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Original poster

Would you put your spare room on air bnb?

582 replies

EachandEveryone · 03/07/2015 15:23

We are twenty minutes from Central London. My friend and I are sick of looking for flatmates and would quite like a break from living with other people! What do you think to letting out the spare bedroom?

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JillBYeats · 22/09/2015 09:52

Scarydinosaurs as far as I know there is a house swap site for teachers! People I know use this and have fab 6-week long holidays in Europe every summer. Don't know the name though but lucky you!

Alwayscheerful · 22/09/2015 14:27

Eachand every - what is your booking policy, I am set to strict, so I leave all refunds to airbnb, sometimes I say I will do a specialist offer Next time they book with me.

Alwayscheerful · 22/09/2015 14:28

Special offer not specialist.

Pigeonpost · 22/09/2015 14:45

Each, they need to do it via AirBnB. I would just say that as the payment has been made via AirBnB they need to amend the reservation themselves via the site which will sort out replayment (if appropriate). I wouldn't get involved in any handing over of money and I think its sensible to keep all the changes via the official lines in the unlikely event there are any issues at the end. There are three different cancellation policies, I think mine is set to flexible so my guests who cancelled last week on the day of arrival would have got their second and third night refunded but not the first.

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 22/09/2015 17:31

Agreed. Don't give them any money back yourself.

ilove · 27/09/2015 17:09

Hi all, I've just had/got my first weekend guests here who will leave at 06:30 tomorrow morning, they arrived yesterday.

It was booked via the site on Friday by their boss (they're construction workers whose job over ran and the hotel they were in is fully booked this weekend)

They keep asking me do they need to pay me, and offering me cash. But on Air BnB it says I have a payout to come but it hasn't been released yet. Will the chap who booked it have paid already and will the website definitely pay me?

Thanks

Grazia1984 · 27/09/2015 17:42

It's all left to the website. My daughter uses it. Made £300 recently just because she went away on a short break to France and let her flat whilst away. Then more recently had her only bad occasion - the people had a party (!!). She has never had a problem before though and found it an easy way to make extra money whilst she's away.

Pigeonpost · 27/09/2015 18:11

Ilove: yep, the payment will be made direct to you by AirBnB. How quick you get it depends whether you have set it up for payment via PayPal (watch out for fees) or via bank transfer. You should be able to check this in the Account setting of your listing.

Grazia, I read a horror story on the New Hosts forum about an apartment in London which got trashed. Scary stuff. Not sure we'd be brave enough to let the whole house out if we were away. One dedicated room is 'safer' I think and we don't let it if we aren't here. I've banked over £1200 this month from AirBnB. Need to get registered with HMRC...

ilove · 27/09/2015 19:43

Thanks both. £1200 in a month - wow - was that just one room, and was it let solidly or partially?

Original poster
EachandEveryone · 27/09/2015 19:51

I just can't work out the prices I look at my calandar and for the month it's set at random figures like £19 a night then when I press their price tips they are telling me it should be £26 so I take their price tips and a few days later it's back down to £19!!! Have you got to keep going in yo your calandar to check?

Also if someo e enquires for a month and you ok it at that price then if they go ahead and book it later on does it give them the original price quoted or a more up to date price? I do t want to mess people around.

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ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 27/09/2015 19:57

You don't need to adjust your prices according to price tips of you don't want to. They go up and down all the time with No logic seemingly. If someone enquires it's only kept open for 24 hours so of they don't book and come back later the price will be whatever it is at the time they actually enquires and book

Pigeonpost · 27/09/2015 21:00

Ilove: that was for 23 nights in Sept. Just the one room. And that was at lower rates than we charged for Aug but we had quite a lot of friends and family staying which blocked the room out not next year ha ha.

