Tell me your must haves for a new airbnb.

[Gillian166]

Let's play Fantasy AirBnb Creation!

So we have a farm with many outbuildings and we have 3 more spaces we can convert into Airbnbs. We already have 3 listings. I want to create unique spaces that all have their own personality.

So if you could build a new space what would you put in it? What's really important? What wouldn't you do? Obviously we have a budget so things you don't need are important too. We can't change the shape of the space, but we are considering tacking the bathroom on outside, and having an indoor/outdoor bath situation. Apparently bathtubs are important? 2 of our listings have nice tubs, and they only get used 20% of the time. 

So here's where I am at: 8x5m space. We have always called this space "the mancave" as it was going to be hubby's office and well, his mancave, cos the house is my domain and done in a modern vintage style, and had 3 teen girls in it. The mancave has exposed stonework, cedar ceiling and windows.  looks out onto farmland with double doors that will open on to a garden that currently has 3 apple and 1 apricot tree (which the cockatoos never thank us for).  

I dont' want to call it "the mancave" but will need a name.  Except for the lovely old stonework everything else is brand new, so we are going modern for this one. 

We are in a wine region, we get a lot of couples coming up for a night away, a lot of wedding guests, and in school hols we get families too (we have a big pool here, and tennis court, which one guest described as "not olympic standard" or something, lol, cos it's old and warped in places). I'm only planning on making this a couples space (no kids, no pets, we already have 1 listing for that).

I have done up some basic plans but keen to hear from experienced hosts and guests about what would be on their wishlist for a great airbnb space. 

TIA! 

[Gillian166]

also need to add: it's one large space, so a studio style arrangement. bathroom will probably be seperate 

[Patricia1375]

Do some research on "unique stays" on Airbnb.  We try to pick one of these 1-2 times a year and are never disappointed.  And with regards to a bathtub?  Lots of unique stays don't have tubs, and regularly have outside showers.  We even stayed in one in New Mexico where we had to take a few steps into the hosts house to use their bathroom.    It's the other features that make it all worthwhile. 

[Gillian166]

@Patricia1375 
yes, thank you, i've watched so many youtube tours of unique and tiny homes, and i have a pinterest board of ideas. Our other spaces we really just put furniture in, but this space is a big empty box, and we have to add in a kitchen, bathroom etc so curious to see what people thought was necessary and what could be left out. 

[Helen427]

Hello @Gillian166 

In my wisdom I looked up Hahndorf which is close by to your beautiful listing in Hey Valley, South Australia, in our National Newspaper archives.

Here's a gem of information on Hans Heysen a gentleman who became a recognised Artist of Australian landscapes who was part of a strong contingent of Germans who made the area of Hahndorf their home in the circa of the 1880's.

May I suggest you perhaps you capitalize on the contributions of those who made your location their homes to continue a nod to their lives.

Your property would lend itself well to an Artists retreat.

Do you know where the James Ashton Art school he attended used to be? Or where it may still be?

Perhaps name some of the rooms in your property after those who once lived there.

Do you know who built and owned it from it's original buildings?

If so, look up their history and see if there's something that is significant that they could have named after them.

Their names should be on Historic Land titles.

An Australian Landscape Painter - Hans Heysen of Handorf by Colin Thiele , Rigby, Appendix 312 pp

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19690426.2.26.1

query=Hahndorf brings up other results in the same archives.

@Cathie19 @Kath9 @Sandra126 @Laurelle3  @Max144  thoughts?

[Gillian166]

yes of course i know of Hans Heyson, and there is already an artist retreat (or two) in the Hills, plus his home and gardens are tourist attractions. 

We do not know who built our house, we have done research but so far not coming up with much. We have some vague names given to us by various people, spoken to the oldies who've lived here their whole lives and there's mixed stories. Spoken to numerous real estate agents who also don't know much. We persevere with this, not sure how to get hold of Historic Land titles. Online records only go back about 50 years so that's a dead end. We've been to our local historical society too, no luck. It's a shame cos it's a large house and is next to door to the first house in the region (the history of that home is well documented).  We have some clues because the house came with about 200 old, old books, with the owners name inside. But this also is a bit of a dead end as one of the people died in his 40s, childless. 

I googled James Ashton art school, looks like it was down in Adelaide City. They Heyson link really isn't relevant to us, in the 1880s our farm was a fair distance from Hahndorf, nowadays it's 15mins by car. Anyway, thanks for this line of thought, I certainly would be keen to name a listing after the original owner should we ever discover any further information. 

[Helen427]

Thanks @Gillian166 for the additional information.

You know the locations because you live there so naturally know the layout of the area better than me!

Have you tried looking up the DP (Deposited Plan) numbers surrounding your property as they should have your one on it ?

The older Land Titles had people's names on them and should be the same in Australia so maybe try that avenue if you haven't.

Paper archives will be tucked away in a Gvt archive related to Land and Deeds/ Land Information or whatever that Department is called now - I used to work in a related Gvt Department and we had all related info, Certificates of Titles, Plans, Mortgage documents, variations of them, Probates etc, all stored off site.

It's a shame Aussie's archive, TROVE, is so challenging to navigate compared to our Historic archives otherwise I'd suggest you use words relic, relict, extinct, expired and obituary with the road name and village as that info pops up useful leads with Historic contributions.

As an aside, if your property is 5 miles or more away from the main original village/ town, there's likely to be a Burial site on it which may well be unmarked because they simply didn't have the materials or mean to have gravestones in some situations.

Some people planted Trees or flowers in memory of loved ones.

 Do you know how many "miles" away the closest original Churchyard or Cemetery is?

