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I was wondering what the experience has been for people who rent out a 1BR/1BA condo and advertise up to 4 guests. I’m really curious as this layout in our area usually only has a master bath.
I am assuming you have a pull out couch? Or do you use something else?
Do you find you actually get 4 guests booking or do you generally get 2 guests instead?
Both our apartments are as you described but our STR insurance company will only allow a max of two, as does our local license.
So answers may vary depending on location and insurance.
Occasionally we get an extra person sneaked in but they have to sleep on the sofa.
We have a 1BR/1BA apartment with a Murphy bed in the living room. Most guests are couples, but we’ve had a number of people with an adult child or two kids use the Murphy bed. However, it’s really just more wear and tear to have four people in such a small space, so I recently lowered occupancy to three, which accommodates the guests I prefer. Our bedroom doesn’t have an ensuite, but if people are willing to sleep in the living room, they’re probably also willing to trek into someone else’s bedroom to use the bathroom.
I am curious if your occupancy rates are competitive with other 1BR/1BA units in your area. And what is your occupancy rate? I have been using AirDNA to analyze the area we are looking at. The 1BR/1BA units generate almost the same amount of income here. I would prefer to limit to 2 or possibly 3 guests (hadn’t thought of that), I just am not sure if it would affect my total rentals if it didn’t show up as 4 guests available. And yes, I understand about the wear and tear which is why I would prefer to keep it to 2 people.
Not a condo but a 1BR/1BA 900 sq ft guest house. I limit it to two (2) people, no children, no pets.
If I had to guess the breakdown, it is about:
I don’t have a pullout sofa but the sofa is a large enough and comfortable enough to double as a single bed. But as mentioned, the wear and tear of a 3rd or 4th makes it not a desirable fit for my listing.
My belief is that those who are trying to squeeze more people into a one bedroom are bargain hunters who I’d rather go elsewhere. … memories of my college spring breaks where we’d squeeze as many as we could into a hotel room.
Those dual couples who have $$$ will ideally find a place with two bedrooms and two baths, or another available condo in your building for the 2nd couple.
I would think that with only a master bathroom, you would get couples with children. I think it would be awkward for a second couple to enter the master bedroom at night in order to go to the bathroom. Perhaps you can add to the listing “children stay free.” A sofa bed would work well and it’s probably cheaper than a Murphy bed.
Is that really the case? Isn’t it really uncommon for a residence to require walking through the master bedroom to get to the only bathroom? I think I’ve only seen this in university dormitories and assisted living apartments.
At least 1 of them has this setup, having to go into the bedroom to get to the bathroom. Some others don’t. It can be difficult when just using online photos. I think we have decided on buying a 1BR (buuuut we will probably look at the 2BRs) and limit guests to 2.
Thanks all for the input.
I have never seen one bathroom in an apartment or condo located in the master bedroom. Usually there’s a half bathroom in the hallway if the only full bathroom is in the master bedroom but I’m on the East coast.
I personally would feel funny walking into a couple’s bedroom so that I can use the bathroom in the middle of the night. I would just have to hold it all night and not get any sleep. LOL
Not just the middle of the night, though. If you lived in a place like that all the time, then any visitors would always have to walk through your bedroom to get to the bathroom. It’s just a weird layout.
I had friends in the 80s with an apartment like that in Houston. It was okay for me, I was crashing on their couch and we were all pretty close, having gone camping together a lot. It’s not a set up I’d ever choose because of having to keep my bedroom tidy in order to ever entertain guests.
True! One would always have to make the bed. My pets wouldn’t like that. LOL
Ours is a studio loft. Upstairs Bed and bathroom, downstairs pullout couch. Small. I cater ours to couples. In the description it’s noted as perfect for a couple but will sleep up to 4 adults. I also note in the description that it’s tight for 4 adults. If I do have an inquiry from a party of 4 I again let them know it’s cramped quarters for 4 adults before proceeding. We’ve gone plenty of times ourselves with our adult children, so we know. Ours is in a ski town so a lot of times people don’t mind, they just want someplace to sleep at night, but sometimes they look for other accommodations. I’d say 80% of our guests are couples or a couple with small kids. Just how we prefer it.
