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When you first start out, you need reviews. That means for your first month you want to book short stays. I’m out of business now but I never had stays longer than a week except for hospital workers in the off season and that was separate from Air with monthly leases, booked through the hospital.
I had a minimum stay of 2 nights because the income from one night didn’t compensate for my back pain from changing beds and hauling laundry, as well as the time consumed.
Not only is Air NOT a good platform for medium or long term rentals, being a landlord is a whole other business, and after your jurisdiction’s time limits (usually 28 days or one month) guests become tenants who can be hard to evict. If the person is local, there is probably a reason why landlords won’t rent to them. Because I had managed over 300 units of local rental housing, I knew that all of the local folks who tried to rent Air rooms from me were folks that hadn’t past the company’s (rather minimum) tenant screening.
The hint about pausing booking and going through EVERYTHING on our amenities list and turning off stuff that Air has turned on but you don’t offer is right on target. You don’t want to accidentally offer something you don’t have because guests could use it to get a refund.
Please spend time browsing the threads here, which offer a lot of experience, stories, and advice.
Hey Muddy. You were very helpful to me as I struggled with a bad guest who brought 50% more guests than allowed guests and then she reported me for having ext cameras ( they were completely disclosed) but they suspended my listing for nearly 3 weeks.
Want to Thank you so much for educating me as to how to handle the situation. !!
I’m late to the party… but here’s my 2-cents. I don’t disagree with the advice here. I’ve been a homesharer for 8+ years. For the last few years, I’ve almost exclusively hosted long-term guests. My current guest works at the local hospital and his stay is going on 2+ years. There may be a reason that a guest in a small town needs to rent for a long term. Ask! If you don’t feel comfortable with the response, then decline. If you simple don’t want to host for that long, then decline. I’ve hosted college students and professional business people and had good and bad experiences with both. I wasn’t fond of the 1-nighters, that thought they could sneak in a friend for some fun. Nope. Had to cancel one of those right at the front door. I’ve had hosts book my place for a couple of nights and didn’t book for the second person and also didn’t read the rules. I’ve found LT guests to be much easier over time. But that’s me. I’ve learned over time that I have a better sense about people than I thought. But first I had to open the conversation… “What brings you to my town?”
Next summer, my son (who will be 23 years old) may need a place to stay for 8-10 weeks while he does an associateship with a law firm between his second and final year of law school. He’s asking the law firm if they provide housing, but he may end up looking on AirBnB. Hopefully, someone will give him a chance! I’ll be sure to coach him, though.
I would decline. For a couple reasons it but the primary one is your gut feeling. Anytime I have not followed my gut I have been sorry!
I would change the maximum stay of seven days and then they can ask to stay longer if you like.
You need to get some experience to see what it’s like hosting and having a long-term guest will not help you.
The only other thing I would say is people who ask for discounts are also to be avoided. There’s lots of choices and if they want to pay less they can probably find somewhere else to stay. My experience is that no matter what you give them they’re not pleased with their stay.
Sorry, i put the wrong name in…I support all the no long stays as host vs landlord, and all the rules staying over 30 days, especially in Calif, are not worth it.
Change your settings, as many have said, to make a limit…for all the reasons other hosts have been offering in this thread.
