[Closed] Holiday Let / AirBnB owners/hosts lets have your words of wisdom andtails of woe

Well you should fit some cameras so you can spy on your “guests”

Quite popular I’ve been told.

Are you letting the entire place or just a room?

I let a room via AirBnB & it's been mostly plain sailing & I've met a few interesting people over the past 4 years.
Did have one crazy person tho, who tried to blackmail us with bad reviews.

Ok, moar serious.

My mate runs an annex to his house as AirBnB. It’s in St Ives, and I think is a really nice little place. I use it a fair amount over a year and it’s a great Surf location, I get it cheaper because he’s my mate etc.

He says the biggest problem with it is cleaning it. They’ve gone through probably 30 cleaners in the local area to find one that’s reliable and actually cleans the place properly. Guests can be very picky about cleanliness and quite right IMO. But with that brings a lot of pain and co-ordination.

They have a no dog policy, but that doesn’t stop people bringing dogs with them.. and they get turned away and that in itself causes angst. Ok, so St Ives brings a mix of people surfers to oldies and all manner in between during the summer so you should at least be flexible in your let criteria.

I used to use AirBnB for our organised point or point bike rides, brilliant for that and never had any issues with any property.. even taking bikes into the property and that in itself means we would often break some rules of the owners...

So you should bear all this in mind, and obviously build in some contingency for damage or late cancellations.

Thanks, very useful. It's an entire flat, and I'll need someone to do the changeover/cleaning.
The no dogs thing is interesting because I've heard anecdotal evidence that dog owners generally look after their pooches and clean up after them pretty well (on the whole) - you can also charge a premium as fewer allow them.

Any more for anymore?

The one person who brought a dog to my place left a dog shit in the living room

🙁

Dog owner and serial Air BnB user- I hate hotels and like the broader range of locations and quirky places available on air bnb, plus it's providing money to locals.

I think it comes down to the individuals. You'll have some dog owners who will leave and you'll not even know they've visited, and then you'll have non-dog owners who are able to trash the place in a week- and vice versa. If anything, dog owners tend to be well disciplined as they walk the dog first thing/last thing and tend to tidy up to keep everything manageable.

You can predicted what a fellow human can do! Only accept stays if they have a strong feedback score from numerous people.

You can predicted what a fellow human can do! Only accept stays if they have a strong feedback score from numerous people.

If you become too selective in the people you want to stay you get marked down by AirBnb & bumped from being higher up the ratings.
Look out for their smart pricing too - they've only ever tried to reduce our pricing downwards (even though we are the cheapest in the area!)
We generally do the changeovers ourselves, but have a couple of people we can call on if needed.

If you become too selective in the people you want to stay you get marked down by AirBnb & bumped from being higher up the ratings.

Didn't know that. Seems a shame to be penalized for being cautious.
It does seem an odd algorithm- when I've searched in areas it displays 'x' results- most werent of interest, so when I zoom in closer I get a different series of result that are more suited to us! Better ratings, closer to desired price and ticks all the filters. I assume they've been penalized. Really annoying as you miss out on some excellent properties.

Have a friend with a converted barn outside Whitby. Does allow dogs, but uses an agency as a proper holiday let. First year it was 85-90% booked I think a couple of weeks in December not used. Since then has been upped in price and remained as well booked.

It's really well finished, is professionally cleaned and I think the cleaner does handovers too, overall it's turning a nice profit for her and will continue to once she retires in about 5-10 years well ahead of the national retirement average.

When she bought it you could see from through the walls and the roof, so it's taken some effort to get to this stage!

We have a place in the Peak District that we let through an agency.

Yes to the internet thermostat. It allows you to turn the heating on before guests arrive so that its warm, and after they've gone you can put it back down to the baseline low-level.

We do allow dogs and, on the whole, its been fine. We certainly get a lot of bookings that include a dog and you have to ask whether those weeks would have gone otherwise (though this is unknowable). We charge extra for a 2nd dog. Ideally you don't want to exclude any segment of the market. So think about kids & disabled access (sadly our place isn't good for either of those categories).

Change-overs can be pricey. We use a specialist company, which is better than an individual, as they can cover holidays/sickness etc. Changing over our place is ~£100 as not only does this involve cleaning and re-setting, but also laundry/ironing. Hence there is a slight element of how many people stay.

The agency take quite a large cut, but they get many more weeks than we ever could privately, at least that is my impression as it has let pretty well.

You won't make a lot of money. Well, we're not at any rate. Feel free to ask any other questions and I'll help if I can.

LR

what is a reasonable changeover cost for a 2 bed place.

Are you doing it yourself or are you hoping to get others to do it for you? What is your flexibility to do it any day of the week?

