Air bnb

[Lieby]

We're thinking of becoming air bnb hosts. Used the service all over the world and LOVE it. The question I have is, do you get enough bookings to make it financially worthwhile. Not as a main income, but as a supplement. We live in south London, in a nice area that you can get to London Bridge from in less than ten mins, but not a place that would come to mind when booking a holiday. All comments v much appreciated.

I'd be mindful that a lot of mortgages and insurance policies won't cover it...Make sure you're not invalidating yourself so that if something does happen you are not going to suffer a huge loss.

I have a friend that does it and she does well hiring out her spare room- similar to yourself she is 10 mins from main city in a residential area.

What do you calculate your outlay to be? I'm surprised TBH that you think it would take many bookings to make it "financially worthwhile".

If the spare room is shabby, price accordingly and reinvest your takings in upgraded decor.

Thanks for your comments. It's a lovely space with its own bathroom-definitely not shabby. Interested to hear that someone does well at it. 😃

Thought about air bnb but in the end decided to rent the room to on a Monday/Friday let. Less hassle, hardly see the lodger as he works 12 hour days and arrives on a Monday evening and leaves Friday morning, though he is very nice. We charge £550 a month for an ensuite in a nice area of S London, which brings us in just below the tax threshold for the year.

Got friends that have a basement flat - they are making a lot from Air BnB - far more than renting it. I was surprised.
Another friends sold their home. Moved to the coast and is running several Air BnB rentals instead.
I'm looking into buying a flat to Air BnB. The plan is run it as a business - so looking at commercial mortgages

We bought the completely derelict house next door in 2018 and started letting it on Airbnb n January 2020. We've done really well, much better than expected.

We are in a really not great location for holidays, so we priced accordingly. What we didn't realise was how many worKershaw and work teams want reasonably priced, comfor table accommodation near near industrial areas. We live quite near a huge dock and specialist engineering teams literally from all over Europe book in. Its 4 bedroomed so a small team can each have their own room. One bedroom has twins or superking.

All these people are essential workers and mostly great guests. Much nicer than holiday makers!

Go for it!