Interviewing a superhost hustler from Bulgaria
1. First, let's get to know you a little. Please introduce yourself. Who are you, and what do you do in life?
So. I'm Robart, and three years ago, I graduated from the Medical University of Sofia in dental medicine. For the past three years, I've worked 7 days a week, 12 hours a day - and I'm wondering when I'll have a break. But that's what I do: I work, study a lot, and do my best to build something meaningful.
2. It seems that Airbnb is just a side hustle for you, yet you've become a superhost. How did you make it so far, and what does the superhost status mean for your responsibilities and everyday life?
Yeah, Airbnb was a side hustle before. Now I have a team and a cleaning lady; all I do is communicate with guests. I could hire a company to do that for me, too, but I suppose this is why I became a superhost. I want my guests to feel like they're not just staying at some Airbnb - they're staying at Robart's Airbnb. And they know me; they can rely on me. They speak with me and can always call me if they need anything or want suggestions on where to go. I really love to be in touch with my guests.
But not only that. To become a superhost, your listings and apartments need to be in perfect condition. They have to be constantly cleaned, most of the time I check after the cleaning staff if everything is alright. I try to leave some water bottles and chocolate. Those little things make you a superhost. The little things.
3. From all the possible side hustles out there - when, how, and why did you decide it to be Airbnb?
During my third year of studies - this was like seven, eight, nine years ago, I am not sure - I had this American friend, one of my best friends. Together with him and my brother we decided to go around Europe. I was able to pass all of my exams on the first try - which is extremely difficult at the Medical University of Bulgaria - and for the first time, I had a lot of time. I had a whole summer ahead of me and could do whatever I wanted. I was even shocked that I had these two months free.
So we decided to make this Eurotrip. Airbnb was not famous at that time. But our American friend said: "Guys, we should only book Airbnbs, and we should only live in the center."
It was new for my brother and me, who were still living in Sofia. We just knew booking.com, and we just knew how to stay at hotels. It was a first for us.
So, we did it. We started going, and it was far cheaper than hotels (that's a long time ago, now the price is kinda the same). But during the trip, I was amazed by the experience because I was really living like a local in all the countries. We've been to Vienna, we've been to Prague, to Bratislava, I don't even remember - it was a lot of cities.
Living like a local, being in the top center in every city for such reasonable prices was unbelievable, and the apartments were very, very well looking and clean. But that's not what I had expected: I had expected totally different places than those shown in the images. I thought we would get scammed, but the experience was phenomenal.
Then I came back to Sofia to get ready for the next semester. And I was walking down the main pedestrian street - Vitosha Boulevard - and I noticed English speech. I heard Russian speech, German, and a lot of different languages. It dawned on me that Sofia is becoming more and more a popular tourist destination.
And I thought: Hey, I have this small apartment that I am supposed to live in during my years as a student. Maybe I should try renting it out and see what happens until my semester starts. Even if someone comes for two nights, five nights, or six nights, whatever income comes from it is good. You know, I was a student. I was not expecting anything. So I listed the apartment from August until the 15th of September. I was still in my hometown when I listed the condo. It's the one you're staying in, actually. Two hours later, I had the first reservation.
There were like 10 or 15 listings in Sofia during that time. Airbnb was not so popular yet. I had to pack because the guests had booked it for the next day. And I told my mother: "Mother, prepare the meals, I'm preparing my luggage, and I'm going to clean and prepare the apartment for the guests."
And while I was traveling, I was getting new bookings. Within a few days, it was booked until the 15th of September. So I said: "Fuck it, I'm renting out the apartment only for Airbnb, and then I'm gonna find another place to live."
And since then, I have been one of the top three listings in Sofia, and it was always full. Then I said to my brother: "Hey, we need to think carefully about this opportunity because it's still something very new."
The apartments back then were still not as expensive as they are now, and we got another (through a loan, of course). We bought that apartment in the center.
