Could someone talk to me about air bnb

[StealthPolarBear]

We are looking to advertise a house on air b n b. I've had a look at the site and it looks really helpful but it would be good to have some real people to chat to and ask silly questions.
Is it easy? Do you get the bookings?

I just yesterday read an article where a man had his house completely trashed after an air bnb guest invited over 300 people to his home for a party. It made news probably because it’s rare but just something to think about.

Thank you :o that's the sort of thing I was hoping to be reassured about!
Particularly with the neighbours

For example, at the moment there is no TV and no Internet. We're happy to put them in but do people expect them or do they come with their own devices?
And if we do give them Internet access are we liable for what they access?

HTH

No! :o

Yes TV and internet connections will definitely get you more bookings, but it depends where the house is whether it's needed. You'd need to set controls on the broadband and change the password regularly. Btw - even if you don't provide a TV it's probably advisable to get a TV licence because someone watching BBC iPlayer on a device needs to have one.

As an Airbnb customer, when I'm looking for a place having wifi is important, because while I'm staying somewhere I want to be able to easily access local info etc. In fact no wifi will just send me to the next listing and likely as not I'll find somewhere that fits all my needs and I won't be back to look at the no wifi place. No TV isn't such an issue but good point above about having a licence anyway.

How many will your house sleep? That has a huge bearing on neighbours reactions to having a holiday let next door.

Yes to tv and WiFi.

Location is also a massive factor of course.

Thanks. These are the sorts of points I'm after!
It's a sml house in a pretty village but near a number of towns and an hour or so drive from some cities you'd want to visit. The village itself is pretty but its not somewhere you'd come for a countryside holiday iyswim. So I'm not quite sur who I'm pitching it at.

House would sleep three adults, or two adults and two small children at a push

On a long, wouldnt you just use your own phone data?
Not a grumpy question, genuinely wondering.

We're happy to get both those things as long as the are genuinely wanted iyswim.

This is an old thread, but might have some useful tips:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/freelancers/2417105-Would-you-put-your-spare-room-on-air-bnb

If you didn't supply a tv then wi-fi would be a must, who would want to watch a tv show/film/football match on their phone just to find they'd used their whole allowance in a couple of days stay at your holiday home??

Good point. Thanks

Perfect jai thank you

There's a good forum called airbnbhosts forum or similar. It's not run by Airbnb who ate of course a money making business. You'll get straightforward and honest responses to questions on there

Ah, ok, thing is I don't have a smartphone and neither do I want one. So I want there to be wifi and I take my laptop.

Just realised it's StealthPolarBear - seen you on many a Brexit thread on the side of the angels if I'm correct. I don't post much on them. I tend to be - concise. Sorry, don't want to derail!

Definitely WiFi is a must. Also a TV to be honest. When travelling with young children it's useful to have home comforts of a TV for a Cbeebies bedtime story etc. Yes i could take an ipad and download episodes etc but much easier if there is a TV.

I airbnb my house a few years ago and it was a goldmine! I lived in a city and just rented out the bedrooms, or as the house as a whole. I had a tradesmade who was doing work and needed somewhere for his team to live for a month. I had people who were visiting family but they didn't want to stay/didn't have the space. A couple of younger couples who didn't live together and just wanted some time away. A family who needed somewhere while accessing medical treatment.

I really didn't think it would do well as it was a student house and had nothing in it except my basic food supply, a few double beds (no sheets), in a Residental area but did have WiFi.

The biggest effort was cleaning the place up and making the photos look presentable - literally that was it. The booking came through easily enough and you could vet them from their profile/reviews and block out any dates I didn't want to rent out.

If I had the space I would definitely do it again in a heart beat.

We use Airbnb a lot (uk and abroad).

Tv is not important to us but WiFi is essential and I wouldn’t even consider a place without it.

The thing with TV is, by paying the licence fee we only get terrestrial. Would people not want more

I bring my iPad with Netflix etc so I never watch TV in holiday rentals. Do need WiFi though as often signal for 3G is poor inside a house.

If you are techy, could you get a chrome cast and offer to set it up for guests devices on arrival? That would be fantastic.

Right. I think we'll go with WiFi and no TV. To start anyway.
I have no idea what a chrome cast is but will look into it!

As an Airbnb booker... No WiFi would put me off more than no TV. But if your place is the kind of place that people would book for at least a week then I'd want a TV.
I've stayed in a 'no TV' house for a weekend and for a couple of days it was nice, lots of reading etc. But I'd want a TV for longer stays because, as lovely as reading is, I want to watch the news especially while having breakfast, and my regular things like QI in the evening.

Terrestrial TV is fine, Freeview might be nice, a decent dvd player and library of well known films, boxsets etc would be awesome.