This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
If you are using those quotation marks to show sarcasm or irony those are totally acceptable. They are called scare quotes or sneer quotes which is the term I really like.
However, if you are using those quotation marks to show emphasis, you will be cursed with numerous dead mosquitoes every time a guest arrives as a punishment. Especially since you already showed emphasis with those all-caps, but what the hell, go ahead and underline and italicize it too 
Oh, yeah. I am ALL in, Sis! 110% 
(I couldn’t find an underline option 
)
Ooooh, me, too!
I don’t understand why.
Muddy, I did those things because I was able to on that particular day. I happened to have some extra parking passes, and mostly wanted to be accommodating to alumni from my alma mater.
I understand trying to be accommodating to things like early check in if it doesn’t inconvenience you. But a guest who has a list of demands to start with, that show a sense of entitlement, are a big red flag and hosts can expect to see this continue during the stay and to likely see a review full of complaints.
The thing about acccommodating people who are that entitled and demanding, rather than being appreciative as most decent folks would be, it tells them they can continue to make demands that will be acquiesced to. It’s basic human psychology.
Well, if you are ever in need of a home inspector, call them back.
I personally would look forward to these critiques on a review. Nobody will book a prat like that.
Maybe it’s me, but I don’t allow surgery patients. Too much liability.
I also would not call a exterminator because of a palmetto bug. I would point out that these are a very rare form of insect that you are curating for your state, and that you are delighted that he had tge chance to see one.
Seriously. Go for a walk, sir. Can of Raid. Faut accomomplis.
Have done something similar.
I have an old house and we had a long wet season, so a large rodent moved in.
Tried multiple times to trap him and he wouldn’t play. Couldn’t use baits….what is worse…. A live one that disappears or a dead one that you can’t get out of a wall.
Guests were from Asia, told me they saw an animal.
I asked them to describe it, and I waxed lyrical about how lucky they were to see an Australian native bush rat and did they get a photo?
Interesting- they live about 90 minutes from the bnb and close to the lake so they know about palmetto bugs. I doubt I could have been able to use that line although I do like it. I have Raid under the kitchen sink along with SLA with is great for other pests that like to travel in suitcases or backpacks so if they had looked they would have found them.
Living close to Emory Hospital I have had other requests for long term stays due to procedures they will be having performed there. I will probably just pass on them in the future.
Here’s the issue I have with hospital stays.
If they are in for surgery, and staying at my place, as a first aider I am obliged to care. Too much stress.
My insurance company would have a fit, too.
Like you I am close to hospitals (3) and I have had a visitor, but he was low maintenance. His daughter had a long term illness. That’s it.
How do I start a forum topic post? Thank you
New users can’t start a topic. It’s a limitation of the software settings employed by the forum owner to limit spam. If you read awhile and contribute in a positive way you gain privileges over time.
How do you determine what are possible liabilities?
If someone falls on your property or injures themself they might well sue you. So bodily injury is a liability. Talk to a commercial insurer’s agent to learn more. Or Google “potential liability as STR Host”. STR= short term rental
thank you… I guess my home insurance person would know this, I will triple check with them? And then airbnb covers anything else I would hope.
I wouldn’t talk with your home insurance agent. That’s why I suggested to talk with a commercial insurer agent. We’ve heard anecdotally that some homeowners have found their policies not renewed once the home insurer was told that they are renting it out.
No, most Hosts here would advise you against relying on Airbnb cover. They would suggest, as I have, to talk with a commercial insurer, like Proper in U.S. Google their site but talk with a commercial insurer.
Okay thank you… I’m in Canada but I will look into this. And it’s too late - I spoke to my home insurance- haven’t heard back but have an envelope from them in my purse- yet to open… I hope the heck they don’t give me grief!
However- IF they found out I was on airbnb- they may not cover me if they didn’t know… I guess more research… by the time I get my listing up I will have gray hair.
Well now you’ve told them.
In US commercial use of your home is almost universally not protected by a homeowners policy. I suspect the same is true in Canada.
I hope your home is fully compliant with the building codes. One of the most frequent claims is ‘slip and fall.’ So you must be sure that you have code-compliant railings inside and out. Here in MA we have to have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detector; laws on number and placement. Cities within the state might have their own laws for short-term rentals. So Job1 for you is to understand the laws in your area, which might include country, province, town, maybe other entities, like here we would have county.
Do you have a pool or hot tub? Any trip hazards, like pots on walkway, or paving that is uneven or steps unlit at night?
I’ve posted this before, but my experience was that I merely emailed my Nationwide agent (in the US) to ask if the company could offer a rider to my homeowners insurance for short term rental, while I was making plans and before I listed on Airbnb.
The response I got was that Nationwide was nonrenewing my existing homeowners insurance, and therefore also nonrenewing my existing umbrella liability insurance and my existing landlord insurance on a different LTR investment property. “But you can keep your auto insurance with us,” the agent cheerily concluded.
I called them immediately and said what the heck, you are my long-term insurance agent, I contacted you to research insurance products and get your advice, and I am not currently doing short term rentals. “You raised uncertainty” was the response. Then I was told that if I sent a certification by letter that I was not doing short term rentals and had no plans to ever do short terms, they could reinstate the insurance.
Needless to say I cancelled my auto insurance with them and went with a different auto insurer. I got property, short term rental and additional liability insurance from Proper. Proper didn’t do landlord insurance so I had to go to a different provider for that.
After a couple years of hefty premium increases, I contacted a multi-provider insurance agent in my state, and they were able to get me a homeowners policy from a different company with a short term rental rider.
The insurance issue was by far the most challenging part of setting up my STR business.
Thank you for sharing that.
I keep reading the same thing, about the homeowner insurance company not renewing upon learning that the homeowner was engaged in or contemplating getting engaged in STRs.
I’m curious whether you made claims with Proper and whether you think that might have caused the premium increase. Also, if I may ask, what insurer did you go with that had the STR rider?