Unlocking success as a dual Airbnb and Turo host

Turo and Airbnb have partnered up to highlight the incredible opportunity of sharing both your car and your space this travel season. Over the coming months, we’ll be featuring hosts across the US who are building a small car sharing business on Turo, while sharing their space on Airbnb to bolster their earnings even more.

Atlanta host Jaymes shares his keys to success

Living in the suburbs of north Atlanta, Jaymes had always wanted a place in the center of town, so he bought a duplex in the heart of downtown Atlanta and listed it on Airbnb. He has a family and a full-time job, so the downtown property provided a financial safety net through Airbnb earnings, as well as a convenient resting place and a respite from the Atlanta rush hour traffic.

Then 2020 came around, and like it did for many of us, it served as a moment for reevaluation for Jaymes. “We made it through the worst of the pandemic just fine,” Jaymes says, in part because his entrepreneurial mindset drove him to look for opportunities across multiple revenue streams.

Jaymes had heard about Turo before from a friend, so he researched the marketplace in hopes of finding an additional source of income. “I had been hosting on Airbnb successfully for about four years at that point,” he said. “And Turo seemed to require the same principles I use for success as an Airbnb host. Which are: Putting a scalable system in place for running day-to-day operations, providing good customer service, and building a great host profile to increase visibility.”

With these tools in mind, Jaymes was ready to dig into his next adventure. “We have a saying down here: ‘Gettin’ it out the mud.’ Meaning you start from scratch and improve from your mistakes through effort and determination. Which is how I got success with Airbnb,” he said. With those lessons and experiences under his belt, Jaymes launched his hosting journey last November and quickly scaled to three vehicles.

Forty-five days later, after translating the efficient, guest-oriented business approach he developed as an Airbnb Host, Jaymes had earned All-Star Host status, which is reserved for the highest-rated and most experienced hosts on Turo. “That proved to me those guiding principles did in fact apply to both businesses and were leading me to success.”

Jaymes also noted he can use investment on both platforms to benefit himself, outside of the extra income he made. “One beautiful thing with Airbnb is, although many hosts are there to earn money, as long as you’re paying your bills you’re winning.” Even in times when business is down, Jaymes’ property has made enough to cover his mortgage.

And again, he’s achieving the same with Turo — “the first car I listed was a Corvette, and now it’s my baby,” he said. “Before I was able to have that type of return you get from hosting, I couldn’t see myself spending that kind of money on a car. It allowed me to get out of my 2008 Ford Focus and into something I think is more respectable,” he laughed.

Working smarter, not harder

Jaymes is seeing roaring success with his relatively new Turo business and has plans to add even more cars. And he says he’s on pace for 2021 to be his best year yet on Airbnb. It’s all thanks to his meticulous and shrewd approach to life, and his ability to build upon his triumphs.

“My grandparents told me to work hard and save money. But to me that model is outdated. I’ve found that saving slowly builds money, but reinvesting multiplies it,” he shared. “Likewise, there’s a difference between being busy and being productive. So this sharing economy stuff is like a cheat code — it allows me to reinvest in myself and my business while being pretty hands off.”

Between his 9-to-5, family activities, sports, etc., Jaymes is keen on maximizing his availability for the important things in his life. “What I’m trying not to do anymore is trade time for money.” Together with his wife Teena and business associate Queen, Jaymes’ team has put some systems in place to be more efficient, such as automated messages to respond immediately to guests. “That gives us the flexibility to put our effort where the human element is most useful, like providing good customer service or dealing with complications.”

These are the lessons he’s passing on to his kids. “It’s become a family affair. We’re providing a real-time learning experience for educating our fifth grade daughter,” he said. “It’s a perfect example of a scalable system for working smarter, not harder.”

“And also, in our community it’s very important to demonstrate these paths to achieving the things you want to the youth.” Jaymes stresses that what he’s developed with Airbnb and Turo is a perfect example of capitalizing on the opportunities that exist. “And this opens doors to all other types of other opportunities.”

Jaymes’ thoughtfulness reveals his passion about this subject. He puts that energy into his businesses, which fuels his everyday life, and that pattern builds on itself. “It touches so many parts of my life.”

Try hosting your space on Airbnb

Build on your success as a Turo host and explore adding hosting with Airbnb to your mix of income streams. Like Jaymes, you can apply your experiences from car sharing to sharing your home, and make your investments work smarter for you.

See what you could earn with your space