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Hello, welcome to the definitive SA AirBnB thread! This OP was updated as recently as Sunday, June 22nd, 2014. Help me keep it up to date! For anyone who has yet to set up an account and use it, you can use my referral link for a credit: $25 towards your first stay! Full disclosure. I'll also get a kickback ($25 for a stay, $75 if you host)! http://www.airbnb.com/c/mbaudendistel What is http://www.airbnb.com, you ask? Think eBay for short term housing with a yelp! like review system. I’ll let Wikipedia explain the basic premise: Wikipedia posted:Airbnb is an online marketplace for vacation rentals that connects users with property to rent with users looking to rent the space. Users are categorized as “Hosts” and “Guests;” both of which must register with Airbnb using a valid email address to build a uniqueuser profile on the website. Profiles include details such as user reviews and shared social connections to build a reputation and trust among users of the marketplace. Other elements of the Airbnb profile include user recommendations and a private messaging system. Why on Earth stay at an AirBnB instead of a hotel, etc? Good question. It certainly takes a certain type of person to stay at one of these initially. However, after your first stay or two, the “trust” issue is long forgotten as the network offers a great opportunity to: a) Stay with locals who enjoy representing their area, can recommend worthwhile (and lesser known/niche) attractions, and have a vested interest in your general satisfaction with your stay. b) Stay in comfortable accommodations generally much less expensive than a hotel, motel, or resort. c) Keep money out of Paris Hilton’s grubby paws, and share it with the local community! My wife and I have used the AirBnB network for a while now, utilizing hosts in Asheville (North Carolina, USA), Nashville (Tennessee, USA), New Orleans (Louisiana, USA), Amsterdam (Holland), Köln (Germany), and Brussels (Belgium). Our list expands continuously. Each stay was incredibly convenient, and much less costly than a commercial accommodation. Each has had their own experience completely original to the area, impossible to parallel otherwise. Let’s offer up our stay 3 day stay “splurging” in Amsterdam on a houseboat as a brief example.https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/579851 For $180 a night, my wife and I shared in a 2 year old, custom built houseboat on the North Sea of Amsterdam, resulting in a five minute walk to downtown activities. The hosts provided bicycles, obviously making travel in urban Amsterdam that much easier, and had an impressive layout of local food (homemade butter, jam, artesian bread, cheese, champagne, water, beer, coffee, stroopwafel & more) ready for our consumption. This impressive spread was so generous it actually provided us with more than enough food for 2 whole meals (and we’re not small people)---saving us a little bit of cash on the side. By the listing, you can see how obviously gorgeous the place was, and it might as well have been a spa, as far as I was concerned.   Now, that was the extravagant. Alternatively, this was our Köln stay: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1291382  A cozy, one bedroom apartment all to ourselves, away from the tourist sect of the city yet in the heart of the downtown happenings (right on the tramline) for $70/night. There’s not a hotel in the universe that could have offered that value. A few quick notes on optimizing your stays: 1) Make sure your profile has a legit biography w/ basic information; nobody wants to rent out to the bionic man. 2) Make sure you have a good picture, one that doesn’t make you look like a troll goomba. 3) Contact the host prior to booking. Let them know why you're coming, why their place in specific is the one you're interested in. It never hurts to butter anyone up (with due reason! E.g., those Spiderman sheets looks wicked awesome). 4) If you're a host, ask if there's a host discount. If you're a multi-night guest, see if there's a multi-night discount. If it’s a place you could be traveling to regularly, see if there's a returning customer discount. (Smart) hosts are open to wheeling a dealing a little bit to keep business rolling! It truly is to both of your advantages! Why host? Money, dummy! My wife and I rent our entire 2nd floor (bedroom, full bathroom, and gym) for $55/night just to have someone occupy that level and not waste it. We’re using the irregular extra income for home improvements to improve our guests' stay. Plenty of paint, furniture, bricks, etc can be purchased with an additional $40 a week profit! We’ve officially had one long term guest (3 months), and have been solicited by several others for potential long term stays. With this more consistent & substantial money, we’ve prepaid our mortgage, maximized our retirement accounts, and done all sorts of other fun things, e.g. funding our own fun excursions via AirBnB to nearby, and not so nearby, destinations. So far, the guests have been great. I've enjoyed the different