We are designing an Airbnd cottage to be built in Bend, Oregon. It is size limited by zoning code to 800 square feet as a second dwelling in a single family neighborhood, and our initial plan was to have it be about 600 to 700 square feet. The design is loosely based on the movie The Holiday's Rosehill Cottage (and, yes, we know there was a shell set built in England and the much larger interior set was in a Hollywood studio!). The original goal was to have it be a one bedroom romantic getaway, but we've found that, with the stair in the middle on the 1st floor, as Rosehill's is, it makes sense to increase the size and have two bedrooms and two baths on the second floor on either side of the stair. In looking at listings in the Bend area, most smaller Airbnbs emphasize the number of beds/bedrooms when applicable, however, from the limited samples I've reviewed, most reviewers are couples with these smaller rentals.
Our first question is about return on investment. Does adding a second bedroom and increasing the cottage's size which could add possibly $40k to the construction costs make sense? Or, with any extra space left, is making a tiny bedroom (sleeping nook) and a shared bath a better strategy? One of the original goals was to have the bath en suite, knowing that's what I prefer.
The other question is, does adding bedrooms and attracting groups and families add head aches?
I am not completely uninformed of the complications involved and dedication it takes to run Airbnbs, having friends who've both done it and then quit and others who love it, with them either renting out single rooms or whole (large) houses. And forums like these can give you pause if you concentrate solely on the negative posts. But we are starting the rental space from scratch, and we can tune the space to best fit a potential client.