At the beginning of 2013, I listed my 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco’s Mission District on Airbnb. In a previous life (New York, 2006), I had discovered how lucrative Airbnb’s model can be when I used Craigslist to sublease my studio apartment to pay off ~$20,000 in debt. By 2013, my financial situation had improved significantly. However, I wanted to try hosting again to get an insider glimpse into one of today’s most interesting Internet companies and update my own firsthand exposure to the space.

I have had a great experience as an Airbnb host. I traveled a lot in 2013, and Airbnb guests stayed in my place almost as many nights as I did. In total, I rented my apartment to 31 guests over 132 nights, netting almost enough ($22,319) to cover the entire year’s rent. (For those curious, I have compiled detailed numbers in a Google spreadsheet.) Each booking took about 30 minutes of my time to arrange, and I probably spent an additional 15 hours during the year on initial apartment setup, communicating with interested guests who didn’t book, and figuring out taxes. $22 thousand for 30 hours of work is compelling — and a big improvement from my Craigslist experience in New York.

Although hosting is easy, I believe that Airbnb should aspire to make it even easier. Imagine how common hosting would become if it were as simple as specifying the dates that you’ll be away. Imagine if even first-time hosts could simply “flip the switch” on Airbnb before going away for the weekend. It would be a boon to Airbnb’s growth. (I know it’s hard to believe Airbnb might grow faster.)

In this post, I focus on the three most tangible pain points I have experienced as a host, and I offer some tactical suggestions on how Airbnb could improve them right away. While not enough to fully achieve the “flip the switch” vision I describe above (for first-time hosts, improvements to the on-boarding experience are also required), these recommendations would greatly simplify renting for experienced hosts.

#1: Help set price

I rented my apartment for 132 of 179 nights it was available, for an overall occupancy rate of 74%. While this rate is pretty good (it compares favorably to hotels), I would like it approach 100%.

20 vacant nights (42% of all vacancies) occurred during November and December.

My nightly rate of $155, which had worked for all of 2013, was obviously too high. Unfortunately, I discovered this only after a string of uncharacteristic vacancies. In the second half of December, when I dropped my price to $140, I quickly booked up. Rather than learning my lesson the hard way, I wish that Airbnb had proactively suggested I drop my price at the beginning of November.

While it is difficult for individual Airbnb hosts to foresee changes in supply and demand in their markets, Airbnb is awash in data it could expose to help hosts set profit-maximizing prices (e.g., price indices and occupancy rates for comparable Airbnbs as well as hotels, search traffic). Airbnb is likely hesitant to reveal too much proprietary data in too granular a form. However, it could build an econometric model using market data as well as individual property history to estimate suggested price ranges. These estimates could be carried out regularly for all properties and dates, and hosts could elect to be notified via email and/or app notification whenever their prices fell above or below the estimated ranges. Hosts like me may even choose for Airbnb to set the price automatically.

#2: Minimize 1- and 2-night vacancies (and the “transaction costs” to fill them)

21 of the 47 vacant nights (45%) were either 1- or 2-night vacancies.

I rarely accept 1- and 2-night stays (~9% of all nights) because the “transaction costs” of completing reservations (e.g., coordinating cleaning, messaging guests) are generally too high to make them worthwhile.

What causes so many 1- and 2-night vacancies? It is challenging for hosts to filter reservation requests to maximize the number of booked nights. Let me describe a common scenario. I’ll be away for 9 nights, leaving on Friday and returning the following Sunday. I receive a reservation request from well-reviewed Guest A for 5 nights, from Saturday to Thursday. Should I accept or reject Guest A’s reservation request? I would obviously prefer a hypothetical Guest B who reserves all 9 nights. I would even prefer a hypothetical Guest C who makes a 3- or 4-night reservation beginning the first Friday or ending on the final Sunday so one easy-to-book time remains. However, when Guest A makes the reservation request, I don’t know if Guest B or C exists.

Airbnb should make it easier for hosts to handle these situations and minimize short, hard-to-fill vacancies. It should also reduce the “transaction costs” of filling these vacancies when they do arise. A few specific suggestions: