(f)airbnb

Love it or hate it or think it’s responsible for the wholesale destruction of your town’s rental market, it’s a truth universally known that making money off a room going spare is not an altogether terrible idea. Most of the time.

For the last year, I’ve been renting out a large spare room to a global assortment of human beings that have ranged from the stratospherically awesome to the teeth grindingly frustrating. If I’ve learned one thing it’s that people have very different ideas of how to behave in someone else’s house. And I could certainly gripe about it at length.

However, in the spirit of sharing my angst and passing it off as advice, here’s a few tips from behind the hosting curtain (specifically targeted at private room stays in someone’s house). There’s advice for novice hosts who are keep to cash in on the share-economy market and for guests who are also new to homestay style accommodation (which, for interest, makes up quite a big proportion of my customers).

So – you want to rent a room?

GUESTS

DO: Remember that you’re in someone’s house, not a hotel. Most of my guests have been great, but there’s a significant minority that treat it more like a motel and forget that common areas are shared spaces.

DON’T: Take liberties. That includes helping yourself to your host’s personal kitchen and bathroom supplies, or excessive use of utilities. Some guests seem to think that having paid for the room means it’s OK to leave the guest room heater on all day while they’re out, or help themselves to personal toiletries while taking 30 minute showers, but guests who do this are taking back an unfair proportion of the very lean profits that hosts are making (*see below). And yes, we do notice when you use our shampoo.

DO: Look at a map before you book! I describe my house as a ‘country stay’ and a good 30 minute drive from the nearest city, but I’ve had a lot of guest enquiries from people who think that they’re still going to be within city limits and regular bus services.

DON’T: Expect your hosts to plan your trip for you. A good host should be able to recommend some worthwhile spots in the area that may not feature in your brochures, or a scenic local drive, but don’t come unprepared and depend on your host to tell you what to do with your day.

DO: Read and respect the house rules. This might seem basic, but these rules are intended to help guests figure out how everything works and let you know about the things that hosts would rather you didn’t do. If they’re anything like me, the list of ‘please don’t’ is often informed by what other guests have done in the past!

DON’T: Book last minute and expect perfection. Again, this is someone’s home and they live in it. Life happens and if you book at 5.30pm and arrive at 6pm, the shared bathroom may not be the pristine haven you were hoping for. Also, if you do this then rate your host down on cleanliness, then I’m sorry to break it to you but you’re a terrible person.

DON’T: Leave without saying goodbye. Oh my word, this is exceptionally rude. I don’t think I had anyone do this for my first six months, and then within a couple of weeks I had at least three sets of guests leave without a farewell. Unless your host has been an absolute nightmare, there’s no excuse for not saying goodbye before you leave. If you plan to leave early in the morning, say goodbye the night before or if they’re not around, just write a short note.

HOSTS

DO: Write up a house manual with basic information (WIFI password, quiet hours, kitchen rules etc). I hadn’t actually got around to this when I first started. About two guest bookings later I quickly wrote one up. About 1 month after that I rewrote it. Another month later I edited it again and put it in the centre of the bed instead of on the guest table. Another couple of months later I also wrote down the six most important rules and posted them onto the inside of the guest door. Painting them in big red letters on the walls might have to be my next step because;

DON’T: Expect that all guests will pay attention to and/or respect all of your house rules. Most will. But some will think nothing of having loud conversations in the hallway at midnight or rummaging through your toiletries.

DO: Offer a small freebie. Even if your nightly rate is on the lower end, a small token like a couple of chocolates, some bodywash and a bottle of water is a nice gesture. Setting aside a tray with some basic kitchen supplies (tea, coffee, sugar, salt, oil) is a good way to establish boundaries about what’s available to use. Also don’t forget to provide some basic tourist information – head to your local tourist office and grab some brochures to help guests plan their stay.

DO: Flip your room as soon as you can after your guests leave. As I work from home I’ve usually tidied, changed the sheets and replaced the towels within an hour or two of guests’ departure. This means I’m more often able to take last minute bookings as I only have the shared areas to worry about.

DON’T: Sell yourself short. Put a little effort into your guest room; provide basic comforts, nice linens and a few special touches. I’ve had several winter guests tell me that some rooms they rented didn’t even have a heater. Factor your time into your nightly rate and charge accordingly (I probably spend 2-3 hours on tasks that are specifically guest room related – cleaning the room, washing and changing linens and cleaning common areas before guests arrive). Look at what similar properties are charging in your area and don’t always rely on the AirBnB suggested rate or you may end up working for nothing. In my experience their low season base price is a pittance and their high season price is too much.

CONSIDER: Charging a set rate (low and high season) and not relying exclusively on AirBnB’s flex pricing system. You can use the ‘smart pricing’ to set a maximum and minimum rate and AirBnB calculates your nightly rate within this band and sets the price accordingly – depending on demand. I set a single base price and expected it might go up by up to $20-25 a night over December and January. However, during the peak of summer when I barely had a night without a guest for weeks, it only varied by about $7 at the most. Based on my experience, I’d recommend raising the nightly minimum during high season as it can be a heck of a lot of work, especially if you allow single-night stays.

HOSTS & GUESTS

Be aware that the price you pay via AirBnB is not the price your host gets. It took me a while to realise this as they take a small service fee out of the host payment and I thought this must be their cut for admin fees. What I didn’t know was that guests were also being charged anything from 5-20% on top of my nightly rate depending on the time of year. If hosts want to know what AirBnB is actually charging for your room, log out before browsing your listing.

A small note on the ratings system. AirBnB ratings aren’t like a movie review. A movie that gets a majority 4/5 is a good indicator of something worth watching that you’ll probably enjoy. A host who consistently gets 4/5 across the board is actually falling below AirBnB standards. A superhost needs to have above 4.7 and can not cancel any bookings. Guests – please don’t be shy about giving 5 stars unless there was anything you thought was below standard.

And that’s a wrap! Do I have any curious wannabe hosts or newbie guests in the audience? (or any jaded AirBnB veterans who have their own suggestions to add?) Comments and questions welcome!

* Feature image: Kari Shea from Pixabay