Renting upstairs space in our home near the beach

[Deborah1558]

Hello,

I have been hosting on Airbnb for about 9 years, and now we have a 4 bedroom home with 3 full bathrooms.  It's only the two of us now, and  we mainly live on the first floor.  The two rooms upstairs have a (jack and jill)  bathroom between them.  I'm considering renting the two rooms upstairs (which are a bit away from our living space) on Airbnb.  

My question is:  How awkward is it to have strangers living in your house on a weekly (or weekend) basis.  

If you are doing this, renting rooms in your personal home, how's it going?  Do you love/hate it?  I do have a friend who rents airbnbs in people's home when she's traveling and seems to enjoy it.  

I also want to offer activities such as doing a drive on beach day, paddleboarding, kayaking or even a boat excursion in our little boat.

Thank you for any input!

Deb

[Marie8425]

@Deborah1558 

I have 3 Guest rooms usually rented to 3 different people haha.  It will depend on your personalities, my husband is the more flexible and I am  more the rules but we navigate nicely to the middle. lol  

What I found very helpful because cuts down on invasion of our kitchen, Amazon had 2 door mini fridges and  a very  nice but not cluttering food cabinet that I put in each room.  Because mine are mostly  long term I do have a  full size fridge they can share.  I am a coffee addict lol, so I offer my Keurig in the kitchen or if  they prefer drip or electric kettle in  the room.

When I did rooms in Hawaii most tourists arrive late  at  night now in Arizona all Check ins by 7pm.  You  need to know how is the typical  guest arriving?  

One thing I do now because I got burnt, no unnamed guests.  Everyone has to have an Airbnb account.  I  have electronic locks  but I don't  tell code until I  have viewed everyone's legal ID

[Heather1967]

Hi @Deborah1558! I can't speak to hosting guests in my home, as we host an entire home but as I can say as regarding the experiences that you want to offer you absolutely should! I am an Airbnb interior design and data analyst and without knowing where your home is that is being rented, I can say that amenities such a kayak and paddleboards can bring a $9-13K return on investment annually. These are great to have as well because guests love moments they can capture and share on social media. Please message if you want to connect more on your specific situation. Thanks! 

[Helen3]

Hi @Heather1967 

An interesting stat - can you you link to the stats you quote that state by having a paddle board or kayak hosts will generate a $9-13 ROI.

we don't normally ask hosts to DM us on this community but offer advice and support here for free. 

[Heather1967]

Hi @Helen3, That stat is pulled from raw data and consistent across lake and beach markets. Deborah doesn’t seem to have a property linked to her profile so I couldn’t be more specific so that’s why I mentioned to reach out. 👍

[Helen3]

As sompeone who has spent my career in marketing I'm confused as to how you could pull raw data that would be able to isolate that any increase was due to those two amenities alone or how you access raw data from this party properties @Heather1967 

[Paula]

Hello @Deborah1558, welcome to our community! This is a great question 😊

I am reaching out to some of our experienced Hosts to see if they would like to share their opinions:

@Helen3, @Alicia753, @Mary1523 @Karlis3 @Leigh625 and @Lorina14.

In the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on what our lovely Hosts have already shared here.

Looking forward to hearing from you ⭐

[Karlis3]

Hi @Deborah1558 ,

I myself do not rent rooms but I  have co-hosted properties with rooms for some time.
The fact whether to like it or not will eventually depend on you but to me the most important aspect was/is me feeling HOME at my own home.
Be aware that there will be other people in your house and be ready that you might be holding back on some things, you might not be doing all the things you are used to doing while living alone, some parts of your house might get crowded (the kitchen, terrace,  etc), your every move or action in the shared spaces can be observed  - all of which (+other aspects) can eventually make you feel a bit tense, not free and NOT at home in your own home.

Just pay attention to that and do the necessary adjustments so YOU always FEEL HOME at your place. Just like @Marie8425 did when buying each room their own mini-fridge and coffee maker.


Happy Hosting!
Karlis

[Helen3]

Interesting I've been a home host for nine years and that certainly hasn't been my experience 😊. 

when you cohosted the shared home did you live with the guests? 

[Marie8425]

@Karlis3 @Deborah1558 

I suppose you could feel invaded at times. haha

I rent  3 independent guest rooms in my shared house.   My main rooms are open for use.  I usually have 3 seperate Guests.  

I don't share my bathroom.

