As a travel blogger, one is always looking for ways to make money and that extra buck. I mean you should explore all avenues to monetise your blog. I came across Airbnb and registered as a travel guide curating my own unique travel experience. It is very simple. One has to register with regular IDs. One can upload IDs like passport, PAN card, election card etc. through the Airbnb app. It is just one photo click away. Then comes the hard part – defining your experience and elaborating it with photographs, blog posts and videos. This is to make sure that prospective guests get a feel of the entire experience as if they were there. Be precise and specific. You will have to give a detailed day and hour wise itinerary for your experience. Where will the guest stay? What will they see, watch or eat? What will you provide as the travel guide? What should the guest bring with them? Do guests need to be experienced in the activity? Do they need to have any certification or health check-ups done? What will you provide in terms of facilities on the ground? How long is the trip and where will the guests arrive?
You need to add activities like photography and videography that the guests can learn on the way. Elephant safari, bush breakfast, village walks and tribal hunting – more the activities, more exotic the experience. Be creative and innovative. You have to entrap your guests.
Make sure you are registered and so is your company with all the clearances and IDs. It will make you look professional and add to your credibility.
One by one, you have to build your experience and make it unique and colourful. You have to do something that the guests can take back as beautiful memories. Once all this is filled in, you can add photos and give your experience a catchy name or title. That is it. It takes a few minutes to get approved and then it goes live under India Experiences. Of course, the most important part is to price your experience. Remember, Airbnb will keep 20% of the total value of the experience as their commission. Plus, to execute your experience, you may have to hire cars, safari jeeps, tents or even a jungle resort. Make sure you have tied up with the guys who can provide this and add in all their costs. Then keeping the commissions you have to give away come up with an optimum price that is fair and adequately covers all your cost plus miscellaneous. Put 20% profit to that figure and you will come up with a fair amount to charge your guests.
Add the Airbnb logo to your blog. Link it to your experience page also. Promote it amongst your social media circle and MailChimp account.
My Airbnb experience page: https://www.airbnb.co.in/create-your-experience/438754
