New host who thought it was going to be easy money!

So true to all of this we have a house we rent that is an hour door to door-we’ve been renting for 2 years and it’s definitely a part time job plus more at times. Finding a really good handyman, finding an exceptional cleaning person are critical but no matter what no one is going to take care of it as well as you are!

We’ve gotten to the point where we literally block out one weekend a month to come up to the house to just do inventory and make sure everything is the way we want the house presented and without fail every time we come up there is always something broken or missing, doors, pots pans, walls, do you want to have nice quality stuff (for the experience of it and to be able to charge a premium). In the end I continue to be shocked with the condition people leave the house in I’ve even been told “well you charge a cleaning fee don’t you?” Our cleaning fee is $200 and we have 10 beds to turn over…it’s a wash for us and I’m not sure sometimes how people can justify doing/leaving things the way they do!

That being said I also think you have to plan on average about about $50 per turnover to replace or upkeep things . We did find that moving off of Evolve was a better platform for us, there are definitely still challenges with Airbnb and we hope to move off of that someday but charging more seems to weed out some of the riffraff … most people don’t really care about taking care of your stuff!

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I had a very successful AirBnb for 3+ years in Arizona. It was a separated part of my house and I loved hosting people including lots of birders. I seriously had about 3 not great experiences in that time. I moved back East almost 3 years ago to a small town with the initial blessing of the town to set up on AirBnb until they decided the rental wasn’t “connected” to the main house. The town didn’t have any clear rules and when I saw they were going to make it impossible for me to do this, I sold the house and moved to a small city where the short term rentals are very clear and I’m approved and after much work to get the rental going, I’m ready.
I read a lot of the negative experiences people have here and it’s pretty discouraging, but I’ll just do what I did before and hope things go as well as they did with my first experience. I know times are different now, but hoping for a slow ramp up to lots of happy customers in a town that attracts tourists.

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Just remember that people come here to complain, not to say that everything is going smoothly. I’m opening this week after only being closed for most of the winter. The stays that I did host during the pandemic went well. I don’t think things are that much different now. We just got new Airbnb users that hadn’t been trained yet. :wink:

Best of luck and welcome back.

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Our Northern California 3-level, 1,200 s.f. dog friendly cabin, surrounded by trees, takes 30 hours to clean. It rents for $150/night (comparable to other homes here). The $150 cleaning fee covers 1/4 the actual cost of cleaning (couldn’t find housekeepers who pay attention to detail, so I do it). We live right around the corner.

We’ve have terrific, respectful guests over the past 2 years (4.96 rating). Airbnb has always been very responsive when I’ve had problems. But, in the end, 60-90 hours/month cleaning - in addition to doing my home - and having another job, has proven too much for me to physically handle. So we’re going to sell this year while the market is good in our area.

I’ll greatly miss meeting new people and their dogs.

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One of the advantages hotels have is economy of scale when it comes to cleaning. When guests of an entire home expect a place of size to be spotless it’s harder to get to that point.

At this point I think of the Air maintenance and cleaning as exercise, both mental and physical. But at some point it may be “too much for me,” rather than “good for me.”

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That seems low. I don’t know where you are or your market so take this info with a grain of salt. Cleaning fees in my area run $125-$150 for 2br/2ba condo. My friend has a house that sleeps 16 (10 beds) charges a cleaning fee of $500. Weekly rentals only. Is charging more an option?

I understand about the challenges of working full time & trying to care for an STR.

Sharing, use as you wish
A dear friend, 68 years old, started having back problems. Hiring a cleaning service didn’t work out. She has a 2br2ba 1100 sq ft rental.

She charges no cleaning fee. She asks guests to leave the condo clean. She gives them a checklist & provides cleaning supplies.

After checkout she then does a final cleaning check. 3 hours is the most she has spent after a guest (she took pictures & charged a $150 excessive cleaning required fee, she received $75) Usually less than 1 hour is required.

Every 4-6 weeks, when there is an unhooked day, she does a deeper clean.

Pets make cleaning more difficult. I travel with my two so I appreciate a pet friendly rental BUT you may wish to consider a no pets policy.

30 hours to clean 1,200 sq ft is a long time. Consider if pursuit of perfection is getting in the way of “good enough”. Are there things you are cleaning & dusting every time that really could be done 1x a month?

If you are ready to sell, do it, take advantage of the market. If you aren’t quite ready, you may wish to consider making some changes to see if you can keep going with less work.

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Why don’t you offer to rehab her business for her. Take over the management and take a percentage of the sales? Seems such a waste of resources when you have the skills and the knowhow and she has the asset.

Collaborate for mutual profits.

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She is over an hour away and I am a hands on host.
I meet and greet and do the cleans, 4 entire homes of my own keeps me busy enough!

