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Show Summary
Katelyn Almeda, an Airbnb Ambassador and community leader, shares her journey of helping new hosts succeed through mentorship, webinars, and creative design strategies. She emphasizes the importance of professional photography, unique guest experiences, and staying active on Airbnb to maximize visibility and bookings. Looking ahead, she envisions collaborating with cities to educate and onboard hosts ahead of major events like FIFA and the Olympics.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Katelyn Almeda (00:00)
Yeah, I mean, going back to photography, it’s incredibly important. can’t stress this enough, but the listings with high quality photos just do better in every way. Research shows this again and again and again. So I know it costs a little bit of money, but it is so worth it. Please get professional photography listings that arehave brighter photos, for example, well lit photos, I should say, just do better. People aren’t gonna click on those dark cell phone photos, they’re gonna go right past that, even if you do have a beautiful listing in real life, it’s all about what the guest is seeing on their screens, so really keep that in mind.
Michelle Kesil (02:19)
Hey everybody, welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil, and today I’m joined by someone that I’m looking forward to chatting with,Katelyn Almeda, who has been making serious moves as an Airbnb ambassador and her own brand host with Kate, really helping design Airbnb spaces. ⁓ excited to have you here on the show today.Katelyn Almeda (02:46)
Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.Michelle Kesil (02:49)
Yeah, of course, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching the Airbnb world and designing new creative spaces. So let’s dive in. First off, for those not familiar with you and your world, can you give the short version of what your main focus is?Katelyn Almeda (03:09)
Yeah, so I help new hosts onboard their listings to Airbnb and just really help them create the best spaces that they can that will really appeal to that audience at large.Michelle Kesil (03:26)
Awesome, how did you get into that?Katelyn Almeda (03:30)
Yeah, so I’ve been hosting for 10 years now.I started with just a private bedroom in my own house and I really fell in love with hosting. started my own co-hosting business in San Diego where I managed 10 unique properties including surf shacks and floating houses and yachts. And then I moved up to San Francisco where I did actually work out of Airbnb’s global headquarters as a host advisor. And then COVID happened. But they had their Airbnb ambassador program and asked me to be a
pilot
in that. So I’ve been doing that for five years and I was also asked to be a community leader about three and a half years ago. So I’m the community leader for Central and Coastal Virginia and I still run my own Airbnbs as well.
Michelle Kesil (04:21)
Awesome. What does it mean to be a community leader? What does that role look like?Katelyn Almeda (04:26)
Yeah, so it’s a volunteer position. But basically I get to bring hosts, local hosts together in person and also online for events. And I get to help educate them and, you know, bring speakers and talk about all sorts of different topics. We have, for example, a Taco Tuesday once a month where we all get together and have a panel discussion on a different topic. So like last month was midterm.rentals. The month before was co-hosting. We’re having one on service providers coming up, one on interior design. So just, you know, just getting hosts together. It’s always great to know other hosts, especially in your local area and bounce ideas off of them and just learn and network.
Michelle Kesil (06:03)
Yeah, absolutely, that’s so cool. So where are you doing Airbnbs? Are you doing them nationwide or are you in like just the Virginia area that you just mentioned?Katelyn Almeda (06:16)
Yeah, so currently all of my spaces are in Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. And that’s it. I used to have that co-hosting business in San Diego, but I sold it when I moved up to San Francisco. And then COVID brought me back home to Virginia.Michelle Kesil (06:33)
Awesome. What have been some of your keys to keeping this business running smoothly?Katelyn Almeda (06:42)
Yeah, I think it’s been really helpful collaborating directly with Airbnb. I do intro to hosting webinars with them twice a month. That’s totally free for new hosts, and you can find it directly from airbnb.com. So I get a lot of warm leads through that. then also just doing these events that I was just talking about as a community leader, it’s just a wonderful way to meet other people in this space, and then they’llme with other people and whatnot. I have a lot of referrals through word of mouth.
Michelle Kesil (07:19)
That’s awesome. Yeah, sounds like networking is a really important piece of this job for you.Katelyn Almeda (07:25)
Very much so.Michelle Kesil (07:26)
Awesome. So what are some of the ways that you’re looking to scale this business? Like where are you seeing it heading?Katelyn Almeda (07:39)
Yeah, so I would love to work with cities and counties and collaborate with them, especially as large scale events are coming to town to educate new hosts ⁓ on a massive level. That’s kind of the goal for me to do webinars or even in-person events leading up to these big events like FIFA and the Olympics to get new hosts on board and excited about the opportunity.of renting out their space on Airbnb.
