25 Sep How to earn money from your rental flat, sustainably

With more than 15 years of experience under our belt in the management of rentals in Barcelona, we’ve learned here at Lodging Management that it’s not only possible to generate income from a rental flat in Barcelona, but that doing it sustainably is even better. There’s no contradiction between the income that you can generate from property rental and environmental, cultural or economic sustainability. In fact, they go hand in hand. It helps to save on costs and utilities, but promoting this aspect of your rental can also be a point of attraction for new foreign residents, improving the branding of your business. Not for nothing is there a heightened consciousness among Europeans of the value of being in harmony with your environment, and every day more positive attention is given to companies that incorporate this consciousness into the services they offer. Making sustainability part of your apartment rental business shouldn’t be a burden or a difficulty, but rather a value that you can point to to differentiate yourself from the competition, and thus a business opportunity.

Barcelona, a perfect city in which to sustainably earn income from a rental apartment

Barcelona is an ideal city in which to take on these kinds of sustainable projects because it is the first city whose government has a Biosphere Certification accrediting environmentally, culturally and economically sustainable management of its tourism. That is, when it comes to managing a rental apartment in Barcelona, sustainability is practically an obligation and, if we don’t distance ourselves from certain directives of the local administration, it will be much more fluid and profitable for us.

In this vein, it’s important to know that if we carry out our activity focused on holiday rentals, we must have a license expedited by the city government. If not, we would be operating outside the law and the fines can be very large (between 30,000 and 600,000 Euros). At Lodging Management, we take great care to carry out our operations with maximum respect for the current legal framework, rejecting the black market, generating quality employment, and giving our clients every possible option for generating income from their rental business in Barcelona within these legal limits.

Month-to-month rentals, a great idea for sustainability

This is why we propose that property owners who do not have a tourism license opt for formulas like seasonal or month-to-month rental, which allows them to rent apartments to residents who stay in the city for more than one month and which is a flexible formula that usually offers higher revenues than traditional rental contracts.

In this case, we focus our target on the medium-term tourist who comes for holidays longer than the usual few days or on businesspeople, students in postgraduate courses and expats: that is, people who come for weeks or months for work reasons and who normally have high purchasing power because their companies pay their rent. This line of business has the advantage, among others, that your flat can remain empty for some weeks of the year, if so desired, so that you can use the apartment yourself. Those who rent from month to month expect to find an apartment in a perfect state that offers maximum levels of comfort and services. At Lodging Management, we offer many charming apartments that have everything necessary for renters to feel at home: household appliances and kitchenware, linens and towels, and this makes them the perfect places for medium-length stays in the city.

Energy efficiency, the key to sustainability in rentals

In our work of getting our apartments market-ready for our clients, one fundamental factor is energy efficiency. If not optimized in the flat, we create an agreement with the owners to undertake the necessary renovations in order to guarantee that the apartments don’t expend more energy than they should, and we install insulation systems such as weatherstrips or gels, double-paned windows or heating, if necessary. In addition, we always install high-energy-efficiency lightbulbs, which means more investment in the short term but savings in the long term. We also furnish the flats in such a way as to take as much advantage as possible of natural light, which is free and doesn’t consume energy. This is something you can take particular advantage of in Barcelona, with the mild and sunny climate throughout most of the year that so delights all our visitors.

Whether in winter or summer, our objective is that guests use the heating and cooling as little as possible, as indiscriminate use of these climate-control devices has a negative impact on the environment and quite a hefty impact on your energy bill as well. Together with air conditioners designed for optimal energy efficiency, we also recommend traditional systems like ceiling fans that are both stylish and functional. When we install air conditioners we ensure that they are located in a shady area, preventing them from developing cracks and fissures, and we tell the guests explicitly, through signage in many languages within the apartment, that we recommend an ideal temperature for the apparatus of 21 degrees in winter and 26 in summer.

Other actions we keep in mind when updating an apartment with profits and sustainability in mind include:

• Choosing appliances that offer the highest level of energy efficiency (level A)
• Installing filters that purify the water in the fixtures, limiting the flow – though not the pressure – by injecting air while eliminating impurities.
• Putting large doormats at the entrance to the apartment so that 98% of the allergens that we bring in from the street on our shoes stay out of the rest of the home.

In outlier neighbourhoods, sustainable income is socioeconomic as well

Another way to earn more from your rental apartment in a sustainable way is to choose one of Barcelona’s outlier neighbourhoods to invest in, farther away from the classic tourism districts. This is particularly adequate for month-to-month rentals, since the principal motivation of those who use this type of business isn’t pleasure but business or studies. What this market looks for is comfort and an enclave that makes travel to major transportation hubs simple. Opting to invest in non-tourism neighbourhoods also allows us to work towards a model of the city that eschews massification, lending sustainability to the customs, the culture and real modus vivendi of residents. At Lodging Management, we think that this is a very interesting option, given that real estate in these areas is somewhat cheaper and offers a tempting niche market from which you can derive considerable benefits. Our guests, given the great public transportation system here in Barcelona and the fact that the city is “big but small”, can still enjoy all the emblematic sights, but also live the real Barcelona life.

In summary, we think that it’s not only possible but desirable to make your rental apartment as sustainable possible, impacting positively on the environment, your earnings, our reputation, and your guests’ comfort. What other reasons do you need?