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I just host whenever my girlfriend isn't around, so that wouldn't be much help 
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Jan 26, 2014 00:07
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RE the seasonal rentals. My family has a condo at Lake Tahoe and the summer rates that the management company rents it out for are about 50% higher per week than the winter rates. I have a question for other hosts. I listed the place on my own on AirBnB and got a lot of traffic initially with 1 picture of the view. Now that I've added pictures of the interior, inquiries have dropped off. Any recommendations? The pictures are not that bad.
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Jan 29, 2014 06:44
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jvick posted:I have a question for other hosts. I listed the place on my own on AirBnB and got a lot of traffic initially with 1 picture of the view. Now that I've added pictures of the interior, inquiries have dropped off. Any recommendations? The pictures are not that bad. "Not that bad" is pretty subjective. Are the rooms in good shape, no need to clean, pick up clothes, etc? Could it be that they are outdated, room needs paint, etc? Is the furniture older, maybe ratty looking? Remember, you're selling this place, make sure it looks great, not just good, or "not that bad". Look at comparable places near you to see what they offer how their pictures look. It could be that someone near you is offering a better deal at your price point, or someone else is undercutting your price for a similar offering. Also, how have your reviews been? All 5 star or have you lapsed in an area? Be cognizant of stuff like that.
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Jan 29, 2014 13:27
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Dead Pressed posted: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. Yay! We're in North Carolina :cue banjo music: Also having gone through some places on airbnb now I'm amazed at how many of the places look like they are straight out of Pinterest, a lot of care has gone into prepping these places!
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Jan 29, 2014 16:15
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I'm putting a flat up (in London, UK) on AirBnB. I currently have 5 photos up and haven't done anything to it to make it good, but am going to spend a day sprucing it up, buying all the quality extras and then getting the free AirBnB photographer to come round and take professional photos. It's here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2282137 The whole flat is up for the time being but I'll be moving in later in the year and will reduce it to the spare room. Any hints and tips to make it look better would be appreciated, I plan on having a quality page up by mid-Feb.
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Jan 30, 2014 16:00
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Just a quick note while I'm at lunch...don't expect the professional photographer to show up any time soon. We put in months ago and have yet to hear anything. Pretty sure there is a price threshold to which they limit it. Take the time to make it look as good as you can ASAP, even if it takes a while for you to make improvements. Update as you go!
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Jan 30, 2014 18:47
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Well, I've just had my first enquiry, for 5 students to share the place while they're doing internships at investment banks. Seeing as I'm not a fan of the listing at the moment, I'm blown away. 10 weeks of bookings straight like that! They want to look around and check it out before going ahead and booking (unsurprisingly, given that it's thousands of pounds worth of rent), but this is amazing. My estate agent is officially fired.
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Jan 30, 2014 19:23
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Congrats...Just be wary of any funny stuff. Make sure they are reviewed well and don't want to do anything under the table...remember,a large part of the airbnb appeal is their insurance coverage. That should be of interest to you with young uni students!
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Jan 30, 2014 21:38
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Dead Pressed posted:"Not that bad" is pretty subjective. Are the rooms in good shape, no need to clean, pick up clothes, etc? Could it be that they are outdated, room needs paint, etc? Is the furniture older, maybe ratty looking? Remember, you're selling this place, make sure it looks great, not just good, or "not that bad". Look at comparable places near you to see what they offer how their pictures look. Have a look for yourself: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2094435 The pictures are a bit dated, with the CRT TV that we've updated to an LCD. But overall the furniture and layout are the same. I just listed the place not too long ago so I haven't had any stays, so no reviews. I'm in a steep uphill battle. The other lake front units in the area are actual houses versus our condo.
