Mary Christensen - Turn Your Spare Space into Serious Cash: How to Make Money on Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey, Booking.com, and More!

The first place I booked through a hosting website was an apartment in Perth, Australia. I was en route to India, and Perth was the ideal stopover.

My young assistant suggested that I consider private accommodation. After searching available hotels, she declared that they were too far from the action, too shabby, or too expensive. She showed me pictures of a high-rise apartment that was perfect in every way. It had a wraparound balcony and panoramic views. It was a short stroll to shops and restaurants in one direction and a river walk in the other.

I booked it immediately.

My host messaged to say he was away, and his mother would be waiting to give me the keys. She proudly showed me the property her son had purchased as an investment. He planned to pay the mortgage by renting it to long-term tenants, but after doing the math realized that he would earn twice as much by renting it out for short stays, even allowing for times the apartment would be unoccupied.

The day I flew out of Perth, the owner was back in town and drove me to the airport. On the way, we talked. He traveled a lot on business, lived in the apartment when he was in town and it wasnt rented out, and camped at his parents house when it was. At twenty-four, he had a foot on the property ladder and, true to his millennial roots, was living some of the time at home with his mom.

My second hosted stay followed a couple months later. I was cycling with a group in a remote part of New Zealand. Accommodation options were limited, and most of the group bunked down in a campground. I was holding out for a room to myself, and a shower I didnt have to wait in line for. I found it in a three-bedroom home owned by a young couple, five minutes from the cycle trail.

He worked a regular job, and she had left work to be a stay-at-home mom. As money was in short supply, they listed one of the rooms for short-term stays.

Although traveling was off their agenda for a few years, they wanted to expose their children to different cultures. They had a world map pinned to the wall so their children could see where their guests were from, and how far they had traveled.

I stumbled into hosted accommodation, but I was soon hooked. Wherever I go, I can find a property that meets my needs. If Im traveling on business I like to be in the heart of the action, but without the monotony of inner-city hotels. I can stay in an apartment with more character and more facilities for the same price or less as a hotel on the same street.

Im currently searching VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) for a family vacation. There will be at least seven of us, including young children. We want to stay together without paying exorbitant rates for a family suite in a hotel, or a hotel that wont guarantee connected or even adjoining rooms.

Weve often been frustrated by this standard response from hotels when weve requested connected or adjoining rooms for a family vacation: Well note your request, but cant guarantee connecting rooms until you check in. Getting the rooms you want is a lottery, and you dont find out if you have won or lost until its too late to book somewhere else. Hosting platforms take away that risk. You book what you want, and you get what you book.

If the property falls short of what you were promised, the hosting website you booked through will have your back. Keeping hosts honest is part of their promise.

Two years after I first became a guest, my husband, Wayne, and I decided to list our spare bedroom on a hosting website. It wasnt an overnight decision. At first, we thought about what could go wrong by opening our home to travelers. But the chance to turn our spare space into cash was irresistible. Besides, the best part of traveling is meeting new and interesting people. How cool to have them show up at our doorstep.

Our city, the resort area of Queenstown, New Zealand, is one of the most vibrant home-hosting environs worldwide. One in every seven houses is listed on a short-stay site, and competition is fierce. Yet our spare bedrooms generate over $50,000 a year with little disruption to our daily lives. Apart from some minor upgrades to accommodate paying guests at the start, our expenses are minimal. We turn our listing off when were going away or family and friends are coming to stay.

We run a hands-on enterprise. Our guests are sleeping down the hall. But the lessons we learned are universal. Most of our guests have been delightful and only a few dreadful. We have missed opportunities and made mistakes. Through trial and error, we have learned how to handle dramas and disasters while turning our spare rooms into a lucrative business.