First Extended Booking Request

[John2900]

Hi everyone, 

We have never hosted a guest for an extended booking previously. We got a request today from a woman with two reviews (both 5 stars) for her family and family friends to stay at our AirBNB for 44 days. They state they will only be using the house on weekends and school vacation weeks. I’m not sure how to respond to her request as I don’t know what guests usually expect with an extended stay. We rent our second house three hours away from us. I’m not sure if we are expected to send cleaning when they are away or how to get the trash removed. Or if I’m supposed to say or do anything preventative to protect ourselves and our property, if that makes sense. Can someone please let me know if there’s a specific wording or contract or guideline you typically use for extended stay bookings? I’m a fish out of water here. Thank you for any advice!

[Alexandra316]

@John2900 There are a couple of red flags for this request, and I would think very carefully about whether or not you want this group to stay with you.

Third-party reservations are not allowed on Airbnb. Guests should not be booking on anyone else's behalf. You also seem to be describing an ever-changing group of people who will be using, and potentially abusing your place.

Also, you should investigate tenancy rights in your jurisdiction. In most places, after 30 days, renters are no longer guests, they are tenants, and they have all of the rights of tenancy. That may include having to go through a formal eviction process if they refuse to leave at the end of their stay.

The way that Airbnb handles long-term bookings is also different than shorter stays. See here for details: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/245/how-do-i-pay-for-my-longterm-reservation.

If you decide to go ahead, the other things you mentioned are negotiable. You are not obliged to clean while they're there, but I would suggest that it would be a good idea to offer to come in and clean periodically: it would give you an opportunity to check on the property. Guests can do a lot of damage in a month and a half.

[John2900]

Thank you for your response, that was my concern. I asked her to clarify, and have since changed my booking settings to only allow stays of 27 days or less. This is the message she sent to me 

“We are a family of four and have been seasonal renters near (location omitted) for a few years now and are hoping to find a place to stay for the remainder (or most of) of this current ski season.  Our kids are 12 and 14 years old and we would like your place so that we can invite another close family friend group of ours.  We could provide great rentee referrals from our prior landlord.  You would hear that we take care of rental properties better than our own and are low maintenance renters since we don't like to complain!

We are flexible for dates right now for start/end but would shoot for Jan 31 - Mar 15th.  We only would stay on weekends and school vacation days.”

[Alexandra316]

@John2900 That sounds a bit more rational. If you're going to proceed, I'd ask for a specific list of people who are staying. Sorry, when you said she was booking for friends and family, it sounded like the person booking wasn't staying.

Good idea regarding setting maximum stay length. I have mine set to 21 days.

It sounds like it could be an okay deal, if they actually are good guests.

[Emilia42]

@John2900 As @Alexandra316 says be leary of this request. Just doing a simple search on your calendar a 27 night stay in February would cost $5,070 but 4 separate stays on the weekends only would cost $2,312. Are these people looking for a great deal or are they willing to pay for the all the unused nights? It may be they are not being completely honest with their full intentions.

[John2900]

I thought that was strange as well. I was wondering if maybe they requested that whole time period to make sure we don’t have any plans and then will go in and book specific dates only?