Art pieces for your rental property

Yeah, I can see your point of view. But my personal observations while traveling and staying in airbnbs in US and Europe that it feels more emotionally attaching to stay in apartments with some sophisticated pieces of art. I found myself enjoying in those places much more than in ordinary decorated rentals. And I was curious if other people feel the same and if they willing to invest more into their place decor and wall art.

Most home insurance policies don’t cover “real” art (“real” means expensive) unless you have it appraised and specifically pay for it. I doubt AirBnB would cover “real” art, either.

I buy mine from online decorating stores, and another online source where the “artist” creates a piece, then the laborers copy it. I can get them for about $50-$100 on sale, it comes in a roll, then I buy framing material and stretch and frame them myself. Anything more expensive than that isn’t worth putting in a rental.

Are you a host @airbnbart or are you here to sell us

1 Like

No Airbnb wouldn’t cover third party art at a host property. If you read the terms of the guarantee @airbnbart you would see high value items including art, are specifically excluded. If you are touting a ‘art for hire’ scheme, you would need to provide liability insurance for theft/damage.

1 Like

this is my personal opinion as host:

  • if something can get damaged it will. you can’t trust that some guest won;t vomit on it, some kid would draw over it or accidentally touch it and fall on the floor where some might step on it or spill tomato sauce on it.
  • this will incur you significant costs. you will have to raise prices. do you think that people would rent your place because of the art? I don’t think so.
    My opinion as a traveler:
  • i couldn’t care less about what they hang on their walls. when I look to book an ABB I look at the price, the location, the pics and the reviews. Hosts having cats are a bonus for me. I personally only care to have a nice clean bed and shower and high speed internet. When I travel I only spend time in the room at night, so I dont care at all what they put on their walls. Pieces of art/photography/tapestry whatever that fit into the color scheme or the theme of the room is nice but if you look at Joana Gaines for example she decorates rooms without expensive paintings and people love her designs…
    IMO it’s not worth it, but that’s only my 2 cents.
3 Likes

I’m the host. But I’m also researching an idea for an art subscription service where airbnb renters can pick art pieces for a relatively small monthly fee. Liability insurance will definitely need to be provided with such service.

How would this be different from businesses that already offer this sort of service? @airbnbart

1 Like

Do you have good examples for such services? @Helsi

First rule of business @airbnbart do your research on your marketplace before deciding to develop a business.

A quick Google search will bring up lots of examples - you can decide which ones are good examples for your competitor research.

1 Like

If you have your own collection, you can borrow it out to other collectors and they’ll borrow you pieces from their collection if they are that type of collector. Historical society’s generally have a collection that has historical significance only to their exhibition and it never changes but they also sometimes have a collection that changes in a different gallery or exhibit a few times per year or even once a month.

It all depends on the type of collection and the type of exhibit. If you don’t have your own collection, you can make contributions to a non-profit collection or historical society and they may allow you to borrow pieces.

Most art exhibitions are always in rotation so one way or another, it changes and it gets borrowed out. The most expensive part is generally just the insurance and restoration. If your gallery doesn’t have good moisture and light controls, it can ruin almost any piece of art except for maybe marble. If you don’t have credentials in exhibition design or curating an exhibit, it might be difficult to get decent insurance because the insurance company will assume you’re going to put bright lights on the art and may even introduce humidity from cooking etc. You’ll notice most museums have umbrella rakcs at the entrance because on a raindy day, there is a lot of humidity introduced just from the guests clothes. Its known to cause cracks and tears. Very bad stuff.

1 Like

I love Home Goods, Marhalls and TJ Max.

1 Like

@airbnbart I really think you have a solution in search of a problem.

In my room I have framed prints, photos taken by a former student of local scenes and some toursim posters done by local university graphic arts students, some mass produced pieces and some postcards I put in a frame. I don’t have the kind of place that needs fine art. I stayed in a place in Costa Rica that did demand finer things but it looked like locally produced stuff.

I haven’t yet bought any art for my Airbnb (except the private room in my house listing). Over time, as I slowly upgrade furniture secondhand it is often from people that are moving and they are often more than happy to give me extra stuff they don’t want to or can’t take with them. This year that stuff has included some art so I put it up in the separate Airbnb. It is listed as an economical, clean and safe place to stay that is pet friendly. Yes it does look over having some things on the walls but nothing outside bedding, bathroom and kitchen (all separately) has any matchi-ness to it. I realize my listing is in the minority’s but not spending lots of money on art is where I’m with the majority on this issue it seems.

Hi all!
Been following for a while, but this is my first time commenting.
I am super affected by my surrounding space. In my own home or where ever in the world I stay. Because of that, I also feel that guests must walk in and think ‘Wow!’
I have gone the extra mile with furnishings and finishes and such because I really wanted to create a lovely space for guests.
Fortunately, I am an artist and I hang some of my paintings in the apartment. No prices on the paintings tho.
I also do a gifting range (mugs, trays, serviettes etc etc) which guests use in the apartment. I have a catalogue with prices of my art and gifting range and have sold quite a lot in the short time since I became a host. My art and products go very well with the modern apartment, so that helps sales I think. I keep swopping the paintings as I paint new pieces, it’s such fun to be able to do that.

5 Likes

I made some “art” myself. Cost including framing, a few hours of work and fun + US$ 40.

6 Likes

I have some Japanese woodblock prints which I rotate through my own space. They cost about AUD250-1000 to buy and $200-300 to frame. I also bought a couple of original Indigenous artists pieces off Ebay direct from the artists for $200-300 and framed for about $200. But this is the lower floor of my own house so they would have been there anyway, I keep most of my “collection” including more expensive pieces in the $2-10k range in my space. To be honest I doubt most people, either as guests or hosts, have the experience or taste to really appreciate or purchase more expensive art that is both something they like and guests like as well. They can outsource that cheaply to IKEA or a local homewares store with little risk. I did have one guest though who is a notable artist who appreciated my collection especially as one of the pieces is from my favourite artist who is also one of his best friends. I would advise anyone buying art though to only buy something they like since they may end up having to look at it for many years.

1 Like

Ebay and Etsy are surprisingly good.

Did you draw/paint that yourself? it’s very good.

Our rooms are named after Inca’s and I wanted to include some kind of image from each Inca in each respective room. For this room all I could find were very low quality pictures of paintings. Blowing them up to a larger size (40x60cm) was impossible because of course the image became unclear. I decided to just push this unclearness to the next level and “pixeled” the image further with a free online pixel generator. I put some text onto it in a free graphic program (Inkscape), had it printed and framed… Et voila!

Happy to hear you like it :blush:.

2 Likes

Now that parquet flooring is the real work of art in that photo @GutHend - simply stunning :blush::blush:

2 Likes