Why Styling Is the Smartest Investment a Short Stay Owner Can Make
There are now more than 161,000 short-term rental listings active across Australia and that number grew by 5.6% in the last year alone. In a market as desirable as Margaret River and the South West, competition between properties isn't just real. It's fierce.
Guests browsing Airbnb and Stayz aren't comparing your property to the one down the road. They're comparing it to beautifully styled coastal retreats in Noosa, Byron and the Mornington Peninsula. The scroll is ruthless. A blurry photo of a beige couch and a tired doona cover will not make someone stop. But a warm, considered space, layered textures, natural light, a bedroom that makes you feel something, absolutely will.
This is what professional styling does. And for short stay property owners, the return on that investment is far more measurable than most people expect.
What the data actually shows
The numbers on this are hard to ignore. According to AirDNA's 2024 analysis, staged and professionally styled properties command 20–40% higher nightly rates than comparable unstyled listings in the same market. A 2024 Airbnb Superhost report found that listings with curated décor and intentional styling received 31% more five-star reviews than their bare-bones counterparts. And research from Hostaway found that listings rated 4.9 stars or higher earn 18.2% more revenue than those sitting at lower scores.
Run that maths on a property earning $250 a night at 65% occupancy in peak season. A 25% rate increase and a modest bump in occupancy could put an extra $15,000–$20,000 in your pocket annually. For most South West WA hosts, a professional styling session pays for itself within the first few bookings.
The review loop that most investors miss
Here's something Airbnb confirmed at their 2025 Professional Host Summit that every property owner needs to understand: the platform's algorithm now ranks listings based on two things: how likely a guest is to book, and how likely they are to leave a 5-star review.
That means your listing's appearance and photography directly influence where you appear in search results. A stunning first photo leads to more clicks. More clicks signal booking intent. Booking intent improves your ranking. A better ranking means more visibility, more enquiries, and when the space delivers on what the photos promised: better reviews. Which feeds the algorithm further.
It's a compounding loop. And styling is the lever that starts it.
Think of it like any other customer-facing business
Consider what a well-designed restaurant does compared to a bare one serving the same food. The atmosphere justifies the price point. The presentation shapes what people are willing to pay before they've even sat down.
Short-stay accommodation works the same way. A styled property doesn't just look nicer, it creates a felt experience. Guests arrive to layered linen, a cohesive palette, plants, warm light, and a space that feels like someone genuinely thought about them. That feeling becomes a review. That review becomes a booking. That booking becomes a returning guest because people come back to places that made them feel good.
Returning guests are gold. They book directly where possible, they leave glowing reviews without prompting, and they tell people. In a tight-knit community like the South West, word of mouth from a well-styled property travels fast.
What styling actually costs and what it gives back
A professional short stay styling session is not a renovation. It's not a knock-down rebuild. For most properties, it's a targeted, strategic session that reworks what's already there, furniture placement, layering, lighting, focal points, décor and identifies a handful of key pieces to source that will lift the whole space.
The investment is a fraction of what most hosts spend on platform fees each year. And unlike platform fees, it keeps working for you. Every booking benefits from it. Every photo shoot builds on it. Every guest walks in to a space that was designed with them in mind.
A note on tax and why it matters for investors
According to the ATO, expenses directly related to earning rental income from a short-term property are generally tax deductible. This includes advertising, property management, cleaning, repairs, maintenance, and — importantly — costs associated with preparing your property for rental. Professional styling and staging, when engaged for the purpose of presenting your property for short-term rental, sits within this category of legitimate rental expenses.
As always, we'd encourage you to confirm the specifics with your accountant, as deductibility depends on how your property is structured and used. But for many short stay investors, professional styling isn't just a revenue driver, it's also a tax-smart decision.
The South West WA opportunity
The Margaret River region attracts visitors who have high expectations and genuine choice. They've stayed in beautiful places before. They know what a thoughtfully styled space feels like and they'll pay more for it, return for it, and tell others about it.
If your property isn't styled to match the quality of the region it sits in, it's working harder than it needs to for less than it should be earning.
We work with short stay owners across Margaret River, Dunsborough, Busselton, Yallingup and Augusta to create properties that feel genuinely special, guest-ready, camera-friendly and designed to perform.
If you're curious about what a styling session could do for your property, start with our 5-minute welcome questionnaire. There's no pressure and no commitment, just a conversation about your space and what's possible.
Sandra & Ness,
