Entire place vs entire guest suite

[Frank1449]

What's the difference? As a guest, I assumed "entire place" means the unit takes over the entire address, while "entire guest suite" means a portion of the address but physically separated from the main side.

I am having this concern because a host has divided a single-family house into 5 parts, 4 of "private room" and 1 of "entire place". The "entire place" side has is physically separated from those "private room"s, but everything is under the same roof. Did the host classified their rental units correctly?

[Till-and-Jutta0 · Accepted solution]

According Airbnb’s definition there exist three main accomodation types

• Entire place
• Private room
• Shared room

 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/317/select-your-home-type

At an entire place the host can live as well at the same address, under the same roof.

An “entire guest suite” is a description only, and IMHO can’t be faced to “entire place”.

[Frank1449]

Before lessons learned, as a guest, I was unable to tell "entire home" and "entire guest suite" is not on the same level. I assumed "entire home" means I am the only person on premise simply due to options like "entire guest suite" exists.

If "entire home" can mean someone else might present on premise, then why would host even bother using "entire guest suite", "entire loft" etc.? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Frank1449 We have a very large house that is divided into house (ours) and 3 apartments. All apartments have their own front doors and two share an entrance hall within the building. To suggest these are not 'entire homes'  would suggest that people who live in blocks of flats do not have an 'entire home'.

[Frank1449]

I agree on connected houses can be considered as "entire home". There should be a lot of condos or town houses near me are in that condition.

I think my situation is a bit different here. The house I was referring to has a picture of a single family house, but the description says entire home. It's pretty easy to assume guest can occupy the whole house. But in reality, they can only get half of the space. The other half are divided into 4 private rooms. If the host mark the unit as "entre guest suite", it would be easier for the guests to know that they do not have the other side of the house.

[Kia272]

@Frank1449  As long as you can access the amount of space in the description, and you don't have to interact directly with others, I think you are splitting hairs. 

If the other units affect your unit in terms of noise or something, the host should say so. Otherwise, if the description of the space you booked is accurate, and you have access to everything described in the listing, I'm not sure what the issue is. 

As a guest, you have an obligation to read the listing description thoroughly, and to understand what you are booking. 

[William1857]

To me it is simple. A GUEST SUITE is a totally unshared part of a house. If a door opens to the rest of the house, it is a ROOM in a house.

This is why people hate lawyers.

[Kristin1462]

Then all hotels with a “ door” that separates 2 different rooms should be booked as 1 room?  The whole thing is a nightmare. We have a guesthouse newly rehabbed  with 2 units. Just as if it was an apartment. I don’t consider that sharing a room. But then again I’m not a lawyer hahaha. Who knows it’s a lose lose & Airbnb needs more options when registering. Would clear up most of this misleading information. 

[Kristin1462]

I completely agree. As a new Airbnb owner, this issue just came up. We have a guest house that’s completely rehabbed brand new, with 2 separate units. Wall clearly separating them as if they were individual apartments. A guest got upset saying it was misleading however it clearly states in the description there’s a unit (A) & unit (B) . As well as many more detailed descriptions of what to expect. It even says walk past unit B to get to unit A etc etc. It’s like any apartment I lived in Chicago. But a lot nicer. It’s not fair to get a bad review when we did everything right. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[Colleen253]

@Frank1449 “It's pretty easy to assume guest can occupy the whole house.”

You know this, but it’s especially true here. Never assume anything. After thoroughly reading a listing description, ask questions.

[Emilia42]

@Frank1449 Are you actually staying on the property? How do you know that the host doesn't rent the rooms separately (private rooms) but also has a listing where all four rooms can be rented together (entire house.) There are many hosts who set up multiple listings so this can be an option.

[Frank1449]

I did stay on the property. Only have access to half of the house, and saw a random other person (not host) was living on premise.

[Sarah977]

@Frank1449  On Airbnb, Entire Place simply means that it is a self-contained unit with a private entrance. As for why the host would then say Entire Guest Suite, that seems pretty obvious- they are clarifying so that guests do not make assumptions. You can't make assumptions about anything- you need to fully read the listing information, and if you need clarification, ask the host questions before you commit to a booking.

I do think that the host shouldn't have a photo of the entire house on that private suite listing, as it can be misleading, as it was for you. But reading the listing info should make everything clear unless the host failed to describe the situation accurately.

[Terry652]

Is there a way that Airbnb can help us be less confusing by giving more Listing Type options other than the three of: Entire Place, Private Room, or Shared Room? Our guests have the entire bottom floor of our home with a separate entrance. They have their own kitchen, laundry room, bedrooms,  workout room, movie room etc. So even though there is no shared space, we are still all under one roof. Help as we had a confused guest.

[Sarah977]

@Terry652  A good strategy for your situation is to write at the very top of your listing description, "Please note: this is an owner-occupied property. We live upstairs- the basement guest unit has its own entrance with no shared spaces and is a private unit."

And remove the photos of the full outside of the house, which just confuses the issue. You could have a photo of the outside where the guest entrance is, with an arrow pointing to the guest door as well as your entrance and captioned  as such.