Aussie Airbnb Expert Aaron Byerlee shares detailed stats on why Airbnb continues to be on the rise, and how this global super-brand is changing the face of the travel industry forever
Hi guys, Aaron Byerlee here.
Just wanted to share a quick video to get you guys thinking about Airbnb as an incredible possible business opportunity that you might want to think about.
You probably heard of Airbnb. But what really are the opportunities out there around it?
And we’ve looked at this, me and my wife Nicole, last year and this year as one of our forward-thinking wealth creation business models. And what we look for in a business is, we’re pretty picky.
There hasn’t been too many businesses that we’ve looked at over the last 10 years, but when we looked at Airbnb, we looked at the model, we just couldn’t ignore it. We couldn’t ignore the numbers, we couldn’t ignore the mathematics and we couldn’t ignore the possibilities.
So what I refer to when I talk about a ‘new age’ business, is something that you can do from the palm of your hand with your smartphone. No overheads. No risk. No staff. No office. No commute to work…
New Age business rather than servicing the local area with staff and working long hours, you want something where you can set up and systemise to have a passive income.
This is what we look for in New Age business. We look for the possibilities that it could potentially give us a seven-figure income. If we can’t get to that sort of level of income, we don’t look at that business model.
Number two: Can we have fun with it? Can we put our name behind it? Can we get passionate about it? We put our brand behind it with some integrity and have fun with that product. If the answer to that is no, we don’t continue looking.
Is it fitting in with global trends? Number three. We don’t want a local business, we don’t want a product that we feel is going to work. Is there already demand for it on a global basis? And with some work upfront, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years, 5 years, whatever it may be, can the business be a passive income?
Can we 90% automate it and have the lifestyle that goes along with the income and the fun business that we’re looking for? Because if you’re not enjoying it, if you can’t have the lifestyle, in our opinion, we don’t continue looking at that business.
We’re all about lifestyle. That’s why we live up here in beautiful Noosa. We work from home. We look at businesses that fit into that category and that has to be the case, and it is with Airbnb.
So the Airbnb model that we’re running at the moment fits into all that category.
Now I want to share some stats with you where if you sort of look at doing Airbnb business particularly the way we’re doing it, you know, in 2014 in my opinion it wouldn’t have worked.
So timing is everything. Often, timing beats talent.
In 2014, there were 14 million people that booked and stayed with Airbnb. In 2015, that was 40 million. In 2016, it doubled to 80 million. And last year, over 100 million people booked and stayed with Airbnb.
So the numbers are incredible and the growth, right, that Airbnb is going through – incredible. It’s a bit like, you know, starting an online business and instead of creating a website, instead of driving traffic to it, instead of shipping out product, you just put it on Amazon. The traffic is already there. Fifty percent of everything are bought on the internet in the US is through Amazon. It’s the same with Airbnb.
People are Googling accommodation in Noosa, accommodation in Brisbane, accommodation in LA. There’s just going on Airbnb and looking for the best Airbnb option. The traffic is there, the customers are there on a global scale. It’s really quite incredible.
We got people staying in Airbnbs from Germany, in Canada or in Switzerland and all over the world. It’s a global phenomenon and it’s a global demand. And we’ve set our business up to be 90% automated. So when you got 100 million people actually that want to stay, you can book out and carry on it pretty quickly and then that works.
I want to talk a little bit about is it good for the community, is it good for the economy. Well, understand that last year Airbnb supported over 14,000 jobs. It brought in 1.6 billion dollars to the Australian economy. And mayors and councils and all these people now are starting to realize the positive effects that Airbnb is having looking at the bigger picture. They surveyed people that loved Airbnb or have stayed in one before, over 30% of people that used Airbnb said they wouldn’t have come to a certain location if it wasn’t for the Airbnb accommodation options. They wouldn’t have been able to afford it, they wouldn’t have locked it, and maybe they couldn’t even get in because it was busy. Over 30% more people coming to an area.
Over 60% said “We wouldn’t have stayed as long if it wasn’t for the Airbnb option.” So think about it like this. Say, you come up to Noosa to visit me. You see the Sofitel there, $500 a night, you decide you can stay for three nights because you can afford that. Then you say, “Hang on a second, let me look at Airbnb.” You look around the corner and there’s an Airbnb that you can stay in a beautiful apartment for $200 a night. So you decide to stay for the whole week instead of for 3 days. Now what happens when you’re on holiday up here on Noosa? You might go and get your haircut. You’re going out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’re putting money back into that local economy. And that’s what we’ve seen. There’s so many more accommodation options and areas where people are spending money. They’re buying another pair of sunglasses and getting a haircut, eating out. So all those local businesses are benefitting because of the Airbnb options.
