The 10 Best Airbnb Books Every Host Should Read

It’s safe to say now that Airbnb is the preferred choice of travelers. To date, there have been over 1.5 billion bookings through Airbnb. Hosting has become a popular ‘side hustle’ for people looking to earn extra money on the side with their spare rooms or properties.

Hotels and resorts are still popular, but Airbnb and vacation rentals are constantly growing as they offer flexibility and convenience that other options cannot offer. Running a profitable Airbnb business can be a massive undertaking, not to mention the rental property investing process.

In this article, we explore the Airbnb books to offer practical advice and help you build a profitable Airbnb business. Vacation rental management requires a deep understanding of the industry, and these Airbnb books will help you run the best vacation rental business you can!

Is Airbnb a Good Way to Earn Income for College Students?

Many people today are looking for different ways to make money that won’t take up most of their time. One simple solution is hosting, which is especially popular with students.  Earnest data shows that, on average, Airbnb hosts make more than $500 per month. Some people have even placed their homes as short-term rentals while they’re on vacation, opening up the possibility of earning more money.

However, you need to understand one thing: if you want to truly make money out of hosting, you need to devote time. Sadly, not all students have time because of the number of writing assignments. That is where a professional essay writing service comes in handy in order to get written paper in a timely manner.

Hire a writer from a professional academic writing service and submit a high-quality paper that will get you the best grades possible. And all the while keep your focus on your Airbnb host business. But the question stays —“How do you turn your home into an Airbnb one?” Fortunately, many books about Airbnb provide detailed instructions on how to do it.

From learning how to set-up your property to Airbnb investing, these are the top 10 books (plus one bonus) you should read.

The 7 Best Books to Help You Start an Airbnb

If you’re just at the beginning and wondering how to start, these seven books help you do just that. From taking off to managing Airbnb rental properties, reading these books guide you on the right track.

A Guide to Starting a Successful Airbnb Business by Walter Grant & Richard Anderson

When looking for how to become an Airbnb host, you have to start at the beginning. These two authors have written the basics on opening up rental properties that bring you success.

”How to Start a Successful Airbnb Business” is one of the best books that has it all for beginner hosts. From key elements like types of Airbnb properties and safety tips to market research tools and strategies to come out at the top in the competitive scene.

What’s more, Grant and Anderson also provide honest pros and cons that help any host see the real picture of this business. So if you want a guide every step of the way—from the listings to the payment moment, give the book a go.

Airbnb: Beginner’s Guide to Hosting by Lauren Coats

Do you want to expand your knowledge of the market? We suggest learning some tips and tricks that get you started. Lauren Coats’ “Airbnb: Beginner’s Guide to Hosting” helps you with that.

The book goes through several key points — where to begin, what to buy for your rental unit, and what to do after. You learn how to set up your Airbnb listing, hire and manage the cleaning team, be a good host, and much more.

This helpful guide makes you turn your free space into a passive income maker. Coats also provide tips on how to furnish your guest rental — where to place your coffee table and how to decorate the space to get a competitive edge.

How to Set Up and Run a Successful Airbnb Business by Frank Eberstadt

Running an Airbnb short-term rental may seem exciting and easy to do, but many super hosts on the platform have said otherwise. It requires time and dedication to make your place stand out among the many choices.

“How to Set Up and Run a Successful Airbnb Business” is one of the many excellent books that aid you in opening your first Airbnb. Managing rental properties is not easy, so getting a helping hand from someone who has experienced everything can be extremely helpful.

Some of the ideas that Eberstadt teaches in the book are the following:

• 6 steps for launching
• Types of Airbnb
• 5 factors to boost your listing
• The difference between a house manual and house rules and why you need them
• 9 signs that opening is a great choice for you

The Entrepreneurial Airbnb Hosting Guide by Rick Wong

Learning how to manage vacation short term rentals has many points you need to look out for. And Rick Wong goes through all the important ones by showing you his experience when hosting guests.

The author starts by explaining the benefits of deciding to host tenants for short-term rentals, including the extra income. Then, he dives more into preparing your place for your first guests.

What makes this one of the best books on the topic is that Wong details what kind of photos you need. The photos you set up on Airbnb make the rental property enticing for travelers or completely turn them away.

Moving on, Wong explains how you easily list your bookings and get a better Airbnb search. To add the cherry on top, he also talks about how you can reach the level of Airbnb “super host”.

How to Airbnb by Alex Oberon

Do you want to learn from someone with years of experience in the hospitality industry? Then “How to Airbnb” is the perfect book for you.

Alex Oberon has been a super Airbnb host for more than four years—so you know his methods are tried and tested. From one small apartment, Oberon managed to expand to 5 other listings across the city and started investing in 10 others.

From him, you learn how to research the market to get ahead of the competition, find the right location for your rental property, you can plan your pricing intelligently, and much more.

Airbnb for Dummies by Symon He

Is it your first time coming face-to-face with hosting? Have you previously thought about doing it but lacked the courage to try it? Then it is a great book to get you started.

