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Hi There, I would like to hear your opinions.
1 bedroom apartment at Lux building in Denver, When Host is traveling, guest will have the whole apartment. Listed as entire place.
BUT - Host sleeps in living room when in town and rents the room on airbnb at obviously less price since renting room only… What do you think of host sleeping in living room while guest takes the room? would that be acceptable for the guest?
Thanks
Depends on the host, depends on the guest, depends on the price.
What does the listing advertise? If you are only entitled to the bedroom, then you only rent a room. If the listing advertises shared living room, then you also share the living room, but I would not expect someone to be sleeping there. I would expect to be able to share the space to hang out, etc.
If it states a shared bathroom, then someone else shares a bathroom.
List states room for rent only, shared bathroom and access to kitchen, list doesn’t offer the possibility of hanging out in living room.
Are you the host or the guest?
If I am a guest, and the living room is not advertised…then I expect to have a private space to sleep with a closed bedroom door that is able to be locked. I wouldn’t expect anything more.
As a guest, I would find this situation a bit awkward as it makes it obvious that I’m sleeping in the host’s room. I would be sure to disclose this in the listing so that people are aware and can filter themselves out, if needed.
If the kitchen is a separate space and guests don’t have to go through the living room to access the kitchen, bathroom and their bedroom, I think it’s ok. Otherwise guests might feel uncomfortable going through the living room at night when they need to go to the bathroom…
cabinhost, room is advertise as such, fully furnished, door can be close, access to kitchen, shared bathroom and thats exactly how its advertised and there is a note that states living room is available during the day as sofa bed coverts into a regular couch but not "available"in the evenings.
It all comes down to what is advertised and if it is acceptable to the guest. Guests cannot “question” whether or not a host should or should not be doing something in their own home - before they are even booking. If you are aware of the situation already, it is up to you decide if you would be comfortable staying. If you are already staying there (or booked) then that is a different story.
What is it exactly you are asking? Your originial question was very vague asking if this was acceptable. What do you want to know is acceptable?
This doesn’t sound appealing to me but there are people who do the shared room thing so it’s clear it wouldn’t bother some people. But you need to be clear about you sleeping in the living room while they are in your bedroom. Also you are probably not supposed to be sub-letting your apartment so be prepared for possible negative consequences including losing your lease or shady guests trying to blackmail you.
This is my set up when I host; it’s a one bedroom flat and the guests get the bedroom, I sleep in the living room and use room dividers to seperate the spaces. It’s worked fine for me just be very clear in your description.
I do not like this. If I were a guest - I would feel “guilty” for having the host stay on the couch. I have seen this type listing before and would not stay in such a place.
I do this and it’s fine, and it’s all described in the listing. I don’t allow kitchen/living room access as that space is my ‘bedroom’ when i host. I get 5 stars 90% of the time, so I guess my guests are ok with the setup.
Assuming that your listing is clear about the arrangements, I don’t see the problem here. Would I book? No. But I am an old buddy-duddy, not your target audience. Doesn’t @J_Wang have a similar setup?
I see many such listings in my area (Los Angeles/Long Beach). There’s one very near me that advertises a “shared space” that is actually a bedroom with 2 beds. The host sleeps in one and the guest(s) in the other, which sounds very strange to me but he’s got loads of bookings!
As Jaquo mentioned, it just depends on the right mix.
I do but it’s the other way round. I sleep in the bedroom and the guest sleeps in the living room area on a real bed. I’ve often thought of reversing it because I’d make more $, but I can’t give up my cave here 
“Also you are probably not supposed to be sub-letting your apartment so be prepared for possible negative consequences including losing your lease or shady guests trying to blackmail you.”
K9Karmacasa: Can you please clarify your statement? If this was the case airbnb would be out of business.
I’m with Robert Dudley. I find the idea of you the host sleeping on the couch in the living room very odd, and I would not be comfortable with the situation at all.
I think you understand the first part (lose your lease) perfectly well. This could happen because neighbors in your building don’t like it. It could be because your landlord or your city start using one of the services designed to find listings that are in violation of laws or leases. See this thread for more information.
http://airhostsforum.com/t/meet-the-airbnb-police-cnn-article/8562?u=k9karmacasa
It’s probably the second thing, blackmail, that you needed clarification on. If you read the threads here you might run across a post about a host who had a group of people come in and stay all week and then at the end they complained about the place and threatened to report her to the city, the police and the IRS. And, of course, complain with airbnb. She hosts in a city where there are many illegal Airbnbs but she is not one of them. I think they picked the wrong person to mess with. Almost all of the problems people report here are where they have rented out their whole place and they are not living on site. Places get trashed, things get stolen, neighbors complain, prostitutes use airbnb, people smoke on the balcony even if there is a no smoking on the property rule, people stay several days and then complain about something and get a full refund… There are a lot of things that can go wrong and it pays to be well informed about these things.
Could you please cite your source for this information? It’s probably “everybody I know does it.” That isn’t going to help you if you get in trouble. Airbnb doesn’t enforce leases and makes very little effort to help hosts comply with laws. It would be impossible. Also if you have trouble with a landlord or the city they won’t be of any help.
Most of the hosts who post here do so legally and we aren’t sympathetic with hosts who are violating laws or leases. But we’re also mostly nice people who want to be helpful.
We’ve had someone post here who hosted illegally, made a lot of money and got lots of great reviews but was caught and is now looking for another place and she will start Airbnb again.