How To Start Airbnb Short-let Apartment Business In Nigeria

Airbnb short-let apartment Business have become a major business ideal in Nigeria presently and lots of real estate investors are diving into this business. This is a great investment if you are looking forward to starting a short-let apartment business in Nigeria. I have been in this business for a while now and I have helped others too. If you are looking for how to start an Airbnb short-let apartment business in Nigeria you should keep a keen interest in this article because I will be sharing with you the various strategies I have implemented in setting up several apartments in Nigeria

Is Airbnb Short-let Business Profitable In Nigeria?

A lot of people who are investing into this particular real estate sector are making millions of naira monthly in the Airbnb short-let apartment business. This is not something to joke about if you have been thinking about investing in an Airbnb short-let apartment. You can make a lot of money from a short-let apartment in Nigeria but it is not all roses, after all no business is easy to navigate through. Imagine you have 2 unit of 2 bedroom apartment in Jahi, Abuja where the cheapest apartment goes for about 100,0000 – 150,0000 per night, with proper optimization and listing and you get booked for 20 days in a month. Feel free to do the maths.

Here are some reasons why you should consider starting an Airbnb short-let apartment business in Nigeria.

Earning High Rental Income: The major aim of a short-let apartment is to make income. You can earn a very good amount for your short-let apartment especially if you have more rooms for occupants. This short-let business is charged per night for each apartment. Just imagine the income that will be coming from a busy location where your apartment is always booked. You can make a lot of money from short-term apartments compared to long-term apartments.

High Demand: short-let apartments have risen in demand since most people prefer a big space where they can organize house parties,birthday and hang out with friends. Apart from parties, most families prefer staying in a short-let apartment anytime they are on vacation or traveling for an occasion, this is because families prefer staying in one space where they can bond together. Some business travelers may prefer a short-let apartment to a hotel because of the large space such as kitchen space and workspace.

Flexible: Airbnb short-let apartment is very flexible because you have the authority as the host to change your price and optimize your listing. The constant ability to make changes to your apartment is very necessary and increases your earnings and gets more bookings.

Experience Low Tenant Risk: One of the major reasons why people don’t rent out their property is because of high tenant risk. short-let apartments are short-term so the possibility of getting repairs in your apartment is low. Compared to a long-term apartment where tenants tend to damage your property over time.

Value increase: The value of your property can increase over time. If your property is located in a central spot, with a good road network and great amenities, you can sell that property at twice the current rate over the years.

Mixed Target Market: One marketing strategy of a business is attracting different people from diverse locations. Having an Airbnb short-let apartment business will allow you to get clients from different locations.

Personal Use: Having a short-let apartment is an advantage because you can decide to use it for your personal use. This will save you the expenses of renting an apartment anytime you want to organize a party or a get-together with your family and friends. Using your apartment for your personal use is also profitable.

Once your apartment has been listed on Platforms like  Airbnb, Booking.com  and Bookapartment.com  or any other online booking platform you get the chance of getting bookings from different people from different locations, who are traveling to your city and need a short-let apartment during their stay. If your short-let apartment is attractive and located in a central spot be rest assured that you will make good income monthly.
The need for Airbnb short-let apartments is very high now compared to years back and the value will continue to increase over the years.

How Much Do I Need To Start A Short-let Business?

The cost of starting up a short-let apartment business depends on a whole lot of things. First of all, you need to consider some factors surrounding starting a short-let business which include location, cost of interiors, cost of furniture, rental cost, etc. But the major factor we need to discuss in this article is the cost of renting an apartment.

Renting of property: The cost of renting a property varies due to location differences. The cost of renting a 2-bedroom apartment in Abuja ranges between 2 – 6 million naira inclusive of service charges. In Lekki Phase 1 you can rent a 2-bedroom apartment for 2 – 6 million naira inclusive of service charge. After renting a property then you can consider the cost of setting up the apartment. Please consider your location to get an accurate cost of rent.

