airbnb

[maskingtape]

I am struggling for money at the moment and I'm thinking of renting my spare (tiny) single room out on airbnb. I think this will work well as it will mean there won't be someone around all the time but maybe a few days a month. I know the fact it's only a single room will limit guests but will maybe get the odd hiker or something like that. I might even allow dogs to increase interest. I could potentially allow a tent in the garden for a few quid too but don't want to impact on my neighbours.

Is this something any of you have done? How did it go?
Can you decline people if you get an uneasy feeling during the booking process? Can you blackout dates you don't want people there? Do you give them a key? What do you do if you need to go to work before they checkout?
Do you allow access to the living room, kitchen etc? Can you state females only? (I haven't decided on this one yet). I live alone so want to be happy with it all.

Thanks for advice.

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I've rented out a whole place on airbnb but never a place I live in. Yes you can have complete control. You can blackout dates, you can reject bookings without having to give a reason. I imagine you can state females only if you live there yourself. If you can't then, as I said, you can reject bookings without giving a reason.

It's up to you whether you want to allow access to the living room or kitchen. I would imagine if you don't allow kitchen use that will drastically cut down demand.

You would probably need to give them a key. If you decide not to you would have to make it very clear in your description and describe how it would work.

If you're not there when they check out then you will just have to let them leave and post the key back through the letterbox or whatever. They are unlikely to run off with your tv and Airbnb has a lot of insurance and guarantees, and to be fair most people on Airbnb are perfectly nice.

As for how much you could make it depends where you are. If you're in London you can get takers for anything. For anywhere else I'm really not sure. Have you looked at similar rooms available in your area? What are they charging?

Tax rules are changing. Airbnb type arrangements will no longer be eligible for the 'rent a room' scheme exemptions and will be fully taxable. Also it is no longer legal to rent out on Airbnb for more than three months a year (but I'm not sure if that's just for properties where the owner doesn't live - but you need to check up on that).

We’ve rented out our spare room a few times. We were never short of bookings- often single people who are in the area for work, or for a wedding etc.

You can set things up how you want them; so you can state room only, or room + breakfast (I think it’s worth including breakfast as you really just need to leave out some cereal and bread, tea and coffee etc and guests can help themselves). You can state which rooms are available for the guest to use.

Most guests we’ve had, we wouldn’t have known they were here! They usually ‘check in’ and then go out to get dinner etc and come back and go straight to bed. We do give our guests a key, but we’re often at home anyway. If you needed to go to work before they’ve left, hopefully they could let themselves out and post the key through the door or leave it with a neighbour.

You’re free to reject any bookings, and don’t have to give a reason. We made it a policy to only accept bookings from people who already had reviews on the site, or who at the very least had ID verified by Airbnb.

We’ve stopped doing it for a while but will probably start it up again at some point.

It’s a good way to make a bit of extra cash, and I’ve actually really enjoyed meeting guests.

Thanks. Sounds quite positive. I'm rural so would maybe suit hikers or people wanting to visit beaches and castles etc. I'm happy for them to use the kitchen. It's just not well stocked with equipment. Good to know I can be quite selective.