Air bnb hosting to pay for holiday

[OceanStorm]

Has anyone has experience with renting out their family home on air bnb to fund a family holiday.

We have 3 bedrooms so thinking of clearing our room out and locking up other bedroom?

Are you renting a room or the whole house? It’s unclear.

We were thinking of renting out their family whole place apart from 1 or 2 rooms (kids rooms). It seems we would be more likely to get a family booking with us if we had 2 rooms available out of 3 rather than 1. We are hoping to go away in this time

You’d have no ratings or reviews. And prepping the house for a paid airbnb is a big job. Why not consider something like a home swap instead?

A friend of mine has done home swap several times successfully, but it depends where you are, he's zone 2 London so gets a lot of interest.

You’d have to clear everything personal away. Would your kitchen be super clean and empty? Where is all your food going to go. Guests don’t want a lived in house with people’s stuff everywhere. A house swap sounds more like your thing.

Maybe have a look in Airbnb at properties online in your area to see what the expected standards are.

Have you thought about the insurance you would need?

Nope hence why I'm asking for experiences also I think air bnb cover you

We’ve done it before OP, I’ve also done Airbnb of a specific space (not used by us).

When I first met my DH he had a big house in the city centre that he’d renovated to a high standard so was able to let it for good money. He just stayed with me and we continued like that for a bit. He arranged a cleaner.

DH locked away personal items in a safe and made clear the home was lived in. You could always lock a particular room.

Because of them nature of the stays (1 or 2 nights) nobody’s ever comments on the food or personal affects - Airbnb has a box to tick to say you also use the space.

Biggest issues were people partying, vomit and breakages.

Airbnb do cover you for basic host insurance. It would likely be a contradiction of your home insurance though OP so something to consider (or ignore, whatever you decide).

No you don’t.

We could clear fridge out and store dried room in the locked room. We are hoping to go away to a very specific area who is why we would prefer not to home swap

I would probably clear just the one cupboard and make clear that’s what you’re doing. Then consolidate food in the fridge.

They do cover you. My friend Airbnbs out her apartment ( not sure how she locks up her stuff) but one guest broke her glass shower screen .
they didn’t confess that they had damaged anything but the cleaner told my friend who contacted Airbnb who got the guest to pay

I have thought about it but it would be more hassle to tidy up and clear out of the house every other weekend than it’s worth imo. Most (or all?) councils in Scotland now require short let licenses too which are v expensive and long winded to get through.

Do you live in a touristy area? Is your house in good condition?
Are you going away for a long time? If not it seems like an awful lot of work for a short holiday. You would have to arrange a cleaner between visits.
If you have a mortgage, it is usually a condition of the mortgage that the property is not let out.

We are in a new build in a busy city

technically, to let a property via AirBNB you have to comply with whatever short term let regulations apply to your country, eg, linked smoke alarms in all bedrooms, fire resistant doors, thumb turn lock on the designated fire escape route. AirBNB host insurance might cover you for a broken chair (or they may not, host support is a real lottery), but you’re strongly encouraged to have your own liability insurance, in case of more serious damage or accidents.

It’s doable but very dependent on location. I’ve spoken with a local estate agent who also offer airbnb management and they have gone through the ins and outs including insurance needed which is £££. Then there’s the management of your home when you are away, clients tend to break a lot of things and cause wear and tear apparently, not things you can charge for though. she said think of a return of around 60% on money charged which here is around £250 a night in summer, £120 in winter (by the sea) for a 3 bed. She said it was find to lock one room as storage plus the loft.

I have decided that a one year let would be less stressful even though we would only get £2k per month. Long term travel plans when I retire

I tend to avoid places with no reviews. If you plan to be away, what would you do about getting the key to the holiday makers?

think very carefully about liability insurance - would airbnb cover all of your legal expenses and the pay out if for example your stairs collapsed whilst someone was on them and killed them or your electrics were dodgy and electrocuted someone? I doubt your personal household insurance would cover you and if you dont have the proper checks and inspection certificates for eg your gas and electrics then you may also not be covered.
the two instances above are yes probably very very low risk of happening but the impact of something like that happening and then you being dragged to court and having to sell your house to pay the legal expenses would be devasting - not worth a weeks holiday really!