So many layers of history that do have significance to help solve jigsaw puzzles to who may have built your home and owned it originally!!

Perhaps have a look in our New Zealand archives in your area with known names in the 1880's - do it in 10 year timeframes as there loads of international info in there.

Names always lead to other names and occupations etc.

The page of articles also often has photos.

Have you looked up online journals or maps of the area?

Sometimes places have names changed to add to the mix

Cheers and back to your plans!!

[Gillian166]

@Helen427

oh, you could be on our sleuthing team anyday! Yes, we've been to the local cemetary looking at names, but our house is what's called a "summer home", so wealthy city families built themselves a second home up in the Hills to escape the stifling heat (Adelaide can get to 45º in summer, with a dry wind, it's like an oven). It's easily 5º cooler and actually "summer" can easily become "winter" on any given day. summer temps can range from 9º~40º over the season.  Anyway, the owners of our house wouldn't be buried in the local cemetary. And possibly for this reason the original owners may have remained separate to local affairs, hard to say. 

You are also correct about the name changes, there was a place called "Native Valley" because that must be where the majority of the indigenous population were living, and whilst it's still on the map no one seems to use it anymore.  I've seen it mentioned a lot in former news articles. 

I shall have to find out what the version of the Lands Office is called in sth Australia. cheers.

[Laurelle3]

Thanks @Helen427 it was great reading the newspaper article took meback in time.

@Gillian166 I like the idea of adding the Heyson trail of places of interest. We just looked at George Clakson on ABC iview which had a brick out house which was an old bakery/small near the main house in Wales the had a great conversion with a bathroom behind the kitchenette that pulled out. Worth looking at for an idea and this would fit into the "unique airbnb's". Great adventure we have just finished renovating.

[Gillian166]

@Laurelle3  I have a brochure for the Heyson attraction in guest manual. and curiously I have found a print on fb marketplace so will go and have a look at it to see if the frame can be updated. 

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Gillian166 

Your listings look great (I especially like the Butler's residence and have saved it to my Wishlist) and well photographed, so I am sure you know what you are doing.

Is a bath tub important? Yes, and no. I have a roll top tub in one of my bathrooms but guests very rarely use it (the ones that do are almost always from the USA) so I would say a walk in shower is a much better option, especially in a warm climate.

However, the tub is one of the things most commented on by guests and certainly gives the wow factor both in the listing photos and during the welcome tour, so I'm glad I have it! If you have room for both then great, but I would still think a shower would be more practical and these days showers can really have a wow factor too, especially an outdoor one if done in the right way. 

As long as you can provide privacy, there is something very glamorous about an indoor/outdoor bathroom that incorporates nature, or even an indoor one that provides a great view. A few examples:

I would avoid having just a bath tub with shower attachment set up. My other and I recently stayed in an Airbnb with a mini roll top tub with shower attachment but nowhere to hook it on the wall. It looked very cute but was a total pain in the backside to use and definitely useless (and potentially dangerous) for less able bodied people.

[Huma0]

PS that was supposed to be my 'mother', not my 'other', but I guess both make sense!

[Gillian166]

oh now you're talking my language!

yes of course we are doing a shower as well, and no, never would do "shower of the tub" thing, that's not a modern thing anyone does here. 100% know what you mean about those lovely old tubs with the gorgeous vintage hand held shower thing. In fact, we did one of those in a reno back in the 2000s, but it did also have a shower over the top. 

so yes on my wishlist is a bathroom that can open up, so full glass doors/windows with the tub overlooking the garden, and a shower somewhere in the room , no glass screen if I can avoid it. single overhead dumper is a hard NO. 

I get a lot of people who book the Butlers asking about a bath. It had a small bath in the bathroom originally but when we turned it into our guest space we opted more for the oversized shower instead, so i'm thinking the next space will have a more robust kitchenette and a bathtub. The styling will be more modern and it will be a v different space so we can appeal to a broader range of guests, or entice them to return and try the other listings.  

Thank you for your kind words and the ♥️ (i'll return the favour, we all can use the seo boosts). I am a photographer, but i suck at interior work, so I cringe a bit. I'm back down again end of the month so will attempt again to take newer pics (we just upgraded the bed in the Butlers to a 4-poster king so i'm keen to see it). 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Yes, it seems that guests are interested in bath tubs (even if they rarely end up using them). Maybe I would use yours though as it sounds fab to have one overlooking the garden. Your plans for the bathroom sound fantastic. Do please post photos when you've finished it all, although I imagine it's going to take a bit of time.

I think your photos look great but of course there is always room for improvement and especially when upgrades or other changes have been done. I wish I could take photos like that. I really am very overdue for new images. I have had two extra bathrooms put in and don't even have photos of those. I did try to take them myself but they were terrible!

The photos of the bedrooms were actually taken when I first listed my rooms and still had long term lodgers living there. I tidied the rooms as best I could before the photographer came but they are much better presented for guests than they looked back then and there have been some changes (for the better) to a few pieces of furniture. On the other hand, the photos are good enough to get bookings and perhaps it's better to undersell and overdeliver!

[Gillian166]

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@Huma0 wrote:
On the other hand, the photos are good enough to get bookings and perhaps it's better to undersell and overdeliver!

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Yes, this has been discussed a lot before, so i'm fine with my photos. they aren't super fake real estate style pics (with doors looking so wide you could drive a car through them, lol). And I did have a guest recently comment on how much more stylish it was IRL, I'll take that as a compliment to my styling skills and an insult to my photography skills. fair enough! 😅

I think your photos are great (ok a couple not so perfect from a photography pov) and your listing looks amazing.