474. Hosting Hotline: Should You Trade Free Stays for Influencer Content?
Thanks For Visiting
Airbnb Superhosts Annette Grant & Sarah Karakaian
4.9 • 590 Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2025
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on the Hosting Hotline, listener Julia calls in with a timely question: should you host influencers in exchange for a free or discounted stay—especially when your property is new and you’re trying to build buzz?
Julia runs a fully immersive Star Wars-themed short-term rental in Kissimmee, Florida, and recently experimented with a creator collaboration through the platform Stayamo. While she didn’t see immediate bookings, the exposure raised awareness and boosted her Instagram following. But is that worth the cleaning fee—or more?
In this episode, we dig into:
– How to evaluate whether an influencer is truly a good fit
– What red flags to watch for when receiving creator collaboration requests
– How to define success from influencer content
– Smart ways to protect your time, energy, and budget
– Why a holistic influencer marketing plan beats saying yes ad hoc
– And how to communicate “no” without burning bridges
We also share our favorite tips for setting expectations, building contracts, and using influencer content intentionally—so you’re not left wondering if the trade was worth it.
Resources:
– YouTube: The Right Way to Use Influencers to Promote Your Airbnb
– Stayamo (influencer collaboration platform)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Thanks for Visiting Podcast. |
| 0:07.8 | We believe hosting with Heart is at the core of every short-term rental. |
| 0:12.8 | With Annette's background in business operation. |
| 0:15.1 | And Sarah's extensive hospitality management and interior design experience, we have welcomed |
| 0:20.3 | thousands of guests from over 30 |
| 0:22.3 | countries earning us over a million dollars and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews. |
| 0:27.9 | We love sharing creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests, and be profitable. |
| 0:34.9 | Each episode, we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term rental industry. |
| 0:39.4 | Or we will share our stories of our own experiences so you can implement actual improvements to your rentals. |
| 0:46.4 | Whether you're experienced, new, or nervous to start your own short-term rental, |
| 0:51.2 | we promise you'll feel right at home. |
| 1:04.2 | Thank you. your own short-term rental. We promise you'll feel right at home. Hello, welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Caracan. I'm Annette Grant, |
| 1:08.9 | and together we are. Thanks for visiting. And this is the hosting hotline. If you want to get your hosting questions answered here on the hosting hotline, you're like a radio person. Of course. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what the hosting hotline is for. It's like, I love it. I was like, I would cry in my car. I loved it. Yeah. But then sometimes they're so sappy. I was like, I would cry in my car. |
| 1:28.1 | I loved it. |
| 1:29.1 | Yeah, but then sometimes they're so sappy. |
| 1:30.9 | I was like, |
| 1:31.2 | Sarah, let it be sappy. |
| 1:34.8 | I'd much rather our business question hotline. |
| 1:38.9 | No, Dr. Ruth. |
| 1:40.7 | Oh, my gosh. |
| 1:41.4 | She was sassy too. |
| 1:42.4 | She, if you guys have not watched the Dr. Ruth documentary, unbelievable. Is it good? Am I going to still like Dr. Ruth? Yes. Okay. She is a powerhouse. I love that. It is an amazing documentary. If you like documentaries and you don't know what to watch next, DM us on Instagram because that's a net's favorite thing to watch. You know what? Favorite Things Friday and we should do a newsletter. I'm going to bring out like all your favorite documentaries. Do you know what's good and what's a waste of time? True. Let's do it. So let's hear from Julia. Well, before we do that, if you want your hosting questions to answer. Is it Childs or Child? I've watched all her documentary. I think it's child. |
... |
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