On the pricing front I vary my prices quite a lot. Particularly as fiddling with the calendar regularly is one of the things that pushes your listing up the rankings. Over the peak of the summer the pricing tip was more than I felt was reasonable but at other times it has been lower. I look at other B&B's and AirBnB hosts nearby to assess what I think is reasonable and how we compare. I have probably changed the price by £1-5 most weeks since we started in mid July. I also drop the price if we are one or two days away and not booked. I also pay a lot of attention to the weather forecast as we are by the coast and a good forecast can attract guests! Although on the app the calendar function has just changed and I accidentally turned off the £10 for extra guests which was annoying. Noticed my mistake quickly when I got a booking but was only 1 night luckily.

Grazia1984 · 28/09/2015 07:21

It will depend where you are. My daughter zone 2 found with her first one she got her first booking by dropipng her price. I cannot remember what to - something like 46 a night? I think she got £100 a night for 3 nights recently (it's a one bed flat).

The party people left their rubbish at the front of the house (she had to clear it up) and saw one of her glasses in the rubbish - although not worth much; and there was some alcohol on the wall. that has not put her off as it was a one off problem, and she books a cleaner after people come and still makes a profit. Also she has virtually nothing you could steal in the flat unless we think people would want a bed and second hand sofa!

ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight · 28/09/2015 08:44

Omg guests need to read the listing properly Angry why do they not bother?

Pigeonpost · 28/09/2015 09:34

Oh it is soooooo frustrating isn't it? I haven't actually travelled via AirBnB yet but I have looked at quite as few as potentials and I read EVERYTHING. Why wouldn't you?

lovestea · 28/09/2015 11:16

We have been taking a small break from AirBnB as we were so busy over July and August. We have also registered with HMRC as we will be over the £4K allowance, but happy that as of April 2016 this rises to £7.5K so probably will not hit that limit.
Last few guests left us brilliant reviews and were all so great to host. We are starting back with a new set of guests this coming weekend.
Coming up to 10 months of hosting now, and all in all it's been good. We have only ever had one really awful guest and I learned a lot from that experience.
Pigeon, we have used AirBnB in Paris and Nice and all went smoothly, but we did have whole apartments, not rooms.

Original poster
EachandEveryone · 28/09/2015 12:05

I'm so confused a girl from France wants it but hasn't got her confirmation from Chanel yet she wants it for two months and had been keeping in touch. Now I've had an enquiry from some one who would really like it for two weeks which over laps

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lovestea · 28/09/2015 12:47

Each, if it were me I would give the French girl a time limit on booking. Telling her you have another enquiry just might encourage her to firm up the booking.
You don't want to miss out on a booking, and holding it for her might just result in you not getting either. Could you give her to the end of today, or within the 24 hour time limit that you have to respond to the other guest enquiry?

Original poster
EachandEveryone · 28/09/2015 15:05

I completely understand it's the Dept store over here that hasn't confirmed he position but is supposed to tonight. I hope they do I have such a lot riding on it. I've blocked the who,e two months for her.

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Pigeonpost · 28/09/2015 18:24

I've never blocked out dates for anyone and I'm not sure I ever would but our guests are all 1-4 night tourist trips so a totally different market from central London. Sod's law dictates that you will hold out for the French girl and that won't go through and you'd have missed the two week stay. But having said that it sounds like you are getting lots of interest so will fill the space regardless. I'd give her until x time to book or you'll unblock the calendar. Your pre-approval of her will only have lasted 24 hours anyway so if you don't use Instant Book she'll need to request to book again.

Original poster
EachandEveryone · 29/09/2015 17:39

I've accepted someone else although they haven't confirmed. I feel bad because she was so perfect but I have bills to pay and it's been two weeks we've held it for.

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Pigeonpost · 29/09/2015 20:33

I think that's far enough. I found that before I used Instant Book about 50% of enquiries turned into bookings and it was generally the seemingly most keen who never booked in the end. You gotta do what you gotta do!

Pigeonpost · 29/09/2015 21:20

FAIR enough even...

ilove · 29/09/2015 23:12

Hurrah, I got paid today!!

Original poster
EachandEveryone · 29/09/2015 23:18

Well this next potential one wants to come and view the place first!

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