Renting out your place on Airbnb can be a relatively easy way to make a few bucks just by finding somewhere else to sleep for a few nights. Figuring out exactly how much money you should be charging isn’t intuitive, though.
The Next Web alerted us to the Eliot & Me Estimator, which can help you figure out your nightly and weekly rate for a short-term rental on a site like Airbnb.
The site prompts you to enter in your address and choose a few defining details about your space, like how many people it can sleep, how many bedrooms and bathrooms it has, and whether you want to rent out the whole home or just one private room. From there, the site’s algorithms will determine what the best price you can get would be. (The site says Eliot “learns from historical trends, competing services and products, supply and demand signals and more.”)
For instance, when I enter in the details for my bedroom in Brooklyn, I get an estimate of $60 to $71 a night, depending whether the room sleeps two or three people. I’ve previously rented it out for $65 to $75, so that seems pretty accurate. If I wanted to rent out my entire three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment, Eliot & Me says I can make $300 a night.
You can compare prices across your neighborhood, take a look at which holiday dates see the biggest uptick in prices, and look at where you can travel based on how many days you rent out your home. You can also set up a price alert to notify you if Airbnb prices are surging, so if it’s only worth it for you to rent out your place if you’re going to make $2000 a week, you can get an email when that’s likely.
Happy renting! Just remember to check your local laws and your lease first.