Hosting your personal home

[Katie1714]

I'll be listing my person home on Airbnb to help with expenses and plan to host when I'm travelling or when I can find a place to stay in the area (like with friends). I'm planning to provide my 2 guest bedrooms and lock my primary bedroom. That way I don't have to remove my own things. They will have access to a large full bathroom and the rest of the house (half bath, kitchen, 2 porches).

I plan to remove anything that is of value but I'll be leaving SO many things that I just can't possibly move every time, like all dishes, glasses, food in fridge/freezer, etc.

My questions:

Do you have any example messaging explaining to guests that it's my personal home so please be mindful of my things? 

Would you be offended if there was a door that said "this room not available to guests" with a closed locked door? 

Can you provide ANYTHING I need be mindful of that I might be forgetting? 

If you've something like this before, please share your experience and lessons learned! 

[Kathy1371]

@Katie1714 Dishes, linens, etc are normally provided by the host. We rents homes vs hotel rooms.

Suggestion would be to advertise it as a shared home. Trust me, they’ll leave more food than they will consume.

[Katie1714]

Thank you Kathy! Yes, I knew I needed to provide dishes and things but I have a full kitchen of bowls and mixing and baking items that I love but don't necessarily need to move all the time !

[Paula]

Hi @Katie1714 I am tagging @Greystone0 and @Kathy1371 here so they receive a notification of your message. This way, we increase the chances of them getting back to us.

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[Greystone0]

Hi @Katie1714 ,

That sounds like a great way to monetize your space and while not exactly like our circumstances, here's some info:

- we rent out our 4 bedroom home that is our 'personal' home. We are in the home once a month and view it as our personal space first not a rental. We are never in the home when rented so it is not a 'shared' space in that sense. 

- we have several locked areas where we store our stuff. Most rentals have locked supply closets/owner closets so that is fairly normal. In your case it is an entire room, it doesn't matter though, in your case it is like a big closet. Guests don't need to know what is behind the locked door. Your listing would reference that there is a locked space that is not for guest access. In our case we have a locked shed, three locked closets/locked attic type space, utility room and locked cabinets in the garage. 

- you would rent your space as a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom home. Reference to a third bedroom or additional bathroom is unnecessary as that is behind the locked door/no guest access. Since you will NOT be in residence (or so that is what I gathered), the space wouldn't be shared while a guest was in your home. Put a sign on any spots that are not for guest access - we just have printed signs that say "NO GUEST ACCESS" and just taped to the exterior of the door, and in the listing we mention areas that are not for guest access (AIRBNB platform has a spot for your to mention). This isn't strange but fairly common as most homes have some sort of supply/owner closet.

- supplies - you mention kitchen supplies and guests would expect a kitchen to be outfitted. If you have an occupancy of 4 people, then you need supplies for at least 4 people. Rule of thumb is 'double' your occupancy. So at least 8 forks, 8 glasses, and so on. More is totally fine, significantly less would lead to complaints.

- if you have personal items that are too important to go missing or become damaged then those should be removed into your room and be locked. 

- Fridge/Freezer - from my perspective, it would be odd to arrive and have owner food in the fridge. This probably was way more common prior to COVID and this practice has sort of disappeared, I think. If you anticipate guests arriving to your home and use the kitchen etc then they would expect to be able to store food in the fridge.  If you leave items in the fridge you can anticipate being consumed by a guest. On the other hand, when the space is shared, like if you are in the home also, then it would not be odd for your food to be there and for you to request that your food be left unmolested. You would then provide a fridge/freezer spot for guest stuff, like a roommate situation.

- you could consider getting a small fridge/freezer unit that is placed elsewhere (garage?, your locked room? some other option) that is out of the way  and labeled not for guest use.

Wishing you much success!

[Katie1714]

Thank you, Greystone! Very helpful! 

Great idea about switching my food over to a smaller fridge. I was thinking if this works out, I could always live in my garage with a fridge and a blow up mattress. It's detached and has it's own parking and alley behind the house. Just like my bedroom and bathroom , they would barely know it was there. 

If there's anything else you can think of, I'm all ears! 

[Frances3408]

@Katie1714. Hi Katie, I have seen listings where there is a floorplan map which is shaded for rooms/areas that are owner only. Often this is a bedroom suite, or a garage. I like @Greystone0 idea of having your own small fridge and marking up private spaces. If spaces you stay in are truly independent of your guests then its not shared; but be careful how you manage/describe any shared facilities, entry, driveways etc

Regarding private possessions never leave out anything you cant afford to get lost or damaged, whether due to its cost or sentimental value. And make your bedroom lock a deadlock. I've even seen them with smartlocks so if you do want to rent it out later on to a larger group you can manage that remotely.

Not sure you can "live" in your garage though if no toilet/shower. 😉