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I recently stayed at The Jane Hotel in NYC and they have bunk cabins with shared bathrooms. Every major city has a hostel(s) where people share kitchens, bathrooms and sleeping rooms. I’ve seen dozens of Airbnb’s that are set up like hostels. Adults can share without fights but they have to understand what they have chosen.
Excellent hosting skills managing the arrangement and communicating in advance is key. It’s a well established model. The question is if you have the skill set needed.
Welcome BlaQMarbleHost and congrats on your new adventure! You’ve already gotten lots of good advice and it seems like you have quite a few options, which is always good. I’ll file this under, “just wish it had been clearer to me when I started”:
Well, you know what they say about assuming. Almost all guests are great but there are a variety of reasons some aren’t. I have learned that the problems come in all age groups, so even though lots of people don’t care for under-25s, they have not been my problem adults. Age has generally not been a good predictor for me which is one way some people will fool you.
This is the biggie (and also not - it’s just an expectations issue). In reality, I’d say about 1/2 my guests are new users with no track record at all. Of course this varies by host, but it is quite different than my expectation that I’d be having guests who’d stayed at Airbnbs before and that they would have had (and given) reviews before. It is not a problem, it’s just a different approach. I have gotten to where I so enjoy welcoming new users into airbnb and making sure they have the best 1st-stay so that they continue using airbnb. It does take a different kind of work: explaining and guiding towards being a good and happy user, even helping get their profiles set-up correctly so they can book. Had I known, I would possibly have been better prepared in the beginning. Also, in hindsight, I think this worried me at first but there was no reason to worry.
There’s not as much freedom to pass on guests as Airbnb leads you to believe when you are signing up. You don’t really get to pass on guests very much. But also, it works out just fine anyways. However there’s usually some stress while realizing this. Best of luck!
Consensus WAS just that until I arrived…lol. I am very often of a different opinion than the norm though so take it for what it’s worth.
I do occasionally experience the low ratings from those that rented rooms due to issues associated with the sharing (usually because they were counting on never having to share and they didn’t most of their stay but had to 1-3 nights) but they probably wouldn’t have booked the 2BR option because of the price it would be and actually I rarely actually get both BRs booked separately simultaneously. It has happened maybe 3 or 4 times in 3.5 years.
Even then the overlap was never more than a few days. I did have one guy who wanted to book his cheap separate room again but because I already had someone booked in the other room for that same time he just went elsewhere, which turned out to be a blessing.
I will also say that my occupancy goal is very low compared to many here. I average about 30% because of the setup but am ok with it.
Property owners have rights too. I do not want to have full time tenants for many reasons. I make more money from STR’s but even on the odd month I have not covered my mortgage it is still a positive outcome for me. I just built a second unit and am setting it up as STR as well. I do not owe society affordable housing. IF I ever decided to rent full time it would not be affordable to most.
RR
I have done both and I ike to rent to one group entire house much more than renting separate rooms. In slow times I used to rent by day and with 4 rooms it was exhausting .
Not only because of cleaning and bed changing but because of very frequent incidents with guests. Noise, door slamming, kitchen used at any time of day and night , late showers , and other incidents …was just too much. My reviews plumetted mostly because of other guests behaviour.
In my house where we are present at all times it’s a completely different atmosphere where all guests behave and noone disturb anyone .
Now in slow times I rent by room but it’s longer term guests who stay a month or longer . Now it’s much better and easy to handle. I don’t allow cooking and vistors , only one person per room. So in a whole house only 4 people. And seems like it’s working well for everyone.
Interesting.
What has your volume been like as regards renting whole house?
Mine’s a 4 bed 2.5 bath and being a newbie, I just feel it’ll rent a lot less frequently than if I chunked it. Kindly share ur experiences as regards volumes. Thank U.
I can definitely get more for a whole house during busy season than rent it by room. Different clientele. But slow season it doesn’t look like there is much demand anymore for entire house and rooms go much faster
Negative. All the way across town.
30 minutes.
Yes, definitely! But I see that you don’t actually live close by so… yeah, it won’t be so easy. Others have given good advice.
My only experience is having done two rooms in my own home with a shared bathroom and that takes some careful management. There was a property manager in my city who bought up multiple apartments and rented them out the way you describe (ie. single rooms with shared bathroom, no host on site). The reviews were terrible and they got de-listed in the end. But they didn’t take care of things. You would need to have someone go to the property every day to clean and check all is ok. That would eat into your profit a bit but it’s doable.
Thanks a lot
Appreciate it.
Okaay. So what DO you owe to society? I can’t help but think of this quote from Gandhi:
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.
Anyway, straying into politics here which is never a good idea.
I hereby promise that I will only comment on posts and threads that are relevant to my own hosting situation.
No worries, it’s nice to have someone who is open to ideas 
Depending on where you are, it could work very well for you. Are you in a tourist area? Or near a college/university? Your target market makes a huge difference.
Taxes, being a good citizen, raising my kids to be good citizens come to mind.
RR
Which involves…?
2020
Being a good citizen involves a lot of things Mag, you do not need me to tell you what those are that was your parents job.
How about those electric kettles? I just love love love mine.
RR
Seriously?? OK. We all have different ideas of what it means to make our way in the world and how we will reflect on our life when our time is done. I don’t want to argue.
Me thinks you do:) Clearly my attempt to change the subject and move on was a complete flop. Good night Mag
RR
Ah sorry! Complete fail on my part 