Can you make money from short-term property rental using platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Lekkeslaap?

We recently bought a property with a granny flat attached. The property came with a tenant, which we had the option to keep. They ended up being very reliable until they decided to move to Cape Town. We sourced another tenant in November 2024, but after a dispute, they left us in the lurch. What to do? By a stroke of luck or divine intervention, we saw a post on one of our community WhatsApp groups asking for last-minute holiday accommodation. Should we take the bait? It was a great opportunity, but our flat was not furnished. We decided to give it a shot. Here’s what we’ve learned in two months of renting out property as a short-term rental.

Furnishing the unit

Firstly, we had to furnish the property in record time. We spent the entire first rental deposit on furnishings. From experience and reading online, we decided to prioritise the following in our new short-term rental cottage:

A quality mattress. People travel far and expect a premium sleep experience. Do not cheap out on your mattress. At the very least, ensure that it is a good-quality mattress that you would sleep on yourself. We once stayed at an Airbnb and had the best sleep of our lives. Make note of the brand of the mattress that you would like to stock. If you cannot afford this, go for something mid-range but do not cheap out.

Good-quality linen goes a long way. Second to a premium sleep experience is amazing linen. Do not buy cheap polyester or blended polycotton linen. Go for 100% cotton or real linen. This is more expensive but more breathable and comfortable. Unfortunately, it needs to be ironed and requires more laundry care, but in the long run, your guests will thank you by coming back and leaving good reviews.

Ensure there is a decent Wi-Fi connection and one or two streaming channels. We didn’t have the budget to buy a new smart TV, so we ended up going for a smart media stick or Android box. These are great and will give you the same functionality as a full-fledged smart TV. Be smart with your budget!

Have quality shower gel, shampoo, or soaps in your bathroom. This not only speaks quality but will leave a lasting impression, and the guests will feel they’re getting a lot of value for their money. Nice cotton bath sheets and hand towels are also a must. Anything that your guest touches in the accommodation will leave a lasting impression.

Quality appliances and cooking utensils. Make sure there are decent amenities for your guests to enjoy their stay. Buying new appliances in one go is expensive. The bare minimum you need is a microwave, kettle, toaster, a small stove, and a refrigerator. Do not cheap out on these—go for something mid-range to high-end if you can afford it. The guest will notice if it’s not good quality.

Basic cleaning supplies should be available, plus a mop, broom, and a dustpan.

Stock nice tea and coffee for your drinks station. At least Jacobs instant coffee and Five Roses teabags. Ensure there is a coffee plunger press and good ground coffee for your coffee connoisseur visitors (like Frugal). If your budget allows, get a nice Nespresso machine!

Since our cottage is small, we opted to spend a chunk of our budget on making the outside area better by adding outdoor furniture, a patio umbrella, and a braai. Always work with what you have.

Self-check-in is a big thing on Airbnb. If you can offer this feature, some guests prefer it—especially if you have guests arriving late. This means having a key safe where you can store the keys with a PIN code that the guests can access. This is great for convenience but takes away that personal touch. It all depends on your hosting style and what experience you’d like to create.

How to get bookings

Now that the difficult part is over, the fun part is to get bookings. We listed our unit on Airbnb, Booking.com, and Lekkeslaap. After two months, this is where we stand:

Total bookings: 12
1 WhatsApp booking
9 Booking.com
1 Airbnb
1 Lekkeslaap

Nights occupancy: 64 nights
Occupancy rate: 71%

Income and commissions

The various platforms have different fees and commission structures. It’s very important to factor this in when you set the price; otherwise, you might get some nasty surprises.

Airbnb takes a service fee that is added on top of your booking fee. Including VAT, this comes to 16%. This is more transparent, as there are no hidden costs that come out of your booking fee. Other platforms also charge a finance fee for sending you money.


Booking.com takes a 15% commission out of your booking fee and an additional 2% payment fee to cover bank charges, so 17% in total.
Lekkeslaap charges a R500 activation fee. The service fee is 15% (excluding VAT). There is also a payment handling fee of 1.8%, which brings the total to 18%. They also offer the option to receive your funds via a virtual credit card for free if you want to save on the payment handling fee.


The ideal scenario would be to take bookings on a self-managed website. The challenge comes with taking deposits, following up for the balance, and managing a booking calendar. These booking platforms have fine-tuned the process, so you have to pay for that convenience. The platforms also sync their booking calendars so that you don’t overbook your accommodation.

Learning on the job

The biggest learning was to have the cottage ready on short notice. Booking.com allows very late bookings unless you adjust the default settings—so we had two surprise bookings. We had to cancel one due to overbooking and do a record-time turnaround for the other. There’s a lot of opportunity to accommodate people who travel and look for last-minute accommodation if you have the stomach for surprises!

We only had one incident where the shower drain was blocked, but luckily this was resolved quickly. Be prepared to deal with emergencies.

All our guests were friendly and respectful of our space. Only one couple left the cottage in a mess. Be sure to factor this into your turnaround time, as you might have unexpected cleaning to do. The standard check-in and checkout times of 14:00 and 10:00 seem to work well in most cases.

Most guests will stick to the standard times. We’ve only had one couple arrive earlier than expected. One guest also requested to check in at 08:00 in the morning, so be sure you don’t have any bookings from the day before before you agree to exceptions. One couple was traveling overnight and asked to check in at 11:00.

One guest requested an extra blanket. Being in summer and in KwaZulu-Natal, we did not anticipate this. Another guest wanted to iron their shirt for a meeting. Since our unit is small, we do not include this as a feature. Always be ready and have extra stuff, even if you have to share your own.

We’ve had two couples that came to visit friends and family for five nights in the area and mostly used the cottage as a home base.

Considerations for the future


Be sure to have an extra set of linen for your bedding. This helps with a quick turnaround and puts less pressure on you to do the washing for the next guests.

Some hosts request a minimum stay of two or more nights. This is a great way to do less work and ensure you have more bookings. Unfortunately, you might lose out on those overnight or last-minute bookings. It’s all about compromise.

Guests are not loyal to a specific website to book. They’ll simply go to Google and type in the area name + accommodation and see which search results come up. Booking.com and its associated sites rank high in search engines, so we were able to capture bookings from there.

You can also list your accommodation on Google Maps as a location. This will ensure you can get bookings from people who look at the maps of your area to find accommodation.

Initially, we were worried that our bookings would only be seasonal, but so far, we have lots of out-of-season bookings for the coming month in advance.

In conclusion


You can make more from short-term rentals instead of having a permanent tenant, but be prepared to put in more work. We’ve already exceeded our monthly rental income every month.

You can charge more for a furnished unit, so see it as an investment into your rental property. Ensure your guests get value for their money by investing in quality furnishings.

A lot of the guests are not savvy to the online booking process, so you have to explain to them what’s expected and how the process works. You’ll get the hang of this extra admin after two or three bookings.

The guests will give you valuable feedback on what’s missing or needed in the unit. Listen to their advice and learn from it.

Do market research and stay at other accommodations in your area or elsewhere to see what works and what doesn’t. If you can, suss out the competition in your area. We have two other units in our area with similar features and pricing. We plan to visit them soon—undercover, of course.

Allow shorter stays for quick getaways and last-minute bookings to capture those weary travelers. There’s also a big market for couples’ getaways.

Hope you’ve learned something from this as we continue our journey into short-term rentals.

Another version of this post was originally published on Local Money.