sorts that have walked through my door, and appreciate being able to recommend to them "MY" Knoxville, TN. Ribbing a competing teams' sports fan as I cook him/her breakfast is a uniquely interesting experience. To our tiny little city of Knoxville, we’ve had people visit from as far away as Russia, Israel, Switzerland, France, and Columbia. That's kind of cool for a hillbilly! As for security, have no fear. AirBnB has a good model to ensure it, in my opinion: Wikipedia posted:Airbnb user profiles contain recommendations, reviews, and ratings to build credible online reputations within the platform. Additionally, the site provides a private messaging system as a channel for users to message one another privately before booking and accepting reservations. Hosts are never required to accept a reservation. After the guest has checked out, the parties review one another to build website credibility similar to online marketplaces like eBay. As for the money staying local, quote:In November 2012, Airbnb commissioned HR&A Advisors to conduct a study which measured the market impact of collaborative consumption by users within urban populations. Specifically, the study measured the impact these companies had on the economy of San Francisco. The study found that from April 2011 to May 2012, guests and hosts utilizing the service contributed $56 million in spending within the San Francisco economy, $43.1 million of which supported local businesses. Over 90% of hosts surveyed rented their primary residences to visitors on an occasional basis, and spent nearly half the income they make on living expenses. The study also found the average guest stay was 5.5 days, compared to 3.5 days for hotel guests, and the average guest spent $1,045 during their stay, compared to the $840 spent by hotel guests. A few quick notes on optimizing your hosting: 1) Again, make sure your profile has a legit biography w/ basic information; nobody wants to rent from the bionic man. 2) Make sure you have a good picture, which looks decent. 3) More importantly, have GREAT pictures of your place in the listing. Make sure windows (blinds) are open, light is plentiful, and floors are freshly swept and vacuumed. Beds made, toiletries put away, etc. Nobody wants to stay in a place that is obviously not kept up. Apply for the professional photographer in your area. It is free, paid for by AirBnB, but don't rely on it. I'm the #1 listing in Knoxville currently, and have not heard back on the photographer in MONTHS. Take decent photos yourself, the pro may never come! 4) If your place is outdated---do what you can to spruce it up. Paint is relatively cheap, outdated furniture can be youth-enized by the use of strategic furniture covers. Instagram projects (or better yet, the SA DIY forum to set your place apart are plentiful. There is NO excuse. 5) Look at your competition, see what they offer. Then steal it (the wording, that is)! Our biggest competitor looked at our description and took it almost verbatim. Was I mad? Yes. Was he smart? More yes! Don’t ramble, but let your potential visitors know what you have for them. Netflix, check, amazon prime, check, hulu plus, check. Oh, that listing has a fire pit? I built one of those! This other one has a hammock station out back? Guess what I did! 6) If you're not getting guests, you're priced too high. Its that simple. You need to look at your local competition to see how best to remedy, most likely via a) drop the price, b) validate the higher charges w/ newer pictures, updates, etc. The best scheme is to price low, get some great reviews, then skew higher. Now for the database! Gooncribs  USA California, Tahoe City jvick - 10% discount for goons! North Carolina, The Triangle Email "Rurutia" at sa.rurutia@gmail.com for the link and a discount. Tennessee, Knoxville Dead Pressed - Contact prior to booking w/ details on stay for discounted rates! UK England, London tentish klown - 10% discount for goons! Recommended Stays (non-goon)  France, Paris Practical 1 BR downtown near metro Holland, Amsterdam Gorgeous houseboat on North Sea This is a working thread. Please ask questions, recommend joints, let me know what I can do to improve it! Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Jun 22, 2014 |
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Nov 10, 2013 15:53
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A fantastic service on both sides. If you're in a downtown area and your city has a once-a-year event that sells out every hotel, it's a real way to make excellent cash. People in Austin rent out their apartments for SXSW at over $500 a night. And for us cheapos, always remember https://www.couchsurfing.org and if you're a badass bicyclist, https://www.warmshowers.org
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Nov 10, 2013 16:03
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I'm looking forward to using AirBnB when I leave for Europe in two weeks. Apart from a couple of actual BnBs, I'm either renting an apartment or a room in every city. I don't much see the point of travelling without it in future.
