Do You Need to Buy Anything to Upgrade Your Short-Term Rental/Airbnb?

One of the ways to be able to charge more on your short-term rental is to make it look a lot better. The most straightforward answer most would think of is to do a renovation. But not all of us have a couple of thousand dollars waiting on standby, right? (If you do, then renovate away!) If we all had that much money, it would be easy just to change the flooring, repaint the walls, buy high-end furniture, and get another property while you’re at it. (And if everyone did the same, then wouldn’t that make these renovations redundant?) What can we do on a modest budget?

Before we continue, what does the term “budget” mean in the first place? Something classified as “budget” for the richer folk of society could still be a luxury for many of us. While that’s a valid debate to be had, the ideas below could be used for all walks of life. Unless you’re going for the “luxe” niche, being frugal or practical with your decisions will get you the most value out of your investment.

Planning Before Buying Anything

Careful planning is highly recommended before buying anything to improve your rental (or your home). Just getting something expensive and putting them in a poorly designed room won’t necessarily turn it into the next wonder of the world! Before heading over to Amazon to buy a lamp or Home Depot for building supplies, here are a few bits of ideas you might want to play around with when upgrading your rental. These ideas are related to one another, but feel free to play favorites and ignore whichever you’re not feeling.

“Less” Could Be “More”

Who said that you had to buy anything to make things better?

The phrase “less could be more” is our take of how minimalists tend to live – “less is more”. If you’re not familiar with what minimalism is, in essence, it’s about having an intentional or simple lifestyle. Do you have more than twenty pairs of shoes? Some minimalists have only three. Some have ONE!

So should you just cut everything else out except the bed and call it a day? Unless you’re after the minimalist market, you shouldn’t. Don’t worry.

Before buying anything for your rental, consider the following questions:

“Do I need this?”

“Is this essential for my guests?”

“Does this achieve my purpose for this rental?”

These could act as your anchor to ensure that you don’t go astray with your purchases. We would recommend double-checking if you really need more than what you have. Do you need a new couch? Is a bigger bed frame necessary? Would an expensive piece of art truly make or break the beauty of the rental?

It might sound like we’re leading you to say “no”, but there’s a reason why we turned the phrase “less is more” to “less COULD BE more”. The answer could be a resounding “YES,” too! Imagine seeing a comfy couch compared to an old shabby one in your listing photos. The additional attention your rental would get quickly makes the purchase of a new couch valid. The same goes for bigger bed frames, art pieces, and everything else! It all boils down to your intention.

But before you start spending a dime, here’s another idea: maybe you can get away with rearranging your current furniture!

Furniture Placement

Unless you’ve got this science down to a tee, there’s a good chance that simply rearranging the layout of your rental would improve its overall look. There are loads of different configurations you could do. You’ll see various ideas floating around if you read different articles, so pick and choose according to your taste! (But of course, your target market’s opinion should be in mind as well.)

Below is a quick rundown of the typical ideas you’d read about. Feel free to play around and take risks. It’s free, but you will have to spend some time and energy as you’ll literally be moving things around.

(1) Move some furniture away from the wall. They say this somehow makes the space seem more spacious with more light and air “flowing” through the room. Don’t believe it? Try it out and see for yourself! (Note: putting everything literally away from the walls is a little weird, though. Try starting with the couch and experiment.)

(2) A balancing act. The main point is not to put all the tall/big furniture in one area and the shorter/smaller ones in another. An oversized couch sitting beside humongous shelves may make the room look a little cramped than if they were a bit farther away from each other.

The same thought goes for textures and shapes. Unless you prefer a specific theme, you likely won’t want EVERYTHING to be wooden and square. Too much of a good thing isn’t healthy. You could use other materials (i.e., stone, marble, metal, tiles) to balance these out and opt for rounded tables or chairs!

Even the number of items in the unit could be taken into consideration. Are there too many things in the rental, or does it look a bit barren? Try to hit a good balance.

(3) Lighting. Let’s start with natural light. Typically, people try to factor this in when they’re doing a heavy renovation (like tearing down unneeded walls for more natural light to come through). However, you can keep lighting in mind when you move things around. Start by taking note of where your windows are and keeping tall furniture out of the light’s way. Natural light is just one part of the story, as it’s not there at night. Make sure your furniture also doesn’t block the light from your bulbs and lamps!

So, do you really need to spend now? If the answer is yes, we’ve got something for you next week!

Are you thinking of doubling down on your short-term rental cash flow? You can try things out with Shorefront Investments! We’re Florida-based real estate investors looking to buy and sell properties fast. You could be one of our buyers by joining our buyers’ list! Are you thinking of doing things the other way around? Trying to sell your property instead? You can also give us a call at (850) 713-4866, send us an email, or fill a form on our front page!