My mother has a 3 bed 3 bathroom holiday cottage that she manages and does the turnovers for herself. I think she quickly realised that short breaks were just not worth the hassle and only let it out for full weeks refusing all shorter requests. At the very least I'd recommend only making short stays bookable a short time in advance - nothing more frustrating than having a high season week (or even two) booking screwed up because some asshat has booked a two night weekend stay months ahead.

Also I got her to sit down and do the maths with me for low seasons lets. She is with one of the holiday cottage websites (a lot of them that sound local to the area are actually part of one giant national company) and they have a defined formula to work out the low season price based on a percentage of high season. She lives in the highlands and its in a coldish location. Economically the low season rate she could charge just did not make any sense - by the time she paid for the much increased heating (and lighting) costs for the winter she was barely making minimum wage doing the turnover and that's before the wear and tear of extra guests in the house for the bulk of the day in the winter was taken into account. So she not blocks it out from Nov-Mar apart from the festive/NY period.

As an airbnb user the thing I've never understood why owners don't take advantage of the flexible pricing available when you set it up. I often find airbnbs don't work competitive against a conventionally booked holiday cottage when you want to stay a week. As above you want to encourage long bookings - you look at the booking history of some of these places that are ripe for full week holiday letting and they have picked up dribs and drabs of odd days or two day bookings that works out a shit load more work for a load less cash. And I firmly believe its their pricing structure that has encouraged that.

Also - make the stay as nice as possible within reason - aim to get repeat bookings. They are a load less faff as they know the ropes and what to expect and are what you need to get you a year on year full booking calendar. A book of recommended activities locally, restaurants you like, local walks and useful information. My mum has a deal with a local farm shop who sells her the contents of a welcome basket at near cost if she promotes them and leaves a leaflet and discount voucher with the basket. The amount of comments she gets in her visitors book and reviews online spaffing off about a £1 'artisan' loaf, some biscuits and pint of milk is incredible.

Finally, internet - depending on local 4g signal punters love it. And smart tvs. You'd have thought they were on holiday to get away from all that but it appears not.

edit - also be a good boy and do a tax return. Move afoot apparently to crack down on naughty airbnb landlords.

Did it with our place in France while we were living there. Be really accurate with your description and be clear about heating and utilities costs, only take bookings from people with reviews, set your cancellation policy to the strictest you are allowed, keep the place immaculate (if you use a 3rd party cleaner/handover make sure your understanding of "clean" matches theirs) we only had one disaster and AirBnB were really good at getting the costs back from the guest. All in all, AirBnB are one of the easiest platforms to use, just be prepared for the odd hiccup and don't be too precious about it.

smart thermostats with locks, to prevent the pesky punters from using too much gas (bah humbug!)

I think if you're thinking in this direction then AirBnB might not be for you. I wouldn't stay somewhere that didn't allow me to control the heating.

We own a company that does airbnb etc full time. We dont bother with electronic thermostats as its not worth it. If you have a good occupancy rate then it's not on and empty much. We use key boxes for guest access but get decent electric ones as the mechanical ones don't auto lock when you close them. Cleaning is £25 a time and laundry. We hire it and use hotel quality so it can stand commercial laundry processing

Thanks for the input. Lots of food for thought. I've contacted a local company who provide lets outwith AirBnB, so we'll see what the numbers look like when they come back.

Any more thoughts from seasoned users/abusers?

One holiday let I used (not cheap and in a beautiful village) was really let down by crappy, tatty, ancient and uncomfortable armchairs and sofas. No, they didn't look 'quirky' as they were designed for midgets and would have been totally unsuitable for even an average-height male. I'd be ashamed to have anything like that in my home!

My other pet hate is no cleaning cloths or cleaning products being provided, some of us do actually want to keep a place clean.

By the tone of your OP, my gut feeling is that it's not for you.
Most 'punters' are folk who have paid a good chunk of cash to enjoy a holiday.
If they turn up to find the heating locked, that is immediately going to get their backs up.
Likewise, the amount of properties used as a dumping ground for shitty furniture and utensils is quite pathetic. I reckon lots of owners must reckon that nobody on a self catering is going to want to indulge in anything so fancy as wanting to chop a tomato with an actual sharp knife.
FFS, go to IKEA and get some presentable, cheap, matching stuff.
When the tin opener in your own kitchen wears out, scrap it. In a scrapyard. Not the holiday house drawer.
If I turn up to a property and pull out a greasy frying pan, then every pan I use will be left dirty in the sink when I leave. That way, it should be cleaned on changeover.
If I turn up to clean stuff, I'll leave it immaculate. It's not rocket science.
My folks have three cottages, always immaculate for new entrants.
They are almost always left very tidy, often pretty much ready to go again.
Many repeat visitors going back 25+ years.
Conversely, I have friends with a cottage, old and a bit grubby.
They consistently moan about the state it's left in, and how difficult punters are. There's good reason for it.