Ownership of Property: Owning a property will save you the cost of renting one. If you own a property the cost of setting up the place is the only thing to be considered. That should be the cost of furniture, interiors, network, electricity, etc. It’s a lot cheaper to start a short-let business if you own a property

Extra Bonus For Setting Up An Apartment 

Location: Your location will determine the cost of renting an apartment. Getting an apartment in places like Ikoyi, Lekki, Maitama, etc is very expensive due to the serenity of the location.

Interior and Furniture: The comfort of your guests is of paramount importance. The quality of furniture and your sense of interior design should be considered when setting up an apartment. Because guests are comfortable when the space is nice and welcoming.

Amenities: The cost of setting up certain amenities like a hot tube, wifi, dishwasher, washer and dryer, etc should be considered because most guests usually go for apartments with specific amenities to ensure their comfort.

The cost of starting your short-let business will depend on whether you are renting a property or you own a property. If you already own a property you can set up your apartment right away and start your short-let business. But if you do not have a property you can look for a good location with a good road network, preferably somewhere close to the road for easy access, and get your property before starting up your short-let business. 

With this, you can pull out your budget and start your short-let apartment business.

How Much Can I Make From My Short-let Business  

The rate at which people are diving into real estate investment is quite interesting. Making money from short-let businesses depends on certain factors. Before thinking about the money you would love to make, you should consider the factors that may be surrounding making money.

With that being said you can make up to #200,000 – #350,000 per Night for a single apartment if your short-let apartment is of high standard and is situated in a busy location with a good road network. The minimum you can rent a short-let apartment is around #30,000 – #50,000 per night, I am not sure you can get a short-let apartment below this price. With this price listed above, you can make a good amount of money at the end of the month especially if your rooms are always booked.

The prices for these apartments are different because of the sizes and standards & Location We have a studio apartment, standard apartment, one bedroom apartment, two bedroom apartment, three bedroom apartment, and so on. The prices are always different but you can make a good amount monthly for a short-term rental property compared to a long-term rental property. Ideally, you can make more than 10 million Naira monthly from a standard Airbnb short-let apartment business in Nigeria.

Let us assume you have a 2bedroom apartment in Jahi-Abuja or in Lekki-Lagos Properly furnish

Nightly stay in such location is within 100,000 (60$) to 300,000 (150$) with 20 night bookings you should be making over 2 million naira (1,200$) to 6 million naira (3,000$). Do this maths using your location to get an average revenue you can be making from your shortlet business.

You can even make more than this if you follow our strategies as shared in How to optimize  airbnb listings to rank higher and get more booking

Can I Start A Short-let Business Without renting or Owning An Apartment?

Do you know so many people go into partnership with their friends who own a property and come to a conclusion or an agreement to use it for the Airbnb short-let apartment business? It may not be a friend it can be anyone looking for someone to manage their property. You can either rent the apartment or work as a partner in managing the property. You don’t need to own an short-let apartment before starting Airbnb short-let business. Some rules need to be followed like tax law and licensing requirements. Here is what you need to know before you think about starting a short-let business without owning an apartment.

•  Co-hosting: This is like a partnership where you agree with the property owner to manage the Airbnb listing. Your major role will be managing Airbnb bookings, optimizing prices, managing house amenities, communicating with guests, and making sure the apartment is well organized and meet guest’s needs.

• Shortlet Apartment Agency: This is one of the Popular ways of starting a shortlet business, You can partner with existing apartment within or even outside your state, take quality pictures of the apartment and market them on the internet. This way prospective guest tends to book for this apartment using your platform. You can either negotiate for a commision with the apartment owner or do a mark-up to get your own commision. Always seek for permission and get an approval before you market any shortlet apartment.

• Property Manager: You can start a short-let apartment business by managing different properties for their owners. This will require your skills in managing properties, individuals handling properties on behalf of the property owners get paid awesomely for it. You can start by managing other people’s property if you do not own a property.

• Arbitrage Rental: This is a great income scheme if you find yourself a property in a good location. This is simply renting an apartment for long-term use and renting it out for short-term use by listing it on Airbnb. Before embarking on this journey you need a license or permission from the owner of the property or landlord to enable you to use their property for short-term rental.

