Hospitality as a residual income stream

It is conceivable that almost any type of lodging can earn an operation a residual income, be it a barn-loft, a bunk house or a luxurious wofati. The more spaces available, the more income and also more organization required.

Does anyone already have a little knowledge about Hospitality Management software? Does a FREE cloud-based system with self-reservations, availability calendar and billing exist?

So far I am considering KWhotel, but think there must be something better out there.

What is a KWhotel?

http://www.kwhotel.com/en/ is software that helps manage a reservation calendar, for inns, hotels, etc. It's not exactly free as I had thought. The free package doesn't help much but to demo the program. There are more hospitality management programs out there, too.

When I volunteered on a homestead that also acted as multi-unit airBnB site, I was quite impressed at the income potential relative to the labour and investment. Buildings(cabins) that were as little as a couple thousand bucks in materials were booked solid through the summer and shoulder seasons, and were paying for themselves in about a month.

As with most hospitality stuff, location is definitely key. This place was in a great location an hour from anything, beautiful wilderness area, but very close to a major highway, so picked up tons of business from people traveling up/down the coast. No competition to speak of. Looking on airBnB for areas around my home, there are thousands and thousands, five hundred at least; price pressure is apparent.

I don't know what airBnB takes as a cut, but I know they do take one. Around here they are definitely the big dog in the marketplace. Worth considering that it's not so much the management aspect that you'd be paying for; it's the user base. Lots of people seek out accommodations through airBnB, vs advertising on your lonesome for 'luxury Wofati for rent 57 miles from BFE Montana'!


This isn't really what I'd consider residual income, though; if you stop doing the work(providing said hospitality, ie listing the accommodation, maintaining it, cleaning out the dead spiders and used condoms...), you'll stop getting the money. I would define residual income as what you get when you do the work(writing, photography, coding, etc) and money flows(or dribbles) in for a long time after you've stopped doing the work.

You're right that doesn't fit the definition of residual income stream at all. Not sure what I was thinking or where this post would be most appropriate.

On further contemplation, I suppose the 'residual' aspect is the creation of the structure... so... partly residual? Seems like it might fit under 'farm income' as well...

My nephew and I looked at wooded riverfront acreage last summer with the idea that we could scatter 6 tiny homes about the land. The idea was that our two families would live in two of them and make the other 4 available on AirBnB or VRBO.

Unfortunately other projects got in the way. Maybe we will revive the project later this year?

With two families in residence we could have the freedom to take breaks and know that somebody is taking care of the farm.

The home next door to my current home is a VRBO rental. Her occupancy rate is over 40% and she charges $125 a night plus a 1 time cleaning fee that covers her cost of cleaning. Her annual gross is over $20k.

The place I stayed hosted workstay visitors as well, who got bounced around according to vacancies, or slept on the floor of the kitchen/livingroom central building when booked solid; this spread the workload of the airBnB out over a lot more bodies.

I think(in the busy times) that one person would spend around 60% of their time on the 5 units(4 small cabins, one 2000+ sq ft multi-bed) that were rented out.

Washing all those sheets had to happen an hour away in town as no resources(power) existed on site; this was made cost-effective as the owners both worked part-time in town anyhow.

Janet Branson wrote:You're right that doesn't fit the definition of residual income stream at all. Not sure what I was thinking or where this post would be most appropriate.

Moved it to cottage industry (edt: and farm income)! Great topic!!

Go with AirBnB. My parents are hosts and it is working out really well for them. Yes, they take a cut from every booking fee, but they put you in contact with their HUGE customer market and handle all the website/booking management. They even sent someone round to take the photos of my parents place. They have a huge range of listings on their website - city breaks, country mansions, spare bedrooms, whole houses etc... Quirky properties and offerings can do well.

Back in the older days, people who needed or wanted income wouod rent out their rooms monthly. That actually saved many people their houses.
The way the economy is now,  if I had a house big enough, I would do that also. They used to be called boarding houses.
You can rent cottages or tiny houses monthly too. And if you wanted a vacation, you could leave It in some capable hands while you were away.
People seem to forget what it was.
I imagine we will be seeing it again pretty soon.
Economists are saying they expect the economy to tank pretty soon..so you might want to be thinking about that.
I would do a background check on some first. You don't want someome who has problems. It doesn't cost that much.
After awhile,  there may be no B&B houses because less people will not be able to afford trips as much.
And having someone to save your house through their income is a good idea.
I saw a ad where someome actually wanted someone to feed their goats, farm animals and charge you rent too for ome little room..imagine that...and that person would be doing what? Paying rent and working for free.
Not much of a incentive that way.
A person would like to be able probably to do some gardening too.

We just started a Day Care Center which is hospitality based. I do not consider it a Residual Income Stream, but it is very lucrative.

We tried to rent our house out, but it fell through, than its sale fell through, so we opted to open a Day Care Center instead; today is the first day it is open.

As a Day Care Center, we should make about 5 times as much money as we would make by renting it out as a traditional home.

As with any business, be certain that your insurance policy is appropriate for the endeavor. Many homeowners insurance policies will not usually cover daycare or hospitality services. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially with insurance policies.

If I were to rely on hospitality as an income stream, I'd be living under a bridge!  I'm thinking more along the lines of growing and drying mushrooms, medicinal herbs, and possibly some ginseng.  I've got areas on my property that will make good candidates for growing ginseng.  There is definitely money to be made in renting out a place near a recreation destination.

If you would like to rent out a very basic camping spot, or an off grid cabin, look at the services from hipcamp.com.  

I've wondered about this. There is something here called 'glamping' where a property owner can set up a bell tent with furniture and rent it out by the night. I probably have a good property for this, but I worry about bad tenants and the drained feeling I get when I spend time with people I would not normally choose to be around. Is this sort of thing only a good choice for extroverts? Would it work well for introverts if we had it for just the summer, and knew that it was only a small part of every year, and one farm income stream out of many?

With hipcamp, hosts can provide as little as a spot on a meadow for people to set up a tent, a fire ring for a campfire,  and a spigot for water.  Camping platforms and outhouses are bonuses. people pay around $20 a night, most stay only a night or two. Not much interaction required, unless you want to.