An apartment in Paris helped by your Airbnb $$$
An apartment in Paris helped by your Airbnb $$$

Let’s face it – family vacations can be expensive, no matter how frugal you are. But there’s a way you may not have thought of to get more bang for your vacation buck. List your home on Airbnb while you’re away on vacation.

You can host your whole home the next time you’re out of town, or create a listing for a vacation house, if you have one. You can even share a spare room in your apartment!

Airbnb makes it simple to earn extra money by being a host and putting your extra space to work for you. If you’ve enjoyed staying in Airbnb rentals, becoming a host is a way to give back to the Airbnb community and welcome other families into your neighborhood.

Example: When Roger and three college roommates moved into the guest apartment at one of their grandparents’ homes in California, they were thrilled to be near the beach and take surf lessons. They soon realized that to afford more surfing lessons, each roommate could list his bed on Airbnb any time he was traveling, and posting the listing is free.

Culinary at its best in NYC thanks to Airbnb $$$
Culinary at its best in NYC thanks to Airbnb $$$

When the grandparents learned what the boys were doing, they decided to keep two spare bedrooms listed on Airbnb. They have enjoyed having visitors — and making friends – ever since. In fact, there are more than 200,000 senior hosts over age 60 worldwide, and they receive a higher percentage of five-star reviews than any other demographic. Hooray for grandparents!

Then there is Lindsay, a mom who had been listing the ground floor studio in her Brooklyn brownstone on Airbnb for about a year. She met so many guests she felt comfortable with, that she planned a two-week summer vacation for her family and listed her entire house on Airbnb.

That extra income gave Lindsay’s family enough mad money to stay away longer, visit a few theme parks and have some special meals at places her foodie daughter wanted to try. She didn’t need to worry about her home because Airbnb has a $1 million Host Guarantee policy. Now, Lindsay plans ahead before school vacations so that she can virtually “meet” and correspond with renters, many of whom are families too. It’s easy.

Visiting London while earning $$$ from Airbnb rental at home
Visiting London while earning $$$ from Airbnb rental at home

Airbnb hosts are given a lot of guidance through their host portal, on how to set up a listing, what to provide guests and tips and tricks on setting fees, managing rentals and earning host rewards and incentives. You can list your entire home or spare rooms depending on what works best for you.

The Airbnb eco-system works well for a lot of hosts and even more travelers. There are four million listings around the world, and more than 200 million guest arrivals since they began in 2008.

What would you do with the extra money you could earn hosting on Airbnb? Travel? Retirement? List your home on Airbnb and let it earn money while you’re away on vacation. You’ll find more information and details on being an Airbnb host here.

This post is sponsored by Acceleration Partners on behalf of Airbnb