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!
Last year we took a booking for a flat in Manchester UK, for a one month stay. I don’t get many long term bookings and this was the longest so far, so I was a little wary and wanted to check in and ensure the guest sounded normal and reasonable. That was back in NOVEMBER 2024!
Finally, after an entire year - he is now moving out, after extending by months several times in a row. A 365 day guest stay. We did arrange a few odd check-ins to ensure all was good, but apart from it being very untidy (I could not live like that!) - it wasn’t terrible - nothing broken or missing, no suspicious items, evidence of extra guests or smells… all was ok.
We offered but he didn’t want any mid-stay cleaning. The cleaning fee paid was £100, but that was a year ago, and pro-rata I computed his cleaning fee equates now to under 29 pence per day. I’d assume that has to be a record, quite apart from the unusual duration of stay.
Fun fact - he lists in his Airbnb profile that he lives in Ireland. I wonder at what point does a guest change ‘where they live’, if they stay a year in your Airbnb - does that mean they have ‘moved in’? lol.
We had it unlisted once booked last year as we were not sure if he would extend, but I’ve now opened up the listing for new bookings from mid next month.
I still can’t believe how long this booking was for, but no doubt there would be others who have even longer staying guests. Share if you know of any other unexpectedly long stays. Still - I thought it was worth a News of the Day mention here - it seems to redefine the term ‘Long Stay’ I think. Like Wow!
If anyone wants a place in Manchester UK (Min 28 night bookings) they are welcome. We just need to do a seriously deep clean before our next guests!
Wow! so @Debthecat is currently in the lead for world records on BOTH length of stay AND booked amount. That is a huge monthly fee. Impressive. I didn’t think it would take too long to get some competition in the longest stay department - but $10k a month is impressive. Hopefully it covered the HUGE deep clean! Can anyone else beat Deb’s booking?
I’ve read posts from hosts regarding cleaning, etc, during a “long term stay” they have, and when other hosts asked how long a stay they were talking about, they said 2 weeks.
It doesn’t seem that ‘mandated’ cleaning is common. Reddit forums have plenty of comments from Airbnb hosts about long term cleaning, and very few say it’s ‘required’.
I agree it should be offered, and that regular inspections are required - which we do, but as many comments say, they don’t want to intrude on the guests privacy, or impose additional fees that were not disclosed. If you did want to have a policy of mandated cleaning, it would be a violation of Airbnb policy if this wasn’t clearly advertised in the listing. I guess you would issue a ‘Request Money’ through the platform every so often, as there is no platform way to ‘mandate’ mid-stay cleaning fees.
My guest began with a three month, and this is not STR. I see STR as more up to say two or three weeks. Much longer and the guest has basically moved in! You would not mandate cleaning for a lease, so I don’t see the choice of platform being much different with such long stays - it’s just a lease ‘through’ Airbnb, with the option of extra cleaning if you want it.
I think professional hosts can require regular inspections (this feels right to ‘insist’ on) - but ‘mandated’ cleaning would probably turn off guests as seen in several Reddit comments from hosts who tried it - though a few do use this approach it seems. Most offer as optional it seems though.
I’d be open to it if optional and I was busy, but be happy to clean myself if not busy - given it’s something I’ve done for my own guests all the time anyway. Seeing mandated though - no, this would not feel welcoming to me. Offered free maybe as an option (we didn’t suggest charging btw), but mandatory mid-stay cleans if billed separately - feels like a bit ‘bait and switch’ if it then means extra fees have to be paid mid-stay, though provided you make it very clear up-front in the listing, I guess it would be ok.
It’s a good point to clarify though - are any other hosts here insisting on mid-stay cleaning for long stay bookings? (i.e. Over two weeks) Or are regular inspections of the listing space sufficient? If so - how do you handle the notification to guests, or extra fee billing? Or do you provide mid-stay cleaning free, but require it as mandatory?
It seems much more preferable to insist on regular cleans for long stay bookings than to insist on “inspections”. That seems to me much more intrusive and “big brother” than coming in to clean every 2 weeks or so.
And many hosts who take long term bookings make mid-stay cleans mandatory. Not only to make sure the place doesn’t get disgustingly filthy if the guests are slobs, but as a way to “inspect”, without appearing to be snooping.
If after cleaning once or twice, the host sees that the guests are clean freaks, the host can always say, “Hey, we set up these mid-stay cleans because we had some long term guests who completely trashed the place out- it took us a week to clean it and repair and replace all the broken and missing stuff. But we see that you are obviously respectful and like living in a clean, tidy space, so if you would prefer that we skipped future cleanings, and gave you total privacy, that’s fine with us”.
And there are several things which make long term bookings on Airbnb quite different from having a tenant on a long term lease. Landlords hold security deposits, they ask for references from previous landlords, ask for employment history, do criminal record checks, etc., etc. There are none of those safeguards when renting through Airbnb.
I think after a year, it would be me needing to pay them(!) to come stay if it was they take on cleaning after so long. No - we booked out a few days to deep clean. In reality though - most of my Self-Clean guests arrive just a day or maybe two after we have professionally cleaned. So there is never long term grime or mess - it’s largely just bed making. Many of my guests come for fancy weddings though - so they really don’t spend much time there making mess in the first place.
There is always something to drop off or do - supplies or something. I can’t imagine saying to a guest I wanted to ‘inspect’ - that sounds intrusive! But we do say we need to drop off supplies, or do a meter read or whatever.
I disagree. Airbnb is the best tenant. We don’t need security deposits, as Airbnb always pays reliably over millions of stays. We don’t bill guests directly and nor do we have to worry about payments. That’s one of the benefits of STR platforms - they take on the billing risk. They also manage damages - I was happy the one time I claimed, it wasn’t hard and I got paid in full. As for references - we have good reviews as references. It’s like Uber is now seen as safer than Taxis - we value ratings of other hosts or other passengers on drivers. I would not trust employment histories anyway.
There are far more safeguards with Airbnb than renting privately - on billing and dispute resolution, and Airbnb is commercially motivated to ensure that remains the case, or they would lose hosts.
I recently heard of a friend who was not wanting to do STR, so they rented privately through an agent. Now they are stuck with a lot of expense, non-payment and damage that they are struggling to recover from a tenant who seemed on paper to be low risk / good references. So they got lower rent, and (now) far more hassle. They would not have this drama if they rented on a STR platform, AND they would have made more income too. Platforms are way safer than renting directly to people, even through an agency IMO.
You seem very uninformed as to the experiences of other hosts. And Airbnb doesn’t care if they lose hosts- there are far more rentals than guests to fill them, and always more hosts wanting to sign up.
I’m not sure what’s up with all that. I doubt it could be a paid propagandist. Too obvious and not very effective; Besides Airbnb doesn’t really need to resort to that. They’re not running for office.
And @ Jujuba, great remark!!! 
