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The one remaining requirement holding me back from joining the work collection is my cancellation policy. It’s currently set to strict, but setting to moderate will make me eligible for the work collection.
Do you all feel that it’s worth taking on the additional risk for the additional bookings from business travelers?
Nope - made absolutely no difference from strict to moderate, and I PREFER the somewhat limited protection of strict
It depends on your location. It’s worth it for us but we are in an area that is very seasonal. During the tourist season we get people who are coming here for pleasure but business people keep us full in the off season. Our local Convention & Visitors Bureau works aggressively to get people here for work reasons. I also contact the organisers of conventions if I see that there’s a big conference coming up at a time when we have availability.
It depends on your listing; without knowing anything about your listing (other than if qualifies for work collection) it’s hard to stay. I’ve had flexible as my cancellation policy almost my entire time on Airbnb and it’s not a problem for me. Since I joined the “for work” collection I don’t see any difference in my bookings. I’ve no way of knowing if someone saw my listing because it was in the work collection and that’s the only reason they booked me or not.
As an aside, when I joined the work collection there were about 20 homes total Now if I put in my town and click on the work category there are 63 but I’m listed in the first row of results. If I click on the single dollar sign for least expensive it drops down to 20 listings and several of those are in Juarez Mexico. I think it’s potentially helpful to me but unless Airbnb gives me a way to tell if that’s how they clicked through, I don’t know. Also if I click on the single $ sign it tells me “up to $46.” So if I want to be in the budget category I need to keep my price under $46.
.Bearing in mind Airbnb don’t always respect a strict policy when it comes to refunds etc. there’s not much in it. My main objection to the business listing is it has to offer 24 hour check in, and I think self check in comes with problems.
No. I decided I wasn’t going to let them cajole me into that but I hardly get any work people anyway. Are work people really that unreliable?
Not as far as I’m concerned. They are the nearest thing to perfect guests. They are out for most of the day and usually don’t get home until the early evening, Sometimes they are with a spouse but often they are on their own which means that sheets tend to be cleaner. 
Because they’ve been working all day they tend not to cook but order a delivery or something instead so the kitchen stays clean. Because they’ve got to be at work the next day they don’t party or stay up making a noise at all hours They leave good reviews too because they LOVE the fact that there are items in the rental such as an iron and ironing board and a full length mirror. Because they tend to be online a lot (and not out on a fishing boat or something) they reply to messages promptly and because they’re not spending the days at the beach the bathtub isn’t full of sand and the towels aren’t covered in fake tan.