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Nov 12, 2013 08:40
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Octy posted:I'm looking forward to using AirBnB when I leave for Europe in two weeks. Apart from a couple of actual BnBs, I'm either renting an apartment or a room in every city. I don't much see the point of travelling without it in future. I find it kind of stressful if I'm only going to be somewhere one day, or if I'm somewhere for work, but yeah, for stays longer than 3 days or so I don't know why anyone in their right mind would go to a hotel, unless it's an all-inclusive resort or something. I'm listed on CouchSurfing, but 90% of the people who have contacted us have either been (A) creepy North Africans or (B) flaky as hell. We've been contacted maybe 12 times in the past year, confirmed 4 people, had 1 actually show up. Seems to be a pretty average experience. (Responders from Group (A) disappeared after we changed the account name from my girlfriend's to mine.) Been considering switching to AirBnB—not for the money, but just for the better average users.
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Nov 12, 2013 12:31
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I've used AirBnB in Lyon, France and Chambery, France, as well as Zagreb, Croatia. Superb experiences all around. I booked all of my AirBnB stays in ridiculous short timespans - booked for the next day or for 2 days ahead - and I've always found a place, which is impossible on Couchsurfing. I'd rather pay a little bit for the certainty and to not have the obligation to hang out all day with my host, which some 'snobby' Couchsurfers want you to do. As for ONLY using AirBnB on vacation, I'd say that's viable in North America or Europe but not in places like Southeast Asia, where cities sprawl unendingly and where hotels and guesthouses are cheap and plentiful. A few people have told me, for instance, that the AirBnB properties in Bangkok are mostly uninhabited condos in the middle of nowhere. Not really worth paying $30 for a room like that when you can have a decent centrally located room for under $10.
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Nov 17, 2013 21:19
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Aliquid posted:A fantastic service on both sides. If you're in a downtown area and your city has a once-a-year event that sells out every hotel, it's a real way to make excellent cash. People in Austin rent out their apartments for SXSW at over $500 a night. And for us cheapos, always remember https://www.couchsurfing.org and if you're a badass bicyclist, https://www.warmshowers.org This is a really good point to make, so thanks for making it for me! A big thing to realize is that it is beneficial to get a few reviews prior to requesting the big bucks in situation like this. Its hard to gather buy-in on how sweet your place is if no one has stayed there, even in the case of high demand. So, if you want to take advantage of major draws liek SxSw, make sure you're not hedging your bets that someone will be willing to take a huge risk on where they're staying for a major event. Saladman posted:I find it kind of stressful if I'm only going to be somewhere one day, or if I'm somewhere for work, but yeah, for stays longer than 3 days or so I don't know why anyone in their right mind would go to a hotel, unless it's an all-inclusive resort or something. I can understand the weariness towards using AirBnB for a single day (though, I'd say that concern should be tempered dependent on the host); however, I like it for work circumstances. I've gotten several complementary comments from peers/supervisors for being thrifty with funds on overnight stays. That said, my accommodations have been superior to that of hotels at every place I've stayed, and have worked out better for me anyways. Saladman posted:I'm listed on CouchSurfing, but 90% of the people who have contacted us have either been (A) creepy North Africans or (B) flaky as hell. We've been contacted maybe 12 times in the past year, confirmed 4 people, had 1 actually show up. Seems to be a pretty average experience. (Responders from Group (A) disappeared after we changed the account name from my girlfriend's to mine.) Been considering switching to AirBnB—not for the money, but just for the better average users. eviljelly posted:I've used AirBnB in Lyon, France and Chambery, France, as well as Zagreb, Croatia. Superb experiences all around. I booked all of my AirBnB stays in ridiculous short timespans - booked for the next day or for 2 days ahead - and I've always found a place, which is impossible on Couchsurfing. I'd rather pay a little bit for the certainty and to not have the obligation to hang out all day with my host, which some 'snobby' Couchsurfers want you to do. Personally, I would 100% never use couchsurfers. There's something about having to put a minimum amount down that really drowns out the majority of creeps. To this point, every guest of mine has been really stand up, as has each of my hosts. For the $45 we ask, its a mutually beneficial agreement that's not putting anyone out of anything. Couchsurfers seems to put a lot of onus on the host, for which I don't care. Saladman, no better place to start hosting than via SA Travel (no pressure, but really)!
