Anyone dabbled in air bnb?

[janeg88]

My dad has just gone into a care home and his house is currently empty.

I’m considering air bnb, but wondered if anyone can talk me through potential pitfalls and advantages.

[Bad Pink Tink]

I have used AirBnB twice in LA.

Both times I had an amazing experience and would go back to and recommend both places.

However I did a lot of research before hand.

I will only book a place that is specifically for AirBnB rentals. Many places on AirBnB are peoples actual homes, which they move out of and stay with a friend or family during the time it is being rented for on AirBnB. I don't feel comfortable doing this, staying in someone's actual home , as apposed to a designated rental accommodation place.

I will only book a whole flat or apartment or house. Some places on AirBnB are just bedrooms in a shared house and you share the living space with the host. I want my own private space and I'm not comfortable sharing living space with a stranger.

I will only book with a superhost. Superhosts not only have amazing reviews but have been listed on AirBnB for more than 1 year and have achieved superhost status by qualifying for certain standards set by AirBnB.

I check reviews of properties. The reviews are very reliable, and will highlight so many things that you might not thought about. Even places which have amazing reviews may highlight issues you might not be comfortable with. For example, one place I stayed at, the host lived next door and had large dogs in their fenced in yard. I had no issues staying there and no issues with the dogs, but for some people that might be a deal breaker.

Another thing to check with reviews is the dates. I will only stay at a place which has consistently great reviews which are recent, in the last 2 to 4 months. Especially now with Covid, its important to make sure that the people have stayed there recently and to read their experiences.

I will only stay at a place that has self check in. Many of the more dodgy places are places which turn out to be not the actual place listed on AirBnB. One give away is that the host will meet you and bring you to the place. Both AirBnB that I stayed at had self check in. The keys were in a coded lockbox and the host gave me the code the week before my trip.

Talking about hosts. The host needs to be very prompt with replies and should ONLY communicate through AirBnB before your trip. The places I stayed were in LA which is 8 hours behind Ireland. So if I wanted to message the hosts I made sure that I was messaging in the day time LA time and not expecting them to reply when they would be sleeping. Before your trip you should have all the information needed, the exact postal address of the property, and contact details for the host in case of emergency. Don't be afraid to ask questions, a good host will want to give as much information as you need and will want you to enjoy your stay so that you give a good review.

[daisymae]

My friend has an Air bnb. It takes up a fair bit of her spare time, she only does minimum of 3 days because she found that cleaning the place was very time consuming especially if having different guests daily. She is a Superhost and has good reviews. She is fortunate that her house is just across the road from her as it was her parents house that she inherited. She hasn’t taken any money out of the business in the 3 years she’s had it. She has had a few people trying to scam her by asking to deal offline etc and can’t believe the amount of people who book then ask can xyz stay and find they want double the amount of people that the house can occupy or people who turn up with dogs when it clearly states no dogs.

[tracy99]

My friend has an Airbnb on Anglesey.
She finds it hard work but that’s because she’s not in good health and it’s a large place.
She has cleaners come in rather than cleaning it herself as she really couldn’t manage it.
She also has a minimum night stay and the money helps to top up her pension.
We always use Airbnb’s and have been really lucky and not had a bad one yet.
Tracy x

[Disney_time]

Both my sons have done airbnb overthe years- first of all with the Commonwealth Games, then more recently one did it for COP 26. They have both got on fine with no mishaps, but my niece did it and was stung when her place was used as a party flat. Basically, a very local lady rented and said she was moving out for decorators to come in to her house. It was the day the Scottish exam results came out. Her daughter aged 16/17 then had a party for all her friends and my niece's neighbour phoned her to come home and you can guess the scene; vomit, broken glass, drunk teenagers, you name it. Unfortunately, my niece only stipulated £100 deposit so that was all she got back. Some hosts won't rent to people in the same postcode area/town due to the possibility of this.

[PoohBears#1fan]

We've used Air B&Bs in Venice & Rome with very good experiences, for me it's all about the communication, if it's not forthcoming and timely, it's a warning sign for me.

We also let out a couple of rooms in our house via Air B&B over the Grand Prix weekend, whilst the site is horrendous to use, again great experiences and the people who have rented from us have been great and left very good feedback.

Read the feedback and trust your instincts, if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.

[janeg88]

Thanks folks! To clarify we have stayed in a few and always positive. This would be me renting out my dads house. I hadn’t considered locals using it for a party so that def one to be aware off.

It’s in Gretna so lots of wedding/tourist traffic I would think.