Potentially ‘free’ holiday

[FredaC]

I’m having a cabin built on property initially to do Airbnb but now I’m thinking of doing a ‘pay what you think is fair/pay what you can afford’ policy. Im far from well off and am putting every penny into this but feel like everyone should have the chance of a break. Am I being naive? Would people think there’s something wrong with the property and be put off booking? Would you be tempted?

I just don’t think the pay what you want would play out the way you hope.
Charge a fair rate that covers your costs and gives you a bit of profit.

@ZenNudist

Also don't offer pay what you can afford because you will definitely get people who only want to give minimum amount who could afford more. Friends and family have huge 6 figure salaries but talk about being hard up.

Isn’t that sad. I’m a cleaner and clean for the very wealthy and those with tight budgets and generally find the latter are the most generous.

Good idea that it needs to be via a church or charity some distance away. The other option is to advertise with a food bank some distance away.

@LairyMcClairy

I just don’t think the pay what you want would play out the way you hope. Charge a fair rate that covers your costs and gives you a bit of profit.

Well I wanted advice and this seems to be the general vibe of responses. Maybe I could weigh up guests once they pitch up and refund them a bit if I think they are hard up 😂

@Helenluvsrob

Don’t. People don’t respect anything free / low cost

Some people do, we’re not all bad!

@ZenNudist

Talk to local churches, they support refugees, young mums with nobody, and the really hard up etc and could offer it to those who would really benefit. Make it clear its not a home for the homeless.

Locally to me the Catholic charity is called caritas and there should caritas organisations around the UK. Apologies if you are not a fan of organised religion but the people they are helping are of all faiths and backgrounds.

But not everyone who is hard up is in contact with a church. I’m not religious, never go to church, but I’ll never be able to afford a holiday.

It would great if there was a way of reaching out to people who didn’t fall into the typical charitable categories but still needed a break, somewhere peaceful and clean and it was cheap and they had no intention of taking the piss.

How do I book it @FredaC.

I work but can’t afford a holiday (even a week in UK is out of reach), no benefits (except child benefit), i can buy food, Pay bills, have car and heating but just nothing extra to save for non essentials. I don’t go to food banks or charities (like churches) or family services - often on during working hours….

I could say more about why I would be just who you want. But I too don’t know how you attract the people who need it and couldn’t afford elsewhere. Obviously travel is also an issue for many hence why groups arrange that.

Friends and friends of friends is a good start, local schools know families who struggle, but they also have magazines to advertise as do local leisure centres, community centres and groups, housing assocIations, GP surgeries etc

Good luck in your venture….

Would it help to keep quite spartan, no TV, or luxuries or at least don't mention them in your ad. Advertise it as hostel with a back to nature feel about it? You'd probably attract a different crowd. We're on a low budget and I don't even look at self catered air bnb type places as I can't afford them. We stay at hostels, camping pods, bothys, camping barn type places that we don't pay much for and but vary a lot in what you get for the money. You could then surprise them if you wished with good quality mattresses, fittings etc if you want to feel you're giving people a better holiday than they can afford. It's always lovely to think you're staying in a very rough and ready place then find they've put lovely touches in to still make it feel like a proper holiday.

@Ilovethewild

How do I book it *@FredaC*.

I work but can’t afford a holiday (even a week in UK is out of reach), no benefits (except child benefit), i can buy food, Pay bills, have car and heating but just nothing extra to save for non essentials. I don’t go to food banks or charities (like churches) or family services - often on during working hours….

I could say more about why I would be just who you want. But I too don’t know how you attract the people who need it and couldn’t afford elsewhere. Obviously travel is also an issue for many hence why groups arrange that.

Friends and friends of friends is a good start, local schools know families who struggle, but they also have magazines to advertise as do local leisure centres, community centres and groups, housing assocIations, GP surgeries etc

Good luck in your venture….

Good point about travel, I’m out in the sticks near the Cairngorms, hence a ‘peaceful holiday’, so you could part travel by train but then would need a car. Would picking folk up from the train station be taking it too far? And anyway trains are bloody expensive. I feel there is a way of doing this I just haven’t explored it enough. Maybe once the cabin is done I can come back here and find those that need it.

@GlisteningGoldGrasses

Would it help to keep quite spartan, no TV, or luxuries or at least don't mention them in your ad. Advertise it as hostel with a back to nature feel about it? You'd probably attract a different crowd. We're on a low budget and I don't even look at self catered air bnb type places as I can't afford them. We stay at hostels, camping pods, bothys, camping barn type places that we don't pay much for and but vary a lot in what you get for the money. You could then surprise them if you wished with good quality mattresses, fittings etc if you want to feel you're giving people a better holiday than they can afford. It's always lovely to think you're staying in a very rough and ready place then find they've put lovely touches in to still make it feel like a proper holiday.

Yes, good idea, thank you. But that is quite sad though.

I do think it's an admirable idea and worth pursuing.

I don't know how big it is but if it would do for a family there are charities that give holidays to families with sick children and I'm sure they could find people to use it.

There seem to be lots of charities offering family holidays and they partner with NHS and social services for referrals. Worth reaching out to some of these?

