[POLL] How long have you been hosting for?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone,

It can sometimes feel like it was only yesterday that you welcomed your first guest. Time flies when you’re having fun, and when you do what you love, those years can feel like just days passing by.

How long have you been hosting for? 

What is it that kept you going? How did you get past the bad times and how did you celebrate the good times? This is your hosting experience in general so if you were a Host before you joined Airbnb, that time counts too!

I can’t wait to hear from you. 😃 

Sybe

P.S. While you’re looking back at the years you’ve been hosting, we’d love to invite you to share your most memorable hosting stories with us at @Stephanie’s topic here!

[Huma0]

@Sybe 

I think of myself as having been a host since the summer of 2016, when I first listed a room in my house.

However, that is not totally accurate as I briefly (for a few weeks) rented out my flat in 2012 while I was waiting for the sale of it to go through. I had two bookings, which totalled five weeks and all went pretty smoothly. Still, it never occurred to me at the time to try out Airbnb in my own home.

There I rented out the spare rooms to long-term lodgers, which sometimes went very well and sometimes very badly! After a run of problematic lodgers, I decided to temporarily list one of the bedrooms on Airbnb. It went better than expected and soon, I listed a second and then a third. 

What has kept me going? Well, the money for starters, as it's more than I would get from a lodger, but it's not money for nothing. It involves a lot of work. More importantly, I felt that I had more control over my own home. The majority of guests have been lovely and appreciative. 

The worst of times was of course when the pandemic started. It was a big loss financially, but I managed to get through largely because I had already by that point decided to focus on long term guests, so there was still a local market for my listings, albeit significantly reduced, and one guest turned into a long term housemate. We kept each other sane through long lockdowns and Christmas separated from family.

Now, it seems, we are back to a bad time. Since the Summer Release, my views have plummeted and my bookings have stopped (with the exception of a couple of repeat guests), but if I learnt anything about hosting from 2020-21, it's that no matter how bad things look, you can get through it. There is always a solution, even when you feel that things are out of your control. In this case, the solution may well be to find alternatives to hosting on Airbnb. That would be sad, but I would still end this hosting experience with a lot of fun and fond memories.

[Sybe]

@Huma0 thank you so much for sharing, it sounds like you had quite an interesting journey before listing on Airbnb. 

[Ted307]

@Sybe 

We have been hosting for 2 years this month. We had our place ready to rent after a year of work upgrading the bathroom and flooring, painting and plumbing repairs. Just in time for the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunately for us, our stand alone bunkhouse was well suited to having enough time and space to be safe from getting infected. We still wait 24 hours before we go in and clean.

We have just about broken even on our costs to renovate and were looking forward to having some return on our investment this year. We like meeting most of our guests, and like being able to justify the expense of upgrading the bunkhouse to be a nice place for our family to come and stay with us occasionally.

[Sybe]

@Ted307 Congratulations on your 2-year milestone! 

[Ted307]

@Sybe 

Thank you for the congratulations!

Our first 2 summers, we never had a open weekend. This summer we have had several un-booked weekends. Not the best anniversary gift. 😞

We are fortunate that this is just a little side gig, and that we do not depend on this income. Now that we have become educated how fragile this income source is, we will do something else if we ever decide we need need steady pay.

This reminds me of when I tried out driving for Uber. At first, it was good. Then, when more drivers started using it, there were less calls for me. Then, they cut the pay. Then I quit. The more desperate drivers kept doing it, but I was not that desperate.  I can see AirBnB going down the same road.

[Gordon0]

8th October, 2012. A one night booking for the grand total of £38. A lot has changed since then.

[Fred13]

Now on its 7th year.

1995: Airbnb's ad campaign ( https://all-about-airbnb.com/post/139288169431/live-on-private-island-and-treehouses-marketing-camp... )

2022: Bird Island today ( https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4869137?source_impression_id=p3_1657822467_tcTzdEPQNf9LTpxZ )

[Bellevue1]

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[Fred13]

Island in 1995. Airbnb ad campaign)

[Sybe]

@Fred13 This is like a before/after, and there are definitely some big changes there! I love the swings over the water. 😍

[Denis130]

@Sybe 

Got into Airbnb because my daughter's recommendation after her trip to Europe for a month in which she shared through Facetime, all the places she stayed as an Airbnb guest, then recommended, "since I only come down to your place a couple times a year, why don't you do an Airbnb since you have the space."  Voila.

Being retired and on a fixed income, my own travel was rather limited and thought, this would be a way to bankroll any future travel, which it certainly did.  In the Spring of 2019 I took my daughter down to Machu Picchu, in Peru to celebrate her 31st birthday.  All because of the additional income from Airbnb.

I shut down during Covid but am back up and running again and feel Airbnb'rs are getting back on board.  July is pretty full and August coming along just fine.

Also probably have the cleanest bathrooms I've ever had with two-three scourings per week. Absolute best guests help too.

[Suzanne302]

@Denis130 

I have that same thought about my guest bathroom, lol! I have a lot of one-night stays so often it gets scrubbed down completely every single day!

[Sybe]

@Denis130 That's amazing that you're able to create even more memories together now, definitely a good suggestion from your daughter. I hope the trip to Machu Picchu made her realise that as well! 😉

@Suzanne302 maybe I should start hosting too if that'll force me to clean more often haha!

[Bellevue1]

Pretty sure we started with 1 room as of January 2016 in our primary residence which is still going (in conjunction with our other 2 rooms in which the never-ending roommates pay us directly).  At our residence, we want medium to longterm 'roommate tenants' to avoid hotel/motel taxes and to better fit our needs.  We both work fulltime, stay busy as 'everyday athletes' and other activities so constant turnover doesn't work for us.  But, it's good to have a 'kick in the pants' periodically to deep clean the common areas.

From spring 2016 ~ early January 2019 our traditional rental (separate house, built 1959) was on AirBnB as room-by-room listings (separate account) and then migrated back to traditional rental status.  There I found it too hard to keep fussy people happy in an aging house, with a mix of people who would leave the house an absolute sty, make the kitchen disgusting then act put out when the other roommates complained.  I'd literally come over to the heat blasting for 1 person while other people had their windows open.  Constant trash and recycling mismanagement.  There was no way to force consensus as everyone basically wanted a cheap turn-key accommodation where things would magically get done and they didn't have to communicate like grownups while at the same time enjoying the cost savings and convenience of move-in/out.  I finally snapped and put the house back on the traditional rental market.  I don't regret it overall; the format allowed us to get projects done on the house, come and go as we needed without giving formal notice and store our crap in the garage all the while having cash-flow.  I just wish there was more clarification and expectations from AirBnB around such a "roommate" arrangement which doesn't fit their marketing but never-the-less fits how users are using the service.