The lack of cleaning cloths and tea towels is a big annoyance for me.

Bedmaker has nailed it.

We’ve returned to the same holiday let in Carbis Bay    every year for the last 15 because the owner has considered and addressed all of these types of issues.

Over the years we’ve even bought things for the house as required and they’re still in use.

There are books, DVDs board games, beach  toys, beach chairs and shelters, cool boxes, all the incidental stuff that makes a holiday run smoothly

“Our house” is pretty much booked up in advance solidly throughout the year by the same people  each year as the letting agent gives priority access to repeat bookings.

We know more of our “neighbours” in Cornwall than we do at home.

All good stuff - I want to do it right. Bedmaker - classic broken window theory stuff going on there so the key is to make it and keep it immaculate. Not sure what to do about dogs though.

Went to a place on the edge of the Peak. Heating wasn't great but had a log burner. Fine, let's tramp down to the village shop to buy some wet logs that we can't get burning.

If a fire is a feature, have a few logs provided to give us punters a head start!

When OP talks about a locked smart thermostat, it doesn’t mean guests can’t control it at all, it just means they have to keep within a range, e.g off-24 degrees for example. Just stops them cranking it to tropical conditions.

Knew someone with a holiday let in Cornwall which allowed dogs. Guest brought an incontinent dog which shit absolutely everywhere. 🐕 💩 💩 Couldn’t be cleaned and ended up needing all new carpets etc. Dog owners just could not understand why this was not normal/acceptable!!

When OP talks about a locked smart thermostat, it doesn’t mean guests can’t control it at all, it just means they have to keep within a range, e.g off-24 degrees for example. Just stops them cranking it to tropical conditions.

Indeed, I've stayed in places where it is completely locked down which is an annoyance - this is more about not letting it being left on 24/7 at 28 degrees. I think nest or hive will do what I want without coming across as a knob.

Yeah, dog owners - while acknowledging that some will keep a place immaculate - in general, are used to higher amount of scrapes/smells/fur/dirt than average (and definitely more than some of the really persnickety guests) and don't see leaving your place like that as an issue.

On the flip side of that, I have been marked down on AirBnB for cat fur in the room I let. Even though there is none in there when they arrive, they let the cats in and play with them on the bed (my cats are very friendly and nosy). I even put it down as pre-condition you have to accept when booking (i.e. let cats in room = no complaining about cat fur in the room)....

Saying that, most people are cool with them and they generally get me good reviews!

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I'd stipulate no dogs, just sounds as though it could be extra work especially as some folk think it's OK to allow dogs on sofas. Ugh. Who will pick up the poo, will the dog poo in local fields and annoy farmers or local roads and annoy villagers? If it's left alone will it bark?

Stayed at a wonderful place years ago, had requested and paid for a welcome hamper and, oh my goodness. Home made quiche using owners chickens eggs, bowl full of duck, quail and chicken eggs, bowl of strawberries from their garden together with bowl of clotted cream, salad etc etc. Was totally spoiled!

All cleaning products, cloths and bin liners were there meaning I could leave the place in a clean and tidy condition.

bedmaker makes some very good points and you need to put the effort in if you want repeat visitors.

As a family we always go for a place with a bedroom and at least a sofa bed in the living room . That way mini squirrel can go to bed and we can carry on with the evening.

Number one rule for sofa beds is it has to be decent. We have one at home and spent a small ransom on it however it is suitable for constant use unlike a lot of the Harveys/DFS/IKEA stuff (got it from Sofas and Stuff, Jaybe are good as well).

Agree with having the cleaning stuff available, I managed to get some dried mud on the carpet in the last place but it was fine as I could vac it up. I'm not so fussed about TV but broadband is a definite plus. Secure locks as well, night latches are crap and easily defeated. Keep the house user manual simple and again, allow suggestions to be left for future guests.

Oh and finally, if you do have dynamic pricing and instant booking don't be a prick and cancel it just to bump the price up. I won't be booking with you and someone else will get my money. Had that happen multiple times on one holiday and when you're booking last minute it's less than helpful having your booking cancelled with flights already booked.

I agree with bedmsker..  You are in the service industry competing against hotels and alike. Your not in the rental business

It's a 2 bedroom place and I'm reluctant to but a sofa bed in because 6 in the apartment would feel cramped. Will probably go for a bunkbed and single in the second bedroom though to give an occupancy of 5 of which you would expect a couple of those to be children.

Been doing it for a couple of years. Been very successful for us with excellent income which on average is 3x what it would get as a normal residential let. Vast majority 5 star reviews and been superhost since our second month. We keep our prices high which keeps away troublesome guests for the most part, impacts occupancy slightly but the higher nightly rate more than offsets that.

