Monthly Stay Clauses

21

Guenants? Tenests? 2020

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22

Welcome to the world of STR in Lincoln County Oregon versus vacation rental in the state of Oregon. Oregon defines a vacation rental as less than 45 days Lincoln County defines a short-term vacation rental as less than 30 days and has many new ordinances and lawsuits etc etc

23

Sounds like you need a consultation with a local lawyer instead of asking an online forum of hosts across the globe. Good luck!

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24

I have consulted with a lawyer. My take away in looking in this forum and others is that airbnb does not provide useful tools (screening, attaching a contract, even basic masked email capabilities) to help hosts and airbnb capture the monthly rental business that many will have to turn to as local ordinances slowly erode capability to continue business as a short term vacation rental. My goal is to find out if other hosts have had any success with ensuring that 30 day guests do not turn into hard to evict unwanted guests. We have had a wonderful run of hosting families in affordable ocean view accommodations for years. Sadly…that will be coming to an end unless relief is granted in some of the lawsuits.

25

You’re absolutely correct in that you’re taking your local STR regulations seriously

Another aspect to consider is that guests who stay for longer than a couple of weeks may consider the rental ‘home’. I have come across plenty of situations like this.

For guests, there is a difference in their attitude depending on the time spent. I can only speak from my own experience - and that of several neighbours - that a guest staying for four days is a ‘better’ guest than one staying four weeks.

I strongly recommend that your cleaning service performs a weekly clean / bedding & towel change. This is convenient for your clients and also helps to keep the rental and your linens in good shape.

While the cleaning service is present, I’d recommend that you (or your co-host) do a five-minute examination of the rental to make sure that everything is in order and that your guests aren’t doing anything that could damage your rental over time such as leaving food crumbs out that might attract ants, or that might add extra expense to you, such as leaving the heating / AC on when they’re out.

Have you identified your ideal guest and the local market availability? Does your STR insurance need any adjustment if you’re having longer-term guests?

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26

You are correct- and I think it is mostly by design.

Screening: They don’t want hosts being picky. They’d prefer we accept every booking. I’m surprised (but grateful) they even offer the option of Request to Book.

Attaching a contract: They’d prefer hosts have no rules at all.

Masked email: They don’t want hosts and guests communicating off-platform. They’re afraid we’ll make some side deal. Also they’re like Big Brother, they think they own the relationship between hosts and guests and want to be privy to all our communications.

Of course, that they started pushing long term bookings several years ago (Covid, lots of digital nomads now, and Airbnb could also see the writing on the wall re jurisdictions passing legislation against str), while continuing to act like long term bookings required no tools that short term ones do, is an example both of their cluelessness and their guest-centric attitude.

That their algorithms raise search ranking for both Instant Book and accepting long term bookings, which aren’t compatible, shows me how out-of-touch they are with host needs.

And they don’t seem to be aware that many hosts actually used to be long-term lease landlords, but switched to str, not only because it can be more lucrative, but because of hassles with tenants, like tenants who trash a place out, move and leave truckloads of garbage behind, fail to pay the rent on time, and lengthy eviction processes.

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27

I’m sure you’d get stories both ways - some guests don’t stay, some do. I suspect three things that encourage bookings from guests that plan to squat are a local property (so they don’t move too far away), a low price, and laws that give them tenants’ rights after 30 days.

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28

I’d add that a host or co-host on the premises (or next door or in a neighbouring apartment) is something that potential squatters may avoid too.

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29

Thanks Jaquo for the informative post. I have been talking with my cleaning service as we get ready to change our model from short to longer term guests. We agree that we should have her in the home a few times during the monthly stay.

Great point. I have not yet contacted my insurance company although we have had a few month long guests during covid. The market I believe would be people relocating to the area and possibly travelling nurses. We have had both, successfully.

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30

unfortunately neither is an option but it is in a tight knit very small group of 5 houses where neighbors really watch out for each other.

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31

That is the feeling that I get. I have had good luck with airbnb support when I have to resort to asking them pesky questions because I have not been able to find adequate answers on the platform. But the lack of tools to help hosts successfully implement monthly stays has disillusioned me at this point.