Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => OT Knowledge => Topic started by: citoyen on 29 September, 2017, 11:21:47 am
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We're thinking of listing our annexe on airbnb - could be a tidy earner if the figures quoted by airbnb are reliable.
Anyone have any experience as a host? Any pitfalls we should be looking out for? I've heard various horror stories* but I'm more concerned with the everyday practicalities and the little things that we might not have considered that would make it a less attractive proposition and/or more work and expense than envisaged. My wife's best friend looks after a couple of properties that are listed on airbnb so she has given us lots of useful advice already but would love to hear about any other experiences, good or bad.
*our 'annexe' is a self-contained extension to our house, with its own front door, bathroom and kitchen, but we would be on site (next door) any time there were guests staying, so that should discourage anyone intending to hold an illegal rave or use it for porn shoots or as a pop-up brothel.
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Pop-up brothel? :o I'll leave this to the usual punsters.
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Pop-up brothel? :o I'll leave this to the usual punsters.
It's an actual thing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39528479
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AirBnb generally works pretty well, or at least better than the rival offerings. I'm not sure about "tidy little earner", it is plenty of work and unless you are in a particularly desirable area not as lucrative as you might expect.
A few random thoughts:
If they offer a photographer, take it up.
The place has to be spotless, and has to have wifi. Make sure there are towels, bedding, shampoo, bog paper; everything else is optional.
Guests expect to be able to book late, and for short periods. Think about whether you can be bothered with one-night stays. They will book random dates, which leaves you with voids all over the place. If you only let for a minimum of a week expect only one booking a year.
AirBnb will hassle you constantly to reduce the price. Ignore it. If there really are "other hosts in your area getting bookings at £22/night" for a four bedroom property, that's their problem, they will soon learn or go bust.
Respond to enquiries within an hour, it affects future enquiries.
As for pitfalls, only the usual minor issues. Someone lost the remote. Someone clipped the wall with their car. Occasionally a guest will use every item of crockery and glassware and not wash up. Overall virtually everyone is pretty good, and no-one's tried to have a facebook party. Airbnb have insurance for that, but make sure you inform your own insurers too.
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it is plenty of work and unless you are in a particularly desirable area not as lucrative as you might expect.
At the moment the annexe is sitting empty, so any income from it would be a bonus. We're probably a bit too far away from the beach to count as being very desirable but it's close enough, and there is a definite shortage of decent hotels and traditional B&Bs in this area. There's another airbnb just up the road from us so it might be worth asking them what business is like.
has to have wifi
Hmmm. Wifi shouldn't be a problem but internet connection speed will be. Nothing we can do about that, unfortunately.
Respond to enquiries within an hour, it affects future enquiries.
Sound advice. Also about notifying our insurers. Does it affect your premium?
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I work for a client who has turned their 'forge' into an Airbnb listing. It has had almost no interest. They think it may be the fact it is on a main road and despite the village being 'alright' there is nothing nearby of any great interest.
Location, location, location.
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Can't help as a host, as an airbnb user can I suggest a couple of things:
1 - Stay in your own place first. See how it really works
2 - Little touches that cost not a lot can make a place feel a lot more luxurious and value for money
3 - Take time to meet your guests and advise them of things like decent restaurants and pubs
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My friend in Shetland lets out her Lerwick flat for stays of >3 nights. She seems to add nice touches and gets rave reviews and touching gifts from happy travellers. Seems win/win all round for her but her situation is geographically unusual.
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Location is important but guests can also use Airbnb for 'niches' which well located hotels might not do as well.
As a pertinent example, I stayed in an Airbnb room in Sturry before your Thanet Platinum event - cheaper than a hotel room and crucially the host was happy to store my bike!
Good communication is vital (both ways). If a potential host was rude or unhelpful I would definitely swerve booking with them.