Before starting an Airbnb you need to have done proper financial research on the amount you will be spending in managing a property and the amount you will be earning from the property as well. You need to analyze the occupancy rate and how to optimize pricing according to the different seasons of the year.

Now that you know how to start an Airbnb short-let apartment business without owning a property, we can go further to the step-by-step guide for you to start your short-let business in Nigeria.

10 Step By Step Guides On How To Start a Short-let Business In Nigeria

Here are 10 step-by-step guides on how you can start a short-let business in Nigeria.

1. 
   

   Location:

   The location of every business matters a lot, most especially when considering a short-let apartment business in Nigeria. Some factors need to be considered when choosing a location. If you want to start a short-let apartment business in Nigeria you will need to know the following:

• Recreational Centers: People love visiting places with lots of recreational centers. Having a short-let apartment in this location will result in a consistent booking. Most tourists are always searching for attraction centers, this should be considered when searching for a location for your short-let business.

•  Getting an Apartment in a Business District: Busy cities and places have higher rates when it comes to short-let apartments. Your aim is to make a lot of money from this business, so why not choose a business district environment where business owners can put up any time they want to organize conferences or spend some quality time when outside their city?

• High Demand: Some locations are in high demand, these areas are very expensive to acquire a property. Even though these areas are expensive they are lucrative when it comes to short-let apartment business. Like having a short-let apartment in GRA where the environment is neat and clean with no noise pollution, people will want to spend time there no matter the cost because of the environment. These expensive areas are mostly meant for the rich people in the society so having a property in a top-notch location will be a plus because you optimize your pricing according to your standard.

• Road Network: A good road network is very crucial when considering a property. In these modern days, people love places they can visit without thinking of their car’s health. Once you tell someone about a location the next question they will ask is if the location has a good road network.

2. 
   

   Market Research:

   Carrying out extensive market research will help you identify certain risks that are involved in starting a short-let business in Nigeria. To become a business owner in Nigeria you need to be strategic, you should draw out a plan for the business and identify the major areas of the business and the risks involved. You need to research those who have been successful in running a short-let apartment business and follow their steps.

3. 
   

   Budgeting:

   Planning out your budget before purchasing any property is a wise thing to do. This will give you a better mindset of what you want to achieve, you should write everything down which includes the cost of acquiring the property, the cost of furniture, the cost of amenities, the cost of managing the property, etc. Budgeting will also help you to understand the cost involve in hosting a client and help you charge better without running at a loss. Having a clearer picture of your total expenses will keep you on track and enable you to carry out your plans effectively.

4.   Renting or Using your Apartment; If you have not acquired a property yet you will need to do so. You can either rent a property or use your property as the case may be. Buying a property is the best option in most cases because you won’t experience any sudden changes that may occur in the future. Some property owners might want to use their property in the future which will result in some sort of loss. If you do not have the money to purchase a home you can always rent one that you can use for your short-let apartment business. When renting an apartment for your short-let business ensure you consider certain factors like the property size and the cost of maintenance.

5.   Furnishing Your Apartment:
   You may need an interior décor designer for your apartment if you do not have an idea of what you want. An interior designer will give you different design options and their cost and you can get to choose the design that aligns with your style and budget. If you are good with designs you can decide to source for your types of furniture and amenities yourself to save yourself the cost of hiring an interior designer.

6. 
   

   Electricity and Internet:

   Provision of constant electricity power should be your outermost priority. When choosing a property to buy, you should consider buying one with constant electricity, but in a case where there is no constant electricity supply you will need to find other alternatives which can be getting a transformer or a higher generator that can power all your appliances such as water heaters, Ac, electric kettles. Hair dryers etc. You should make provision for the internet so that your guest can work effectively with their laptops and phones any time they visit your home.

7.   Set up Listing Online:After setting up your home, you can set up your listing on Airbnb, and other websites like privateproperty. Here is how to optimize your listing.

