Best way to set listing to only friends/family w/ direct link can book and not searchable .

[Allison458]

I'm looking to list my vacation house on airbnb, but want to keep it private and not searchable. My hope is to give a direct link to friends and family to book, but is it possible to allow them to book with a direct link and keep my listing out of the Airbnb search?

Thanks!

[Sudsrung0]

@Allison458 

Sorry I dont fully understand what you are trying to do, You want to use Airbnb but dont want them to earn any money?

Why bother with airbnb? set up your own web site then you can take direct bookings, or is it you dont want to pay for that?

[Lorna170]

@Allison458  If your sole purpose is to have friends and family "rent" your vacation property, you do NOT want to be listed on AirBnB.  Keep your own calendar and have a folder on something like Dropbox with your pictures and give file access to the person inquiring.  Why on earth you want to involve AirBnB is incomprehensible.  It's like agreeing to loan your car to a friend but insisting that they call Avis to find out if it is available.

[Allison458]

Thank you!

[Emiel1]

@Allison458 

If you set "availability window" (in section "calender availabiliy") to "dates not available by default", then you listing is published, but will not show up in the search system.

You can sent the direct link to anybody you want:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/24136954

If they want to book, open the desired dates on the calender.

Or open 1 date and let them sent an inquiry, to have option to make a special offer

If you want also not to be found outside Airbnb, then disable in your account under "privacy and sharing" the option to be included in search engines.

[Allison458]

Thank you so much!  I don't want to open the floodgates on the listing to make it available for everyone but I do want to take advantage of the payment system, the calendar, the local tax collection, etc.   It sounds like I will be able to find a solution but it's going to be wonky.

Thank you!

[Lorna170]

@Allison458   Taking advantage of the payment system:  Use PayPal.   The calendar:  Use Google.  The Tax collection:  File your own tax reports or rent for less than 14 days to non-family members; talk to an accountant.

Why you would want your guests to pay as much as 15% of their hard-earned cash and you pay an additional 3% in service fees to a company solely so you can post your "private" property on a business website is incomprehensible.  

Bottom line:  Your property is either "private" and you lend it to friends and family, or it is "public" and a "business" earning you additional income and you post it on a website like AirBnB.  

[Eldon75]

I realize that this is on old post, but one reason I can think of why a person might want to involve AirBnb is the "AirCover" insurance.  In my area, regular home-owners insurance will not cover incidents that occur during a short term rental stay. You have to get more expensive commercial insurance. If a person is only renting to family and friends, you might think that liability insurance isn't needed, but that isn't necessarily true. Just because your family doesn't want to sue you for a "slip and fall" type incident doesn't mean that their health insurance company won't sue. Between insurance and remitting hotel tax to both state and local, going through AirBnb and avoid a lot of hassle.

[Mark116]

@Allison458   If you only want to rent to friends and family, why not just do that?  You don't need Airbnb or any third party in the middle.  

[Huma0]

@Allison458 

As others have said, in your situation, it just doesn't make sense to list via Airbnb. You will pay a 3% fee, which is not huge, but is not nothing. Meanwhile, your guests (friends/family) will pay a whopping fee to Airbnb for literally nothing.

[Marcus763]

There is an alternative call OhWeKnow **. That allows you to do exactly what you are trying to do.  

**[Link removed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]