James Wang Of REAI: 5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host

Many people dream of becoming an Airbnb host but don’t know where to start. In this series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host” we are interviewing successful Airbnb hosts who share lessons from their experience about how to run a very successful Airbnb property. As part of this series I had the pleasure of interviewing James Wang.

James Wang CEO of REAI, Inc., is a veteran tech executive, serial entrepreneur, holder of multiple AI/new technology patents, successful application architect &developer, visionary real estate industry insider, author of the book “The Next Gen Real Estate Tech” and “Guidelines for Home Purchase in the New Era” including a chapter for Airbnb business.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?

It’s an honor to be here with you Fotis. Well, I had been a tech executives for many years mainly on cutting edge new technology development, have also built some advance AI application way before this ChatGPT buzz.. In 2009 I happen to start get into real estate investment properties after hearing about good timing to get into the market, yet suffer tremendously from it partly from the agent who led me to wrong rental properties & deals, and secondly from lack of the technology, data and tools that I could utilize to have better knowledge, understanding, and thus make right decisions on the property to invest and flip. After selling my first investment property at a loss soon after the purchase, I started play around with using some AI concepts to pull the knowledge & data together for potentially benefitting consumers more, this led me to start REAI in 2017 to start seriously developing machine learning models and advance AI algorithms for real estate usage. We had been very low key and developing our technologies under the radar, have already obtained uniquely powerful patents for smart home purchase etc. to empower industry in the new era, and with help from other partners like NAR (National Asso. of Realtors) ex-CTO Mark, we have achieved tremendous success in our technologies and can definitely help home investors in their rental property business or other real estate business tremendously with much better results easily.

What led you to first start becoming an Airbnb host?

Hard to find convenient lodging around some conference centers or destinations that I travelled to, that’s one of the reasons I started myself to help others. On another side, it can be hard to manage long term rentals and tenants, and short term would be much easier while giving better return and satisfaction.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this?

One traveler did not know how to run the process to get the code to open the door with he came, and happened to be someone else walked by and helped him got in, and later that person was also interested and brought some guests to the property as well

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One guest had to cut short his trip at the last minute, which we let him do; while later another guest had to extend his stay at the last minute and only notify us then, and we had new guest coming in…we had been very accommodating trying best to help others, but this situation is different and we couldn’t accommodate all in same room, so we had to find another room… Sometimes we better be very strict on rules and process.

What are some of the common mistakes you have seen people make when they first start hosting with Airbnb?

Not studying market well and know competition, wrong location, wrong price, inadequate or improper home setting/furnishing/appliance, not cleaned properly before new guest coming in, not taking care of some guest causing bad comment on host etc..

What are some of the things that can be done to avoid these errors?

We all need to carefully study and know the city, the area, the neighborhood well before we start Airbnb there, know the market need, what season and what time more guests are expected, what price can be competitive, what home setting/furnishing/appliance are good and attractive to guests, proper management to make sure property well cleaned before new guest coming in, and manage guest issues, complaints properly and promptly…

Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the Airbnb experience? In your opinion, what makes you different from the rest?

REAI’s previous book “The Next Gen. Real Estate Tech” has much info on the new technology ahead to revolutionize this industry, while our new book “Guidelines for Home Purchase/Transaction in the New Era” has a chapter dedicated to Airbnb short term rental business, which is of good reference with detailed guidance educating home investors on Airbnb & short rental with AI tools to proceed on new rental business journey.

