Would you put your spare room on air bnb?

[EachandEveryone]

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?

Hi Pigeon, thanks for your help and the screenshot. But no, the green slider bar was below the screenshot that you have posted, and it's now gone, and I see yours has too. However, in it's place is the superhost assessment info, so maybe that is why it has gone and should be back after January 10th.
We shall see!

Oh, dear god I think I've had enough now. We've been doing this for a few short months had have not had a break but have only had three reviews abs one was ghastly from that guy I had a bad vibe from right from the start. So a young woman came to stay from Dubai for the whole of October she lived it so much she persuaded her dad to book the following month so there was a three day gap of which we never charged her. We liked her and she knew she was getting nights for free. So, we reviewed her the first time and she never us but said she'd do it all at the end. December comes, we help her with job interviews, we are obliging hisses, we buy her a heater when she's cold, we invite her to help decorate, she drinks baileys with us abs we buy her Xmas presents. She carries on going to interviews and stays the odd night at other airbnbs where said interviews are. Do you know where this is going? She wrongly books her flight back so instead of leaving on Boxing Day stays another night. No charge. We say our farewells. We nicely remind her to review us. Nada. Zilch. We've left her two. To add insult she's reviewed those places she's stayed when she's gone to interviews. I'm actually at the end of it now. It seems so unfair the guest has the upper hand with reviews.

For New Year an Italian couple stayed for four nights my friend even took them out clubbing whilst I was at work. They emailed us when they got back yo say thanks. No review as yet but I'm actually reluctant to leave them one now in case they don't respond either!

Fascinating thread! I have just discovered AirBnB, and am thinking of making a booking as a guest soon. Some of you have mentioned that people who just want a cheap room are not the people you would want to host- could you clarify that please? Obviously I'd like to be a good guest :-)

Also, I have a spare room - is it really likely that people would pay to stay in a chaotic child-filled household? I don't even have an en-suite bathroom to offer Very tempting though!

Sorry you've had such a hard time of it Each - I would be tearing my hair out by now! How are you finding it in comparison to just letting the room to a regular flatmate in terms of money and hassle?

Just been reading this and wondered if anyone else had seen it (noticed you were a Guardian reader, Pigeon )

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/05/guest-stars-drunken-guest-scared-me

LoveMIL a few of us hosts on here have children! I hosted for a few months last year and have a 2yo. We don't have ensuite rooms either so just made sure that the bathroom toys/clutter were artfully hidden. It helped that we have two bathroms but guests have access to both so there was an awful lot of cleaning. Some people actually like staying with a family - we had a few families with small children stay with us and also found that lone women travellers felt more comfortable in a family environment.

Regarding guests just wanting a cheap room, I guess the main problem with that is that they are not buying into or are totally unaware of the Airbnb ethos and can have expectations along the lines of hotel guests. I had a couple from Turkey staying a week and they had clearly booked without really understanding what Airbnb was - one of their first questions was to ask where I lived . They moaned a fair bit about the location of the house despite my very clear information about its proximity to the city centre. I also noticed when they left that a hard-to-replace item had gone missing from their room, which was annoying. Final insult was a slightly cheeky review from them, but felt I had got away lightly as they then left a downright nasty review for their subsequent host.

The cheap room bookers are less likely to be careful about making noise, mess or turning up on time. Most guests were lovely, but there was a few I was more than happy to see the back of...

Was talking to a friend a few days ago who rents out an entire house (it's beautifully decorated and she puts an awful lot of work into hosting). A guest booked over last weekend and one of the very clear house rules is no pets. 48 hours before the arrival date, guest emails and mentions she's bringing two dogs! Friend says no, not really then makes up an excuse about being allergic etc. I said to her that no means no - it's in your rules and a simple 'no' is enough! Can't believe the cheek of the bloody woman! Not sure what the outcome was in the end but I was seething on her behalf.