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Nov 19, 2013 03:47
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Pff, just read and review people. I've had my best experience ever with a family in Matehuala, Mexico this week. I'm traveling with a couple Polish cyclists that are pretty experienced, and in their 200+ Couchsurfing stays they say this one was the best. We wanted to stay two nights and ended up staying nine. Franco Hernandez owns a pasteleria and I taught him how to make apple pie while his granny sucked down Coronas and I've never eaten better. Everyone go to the towns in the Altiplano, the people are the best. Just went down into the Huasteca today after a thousand miles in the high desert, and while the coffee is nice I feel sad.
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Nov 19, 2013 04:55
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Dead Pressed posted:
Yeah, we'll probably do this. I live in Lausanne in case anyone wants to hit me up before I get around to adding it on AirBnB. We can host 2 people, or 3 if someone is very small or doesn't mind sleeping curled up on a love seat.
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Nov 19, 2013 15:49
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Is there any pressure to reciprocate? I love this idea, but my husband and I share a tiny, cramped almost-studio in a South Korean city that, while pretty cool as a place to live, isn't really very interesting even by Korean standards. I doubt man people would be interested and I don't really like even friends being in my house.
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Nov 25, 2013 13:56
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I don't find there is any pressure to reciprocate. People often do, but the two experiences are separate as far as I am concerned, and I wouldn't worry about it. It's different from couch surfing in that regard. With AirBnB, the reward for the host is ultimately cash, and there's no ambiguity about it. While I don't couchsurf, I feel as though there must be some pay it forward sentiment there. Additionally, the user reviews are broken up into two categories: host and guest. It takes a few clicks from one to see the other, so it's not readily apparent that you don't host if you're requesting a place to stay, if that would weird anyone out in the first place, which I don't think it would for most.
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Nov 25, 2013 14:54
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In my two most recent couchsurfing experiences, I was brought into the family and did lots of things with them. I taught one family how to make an apple pie, since their son runs a cake store. In both cities I wanted to stay 2-3 days and ended up spending over a week at both places. The phrase "you can't leave now, we're just about to eat" always gets me. VVV Haha, when I check into a hotel, I don't go down and chat up the desk clerk. There should be no expectation of a city tour on AirBnB. i say swears online fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 20:03
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I've couchsurfed a lot when traveling and hosted a good amount of people (I think about 30 total). You definitely have to look at your guests critically, the only bad (well, boring) experiences have been when I gave someone the benefit of the doubt and they didn't interact at all. On the other hand, I found my girlfriend through Couchsurfing, met a lot of great people and even have a few friends because of it. I'm also on AirBnB but don't feel comfortable hosting anymore, because money is involved people tend to have much higher demands. Hell, got a negative reference because I didn't have time to show someone around.
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Nov 26, 2013 16:41
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bringmyfishback posted:Is there any pressure to reciprocate? I love this idea, but my husband and I share a tiny, cramped almost-studio in a South Korean city that, while pretty cool as a place to live, isn't really very interesting even by Korean standards. I doubt man people would be interested and I don't really like even friends being in my house. Not at all. Theres loads of guests who don't host and there's also lots of hosts who don't travel. Its not readily apparent that a guest won't be hosting. Its not like a house swap situation because the guest could be from anywhere in the world and travelling anywhere in the world. Not everyone is suited for hosting but obviously if you can then thats great. Also you'd be surprised by what you can get for your place. If you price it right then there's probably a market for it. I host in Sydney and I get a lot of people who want to stay near their family, studying at the local university nearby or are relocating to Sydney and need to a base to establish themselves.
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Nov 30, 2013 10:34
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There's not a lot of people hosting in the smaller cities in Korea, so give it a shot. Although Ulsan isn't a shining beacon of tourism 
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Nov 30, 2013 11:32
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Jeoh posted:There's not a lot of people hosting in the smaller cities in Korea, so give it a shot. Although Ulsan isn't a shining beacon of tourism It might be kind of fun to see who'd want to stay here. We're in Mugeo-dong, so as far from Hyundai as possible, but if someone was coming to visit a friend at Ulsan Uni we're right in the neighborhood. Hmmm.
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Dec 1, 2013 03:41
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At the end of the day it wont cost you anything to get it up. They only take a fee on an accepted booking. So even if you get nothing for 6 months you only lost some time setting it up. On the other hand you might make a few hundred bucks from the one person who wants to visit wherever you live.