Just a background, REAI team comprises of NAR (National Association of Realtors) ex-leaders and veteran industry executives, experienced real estate brokers &super agents, top notch machine learning PhDs, etc. REAI has been under the radar & behind the scene developing uniquely advanced AI process to elevate this industry, and can now provide top advice, guidance and support for all users in home purchase &sale journey through our AI system. REAI is the only company with a portfolio of AI patents on advance real estate applications, and provides various uniquely advanced AI services including REbot that address questions and provide advice, guidance, projections to users for real estate needs 24/7 as a virtual agent who never sleep and always on user side ready to help, REimagine that helps users imagine virtually remodeled home instantly, giving top guidance for purchase & renovation ahead, and our patented AiMatch that guides user to the best matching property or other necessary service for home purchase/rental, also match homeowner to the right buyer/guest in home sale/rental journey, AiListing that enable homeowner generate a new captivating listing per industry standards within a minute, as well as upcoming AiTransaction that guide user through the transaction journey, addressing various needs on financial, title, documentation, planning, etc., so users can take time to enjoy life, leave the heavy lifting to our system.

Can you share “5 Things You Need To Become A Highly Successful Airbnb Host”?

First of all, you are recommended to run your Airbnb with a property at least at or above the medium level, and in a good neighborhood or hot spot, where travelers will like to stay for professional needs or leisure/vacation purpose, while the price also needs to be competitive. We have seen some Airbnb from some excellent property, yet far away from the city or far away from public transportation, that can hardly arouse interests of guests.

Secondly, you need to furnish the property properly that guest feel at home. We have seen some owners of lower end properties in great location run Airbnb without much furnishing or setting. It is recommended that better furnishing and interior will make difference in guest satisfaction and future happy return guests with good comments left.

You also need to look into the numbers carefully for your Airbnb business. Please note that AirBnB will charge 3% each time on a reservation fee, while you can also need charge extra fees to customers like cleaning, cancellation fees. All these numbers need to be carefully studied before you started the Airbnb operation.

Please bear in mind that AirBnB is mainly for short term rental, with higher daily rates than normal monthly rent converted to daily rate. But the rate will need to vary from season to season, from weekend to weekdays, which you need to take effort to plan carefully. If your property is around tourism hot spots or convenient for extended business stay, then most seasons are good.

And to have good reviews from previous guests, you should try to have good interaction with them and encourage them to write good feedback after their stay. You will also need to be competitive if there are many similar properties for AirBnB nearby, in terms of price, the special perks in this accommodation, or an unique setting/furniture/upgrade that will make your property stand out.

There are other platforms that you can also rent your property in short term, like VRBO and Homeaway. VRBO is more suitable for high end property rental, Homeaway bought VRBO in 2007, so they are actually the same company, and listing will be shown cross platform regardless, so listing in either one is fine, although traditionally VRBO is more catering to properties in US, Canada and Mexico, while Homeaway focuses more on properties in Europe, India and Australia. It is good that you can also check out those platforms, especially if you investment property is high end property and you can rent out higher price in VRBO other than AirBnB, thus find out the best term for you.

You also need to pay attention to some local authorities’ limitations or regulations on short term rental, and make sure you are compliant with various rules and regulations.

You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?

When getting to a new place, I would like to expect that I can check in easily and conveniently, get to my room and drop the luggage quickly, maybe take a shower or quick rest to cozy myself up, and head out to venture and enjoy the city and nature around.

Can you share with our readers how you’ve used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Always extend your helping hand, and look out to help others when help needed, we are living in societies & communities together and thrive when everyone progress…Always take positive attitude towards changes, and continuously work towards continuous innovation to help others and industry ahead.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

We need to bring freedom, flexibility, control back to the hands of buyers, sellers, hosts, agents, and not in the hands of established interest groups. That’s why we believe that with REAI’s industry only unique portfolio of AI patents and proprietary technologies/features, we automate most of the old manual work, provide much better data, insight and information to users, match users to the best matching services they need & deserve, and thus usher in a new era for the industry, and leave the old inefficiencies and bureaucratic industry process behind.

How can our readers further follow you on social media?

Readers can reach out to our Community Director Danthika at Danthika@reai.co, our URL is http://reai.co, X is REAI_co (https://x.com/reai_co), LinkedIn is REAI-inc (https://www.linkedin.com/company/reai-inc), Instagram is REAI.co (https://www.instagram.com/reai.co/), and telegram is REAIco (t.me/REAIco), Facebook is REai.co (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067362666843)

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!