Are you a full time or a part time host?

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone, 

When you start hosting one of the main things you have to consider is where are you going to find the time from, because as we know from conversation here in the CC, there is often a lot to do!

Some hosts host full-time, some part-time and some even juggling it around existing work commitments. Plus, perhaps your time changes depending on the seasons. 

How do you host? How do you manage your time with other life commitments?

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks,

[Liz3499]

Part time because my village house on a large Greek island is really only visited over the spring to autumn and when I am not on holiday. There is almost no demand in the winter six months. But it is important as a way of generating money for upkeep of the house, attracting people to the Area and supporting the local economy - and I’m lucky as I have friend who acts for me as host and cleaner and lives in the village . So I almost never meet my guests though I act as the go between and know I would like some of them a lot. 

[Linda1178]

My husband and I run our guest rooms full time, I am constantly online checking emails and making contacts with guests before they arrive. We make sure our guests are settled in and give them a little tour folder, with all the things to see and do in our little town and surrounding areas. 

Thankfully my husband and I do the cleaning together so yes cleaning and laundry does take alot of our time. So we are thankful when guests do clean dishes after themselves, so its one less thing on our list to do before next guests arrive as we have instant booking.

We started last year, with 2 rooms and changed it to self catering, this year we added another room. We might get the 4th room up early next year. 

We enjoy doing it as  we meet alot of people from all parts of the world. Its nice when we have all 3 rooms filled with all Foreigners around the world, eg last week we had a couple from UK, Germany and local South african. Makes the world seem smaller.

Thank you airbnb for allowing us the opportunity. 

Linda & Ashley South Africa. 

[Serena219]

Definitely part time. I like to hibernate during the winter, and as I don't have central heating, the bedrooms and bathroom can be a trifle chilly. However I am usually quite busy from April through September with Airbnb, and that is plenty for me.....

[Sarah2453]

I'm a fulltime host

[Sarah2453]

Why is there different levels of hosting 

[Sue1506]

Hi My husband and I airbnb our lovely apartment on the central coast of nsw Australia. We live in a beach town on the edge of a national park.

I left my stressful full time job 12 months ago and started working  part time.

Decided I'd like more travel money,so started our  airbnb business.

Wow didn't know how popular we'd be.

As its our primary residence. We purchased a slide on camper and head away every weekend now. Or if we have things on we stay local.

It's been a great life change  for us.

Makes us see new places.

I have a rotating fridge and pantry. I keep it pretty low and leave a shelf for guests and I just keep the top shelf in fridge for myself.

Sighn on fridge explains the rules.

If you need to use something of mine that's fine. Just replace it if it's a full packet.

We have a large walk in cupboard where we keep our personal things.

I lock half our wardrobes so guest have the other half.

Now the kids have all left and all there junk it's been so much easier.

So what we thought was a casual way to boost the income has turned into a lovely lucrative little business.

I manage all bookings. Keep a day clear either side. I have an 11am check in and 12pm checkout. But most leave earlier.

I'm flexible with these times.

One of us tries to greet with the key so they have a face to the apartment and I'm her clear its  our home.  I have a lock box as well.

The building has mainly permant residents and I make this clear NO parties which I'm strict with as our upper deck can hold about 60 people with an ocean view.

I'm always in phone contact throu the airbnb app.

I have a diary  for comments and a folder with all info on house and area.

Also a do a lovely gift basket with some nibbles , a voucher for coffee at my son's cafe and milk and bread.

So far it's been all positive reviews.

We clean yourself which is the only part we don't enjoy. Ha ha.

We decided to incorporate the cleaning fee in the price. I felt if people payed an extra cleaning fee they wouldn't leave it as tidy.

Hope this helps.

Happy bookings to all.

