While technically Airbnb does classify a self-contained place with no shared indoor spaces as an “entire home”, in light of the fact that many guests seem to assume that means they get the whole house, and since Airbnb isn’t addressing this, I think listing it as a suite will lead to less potential misunderstandings.
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Thanks Team!! I made some changes I hope will clarify!
It’s obvious you have a truly lovely place and your guests really love it. The photos are beautiful and so is the location. Your guests had many nice things to say about you and your place.
I think your response to your guests is excellent and puts you in a very good light.
But it is not clear to me from the text of your listing that you, the hosts, live in the unit upstairs. That would be a deal killer for a lot of folks. (Me included.)
To me you have an owner-occupied duplex, or a split if that’s the term where you live, with the lower level being the rental.
Where I grew up we would call the lower level a walk-out basement, as your guests suggested.
Of course this is so easy to fix, just state high in your listing that you live upstairs and you’re all set for the future.
I wouldn’t worry at all about the review. You handled it great, in my opinion.
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we used to have shared spaces and listed it initially as “private room” and actually had more misunderstandings then than we do now. Guest suite also is quite humble, because this space is really very large, even without a kitchen it’s bigger than some houses, certainly bigger than most apartments.
And in the case of @kcintn that will apply too, it’s a lovely listing! “guest suite” is def “under promise, over deliver”
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I think of “private room” as just a bedroom. And while it may have a private entrance, like mine does,they usually don’t.
Could be a large bedroom, with space for a mini fridge and coffee station sort of thing, but still just a bedroom. Either with a private or shared bathroom, and shared kitchen privileges or no kitchen use and possibly other shared indoor spaces.
When I think of a suite, that conjures up an entire private space, also having a living room area with a sofa and coffee table, maybe some bookshelves with books and games, and at least a microwave and a food prep counter, in addition to mini fridge, kettle, etc.
yes, the reason we went with “private room” back then was because there was no kitchenette. We would meet guests, show them through the house, show them the kitchen and the other spaces they could use, and then show them their private entrance. It got very annoying waiting around for guests to arrive (never on time), or guests complaining they thought they had a whole house, so we installed a kitchenette and a set of doors blocking off the North Wing. I still make it clear that it’s half of the main house, and include an aerial photo too. I feel it’s a good way to discourage mischief.
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We have a very similar problem. In our area, as in much of the Caribbean and maybe even Latin/South America, it’s very common for larger homes to have staff, usually a housekeeper, a maintenance/gardener, and a night caretaker.
There is no option for “staffed property”. I had a recent guest that was furious about the staff being there because he “would have booked a shared space if he wanted people around”. That despite “staffed” being in the title of the listing and “Staffed around the clock” being the second line of the description. It isn’t really shared as the staff does not live on the property or in the house. Fortunately, he didn’t call AirBnB and make a big issue of it. I think he was smoking something, perhaps something still illegal in our area.
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I’m so sorry but I agree that you have it listed inaccurately. But I can help!
You have it listed as a house, that’s why it says “entire home”. It is not a house. A house doesn’t share walls. It is either an apartment or a guest suite.
Here is where you do that (I’m sorry, @gillian yours is not exactly the same, so I’ll show the US version):
On the website, it is on the first tab “Listing Details” about 2/3 the way down, it is called “Property Type”:
Click on Property Type and you get a dropdown menu.
You chose “House” but it is not a house, it is connected to a house which it makes it automatically not a house in and of itself. You should choose “Apartment” (this would be my choice, it is indeed an apartment and seems most accurate) or “Secondary Unit” (it is also a secondary unit so that’s fair). If you click secondary unit you can then choose “Guest Suite”.
Either way, both and apartment and a guest suite can be listed as an "Entire Place"as you can see in the other settings. It is an entire place, but it is either an entire apartment or an entire guest suite, not an entire home (house).
You should change it asap, it is not accurate how it is currently.
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We call it a basement apartment. If it was not rented out to strangers but instead was only used for extra guests at holidays then we might call it a guest suite. Either would work.
