rentals. However, remember that cleanliness is one of the most important criteria for determining whether your guest will use your services again or recommend you to friends. Dust under the bed, an inaccurately washed bathroom, seemingly invisible stains on the couch – these mistakes can cost you a lot. Loss of guests, bad reviews on the web – it’s better to avoid these types of situations. If you know you don’t have a lot of time for thorough cleaning, outsource it to others.
Finding a trusted and professional cleaning team is not an easy task. Give yourself time – ask around among friends, read reviews of different companies, check how long they have been in business, what cleaning products and equipment they use. It’s also important to have a wide staff, so that during the busiest times for the travel industry the company will complete the job on time. In this case, it is not worth saving money and going only by price. Be sure to discuss the details of the order thoroughly. Create a schedule of duties – what to clean and when. Establish a standard of service, determine a realistic cleaning time that will allow you to complete the order accurately. Secure yourself with a contract. Check the results of the cleaning company’s work from time to time, and it’s worth having a person to verify the cleanliness of the premises in your absence. This could be a family member or a trusted neighbor.
Combining two forms of income is difficult, but possible. Good organization of your time, use of facility management tools and delegation of activities will help you meet your obligations and carve out time for rest.
