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I like @Debthecat’s idea of 2 listings (one as a 1-bedroom and a second as a 2-bedroom). If you get a couple or a single you’ve been able to lower your price point. If two work buddies want a second bedroom or 2 couples then you gain some additional dollars.
I would think you could install a smart lock for that second bedroom, that you can lock / unlock remotely as needed.
Not necessarily. More people mean more body heat and more appliances and lights on or for longer, which could also increase temperature. Also the door will be opened more often or for a longer duration to let in and out the extra people so that affects temperature as well.
That’s what i do for all the bedrooms in the whole house listings. Although I have a separate listing for each bedroom as well as for the 2. The single bedrooms are both linked to the 2 BR listing (so also vice versa).
I have advertised that access to bedroom two is only available for 3+ people. I’m finding it tricky with bookings as I had planned on having that room locked. I’m now seeing that isn’t going to work. The reason I wanted to do it this way is because linen is hired so extra $20 per extra bed.
I didn’t check the locks, actually. I read the signs that said Employees Only.
Yes, you’re right. I was thinking about our tiny apartments where extras cause no extra usage. It’s different for every listing.
I’ve honestly never heard of a host doing that. Why do you do that?
I have to hire the linen as I am not near my property. I am paying a cleaner $70 per clean on a weekday and on top of that cost linen is hired and professionally laundered. I’m charged a handle fee $15 plus costs per sheets and towels which I’m fairly sure will be about $55. I’m new so only just starting and haven’t been invoiced yet. I’m charging $180 per night + $60 cleaning fee and I absorb the rest. I can’t see how else I can do it remotely.
If I rent just one room in my house I lock the other 3 bedrooms because I dont want them to mess them up. If there are people who dont want to share a bed I think they should book two separate rooms. People chose places based on the rooms and beds configurations. I once rented an apartment with a girlfriend and we each had our own room.
I have a full house rental with a King sized bed in the master, Queen in the guest room, a full size pull out sofa in the study. All of that is pointed out in the listing. I’d love to say sleeps four in the listing, but my much more experienced co-host has convinced me to list it as sleeping 6. The pull out sofa is great for kids and we also have a blowup full mattress.
Normally we get no complaints, but recent renters showed up with three older adult people, and needed three real beds. We rushed over a memory foam topper for the sofa bed but still ended up with our first four star review in two years of renting.
I’m now not sure what to do to make sure we don’t disappoint future guests.
The unusual thing about this is our full house rentals allow our guests to bring in their own guests. They are usually here for a month or more and children, grandchildren, and friends often come in to visit. Many of those have commented on how nice it was to have an additional large tv and sofa in the study so different groups could watch different things, or the sports fans could be happily sequestered while others visit in the open living area.
I think maybe we need to have better communication with incoming guests on what bed combination they will be using, and if they want to use the sofa bed for older folks warn them it is indeed a sofa bed.
We would consider upgrading the sofa bed. Any suggestions for something that is a comfortable full or queen bed while also being a comfortable sofa for watching tv?
I’d put a mattress topper on this. like a 9 inch mattress topper. Sofa beds have very uncomfortable mattresses. Really, really uncomfortable. I slept on one for 3 months when my parents came to visit. The alternative is to buy a really high end and excellent quality sofa bed that is like 4 grand or more. I slept on one of those too. Really comfy but 4k. http://carlylesofa.com
Posted a hundred times here on the forum already.
Under-promise, over-deliver.
Very understandable but not at all the situation for the OP who hosts completely remotely.
Another case of different strokes for different folks…I sleep up to 11 and that is with only one “real” bed - a sleep number queen upgraded from regular queen. There are 2 trifold ikea futons (I have had guest end up preferring these to all other beds (before the sleep number upgrade) even for those staying a month! I have a bottom bunk futon, a top bunk twin (on a very thin Japanese futon type mattress) and then a queen sofa sleeper. That mattress is a bit thin given it’s age but have not had any complaints…usually it’s only used when there is a youth spirts team spending the night or when there are unauthorized adults (go figure they don’t complain about the sofa bed mattress).
Generally I have 1-5 guests as the norm. More than that is never more than a night or two.
I also have some really high end futons with about 10-12 inch mattresses that will be used in my other (Foreclosure) house once I get it fixed up. They will likely be just a couch setup in the bedrooms with a queen bed although since it has huge common area space and 2 large living rooms I may have one or two out there.
I do plan to get rid of the bunk bed with futon on bottom and twin on top becuase of how hard it is to make up and because kids have been scraping ceiling popcorn all over everything and scratching the very edge of the ceiling fan blades with something black from the top bunk…maybe I will move one or two of the thick futons in there then.
Lastly, prices for this 11 person max setup is now up to $70 + $20 each person over 1, although it started out as $45 + $20 a few years ago and I’ve raised cleaning fees from $20 to $65 and also increased the number of beds. Started with a queen bed only…
Wow, you’re going to find it really hard to make money. Of course, I don’t know (and don’t want to know) your financial circumstances; for example some hosts can charge lower prices if they have no mortgage.
I’ve never hosted remotely but I don’t understand why your co-host / cleaner isn’t seeing to the laundry as part of their fee?
It’s seems I would pay more for a property manager 22% of all bookings plus cleaning and plus linen hire.
Before I bought the property there was a Property Manager that did it all for 30% but basically it was a shambles and the place dirty.
I don’t see what choice I have as I don’t live near the property and if I had normal rental tennants I would only get $250 per week. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making more than $250 per week.
I’m sure that you and/or your accountant have done your calculations carefully and that you’ve taken everything into account.
Yes, STR will gross you more although the associated costs are much higher of course, but as long as you’ve taken everything into account, that’s the main thing.
It seems to be a low nightly rate to me (especially considering the costs) but I can only judge that from my own area. All places are different.
Fire her. More is not better, just more cleaning and use
RR
It is better if you charge by the person…you just can’t have FREE heads in FREE beds…
Just charge a flat rate. No matter how you word it there will always be confusion as people generally scan information.
Suggest you don’t charge extra to split king beds, I think it just adds a level of aggravation to the guest experience and a potential “ Value star down“