I'm an AirBnB host, AMA

[SlightlySleepy]

If you ever thought of using it but are unsure, or thought about becoming a host. Or, in fact, anything else, ask away.

Can you not just try it? And if you hate it, stop.
The air bnb app is fantastic BTW.

Do you have DC's in the house?

Yes we have children who share a room next to ours, if I ever feel uneasy then they sleep on mattresses on my floor.

Any tips you’ve picked up along the way for it running as smoothly as possible?

The ratings that you get really matter. If you don't maintain an average of 4.7/5 then your listing can be removed. It's hugely unfair as one 1* rating can really skew things, and its not like you can get a 10/5 rating to balance it. So you have to get almost all 5 stars.

I've noticed that people tend to rate based on how much they like you rather than your house. So it's worth being smiley and accommodating even if they are 4 hours late and you just want to go to bed. Also, if you do little nice things then it can make a big difference. For example, we always offer them a cup of tea when they come in and we leave a little bowl of chocolates in their room. It's just a tiny bowl with maybe 5 or 6 celebrations in it. The guests feel spoilt and it doesn't cost much if you buy a huge box of them.

I'd also say, be grateful of any criticisms. People might be moaning and it might sting a bit, but it's not often in life we get such honest feedback. Your friends aren't (usually) going to say your house is a bit shabby/bare/needs painting, but it can be helpful to see your house through a fresh pair of eyes.

Why did you start? Did you have a particular financial need?

I wanted to work, but I didn't want to leave the children as they are so young. We don't rely on the income but we use it to justify the extras.

But DH isn’t keen, he is concerned about security and lack of privacy for us. How do you manage those things?

For security, we have a special key that we can give to guests that cant be copied. It's not just one of those keys that say 'do not copy', in fact it's not a key at all. It's a key fob linked to my phone, so it has the added benefit that I get a message whenever it is used.

We really don't have much to steal. If I was feeling uneasy, I'd take my half broken laptop, ageing tablet and smashed phone in the car/to bed with me. If I had anything of value, I'd buy a safe and hide it somewhere or put a lock on a cupboard or door. But it's my house and I don't want it to put locks on doors. I don't intend to do this forever and I don't want to modify my house for it.

As far as privacy goes, guests rarely hang around the house. If they wanted to hang around watching telly, they'd stay at home. They mostly arrive in time for bed and go again in the morning. Even the few that holiday in my town and stay for a few days want to make the most of their holiday time and spend all day out doing interesting things. We have only had two families that have hung around more than I'd have liked. You can specify, on your profile, the times that they can be in your house.
If you're worried about them going in your room, you could put a lock on your door. I make it clear at the start which rooms they can go in and which they can't. I frame it in a positive way "you are welcome to use this, this and this room downstairs and this room upstairs" rather than "don't go in these rooms".

Can you not just try it? And if you hate it, stop.

Yes, so long as you honour the bookings that have already been made. You can hide your listing, block off dates and change the price for any unbooked days.

The air bnb app is fantastic BTW

I hate it, it always crashes. Maybe that's because my phone is old!

Nice ama. There have been some strange ideas about airbnb so good idea.
I have done it for two years but am about to stop and will miss it.

Good thread. I have one question. Do you provide any cooking or food making/heating facilities? We are hoping to be able to Air b&q a few rooms within our house, it’s a bedroom/en suite and living room. They would have separate access and be locked off from our main house, but are still within the building iyswim. However I’m just wondering whether I need to somehow put some sort of kitchenette in for guests. I don’t really want people cooking but would a microwave/kettle/fridge/sink be beneficial?

Why are you stopping?
I have seriously been amazed at how nice people are and how clean and tidy they leave the place. And as I said before how much interest we've had. We've had someone trying to book for 110 days straight!

Me too stealth, guests have left our place in great condition every time.
I am stopping because house is on the market.

DD and I stayed at an Air B&B once it was on a small holding and the owner took DD around in the morning to feed the animals and collect the eggs which she loved.

It was in an annexe in the garden, a tad chilly as it was a concrete block and October but had a shower room, a selection of books and board games which were brilliant and much appreciated and the small fridge/kitchenette was filled with basics, pint of milk, 2 cartons of juice, cereal, tea bags/coffee and hot chocolate sachets. etc and a packet of bourbons.

There is a programme on Netflix about doing places up to put on airbnb (I forget what it is called) that has lots of good tips for anyone interested in doing it.

Do you provide any cooking or food making/heating facilities? I don’t really want people cooking but would a microwave/kettle/fridge/sink be beneficial?

