So I was reading this thinking how your approach and situation is similar to mine, admiring how you “found your lane and stayed in it” and then “boom” there were the dogs. That sounds like my kind of airbnb and I’ll be looking for your listing if I head to coastal NC.
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I still rent for 1 nighters when I have to. Otherwise I wouldn’t have any bookings at all at some periods of time. We are near airport so we get lots of guests who missed flights.
Not sure how 36$ in India can be considered not much if here in US in off season I charge 40$ for private room. And with that price I don’t even get booked sometimes .
Out of curiosity I just checked booking.com and saw whole appartments in Mumbai for 35$. And also 3" hotels .
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It definitely depends on your circumstances, market and whether it works for you. I couldn’t imagine doing anything or supplying any service for only $36. To have someone in my home I would want a lot more than that!
My places are entire homes, so a different market, but 80% of the bookings are one nighters. In fact that is one of the reasons I think we are so busy as most places in the area have a two night minimum. I charge an $80 cleaning fee and if the guest is ok to wear that for a one night stay it works. Generally the cleaner charges $60 - $75.
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OP is in India. 36$ is not little.money there
Hi @Terryathome, @DozerPug, @Xena, @Yana and others who replied
Thank you for the replies. Just to follow up on my original situation, I wrote to the guest who made the 1 day booking, asking him to cancel, so I would not be penalized. He didn’t respond, so I declined the booking. Of course, it remains to be seen if I get a better booking for that 4 day gap. I guess I’m now succumbing to the allure of filthy lucre, just like everyone else, at least in India.
Also, I changed my settings to only allow 2 day stays or longer. I don’t get a lot of 1 day bookings, so this probably won’t make a big difference. And because I don’t get a lot of 1 day or 2 day bookings, 1 day bookings can be quite disruptive, breaking up a gap into smaller pieces which are unlikely to get booked. At least, that’s my theory. If bookings collapse in a month or two, I might change it back again.
No, it’s not much money at all. People mistakenly think India is very cheap because most people are poor. This isn’t really the case, though it’s true that some things, such as vegetables, are cheap. Otherwise there would be mass starvation. But mostly things aren’t that much cheaper than in rich countries. Sometimes they are more expensive (e.g. speciality consumer products like electronics). And most poor people live precarious lives of misery in the midst of all this. Also, South Bombay is among the most expensive places in India, particularly when it comes to property/renting. It might be the most expensive, but India is a big place, so I am not sure. Oh, and hotel rooms in my price range around here are not very nice - at least in my opinion. I’ve done a little checking.
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Electronics are not cheap anywhere . The cheapest electronics are in US.
I spent quite a bit of time in East Africa where capital Nairobi is 17% more expensive than Mumbay. For 36$ I bought food enough for a week for a family of 4. Monthly electricity bill here is 15$ cable TV 9.50.
Internet 10$ a month.
For 35$ I rented 80 sq.meteres townhouse with a pool and gym.Cleaning girl charges only 4$ to clean appartment and wash my clothes and If I wanted to have her come every day and be like a maid for 2-3 hours every day I would pay only 50$ a month
Are the prices in Mumbay higher than these?
Besides that, as i said I charge only 40$ per night for 75% of the year along with 300+ other hosts for private room. I don’t think it’s terrific money but I will take it and I still make a living with these prices even in US.
Also how to explain 3* hotels for the same amount as you rent your private room? And Airbnb entire appartments that go for 15$ with plenty of good reviews ?
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I agree, I made the mistake of walking into a 5* hotel in Mumbai enquiring about a room and instantly realised I was in the wrong world. I have never seen people dressed so extravagantly and dripping with so many jewels! It was 11pm and we were desperate, I said we should ask the price as I realised how out of place we looked with our backpacks and runners. Mr Poppy said don’t worry about it we will just book and sort out somewhere else in the morning. I still felt uneasy so asked the price and it was nearly $1000! We found another place for $300 that was still well over our budget but suddenly seemed reasonable.
The last time I was in India was for wedding a few years ago and many things were cheap but accommodation prices have definitely increased as it has become more popular with tourists. I have never been to a country where the disparity between the rich and the poor is so large. However, the middle class is growing and this was the kind of four day wedding I attended.
Poppy may be you were there for some major event, but If you look at booking.com, you can easy find 5* hotel for under 100$.
5* hotels are mostly for foreigners and not poor foreigners but from rich countries. I don’t have to tell you this as you are well traveled yourself.
5* world is nothing but a tourist business . Here you can find drinks at 7-8$ which is worth 2 day salary of same hotel worker. May be accomodation prices increased but still for local person 36$ shouldn’t be not enough money to make for only a private room.
OP was asking other people how much they make on private rooms and if it worth to rent it out for 36$ for one nite stays… If it worthwhile for Americans to rent it for this amount , how is it not profitable for Indians? Unless this local is trying to get into riches world with income from Airbnb.
No, sorry, on that trip I wasn’t there for any major event, I was just sightseeing. My last trip is the only time I have attended an event and I wouldn’t call a Punjabi wedding a major event in India although it was a major event to my friend the groom’s family.
Interestingly in the 5* hotel we mistakenly found ourselves in we were the only non Indians in the very busy foyer area. All the obviously wealthy were Indians, we so didn’t belong in so many ways. And yes out the front were beggars missing limbs and entire families sleeping on the footpaths. It’s a shocking country in so many ways. There is no line to be drawn when talking about money and India. It’s the most interesting, love/hate country I have visited. However, I am definitely not qualified to enter a discussion on how much a private room should be rented for as I do not know anything about this.
Common sense. But obviously my message about what hotels are rented and others Airbnb in the same area doesn’t go through. Indians can be tourists too in their own country. I wouldn’t judge by 5* hotels about economy of the country.
The parallel I am making is between 3* hotels in the same area and private room . You don’t need to be qualified or an expert in real estate to see that something is off in pricing here.
It’s the same thing as I would price my rooms at for example 120$, same as 3* hotels go in my area. Noone wouod ever rent me at this price. Same here , why would I go to someone’s house if there are plenty of nice hotels around where I dont need experience unconvinces of Airbnb …for the same money.
In private room case it’s also encounter with a host and lack of privacy, which is big for me.
And when at the same time Faheem says it’s even not a good money to rent it for one night, I am bewildered . So the economy of India has nothing to do this issue . I guess I am trying to find out for myself how is equal charges for a private room in Mumbai and Miami qualifies
In Mumbai as non profitable and in Miami is.
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I don’t take 1 day bookings as I live 13 miles from the property. In fact, I’ve changed from a two night minimum to a three night. In the summer I would clean the day before check-in, greet the guests on day 1, then go back on day 3 to start the cleaning. I hardly saw my family in the summer. It is a large two story house. I don’t charge a cleaning fee, but instead give a good one week discount to encourage that type of stay. I have started getting one month stays (an even bigger discount, but no hassle at all for me except for collecting rubbish)
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Charging a hefty cleaning fee on a one nighter certainly makes sense, Poppy. It’s still got to be a better deal than staying at the airport.
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