I’ll give a few must do’s, as giving a whole run down would take a whole book or website, which already exist and I highly recommend reading things like https://getpaidforyourpad.com/ or https://learnairbnb.com

Automate as many things as you can to save time- Smartbnb for guest messaging, Wheelhouse for pricing, Wave for accounting.

Video Doorbell- Good peace of mind for the security as you can check that guests have arrived safely, it has also picked up a couple of occasions when large groups have arrived more than have booked. Just be sure and disclose you have this in your listing. We use a Ring that monitors directly outside the property.

Thermostat- Nest works well, you can lock it down so they have full range of adjustment over temperature but nothing else.

A good cleaner- If you get one that specialises in holiday rentals then they can link to your calendar so don’t have to do anything in order to tell them when to come clean. We use a company called BNBclean in Edinburgh. £40 a changeover for a 1 bed, most of that is charged to the guest anyway as an add on cleaning fee.

Do things legally and correctly- Make sure you have the right insurance and mortgage to allow you to do it, that you have things like smoke alarms, CO2 detectors, first aid kits etc. Register your income correctly and pay your taxes. This may be controversial to many fellow hosts but I suspect many hosts miss a lot of this out, and it’s part the reason why there is increasing pressure on council and government to bring in legal measures.

Yeah a two bedroom doesn't need a sofa bed.

Tenacious - could you put up a link for your place (or send it to me in a PM)?
I might be moving out of my place in Edinburgh for a few months so looking at renting the whole flat vs the spare room.
Did it last festival and some things worked well, but some didn't...
Seems like you know your stuff!

Thanks Doug, that's very useful - I'd considered a ring doorbell and will now definitely go ahead.

I have a holiday let but was hoping to wind the venture down as I have another venture coming up. So last year I raised the price to the highest in the area...guess what, it sold more weeks than ever. It's a quality business, people's time is very precious and seemingly spending on holidays is seen as an investment.

Saying the above, I have looked at the competition and the ones that stay empty are pretty awful.

So get the best of everything, keep your prices high and if it is any good the market will soon find you.

Make sure you put enough comfy seats in the living room for everyone. I stayed in a place once that slept 6, but only had a two seater couch and a chair.

sorry to bring this back up, but I thought I'd see what peoples thoughts were..

We currently own a BTL place in Brighton, which the tenant is moving out of. its up for sale, but even if we got an offer today, we'd likely not complete till september, so we basically have an empty house in a touristy location, which is empty during prime tourist season.

It's empty at the moment, so we'd have to furnish/kit it out (I recon £2000ish for basic stuff) - we'd then use a host service to handle all the check-in, cleaning, etc etc. Similar places seem to rent for £150-200 a night, so assuming 3/4 occupancy and the service company taking a chunky fee, if I'm left with £100 a night for 70-ish nights, it still has the potential to generate a decent income over the time.

Is doing a holiday let short term a completely stupid idea?

@5lab doesnt sound stupid, although I would say arranging viewings and not clashing with bookings could be a headache.

Sounds like a good plan to me, although I'd look to spend a lot less than £2k on furniture. Check out the specialist furniture charity shops. They are good on fire certified stuff too.

agreed, I think we can spend about half that, but we're budgeting for buying everything new in Ikea and giving it away at the end to figure out the worst-case scenario - the most expensive thing is mattresses (at ~£70 a pop - a double and 4 singles really adds up), which we could definitely get on the cheap

Picked up the keys for my place over the weekend. Also pondering the furniture options. There seems to be plenty of decent stuff on Gumtree & Facebook which I'm going to investigate. Might even use it in the marketing blurb re eco credentials 🙂

Good luck with the venture. Be aware of scammers getting even more ambitious as they have been outsmarted by many systems. I nearly just fell for a scam wanting paying me direct, so wanted my details.

This was within a secure messaging environment on a booking portal. May be genuine but had scam written all over it.

Be on your guard.

In this part of the world people are giving up on Air B&B because of the bed bug issue (as hosts anyhow). I've been travelling around Europe for years and it's something that is becoming more and more of a problem. AirB&B is at the heart of the problem but censor reviews so it's pretty much absent from their site. We've bought a deep freeze to put everything in on boost freeze for 4 days on return from trips away but there's nothing you can do about people contaminating you house when they visit. We were contaminated on our last trip. I picked 6 live bed bugs out of our luggage on our last night before returning home.

https://www.airbnbhell.com/?s=bed+bugs

Use Google translate, this thread covers th esubject well.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/H%C3%A9bergement/Punaises-de-lit/td-p/564287

Well a couple of months in and it all seems to be going OK. I've started off with relatively low nightly rates, but the occupancy has been 85%, so happy with that. I've also put over £1,000 into the local community in terms of work for those doing the change over for me. As we approach the traditionally quieter months, it will be interesting to see how things progress.