Eagle, DH is the Guardian reader!! Only since he stopped paying for The Times . Interesting story though. I know someone (female, late 40's) who was AirBnB'ing alone in Spain last year when she was propositioned by the male host. What she described was very creepy. She reported to AirBnB and they flagged it up somehow. Yuck.

Hi LoveMIL! Welcome to the thread. We started hosting in July and have 3 children and a very excitable puppy. We make that VERY clear in our listing (PM me if you'd like me to link you to our listing) to avoid any complaints. We haven't had a nightmare guest yet (famous last words...). A couple have been a bit challenging but nothing particularly bad. We haven't travelled via AirBnB yet but it's on the to do list.

Each, oh I don't know what to say, what an absolute ballache. I suspect the London market is different to us here in tourist central Cornwall but you do seem to have had an extraordinarily bad run of it. Why don't you try limiting stays to say one or two weeks max and see whether that attracts a different calibre of guest. I'd stop with the added extras like presents, drinks and taking them out clubbing and keep things more strictly business to see if that helps. We are v friendly to guests in our kitchen/breakfast room (off which is the guest room and dedicated entrance) but only in exceptional invited circumstances are they permitted to pass through the kitchen door into the living room (which leads to the rest of the house). Whilst the layout of your house might not lend itself to such easy 'borders' some psychological ones might help? I do think long term stays have a different mindset to short stay ones. I can't think what else to suggest.

We've been lucky in that we have never had it empty for long periods but equally they have stayed for weeks at a time and they end up asking how to turn the heating on etc especially as they aren't getting up to go to work each day like the rest of the household!

So, new year, new guests and we are starting to get booked again, bigtime. We have now had over 100 guests! Busy January, less in February, but the bookings for March are for 18 nights so far.

How is everybody else doing? Pigeon in Cornwall? Each - are you still in business? You were fed up last time you posted. And EagleRay, are you well?
Hope you are all doing well!

Am realising the house is taking a bit of a knocking. All those suitcases through the door and up the hall and stairs have resulted in many scuff marks so will have to think about a touch up soon. Fortunately I still have spare paint for the ones that won't wash off. We have also had one broken blind, a couple of carpet stains that were easily removed thank goodness, and a couple of broken glasses. So all in all a good year that has paid for our Italy holiday! Roll on May.

Hello Loves and everyone else! Have you had 100 guests just in 2016??!?! Wow! We have been quite quiet recently but typical for Cornwall. Few guests over weekends in Dec then over New year, a couple of weekends in Jan and Feb and now starting to get more bookings coming through. I did think we'd be booked over Feb half-term and we weren't so I might bear that I might next year for planning a holiday of our own.

We redecorated the whole house in Jan including the guest room so it all looks spiffing and the new updated Airbnb photos look great too.We have had some fantastic reviews the last couple of guests though which has been a great boost. Had friends staying this w/e so no guests in but have a couple staying Wed and Thurs so need to start getting my AirBnb groove back on. No breakages here (yet...). Looking forward to having some money coming in to pay for some more house stuff (and my recent speed awareness course....)

How are the rest of you doing?

Hello Pigeon, make that 100 guests in just over a year of hosting! Glad all is going well for you.

We are having to balance out being here for our AirBnB guests and going on holiday ourselves with the AirBnB income! I have a big number birthday next month so will be away for that for sure.

Would also love to hear how everyone else is doing.

It's difficult isn't it, we won't let out our AirBnB room if we aren't here and it makes me greedy!! Although we have arranged to let our whole house out to an acquaintance and her family in the summer whilst we are away so will be interesting to see how that goes. We are also away over one of the May bank hol weekends and I'm toying with the idea of listing the whole house for 3 nights (would need to be one single booking) but I can't decide how much packing away of our own stuff we would need to do and whether it would be more hassle than the money justifies.

Hi Pigeon, I will be interested to know how it goes with listing your whole house for three nights. I have not been brave enough to do that, but have thought about it. We are away for three weeks over the summer - paid for by AirBnB profit! So have wondered about letting the whole house for that time, but am anxious about it. We have a cat that needs looking after and not sure if that is a big ask (neighbours always care for cat as we do for theirs).

