airbnb optimization

AirBnB design and staging is so often looked at as an expense rather than an investment. I know that when I shop for an AirBnB I am always going to choose the one that looks cooler in the photographs, than the one that looks basic. That’s just a fact, and I know that many people shop for them the same way I do, on the first visual. Given that, I can confidently say that an AirBnB that has had the space designed and optimized for the guests visual pleasure and comfort will earn more money for the owner/operator 100% of the time, than a space that is just filled with hand-me-down furniture and presents as a drab, boring, basic place to lay your head down at night.

When taking a trip, the excitement is in the air during the planning phase, and (at least in my group of friends) we are all giving our votes on which place we think is THE CUTEST. We say that so many times, once I noticed we say that, I started paying attention and it’s a running theme “omg that one is so cute!”. We have spent many trips in hotels, we just don’t get the excitement the same way.

The AirBnB’s are so much more localized to what we are doing! Not to mention more affordable depending on sleeping arrangements, and I love waking up to make breakfast in the kitchen, have coffee with my buddies. But overarchingly, for me, is the LOOK. Maybe because I am an interior designer. But even my non-design friends appreciate the vibe, the feel, the style of the well-designed AirBnB.

We are not finding cheap paper towels, plastic throw-away soap dispensers, cracked pleather sofas that look to have come from a bachelor pad, cheap looking rickety tables. We are finding location specific items that make sense. Cozy flannel blankets in front of a fireplace on a Mountain Cabin Trip. Chaise Lounges and Floating Flamingos and Desert Oasis themed everything at a mid-century beauty in Palm Springs. Funky murals and Boho vibes in Joshua Tree. Local Coffee and iconic photography of nearby landmarks and a color scheme to match the local foliage in Portland.

The aware AirBnB operator knows that if the photographs convey the right look, make people excited to book a stay at their location, just from the photos, the place itself must be amazing! That translates into more bookings, commanding higher rates, 5 star reviews, and the trend keeps going. 

And to get those picture-perfect looks, the investment in design and staging of your AirBnB is important. No, you do not want to go overboard on high quality furniture, people will eventually put some wear and tear on it. But you can design with style and quality, while avoiding “luxury” pieces. It can still look SO CUTE.

The bulk of items I used in the most recent AirBnB I designed were from Wayfair, Amazon and local shops. None of it was ridiculously expensive, all of it was adorable (if you’re a professional shopper like me, it’s easy to pull the look together!) and in less than 5 days, the owner got the longest booking she had ever received, tripled her rates and began collecting 5 star reviews from every subsequent guest. Her past reviews were in the 3 star range, mostly because the place was pretty basic, cold looking, not exciting to stay in, it was a budget traveler location. People that stayed there were staying for the cheapest price, not for the experience. 

We can’t deny, that beauty is on the surface, and in getting your AirBnB booked, constantly and at the rates you’d like to charge, that surface has got to look GOOD. That being said, investing into the design and staging of your AirBnB can get it where it needs to be, and I would also highly recommend professional photos. The difference between your cellphone pics and the small investment in professional real-estate photos is immense. No matter how hard you try with lighting and the .5 feature on your phone, it won’t look like a pro pic. It’s worth it. Think of it the same way you would, if staging your home for sale. You want it to look amazing online so you get more potential buyers coming through…in this case you want those potential guests to click on your AirBnB listing and rent it from you.

 Investing in a professional Airbnb interior designer should be looked at as a part of doing business. It’s likely a once every 5 year need, you will increase your rates and bookings right off the bat and enjoy more income for several years before needing to replace a few things, update to keep up with current trends, etc.

 Small price to pay, to increase your Return on Investment, for several years. Optimize that AirBnB to Maximize your profits! Plus, it’s rewarding to see the beautiful photos and know that you own that property and people choose it over all the others because you made it shine!

Pantone color of the year 2024 - peach fuzz

So Pantone released their Color of the Year, and I am loving this. After all over overdosing on Gray that happened from 2012 to 2022, it’s time to warm it up. I’ve been seeing a lot more warm tones creeping in over the last couple of years, but now it’s official.

This is not going to be the Peach and Seafoam Green that we saw in our childhoods however (if you were a child of the 1980’s!). I did just read in Vogue UK that Ivory Boucle is on the way out, but as it’s not possible for most people to just get rid of everything when a design magazine declares it’s “over”, I have a feeling I will be working with a lot of Ivory Boucle, and bringing in some warmer tones, the Peach Fuzz will be a perfect fit. I do love a complimentary color situation, and I am seeing a teal green/blue (one of my fave hues of all time, from the day I picked “blue-green” as my favorite Crayola Crayon) working great with the Peach Fuzz.

And if you’re stuck with a lot of gray in the house and it’s too overwhelming to change everything, it can be toned down. Making things work is what I do. There are so many ways to brighten up and warm up a space that went overboard with gray 5-10 years ago, without having to start from scratch. As a matter of fact, peach/rose gold tones look amazing with gray…I’d say paint the walls Swiss Coffee, change out the pillows and accessories to shades of Peach and Teal, if you have a gray sofa to contend with, you’ll have done a great job of a facelift on the room just with paint and accessories.

Making things work is what I do! Consultation services available, or full-scale design work.

Vacation Rental Design & Staging

Vacation rentals are marketed as a Home Away From Home sometimes, but really, are they?  There are two sides to the Vacation Rental Design, and optimizing the property (to increase your bookings and rates) is what I aim to do.

As a vacation rental owner/operator, you want the listing to grab people.  It has to look pulled together and location specific.  You have the listing photos, and reviews, and that is where people start.  If the pics don’t show the property in a positive light, people will scroll to the next one.  If the reviews are sub-par for any reason, they may keep scrolling as well.

