I AGREE – This should be 3 or more listings – not one listing. Each rented rooms should be a separate listing – no wonder folks think they’re getting the whole house – according to the way you have this written, they are!!
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Put in the description in Bold that “We will be staying in the house during your stay”
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They have access to the rest of the house like the kitchen and living area so technically they do get the entire house—But we live here too. Thank you for the responses everyone!
Can’t think of a reason that they can mistake that description for the whole house. Sorry -
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Technically they don’t get the whole house! They get bedrooms, a bathroom and access to a kitchen and living room. The way your listing is presented you are attracting people who WANT the whole house.
Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity, according to Einstein.
It seems pretty obvious from the listing which looks pretty honest. Bet the people who get angriest are the ones who don’t get the massive bargain they thought they had found and congratulated themselves on after 5 minutes searching on AirBnB. They are probably a bit angry at themselves for not having spotted the obvious (like what it says at the top of the listing) but taking it out on you. Maybe when you send the acknowledgement email put something like: “Thanks for choosing our place! Please note there may be other guests staying when you are here and sharing the space including the communal bathroom and living areas and of course we live here ourselves with our cat Tibbles”.
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I have a picture in my listing of a local castle, and guest throught it was their accommodation. It was the second last image, and had places to visit on the title.
I would divide the listings up, you should get more bookings. The price is way too low in my opinion.
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I certainly would and I avoid Airbnb’s that rent out more than one room to different sets of guests.
Whenever we get a request to book or an inquiry I always reply with “just want to be sure you know it’s a private room and bath in our home, we will be here during your stay and we have 3 cats. We want to be sure our place is a good fit for you.”
Many say they know and are fine and then there are the ones who thought it was a whole house. Then I ask them to cancel their request and they do.
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Yep I would prefer my own ensuite too. However you have to PAY for that facility. I am sure there’s a market for cheaper rooms with a shared bathroom. I have 2 single guests sharing one bathroom, and they barely notice the other person since I check it for cleanliness every day. Plus they are not promised an ensuite in the first place.
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I have had this problem as well.
As others have pointed out, a big part of the problem is so many beds and total number of guests. In your situation, with your home, my feeling is that you cannot really successfully rent out more than one room with it’s own bath. If you set up a different listing for each bedroom, which is what you must do to HELP avoid the confusion your guests are experiencing, you’re going to run into a lot of people not wanting to share a bath with you or other strangers. Depending on local competition, you should be able to rent a single bedroom/private bath for almost as much as you’ve been trying to rent all 3 bedrooms to groups.
That being said, I do feel your pain. I have 2 bedrooms, each with an ensuite bath that I rent out, as 2 separate listings. I thought I could maybe attract more bookings by also creating another listing to rent out both bedrooms/baths to 4 adults or 2 adults/2 kids. Every single inquiry I got was from someone who thought it was the whole house, despite wording to the contrary.
I did have a group of 4 young adult’s appear for their reservation. They did not end up staying.
I think part of the problem is that even just a couple years ago, Airbnb listings were comprised of many more shared spaces. But as time goes on, the percentage of whole house rentals keeps increasing, and this is what people are now expecting to find on Air.
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If I understand correctly, there won’t be other guests staying. They are offering three bedrooms to groups traveling together. They don’t want to break it into 3 listings because then they will get separate groups. They will take as many as 10 people booking together. A place like this would be great for my friends and I to book. One couple in one room, my single friend and I don’t have to share a room, we each get our own room and 1.5 bathrooms. And use of the whole house, all for half the cost of a single hotel room. This place should be booked every night. The problem is that it’s a confusing listing.
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I stayed in a listing in Phoenix in May that was a king bed with small, odd ensuite. The sink was installed in a table in the room and then the toilet and shower was behind it’s own door. There is a second bedroom with a connecting door so this would be a good listing for a family or friends traveling together. But they don’t list the second bedroom as a listing at all. They simply say it’s available if you have a larger group. They don’t say what the additional charge if there is one. Maybe they just take cash on the side for that room. I also don’t know how many larger groups they get.
You are correct. We are offering the three bedrooms, the private bathroom, and access to the kitchen and living area. They also have a fridge in our garage that is only for their use. We had a semi-permanent renter for a while so we were only offering two rooms, but we did get some complaints about him being there so that’s what makes me worry that people won’t like being in such close proximity and sharing a bathroom with other parties of strangers. Thank you so much everyone for your advice.
Your listing says :3 bedroom and 5 beds.
This is where confusion comes . People don’t read ,though your listing is so obvious with you renting out just a room. But … They see first 3 bedrooms. And they think it’s the whole house.
I also have 3 rooms for rent but I just put 1 room not 3 rooms… I list each room separately.
I see listings like this sometimes where it says “private room” and 15 beds. Which makes no sense. Why would 15 beds are indicated when I am only interested what kind of bed in a room i am about to book.
It never happened with me that people think it’s a whole house .
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Just as an FYI I’ve stayed at an Airbnb in someone’s home and she airbnb’d two rooms. We all shared the bathroom including her and her daughter.
How on earth do you get 10 people in 3 bedrooms? Anyway I still think the set up is weird with a group staying and a couple.living there. Might be a niche for that I guess but it needs to be spelt out.
It’s not the number of bedrooms that matter it’s the number of beds and they are large rooms. Did you look at the listing?
It’s unusual, not weird.
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I think cramming multiple beds in rooms is uncivilised. A family room with its own ensuite maybe. 10 people to 1 and a half bathrooms. Nasty. Not even students are allowed to live like that in the UK.
Did you look at the listing? These are not tiny rooms. Four people per room like in tons of hotels. And 10 people using 1.5 baths (keep in mind these people are all in the same party) is exactly the same as countless bathroom lines I’ve stood in and no different than when I host the annual Christmas party at my house and 30 people use 2 bathrooms.
I don’t care how big the rooms are, that kind of dormitory experience is not to my taste. Just think how many people snore for a start. If they’re that big then get some ensuites in or a kitchenette to give some separation for the guests which by all accounts is what they’re clamouring for. Christmas parties are different aren’t they, but here there’s a regulation of 5 or less students etc. to one bathroom.