7 Airbnb podcasts to help boost your business

If you’re serious about your short-term vacation rental business, you know there’s always something more to learn about being a great host and making your business better — whether you list your rentals on Airbnb, VRBO, HomeAway, or other online rental platforms. There are many resources short-term rental operators can use to help them with tips and tricks as well as keeping abreast of the latest news and trends. These include books, blogs, online groups, and social media.

Podcasts can also be a great resource for vacation rental hosts, allowing you to learn how to build your business by listening. Podcasts can go with you in the car, to the gym, or wherever else you might want to tune in to get tips on running your short-term rental business.

There are quite a few podcasts to choose from, each with a distinct emphasis, personality, and style. Some hosts make their podcasts more personal, while others operate in a talk-show mode of interviewing outside experts. All of them can offer valuable information to short-term rental owners and operators, whether you’re just getting started in the business or you’re a seasoned veteran.

Here are some options to get you started.

Get Paid for Your Pad
Jasper Ribbers started listing his Amsterdam apartment on Airbnb in 2012 and was able to turn Airbnb income into a life of full-time travel. Now he helps “new Airbnb hosts avoid the pitfalls, create outstanding guest experiences and generate an income from their spare room or house, while keeping things safe,” with a website, blog, and podcast. While Ribbers focuses on Airbnb specifically, much of his advice works well for any kind of short-term rental host. The podcast offers a mix of industry news and how-tos for both the hosting and business sides of short-term vacation rentals.

Hosting Your Home
The founders of Hosting Your Home, Debi and Rob Hertert, own four vacation rental properties in Oregon. They’re big believers in the power of Airbnb hosting to form human connections: “We love hearing about how people host their homes and their experiences with their guests, and decided to explore some of these stories and share them. Through these interviews we hope that more people may gain an appreciation for the type of travel that brings hosts and guests together.” The podcast features a combination of host profiles, practical tips, and resources that hosts can use to make the most of their vacation rental business.

The Hosting Journey
Evelyn Badia, founder of The Hosting Journey, started hosting on Airbnb in 2010 when the recession derailed her career and threatened the loss of her home. Since 2014, she has been sharing “actionable information to market your spare bedroom or family vacation home,” offering advice on how to maximize results on Airbnb, VRBO, FlipKey, and Booking.com. Badia’s podcast episodes offer plenty of personal anecdotes about short-term rental hosting along with lessons learned and clear advice.

Shampoo and Booze
Shampoo and Booze is a podcast “About Making a Living on Airbnb” that’s named after the two items most frequently left by the hosts’ Airbnb guests. After living in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco, Shampoo and Booze hosts, Ryanne and Jay, moved to rural Virginia and renovated two homes, one for themselves and one to rent out on Airbnb — which they’ve been doing since 2015. Podcast episodes follow the couple’s progress with their renovations and offer plenty of tips on running your short-term rental business with topics such as “Do I Charge Friends and Family to Stay at My Rental?”

Vacation Rental Success
Vacation Rental Success host Heather Bayer operates vacation rentals in Ontario, Canada, and is the author of Renting Your Recreational Property for Profit. Bayer often features interviews with guests who have expertise in various areas related to vacation rentals, from keeping up with vacation rental regulations to vacation rental safety to creating a lifestyle vacation rental. She also offers her own thoughts on hot topics in the short-term vacation rental world as well as takeaways from major industry conferences.

The Property Podcast
Based in the UK, The Property Podcast is geared toward aspiring and established property investors, offering “news, useful resources, weekly discussions and advice.” The podcast is hosted by “two guys yakking about property” — Rob Bence, founder of RMP Property, a property investment company, and Rob Dix, property investor, book author, and blogger. They often bring special guests on to the show for interviews. While most episodes don’t focus on short-term rentals per se, the topics are germane to anyone investing in property, with topics such as “How to Be a Super-Landlord” and “8 Wealth-building Lessons You Mustn’t Ignore.”

BiggerPockets
The BiggerPockets Podcast also focuses more on property investment in general than on short-term rentals. Hosted by Joshua Dorkin and Brandon Turner, the podcast features interviews with investors of various backgrounds, niches, and experience levels in every episode. The hosts invite listeners to “imagine you’re friends with hundreds of real estate investors and entrepreneurs. Now imagine you can grab a beer with each of them and casually chat about failures, successes, motivations, and lessons learned.”