He Runs an Airbnb in India - Here's What the Numbers Actually Look Like.

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Everybody says Airbnb's a great passive income. Airbnb's definitely not passive in the beginning. You can double your rental yields to maybe 8 to 10%. The real challenge is handling guests considered a business which is disguised as an investment. Currently, it's a 113 billion rupee industry and an increased booking of 50% [music] year on year. There is an increase in domestic travelers. Hotels have become very expensive since COVID. So, we complete 3 years in Airbnb this November. Around 150 reviews with an average rating of 4.9. Last year, we did an annual revenue of approximately My annual expenses are around 4 lakh.

[00:00:38]a profit.

[00:00:39]>> Biggest mistake you made in the starting?

[00:00:47]Everybody says Airbnb is a great passive income. And if you do it right, you can earn around two to three X of your actual rental income. So, today we're breaking down exactly what works and what most people get wrong. And for this, I have someone who's actually done it. I have Utkarsh with me here who runs his own Airbnb in Jodhpur as a side hustle. So, he knows what he's talking about. Hi Utkarsh, can you give a short introduction about yourself to everyone?

[00:01:13]Uh hi guys. Uh my name is Utkarsh and Piusha's husband. And she asked me to be in a YouTube video. And I actually said no. But here we are. Uh I'm a real estate entrepreneur and I'm extremely passionate about traveling.

[00:01:28]I run an Airbnb as a side hustle which is making decent passive income. So, I'd like to cut right to the chase. A lot of people say that Airbnb is easy money.

[00:01:39]So, is that true in India? And can it actually be considered passive income for, let's say, someone who runs a 9-to-5 job as well?

[00:01:47]So, I believe nothing is easy money.

[00:01:49]Uh Airbnb is definitely not passive in the beginning.

[00:01:54]Uh but with systems in place, you can make it passive. Then we come to the big question. Why even start an Airbnb? Why can't we just simply rent out a property? Okay. So, the simple answer is that you want more returns. So, through traditional renting, you can get a return about 1.5% to 4% depending on the city. I would say these are the net rental yields across major cities in India. But, if you do a short-term rental like an Airbnb, you can double your rental yields to maybe 8 to 10% or even more if you do it well.

[00:02:31]That's amazing. So, tell me for someone who's doing a 9-to-5 job, is it a good opportunity? Before I answer your question, I would like to give some data on the Airbnb market in India right now.

[00:02:44]So, currently it's a 113 billion rupee industry with an increase booking of 50% year on year.

[00:02:52]Uh we have also seen it giving jobs thousands of jobs to both urban and rural destinations.

[00:03:00]Uh one interesting stat that I read was that uh domestic travelers have increased 79 to 91% in the last one or two years. So, we can interpret this data in two ways.

[00:03:13]Uh the hotels have become uh very expensive since COVID. And uh Airbnb can provide the same services as a hotel uh in a lower rate. And India being a very price-sensitive market, you can see the natural increase in Airbnb bookings over time. The other way to interpret is that we are not able to attract a lot of foreign tourists in our country.

[00:03:38]Uh we can take a leaf out of the book of some other Asian countries like uh Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan.

[00:03:46]They are able to provide a lot of good value to the foreign tourists. They have cleaner infrastructure and let's be honest, they are less people are less likely to be scammed in those countries than in India. So, once we sort out those issues, the upside of having an Airbnb which also attracts foreign tourists is incredible.

[00:04:07]So, how did you start your first Airbnb?

[00:04:10]I had a weekend house in my hometown in Jodhpur, which was in a horrible condition, but in an excellent location.

[00:04:17]So, what I did was ask myself that if I could rent it out traditionally, it would give me around 30, 35, or 40,000, right? And if I put it on Airbnb, uh I would at least make around 70,000 income.

[00:04:32]So, I chose to do the latter. So, how did you know that you would get almost double the returns of traditional renting?

[00:04:40]So, firstly, location is key.

[00:04:43]Uh my house is very close to the airport and the railway station. And it's also very close to all the major tourist destinations in Jodhpur like the Mehrangarh Fort and the Umaid Bhawan.

[00:04:55]So, the location was convenient. I researched the pricing of hotels nearby my house and I found that I could provide similar amenities and a at a better value point. Uh so, as a Gen Z would say, math was mathing.

[00:05:13]I had prior experience in leasing out corporate offices. Uh so, I knew I could build systems that would make my Airbnb journey passive over time. And the most importantly, I love hosting people.

[00:05:27]Uh it gives me a it gives me pure joy that people who have stayed in my Airbnb, they have had a good time. So, I feel this is an underrated quality that is required and it yet is the most important one. So, we'll complete 3 years in Airbnb this November. We have around 150 reviews with average rating of 4.9. So, I would say we've done decently. So, that sounds like a great fit. Uh let's deep dive a little bit about the numbers. Can you tell me the overall revenues, costs, and what does the profit look like? So, last year we did an annual revenue of approximately 12 lakhs. Uh the staff salaries would account for approximately 2 and 1/2 lakhs on an annual basis. Uh then there are some miscellaneous costs uh like electricity, laundry, and uh other, you know, toiletries, stuff like that. So, that would account for approximately 10k a month. So, this is roughly 1.2 to 1.5 lakhs. So, my annual expenses are around 4 lakhs. And I make 12 lakhs, so that's roughly 8 lakhs of uh profit. Now, if you look at traditional renting, I would have made around 4 lakhs of rental income, but I've doubled that and made 8 lakhs uh through short-term rentals and Airbnb.