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Jan 30, 2014 23:12
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I'm happy to have found this thread! My girlfriend and I will be traveling through Southern Europe around the Mediterranean for 2-3 months starting next June and we've been toying with the idea of using AirBnB to book our rooms as much as possible. For one, we'd love to save as much money as we can since she's still a student but at the same time, getting some local flavor at each place we stay would be an added bonus. Has anyone done the whole AirBnB thing for multiple places in a row in different cities? How feasible do you guys think this is? At the same time, what are the best steps to have an AirBnB account that's in good standings (so that hosts won't want to cancel our bookings)? Have friends "recommend" you? Would this thread be a good place to find recommenders? AirBnB also seems to have a referral system to get some extra bucks ($28 for each of us when you book a place to stay) if your friends register with your link. If any of you aren't registered yet and are looking to do so, I'd be more than happy to provide a link by PM and give you a good "review" and whatnot! Frost000 fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 00:40
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jvick posted:Have a look for yourself: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2094435 Open up your windows when you're taking pictures. More light is good, and with the view you've got, it's only gonna make the pictures better .
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Jan 31, 2014 02:38
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Frost000 posted:Has anyone done the whole AirBnB thing for multiple places in a row in different cities? How feasible do you guys think this is? I did this in October, going from Tacoma to NYC to Chicago. It worked well enough; the only real concern is that for your trip to go smoothly, more people have to get everything right. Tacoma was fantastic, but the apartment in NYC was (in my view) poorly represented, and I had a huge problem with the arrival time arrangements in Chicago. In NYC, the photos were somehow taken in a way to suggest that the room was twice as big as it was. In reality it was a queen size bed with maybe a foot of clearance on the three sides, filled with the host's knickknacks and the dining room table was apparently an art object which was not to be used. In Chicago, the host's listing specified "Flexible check in time" in the data table, and in the weeks between when I booked and when I was due to arrive never asked about my planned arrival time. So I got off my red-eye, tired as hell, and texted them with "Hey, I'm on my way", only to get a response that the room wasn't yet available and wouldn't be until 5pm. It turned out to have been mentioned at the bottom of the "house rules" tab that they couldn't guarantee a check in time earlier than 5pm. I thought this was bullshit and said as much to the AirBnb folks, while I sat blearily-eyed in a Starbucks watching marathon runners go past. They agreed, and now "check in time" isn't in the data table for the Chicago listing. Personally I wouldn't host, because I feel hosting carries a certain obligation of service which I don't want to be obligated to provide. But I do like staying in Airbnb places. Just make sure to read every single word on every single tab (and check the cancellation policy!)
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Feb 1, 2014 01:05
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jvick posted:Have a look for yourself: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2094435 Some constructive criticism: the place looks outdated. Anything from furniture, to bed comforters, to lighting fixtures, to wood paneling. Anything you can do to try and spruce it up a little bit could make a big difference. Example: hide the outdated dining chairs that appear in a couple of the photos, except a photo of the dining room. Paint (if you're not opposed) the paneling to lighten the room. Paint the rooms to non-white neutral colors (white is too boring, use a solitary "accent" wall if you don't want to invest as much on paint). If you're willing to drop some cash, update the lighting fixtures. Invest in covers for your purple chairs. All in all, the "style" kind of looks thrown together and old, but from differing styles & design eras. I understand we all work within a budget, but you're asking almost $500 a night for the place (and a $200 cleaning fee, gosh)---make it look a little newer than the 90s. I apologize for being harsh. That said, the best way to get more reviews is to have a few to start. People are going to be somewhat wary of a place with no history. Drop your price to be OVERcompetitive with the market. Bend over backwards on your first few bookings, get 4-5 reviews, then reset the price to market value. At that point, you'll have the leverage you need to get consistent bookings. There doesn't seem to be much "incentive" for