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Fair enough. It is a shame though when people mess up such a good business with poor systems and mindset. I feel bad for the guests who were probably not given a good experience also. When it is not done right, it gives everybody a bad experience. I don’t know why people think it is easy money. Sure some of us make it look easy, but we have done the work setting up good systems and standards.

I guess it leaves more space for us hospitality focussed hosts.

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I am only on my second set of guests but I am learning a lot from these postings. Here are my thoughts to date. First - find the cleaners. I found two women who clean airbnb for $100. I charge a cleaning fee of $150. The extra $50 can hopefully cover replacement supplies and damage. But I think the key here is to have nothing of great value in the apartment. IKEA - Home goods - TJ max - all have cute stuff that costs nothing. Easily replaced. I also charge a bit more to get guests who are used to taking care of property. I may get fewer listings but those I do have booked seem solid. (We shall see.). I also screen carefully - turned off instant book. My first guests showed up and when they realized I was upstairs they drove away. They clearly wanted to party. I refunded their money to avoid a a bad review. I don’t love giving up my privacy but as a retired person it feels good to generate income again. So I’ll stick it out - and if it gets overwhelming I can always rent full time. I just hate losing the space for my own visitors.

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I’m “retired,” that is, I get a pension but I also board dogs in my home and do Airbnb. I’m single and virtually without living relatives that I will associate with so my friends, my chosen family, take precedence over any paying guest.

I tell friends to let me know if they are coming to town and I will block the days for them. No hard feelings if they change plans because I can get last minute bookings. Especially with so many people now making impromptu plans perhaps you can do the same.

That’s exactly what I’m doing. If it’s just one person they can stay upstairs with me - but if it’s more than one it’s more comfortable to have their own unit. Thanks! Airbnb like anything is a learning curve.

Sorry, but how is that even possible? I’m hoping you meant 3 hrs? Even that would be too long IMO.

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I agree with Woody.

Our cleaner (who has remarkably high standards) cleans our entire 3,500 square foot house in eight hours.

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Yep, something’s funny here. It takes my wife and I about one hour to clean either of our places, 650 SF and 1600 SF. So that’s 2 man hours approx. And I mean spotless. Now we’re young (mid 60s) and healthy and fast, but how the F could it take 30 hrs…? That’s almost 4 eight hour days…I could build a small house in that time…

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Not sure how you can clean those size spaces super clean in 2 hours- it takes me an hour and a half to clean and turn over my small guest bedroom and bathroom, and I’m fast.

30 hours seems like a lot, but a 1200 sq ft space would take me an entire day to do a thorough job.

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I like your philosophy positive attracts positive I’ve always worked running my own businesses ! yes work can be rewarding lt takes a commitment. I do worry about damage to my home but state farm provides str insurance to cover damage do u know folks who have needed to collect damage insurance from Airbnb?

At least one person has posted here that they’ve been paid several times by Airbnb, once an amount of $6k. People who are happy with Airbnb’s payments don’t seek out forums or message boards to complain so that’s not surprising.

Yes, I’d love to figure out a way to shorten my cleaning time, and would truly welcome all suggestions! Here’s the basic rundown on this 3-story home:

-Before beginning cleaning, all high touch surfaces are disinfected. Initial vacuuming done to prevent dirt and hair (always an amazing amount) from traveling room to room as I clean.
-The sheets, duvets/shams, mattress pads (2x/mo.), towels, throw rugs, furniture pillow covers, bathrobes, dog beds/sheets/towels to cover furniture = 8-10 tubs of wash.
-Duvets/shams, pillow cases and 1/3 of top sheet get ironed. (Each BR takes 1-2 hrs)
-Vacuuming includes baseboards, window sills and tracks, furniture and underneath; lint rolled afterwards because pet hair sticks.
-Furniture polished
-SS Kitchen large appliances big time suck to clean. Oven usually takes another 30 minutes.
-Stainless steel pots/pans get washed because guests leave food residue or grease. Ditto with all silverware, small appliances and cooking utensils. Dog feeding stations/bowls washed.
-Cabinets and drawers are wiped out because there’s always crumbs or hair.
-All condiment containers and food stocks (ie, oil and vinegar bottles) are wiped/disinfected; spouts cleaned.
Windows (it’s an A-frame), inside & out, are washed each week during bat season.
-We have hard water which means mineral spots on tub and shower doors - more scrubbing there.
-All games inspected and disinfected.
-Laundry room cleaned
-Deck furniture (cushions usually require spot cleaning), rugs and BBQ cleaned
-Backyard and around cabin is raked, watered and weeded. Driveway blown off (always lots of pine needles).

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. Honestly, I didn’t think the cleaning would be so labor intensive. If there was a way to cut corners I would.

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