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A friend runs an AirBnB service in a foreing land, providing an interface between the english speaking world (the majority lessees) and local owners (non-english speaking in the main), handling the changeovers, cleaning etc. Seems to scale well.
I'll be doing my first AirBnB stay next week. One night in Derby. Will let you know.
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One night in Derby is one night too many.
A friend of mine is a host. Apparently she had a guest who (and these aren't my words) 'frantically masturbated everywhere.' I didn't delve into the detail of 'frantic'. Maybe she meters the internet or something.
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It is for a funeral. I'd have done a day trip if I could.
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I now look for airbnb first, hotels second.
My list:
-*clean* bed linen and towels. The place doesn't have to be spotless, but the linen does.
- Wifi - enough for checking email, facebook,etc. I never expect to be able to stream video.
- Small decorative touches go a long way. Small supply of coffee/tea is nice too. Often after a long journey, it's really nice to get a cup of coffee without having to go out shopping.
- Small tourist guide. Local places, directions, taxi numbers, etc. Last place in Montreal didn't have that and I kinda missed it. Granted, everything was on the doorstep, but there was almost too much choice, so suggestions would have been nice.
- Small manual. Where's the cleaning supplies, bin bags, etc. Do I have to sort for recycling and where to put it.
- Reviews: Be reasonable? One place in Edmonton, we left a a 6 pack of beer in the fridge and host considered that 'not cleaning up properly'. We were just trying to be friendly!
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A friend of mine is a host. Apparently she had a guest who (and these aren't my words) 'frantically masturbated everywhere.' I didn't delve into the detail of 'frantic'. Maybe she meters the internet or something.
But wouldn't it be in some way worse if she knew it had been leisurely masturbation?
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Airbnbukakke.
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A friend of mine is a host. Apparently she had a guest who (and these aren't my words) 'frantically masturbated everywhere.' I didn't delve into the detail of 'frantic'. Maybe she meters the internet or something.
But wouldn't it be in some way worse if she knew it had been leisurely masturbation?
I think she was more concerned with quantity than quality.
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3 - Take time to meet your guests and advise them of things like decent restaurants and pubs
We didn't meet the host of the airbnb we stayed in recently - the key was left in a secure box by the front door. That's fine. We just wanted somewhere to stay, we weren't looking to make new friends. All communication was via airbnb messaging and that suited us perfectly, but I guess other people look at it differently. In our case, since it's an annexe of our house we're planning to let, we'll be around anyway so will find it hard to avoid meeting the guests.
Totally agree about providing advice on local restaurants, pubs etc - in fact, knowing me, I'll probably go over the top and end up spending a lot of time creating a highly detailed information pack...
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Location is important but guests can also use Airbnb for 'niches' which well located hotels might not do as well.
A friend who works at the uni, just a few miles down the road, reckons we'd get good business from visiting lecturers.
As a pertinent example, I stayed in an Airbnb room in Sturry before your Thanet Platinum event - cheaper than a hotel room and crucially the host was happy to store my bike!
:thumbsup:
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- Small tourist guide. Local places, directions, taxi numbers, etc. Last place in Montreal didn't have that and I kinda missed it. Granted, everything was on the doorstep, but there was almost too much choice, so suggestions would have been nice.
- Small manual. Where's the cleaning supplies, bin bags, etc. Do I have to sort for recycling and where to put it.
Two things we felt were missing from the airbnb we stayed in recently. There were some limited instructions on putting out the recycling but everything else was pretty much a case of feeling your way round. Some instructions on how to use the cooker and the telly would have been especially welcome (telly should be obvious but we couldn't make the one in the bedroom work). The host was quick to reply to any messages but it would have been nice not to have to ask!
There's also the thing that you're staying in someone's home and never quite sure what it's ok to help yourself to - I think you need to make it explicit if it's OK for guests to help themselves to stuff (eg the Nespresso).
I suppose it's sometimes it's hard to predict what guests will consider obvious/easy, and it's only once they ask that you realise...
