A guest has asked for a reservation for October- November (one month) they ask me how much to pay for reservations. I am only a new host can someone help?
You can do a discount since it’s a month stay. Decide on the discount (10%,20%, etc). You can adjust your pricing on the platform to include the monthly stay and the system will automatically adjust the price.
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This isn’t what you asked, but you should REQUIRE at least one cleaning midway through the stay. Personally, I’d do at least two (one at 10 nights, the other at 20). That way, you can check on them to see if they are destroying your property or not. Be sure to take that into account on your pricing.
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We have been hosting an in-home self-contained guest suite for eight years now, at least 50% of the time it is occupied by people staying for at least a month – usually people who are just moving to this city or people sampling local life while trying decide whether to do so.
We have never had any experiences that have led us to feel we need to get in to have a look to protect ourselves from destruction, and we never fret that we will be walking into a damaged suite when one of our month-long guests checks out.
I’m curious – what has led to you suggesting such a requirement?
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We have the same requirement, that if we permitted a month long stay we require cleaning every two weeks. Why? We’ve read, and this makes sense to us, that in that way we would understand if the property is being properly maintained (e.g., no trash left out, no damage). The requirement itself would seem to deter bad behavior.
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Because you never know when you will get that crappy guest. And by being in there a couple of times, you’ll have a better idea of what needs to be done when they check out.
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Have you had a bad experience?
It’s just the thought never occurred to me (even though in a typical year we have five or six 30±day stays, and once had a seven month)… so when I read your message it just took me by surprise
So something you read made you nervous?
If it will help you be less anxious, read this: We’ve had dozens of 30±day stays, and never once have I regretted that we hadn’t done a ten-day or 14-day inspection/cleaning. We have a self-contained one/two bedroom suite, and the long-term guests do their own bed linens (like if they would in any furnished apartment).
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In “any furnished apartment”, as in renting a furnished apartment long term as a tenant rather than a guest, “furnished” does not normally include linens and towels belonging to the owner. Tenants provide their own.
Most hosts do not want guests washing the towels and sheets, as they won’t check for stains that need pre-treating, sometimes wash linens with other things, turning white sheets mottled pink, etc.
And while you haven’t ever encountered a disaster area after longer term guests leave, some hosts have- left filthy with extensive damage. Hence the recommendation to set up some way to check the place out every week or two by changing out linens and towels, doing a quick clean, etc. to make sure the guests aren’t living like pigs and keep the mess managable, or boot them out if it’s over-the-top disgusting or they are damaging things. Knowing the host will be coming in can also make guests more clean and tidy.
Of course, if the host discovers that the guest is a clean freak the first time they go in, they always have the option to say, “You know, we really only have this once every 10 days cleaning set-up in case guests live like pigs, so we don’t have days of clean-up when they leave. Obviously you keep the place super clean and tidy, so if you prefer to opt out of us coming in, that’s fine with us”.
I generally allow max 2 week bookings and don’t do any cleaning or linen changing (I give guests clean linen and towels, but let them deal with changing out). All but one of my guests has left their room and bathroom reasonably clean and tidy, some so spotless you wouldn’t think anyone stayed in there for a week or two.
The one girl left a disaster behind- no damages, but cookie and candy bar wrappers all over attracting ants, pop and beer cans with 2 inches of liquid left inside, 50 pieces of wadded up tissue strewn around and under the bed, wet towels wadded up getting mildewed, toiletry product goop all over the bathroom. She stayed one week. Had she stayed for a month or more without me going in to clean, I can only imagine how bad it would be.
There was no reason to be wary that she might be such a pig- she was personally clean and otherwise a nice guest who cleaned up after herself when using the shared kitchen. She wasn’t some homeless person- she was a 20 year old political science student whose parents both were federal govt. lawyers. She had apparently grown up with maids and never had to clean or tidy anything herself.
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This spring I had a couple stay with us for a month while they looked for an apartment (they were immigrating to Canada from London). When they moved out they settled in a one-year lease for a furnished apartment that was furnished down to and including the bed linens… so the “no linens in a furnished apartment” situation isn’t universal.
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I said “normally”, not that it was universal. But I think most long-term tenants don’t assume that sheets and towels are provided just because the place is furnished. I have lived at furnished rentals before, and those things weren’t provided, nor did I expect them to be.
I guess it depends on who one rents long-term to. If it’s travel nurses, for instance, one might provide more than they would if renting to people who are permanently living in your town.
“Fully furnished”, as far as most areas of the world I have lived, means you don’t have to go out and buy furniture and major appliances. It doesn’t usually include bedding and towels, not even kitchen gear.
This was on the border between Yaletown and the West End (Vancouver). There is an “empty apartment tax” on vacant apartments… maybe this was an apartment where the owner was going to be away for a year or an estate-owned apartment tied up in probate, and the owner (or trustee) figured better to rent it to a high-income professional couple rather than leave it vacant or and if it’s a condo, prob rules against short term rental. In any case this was furnished down to the crab forks.
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Sweet. What the tenants saved on not having to buy anything they can spend on crab to make use of those crab forks. 
Sorry- probably I didn’t phrase my self correctly. What I meant to write was: someone requested a booking. And bieng a newbie I thought I could book them in without payments. I was told they would need to do the payment first- for my calendar to be be marked as occupied. ( I am learning slowly) 
Yes, hosts don’t “book guests in”- it’s all automatic. When you accept a request, Airbnb charges the payment method they have on file and blocks the booked dates on your calendar.
Have you read through all the articles provided for hosts on the Airbnb site? I strongly suggest you do. This is basic stuff that is all explained in those articles.
Some of it can be confusing, though, so nothing wrong with asking questions, but make sure you’ve familiarized yourself with the basic info on how the platform works.
Also, you wouldn’t want to hold dates for guests who don’t pay up front, even if you could. (If you manually block the dates for request, the guest won’t be able to book them anyway, and although you could theoretically hold dates for an Inquiry, you shouldn’t) That just prevents anyone else from booking and there’s no assurance that the original requester is going to follow through anyway. Don’t fall for guest sob stories about how they don’t have the money now, but will in a week, or how they really need a discount because they have a small budget. Guests’ financial situations aren’t your concern and guests who tell you they can’t afford your listed price or want you to hold dates for them are big red flags.
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Look at your competition and charge the maximum possible. As a new host beware of scammers who try to book new listings and then figure out ways to ask for refunds.
make sure you set expectations well ahead in writing (within your listing) as well as in airbnb messages.
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