anyone to stay with YOU in specific right now. Frost000 posted:I'm happy to have found this thread! I did AirBnB exclusively in Europe (as discussed in OP) for a week. Stayed multiple (2-3) days at each place, and I didn't find communication via AirBnB particularly difficult. As long as you work to schedule in advance with the host, and let the know of any changes in your plans, it shouldn't be bad trying to get things under wrap. Typically, a credible host will have friends or family meet with you if they can't make your scheduled arrival time. That said---you need to make sure you've got a worthy host that is obviously flexible (review count matters on this, from my experience). All-in-all, I don't know that'd I'd bother with AirBnB for a single night in another country, but I'd say its worth the "hassle" if you plan on staying 2+ nights at each place. One thing to note, is if you're going to stay in one town for a prolonged time---contact the host way prior to booking. See if they'd be willing to cut the price for an extended stay. If both sides are agreeable, they can offer you a specific "discounted" rate of their choice. We've offered such a deal to people who were looking to book for 2 weeks+ (this discount was on TOP of the displayed week/monthly rates that we had already dropped the price from). The best way to get a good standing account is to stay in a few places. Take a weekend trip or two before the mediterranean and get a few reviews before you go. This will make hosts more agreeable to letting you stay... also, fully verify your ID, and write a nice "bio" of you and your girlfriend. In your host contact before booking, explain why you're interested in traveling there, what you'd like to see, and why you'd like to rent their place specifically. Never hurts to butter someone up! I don't have too much experience with the recommendations. I recommended one friend for his use in future bookings as a guest---but its never been a deciding factor in who we allow as guests in our home or who we stay with---deferring explicitly to hosting/guest reviews. That said, I might be extreme, because we've had 5 or so people stay with 0 reviews on the site----and the lady staying with us now (3 months) had NOTHING before we accepted her. This goes back to the "preliminary contact" statement, though, in that she and my wife communicated via several emails back & forth before we allowed her to book. We gained comfort with her, and she's since been an excellent guest. Blah blah blah----recommendations certainly don't hurt, but I wouldn't rely solely on that if you could book one or two in the meantime. Also----sorry for the confusing wall of text. I'm usually asleep 4 hours ago! EDIT: Tentish Klown & jvick, do either of you mind if I place you in the OP as hosts? Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 07:47
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Dead Pressed posted:EDIT: Tentish Klown & jvick, do either of you mind if I place you in the OP as hosts? Not at all!
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Feb 1, 2014 10:13
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Dead Pressed posted:I did AirBnB exclusively in Europe (as discussed in OP) for a week. Stayed multiple (2-3) days at each place, and I didn't find communication via AirBnB particularly difficult. As long as you work to schedule in advance with the host, and let the know of any changes in your plans, it shouldn't be bad trying to get things under wrap. Typically, a credible host will have friends or family meet with you if they can't make your scheduled arrival time. That said---you need to make sure you've got a worthy host that is obviously flexible (review count matters on this, from my experience). All-in-all, I don't know that'd I'd bother with AirBnB for a single night in another country, but I'd say its worth the "hassle" if you plan on staying 2+ nights at each place. One thing to note, is if you're going to stay in one town for a prolonged time---contact the host way prior to booking. See if they'd be willing to cut the price for an extended stay. If both sides are agreeable, they can offer you a specific "discounted" rate of their choice. We've offered such a deal to people who were looking to book for 2 weeks+ (this discount was on TOP of the displayed week/monthly rates that we had already dropped the price from). All very good advice! We plan on having separate accounts (instead of having a couple's account) and using hers, for example, when the host is female. I hadn't thought of boosting our reviews prior to the trip, but it definitely wouldn't hurt! It would be pretty crappy if we were about to leave and couldn't book a single place anywhere in Europe. But I guess we'll see! An NYC trip between now and then would do me some good I think. Also great tip about contacting hosts to save on the rate if we book for an extended stay. We were planning on staying 2 weeks + in Barcelona. If someone stays with you for more days like that, how much room is there to haggle you think? Or at least in your case?