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We stayed in two Airbnbs last summer, one in Prague, one in Vienna. The couple running the place in Prague were lovely, driving out to pick us up from the airport at some unearthly hour. The only problem was we didn't know they were going to do this, so we'd already got a taxi! Communication in that case was mostly by text, which probably works better than via Airbnb once you're on the move, but phones always take so long to wake up after flights. I see they know have WhatsApp, which might work better for international guests.
The place in Vienna was an amazing old flat in the city centre but the bloke was a bit odd. He insisted on coming round to pick up the key when we left (the people in Prague had had somewhere to leave it) and checking the flat "to make sure we hadn't left anything behind". He was obviously making sure we hadn't stolen anything, which is fair enough but we'd have preferred if he'd simply said so. We reckon he didn't actually own it but was subletting it on Airbnb without the owner's knowledge, which is why he was so dodgy about it. Also, we arrived on a Sunday evening and found all shops are closed in Austria on Sundays; coming from lands of 24-hour shopping, this was something we hadn't bargained on. I walked miles to get some teabags and stuff! So that kind of background info can be useful for foreign guests.
An annoyance we found in the Airbnb system is that you can only leave reviews within 14 days of checking out. We wanted to leave a good review of the place in Prague but by the time we got home, it was too late.
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I think I'd be weirded by staying in someone else's house. I sort of like the anonymity of hotels. I do get weirded by a lot of things though, so that's probably just me.
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We only ever go for the "whole apartment" option, avoiding the someone-else's-house creepiness and providing a much more comfortable* and private space than a hotel for the same or less money.
* Bed and bathroom dependent, obv
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If I were a young person travelling alone, I might go for the room in someone's house, but I'm not, so it's whole apartment/house every time.
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Yes, never really thought of it as staying in someone else's house, though I suppose it is; and if the host were present, it would certainly feel like that.
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Even so, I still wouldn't trust them not to be hiding in the wardrobe. Dressed as clowns. With axes.
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One night in Derby is one night too many.
Little chef used to have something on their dessert menu called a 'Brown Derby'.
I've no idea what it was, but it sounds like something rogerzilla would do for fun.
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Little chef used to have something on their dessert menu called a 'Brown Derby'.
I've no idea what it was, but it sounds like something rogerzilla would do for fun.
That was Wimpy - although maybe Little Chef had it on their menu as well. It was a doughnut topped with Mr Whippy ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. It was my childhood ambition to try one, and needless to say when I finally did, I was disappointed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Derby
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Even so, I still wouldn't trust them not to be hiding in the wardrobe. Dressed as clowns. With axes.
But hotel staff can do that too. [In parts of Berlin it's a standard extra. I hear ... ]
"Normal" B&Bs have always had the same gamble; if you get nice hosts, and/or ones that stay out of your way the right amount, they're MUCH nicer than cold hotels. But there will be weirdos out there who insist on bugging you every hour, and chatting through breakfast.
The most generous hosts I've had were in Belgium and Germany (although we fooled the germans by arriving at 3am - they gave us a fantastic welcome, then immediately went straight to bed and we let ourselves out early in the morning. Bloody Audaxers ... ).
But perhaps the nicest was in Herefordshire - technically it was " a room in someone's house", but the owners were never around; they just left everything we needed accessible. That place had the benefit of a "proper" dining room, plus use of kitchen and fridge, and a lounge-wiv-telly; facilities we could never have afforded in a hotel, and they felt homely, instead of corporate.
No doubt my next rental will be hideous. With clowns ...
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As I travel a lot, I'm inclined to avoid surprises when I arrive places. Especially clown-based surprises. I suppose that's the benefit of the ordinarily tedious business hotels. They're reliably tedious. No one arrives in a Hilton or Marriot and says 'oh, this is nice.' You know what you are getting.
I, of course, would hide in the wardrobe. Dressed as a clown. With an axe.
