Like the title says i rent two rooms in my house i also live there and for the last 4 months and the next two ive had 99% occupancy this month i have 1 day where 1 room isnt booked. Thats 60 nights probably 130 people coming and going and its starting to get to me standards are slipping i try to avoid guests as much as possible i used to talk to them but im really starting to resent them being here. I need the money but i feel im going to lose my temper with one of them so any coping tactics that worked for anyone else would be appreciated.
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Raise your prices. Clearly if you are at 99% occupied your priced too low. Book less guests and have them pay more. Same revenue less days with guests and time to yourself.
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@Ty_Dun, I hear you! And Iām only 2 1/2 weeks and 5 couples in. I had one day yesterday when no one was checking in and I was so grateful to have my house to myself!
All these different people, trying to treat strangers like theyāre friends and family, tiptoeing around my house, worrying about this effing star rating system, itās all so exhausting!
Though I am not sure I have anywhere near enough experience to even be speaking to this topic, Iām going to stick my neck out there anyway. Come to this board often. I find it very helpful to know there are others out there going through many of the very same things. And the intelligent, kind, knowledgeable and empathetic souls on this board are always willing to share their help and knowledge if youāre having trouble.
The other thing I try to do when things are getting difficult is to frame the entire endeavor as a job. I spent many years out in the workforce dealing with unreasonable and demanding bosses, office politics, crazy deadlines, cranky customers and what not. In many ways, this is kind of the same job, different BS. And if I donāt like it, I can always go back to work outside the home.
Iām sure other, much more experienced hosts will come along with much better suggestions.
One last thing. Punctuation is everybodyās friend. Please, if you canāt capitalize the first word sentences, at least use periods. Otherwise it just takes too much concentration and brainpower to read your posts.
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I tried doing that i tend to get very few bookings im in London so theres a lot of competition i charge Ā£25 i tried Ā£33 Ā£30 even at Ā£27 i get about half the bookings.
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Are you sure you are indeed connecting the right dots together, meaning at say 30 pounds vs. 25 pounds your bookings will drop by 50%. Sure? If so then it is a quandary, and then one option is set aside more days for yourself.
(Where is the pound sign in a Microsoft keyboard?)
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Your price is obviously too low if you are booked so heavily.
First i would raise price a bit or raise minimum stays. If you have people change every day and you have to do endless bed changing and meet every day a different person that could be very exausting.
I did it for more than a year, but now i switched to long terms for the time being because its low season here. But even for high season i put 1 week minimum now because i cant go back to non stop bed changing and cleaning and meetings tons of stranger on a daily basis.
With those who came for work is relatively easy. You know their schedule and they are out all day. So, you can plan your day and evening around them. In my case i dont see them at all. I also have 2 rooms for rent. I work at home most of the week, and ihave a day to myself. When they are home they are tired and just stay in their rooms.
Its a very minimum interaction
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About tiptoeing: dont tiptoe:)
Guests know its your house and they realize that there will be noises. I try to be quiet in a morning if someone is sleeping but that i would do anyway to family members. But then the rest of the day and night i do what i feel like doing and make regular noise. If guests dont want to interact they will stay in their room, which happens most of the time.
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Oh, I still stress about this constantly. I know I shouldnāt. But I do.
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Well, I understand your pain. Totally, I hear you. Sadly, you are in it now and you will have to work through it the best you can. Do you have a friend you could trust to guest host?
For the future - Iāll tell you what I do - I watch the calendar. When there is a two or three day space between multiple bookings, I block them off. As much as I can. My goal is to take two days off a week. That canāt always happen, but thatās I do it. If you block them off in advance, you limit your ability to book. But as soon as you can, block days where reasonable. Manage your calendar carefully now - but are you heading into an off season?
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Hi @Ty_Dun,
99% occupancy for 4 months is impressive. Would you care to share your listing?
