Discover How This Host Turned His Family-Friendly Property Into One Dreamy Airbnb

A modern, family-friendly Airbnb in North Center, Chicago. Photo: Justin Kreindler.

Nestled away in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago, a spacious and modern family-friendly home is available for rent. Owner and Superhost, Justin Kreindler, has transformed this newly renovated home into the most desirable Airbnb on the block (perhaps neighborhood). The owners, along with their two children, live above the rental property and are readily available to address all guest needs. 

Read on to discover the benefits of a minimal carbon footprint in your rental, making guests feel at home, and how to know you’ve found the right rental property for you.

How did you discover your dream Airbnb property? 

When I first moved to Chicago in 2004 a friend introduced me to a living arrangement called the Chicago Dream. The idea is to own a two or three-unit building and have the rental income from the building cover your living expenses in that same building. My wife and I are incredibly fortunate to have the means to be able to live the dream.

My wife’s parents moved from the suburbs of Chicago into the city to be closer to us and they chose an amazing, family-oriented neighborhood called North Center. We were lucky to find a building two blocks from my in-laws that checked most of our boxes and it already had an Airbnb established. We knew right away that we wanted to continue operating the first-floor apartment as a short-term rental so we bought everything from the previous owner and literally had guests the first night we owned the building.

At what point did you decide to list on Airbnb? 

While we bought everything from the last owners, there was quite a bit of room for improvement in the operation. We bought our building not just to operate an Airbnb but also so we’d have extra space to host friends and family, so we wanted to be sure that our STR had all of the creature comforts and conveniences our loved ones would want and appreciate having during a visit.

The welcoming Airbnb doubles as a space for visiting family and friends to stay. Photo: Justin Kreindler.

Tell us about Kreindler House! What is your favorite part of the home? 

I love that our building is solar-powered, so guests are leaving a minimal carbon footprint. I love that our place has a functional kitchen, with decent pots, pans, silverware, and dishes. I also really like our Brooklinen towels. While I don’t mention it anywhere, all of our paintings hanging in our place were made by my mother-in-law and I took all of the photos.

Do you have any design tips for budding Airbnb hosts? 

My best design advice for a budding Airbnb host is to spend a little time living in your place before you rent it out. There are nuances about a place’s layout and the comfort of certain pieces that can only be discovered after spending time living with them. Second, I'm a big believer in spending the money to buy higher quality stuff. Furniture gets used and possibly worn out by guests, but that’s what it’s there for. We charge a little more for our place because we have nice things and our guests agree that it’s a nice place to stay.

What do you do to make guests feel at home? 

To help our guests feel at home we’ve made sure that our property is just as well-appointed as our home. We give our guests our favorite coffee beans from an amazing coffee roaster here in Chicago in the Back of the Yards neighborhood as well as their choice of a french press or drip coffee maker. We offer families with kids toys, books, and other comforts of home. We offer nice soaps and things in our bathroom. Our place is really quite welcoming and comfortable.

Enjoy a modern design without sacrificing the creature comforts of home. Photo: Justin Kreindler.

What do you include in your Folio guide to make life easier for guests? 

Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. Our neighborhood, North Center, has beautiful parks, top-notch restaurants, and awesome places to shop. We use Folio to share the hidden gems (and the not-so-hidden ones) with our guests. Being able to share a link with useful information before guests arrive I think signals to our guests that we are good at what we do, we can be depended on as a resource, and it cuts down on questions they need to ask me about the neighborhood or our house.

How would you spend a perfect weekend in Chicago? 

My perfect weekend in Chicago is centered around food and visiting different neighborhoods. Starting out in Uptown with dinner on Argyle at BYOB Vietnamese restaurant, Nhà Hàng, and then heading to Andersonville to go out to some great bars like Hopleaf and Little Bad Wolf, before calling it a night. In the morning, going for a nice walk along the North Branch of the Chicago River in Horner Park before heading to Devon Street for lunch at an Indian or Pakistani restaurant, Khan BBQ and Uru Swati are a couple of favorites. Then I would head to Wrigley Field for a day game, followed by a couple of cocktails across the street from the ballpark at Hush Money. We could walk over to the lake from there and hang out until dinner. We’d come back to Lincoln Square for dinner at one of the killer New American eats like the Warbler, L&M Parkside, or Gather. Before calling it a night we could grab a nightcap at Victor Bar, just a couple blocks from our place. Sunday morning we could head to Logan Square for brunch, Lula Cafe if we can get a table, and then some shopping.

Book your next stay in Chicago on their Airbnb page. You can read more host stories for additional inspiration on making your short-term rental the top pick for guests.