I suppose you just want to help the hard up not the desperate. There will always be someone "more deserving".

I’m a cleaner and clean for the very wealthy and those with tight budgets and generally find the latter are the most generous

And that's why this isn't a great idea, it'll just end up being misused by people who can afford it but would rather not pay full price, so you won't cover costs and the people that you have images of making use of it will not benefit either

Maybe you rent it out properly and use all the proceeds to donate to a charity of choice?

People who genuinely can’t afford a holiday are unlikely to be looking on Airbnb or other holiday booking sites in the first place. You’d just get regular holiday makers from all over the world snapping up a bargain and your place would soon be fully booked. To cover your costs you could perhaps take Airbnb bookings at full price for just a few months of the year (you can block out your calendar dates) and then make it available to whichever charities you find the rest of the time

I go to a yoga/acupuncture place that has a sliding scale. The lowest is about a 1/4 the highest. When I was a poor immigrant I paid the lowest, now I pay the highest.

"Pay what you like' won't work but that might. Maybe. But IME rich people are tight as a duck's arse.

Firstly I think you're trying to do something really positive and generous - and that is great.

A couple of reality checks though: I worked for a charity, we offered discounts and even full bursaries for trips away for children and young people. The number of times we as a charity would give full bursary or huge discount and then have child driven up in Range Rover while speaking about next week's trip to Italy before private school restarted... :( People properly took the michael, and I estimate it was 10%+. And that was a national charity with resources to do some vetting.. We moved to a personal recommendation system via a few partner community groups after a few years.

Secondly - it worries me you say you're putting everything into this, and you're not wealthy. Remember that wear and tear costs, you still need (expensive) insurance, council tax, fuel costs, cleaning, repairs, gas inspections etc. You need to redecorate every couple of years, carpets and similar every 5 years. It costs. Please don't underestimate this in your generosity.

I was going to suggest getting in touch with somewhere that offers respite or hospice care and letting them have it for a week each year to any family they see fit to offer to.

But.... if it's in the middle of nowhere it probably wouldn't be suitable. Which also might rule out the sorts of families you'd want to help.

If you want to help someone somewhere couldn't you just charge market rates and donate 5% of your rent to a charity.

@outdooryone

Firstly I think you're trying to do something really positive and generous - and that is great.

A couple of reality checks though: I worked for a charity, we offered discounts and even full bursaries for trips away for children and young people. The number of times we as a charity would give full bursary or huge discount and then have child driven up in Range Rover while speaking about next week's trip to Italy before private school restarted... :( People properly took the michael, and I estimate it was 10%+. And that was a national charity with resources to do some vetting.. We moved to a personal recommendation system via a few partner community groups after a few years.

Secondly - it worries me you say you're putting everything into this, and you're not wealthy. Remember that wear and tear costs, you still need (expensive) insurance, council tax, fuel costs, cleaning, repairs, gas inspections etc. You need to redecorate every couple of years, carpets and similar every 5 years. It costs. Please don't underestimate this in your generosity.

Thank you, all good points which I will take onboard.

I own a holiday let, I work really hard to make profit. I clean, decorate, garden etc all by myself. I do all the marketing & changeovers. I don't really make much profit, maybe £3/4k a year after costs. It's expensive to run and maintain. On the plus side my family and extended family enjoy free holidays there.

What I'm trying to say is, maybe run it on more of a commercial basis and then set aside special weeks for charities or the people you think need it. I don't think you could do it year around and keep the utilities etc covered.

Good luck.

I think you should just charge a cheap to reasonable amount. Sadly some people will take huge advantage if you say 'pay what you can afford'. Some people on good salaries who have huge credit card/mortgage debt ext will use your terms to take advantage of you while others, really stretched on very low incomes might end up paying more than you would have expected.

Another vote for going through a charity.

That doesn't mean only making it available to people who are receiving certain benefits though - my grandparents, for example, had a couple of lovely holidays in a seaside apartment through their local "Breathe Easy" club, which was a group for people which emphysema & other lung diseases, and their carers. I think it was either a fixed subsided cost or on a donation basis.

You could offer it through a similar health or social care group - maybe there is something close to your heart, or you could look at different groups and see if anything appeals.

There are so many different groups, from big organisations to small grassroots clubs - some might need specialist equipment or to be close to a hospital, so maybe not suitable, but there will be many for whom a low cost peaceful break would be a wonderful gift.

@LairyMcClairy

I just don’t think the pay what you want would play out the way you hope. Charge a fair rate that covers your costs and gives you a bit of profit.

I agree. People will book, and then pay £50 for a family of four .

I like the idea above of charging commercial rates all year round, and then having a few special charity weeks.

I think it's a lovely idea but may be complicated to administer. As a two teacher family with school aged children, I find most competitions offering holidays as prizes exclude us because they need to be taken during term time. Whilst I've always been able to take my children away during the summer holiday (camping, self-catering in the UK, house swap with family), I know of teaching assistants who aren't able to afford to do so but earn 'too much' to be eligible for financial support.
Perhaps you could consider reserving half the school holiday weeks for use by families where both/the only adult is lower paid school staff from a particular local authority e.g. Aberdeen?