People said they wouldn’t have stayed longer, they would have been gone if it wasn’t for Airbnb. And we see all the possible spin-off for these local businesses. You see people from overseas, you see backpackers instead of staying at backpacker’s places or the big hotels, they’re staying at an Airbnb just in the next suburb out, just out of the CBD and so they’re walking down for breakfast the next morning to that local café that they wouldn’t have normally got the traffic because normally everyone stays in the CBD. And so all the local businesses are loving the fact that four new hotels basically got set up on the next street, if that makes sense with an Airbnb.
So it’s incredibly great for our economy. It’s great for local businesses and it’s great for just supporting that every day average person.
You might have seen it in A Current Affair recently. People just making an extra $10,000 – $15,000…
One lady in Western Sydney just made an extra $30,000 a year renting out a spare bedroom. So it helps that every day average person to make ends meet.
The average person in Sydney makes over $11,000 a year in Sydney from one Airbnb property. And when you do the maths on it, what we’ve worked out is we can go to a property owner that’s got their property for rent and we say “Hey, look, we’d love to rent your property for $600. We’d love to put it up on Airbnb with your permission.
These are the benefits. We’ll get your place professionally cleaned 2 to 3 times per week.” And normal tenants are not going to do that. We don’t have parties. It’s a strict no party policy. No smoking. No pets. A normal tenant is going to have parties over a 12-month period.
There’s less wear and tear because Airbnb people barely turn on the dishwasher, barely turn on the television, barely turn on the washing machine. Less wear and tear on a fully furnished apartment.
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There’s all these benefits to the landlord to rent it to us and we put it on Airbnb. He doesn’t have to worry about the property. We’re going to treat it like it’s our own, like a 5-star hotel. He gets his guaranteed rent. Then the mathematics, if we’ve got $600 a week in rent, but we can put it on Airbnb for $300 a night, and then you make the profit in the difference. So we make sure we sign a legal lease with the owner, he knows what we’re doing the property. He sees the benefits, he signs that legal document so we have an understanding together. It’s all signed off. That’s what we love doing. Being direct with the owner, being above board.
And guys, the mathematics on that works really, really well. We’re helping people, we’re helping the economy. And it’s an incredible business model. Once you’ve got one property where you’re making $1,000 a month in cashflow, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 per month in positive cashflow above and beyond the rent that you’re already paying. A couple of properties like these can really replace your income very quickly, and that’s what we’re educating our students on. That’s what we’re teaching them right now. How can they get 10 properties this time next year and have an average of over $2,000 a month in positive cashflow legally with the owner. This is an incredible business model. Think outside the square. You don’t need to own the property to Airbnb. You might be doing that already, you might have a spare bedroom, an investment property, but it’s hard to scale up when you’ve always got loans and equity and credit and those sorts of things. You can rent properties, put them on Airbnb legally and everybody wins. And guys, the cashflow is incredible.
So something to consider for yourself for a New Age business in 2018 and beyond, the timing is now. In 2014, this wouldn’t have worked. Two to three years from now, this is going to look very different. It’s going to be hard for people in 2 to 3 years’ time to come into this marketplace when we’ve already got 50 reviews, we’ve already got Airbnbs. So guys, timing sometimes can be bigger and better than talent. Have a look at Airbnb, have a look at the possibilities. The numbers don’t lie. And we’re the only people here in Australia teaching this model. Guys, the math works incredibly well. It’s systemised, it’s automated and it’s the easiest business that I’ve ever been involved in. It’s going to take work like any business does. But I’ve been involved in many, many businesses and this is by far in a way the most exciting. It’s working for us, it’s working for hundreds of our students.
Consider it. We look forward to giving you more information soon around this. Reach out if you’ve got any questions. I look forward to seeing you on tour in a city near you or on a webinar, wherever it may be. Come up to Noosa and visit us, and we’ll talk Airbnb. So guys, think outside the square. Whatever you do, please make sure in 2018 you commit to a side hustle for your wealth creation. It’s very important. It’s more easy to do today than it’s ever been. And guys, you deserve to live life on your terms.
This is Aaron Byerlee, and I’ll speak to you soon.