
Ask HN: Who's an AirBnB host? - tixocloud
Just wanted to learn more about the complexities of being a AirBnb host.
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haney
I'm an Airbnb Super Host, I own my home and my girlfriend does too. We
eventually decided to move in together so my place is fully converted into a
rental unit, I've taken everything that I care about out of the unit except
for one closet which I added a locking handle to.

I also purchased a two sets of white linens that I bleach between rentals,
having twice as many as I need for a stay and having the ability to bleach out
stains has made dealing with linens easier. I have a professional cleaning
crew that handles everything else.

I have an August lock that integrates with AirBnB that automatically sets up
access during the guest's stay. I also have a backup lock box for when guests
have trouble with that. In general it's been pretty good.

I have had a few issues where guests are expecting a townhouse to have hotel
style amenities, different people have different expectations of what AirBnB
is supposed to provide and for what price (I'm significantly cheaper than
hotels in the area). For the most part I feel like people read the
descriptions and reviews on places to find somewhere that meets their
expectations but it would be helpful if there was some kind of "service level"
ranking that had a policy associated with it or something.

~~~
tixocloud
Do you mean something like a star rating system that hotels use? (i.e. 3-star
means ABC, 4-star means XYZ, etc.)

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1812Overture
I'm an Airbnb host. I rent out the guest house behind my house. I have one of
those realtor keyboxes so I don't have to be around for guests to check in and
out. My Airbnb calendar is setup to sync with my cleaner's ical. I pay my
cleaner over PayPal. I use Handy to fix problems as they come up (they can use
the keybox to get in too). I use BeyondPricing's dynamic pricing as it's
better than Airbnb's dynamic pricing. It ends up being not much more work than
having a regular tenant for quite a bit more money.

~~~
tixocloud
Wow. That's quite a nice setup you have. Do you find that you still get a
regular stream of guests even though it's only short periods of time as
opposed to a regular tenant?

~~~
1812Overture
I'm at over 90% occupancy over two and a half years.

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davidkohcw
I'm an Airbnb host who has been doing it for close to 6 months now. I'm
currently renting out a studio apartment unit (around 550 sq feet) with an
annualized rental yield close to 10% (one reason the yield is so high is
because I bought the place 3-4 years ago while it was still under
construction).

Airbnb is relatively straight forward. Check-in and check-out can be done via
a key drop (typically the mailbox with a combination lock). The main thing you
have to worry about is cleaning up after every guest... some guests don't know
how to clean up after themselves. Get second hand furniture to save costs.

I really recommend that you try it. The business model behind Airbnb is quite
brilliant.

~~~
madcaptenor
As a somewhat frequent Airbnb guest (about ten times in the last five years),
I can second that getting check-in right is key. I've had a couple places I've
stayed at where I had to pick up the key from a different location (once a
convenience store around the corner, but another time it was from a friend of
the host a few miles away!) and this is frustrating. I tend to not mention it
in reviews/let it affect the rating I give but other people are probably less
lenient than I am...

~~~
tedmiston
I've had one like this too internationally where the key had to be picked up
from someone else at another shop but the host gave terrible directions and to
my confusion the shop didn't exist on Google Maps. It ended up taking over an
hour to be able to get the key and check in meanwhile I'm wheeling around a
suitcase in the super hot summer sun. At the end, returning the key added
another half hour, to a trip that was already just a few days. That host in
particular also claimed to have AC on Airbnb but really only had fans. It
added unnecessary stress to a short trip. The key box really should be a
universal thing.

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treyhuffine
I was a host for a few months. It's a great way to make some extra cash but
fatigue pretty quickly set in. Eventually I moved in with my significant
other, and that was a great decision. Be prepared to be paranoid about
regulations and taxes. When it comes to guests, expect the unexpected and be
prepared for worst-case scenarios. Most guests are great, but some bad apples
really make it challenging. Always have a spare of everything and be ready
random for requests 24/7.

~~~
tixocloud
Yeah, I am quite freaked out about all the other "stuff" that I'd have to deal
with especially given some horror stories around my area.

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jaykwal
I've been hosting for almost two years. The hardest part is definitely getting
reliable cleaners/scheduling cleaners. I wrote some software to auto send
emails to the guest, remind the cleaners, and remind me to reprogram the door
code etc. So now I spend about 15 minutes per week answering random questions
with everything else semi-automated.

~~~
tixocloud
that's pretty amazing. How much do you pay for the cleaners?

~~~
jaykwal
We've gone through a couple. Right now we pay them $65 a cleaning.