All my Guests rooms have the bedroom furniture and a mounted smart tv, wi-fi, a vey comfortable movable sitting chair the mini fridge, a mirror a food cabinet but not crowded we were selective in choices.  I have declared quiet hours.  New Guests I do review with them that means limited traffic not quiet traffic.

Though I am very friendly with my guests.  I work in the living room so they stop and chatt when  they come in.

Some use the kitchen majority of mine are just microwave's yuck lol.

I have not  had to set any rules about when me and my husband use.  The kitchen is big  enough for two to cook a simple meals comfortably.   Usually we make dinner same time every  night so   my guests on their own use  before or after.

Though I offer my living room tv doesn't bother me and I am not watching only 1 guest in 3 years has accepted.

I  really don't notice them that much

[Mary1523]

Hi @Deborah1558, I also don't home host, but rent out an entire holiday property so can't talk to specifics.

However I have planned in the future to home host another property I want to live in. 

As a person who has not stayed in another home hosted property and likes my privacy, I would only consider a home hosted if I had my own bathroom and my room that was large enough for tv, mini table, chairsx2, mini fridge/cabinet. That's what would make me transition from a motel/hotel room or renting my entire own property (sometimes not affordable for 1 person) to a home hosted. I can put up with a shared entry, shared kitchen, shared laundry, shared dining but i need my private space as a guest and that bathroom!

Although as a host, I'm designing my new airbnb space to separate me and my living quarters  from guests, although with a shared laundry and exit to outdoor space. Its currently a 4 bedroom, 2 living spaces,  2 bathroom place where I can live at the back with a bathroom, kitchenette, living space and a bedroom.

For the guests, they have access to the other living space, kitchen/dining, main entry. I'm considering turning one of the smaller bedrooms into another bathroom so that the remaining bedrooms have their own bathroom suite. Or I leave it, and the 3 bedrooms share a bathroom - I don't know the market appetite for that if guests are all strangers. I'll provide cold breakfast provisions and they can cook a hot one as we are in a farming area with lovely bacon and fresh eggs.

I think every home host is different on whether you are an extravert or intravert! I'm the latter but like hosting....but not in my face.

Personally, I would be targetting travelling pair who don't occupy the same bed but happy to share a bathroom. Or yes sure you can rent them individually but I don't know how a jack n jill bathroom goes. Would be interested in @Marie8425 thoughts because i assume a dual entry bathroom means more chance someone forgets to lock the other door (is that what a jack n jill bathroom is?). I would do some research to figure out who you are targetting. I went on to airbnb and looked up all the places that home host for how many people in my area. I then looked up the occupany/# of reviews and looked at their calendar. Then looked up entire home listings and the # of bedrooms that was being provided and looked at those calendars. From there, when I did this, I could see that there was significantly less home hosting options, majority were single/couple guest only and high occupancy compared to the entire home hosting. So that told me demand was there, supply is not. Home hosting 3 bedroom occupancy was way less at a glance.

This was also confirmed thanks to my local tourism bureau research who said 52% of visitors were singles or couples, not families or groups of friends like i thought! 

I'll probably be back to get more ideas on best home host approach closer to the time. 

Marie's ideas were great around what to put in room. 

Hope this helps! Regs Mary

[Paula]

Hi @Deborah1558,  many of our experienced Hosts have shared their advice. Have you had the chance to read through their suggestions? Have you made a decision on whether to rent out the upstairs rooms or not?

Please keep us posted on your decision 🌟

[Lorina14]

@Deborah1558 

Hi! I have rented rooms from my people and had nice stays. I usually am in the area for a seminar and needed a place to sleep.  I have shared a bathroom where the host kept color coded towels for each guest and my only concern was the timing of using the bathroom but we were all on different schedules (the host was in the home and he rented two rooms).

Another experience was where I rented a room with a shared bathroom and the host didn’t have a lock on the bedroom. I told him it would be better to have a lock and offer some amenities in the room. He was very friendly and I had nice conversations with both.

The main thing would be the establish what is shared (you have space in the fridge, access to coffee maker, storage space in the cupboard, laundry access, etc.) and be clear on your quiet hours, and general house rules.

I have also rented rooms with a connected bathroom and also one that was my own but was not attached to the room. I know a host who had one room with an attached bathroom and it rented for more than the ones that had a separate unattached bathroom or one that shared a bathroom. He did clean the bathrooms daily for the shared bathrooms. He offered cereal, milk, juice and fridge space and  stove/micro use.

As a host we rent out an ADU so we do not currently share space with our guests. They do walk around our home, patio and we sometimes chat if I’m watering plants or they need anything and the level of interaction varies.