Managing Personal Belongings in Your Airbnb

“Is that a typo in your title?” you ask, thinking fondly of your childhood years or the last time you tried to sneak away from an unfortunate Tinder date. It’s not a typo, eagle eyed friends, but a play on words as we explore the topic of personal belongings in your short term rental.

This can be a tricky thing to master: of course it’s not a great idea to leave your best jewellery and shiny new credit card around for your guests to stumble upon, but it’s also not a great idea to leave your home with bare walls and cupboards, looking more like the scene of a recent break and enter than someone’s home.

To point you in the right direction, we’ve compiled a handy list of things you should hide and a list of things you should consider leaving around for your guests to use (or ‘seek’ because we’re trying to follow through with our clever title). As you’ll notice, the things on the ‘seek’ list aren’t extras you’ll need to go and buy (we have another post about that): they’re simply things most of you will already have around your home. How wonderful.

Hide

• Money and other valuables: while we’d like to think every guest is a wonderfully honest human being, it’s always best to err on the side of caution, tucking jewellery, credit cards and last month’s pay safely away for the duration of the stay.
  
• Clothing: we all know nothing ruins the feel of a place quite like a wayward pair of dirty undies but, perhaps less intuitively, not leaving even a very small space for guests to hang a few items can also rate negatively so it’s always worth clearing a few hangers before guests check-in.
  
• Personal Documents: tax returns, bank statements and your angry-day journal are best kept out of your guests’ space. After all, there is a point where strangers can know a little too much about you.
  
• Medicines: there’s no need to worry about leaving the odd panadol and bandaid stash hanging around but when it comes to prescription medicines, these should be locked away. The risk of one of your guests — particularly a youngster — helping themselves to these to bad effect is one not worth taking.
  
  Keeping these things tucked away while guests come to stay doesn’t mean having to leave a giant box with your friend Lucy every time your place is booked. Lockable storage really is the way forward and you can buy cabinet locks from Bunnings for as little as $12.
  

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Seek

• Entertainment items: DVDs, books, magazines and board games are always welcome additions to your property, making your space feel wonderfully inviting and liveable.
  
• Menus for local take-aways: because what better way to enhance your guests’ board game night than with your favourite Pad Thai. They’ll feel just like locals.
  
• A hairdryer: standard in most hotel rooms, these little devices are often notably absent from Airbnb rentals. Let’s fix that, helping out the 99.9% of humans who can’t rock bed hair.Basic toiletries: soap, shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser all add a little bit of luxury to a stay, particularly if they’re in fancy little bottles. The good news: we can happily provide these as part of your next service.
  
• Kitchen basics: guests love being able to cook during a stay, even if it just means making themselves a nice warm cuppa and piece of toast in the mornings. Invite them to do so by leaving some tea, sugar, salt, pepper and oil within easy reach.
  
• Extra blankets and pillows: everyone has their own optimal sleeping conditions so help them get a good night’s rest with available extras.Broom, vacuum and cloth: while Kayla has the pre and post-stay housekeeping covered, it’s always a good idea to leave some cleaning equipment around the place for those little in-stay thrills and spills.
  
  Why not hand your Airbnb over to the professionals? At Hometime we specialise in providing Airbnb management services with dedicate local hosts, cleaning partners and housekeeping. Contact us and we'll be in touch with a free earnings estimate for your Airbnb.