Aside from that I had a really annoying couple stay last weekend. They were very young - 18 and 20 so allowances made for that, but even so their time keeping was lousy. They arrived one and a half hours after they said they would, didn't phone to let me know - I was going out!
Said they wanted breakfast at 9.30am, emerged at 11am, took an hour over breakfast, then had showers and then managed to go out at 1pm. Came back at 4pm and were totally horrified when I said I needed the room back at 11am the next day as new guests coming in later.
But sometimes you have to laugh about it. They gave me a great review and I gave them a meh one! I should think so. I sat around for one and a half hours wondering if they were ever going to get out of bed!

Hi Loves. We listed it for the bank hol weekend on AirBnB but have ended up letting to a friend of a friend at the same rate but minus the AirBnB fees obviously. I was v clear that because this is our home we will make sure there is some cupboard space but otherwise the house will have all our possessions in it. We will lock away passports etc though. The guests know they will have to feed the cat, the fish and the chickens and when I set the price I discounted the typical holiday let price to reflect that. Will feed back afterwards!

Boo re your awkward guests, our last young couple guests were a bit like that, first taste of freedome I think! Do you provide a cooked breakfast then? We just offer self-service so I leave everything out the night before and they help themselves whenever. Means I'm not hanging around waiting to do anything. Late check-in's are irritating though. Means I'm always cross with the guest when they arrive but then feel bad at the end when they end up being nice. I do always mention it in private feedback though now though. I didn't used to but decided that they need to know for the benefit of other hosts. Although you can't make a leopard change it's spots...

Not a cooked breakfast but they do have it in our kitchen and to get to the kitchen you have to walk through the living room - large Victorian terrace. So I like to give them a bit of privacy having breakfast, especially if they are a couple, and it means I can't really get on with my own stuff until they have gone out, or at least back to their room, which is why I normally ask for a preferred breakfast time.

Most of the solo guests like a bit of company, so I tend to potter around the kitchen while they eat. It's also a chance to give them some info about our city.

Do your guests have a separate area to eat breakfast Pigeon?

Guests use our dining room which is next to our kitchen but joined via a large opening with no doorway so pretty much part of the same room. The guests are frequently sitting down having their breakfast at the dining table whilst I'm pottering around in the kitchen although I set out the breakfast stuff the night before so they can eat whenever they want. DH, kids and I tend to have breakfast on the hop at stools at the island in the kitchen. The guest bedroom is off a separate staircase leading from the dining room and our living room leads off the kitchen in the opposite direction (long thin converted barn) so no guest access past the kitchen as they use French doors in the dining room for access. I hope that makes sense! I'll PM you a link to my listing if you like to better explain it? But I do just get on with stuff in the kitchen (laundry/emptying the dishwasher etc) if I need to, it depends what my plans are. I will then chat about the local area/their plans etc for a bit whilst doing stuff and then not chat and leave them to it. Seems to work fine. Our guests are mostly couples and I have never felt intrusive. I can retreat to 'our' side of the house though if necessary.

Actually this morning's guests had to tolerate my two year old DS watching Thunderbirds on the laptop and talking about Lego as they were preparing their breakfast and I was upstairs in our side of the house getting dressed! Guests seem to find his prattle endearing presumably because they don't have to hear it 24/7 .

Pigeon, I would love to see your listing! I could show you mine too if I can figure out how to do it - is it just cut and paste into a PM? (Technically challenged!).

