Thinking of renting long term outside of AirBnb

I’m somewhat confident in this aspect because I often set a one or two night minimum and it’s never been violated. I’ve had inquiries from people who want to stay longer but never a rogue IB that sneaks in.

I was under the impression that it was a big no no based on my friend’s fear of getting caught. She rents out one room in her home. One Airbnb guest booked it for a few days then asked her if he could rent it through her for a semester since he’s a student in Princeton University. She did it and then was afraid that Airbnb would find out and kick her off the platform.

Please - for the sake of new or potential hosts reading this can we please clear this up? YOU own your property, right? You can do whatever you want when it comes to renting it as long as it’s legal.

You can use Airbnb to top up your bookings if you have mostly guests who come from your own website. You can use it to fill the gaps if you get mostly guests from another OTA.

You can certainly have repeat guests who originally came via Airbnb without going through Airbnb again.

Who does she think is going to ‘catch’ her and what does she think the consequences will be? Why do you think Airbnb cares? Why do you think that they’ll monitor you?

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Long term direct bookings, where legal and not governed by the 28 day rule, are quite viable where you are likely to encounter university and co-op bookings. Just make sure you have done your homework.

My experience has been with long termers like this that they themselves have a lot at stake and tend to be cooperative.

The downside is that you get less reviews. This in turn leaves you more exposed if you get a revenge review.

You also have less privacy when you may need a,rest.

All in all however I personally like a,blend.

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Me, too. I can make $4-6K per month renting to STR guests in the peak summer/fall months, and $1600-$1700 a month during the winter college semester (January thru mid-May). I know from reviewing AirDNA data that the average monthly revenue for similar STRs here in Jan-Feb is only about $1100/month, so for me it’s a no-brainer. I have previously rented these units long-term so I’m familiar with doing background checks, security deposits and leases. Last winter’s tenants were graduate students finishing their final semester at UNE, with definite plans to move on after graduation, and parents willing to cosign the lease.

Best part: no lugging all my sheets/towel/cleaning gear in to do turnovers after it’s snowed. :+1:

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I think that Airbnb would care because they’re not getting their cut. Not sure how they would monitor. I just know that she felt uneasy although she’s been a host for many years.

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It’s her home, not Airbnb’s. They are not entitled to any cut of anything that isn’t booked through their platform. If her guest books through Airbnb and wants to return and book directly with the host in a subsequent stay, Air has no stake in it. Air is a payment processing agent. Nothing more. You are not precluded from processing your own payment just because they process some or most of them.

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No, not at all. Yes, if you advertise on their site and deliberately flaunt their rules by asking guests to call you (people do this by photoshopping their phone numbers onto their photographs) then that’s obviously cheating the system. You’d be getting free advertising on one of the most popular websites in the world and scamming Airbnb out of their fee for their services. (Which, when you weight it up, is a pretty low commission).

But I’d say that most hosts get some of their guests from their own websites, from other websites, from previous customers, from word of mouth … from many different sources. Some hosts will only get 5 or 10% of their guests from their Aibnb ads.

And only a few repeat guests want to go through the rigmarole of going through Airbnb when they can just call to book!

Let’s PLEASE be sure that anyone reading this KNOWS that just because you advertise on Airbnb and they send you some guests, doesn’t mean that you can’t get guests elsewhere.

Frankly, that would be bonkers.

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Good to know! I have turned away guests wanting to return because they wanted to go through me and not Airbnb. Thanks for clearing things up.

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I got reprimanded for this. I used a picture with information on local events and it included a phone number to the visitors bureau.

It was up for about a week, then one day I got a message from support informing me they removed the photo from my listing and alleging that I was enticing people to contact me off platform.

I thanked them for the education and informed them that it is not my phone number and promised to never do that again.

They left the photos with my social media handle watermarked on them alone, curiously. I guess because it’s just the @xxxxxx name and doesn’t specify a platform so it isn’t a direct means of contact … or the AI just isn’t smart enough idk :roll_eyes:

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I’m guessing it’s the latter…:slightly_smiling_face:

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The only question to ask yourself is are YOU comfortable giving up the (snort, laugh) “protection” of booking on platform.

Whether or not Airbnb even provides any meaningful protection is another topic of course. I know what my opinion is but it’s your house, you decide.

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I am not even convinced a human was involved in this interaction because any literate human could easily tell that it was not my phone number.

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It might well have been some number-recognition software.

I can understand that they don’t want people to advertise on their site and then cut them out of their fee completely but they should really check these things using a real person.

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A word of caution. Don’t find a way to embed your phone number, or publish your address. Aside from being against TOS, you are at the mercy of the general public.

A local ad I published had an embedded home address that I could not get rid of. Last week someone thumped on my door so loudly that I thought it was the police. THIS GUY WAS HUGE. After shooing him off I deleted all the ads for resetting without an,address

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I would never give anyone my number. I don’t even let confirmed guests have my number… they get, and are told they are getting my husband’s number.

Even if they message his phone (e.g. a guest left glasses behind and it was easier on them to coordinate on the phone than using the app…older people), I am mostly the one doing the typing. I just don’t want anyone getting any ideas so this feels safer for me.

P.S. I document any and ALL off app messaging within the app. “This message is to document that you are working with my husband, [Name] via text message at (555) 444-3333 to (resolve issue). If this is not resolved to your satisfaction, please message me here in the app and let me know what i can do to help.”

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You can also boost your Air business by advertising on other sites.

This works if you have international students and doctors and are in a hurry. Create a local post and link it back to your Air listing. It’s a lot faster.

I have just increased the rate to a high enough amount that it would not get booked by a sane person. And if it DID get booked the rate is high enough that I would gladly alter my plans or hire someone to take care of it if I couldn’t.

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@Ritz3 - I suggest you have at least a simple contract if you book someone directly. Your house rules, cancellation policy, and payment terms cover the main points. You keep your rate the same - or make it a little higher than on AirBnB, and you make at least as much as you would on an AirBnB booking and they save money. Ideally, it ends up being a win-win.
I don’t think of AirBnB as a payment platform (PayPay or Stripe work well as those), but as a matchmaker.

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Ok so I think I am going to put it through the platform. Is there a way to send them a special offer without unblocking the dates? They are overseas and I don’t want to risk another guest booking dates in between whilst we are waiting for them to book.