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The city I’m in is currently undergoing research for home sharing regulations (likely will be a maximum of 28 days by the end of the year). However, until the rules come into place, I’m seriously contemplating making the maximum time a guest can stay to 28 day/a month. Keeping in mind I Airbnb rooms in my home (where I’m also living).
I’ve hosted people for 3 months and more in the past (3 months on Airbnb platform, longer elsewhere). However, it does seem that that adage I’m hearing here is “The longer the stay, the more hassles”. Not with all guests, but I’d say most has been the case for me.
Also, for those of you who share your home, do you have a minimum length of stay (I had one day, then 3 when I was super busy, and now back to 1 night)? What is your reasoning behind it?
I do 14 days, max, and I have a “whole home” listing. “Familiarity breeds contempt,” as they say. My minimum is two days, three for holiday weekends. My worst guests have been longer stays (but never longer than 28 days, as I don’t want to get into a tenant’s rights situation) so I stopped offering them.
Honestly, I just don’t want anyone under my roof for that long. Not even my husband sometimes. LOL.
Max 28 days to avoid the tenant laws. I’ve had one drunken nurse who revealed too much about himself, but did buy his own cleaning supplies and bought his own rolls of TP… he went through at least 24 rolls in the 4 weeks that he was here. The one I loved was the three week student who just came up to eat food that his parent’s bought him from his fridge and stayed in his room studying.
I’m probably a bit unusual compared to many here, but I have a 4 night maximum. I feel like people start picking faults if they’re here a long time. Also things like we don’t offer kitchen access at all, so if someone has to eat out for days on end they’re much more likely to complain. And it means if we get assholes at least we know we’re not going to be stuck with them for long
I should also mention that I seriously vet anyone who wants to stay longer than a week or so. People really start letting their hair down after a week.
After my disasterous “little” guest who stayed 12 nights, I’m no longer taking anything over 10 days on Air. Other platforms I’m okay with… Air guests are entitled spoiled and picky and will find a million things wrong by the time the 10-12 days are over. Over it.
When we started out, we had a max of 28 days to avoid a tenant situation. However, our guests who stayed 18 nights got a bit too comfortable: rearranged furniture, hung peel-and-stick shades to our painted walls, broke things, were in all the time, and generally caused damage and wear and tear. Further, if we hadn’t cleaned for them weekly, the place would have been more of a disaster than it was.
Based on feedback from this forum, we immediately lowered our max to 7 nights and it was the best decision. Our minimum is 3 days in high season and otherwise 2. We get exactly the type of guests we like: business travelers, tourists, and parents visiting their adult children who live in the neighborhood. They mostly eat out, they’re hardly ever in, and the wear and tear is minimal. Perfect for us.
24 days (rarely get bookings beyond a week tho) as it gives me a couple of days grace to prevent someone invoking de facto tenancy rights if they started trying to squat.
I haven’t set a maximum, I’d not even given any thought to the pitfalls of long term guests. We have a whole house rental plus 2 rooms in our home. The whole house/beach chalet has a minimum stay of 3 nights and the longest stay we’ve hosted was a lovely German family who stayed 3 weeks. No problems with the booking at all. For rooms in our house I have a minimum stay of 2 nights and the longest stay was 7 nights. We loved the couple who stayed a week and got on really well with them but I can see how it could be extremely irritating with the wrong type of guest!
We do one nighters. I like them as the guests come to go to our waterfront seafood restaurants and explore our little island. They get breakfast in the morning and then they’re gone. Cleaning is a breeze.
Our maximum stay is 7 nights. I think it keeps us showing up in searches for longer stays. We had longer stays in CA but here in NYC most of our guests are for 1-3 nights.
I agree with other posters that guests can get a bit too “at home” after 3 days. That includes family and friends who visit for free but they don’t get to leave reviews!
When I started in Airbnb my maximum was 2 months and then I noticed that by the 4th week people start getting comfortable. They start leaving the lights on or dishes in the sink. I lowered it to 6 weeks and would like to do 28 days only. However I live close to a medical school and many of my guests are in my area for medical rotations of 6 weeks. If I set my maximum at 28 days, I might lose a lot of potential guests. My minimum is 4 days. Less than that, it is not worth the effort.
Thanks everyone, this is all helpful! I guess that part of me would think that it’s easier money (HA!) less hassle/turnover with longer term guests, but I may have learned that lesson!