I had a wibble today. Had an enquiry at about 4pm for a booking tonight from "two engineers" working locally. Well sort of locally, far away enough to have to drive through the nearest town which has lots of much cheaper AirBnB rooms before they got to us. No previous reviews on AirBnB. Initially I pre-approved the enquiry (although we have Instant Book anyway) but the chap didn't book and I started to get cold feet about having two random men staying tonight when DH is away with work and its just me and the kids. By about 6.45p, I had entirely lost my bottle and could practically hear my worrier of a dad in my head telling me it wasn't a good idea so I declined the enquiry. I'm now thinking that I ought to put something in my house rules about reserving the right to cancel bookings made via Instant Book where the guest is a single male or group of males and my husband is away. Am I being ridiculous? I guess a couple or single woman/group of women could be just as much of of a threat. And I never know when DH is going to be away anyway and it seems a bit crappy to accept a booking and then cancel it weeks later just because DH is away. I think this was just because it was last minute, late in the day etc. I guess going with your gut reaction is generally the best and this just didn't feel like a sensible thing to do. Might be doing the poor men a massive disservice but not worth the risk for £55.

PS I have PM'd you Loves.

Hi Pigeon, I think having a wibble was totally in order. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut instinct with these things. I have declined people based on that. It's your home and you should never feel anxious there.

I don't do Instant Book because I really want to get a feel for who is wanting to book, but that's just me.

My DH recently went away with our sons skiing and during that week I only booked women and couples. I know it doesn't make much sense but it made me feel a lot better doing it that way.

Have PM'd you back.

Thank you, that makes me feel better. I do Instant Book because we don't have 3G here so my response time can be crap if I'm out for the day. Maybe I should reconsider... I am enjoying slobbing round in my pj's tonight though now there aren't any strange men in the house

I managed to stop a potential scam on AirBnB today but it's left me feeling really horrible and a bit vulnerable.

I had a booking request for next week from 'Laura' from Las Vegas. Photo of her looked like a glamour model. Her opening gambit was 'Hi I'm Laura, do you have fast wifi?'. I say yes and pre approve her.
Less than a minute later she replies that she really wants to book the room but had noticed that the room was also on another AirBnB listing for a cheaper price and she was sending me the link to it so I could look for myself.
I look at her link and it takes me to what looks like the usual AirBnB login. Except, on the toolbar it says AirBnB/associates. So I think I'm not going to login, but still have not quite realised what was going on.
So I send 'Laura' a message saying her link had taken me to the AirBnB login page which I couldn't quite understand as I am already logged in.
'Laura' then messages back straight away telling me I really need to login to the link she had sent me as someone else other than me was advertising our room on AirBnB.

So, now I am suspicious and decide to have a look at 'Laura'. No verifications, no reviews, joined the site this month despite telling me she had spent time in London last year. Coming from Las Vegas and only booking three days before her arrival? It just didn't ring true. And she seems to know an awful lot about AirBnB considering she is a newbie. She is very keen for me to login to the link she sent.
I don't reply. And guess what? No more contact from 'Laura'.

I can only assume that if I had logged in it would have given 'Laura' my AirBnB password and with that she could change my bank details - to 'Laura's'. I probably would not have noticed for a while as I only check my online banking about once a month.

So, don't book any 'Laura's' from Las Vegas!
I tried to phone AirBnB to report it but the phone queue is 45 minutes long. I can only hope it's not other hosts trying to report 'Laura'.
Feel wretched now. I hate dishonesty.

Urgh, Scammers suck. I think you can flag up an Airbnb user on the system but not sure whether that is post-booking. Hope it hasn't traumatised you!

We have a young man staying who appears not to wash or go to the loo! He's here to play golf so my husband thinks he's probably showering at the club house.

He's also very uncommunicative. Normally we eat breakfast with our guests and have lovely chats. He requested a reduced rate as he was going to be out early and therefore wouldn't want breakfast. So far he's only been out early twice. I don't need to know the ins and outs of his life but knowing when he is planning on being in our house would be helpful.

He arrived on Monday and has already extended his stay twice. He's leaving today (please) and I wish he'd hurry up and get going now, I want to fumigate the room!

Ewwww Hemlock! He sounds awful. You're brave eating breakfast with guests. I do anything to avoid it! Happy to potter round and chat but not sit down at the table with them. Good luck fumigating the room!