I’m happy to support that!
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Oh yes, I once had some guests insist they were very familiar with off grid and very conservative with their energy usage. Well then I turned around to walk out the door and noticed a box fan. I figured they were running it because it got too hot. “Oh, it’s hard to believe we don’t have a/c in the canyon when you’re in the 100s (F) down there in Texas, right?” I asked. “Oh no,” they answered, “We like to run the fan for white noise at night!” Bah ha ha. I mean truly! The husband also told me it was way too dark and quiet at the cabin to get a good night’s rest.
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We have broadband from a tower, line of sight on a peak across the valley. We have wifi throughout the property.
We had a propeller wind tower 42’ up but it was unreliable due to turbulence. We replaced it a couple times after it burned out. We tried a much touted helical wind tower, but it was built for grid tie so it never worked. Put the money into more automatic tracking solar.
Of course! Welcome Aboard. We’ve been here for 30 years, grid has never been available.
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Approximately ten months later:
There is still no option that hosts can use to tell AirBnB, and potential guests, that their lodgings are off-grid, that will be used in filtering lodging type. AirBnB uses a mysterious algorithm to set this flag.
I am brand spanking new to the forum, setting up some off grid units in central BC, Canada. We are entirely dependent on solar, well water and wood heating and our winter temperatures can drop to -40°C or -40°F.
Our cabins will have very rudimentary amenities and there will be outhouses instead of bathrooms. I am considering outdoor shower / bath.
I would.love to know how you are set up and love hearing stories about them.
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We’re right next to Shrewsbury, which is a bit more upscale than where we are in Worcester MA. 
I think we only have one off grid host in Canada, @lawre. Last I heard they weren’t going to be able to host this year. Maybe they will see this and pop in.
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I am happy to hear from anyone with an offgrid property anywhere…
Sorry I wasn’t clear. On this forum you’ll be happy to hear from anyone because almost no one here does that.
Honestly, I am just happy to be part of this community.
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Hi, @OMandH and thanks for the heads up, @KKC . You are right – I’m not hosting this year. However, I have 10 years of off-grid hosting experience. My best advice is to try to hit your target audience by being excruciatingly accurate in the listing description. Highlight the hardships. Praise them up with “Our best guests are hardy leave-no-trace campers”, etc., right in the summary.
It’s not foolproof. You will still get @COCabin 's
folks. (I got those, too! Ha!) But it does help. We had wonderful guests mostly, who mostly embraced the off-grid experience. Best of luck, @OMandH !
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Hi @OMandH is there anything in particular you’d like to know about off grid hosting? I’ve been owner and host of an off grid property for six years. I can tell you that I’ve had some absolutely horrendous situations with guests, like propane fridge giving out and causing the co2 detector to go off at all hours of the night, major solar failures where guests couldn’t even run water once the pressure tank drained, unexpected snow, ceiling leaks. I could go on. I don’t say this to brag, but I’ve never gotten anything less than a five star review and I charge very high rates. All this to say that it’s absolutely possible to deliver an incredible experience despite mortifying failures. I would think that your location will reinforce the off grid nature and definitely enhance the experience. It’s when the cabin doesn’t look or feel like off grid that it can be challenging to manage. I actually don’t emphasize the off grid nature too heavily in my listing, but I do give them tips and lots of “how to” background in the welcome guide. Also, I immediately work very hard to show the guests that I’m going to go above and beyond in every aspect of their stay. I’m not sure how to explain what I do, but guests often comment on my very detailed guide book (with a story about the history of the property and how I found it). I tell them I’m here no matter what. I have lots of little surprise things around the cabin to make their stay more comfortable. And when the shit hits the fan, I show up immediately to try and make things right. I even had an incident where the solar was failing and no one could figure out why and I had to call up future guests and say, “Here’s the situation…XYZ has happened which means XYZ during your stay. I’m doing everything I can to resolve this but all I can control is what I do to make this right with you - I can’t control XYZ that’s happened. Here are the options.” I call them as soon as I possibly can and let them tell me what they want to do. 90% of the time the guests have wanted to keep their reservation, and most don’t even ask for a refund of any kind. I’m sure your situation will be better than this - I truly had a nightmare scenario with my solar until I was able to recently get it figured out. So to wrap up this long post, I would say absolutely do this - it sounds wonderful and unforgettable for the guests (which of course is the major reason many of us do this)! Be prepared to be on call more than the average host, be as approachable and welcoming as possible, anticipate what the guests are going to need and try to accommodate that (the small things often count more than the big things), have a detailed welcome guide, leave hand written notes with tips (not lectures about what not to do), and always be as honest and accommodating as possible when things have gone wrong or might go wrong. Good luck and let me know what else I can share.