It was very strategic. The question was: "What apartment do I have to buy? Where does it have to be?". We, who live in Sofia, know the best place is around the national palace of culture. But if I was a traveler from another part of the world and wanted to go to Sofia, where would I want to go? Of course, if I scroll and zoom into the map, it takes me to the center; therefore, I would like to be there. And even though mostly elderly people live in the center, the apartments there are cheaper than in the area around the national palace because the palace is more in the southern region.
So that's what we did. We bought the apartment in the absolute middle of the map of Sofia. Since then, it was all going very, very well. I was still a student. I didn't have a cleaning staff and was doing everything by myself. Sometimes I would skip lectures because I had guests leaving at 12 and the next tenants coming at 2pm. We also had lunch breaks, and because I didn't have a car, I took the tram to go to the apartment and clean and prepare it. I had a backpack with washed sheets from the previous night, and everybody asked me what I was doing with that backpack, and I was like, "I just have some really good books in it 🤠".
So even though this was a side hustle, it brought me a lot of extra cash. Most of us in Bulgaria don't rely on our parents to help because we're a poor country. But at the same time, you can't work night shifts while studying because in the morning you have to be there, and you have to be fresh. So this was the side hustle that I've found for me.
4. And in hindsight, what are your thoughts on being an Airbnb host from a business perspective? Have your expectations been met?
Well, it really gave me an excellent opportunity because until then, I was not thinking about real estate. I was not thinking about buying an apartment. But purchasing those two apartments was a very good choice, and I just did it because of this business plan.
And actually, I even bought them at the best time possible, right before the COVID outbreak. The prices were a lot lower than now. Not only did they give me a side income, but the apartments have also tripled in value since then.
So yes, the expectations have been met. But still, taking a loan as a student was very hard. I needed to study and bust my ass working all the time to compensate for the loans. But I don't feel like it was a bad thing. Life has forced its luck on me.
5. You're super ambitious. Assuming you want to keep doing it, how do you picture your Airbnb business in five years? What will you change or improve, and what will you focus on?
Thank you! Right now, I'm on the verge of selling those apartments that are so much higher in value because during COVID, the bank interest was a lot lower, and everybody was getting loans. They were buying apartments like crazy. But now, this balloon will have to pop because the prices are still very high. They're almost as high as in Dubai and Barcelona, which is crazy.
Really?
Almost 3000€ per square meter, if you want something normal. If you want something not very good, not very posh or special, but if you want a regular apartment in the center you need around 3000€ per square meter, which is much more than I've paid for.
So I'm considering catching this last train of high prices to sell them even though they're like my babies. I renovated them all because they've been in horrific conditions and put a lot of work into them. But you know, one of the first rules of business is to not get sentimental.
If I do it, I'm thinking about buying some land here. And another reason for these high prices is that building materials from China and wherever have become so expensive. And when this balloon pops, I'll be prepared.
How many apartments do you have right now?
Three. The one you're staying at right now and another two in the center. And with all the money I'll acquire after selling, I'll try to build something.
It sounds crazy, and everybody is saying to me, "What do you understand about house building?" but you don't need to be very knowledgeable. I need land and a company that will build it from scratch. They're gonna take the money, and I'm gonna take the building. And then I'll try to make ten apartments from this and put them all on Airbnb. The whole building, like a mini-hotel. Or I just break the building up into single units and sell them. Because that's what most of the people who are building right now do. And they get a lot of money out of it.
6. What's the biggest mistake you've made so far? How would you do it differently if you were to open another Airbnb tomorrow?
One of the biggest mistakes I've made with the apartments is the way I've renovated them. I thought that picking a single workman for every element - one for the electricity, another guy for the plumbing, another one for the tiles - would be cheaper.
When you draw the line at the end of the day, it's not cheaper. It takes much more time than just hiring a company that does renovation. Because when you go to a company, they give you a quote and an estimated completion time.
For example, the first apartment we expected to finish in April. We wanted it ready for the summer months to be open, and it would have been very easy to get a kickstart with a brand new, renovated apartment in the center. Can you guess when we finished renovating it?
September?
January, next year. If I hired a company, the cost would have been probably the same, but the work would have been better (because after every handyman, I went and re-repaired the repair).
