Schoolies week - booking a house in November 2021

[Rosie181]

I was inquiring about any properties in Byron Bay that will allow bookings for girls attending the schoolies festival. I have a group of 8 responsible girls who are interested in staying at a house for 8 days in November - December 2021. To let you know, we are on a schoolies trip and will be travelling to and from the beach each day. However, we will completely respect the property and will not be hosting any parties or wild events whatsoever. We understand the respect for the area and will not be noisy or disruptive at any time after 9:00 pm. If anyone has any availabilities for properties near the town center could you please contact me as soon as possible?

Thank you so much,

Rosie

[Sarah977]

@Rosie181  If you are under 18, you can't open an Airbnb account and for someone else to book for you (known as a 3rd party booking) isn't allowed. If you had an adult chaperone who will be staying with you, then they could book under their account for all of you (the booker has to be staying as well).

If you are 18 or over, you just need to look at the available listings in Byron Bay and find something suitable. This is just a discussion forum for hosts and guests, not really a place to post a request for a booking.

And although you may indeed all be responsible young people, many hosts are reluctant to accept a group of quite young guests. You may take good care of the place, but young pople often don't think about how what they do could be a hassle for others. Like applying glitter make-up, which could take the host hours to try to clean up from all the surfaces it gets onto or into, or wiping make-up off on clean towels and staining them, having one's "monthlies" and accidentally getting blood on the bedding, then balling it up and hiding it out of embarrasment instead of letting the host know so they can deal with it before it's impossible to remove (hosts are all adept at laundry methods and won't be shocked or blaming about natural things like this, rather they are appreciative of being notified so they can deal with it ASAP).

You and your friends may not be make-up wearers, I was just giving that as examples- it's quite normal for young folks who still live with their parents to be unaware of cleaning issues, or to be not careful when using an unfamiliar appliance and end up breaking it, it's a matter of life experience, but this is one reason that hosts may be reluctant to accept.

Are there any youth hostels you could maybe stay at?

[Rowena29]

@Rosie181 

I'm sure you already know what a terrible reputation a lot of previous schoolie guests have created - especially in the Bryon Bay area and Gold Coast area..   @Sarah is right - you are very unlikely to get a host reading these boards contact you and offer up their place - it's not really how the community boards work,   they are more a support network. 

However I also understand that a hostel does not fit with the event and is not at all what you are after.

You would be better off using the search engine to see if you can find a place that might suit..

Enter the dates, the appropriate number of guests adn you might also want to use the filter tool adn select "suitable for events" .  Doing this just now I got 28 hits - from Brunswick Heads to Byron - but none of the Bryon ones  seemed to be on the beach.   You COULD try removing the suitable for events filter, see if you can find a place that way adn then approach the host similarly to how you have here.  Since that dates you are after are outside the traditional schoolies week dates ( i think) I wouldn't be using that term.  Hosts are very scared of it ( well Asutralian hosts in SE Qld and Northeren NSW are)

If you are under 18 you have no chance at all and no one is likely to accept a booking made by a parent for you to stay = it's agaisnt airbnb policy.  if a host dicovers a 3rd party booking ( and believe me they will be carefully monitoring) the booking can be immediately cancelled leaving you with nowhere to stay.

The trouble is Rosie, many insurers now have qualifying clauses about schoolies groups - there has just been so much damage in the past. Also many many hosts just block the dates around this time - they just don't want to take the risk.

I know you may well be very reasonably and responsible, but the trouble with any large group - regardless of age -is that the booker can't really know who the other 7 might behave. 

The other thing you might want to consider - perhaps - is the Sunshine Coast?  hosts up there have the same fears, but the partying and damage have not been as extensive so not as many people block. It's cheaper usually and less crowded. Alexandra Headland for instance has some great places. 

You are most likely to get good success booking this early - some hosts wont' have joined the dots about schoolies dates.

Good luck!

@Sarah977 - as a side note - and I 'm not having a go at you, just observing,  - I agree that posting a search for a  listing on the community boards isn't an effective way of finding a place. However when I said this recently to Rebecca, who apparently is well known to a lot of other hosts, I was indirectly or directly chastised by a number of people.  there do seem to be a lot of mixed messages on these boards

[Sarah977]

@Rowena29  I'm sorry you felt chastised re your response to Rebecca. It was more a matter of you not being familiar with her, and lots of knowing her from her extensive, articuate and helpful postings here that was why we jumped in and said it was okay. But you wouldn't necessarily have known that, as she bowed out of the forum for quite awhile here, due to her being undeservedly chastised by some heavy handed posters here about a year and a half ago. If you, for instance, posted here saying you wanted a beach vacation in Mexico, I'd think, Yay, I'd take Rowena anyday, and say sure, c'mon over. It would save you time searching through hundreds of listings.

Personally, I have no issue with posters who are quite active on the forums asking if someone might know of  suitable place, even though of course it's not really the right venue to be searching for accommodation. But when someone totally new to the forum asks, it's certainly more productive for them to be searching on the Airbnb site.

[Therese14]

Rowena and Sarah thank you for your thoughts on Schoolies week I've  just had a booking here is SA and am hesitant to accept as the Girl has only just signed up to Air BnB no Bio no Reviews. So I have told her that my place is like a spiritual retreat with not partying nor alcohol and quit time is 10 pm onward. have not heard back from her.