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Feb 1, 2014 15:07
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If you look in the description on any listing, you'll see a table with some more information past single night stays. This includes any charge for extra guests, a weekly price, monthly price, security deposit, etc. For our listing, we ask: $45 a night (0% off) $300 a week (5% off nightly stay) $750 a month (40% off nightly stay, 37% off weekly rate) When contacted by a few specific people we were extremely comfortable renting to, really long term (4+ months), we offered $600 a month---but this was when we had several less reviews and we're looking to build up our "reputation". My wife is seemingly less willing to go below $700 or so nowadays as we usually get at least a stay or two a week. It really just depends on the host. I'm sure some would come down more, and there are those that will come down less---if at all, as some people don't WANT a long term renter. For us, we're not really inconveninced by a guest, and $25 a day for not really doing anything is always worth it---especially since we're not washing sheets everyday like we would with a new night by night guest. Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Feb 1, 2014 |
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Feb 1, 2014 17:17
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Dead Pressed posted:Some constructive criticism: the place looks outdated. Anything from furniture, to bed comforters, to lighting fixtures, to wood paneling. Anything you can do to try and spruce it up a little bit could make a big difference. Example: hide the outdated dining chairs that appear in a couple of the photos, except a photo of the dining room. Paint (if you're not opposed) the paneling to lighten the room. Paint the rooms to non-white neutral colors (white is too boring, use a solitary "accent" wall if you don't want to invest as much on paint). If you're willing to drop some cash, update the lighting fixtures. Invest in covers for your purple chairs. All in all, the "style" kind of looks thrown together and old, but from differing styles & design eras. I understand we all work within a budget, but you're asking almost $500 a night for the place (and a $200 cleaning fee, gosh)---make it look a little newer than the 90s. I apologize for being harsh. edit: Do you think it may be worth it to even offer a discount for honest reviews? Dead Pressed posted:EDIT: Tentish Klown & jvick, do either of you mind if I place you in the OP as hosts? Don't mind at all. jvick fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Feb 2, 2014 |
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Feb 2, 2014 17:52
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jvick posted:Thanks for the info. I agree with what you're saying. The problem is that it is a 30+ year old cabin that has had a hodgepodge of decor thrown at it over the years. Right now the unit is breakeven, if I can convince my father to be serious about making this a cash flowing unit then we'll invest the money. I do like what you're saying about the price. The $200 cleaning fee I have to charge - HOA rules unless I want to eat that cost myself. Your comments weren't harsh - that's what I was looking for by posting it. I think too that I'll apply for the professional AirBNB photographer to come shoot it for free. The rent at $500/night is insane anyway. Unless you're way overpaying I imagine you'd break well over even if you rented it for even a few days a month. I rented in Tahoe a few years ago and we had a place that at least looked nicer than yours (though didn't have the view) for a 4 br 2 ba and it was like $2000 for the week. [Edit: Now I see it's $400, which is getting towards a more reasonable $300; not sure if you changed it or if the above person misquoted the price]. I can't say 100% for sure how people use AirBnB, but in my understanding, it's for people who want to spend more than couchsurfing, but less than a more 'official' rental site like VRBO. I can't imagine anyone on AirBnB would want to chuck out $400 a night--it's just not the right clientele for that kind of thing. YMMV and all. Also it's not really clear whether the tennis courts etc are free or whether you can "book" them and then have to pay an extra amount. Also you don't mention if you have tennis equipment etc for people to just use, or if they'd have to bring their own somehow. Take a look at what you're up against, e.g. http://www.vrbo.com/121909 http://www.vrbo.com/55053 http://www.vrbo.com/136165 It might just be your pictures don't do it justice-- it says 4 br 3 ba, but you only show pictures of a living/dining room, and two of the bedrooms. Saladman fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Feb 3, 2014 |
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Feb 2, 2014 23:52
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I did lower the price on AirBnB after the last suggestion to help get inquiries, and in turn, reviews. Thanks for the feedback regarding the tennis stuff. I'll work on revising that. The pictures are dated and are stock from the property management's website. I just checked their VRBO listing for the unit and they finally updated those pictures, so I'll steal them for AirBnB until I can get their own photographer in there.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:10
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Those pics are super better. I wouldn't get my hopes up on the professional photographer just yet. They want return on money. You're going to need are garner some reviews to show you'll be a draw before they throw down the cash for a pro.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:27
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I think they pre approve the service for certain areas.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:44
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Yep. We are the number one listing for the Knoxville area, filled that out 4 months ago, and haven't heard anything back yet.
