We earned $51,000 a year on average as Airbnb superhosts before COVID-19. Here’s how we priced and furnished our rental to optimize bookings.

We earned $51,000 a year on average as Airbnb superhosts before COVID-19. Here’s how we priced and furnished our rental to optimize bookings.

I own a 1920s-era duplex with my husband, Jared, in Silver Lake, California, a hipster enclave east of Hollywood. We live in one unit and rent out the next-door apartment. In 2014, I quit my marketing job to pursue a writing career, much to my mother's horror. I'd recently partnered with a chef and sold a cookbook to a publisher. That was the good news. Our modest payment, however, went directly to the food photographer and the stylist. You have to spend money to make money, right? I figured if the book didn't reach best-seller status (spoiler alert: not even close), I'd do some consulting work and rental income would help cover the mortgage. Alas, right after I quit my job, our renters gave their notice. Rather than race to find new tenants to share our thin walls, we decided to give Airbnb a try. That way we'd be able to access the apartment for work meetings and let visiting family members use it in between paying guests. We were novices when it came to side hustles, yet hosting travelers appealed to us. We're extroverts and enjoy meeting new people. And since we'd stayed at Airbnbs before, we'd already figured