Becoming an Airbnb host in Kenya: the first 90 days

The order you do things in matters more than most new hosts expect. Getting the listing live before the photographs are right, or taking the first booking before the water pressure is fixed, sets a trajectory that takes six months to recover from. This is the sequence we use, and the reasoning behind it.

Before you spend anything

Two questions, and if either answer is no then the honest move is to let the unit long term instead.

1. Does the building allow it? Check the sectional properties rules and the compound bylaws, and speak to the management committee. A hostile committee will win eventually, and you will have furnished a unit you cannot operate
2. Do you have the right to do it? If you are not the owner, you need written permission to sublet on a short stay basis. Verbal permission from a landlord who later changes their mind is worth nothing

Weeks 1 and 2: paperwork and plumbing

Boring, and the two things that cause the most expensive problems later if skipped.

• Register the activity and get the county single business permit. Short stay accommodation is a commercial use
• Sort the tax position before revenue starts. Short stay income is normally business income rather than residential rental income, and the filing is different
• Test the water at 6am and 9pm, not at 11am when the tank is full
• Test the power backup by actually cutting the power. Find out now whether the lights, the router, the water pump and the fridge stay on
• Test the internet with a video call, at the far corner of the unit

The current licensing position is covered in Nairobi short stay licensing: what changed.

Weeks 3 to 5: furnish for guests, not for yourself

The brief is durability, neutrality and photographing well. Your own taste is the wrong guide, because you are not going to live there and because the things that look best in a phone photo are frequently the things that fail fastest.

• Spend disproportionately on the mattress, the pillows and the linen. Sleep quality drives reviews more than anything visual
• Buy a full kitchen rather than a decorative one. A guest who cannot boil water or cook an egg writes about it
• Blackout curtains, not decorative ones. Nairobi mornings are bright and early
• Buy three sets of linen and towels per bed, not one. Turnover laundry does not respect your schedule
• Avoid white sofas, glass tables, anything with a fabric that stains, and anything you would be upset to lose

Budgets and line items are in the cost to furnish a Nairobi apartment.

Week 6: photographs, then the listing

In that order, and this is the single highest return spend in the whole project. The photo set is your entire shop window. A guest decides in about four seconds from the first image whether to keep scrolling.

• Shoot after the unit is fully finished, styled and spotless, never before
• Shoot in daylight, with lights on, and get a wide shot of every room
• Photograph the things guests worry about: the shower, the kitchen, the bed, the workspace, the view, the parking
• Do not photograph what you do not have. Overpromising in images is the most reliable way to earn a four star review

Professional photography is the cheapest thing on the list and the only one that changes how many people ever see the rest of your work.

Weeks 7 to 9: the first five reviews

This is the phase that decides your first year. With no review history, the platform has nothing to rank you on and guests have nothing to trust. The goal is not revenue yet. It is five genuine five star reviews as fast as possible.

• Price below your target rate deliberately for the first few bookings, and say why in the listing if you like
• Accept shorter, simpler bookings while you learn where the unit fails
• Be present. Fast, warm replies get forgiven for a lot of small shortcomings
• Stay in the unit yourself for a night before the first guest. You will find four things
• Ask for the review, once, politely, after checkout

Weeks 10 to 13: turn it into a system

Everything that is currently in your head needs to become a routine that survives you being busy, ill or on a plane.

• A cleaning checklist, so standard does not depend on who turns up
• A consumables restock list with quantities, checked every turnover
• A house manual covering wifi, water, power, parking, rubbish and checkout
• A named contact for plumbing, electrical and internet who answers
• A pricing rhythm: review weekly, and lift for conference weeks and December rather than discovering them afterwards
• A monthly read of the numbers, including the void nights

The honest 90 day expectation

You will not be profitable in the first quarter. Furnishing, permits, photography and launch pricing all land before revenue stabilises. What you should have at day 90 is a working system, five or more strong reviews, and a clear read on whether this unit really suits short lets.

A meaningful number of people reach day 90 and conclude the long let was the better answer. That is a successful outcome, not a failure, and it is cheaper to learn at day 90 than at day 500. The comparison is in Airbnb versus long term rental in Nairobi.

How Goldstay handles it

We take units through this sequence regularly, and we also tell owners when their unit is wrong for short lets before they spend on furniture. If you want an honest read, list your property and we will give you one.

It is one of the standing items in our short-stay management service in Nairobi.

Related reading: the complete Airbnb Nairobi host guide and how to start an Airbnb business in Kenya.