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Feb 4, 2014 03:50
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drat, I was going to apply this week because before I couldn't be up there in the "next 7 days" that a photographer would contact me.
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Feb 4, 2014 04:10
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jvick posted:I did lower the price on AirBnB after the last suggestion to help get inquiries, and in turn, reviews. Thanks for the feedback regarding the tennis stuff. I'll work on revising that. The pictures are dated and are stock from the property management's website. I just checked their VRBO listing for the unit and they finally updated those pictures, so I'll steal them for AirBnB until I can get their own photographer in there. Yeah, wow, that looks so much better. Looks solid for $375/night. Those pictures make it look about 10x bigger than the previous photos made it look (and more representative to boot). From the previous photos I thought it was like a small maybe 800 sq ft condo.
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Feb 4, 2014 20:18
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Thank you everyone for the feedback and advice! In the past two days I have received two confirmed consecutive weekend bookings. Now here's to hoping they don't burn the place down! Also Dead Pressed, when you add the listing to the OP, mention that goons can message me and mention they're a Goon for a 10% discount.
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Feb 5, 2014 17:53
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Will add you tonight!
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Feb 5, 2014 18:51
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Dead Pressed posted:Will add you tonight! Discount applies here as well!
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Feb 5, 2014 18:55
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Question: Are you guys usually around when people are renting? I am going to be traveling M-Th quite a bit this upcoming year, and renting out the apartment when I'm gone seems like it could be a nice way to help recoup rent. I assume I'd have to get one of my friends or roommates to help me out and be there when they arrive, but no one would be around the rest of the time. From y'alls experiences hosting and staying, how odd would this be?
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Feb 6, 2014 14:45
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Not odd. Every place in the EU I stayed at was this way. Some of our local competitors set up keypads with alternating codes and entrance cameras. To me, it was not worth the investment as my wife works from home....but I don't think remote or surrogate hosting is weird at all.
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Feb 6, 2014 17:23
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I basically live out of AirBnB full time now, and it's been a great experience. I love the flexibility of being able to move around from week to week (or day to day), but still often have a social circle through the host. I don't have a place of my own to rent out anymore, but read some interesting reflections on hosting on medium that might be applicable to some of you.
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Feb 7, 2014 03:47
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spoof posted:I basically live out of AirBnB full time now, and it's been a great experience. I love the flexibility of being able to move around from week to week (or day to day), but still often have a social circle through the host. I don't have a place of my own to rent out anymore, but read some interesting reflections on hosting on medium that might be applicable to some of you. In which city are you doing this in? I was wondering if it might be an option if/when I move to London next Fall. Seems like if I could negotiate a deal to stay somewhere 1-2 months at a time with a few down days here and there, it could be a great way to save a bit of rent money.
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Feb 8, 2014 15:03
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Frost000 posted:In which city are you doing this in? I was wondering if it might be an option if/when I move to London next Fall. Seems like if I could negotiate a deal to stay somewhere 1-2 months at a time with a few down days here and there, it could be a great way to save a bit of rent money. I'm mostly along the east coast and through the Midwest in the US and Canada. I don't know that it would be an effective way to save money though, because you're paying a premium for a short stay. I'm probably paying about between double and triple what it would cost for the space on a one-year lease. You would need quite a few down days to make up for that. Your best bet to save money may be to go the other way, get a 2- or 3-bedroom flat, keep a flatmate and airbnb-out the other room to collect the short-term stay premium. Do your research and see which parts of London get a lot of airbnb traffic, and which get none.
