Anyone got experiences as Airbnb host?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lizzie R on October 13, 2019 at 21:10

Yes, I do it. I let my whole house out on Allison rd. London Law states you can only do a maximum of 90 days rental in the whole year. I use Portico, their minimum rate is 15percent of rental income, plus the cleaning fee (but the guest pays the cleaning fee) they will clean the house, make all beds with their own linen and most importantly if anything goes wrong there is someone there in London to deal with it when you are away. Alternatively, if you are nervous about leaving your house in the hands of a stranger have you considered a house swap? there is a mutual degree of respect when you are directly swapping homes with other families. I have done this very succesfully in amsterdam/california/edinburgh. there are many websites that offer this service. ive even swapped cars in the past. good luck lizzie

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Philip on October 14, 2019 at 12:06

Thanks thats helpful. We would maybe use a friend or family member to manage but will def consider paying an agency as you do. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sarfraz on June 28, 2023 at 14:10

hi I saw an old message re you airbnbing your place out- have you done it since the pandemic and could I ask you a few questions about it? thanks 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Maddy on October 14, 2019 at 9:43

Please consider your neighbours before doing this - it happened here earlier this year and we had large groups of people staying in the house next door, making noise until all hours and generally not giving a thought to local residents because they are here on holiday.

This despite it being done through a management company who were supposed to be vetting all the guests and enforcing the house rules (no parties, no noise after a certain hour etc) - they had a hotline, which I had to call more than once, but by then my sleep was already disturbed.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Betty Careless on October 14, 2019 at 13:13

Yes - my upstairs neighbors Air B & B their flat  - I've got the ground floor flat and often their guests ring my bell at all hours to ask me stuff, it's really annoying to be treated like an unpaid concierge service.  Plus they seem incapable of not putting non-recycling in the recycling bin so that Veolia refuse to take it.  Please make sure you remind your Air B & Bers that your house is part of a community and that they need to respect their temporary neighbors!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Neil on October 23, 2019 at 14:45

Yes. I've been renting out to Airbnb for three years and I'm impressed with the guests and the website. 

I find the guests are desperate to get good feedback from hosts and they behave very well to get this. One bad feedback and they can be banned from Airbnb.  The travellers also want their deposit returned. As a host, I want good feedback on the site so I am nice too. 

Before you accept a booking, you get the chance to read what other hosts have said about the guest. In most cases they are very good reviews.  

Airbnb only take about 3% of the fee which is so cheap. 

I have also found the guests come from all over the world and are more intelligent that average with a need for a trouble free stay.  

• ▶ Reply