How Big Data Will Help You Make More Money From Your Airbnb

Every now and then I come across a product and think to myself “Damn, that’s cool.”

I had one of those moments recently when I stumbled on a service called Wheelhouse that specializes in helping customers maximize how much money they make from short-term rentals like HomeAway and Airbnb’s (more on that in a minute).

Brief Intro to Big Data

When working with businesses, the use of big data for decision-making is common. You have it in advertising tools that are used on a daily basis, sales force intelligence tools, and Business intelligence tools. It’s everywhere in business already and with good reason. It decreases the time you need to spend on completing tasks and making decisions.

As a marketer, I see intelligence tools every day. Every time I fire up Google Adwords on Facebook Ads, there’s some intelligence at work there. Both platforms offer bid optimization to help me maximize my advertising spend based on other users, time of day, and search.

But big data in the consumer market? You see it, but you may not realize it. Whenever you use shopping sites like Amazon and you get a popular recommendation based on past purchases, that’s marketing intelligence in action. However, that form of marketing intelligence is being used by businesses to make money from you, not help you make more money. This is why I find Wheelhouse so awesome.

It represents the transition of big data analytics to benefit the consumer market, not just businesses.

Make More Money from Your Airbnb

Okay—if I have an Airbnb or HomeAway, then why would I use this? I think the better question is why wouldn’t you?

Products like Wheelhouse let users automate pricing based on neighborhood and area comps, as well as give you valuable insight into your metrics. This saves you hours of time managing your short-term rental and analyzing trends. As an Airbnb or HomeAway host, you have to love this. You’re literally able to make more money from your short term rental while spending less time managing it.

And if you start to rent out multiple units/homes, then leveraging big data like Wheelhouse will let you run your little rental operation like a big business. Putting the power big data analytics in your hands.

Where Else Do We See Big Data for Consumers?

If you run automated social media programs to manage your Twitter, then you’re seeing Big Data being used there. Programs like MeetEdgar.com automatically republish posts based on engagement, time, etc to maximize traffic to your account.

Another example would be algorithm-based tools like Google and Kayak. Every time you do a search, Google takes the context of your search to give you the result that will (hopefully) match what you’re searching. It then increases/decreases rankings based on activity. Kayak will look through all available flights to give you the cheapest options. While not nearly as intelligent as Google or other products, Kayak uses some level of intelligence to take your query and provide the most desired results.

With big data making its rounds to everyday users, what’s next? An intelligence tool that stores all of the meals you’ve eaten and suggests what restaurant and cuisine you’ll want to eat at in that exact moment – finally ending the hour long scroll through Yelp trying to figure out where to grub. Imagine if based on tagged friends the app could predict what cuisine and restaurant both parties would like in that exact moment. Finally ending the dreaded back and forth of “where do you want to eat?”

If someone takes my above idea and makes it a reality, then please let me know. I’d love to be able to end those long debates about where to eat…