Michelle Kesil (08:14)
Yeah, awesome. That is so exciting. So what are some tips that you have for people that are looking to begin their Airbnb business?Katelyn Almeda (08:25)
Yeah, so I mean the first thing of course is to familiarize yourself with any short-term rental regulations in your local area if you plan to do short-term rentals ⁓and ⁓ make sure that you’re paying attention to design. It’s incredibly important and can really make or break a listing. People are very visual creatures and there’s a lot of listings out there these days, so you really want to stand out. Something else I see a lot is people will put a lot of money and time and energy into furnishing their spaces, but they just take quick cell phone photos once it’s ready to list. ⁓ I highly suggest hiring a professional.
professional photographer, it makes a world of a difference. It’s probably one of the number one things that I tell new hosts that connect with me. Like, please get a pro photographer. makes a huge difference.
Michelle Kesil (09:20)
Yeah, absolutely. And our people that host, it’s usually like their own home or they like have to buy a property. Like how does that work?Katelyn Almeda (09:31)
Yeah, I get a bit of both as far as my clients go. Some people have full-time investment properties that are furnished rentals all the time. Sometimes people are renting out their own homes. Maybe they are traveling and they just rent it out when they’re gone. Or maybe when a big event is coming to their city, they’ll go stay with their parents or with a friend and rent out their house to make some extra money. I’m particularly passionate about house hacking, which is whereyou are able to rent out a part of your primary residence, whether that’s a guest suite or even a private room or an ADU, accessory dwelling unit or guest house. ⁓
That’s usually the easiest way to get a permit. Of course, every city and county has totally different rules, but I have found in general it’s a lot easier to home share, especially if you’re in a larger city that has a lot of those short-term rental regulations.
Michelle Kesil (11:10)
Yeah, what are some of like those regulations that can affect people?Katelyn Almeda (11:17)
Well, like I said every city and county has totally different laws. I think something I do see a lot though ⁓ especially in those bigger cities is a short or like a primary residence law so you have to prove that it is your that primary residence or that you live on the lot of the property in order to get a permit for a short-term rental ⁓ That’s how it is in Richmond where I live ⁓and what I see for a lot of other cities as well. something, and this is kind of a different conversation, but something I’ve seen a lot of hosts in our area do and something I’ve also done is pivot to midterm rentals as well, which are 30 nights or more. There’s still a big demand, especially in places like Richmond, Virginia, where a lot of people are moving here. And there’s a lot of great hospitals nearby. So you have those traveling nurses coming in. ⁓ The film industry is pretty big here. So lots of crews looking for.
temporary housing. ⁓ So that’s something that a lot of times people don’t even think about when they’re onboarding to Airbnb, but if you get stuck with the regulations and it’s hard to get a short-term rental permit, that’s something that you can definitely consider pivoting to.
Michelle Kesil (12:32)
Yeah, absolutely, that’s a great idea. So you mentioned that you do a lot of design work. Can you expand on this aspect of your business?Katelyn Almeda (12:41)
Yeah, design is incredibly important for a furnished rental business. ⁓ And I’ve learned a ton about design over my 10 years of hosting, especially when I was working out of Airbnb’s headquarters. I worked very closely with the designers there and just learned so much. ⁓ And this is something that…I’ve noticed a lot of new hosts don’t pay too much attention to or maybe they’re just, you know, they’re not designers and they’re not thinking with, you know, in that way. But something I’ve recently started is offering what I call the zhuzhup package where people might already have like the basic amenities and furniture, but they just need that like extra pop to help them ⁓ really show better in search results. So I’ll come in and
color, wallpaper, paint, know, more lighting, plants, ⁓ artwork, local artwork, things like that to really help it pop more and those are results.
Michelle Kesil (13:47)
Yeah, absolutely, that’s so cool and such a fun creative process. So, what is the host with Kate business that you mentioned? that your design piece or can you expand more on that?Katelyn Almeda (14:01)
Yeah, host with Kate is ⁓ my business that just helps new hosts in general. I have a bunch of different services that I offer. I think the most popular one is connecting with me as their official Airbnb ambassador. And that way it’s free. It’s completely free for new hosts. But Airbnb does pay host with Kate to help mentor them and onboard them. And I can answer any questions that they have up until their first guest departs. I also do those freewebinars directly through Airbnb and Airbnb’s ⁓ Entrepreneurship Academy.
So I have an intro to hosting webinar and then we recently started a 2.0 webinar. They’re both always live and free and on Zoom, so very accessible for the masses. ⁓ And then I also offer the design packages, the zhuzhut package, I do consultations, business strategy, ⁓ meetings through Zoom, I do listing audits, that’s another really popular one. ⁓
Maybe somebody has already been on Airbnb or other platforms for a while and they just want to kind of upgrade their listing a little bit. So we’ll have a chat about that and I have a whole worksheet that I’ll fill out and give them some tips and tricks there. Those are probably my most popular services. But in general, it’s just helping those people that have furnished rental businesses just do the best that they can with their spaces.
Michelle Kesil (16:16)
Yeah, amazing. I love that you’re helping people in that way to get started.Katelyn Almeda (16:22)
That’s really fun and very fulfilling.Michelle Kesil (16:23)
So,yeah, totally. So what are some goals that you have for where your business is heading or some other avenues that you want to take with this creative passion of yours?