Sue  xxxx

[Allison374]

Hello All,

I am a retired teacher who lives in Baltimore, MD. My Airbnb property is in Hampton, VA. It is a 3 and a half hour drive. I rent out my entire house and I installed a doorknob that store 16 codes. I give my guests the codes the day of check in. I usually extend a free early check in invitation. I find people check out on time once I explain that I have to clean for the next guest to check in the following day. I have a friend that I spend the night with in Hampton and I come to my house as soon as the guest check out. I take my time and clean and enjoy my place and leave around 8:00 pm to drive back to Baltimore. I find that that is the ideal time to make the drive both ways and I don’t have to drive both ways in one day. I have been blocking off the day before and after guest but I’m starting to block two days so that I can enjoy my home more. I like to supply everything you would get at a hotel upon request (DollarTree) like deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shower caps, shampoo, conditioner, soap, coffee, cream and sugar. I also supply laundry detergent. Most guests don’t use all the extras. I encourage them to leave leftovers for next guests and I use antibacterial cleaner for all containers used (shampoo, liquid soap etc.) and door knobs and light switches. I clean myself because I’m good at it and I want to guarantee my guests satisfaction.  I charge a 35.00 cleaning fee that almost pays to fill up my tank. Hope this helps. I also have mints on a table near the front door. I’ve been getting great reviews. I really enjoy it. It helps me pay my extra mortgage and I feel appreciated. Hope this helps someone.

[George-and-Jan0]

I am full time.  Jan & I purchased a property in Big Bear Lake (our primary residence) because it had 2 additional spaces to rent.  We decided to try Airbnb and it is working well.  She works full time & does grandma work with 2 boys under 3 & I work full time as Host at our Sleepy Moose Cottage in Big Bear CA and I am also a Co-host for 2 other properties. I do all the work for all 3 including cleaning.  I will continue this routine and look for a few more Co-Host arrangements so that I can add a cleaning crew to free up a bit of my time from cleaning and find a  fixer up property to set up as 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom and a common area. Although currently it takes a lot of time, I meet a lot of interesting people and families so the work is also fun. 

[Janice300]

Hello from Amesbury, Massachusetts (North of Boston) USA.

I began hosting in August 2018,  but only on weekends--Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I have great flexibility since I do not make my house available, just my guest bedroom & bathroom -- a nice "en suite" space.  Preparation for one bedroom and bathroom is not a lot of work. I actually enjoy it. 

This weekend-only schedule worked out beautifully for me. I was able to prepare for guests without any time pressure of guest turnover on the same day. I still have five days to focus on my regular home-based job,  and just set aside one evening to prepare for guests who typically arrived Friday afternoon or evening. 

Since my home-based business was new this year, I was very grateful to have Airbnb guests every weekend from August through October, with the exception of Labor Day weekend when I had family visiting. OHowever, once November arrived, there were no bookings! But that was fine with me since I honestly didn't want guests over the holidays. I blocked off all of December.

In the coming year, I may open up to more days, but I am still undecided. One of the best things about Airbnb is the flexibility it provides to me as a host, and the really nice folks I have met from Canada as well as New England. I live in a wonderful spot near coastal Maine and New Hampshire, with easy access to beaches and to lovely little New England towns as well as Boston. 

[Dimitar27]

I'm in the " juggling " group. It's not very comfortable, but STR can't be a primary income here.

[DeAnn197]

I am a part-time host. I have made adjustments to check-out time, extra guests, pets and house rules over the course of my listing to help reduce some of the stress that goes with hosting. I have taken the time to figure out what my profit margin is : What I make on a guest stay minus fees such as utilities (water is my biggest expense), occupancy tax, Air B & B's fees, cleaning, etc. As others have said, cleaning is the most time-consuming and the profit margin is not there to hire the work out so I do it myself. I also pride myself in having a "spotless" space and I provide "special touches" like a small vase of flowers, so I would have trouble not at least being able to give the unit a last check before guests arrive (quality control) . One thing that does save me time and the guests like is that I have a keyless entry. I can pre-program names, a code number and dates of stay for each guest so that I don't have to be available for check-in or out although I always make sure that I'm available to answer questions or follow up on problems.