I have a one bedroom one bath condo with a queen sofa sleeper & queen in the bedroom.
For several years I offered it as a “sleeps 2 comfortably, 4 possible but crowded”. I consistently had couples, or adult(s) with child(ren). Maintenance was constant; the list is long of broken & damaged items including sofa sleeper looked like children bounced on it like a trampoline.
The BEST thing I ever did was reduce maximum occupancy to 2 including infants & children. I welcome 1-child or infant with 1-adult. I get as many rentals with less maintenance costs.
A recurring issue has been Airbnb says “infants are not included in the guest count”.
95% of my guests are 2 adults. The 2-singles (not a couple) appreciate the option of the sofa bed for one & the queen bed for the other.
I love that condo. I’m so happy that after making the maximum occupancy 2 there is less damage/maintenance.
I have a 600 SF cabin that could house 4 but I do not want 4 guest in there. My couch is not for sleeping on. Couples and singles are the guests I want, they tend not to cook, they are usually gone a lot. I see no benefit for me to allow more than 2 guests. My other cabin 3 bed 2 bath accepts 6 guests, with a seperate listing for 1 bed 1 bath (I can do this by locking 2 doors) and even though less money I am happy when it’s rented out as the one bedroom option. Less is better for me:)
RR
We have a studio with a queen bed, but no couch, so we limit it to 2 guests. We get a near equal amount of couples and singles (our price is lower for one guest than two, so that may be why). The couples are a solid mix of couple-couples, 2 platonic girlfriends (I guess guy friends just don’t share beds) and mother and daughter.
We also have 2 small 2-bed apts. We limit the guests to 4, but get sets of twos (either couples or friends) 50% of the time and then singles and groups of 3 or 4 the other 50%. We prefer one or two guests at a time, so, again, we charge extra for each guest over 1 guest. So, they can crowd in with 4 people if they want, but they’re going to pay for it. On occasion, I have let younger groups coming for concerts or school visits crowd a 5th person in that sleeps on the couch, but only rarely. I think the per guest charge is the best way to limit the number, so that it’s not always a big group and when there is, you get compensated for it.
With a 1-bed, 1-bath, I’d limit to 3 with only a couch for the 3rd person (and an extra charge) but wouldn’t go through the extra trouble or expense for a pull-out sofa couch as I’d still prefer only one or two guests at a time.
I have a 2 storey Victorian duplex built in 1875.
The 2 sides are a mirror image of each other.
The layout is from the front door is
Hallway, sitting room to your right, then bedroom to your right, eat in kitchen with a set of narrow stairs on your left, then laundry with back door then bathroom.
Going upstairs there is another sitting room with day bed and the the 2nd bedroom.
I have many tradesmen who travel together stay and they love the place as they can get away from each other and watch their own smart TV and can’t hear the other snore!
I have bought the property next door and will eventually build anther duplex in a similar style, but with 2 bathrooms-one up and one down .
We have a one bedroom timeshare. However the bathroom is accessible from the common area. I would not stay there with a couple but I have stayed there with kids using the pullout sofa. Just be very clear in your description and make sure that the sofa or Murphy bed is really comfortable. Good reviews like that have helped me book when traveling. I did stay in a place with a Murphy bed once that was not described as one and I had to call and ask not only where the bed was but why there was no actual bedroom. The “bedroom” was between the kitchen and the living room separated by sliders. Glad there were only two of us.
We have a 1 BR/1BA unit with a pull-out couch. I’d say at least 1/3 of bookings were for 3 or more people, sometimes families with kids, sometimes groups of friends. I would charge an extra $10/night for guests 3 and 4. We also had plenty of two-person parties where one would sleep on the sofa bed (sometimes an adult and child, other times two adults). Unfortunately, guests have managed to bend the sofa bed frame and it is now quite a production to fold/unfold it, so I have removed it from the listing until post-COVID when I can get it fixed properly. It’s also nice not to have so many loud kids in there (since the unit is located below our residence).
I had that happen. I found a replacement frame in Amazon. If your mattress is good & you can do the work, cost effective fix
I found a new couch with 6 inch comfy mattress for less than cost of replacing mattress & cost of repair plus parts
The old couch was fine to sit on so I gave it to a friend