3 strategies for optimising your Airbnb private room listing

Airbnb is increasingly becoming a holiday rental marketplace as opposed to its mantra of the sharing economy. According to statistics, in 2015, 63% of all airbnb listings in the US were for entire homes, and only 34% were for private listings.

Entire homes offer a level of privacy, personal space and autonomy that private rooms are seen as lacking. But as a traditional "private room" host, here are three simple strategies you can employ to make your private room listing stand out from the crowd:

Six months on Airbnb - thoughts and reflections

Let's go back to the very beginning.

After three years living in Canberra, I moved back to my beloved Melbourne in 2015, ready to purchase my first apartment (principal place of residence), settle down, and live a fabulous life.

To my dismay, the housing boom in Melbourne had gotten so out of hand that I - a reasonably well-paid Gen Y - was completely unable to afford an apartment in a location close to work, and of a decent size and quality.

What does a gal have to do? Splurge above my budget and struggle under the weight of a mortgage too large for my income? Buy a sub-standard inner city high rise apartment? Or move to the outer suburbs and deal with the hourly commute to work every day?

In the end, I 'splurged', and got creative. I bought my two bedroom apartment in a small art deco block, and put the smaller bedroom up on Airbnb to help pay off the mortgage.

And thus began my journey in home-sharing.

A new home

At some point when I was studying at uni, I used to identify myself as a blogger. I blogged, I wrote, I took photographs, and I had an internet community of readers and fellow bloggers to which I belonged.

All that changed when I graduated and started my full time job. I was reading all the time, but for business. I wrote, but for clients. I spent my days intensely litigating, advising, doing what a lawyer does, and my nights in a daze in front of the TV, too tired to think critically and creatively.

This blog used to be on tumblr as a record of my life and my travels. I've since moved it to Blogger, and the intention that I would document more of my travels and a new aspect of my life that has happened in the last six months - my experience as an Airbnb host.

I am hoping that this move inspires me to read for pleasure, write for self-expression, and get back in touch with my creative, adventurous self that I know lies underneath the "legal eagle" exterior.

Let's see what the future holds.

Penang: Eat. Drink. And be merry.

Last month, partly motivated by the desire to see our friend PJ, partly motivated by this show, I went to Penang with LJ.

When I came back, people asked me: “how was Malaysia?” and I said, “amazing, we ate EVERYTHING.”

Then they asked, “did you shop?"

And I said, "no, we ate."

"Did you go to the beach?”

“No, we ate.”

Literally. We just ate for 3 days, thoroughly appreciating the good food, cheap beers and the art of a good conversation. It was the most amazing, exhausting, and delicious trip ever.












It was the first time I had meat in just over a year. My tastebuds certainly weren’t complaining, but my stomach was a little … overworked.

What I read in 2013

Full list of books I read in 2013 here.

• Favourite book (fiction) of the year - A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. 


• Favourite book (non-fiction) - Country Driving, by Peter Hessler


• Highly recommended: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Fault in Our Stars by Jonathan Green, All That I am by Anna Funder.