• Complete your listing: If you want to list on Airbnb you need to complete your listing by filling in all the relevant details in your listing, which will include your personal information and details about you and your property.

• Use high-quality photos: One way to attract people to your listing is by using high-quality photos. People tend to relate to what they see rather than what they just read about, so use eye-catching photos to attract guests to your listing. If you want to get high-quality photos you should use a high-quality camera to take the pictures of your property. I understand not everyone knows how to take quality photos, achieving good photos will require taking them from different angles and only those who have the skills can achieve quality shots. I will advise you to look for someone good at taking pictures, preferably a photographer.

• Create an attractive listing title: Do you know the title is what draws people’s attention to anything online? A well-crafted SEO title will attract guests to your listing. Optimize search engines to see what guests are searching for in your location and make sure you make use of those keywords as far as it is related to your listing.

• Use keywords in your description: If you want to attract guests to your listing you should maximize your description of your listing. Go to the search bar on Airbnb, search for what guests are looking for in your area, and use those keywords in your description. This allows the algorithm to bring up your listing anytime guests are using those keywords.

• Add your amenities to your listing: Every guest wants to see what you have in your home. Listing out the amenities in your home will give guests full details of what you have in your short-let apartment, this is better rather than keeping guests in suspense.

• Optimize your pricing: If you don’t have any idea of what your pricing will look like you can opt for the Airbnb pricing tool to help you optimize your pricing. Your pricing should be moderate and equal to your standard, giving out discount rates can increase bookings you may want to consider that too.

8. 
   

   Marketing Your Apartment:

   What is a business without a proper marketing strategy? Do you know people who spend money in marketing their business tend to earn more? After listing your home you should consider marketing your apartment on different social media websites. Guests may be looking for homes in your location and just bump into your listing on their Facebook or Instagram page and decide to click on it to see your listing.

9.   Managing Your Business:

   Managing your business will help you to make more profit and will increase productivity. You should learn how to manage your properties such as your amenities in your home. You should learn how to manage your guests by responding to them politely and quickly. Guests usually check out for places with good reviews because everyone likes to be respected and treated nicely.

10. 
    

    Security Measures:

    Putting first the safety of your guests and property is very important. Nobody wants to stay in an insecure place, observing security measures will be installing surveillance devices, providing security guards, fixing secure locks, and providing safety rules and regulations.

Conclusion: Starting an Airbnb short-let apartment business in Nigeria is such a lucrative business. With these step-by-step guides listed above you can start now even without owning an apartment. You can even opt for the off-plan that will require a minimum of 7 million monthly payment if you wish to own a property for your short-let business. All you have to do now is to read the steps carefully and implement all you have read in this article. Being consistent in your business will help you prevail.

Looking for someone to help you with the process? We can help you draft out a compelling description for your listing on Airbnb.

Frequently Asked Questions Shortlet Apartment Business in Nigeria

1.     Should I Rent Or Buy A Property For A Short-let Business?

In most cases, it is advisable to buy a property for a short-let business because of the circumstances surrounding rental properties. Let’s say you decide to rent a property for your short-let apartment and after 5 years the owner decides he wants to use the property for its personal use, this will result in a loss. If you do not have the capital in getting a property you can decide to rent one and make a lot of money from it and decide to buy your own property. If you can afford getting a property you should buy it but if you can’t afford it you should rent one for your short-let business.

2.     How Much Do I Need To Start A Short-let Business In Nigeria?

Depends on how you intend to start but you must own an apartment You need between 3 – 20 million naira and above to start a short-let business in Nigeria. The cost of renting a property in Nigeria has increased because of the economy in 2024. The cost of starting a short-let business in Nigeria will depend on the size of the property and the location.

3.     Which City In Nigeria Is Good For Short-let Business?

If you want to start a short-let business in Nigeria you may want to consider places with high populations and industries. Places like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Ogun, are places you should look into if you want to dive into the short-let apartment business. Then you can choose a busy and lucrative location in each of these states listed above, Lekki Phase 1, Ikeja, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, etc are great locations in Lagos to start a short-let business.