To grab your potential renters, you need those pics to shine.  A color scheme you might not want to live with every single day in your own home, can work well in a vacation rental.  A wall of bold wallpaper that you might tire of at home after a while, is fun and stunning in a rental.  A pink neon sign that says “It’s all happening!” is probably not something you’d hang in your living room, but in the rental entryway, or living room?  Super fun and “Instagrammable”.  That’s why I say that AirBnB’s and VRBO’s are not exactly a Home Away From Home.

On the flip side, what you do need to have in terms of that “at home” feeling is the utility items.  You’re on your way to a 3 star review if you didn’t stock enough silverware in the vacation rental, and the people got sick and tired of washing forks every couple of hours.  Depending on how many people you say the place will sleep, you need to have the amenities for that amount of people covered, from forks to blankets to shampoo.

Location specificity is important to me.  When I stay somewhere, I want it to feel like I am AWAY.  For instance I have a friends birthday coming up in February and we are booking a cabin in the mountains near a lake.  I definitely weighed in on her options, because I don’t want to stay in some Modern Farmhouse with slightly too modern of a look, when I am in the woods.  I want this place to feel like we are in a Rustic Cabin.  For instance if I were designing a Cabin in the Woods Vacation Rental, I’d include touches like silverware that looks like twigs, lots of plaid and cuddly fabrics, artwork from the local area and some sort of cute sign that calls out the location.  Nothing gets posted more than a cute sign that calls out your location.  People love it. 

I recently did an AirBnB in Portland Oregon.  We used a green/yellow palette to call in the colors of the local foliage, I included several Portland specific artwork, went shopping on site when up there to do the installation to grab anything local that worked.  But, I was also very careful to make sure that the Murphy Bed and the Sleeper Sofa would not interfere with each other, that there was ample dining plates and utensils, books on the shelves that not only matched the color scheme, but were also actual good books to read (we got very lucky at the North Portland Goodwill, they had so many brand now looking books for so cheap, that were current and popular, recognizable titles, and lots of stuff that worked with the color scheme). 

There is an entire science to Vacation Rental design and I’ve studied and worked it.  If you want to increase your presence, command higher rates and have a fully booked calendar, I’d be happy to do a re-design on your vacation rental, either starting with what you have currently and building on it, or starting over. 

My specialty is “making things work”! 

Occupied Staging

Let’s face it, every dream staging client is one with no budget constraints, and completely open to all design ideas and starting with a blank slate. But in reality, many homeowners looking to sell are going to need to stay in the home while it is on the market, and that creates a challenge. This is an area called Occupied Staging.

No one wants to hear that they need to remove their beloved furnishings, artwork, accessories and that heirloom rug they inherited from their great-grandmother. But, unfortunately, all of the sellers prized possessions can really cast a shadow over the home, preventing potential buyers from being able to see the potential the home has as THEIR new abode. It’s not about making the homeowner feel like they have poor taste and their stuff has got to go….it’s about de-personalizing the home so that it presents as a somewhat blank slate.

Why not just move everything out and show the home completely empty, you ask? That poses another issue. Most people are visual and a totally blank slate also makes it hard for them to visualize themselves in the home. What we are looking for is the “sweet spot”. Think of a hotel room. They’re designed to be visually appealing to the masses. There’s nothing too specific, but they have a style to them at the same time.

Occupied staging is one of my favorite challenges, because it involves some creative problem solving techniques, and I think finding a way to make the occupied home appeal to every potential buyer that walks through the door is one of the more complicated types of jobs, but I am not scared of challenges or complicated designs! To be honest, I am starting to feel like all the Vacant Stagings I am seeing all over my Instagram feed are starting to blend into one another. The same neutral everything, the same pseudo-modern artwork…I feel there is a way to update, modernize and neutralize the look of an Occupied Home, while paying tribute to the best qualities of the home, downplaying any not-so-great features, and allowing the Sellers to save some money and remain in the home with a selection of their existing furnishings.

The easiest way to stage an Occupied Home is to leave all the big stuff. All the beds, sofas, large tables, shelving units, etc. Remove anything on the smaller scale and replace with newer, more modern pieces that will blend well with what has been left intact. Some art will stay, some will be better of stored and relocated with the Sellers at their new home. There is no reason for anyone to get hurt feelings, remember the potential Buyers striding through your home don’t want to buy your home, they want to buy their new home and being distracted by all of the current owners personal effects can have a bearing on how they feel about the house itself.

I’ve spent 26 years working in the homes of people who actually live in the home. I am acutely aware of how to treat the homeowner with sensitivity and respect, and happy to have the hard conversation that a Realtor might not want to.

It’s sort of like that saying, not being able to see the forest for the trees. It’s very possible for the potential Buyers not to be able to see the actual House, when they are too busy seeing all of the Sellers memories, photographs, lived-in furniture, the dog bed, the pink antique lamps, the collection of Hummels/Lladro, etc.

Design Re-Fresh

For many new homeowners, the fun can come to a crashing halt on Moving Day. The things you’ve brought over from your last home are just not quite working. Or, the new place seems way too big, or too small for what you have.

This is where a “Design ReFresh” can work for a new homeowner. Lots of people think they have it under control, but once in the home, realize there were just some things they didn’t realize, and aren’t sure how to tackle.

I really love working with new homeowners that have some of their own stuff. I get the opportunity to see what you like, what you have, you can tell me what you did NOT like or what you’d love to re-home to someone else, and replace with something new.

Working in people’s homes, whether occupied for years and in need of a more intense overhaul, or new homeowners that are stuck on how to make things work without having to spend a fortune on furnishings, and risk making costly mistakes is my specialty. Not saying it’s always fun, there are definitely times when there is some design element we wish we could make magically disappear, but working WITH what you have, rather than AGAINST it, is something I take pride in excelling in.