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What you are sharing has been absolutely brilliant.
I have been concerned that a high price point will be a deterrent, especially in this economic climate. There are also offgrid properties nearby that I don’t feel are charging enough for the kind of experience I would like to provide. I am also concerned clients may not be willing to travel to a remote area in roads that are not maintained.
Which is making me hesitant in coming up with an ADR against the infrastructure / amenities I should provide.
So the question for me is, should I build and charge based on my gut instincts or work with the status quo in my area.
I am inclined to go with my guts but I just need some reassurance.
One thing to remember whether off grid or not, is that nothing is written in stone. You can start off charging what you feel you should get for the place and if you find you’re not getting booked, lower the price a bit to see if that makes a difference.
And hosts are always fine-tuning their descriptions, adding amenities guests have mentioned would be nice to have, or eliminating ones that guests don’t seem to use or appreciate.
It’s an ongoing process- we all want to get it “right” before we list, but just create something you’d like to stay in yourself, and get a few friends or family members to stay before you open to the public, as they can give you non-stressful feedback.
One mistake a lot of new hosts make is trying to cram in too many guests, so make sure the space you create matches the number of guests you plan to host. I see a lot of new listings with a maximum of 8 guests, but only 1 bathroom and dining room seating for 6, bedding people down on fold-out couches in the living room, which then makes the living room cease to be a communal area. Or they cram a too-big bed in, so there is only room for a bedside table on one side, on a bed meant for 2 people. Make sure the number of guests works with the space.
And less guests means less wear and tear and possible damages, or in an off-grid place, less probability of using something in the wrong way and screwing it up.
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We’ve not really exploited our OG set up in our listing. Our farmhouse has never been connected to any grid and when we bought the place twelve years ago it was powered by a massive and filthy diesel generator that could be heard for miles around (didn’t have a silencer let alone exhaust). The previous owners would run it every day from 7a.m. til close to midnight before resorting to torches and candles to see them through the night. The whole place was in a ruinous state held together with fertilizer bags and bailing twine and we were in two minds whether to demolish and build new or go for restoration. After a year or so we had grown to love the place and chose the latter and so we’ve got a conventional looking brick and stone farmhouse that belies the off grid infrastructure supporting it - for all purposes it looks and performs like a “normal” house. Although we mention OG in our description, very few guests seem to notice or remark on it, however, if we get three days sat in the clouds with no wind then we do resort to a generator ( not the original one but a restored 1948 Lister VA that still shatters the silence) and then we get comments like “oh so you really are off-grid, we didn’t realise” and this is despite the first page of our house manual…
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Your property sounds lovely and meaningful - a wonderful combination! I have a couple more thoughts about your plans. One approach is to make the decision about what type of experience you want to create and then manage to it. Of course it’s important to consider the market and preferences/realities (like the unmaintained road) but you know people will drive a hundred miles to spend $1k on a weekend at a glamping yurt if it promises to deliver an unparalleled getaway or just a few Instagram worthy pics. So I would say do your research but then commit and manage to whatever expectation your guests will have. Also you’re in a good position where the covid days are over so you’ll have to be deliberate about attracting guests (versus covid days when people flocked to remote properties and we could get by with little effort). In the end, this means that you’ll have a business built on good practices and not assumptions. Hope that makes sense and anyhow we’re here to support you along the way!
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