No one can masturbate, frantically or otherwise, not if they're worrying there's an axe-wielding clown in the wardrobe. If you don't believe me, try it.
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As I travel a lot, I'm inclined to avoid surprises when I arrive places. Especially clown-based surprises. I suppose that's the benefit of the ordinarily tedious business hotels. They're reliably tedious. No one arrives in a Hilton or Marriot and says 'oh, this is nice.' You know what you are getting.
I, of course, would hide in the wardrobe. Dressed as a clown. With an axe.
No one can masturbate, frantically or otherwise, not if they're worrying there's an axe-wielding clown in the wardrobe. If you don't believe me, try it.
Hmmm... http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Coulrophilia
After last year's creepy clown sightings, Pornhub searches for "clown porn" went up 213 percent—and women were apparently 33 percent more likely to search for it than men. So what's the attraction?
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/ev47da/inside-the-kinky-brightly-colored-world-of-clown-fetishists
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OK, it's a niche thing. Besides there's a fundamental difference between axe- and dildo-wielding clowns.
Though, in principle, I'm all for avoiding both.
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Anyone used Airbnb recently? I've just booked somewhere in Germany; they seem to have changed the "messaging" etiquette.
Looks like you have to use the web-interface* now. I understand why they do this, but it was very useful in previous years to have a mobile number that I could text arrival time updates to. Does this still exist, I've just failed to spot it?
[*SMS is faaaaaaaaar easier from my phone than powering up the browser on a small screen :( ]
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Well, we have just been to Germany and availed ourselves of two AirBnB things. An experience and a place to stay. Comms was a mix of through AirBnB and not, without necessarily trying to bypass one or the othe.r
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Just a fly in the proverbial to ponder.
Yes, it is probably cheaper than a B&B or hotel but... has it been fire inspected? Does it have a fire alarm system? Are they insured in case your precious belongings are stolen, vandalised or turned to ashes?
Have a good night.
PH
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Nice bit of FUD-spreading - didn't you used to run a B&B?
FWIW, Air BnB reckon to have insurance in place offering primary coverage for claims from renters.
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Has any hotel been fire inspected, does it comply, and do you check when you book, and again when you arrive?
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Once you've booked you should get the direct number of the host, and if that's not a mobile number you can ask for it, AirBnb will let it through. I'm fairly sure you can also reply to an SMS message from the host and it will be routed to them (via AirBnb).
PH - you can book a range of places through AirBnb, from hotels through serviced apartments, down to someone's spare room in their house. The standards are generally exactly what you would expect according to type, I wouldn't expect a spare room to be fire inspected, though AirBnb do require hosts to have smoke detectors, etc. For a hotel or guest house it's the same as if you turned up and booked on arrival. As for insurance, I would generally expect to be claiming on my own insurance if those things happened, and if not, claiming through AirBnb would probably be easier than direct against a foreign guest house.
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Anyone used Airbnb recently? I've just booked somewhere in Germany; they seem to have changed the "messaging" etiquette.
Looks like you have to use the web-interface* now. I understand why they do this, but it was very useful in previous years to have a mobile number that I could text arrival time updates to. Does this still exist, I've just failed to spot it?
[*SMS is faaaaaaaaar easier from my phone than powering up the browser on a small screen :( ]
Have you tried using the app? It has an SMS-style messaging function. Last time we stayed in an Airbnb, all our contact with the host was messaging via the app.
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Once you've booked you should get the direct number of the host, and if that's not a mobile number you can ask for it, AirBnb will let it through. I'm fairly sure you can also reply to an SMS message from the host and it will be routed to them (via AirBnb).
Yes, thankyou, that's more-or-less what happened. :thumbsup: For some reason the initial email (and web-page) didn't show it. But I am now good to go (and checked that my host was happy for me to use that number).
( I will probably die horribly in a fire, but it's very cheap, and I will already have finished my big ride for the year so that's what matters :P )