[00:06:56]Interesting. So, if you scale this up to multiple houses, there can be some real income potential here.

[00:07:03]Right, but then that would also take up more of my time, and uh it is like a side hustle for me. Uh this is not my core business. So, what should someone think before starting out their Airbnb journey? How do they decide?

[00:07:18]Like I mentioned, uh if someone has a full-time job, uh how should they decide if this is a good enough side hustle for them? So, uh so, people who want to do an Airbnb alongside their 9-to-5 job, they need to ask themselves these three basic questions. Firstly, if they can commit some time alongside their job.

[00:07:39]Initially, it will take a lot of your time, and as you get experience, you can turn it into more of a passive income with systems in place.

[00:07:48]Secondly, you need to have the right staff, reliable staff, who can manage guests pretty well and take care of the handling. There are a lot of agencies also who do that. Uh and the third the uh is as I said before that you need to like uh hosting people. Uh that helps you in the longer term. You really take care about if the guest is having a good time or not. So, that I feel is really important.

[00:08:16]And it helps prevent burnout. Yeah, it helps prevent burnout for sure. So, let's say someone has the time, inclination, and even a property that they've selected for starting out. What makes a great successful Airbnb versus just an average regular Airbnb? In my experience, there are five main criterias.

[00:08:37]So, first being location. I remember famous dialogue by Vidya Balan in a movie where she says that Indian movies have teen cheezon se chalti hai. I hope you remember.

[00:08:47]Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. Exactly. So, location is that important in an Airbnb.

[00:08:55]So, it's location, location, location.

[00:08:57]Uh you can change your interiors. You can keep your house clean, but the real demand driver is location. Your house needs to be close to tourist spots, railway stations, airports, or even hospitals for that matter.

[00:09:13]That naturally drives demand for you.

[00:09:15]The second is cleanliness.

[00:09:17]Uh the house needs to be extremely clean and tidy.

[00:09:22]No matter what, if you have a big lavish villa or a small studio apartment, cleanliness is a must. The third being photos. Your photos are extremely important. People scroll through photos and then decide their Airbnb. So, good professional looking photos which gives a real picture of your Airbnb. You don't want people to be coming in and seeing that area to cut a little bit here. So, your photos should be exactly how your house looks, but also professionally short hence. Okay, and what about the last two? The fourth being listing. Your listing needs to be extremely accurate and precise.

[00:10:01]Let's say you don't have a parking, so you can mention that you don't have a parking. Uh if your house is a heritage style villa or a modern studio apartment, you need to mention that very clearly. The right guest will still book. You don't want your guest to be coming in and they have a surprise uh for the wrong reasons.

[00:10:20]The right guest will still book your house. You can also link up your calendars through different booking platforms like Airbnb, MakeMyTrip. That gives you more visibility and there's no overlapping bookings as well. The last but not the least, it's systems and staff training. Keep proper systems for check-in and check-out, proper systems for getting the house clean. Uh that makes your life easier.

[00:10:44]Uh staff training are extremely important as well, how they treat the guest, how they welcome the guest. A little bit of extra care uh helps you get better ratings. So, I feel that is extremely important as well. Don't shy away from asking your guests to give you a five-star rating because you know, if you have a good rating, you have a higher chance of your house to be booked.

[00:11:07]Okay, amazing. I feel this was a masterclass in Airbnb, complete A to Z of how to run one. Uh let's do a quick rapid fire before we wrap up. Okay. Uh okay, first is heritage or a modern studio as your first Airbnb?

[00:11:24]Okay, so I would say heritage as it has a theme to it. Self-managed property or a agency-managed property? Self-managed.

[00:11:34]One big villa or two smaller ones?

[00:11:37]I would say two smaller ones. Okay. Goa or Rajasthan?

[00:11:41]Goa. Goa is an all-season market.

[00:11:43]Biggest mistake you made in the starting?

[00:11:46]I don't think I made any mistakes.

[00:11:48]And uh would you do it again?

[00:11:51]If I find the right property, uh I would definitely do it again. So, this was a great video, great interaction. I think we learned a lot about A to Z of your Airbnb. And uh audience will also get a lot about running it as a business or a side hustle. Do you have any last words?

[00:12:09]So, my last words would be if your wife forces you to be on a video, just say yes the first time because even if your answer is no, you'll still be in the video.

[00:12:19]Okay, thanks for being here. No, wait, wait, what about marketing my Airbnb?

[00:12:25]Oh, yeah. If uh if anybody wants to look for a stay in Jodhpur, I'll drop a link to the house in the comments or the description. And uh I release videos every 2 weeks on finance and real estate. If you want no jargon, complete honesty, and strategies about how the real top 0.1% actually plan their wealth, subscribe for more.