Two homes on one property

[Bryan508]

I’m in the process of purchasing a two  bedroom lake home. On the same property is a smaller apartment with it’s own bathroom, kitchen, etc. Because of proximity of the two dwellings I think it’s only proper to rent the apartment as an addition to the main home. What is the best way to accurately share this information in the listing to be clear with prospective guests? 

[Ann72]

@Bryan508  I agree with you but it's a head-scratcher.

*If you list it separately it could get booked by an unrelated party. 

*You could list it separately with the calendar completely blocked and only opened when the main house booked and wanted to add it.  But for that you'd need savvy guests who read all the details.  

*You could have one listing but only open that part of the listing upon request and for a fee.

I'm sure there are multiple other ways of approaching this and look forward to hearing from other hosts.  

[Lisa723]

@Bryan508 @Ann72 you can create one listing for the house alone, and another listing for the house plus apartment, and link their calendars so you don't double-book:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1864/how-do-i-link-airbnb-calendars-for-multiple-listings

I have a very similar property, but I do rent the two homes separately, so I have three listings:

https://airbnb.com/h/the-leland-lake-house-and-sunrise-cottage

https://airbnb.com/h/the-leland-lake-house

https://airbnb.com/h/sunrise-cottage-at-lake-leland

[Ann72]

@Lisa723  Brilliant - no listing at all for the apartment alone!   I'm looking at a place that has a similar situation so this is extremely helpful.

[Inna22]

@Bryan508 do you always want both occupied or are you ok with sometimes getting one booked and overall taking less money for that stay? If you always want two rented together to maximize profit but want to make it clear it is not a one three bedroom house, just start your listing with "Two homes on the same property- great for a family to spread out!" or something like that. If you are ok with taking in less sometimes- the above suggestions are excellent. Another option is to create two listings the way @Lisa723 suggested but only open the calendar for just the main house if you have last minute unfilled vacancies. This way you are maximaxing the long terms bookings but filling the gaps as well.

[Lisa723]

@Bryan508 taking @Inna22's suggestion even further, you could also have a separate listing for the apartment alone, and only open it for last-minute bookings. We find that our smaller cottage is easier to book than the big house; lower price and cozy space attract young couples. The house tends to book farther in advance, for larger groups, and the umbrella listing very far in advance, for things like weddings and family reunions. So you could, for example, open the umbrella listing one year in advance, the house-alone listing three months in advance, and the apartment-alone listing one month in advance.

Whether this makes sense for you depends on the specifics of the property and your market, of course.