What makes you think a company would not mess up the same way?
Because if they've been on the market for long and have a good reputation, it means something - they're good. But not just this. If the firm completed it in, let's say, May. The apartment probably would have paid for the renovation in these seven months. That's the biggest mistake I've made for the other apartment as well, and it's one that I will never, ever repeat.
7. Since the breakout of COVID, there have been many crises in the world, and it seems like we're still riding them out. How do you prepare and position yourself against potential future turbulences?
When things like this happen, you need to think very fast. So I gave one of the apartments out for long-term rental. And because of this long-term rental, I was able to pay my monthly bank rate for my loans. So I was almost clear at the end of the month.
That's where I started working even harder. It was a very interesting situation because everybody was in their home offices and quarantined. Their most exciting activity was going to the dentist. And as such, I was full of work.
I was wearing these plastic suits with their face shields, and I felt like I was going to space. I couldn't breathe. As you can see, I'm not that fat, but I lost seven or eight kilos because I was all day in these coveralls, and it's like in a sauna inside. But yes, it still helped me a lot financially.
Anyway, before the breakout, it was March, and I was watching the news. I knew this would be big. This would not just gonna disappear in a few months. And that's when I decided to give out one of my apartments for long-term rent. Which turned out to be a very good idea, because in the next year or even almost two years, I've gone from 90% occupation down to maybe 5%, which wasn't even enough to cover the electricity bills.
So to position yourself and protect against future turbulences you need to think fast of a solution - like I did with pulling one apartment from Airbnb and renting it to locals for a longer period.
8. What do you feel makes your Airbnb stand out to guests? What's the secret to your success, so to speak?
I always try to welcome my guests, to meet them. If you've seen my reviews, most of them don't speak about the apartments themselves. They talk about Robart and what kind of host he is, which is the standout point. It's strange, but I always try to meet and greet them. And now that I'm actually a dentist - as you know - I always offer them to come for a free examination in my clinic. Most of the people are very enthusiastic about it and take the opportunity. Some of them are very skeptical, like they're coming to a shady country with this young dentist, so they don't do it :D.
Dentists are really not that scary.
That's what you think :D But yes, that is an important point. Then cleanliness is also important, maybe even the most important thing. Keeping your place clean is the absolute first thing you must do, because that's what most people look for. I mean, everybody knows the location they want to be in, and right after that, they care about moving into a clean space.
Of course, if your apartment is very well renovated and has a sauna, jacuzzi, and other stuff like my other apartment, that are definitely selling points. But even with those selling points, you won't have guests if your apartment is not immaculately clean. They will be instantly disgusted.
That's the secret to my success: The first impression. Meeting your guests, greeting them, and offering them free examinations in the dental clinic.
Must-have products to keep your Airbnb clean and tidy.
Browse products now9. What would you recommend to someone starting an Airbnb business in Sofia?
I would recommend to you that you should have done it a long time ago because right now it's very hard :D. Unfortunately, in Bulgaria, we love to copy other people's successes. I mean, not only in Bulgaria, but this is precisely in our mindset, to replicate other people's success. And right now, there are tons of Airbnbs. At the same time, there are not so many people who actually live in Bulgaria who can find something for the long-term because everything is listed on Airbnb.
But, since we have that many Airbnbs, the prices have gone a lot lower because they tried to put lower prices, and at the end of the day, they make the same money as they'd make if they'd put the apartments on long-term. But not only that they don't make more money than with real renting, they now have unnecessary work on themselves. Because you don't just put the apartment on Airbnb and let it feed itself. You need to look after it, be constantly on the website, and put promotions, you know. It's a side hustle; you don't just put it up and forget about it.
So it's kind of hard right now, especially with those prices of real estate I've talked about. If you're gonna buy and expect to make a return in the next few years, it's not gonna happen.
10. I'm sure the situation is similar in other countries, too. Any last takeaways?
I would say, of course, you should always floss. Brush your teeth twice a day, love, and be loved.
That was amazing. Thank you so much, Robart!