My understanding is that Property Type means the type of dwelling the unit is in. My private room listing property type is “House”. That doesn’t mean the listing is the whole house, or that the room doesn’t share walls, it means it isn’t in an apartment or condo building, it isn’t in a Boutique Hotel, it isn’t a secondary unit, it isn’t a unique space like a tent or treehouse or boat. The building itself is a house.
Then I have the choice of checking the actual listing description, which is, in my case, Private Room. Checking House as property type has never resulted in it showing as an Entire House.
If you list a private room, that doesn’t appear in “Property type” which is why I think the OP’s property type is indeed a “House”. If she checked apartment, that would mean it is in an apartment building. But maybe that’s what needs to be done for her place not to say “Entire House”, I don’t know.
Because you aren’t also checking “Entire Place”. You are choosing “private room”. Your private room is in a house so it is accurate. But if you chose house and entire place together it will show as “entire house”.
All of this is noted if you go in and try out the different combinations in the settings. There is no need to guess at what they mean because they are defined as you choose them. It won’t update immediately, sometimes 30 minutes or so but it will.
Go into your settings and change your listing type to “Entire place” but leave house and home the way they are. Your listing will then come up as an entire home, which would be inaccurate.
Say what you will about me but I don’t pull 
out of my ass.
Okay, I get it. Her overall property type is a house, but she should not have checked Entire place in the sub-type. It didn’t look that way to me in the screenshots.
More importantly she chose “house” in the first part and then “home” in the second part and then “entire place”. That’s the only way to be listed as an “entire home”.
But you can only choose “home” if you also choose house. Her apartment/secondary unit is inside a house, inside a home but it is not a house on its own so also it is not a home.
I’ve seen this happen before. And I catch it because I read the entire listing. I believe it’s because of the word “home”. Everyone thinks of their place as a “home” whether it’s a castle or a hostel set-up for one-night stays. I get it. But she will continue to get complaints about it and could end up having to give refunds because of it.
“Home” may be confusing but the problem started when she chose “house”. You can’t choose home unless you’ve chosen house. And she is not renting out a house.
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Yes, it’s kind of convoluted, because Airbnb doesn’t really have a straightforward way to categorize the OP’s type of listing. Private room is obvious, guest house (separate dwelling) is obvious, but an entire floor of a house where other people also live in a separate space really doesn’t have an accurate descriptor, as evidenced by how confusing it is to many as to how to list it.
“Apartment”, to me, means a unit in an apartment building, or in a house that is divided into apartment units, each with proper kitchens. But not on Airbnb, it seems.
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My husband was worried that saying “basement” apartment would put people off. My view is that it is better to be entirely real, put off or not. You get what you get. Since I changed the language to include “basement apartment” and “owner occupied” and “no shared spaces” everything has been great. Plenty of interest, no difficulties.
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You might try turning off instant booking (if you have it) and whenever you get a booking request write back and say something like “Thank you for choosing blah, blah etc… looking forward to hosting you blah blah etc. Before we finalize the reservation by accepting your booking request, I want to confirm that you understand that our guest suite blah blah [details that might be understood]. Please let me know that this configuration matches your needs, and I will immediately click ACCEPT and lock in your reservation.”
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If you want a term other than basement, use “terrace-level.” That is often in real estate listings and implies more light/doors than a basement, which is usually all underground.
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It’s always better to be accurate and real. The original poster is just lucky the guests didn’t demand a refund.
Great insight- thank you!
I would suggest 1 change. I have the exact same situation. Lakeside home. Its built into a hillside so the top half is ground level to the road and is our home. The bottom half is a walk out basement with a separate entrance - separate driveway - separate AC the guests control - even a separate water heater - completely separate suite. (of course, mine is only a 2 bedroom suite and I only charge ~130 a night)
I run into this alot and include a statement about the owner being onsite in the first message (I do it mostly to weed out those that are looking for a party spot, but, it also provides clarity right up front).
However, there is also a place where you can mark the property type as “Guest Suite”
You have yours set to “Entire Home”. This shows up in the Listing title that shows up on Airbnb…
If you change it, yours will say Guest Suite instead of Entire home on the title.
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