Why Professional Interior Design Matters In Your Vacation Rental
Whether you refer to it as an Airbnb, vacation rental, or VRBO, one thing is for sure: professional interior design plays a major role in the success of your vacation rental and whether or not you will increase your bookings or remain vacant most of the year. Here are six major reasons why interior design matters in your Airbnb.
1. Maximize profits on your Airbnb
Hiring a professional interior designer can allow for you as a host or investor to charge more then the average vacation rental. In fact multiple studies have shown hosts are able to charge 20% more than the average property.
Todays travelers are looking for more than just a decent place to rest their head for a night or two, they are looking for a bespoke experience. Guests are even willing to pay top dollar for vacation rentals that feature updated appliances, trendy decor, and high quality liens. Think HGTV but for Airbnb and vacation rentals.
A professional designer understands how to achieve a certain ambience that will immediately catch the attention of potential guests. Allowing you to maximize your profits!
2. First Impressions are everything
Before they know anything about the property, guests make snap decisions about the design of your vacation rental simply based on the first few photos. Designers understand how to make a space pop and where to find those quirky and distinctive pieces that ensure your space is not overlooked.
When looking for an Airbnb or VRBO guest, scroll through tens of hundreds or thousands of potential properties that more or less offer the same amenities. Professional designers know how to add that extra touch to make your property feel like it belongs in a magazine or on HGTV. Designers know how to captivate the right audience and elevate the guest experience.
Designers understand how to create a hospitable and harmonious environment that emphasizes specific details using certain elements, textures, lighting, colors, and patterns that allow guests to relax during their stay, leaving guests with lasting memories.
3. Helps you save time and money
So often, I see hosts who are starting their first rental immediately go out and start buying products before they have a clear vision for the design of the property. By the time they hire me, they soon realize that those items are too big, too small, or simply don’t work in the space at all, and they are left with a bunch of products that they don’t need, can no longer return, and could have put that money to better use.
Hiring a professional allows the investor to clearly think through their vision and goals for the space. Saving them money so they don’t have to go back and replace furniture and products.
Professional designers also help their clients save valuable time by helping them appropriately visualize the space and develop a design concept for the property, allowing their clients to better understand what will and won’t work within the space. So before any money is wasted on unnecessary products, an effective evaluation of the selection and placement of products can be assessed before installation.
Designers keep function at the forefront of their designs, ensuring each space meets the required codes and allowing every guest to feel at ease during their stay.
With a designer, you’re not just paying someone to help you select attractive furniture; you're also ensuring the project runs smoothly. An essential skill for an interior designer is being able to manage projects. Many homeowners overestimate the amount of time, energy, and finances it takes to successfully launch an Airbnb. If you are starting with a completely empty space, ordering, tracking, and setting up hundreds of items is not uncommon and can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing.
4. Stiff Competition
With so many people dipping their toes in the vacation rental market, hiring a designer is like a secret weapon to ensuring your space stands out amongst the crowd.
Throwing a room together without much thought and worn-out secondhand furniture can really put off potential guests. Many guests today are looking for a unique vacation experience that offers the vast space and privacy of a home but still has that touch of comfort, hospitality, and luxury that a hotel offers.
With vacation rentals, it is perfectly fine to color outside the lines. Adding funky wallpapers, bold colors, and quirky items adds that extra touch of distinction to a vacation rental. Guests certainly don’t want to pass up the opportunity to stay in a space with so much to offer.
5. More Exposure
Nowadays, many people don’t think twice before sharing a picture on social media for all their friends, families, and even strangers to see.
A professionally designed Airbnb is the perfect backdrop for social media lovers to share online for potential guests to like, comment on, and love. This allows you more visibility and even free marketing to potential guests.
6. Final Thoughts
As a professional designer, I see so many vacation rentals on Airbnb or VRBO where it is obvious hosts are trying to cut costs as much as they can by doing the design themselves. It seems as though many hosts are trying to get away with doing the bare minimum because they want to start making money ASAP without considering that they are starting a business.
So often, I see hosts and investors leaving out key décor, such as area rugs in the living room, selecting furniture that is too big or too small, or hanging art that is too low or too high. Then wonder why their rental is vacant the majority of the year. Mistakes like this can make the space feel incomplete and unwelcoming. Guests can instantly tell if a space was rapidly put together with random secondhand furniture or if lots of thought and attention to detail were carefully considered.
I say this time and time again: It is important to see your vacation rental as a business itself. You are offering a hospitality service. Put yourself in your guests shoes. If you were planning your yearly vacation, eager to get out of town and put your feet up, would you plan a stay in a Motel 6 or the Hilton Hotel? And if you were to book a stay in that Hilton Hotel, would you expect to walk in your room and get a Motel 6 vibe? No, and neither are potential guests. They want to relax in comfort and style.
Potential guests are ready and willing to spend whatever they need to have the vacation of their dreams. It almost seems like guests are looking for vacation rentals that look like they are straight out of HGTV or House Beautiful Magazine while still offering top amenities and a welcoming guest experience.