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Feb 12, 2014 16:47
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Frost000 posted:In which city are you doing this in? I was wondering if it might be an option if/when I move to London next Fall. Seems like if I could negotiate a deal to stay somewhere 1-2 months at a time with a few down days here and there, it could be a great way to save a bit of rent money. I can't see this working. I'm aiming 'affordable' for my flat and it's still about twice the monthly rent I would expect to pull in from it. I could easily go higher. When I eventually move in there later this year, the spare room will be going for about 3x the long-term rate for it.
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Feb 12, 2014 16:58
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spoof posted:I'm mostly along the east coast and through the Midwest in the US and Canada. I don't know that it would be an effective way to save money though, because you're paying a premium for a short stay. I'm probably paying about between double and triple what it would cost for the space on a one-year lease. You would need quite a few down days to make up for that. Your best bet to save money may be to go the other way, get a 2- or 3-bedroom flat, keep a flatmate and airbnb-out the other room to collect the short-term stay premium. Do your research and see which parts of London get a lot of airbnb traffic, and which get none. You could probably do this, but it'd be a huge pain in the rear end as you'd have to deal with people and coming all the time, arrange your schedule around them, make your roommate cool with it (many would not be), etc. The best option is definitely just to get normal roommates, although then of course you have no way to get them to pay for you, like AirBnB could theoretically do. Also AirBnB is technically illegal to do in some places (e.g. Paris, not that it's enforced very well), and technically against the lease in most apartments. Most AirBnB hosts are people who happen to have an extra room / apartment and don't want to sell it but instead rent it out. I doubt more than a tiny fraction of people on the site specifically get an extra room with the intention of putting it on AirBnB / CouchSurfing.
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Feb 12, 2014 17:08
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spoof posted:I'm mostly along the east coast and through the Midwest in the US and Canada. I don't know that it would be an effective way to save money though, because you're paying a premium for a short stay. I'm probably paying about between double and triple what it would cost for the space on a one-year lease. You would need quite a few down days to make up for that. Your best bet to save money may be to go the other way, get a 2- or 3-bedroom flat, keep a flatmate and airbnb-out the other room to collect the short-term stay premium. Do your research and see which parts of London get a lot of airbnb traffic, and which get none. I definitely wouldn't have the time to manage having my own place and renting it out... I'll still explore the feasibility of it, since apartments are crazy expensive in London and I'd love to find something that's not too demanding of me (i.e. somewhere I could stay whenever I want and drop it whenever I want instead of signing a lease). In other news, I finally got my first two references on AirBnB. If I haven't used the service yet and have no reviews (didn't leave any yet either, obviously), do hosts usually look at references? I would guess so, but I'm just making sure before I ask for more references...
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Feb 14, 2014 00:17
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Frost000 posted:In other news, I finally got my first two references on AirBnB. If I haven't used the service yet and have no reviews (didn't leave any yet either, obviously), do hosts usually look at references? I would guess so, but I'm just making sure before I ask for more references... Maybe if you're trying to stay somewhere long-term, but normally no. I guess it might be more difficult if you have 0, but if you have a reasonably complete profile and don't seem like a Nigerian 419er then you should manage.
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Feb 14, 2014 09:26
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Reviews hold greater weight than references. That said, references help if you don't have any reviews.
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Feb 14, 2014 18:23
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Well, AirBnB is now offering free CO & smoke detectors and first aid kits for all hosts in 2014. Check it out! https://www.airbnb.com/home-safety
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Feb 21, 2014 22:48
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Dead Pressed posted:Well, AirBnB is now offering free CO & smoke detectors and first aid kits for all hosts in 2014. Check it out! *all US hosts...
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Feb 21, 2014 22:53
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 14:49 |
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Just made my first booking as a guest... It came out to about half the price of what a cheap hotel would've cost in London, so I'm happy!
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Feb 23, 2014 03:24
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