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Dec 1, 2013 07:12
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Had some Asian transplants who came to the States to study at Ohio State come and stay while they toured the area on their way to Atlanta. Nothing too interesting there, but the second they left our next guests, our first International couple who happened to be from Switzerland, arrived. My wife went bar hopping with them unexpectedly last night, as she unknowingly bumped into them while out with her group. I cooked a nice southern scrambled egg breakfast this morning. The Swiss LOVE apple butter. Love hosting guests.
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Dec 1, 2013 19:07
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Dead Pressed posted:The Swiss LOVE apple butter. I bought a jar of this from Williams Sonoma like 3 years ago and it's been sitting in my cabinet (in Switzerland) ever since, unopened. I'll have to try this out...
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Dec 2, 2013 10:26
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Haha. Don't hold applebutter to a standard set by a three year old jar!  Review left by the Swiss. They left a signed picture telling us we need to look them up if we ever go to Switzerland, "even if it is in 20 years". That's kind of cool. On an unrelated note, we just booked three continuous months with a lady transferring offices within her company. The three months will pay two whole house payments of my 15 year mortgage! Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Dec 13, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 03:59
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Great thread idea. I don't have a place to rent out on AirBNB but I use it all the time. One place I recommend is this 1 BR in Paris, where my wife and I stayed for 4 nights in 2012. Excellent location directly across the street from the metro, walking distance (15 mins) to the Notre Dame and other similarly-situated tourist stuff, quiet, and cozy. I see the price has gone up - when we stayed it was $89/night. Still a bargain, I'd say.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:15
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Sub Par posted:Great thread idea. I don't have a place to rent out on AirBNB but I use it all the time. One place I recommend is this 1 BR in Paris, where my wife and I stayed for 4 nights in 2012. Excellent location directly across the street from the metro, walking distance (15 mins) to the Notre Dame and other similarly-situated tourist stuff, quiet, and cozy. I see the price has gone up - when we stayed it was $89/night. Still a bargain, I'd say. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll add it to the OP.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:31
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We have a 2 year old and have used AirBnB twice now and we love it. Having a two year old means he needs his own bedroom (for us at least) and the idea of going to bed at 7:30pm every night while on vacation is not a great way to spend my PTOs. Both times we've rented entire units and it's been great. The places are usually clean and we pick modern places. It's seriously awesome and when we travel from now on we'll be using it. When I have time I'll try and find the ones we've liked and stayed in. So far we've done Seattle and LA (we're SF based). You can't beat the price the convenience of these places.
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Dec 12, 2013 02:34
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That's interesting, Optimus. We've actually got our first guests tonight who happen have two kids, 4 and 2. They're running around going nuts one second, playing chess in the living room. Out of the 12 guests or so we've had thus far, this marks the fourth group doing a cross country trek from LA/SF to NYC. I'd love to get your recommendations. Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Dec 16, 2013 |
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Dec 13, 2013 02:53
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Dead Pressed, I think it'd be interesting for you to challenge your own assumptions about the unpleasantness of Couchsurfing. The onus is not on the host at all, for one thing: they're not being paid! As Aliquid hints, the pressure is more on the guests to be ''interesting'' or helpful in some way. When requesting a couch, you're always supposed to write about something that caught you eye on the host's profile, for example, as a starting point for a good conversation. It can be cheesy but you have to use your sense for people: a genuine, warm message often means a really fun intereaction. The ''little minimum of money down'' chases away the true vagabonds: you're much less likely to get a touring rock band or people on a very long bike tour (who aren't all creeps!), since they can't afford $45/night for 3 months. If you were to have the same room listed on CS and AirBnB, I bet you'd find that there was little crossover and a contrast worth seeing between the groups of guests. Regardless, I really appreciate your writeup of this site and this looks like it'll be an interesting thread.
