@Sybe
I currently almost only host long term stays (exceptions made for returning guests) with a minimum of 28 days, simply because I prefer it.
Looking at my bookings for the past year (excluding a couple of cancellations), the average stay seems to be around 50 days. If you factor in direct bookings, of which I have had a handful in the past year, I would say in reality the average stay is longer, but it gives you an idea.
No, it's not what I expected when I started hosting. I accepted both short and long term guests and initially had both, but because the listings were very popular from the get go, the calendar soon filled up and there weren't gaps long enough for long term guests unless they booked very far in advance.
Having three rooms with short term guests in and out while I had two jobs and was constantly travelling for work but had no co-host and no cleaner turned into a recipe for a nervous breakdown! So, I took the conscious decision to focus on long term guests and increased my minimum stay.
For quite some time, when I had a longish gap between two long term guests I would open up those dates for shorter stays. So, it was very rare that I had a room sitting empty. However, towards the end of last year, I realised that I was getting more and more problematic bookings/guests for those shorter stays, so now I would rather just leave the room empty. It's not worth the money!
This month I had one room empty for around 10 days and another for a couple of weeks and that was fine by me. It was nice to have a bit of a breather with just one quiet guest staying and far less cleaning to do.
I also recently turned off IB for all my listings. I do not want long term guests to instant book. I want to get a real sense of who they are and for them to also carefully consider their needs before booking. They will be staying with me for quite a while after all, so it's even more important to ensure a good fit.