My Tokyo Home

一般情報

Setting up a Air BnB property in any country can be a daunting task. The photography, the listing, the house guide, rules, inventory etc and that's before you've even started letting the place out. More so in an unfamiliar city with its own fairly complicated rules and regulations.

Tokyo is a phenomenal market for Air BnB with tourism at an all time high and the Olympics and Rugby world cup coming soon. BUT the competition is also fierce. Air BnB grew by 500% in 2015 alone (https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/airbnb-takes-off-in-japan-but-the-party-is-over-for-many-seeking-to-ride-the-boom) leaving a over supply of rental options and massive choice for visitors. HOWEVER the best properties on Air BnB are still fully booked year round. And as the number of properties increases only the very best of them will continue to do well. So WHAT DOES IT TAKE to be the best?

Here are some points to consider:

The best properties are clean, light, well decorated in a neutral style.

They have been professionally photographed to present them in the best possible way. They look unique, eye catching, homely and appealing. All the rooms and all the facilities are clearly outlined and beautifully presented.

The title is catchy and unique.

The description covers all of the main points that can't be seen in your photos. It lets your potential guests know what is amazing and special about staying in your home and in your neighbourhood.

Once you start to receive enquiries then you have to be very prepared. Guests have a thousand questions that need to be answered and you have to be there 100% of the time to answer them. Quickly scrolling through reviews on Air BnB it is clear that one of the biggest negative points for any guest is when the host is unavailable or difficult to contact. Fluency in English is a absolute must; almost all of the communication carried out on Air BnB in Japan is in English and you need to be able to answer questions in a very clear, friendly and helpful way.

Commonly in Japan guests will be sent directions and a house guide. This needs to outline everything from where they can do their shopping to how to use the air con. They need to know how to get to your property and what to do if they get lost. They will need to know how to get the key and any difficulty they may have getting in.

The house rules need to be brief but comprehensive and easy to follow.

You will need to be on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any emergencies your guests may have. Lost keys or lost people. You'll be amazed what your guests expect from you.

The check out is as important as the check in. The guests have to know where to leave the key and when to leave the property. If they need to leave luggage as is often the case then they need to know where they can do this.

The cleaning has to be done to absolutely the highest standards. Your linen needs to be cleaned, dried and replaced. All trash needs to be sorted and disposed of and the entire place needs to be dusted, wiped and vacuumed. All this needs to be carried out with in the 5 hours from check out to check in.

Quite often the next guests will want to check in early. Where do they leave their luggage if this is not possible and can they get they key early?

YOUR RATING is king. If any of these things are not done to appropriate standards then guests can be merciless with reviews. If you fail to get consistently high ratings then your property will sink down the Air BnB search list and you will receive fewer bookings.

For all these reasons we have created www.MyTokyoHome.com We started off with a few properties and then our friends saw how well we were doing and asked us to manage theirs. We are still a small company and focused exclusively on the Tokyo area. With a passion for what we do and a sincere love of welcoming guests from all over the world we have managed to consistently book our properties for an average of 95% of the time. We have also maintained a 4.8 star rating across all of our properties. We would love to meet with you to discuss your management needs and to see if your property would be an appropriate fit for us. You can find lots of information on our site and we're here to answer any other questions you might have.