As the title says, it is a guide for dummies. You learn all the basics about starting and operating an Airbnb property, how to market it, and even how to manage several rentals. It also has some tips on how to deal with difficult guests and even real-life examples that provide practical advice. A number of case studies are also included to make it even more helpful.

Airbnb Rental Investing by Douglas Ways

Do you want a guide from start to finish? The “Airbnb Rental Investing” offers all this and more. With this book, you will learn how to create your Airbnb listing and get to know how to take care of it even after the guests leave — and prepare it for the new ones.

Essentially, ways teach you how to provide a comprehensive service. Students thinking of starting a business find the book extra helpful as it also provides tips on taking good pictures, creating a great booking sale and improving your search rankings, and more.

The Best 2 Books on Airbnb Investing

To get success for Airbnb doesn’t only involve renting your place. You can also make some money from real estate investing.

In nearly every corner of the world, there are open rental properties by people that want to rent their home, an extra room, or even a couch to someone but are not comfortable starting on their own. That is where a real estate investment helps.

Plenty of people have dipped their toes into the waters of Airbnb real estate investing. It’s a win-win situation — you help the host with their listings and earn some passive income yourself.

If you want to try such a way of investment, then the following three are the best books that combine investing and Airbnb.

The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

Published in 2015, Turner sold more than a million copies of the book. As the book cover says, it teaches you “how to create wealth with intelligent buy and hold real estate investing.” This author provides valuable information for anyone wanting to invest in potential properties.

As an investor himself — an author and co-host of the BiggerPockets Podcast — Turner shares several strategies he used and has proven to work. This way, other investors build significant cash flow too.

Here is what is in the book:

• What you need to do to succeed when investing in the hospitality industry
• 4 investment strategies
• How to deal with taxes when investing
• Ideas for financing a short-term rental unit

Short-Term Rental, Long-Term Wealth by Avery Carl

Investing in real estate brings financial freedom. Usually, it involves financing properties that are long-term rentals. However, Airbnb investing is the opposite of this. And author Avery Carl notes why that may be even better.

This book teaches you how to analyze the listing markets and find the best vacation rental to bring you more money. Carl is also the CEO of The Short-Term Shop, so there are no doubts that you will learn everything you need to know about Airbnb rentals and investing. From how to choose, invest and manage a vacation rental, “Short-Term Rental, Long-Term Wealth” is the perfect starter for all aspiring investors.

The Best Book on Running an Airbnb

Finally, as you have noticed, there are plenty of Airbnb books that show you everything you need to know about investing or renting your spare place. Many books give great ideas on interior design, and some even provide hacks for dealing with the most demanding clients.

But they don’t all have everything in them. So, how do you become a property manager without reading tons of books? The answer is simple — you just need to read one good book that has it all.

The Airbnb SEO Bible by Alex Wong

It’s not called the Airbnb Bible for anything.

If you want to be a pro at the investment property game or just want to share your free area with travelers, then the book surely helps. Alex Wong sets up everything you possibly need for a successful beginning in one book.

The handbook arms you with the needed SEO knowledge that helps kick-start your Airbnb. You may couple the book with his other bestsellers, “Airbnb Listing Hacks” and “The Airbnb Superhost Checklist,” and create a winning combo.

What are you getting out of this book? Here is some insight into the matter:

• Checklist to provide the perfect experience for your guests
• Ideas to make your bookings unique
• Tricks to create the perfect attention-grabbing listing
• 7 ways to take the best photos
• House rules, guidebooks, FAQs, and more.

Bonus Book: The Airbnb Story by Leigh Gallagher

For those looking for more information on the story behind Airbnb, The Airbnb Story by Leigh Gallagher is a great choice. In less than ten years, Airbnb has emerged as the leading accommodation provider globally. What began as a quirky concept by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk has revolutionized the $500 billion hotel industry. With a staggering valuation of $30 billion, Airbnb now surpasses Hilton and rivals Marriott in worth.

Final Words

There you have it — all the reading material you’d need to start earning some extra cash by renting your property. Airbnb is the new short-term or long-term vacationing concept. What used to be getting a room in a hotel is now exchanged for getting a whole place to yourself. But earning from Airbnb doesn’t necessarily mean just renting. You invest in a property and profit from it at the same time. It is possible to accomplish that with the help of some of the books we have discussed so far.

Although there isn’t one best book that fits everyone’s needs, these top 10 choices really help. If you’re a student cramped with essay writing and assignments but want to earn a little extra, a custom essay writing service helps — pros write the task for you while you kick back and read one of these books. While reading up on these strategies, why not start automating your business with iGMS? It can help you manage day-to-day tasks like:

• Sorting your communication with guests into a single feed
• Using automated templates and triggered messaging to streamline guest communication
• Automating the process of leaving guest reviews
• Creating a direct booking website for your property
• Monitoring your business performance on an analytics dashboard
• Receiving payouts and creating invoices by connecting your Stripe account to iGMS
• Sharing daily cleaning schedules with your team and auto-assigning new jobs.

About the Author

David Jones is an avid book lover, highly interested in finding ways to help rental managers. By combining these two passions, David came up with the idea of creating the top 10 books that help all those that want to open an Airbnb or add this investment to their portfolio.