Thereās a bunch of ways to adjust things slightly so that occupancy drops slightly. Or you could just manually block off days. You donāt have to rent all the time if you donāt want to - itās your place. Options include:
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If you donāt have a cleaning fee, add one. If you have one, raise it slightly.
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If you donāt have a minimum length of stay, add one. If you have one, increase it slightly. This can be done for a specific block of days too. Note that Airbnb settings arenāt very reliable, so if you have such special settings, keep an eye on them.
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Raise the base price slightly. If you donāt charge for extra people, start charging. If you do, raise it slightly.
The key word here is slightly. And keep an eye on how it affects your bookings.
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When you have basement places for rent, itās impossible not to tip toe. Part of the territory I guess.
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It took me a while to adopt exactly this wise approach. Then you do have days available for āemergenciesā, such as guest wanting to stay a day longer, or a friend coming into town, etc.
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Right. Some times weāll have the room blocked off, get the cleaning done after the prior guest checked-out, then decide to open the night. For some reason, here in DC, we get a LOT of same-day or day-before bookings, so it works.
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Does it ever get easier?
Part of the issue is Iām very easily bothered by noise, so Iām very sensitive for my guests, too. Especially as many have just flown from Europe or Asia and are a bit jet lagged, in addition to being tired from the touring. But as you say, they (if they read) they know they are staying in a home. And, I have been in PLENNNNTY of hotel rooms that were not quiet. Also, people from Asia (stereotyping) are accustomed to close quarters. Funny thing, almost 70 groups, not ONE complaint about noise. The guy from Denmark that stayed 2 months did say that itās very loud when we are doing laundry, which it is. So I always try to plan around that, and, get our kitchen cleaned up early as possible.
Oh, you can see how this worries me! A whole paragraph on the topic!!!
What I do is ramp the price right up on the day a guest leaves. That way, if it does get booked I donāt mind the back-to-back chaos cleaning because Iām making more money 
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Now there is an idea. You donāt want to rent it, but if they āinsistā.
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Iām completely satisfied with the ABB income Iāve made for June and July, and what is already reserved for August and September.
Iām near the Saratoga Race Track, (but Iāve never had one track-related booking), which runs from today until the end of August.
Iāve done exactly what you have suggested. Iāve raised my prices significantly for the non reserved days in August.
If I get bookings, itās gravy, if not I prefer to do without guests and enjoy my space, home, and local attractions, without having having to work my ABB business.
Basically, any weekend that does not get booked by the Wednesday preceding it, is going to get blocked off.
Iāve already worked my ABB hard enough!
To the Original Poster, I do strongly suggest, no matter how urgently you need the money, make it a point to close off at least 2 days in a row each month when you can unwind.
I also agree that you should raise your prices!
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I completely get this post. Iām in a similar position. My husband works full time & I stay at home with my young son who Montessori age. I started air bnb over a year ago as a way of income for us so that I get to stay at home with our son. We rent out our spare room. I have been fully booked up since February and am booked through until mid September. I maybe have 2nights a month where we have no guest and theyāre amazing! When we first started out entire home was open to guests, so they could always join us to watch tv or socialise with us if they wanted to. I have since changed house rules to the tv room being just for family as I would come home in the afternoon to guests lounging on the couch all day. I am now considering limiting use of the kitchen as I have enough with the upkeep of he house &a changing and washing bedsheets everyday on top of trying to spend time with my son as that was the whole point of doing Airbnb and I donāt need the hassle of washing up after guests too and replacing food they āborrowedā. Does anyone not allow use of kitchen and has it affected their bookings?
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[quote=ādcmooney, post:14, topic:6438ā]
Does it ever get easier?
Some early guest ( a FlopKey guest) walked out because she did not expect a basement apartment,and Iāve been a bit paranoid about noise ever since! Even my little dog toenails make a small noise you can hear down there.
But what do they want for $89 a night?
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Hold down the Alt key and type156. Ā£
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