I would like to be able to host more often but the fees make it harder to do that. 31% of a booking goes to Occupancy Tax(10%), Tourism tax  (1%) and Air B and B (20%). I had a previous Air B & B rental that had a bigger profit margin before the County started charging the Occupancy and Tourism tax. I am happy to pay them because I know that the Hotels pay this fee but it makes it harder to stay in business. I can make more renting it full time to 1 person which I may consider doing depending on how my bookings go next year (I've only had this unit for a few months).

[Sanet11]

Good evening everyone!  I am a fulltime host.  Previously I had a guest house in a small North West town in South Africa.  Because of my husband's business, we had to move to KZN and I had to close my guesthouse.  In the meantime, I lost my husband to Malaria and I retired 2 years ago.  That is when I decided to build two self-catering cabins on my property to generate an income for myself as I did not have any other income.  Being older, made me decide on the self-catering which lets met off the hook for preparing meals. 

Make no mistake it is still incredibly hard work!  I do everything myself, from cleaning, laundry, hosting, bookings and everything else on the hospitality list.  For visitors from abroad, it is relatively cheap to visit South Africa.  However, for us, it is really a struggle to survive at this stage as our economy is very, very bad.  I can only afford somebody once a week to help with all the cleaning and I also have a person once a week in the garden, as it is quite extensive and a pretty hard job to maintain and keeping it looking fantastic for my guests.  

As an old Nature Conservation Officer, it is very important for me to live with a very light footprint.  One of the reasons I chose Baby Log Cabins.  

To new hosts, I would like to say the following.  It is hard work, but if you love people it makes it all worth your while.  Keep your place clean and the maintenance up to date, be a friendly host going the extra mile for your guests and you will succeed.  In the beginning, it is easy to get distressed and inpatient when your business takes off slowly.  Marketing is very important then.  Use Social Media as much as possible. In the end, you will not have to market so aggressively because your best advertisement is by mouth.  Keep your standards high and you will be rewarded and blessed.

At this stage, I am incredibly tired as I have not had a break since December 2018.  Hopefully, I will be blessed enough to be able to take a break soon.

May you all have a stunning and prosperous 2020.

[Lizzie]

Wow, @Sanet11 I was gripped reading your reply here. What an incredible thing to build two cabins and juggle everything at the same time. It sounds like you put a lot of time, effort and love into hosting and I'm sure it's worth it. It sounds like you have lots of amazing experience, so if you get the chance it would be great to hear more about it here in the CC. 

I agree with you though, you must find some time among everything to have a relax and some time for yourself, if not you will burn out and you may need to take longer off.  

Wishing you a great 2020 and looking forward to speaking with you more. 

Lizzie

[Robin129]

I have only one room in my home that I share via Airbnb. Even if I was "full time" i would not be able to earn enough to support the household. I am working on other projects that I can incorporate to increase my income. Well, I have another gig, but I want to let it go now. 

The more Airbnb caters to and courts the multi-unit STR managers the more they push me to other options. I came to Airbnb to share my home, but so many of the corporate changes favor the multi-unit managers and leave home hosts out-to-dry.

[Sasha67]

What a great variation of responses. We, my wife and I, have retired from the working rat race, we are very much into conservation as part of trying to do our bit to preserve the planet. We've spent the last 12 years sailing the oceans in a small yacht witnessing first hand the affects of humans on the oceans in particular. We fell in love with Spain "on the way past" so bought a small apartment in Almerimar that we completely gutted, renovated and initially rented long term as we did our even smaller apartment at home in Perth. About wo years ago we went Airbnb primarily to give us flexibility, the ability to stay in either apartment when we wish. Both we have wonderful co hosts without whom it just could not work. So guess we are full time most of the time and recognise just how incredibly lucky we are to have the life we do. Wishing all a wonderful 2020. Cheers, Roger and Sasha