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Dec 16, 2013 11:31
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Mortley posted:Dead Pressed, I think it'd be interesting for you to challenge your own assumptions about the unpleasantness of Couchsurfing. The onus is not on the host at all, for one thing: they're not being paid! As Aliquid hints, the pressure is more on the guests to be ''interesting'' or helpful in some way. When requesting a couch, you're always supposed to write about something that caught you eye on the host's profile, for example, as a starting point for a good conversation. It can be cheesy but you have to use your sense for people: a genuine, warm message often means a really fun intereaction. I understand your point, my point is that the "risk" of hosting on AirBnB is mitigated by getting paid (and the million of AirBnB funded insurance--I don't know offhand if couchsurfing offers anything like that, or how they would). For some people, myself included, having an "interesting" guest isn't enough to open your house to strangers. I understand how people could enjoy that, its just my wife and I don't, especially when we have the AirBnB alternative. That's why I won't be a proponent of couch surfing personally within this thread. Its just a little bit TOO much of a stretch for some people, as I can't get my wife (or myself) to bother washing the sheets or cleaning the toilet for less that $45 a stay... As far as getting "interesting" people, we've had our fair share via AirBnB, adding Russian & Israeli nationals to the Swiss in our international portfolio last week. quote:The ''little minimum of money down'' chases away the true vagabonds: you're much less likely to get a touring rock band or people on a very long bike tour (who aren't all creeps!), since they can't afford $45/night for 3 months. If you were to have the same room listed on CS and AirBnB, I bet you'd find that there was little crossover and a contrast worth seeing between the groups of guests. Yeah, I understand not getting bikers or a rock group---but that's not really the market we're looking for anyways. We've already found that there is a little crossover between couchsurfing and AirBnB, however, I appreciate the input nonetheless. . As one of the more fairly priced units in the area, we've been a first choice for several couchsurfers who could not find an abode in time via couchsurfing (lack of prompt response via the host, I'd figure). The guests have been pleasant, but again, that $45 a night really helps things our my end.  Anyways, we just started our first long term rental via AirBnB. Have a lady coming to live with us for 3 months during a 3-month training session at her new employer's local corporate office. She arrived last night, seems real nice. Here's to hoping she won't burn the place down!
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Jan 5, 2014 16:51
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I own a condo in an apartment building and just bought a second unit in the same building to have as a rental property. I'm very close to Logan Airport in Boston and I'm seeing on AirBNB that people with comparable places nearby are making substantially more than I could with renting ($1400+ a month to the $800 I was planning to rent at), assuming the same rate of occupancy. Of course, I'm assuming going on CL to rent the place would get me more solid occupancy, so I'm wondering if the perks of AirBNB (insurance, advertising, money up front, higher rates) would offset the possibly lower occupancy. Everything else being the same, what do you guys think would get me more money in the long run?
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Jan 6, 2014 06:32
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Based on the figures you've given you'd need about 60% occupancy with AirBnB guests to equal your income from a single renter -- but if the incomes are about equal it's probably not worth doing AirBnB, as it'll involve a lot more work for you than just having a single renter. The decision about how much money you want for that extra work is up to you, but I would personally want about 75% occupancy to make it worth it. That may be very easy or very difficult depending on your local market.
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Jan 7, 2014 14:01
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You could always try AirBnB over a few months and if it doesn't work out, work to rent it to a full time occupant. Vice versa would work well, too, if you're having trouble finding a tenant. Personally, if it were a full unit, I don't know what I would try myself first. I am a big proponent of AirBnB, but don't know that I'd want to struggle to keep occupancy rates high. Remember, that's furniture you have to provide, sheets that have to be washed, etc. It can be done, but you'd have to work at it. Renting out a room in your own place is most certainly an easier call.
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Jan 7, 2014 16:59
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Dead Pressed posted:You could always try AirBnB over a few months and if it doesn't work out, work to rent it to a full time occupant. Vice versa would work well, too, if you're having trouble finding a tenant. Personally, if it were a full unit, I don't know what I would try myself first. I am a big proponent of AirBnB, but don't know that I'd want to struggle to keep occupancy rates high. Remember, that's furniture you have to provide, sheets that have to be washed, etc. It can be done, but you'd have to work at it. You'll also have a lot of back and forth communication with people wanting to book. I worked in vacation apartment rentals in Paris and our occupancy rates were in the 50% range in the slow months and upper 80s in the summer.
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Jan 7, 2014 17:13
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Incidentally, if you are in a vacation area and do a lot of weekly rentals, it might be worth listing your place on VRBO as well as AirBnB. It's a lot older than AirBnB, and a bit more low-tech. Like you communicate through email, and you are responsible for your own payments (although they do provide a service.) You skip the AirBnB 6-12% "guest service fee", but it costs $349 flat a year. We used it recently on a trip to California and were very happy with every place we stayed. People seem a bit more serious about their rentals than AirBnB.