Katelyn Almeda (16:37)
Yeah, so personally, ⁓ so we have a very unique property where I live. My partner and I live on this 12 acre property. We live in the main house up on the hill and then we have two guest houses currently, but we also have seven industrial, like huge garages attached to these guest houses. So I have this dream of converting some of those garages into additional living spaces and a big event space.and essentially getting a bed and breakfast permit and creating like this whole nature retreat for wedding parties or bachelorette retreats or even work retreats where people can come together and celebrate different events. ⁓ So that’s something that we’re kind of working towards slowly but surely. And then on the professional side with Host with Kate, ⁓ a goal would be to actually
have a collaboration with a major city like LA for the Olympics and help educate hosts and get them really excited as those large-scale events are coming to town.
Michelle Kesil (17:50)
Amazing, I love that. That’s so cool and creative and yeah, sounds like such a fun project and mission.Katelyn Almeda (17:58)
Yeah.Michelle Kesil (18:00)
So, most of the listeners to this show are investors. How do you think investors can tie this concept into their business?Katelyn Almeda (18:13)
I’m sorry you’re kind of breaking up a little bit. Can you repeat that question one more time?Michelle Kesil (18:15)
⁓ yeah,sure. ⁓ Most of the listeners to the show are investors. Maybe they have investment properties. How can these investors add some of these concepts to their business?
Katelyn Almeda (18:30)
Yeah, so ⁓ really think about the events that are coming to your town, whether it’s FIFA or whether it’s a big festival event that is annual in your space where you have your properties and really manage your pricing and your calendar accordingly. ⁓ And if you’re able to set up a unique experience as those events are coming into town for those specific travelers, that always helps a lot.⁓ I always like to kind of personalize the experience as much as I can for my guests and feel that it really does lead to those five star reviews. ⁓ Also, of course, paying attention to that design and the way that you’re marketing your listing and ⁓ the more that you are active on the back end, the more that you’re tinkering with your listing, especially on Airbnb specifically, ⁓ the more you’re gonna be rewarded.
where your listing is going to show up higher in search results. That’s a big part of the search algorithm is just being an active host. So make sure that you are going in there every once in a while and playing around with your photos and your title and your descriptions, adding amenities as you get them. ⁓
And that’s going to help your listing ⁓ stay booked over time. So don’t just set it and forget it. Make sure that you are being very active there.
Michelle Kesil (19:59)
Yeah, that’s such a good tip. Are there any other tips for maybe if someone’s listing isn’t getting much traction, how they can get it into the eyes of more people?Katelyn Almeda (20:10)
Yeah, I mean, going back to photography, it’s incredibly important. can’t stress this enough, but the listings with high quality photos just do better in every way. Research shows this again and again and again. So I know it costs a little bit of money, but it is so worth it. Please get professional photography listings that arehave brighter photos, for example, well lit photos, I should say, just do better. People aren’t gonna click on those dark cell phone photos, they’re gonna go right past that, even if you do have a beautiful listing in real life, it’s all about what the guest is seeing on their screens, so really keep that in mind.
Michelle Kesil (20:57)
Yeah, is there anything like description wise that really sets people apart?Katelyn Almeda (21:04)
Yeah, I always like to focus in on location, special amenities, and design within my descriptions and also within the title of my listing. ⁓ Also using verbs can be really helpful. like walk to the beach or ⁓ sip on wine from the balcony before you head out to the football game. You know, it really just helps people imagine in their head what the experience is going to be like before they even book yourSo try adding some verbs ⁓ Try not to be repetitive So like in your title for example or even in your summary description try not to say things like three-bedroom to bathroom ⁓ Apartment like all of that information is already noted at the top of the Airbnb listing. So try to use that space ⁓ For for other things to call out what is special about your space. This is what I call your
listings moat, like what kind of sets it apart from other listings, other comps in your area. ⁓ People want a unique stay, especially when it’s a short-term rental. You know, they want something that’s different and Instagram-worthy or, you know, something that they can’t get all the time. They’re only gonna be there for a couple days, so you really wanna focus on the special parts of your listing.
Michelle Kesil (22:31)
Yeah, absolutely, that makes a lot of sense for what would catch people’s attention. love that. So, before we wrap up here, if people want to connect, reach out, learn more from you, where can people find you and connect with you?Katelyn Almeda (22:46)
Yeah, so my website is hostwithkate.com and you can find all my contact information there and all my services. I’m also on social media at hostwithkate. So that’s probably the easiest way to get in touch with me.Michelle Kesil (23:05)
Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. Thank you for being here.Katelyn Almeda (23:13)
Thanks so much, Michelle.Michelle Kesil (23:15)
Yes, of course. And for those listeners tuning in, you got value from this, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators just like Kate, who are building real businesses. We’ll see you all on our next episode.