We allow them to use our kitchen, but most hosts don't seem to. We have had maybe two who used the hobs. The microwave is much more popular.
If your guests have an en suite, they can use the sink in there, like you would in a hotel. A kettle would be a good idea, as would providing tea/coffee/sugar/milk (and a fridge to store it in). You don't have to buy little sachets, as we have never had anyone steal a load of coffee and buying big jars and boxes of teabags are much cheaper. I then decant them into pretty matching Tea Coffee Sugar canisters.

Ooh singleandproud i didn't know about that Netflix program. I'll look that up! Thanks for the tip

Slightlysleepy its called something like Stay Here. The presenters are a little annoying and their advice can be repetitive but I think some of it is very good and also some of the rentals are cool.

Have you had any weirdos staying? Or anyone you've had to ask to leave?

How comfortable is the bed that is used? Ours is fine but tbh if I was sleeping on it I would want a new mattress. Do they share your main bathroom?

Have you had any weirdos staying? Or anyone you've had to ask to leave?

The family who wanted to spend all their time with me, that i mentioned before, were hard work and it's a bit of an odd thing to do.

We've also had a group of teenagers book the place without reading the profile. They thought they'd get the whole house to themselves and were all set for a big party. They were horrified to find they were sharing the house with us and our kids. They didn't stay, oddly enough.

The only time I've asked sometime to leave was when they were really noisy all night. They said its not their fault because one had insomnia. I said that a house with small children isn't a good place for them to stay. To cancel a booking or ask someone to leave, you have to phone AirBnB and state your case. If they don't like your reasoning they can fine you for cancelling. In this case, they agreed that its unreasonable for the guests to remain here. They were very nice about it and seemed to want a happy resolution, not penalties. They refunded the guests the money for the remaining night and the guests left.

I don't know where the call centre is, but English isn't their first language and they have learnt American English, so it can be really hard to understand them sometimes. They also seem to think our currency is dollars, so for a while i thought they were converting the currency for some reason, they weren't, they just didn't know that £ means pounds. Little things like this make the conversations a bit longer and more confusing than they would normally be.

What tips do you have for me as a young woman who needs to stay in an Airbnb for a couple of months (delays with my property purchase )?

Ive never used airbnb before. Should I book with one person or should I use a few different ones?

And any general tips would be helpful please!

How comfortable is the bed that is used? Ours is fine but tbh if I was sleeping on it I would want a new mattress. Do they share your main bathroom?

The bed is ok, some guests say they are comfortable others say they aren't. They are only there for one night usually, so I don't really think it's worth buying a really nice mattress.

If we have only a few guests, they have an en suite in their room that they use. If it is a larger family, in several bedrooms, we offer them use of the family bathroom too. Only one of the rooms is en suite, so the others have no choice but to use the family bathroom.

I'm watching Stay Here. It's good, but the male presenter keeps dropping the letter t. That's annoying. Other than that the program is great!

@stealthpolarbear are you sure about that tax threshold? I read that you could have up to 7k tax free. There was a plan for change it in the last budget if you are renting out the whole house but it was dropped at last minute

But it has to be your main home. If it’s a second home , may be different threshold of course.

It did change I think for whole houses.

One family spent 2 weeks with us and seemed to think that our company was part of the deal and would spend hours hanging around the house and their kids would endlessly come to me asking for snacks and entertainment.

How did you deal with this?

What tips do you have for me as a young woman who needs to stay in an Airbnb for a couple of months (delays with my property purchase)?

Ive never used airbnb before. Should I book with one person or should I use a few different ones?

I would probably book a few nights first and then book a longer stay if you feel comfortable there. There's a huge variation in places and the price doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of the place.

Also, the superhost status is a bit meaningless because you can achieve it after only 10 bookings, a normal host needs an average of 4.7 out of 5 and a superhost needs 4.8 out of 5, so the difference is microscopic. I wouldn't discount normal hosts.

You need to decide if you want a whole house to yourself or just a room in someone else's house. A room is a lot cheaper but is less likely to include use of the kitchen, which might make your food costs huge if you have to eat out most of the time. Check what you can use and when you can be in the house.

Also think about if you specifically want an en suite, a lock on your door, parking, a garden, the location, if pets are allowed, if you mind that the host has pets... The less picky you are the more likely you are to find somewhere at a reasonable price.

Don't assume that AirBnB is cheaper than a hotel. There's a huge variation. A short term private rental might be cheaper.

A lot of hosts restrict how long a person can stay for, so look out for min and max length of stays. Some hosts give discounts for longer stays because there's less cleaning and bed changing to do.

I hope it goes well!

How do you manage things like insurance and your mortgage? I really want to do this but worried about these things. Thanks

@stealthpolatbear

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/airbnb-hosting/

From sept 2018. Whole houses still 7k. Can’t fond anything about it changing. It was dropped at last min.

Urrgh typos. Sorry