Listing 3 or 4 bedrooms as a whole house and excluding the garage and 2 other bedrooms

[Herman2]

I'm considering renting my 6 bedroom guesthouse as a whole house.  I'm only planning to rent 3 or 4 bedrooms and exclude the 3 car garage and  2 bedrooms.  Nobody will be staying in the garage or the 2 bedrooms, except maybe when I have to  retrieve Airbnb supplies or move 1 of my car from the garage during the daytime (after 9am).

[Herman2]

Entry from the house to the garage and  rooms will be locked. Am I expected to completely stay out of the house or the yard where I have to occasionally water the landscaping plants? 

[Sarah977]

@Herman2  It's perfectly acceptable to list an entire place and lock off rooms that are inaccessible to guests. You just have to make the situation quite clear in your ad. However, do not leave valuables in those rooms- guests have been known to force locks and can just be generally nosy.

What you cannot do is list an entire place and then come and go from it as you please. Airbnb is very strict about guest privacy and guests have a right to privacy. Even in a shared home listing where a host is just renting out a private room, it isn't okay for the host to enter the room at any time without the guest's permission. (Of course if it was on fire, that's an emergency situation, so normal rules are suspended)

Something like garden watering is acceptable as long as it is disclosed in your listing info and a set, regular time made known to guests as to when that would happen. You couldn't just show up to water whenever it was convenient to you. 

[Herman2]

Thanks for your info.  My roommate of 8 years bought a house and will be moving out.  Whole house short term renting is new to me, I heard stories of heavy partying of guests so I will try to go with 3 bedrooms first even though I have 5 bedrooms available.  Appreciate if you can give me your thoughts on this venture.

[Sarah977]

@Herman2 You said you might be accessing the garage and you'll be caring for the garden, so it seems you live close by? 

Yes, entire house rentals can be party magnets, but they are worse when they have remote hosts. If the host lives in another dwelling on the property, or next door, or down the block, and that is clearly made known to guests in the listing information, and in messages to guests, that normally kiboshes the party crowd. So does meeting and greeting the guests rather than having self-check in. When there is a human interaction with the host, rather than a faceless, off-site host situation, guests tend to behave more respectfully.

And yes, lower maximum guest counts lead to fewer problems.  Even if the guests aren't throwing a party, a listing for 10 is going to result in more wear and tear and possible damages, even if it's accidental,  than a place that's set up for 4 or 6. 

And of course the amount of cleaning and laundry and sheets and towels needed is much more intense with larger groups.

It also depends on the location of the listing, the type of guests you market towards, and who it attracts. A house that sleeps 10, with trendy decor, a pool and a hot tub in LA will be much more of a party magnet than a rustic cabin that sleeps 10 in the backwoods of Maine. 

And hosts need to become adept at asking the right questions when guests ask to book, picking up on red flags in their messages or bookings (someone booking a 4 bedroom house for 8 guests, but only listing 2 guests on the booking would be highly suspicious, for instance).

It would be really helpful for you to peruse posts on this forum on a regular basis to get an idea of the various challenges and situations hosts have to deal with, how they handled it poorly or well, and the advice given by other hosts