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Jan 7, 2014 18:41
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smackfu posted:You skip the AirBnB 6-12% "guest service fee", but it costs $349 flat a year. I checked their whole site and only saw a flat 3% fee on AirBnB, are they nickel and diming some other stuff?
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Jan 8, 2014 16:34
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Zero VGS posted:I checked their whole site and only saw a flat 3% fee on AirBnB, are they nickel and diming some other stuff? They call it the "guest service fee" and it's on top of the price you list at. So if you list a place for $100 a night, you get $97 and the user pays around $110. $3 from you and $10 from the guest is the way they try to portray it. But maybe most people just ignore that?
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Jan 8, 2014 19:05
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I could be wrong, but I believe the fee the host pays is just for the card transaction. The guest pays the AirBnB fee, which is a percentage of the rental rate. For my place, we currently rent out at $45, guests pay $50 to AirBnB, and we receive $44 all said and done. On a different note, my wife and I are fixing to run an interesting experiment. Long story short, we undercut the market by $10 to start getting reviews. We got a few hits and our main competitor matched the rate. Our success continued, and now we're the top result in the Knoxville area with 20 positive reviews. As we have a long term rental for the next three months, my wife and I are considering upping the price up to $65 or so. This will show in the listing for the next bit, but won't effect our bottom line if it doesn't stick, as we're locked in for now. I am hoping it does stick with our competitor matching the higher rate, putting us all on a more profitable fair playing field. If they don't raise, we put ourselves back at $45 before returning to semi vacant. Will report the pricing results!
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Jan 11, 2014 17:21
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Thanks for making this thread. I had never heard of Airbnb before. This spring I am looking at driving all over the western half of the country and I'd much rather meet and stay with locals than give my money to a hotel chain. In your experience, do prices tend fluctuate much? I'm looking at visiting some well known ski towns and I'm curious if their pricing will drop when the snow and tourists go away. Hughmoris fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Jan 19, 2014 |
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Jan 19, 2014 10:27
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I'd say it depends on the area and the hosts in specific.... How "in tune" they are with the local market if you will. They've got to answer to supply and demand too, and if someone else drops price they are less competitive, yadda yadda. That said, I've never really looked at a seasonal place for comparison.
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Jan 22, 2014 03:59
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I just checked for Sochi during the Olympics. Some have already raised their prices for it and others haven't but I bet if you buy at the low prices now they will cancel on you as soon as they see what everyone else is charging. People are going to make a killing there.
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Jan 23, 2014 01:35
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Yeah, there's a big film festival going on here right now, so I've moved to the couch and just used my bedroom to host people. Threw up my price by about 25% and I'm fully booked for the next two weeks. It's great.
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Jan 23, 2014 08:48
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I just purchased tickets to a concert in Nashville in late April. My wife was talking about just driving back to Knoxville after the concert (3 hour drive) and I literally laughed in her face. Booked a place downtown with 150 reviews for less than 40 bucks for the night. Totally worth it. What a deal.
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Jan 24, 2014 01:30
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Dead Pressed posted:I just purchased tickets to a concert in Nashville in late April. My wife was talking about just driving back to Knoxville after the concert (3 hour drive) and I literally laughed in her face. Booked a place downtown with 150 reviews for less than 40 bucks for the night. Totally worth it. What a deal. I was just reading up on AirBnB the other day and happy to see this thread! Dead Pressed, I am a recent southern transplant and looking to explore more areas this summer....are you pet friendly? I have a small, well behaved, semi-retired service dog.
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Jan 25, 2014 18:11
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Baby_Hippo posted:I was just reading up on AirBnB the other day and happy to see this thread! Yes, we are pet friendly. We actually have two rescued rat terriers ourselves! We have a pretty large 100% fenced in backyard (s)he'd love, I'm sure. To where in the south have you transplanted? Jeoh posted:Yeah, there's a big film festival going on here right now, so I've moved to the couch and just used my bedroom to host people. Threw up my price by about 25% and I'm fully booked for the next two weeks. It's great. I'd certainly love to have you listed as a host in the OP!
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Jan 25, 2014 19:11
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