We are doing upgrades while our listing is unbooked

[Ted307]

Since we have no bookings on our calendar we are using this time to add an AC and do some painting. Normally this time of year we are booked so we can not do these summer chores. We have had 2 years of very good income due in some part to Covid restricting travel. Our little place has never had air conditioning in the last 100 years, but "Global Warming" and the modern world is catching up with us! We are waiting for the UPS delivery of an AC unit for the living room, and have installed a smaller one for the bedroom already. In our own house on the property, we have not used the air conditioning yet this year. Prescott is really a very mild climate!

I would like to ask you, if you host, what are you doing now? I have seen some post that they are selling, which is disturbing to me. I do not want to sell our place! Fortunately, we do not depend on the AirBnB money to pay for our living expenses -- YET!

Please tell me, how are you coping with the booking drought?

[Ted307]

@Huma0  That sounds like an interesting option.

Here in US, I use my Social Security number for such things. Do not know the equivalent in the UK. The IRS has what they call a Taxpayer ID number for those times you do not want to give out your SS #. Maybe there is something similar for you? I use the title of the listing, since we only have one rental, "Aspen Creek Bunkhouse". Here it is cheap to file a DBA for what ever name. I would think you could just put your own name, too. We have insurance on our AirBnB rental under our names.

At the college I used to work for, one host had 4 boys, 2 rooms with bunk beds. They were 16 - 17 years old, I am sure you would not care to have that many boys in your nice place! But, he was enjoying the boys, and the extra cash 😉 They did cook evening meals, and also gave the boys a ride to school. But, he worked as a tutor for the college, a double dipper.

I really like the night nurse we have rented to twice, now. Works 12 hour shift all night, sleeps all day. Does not even cook. Eats a lot of raw veggies. I would like more tenants like him! I have considered giving our card to the hospital he works for.

Chris

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

I did think about entering my national insurance or tax number. Not sure if that would work, but I guess worth a try. One other thing did bother me about this website though as it seems that your exact address shows up on the listing and I am not sure I am comfortable about that. I like that guests on Airbnb can see the approximate location and contact you for more info but do not see the full address until after they have booked. It just seems like a security risk otherwise.

I have really enjoyed hosting nurses (have also hosted some visiting doctors and professors too who were also good guests). Two of the nurses I hosted in the past few months were completing their training and needed to come to London fairly frequently to do their rotations. I would happily welcome them back, but they never knew their dates or got their funding in time because the rooms were always booked by the time they asked me.

I suppose that's one potential upshot with the Airbnb Summer Release fiasco. Maybe these nice nurses will finally get a look in!

[Ted307]

Visiting faculty to your local college, seems more suited to your beautiful place. Often those are not very well paid, unfortunately. Doctors are too well paid to want to stay at my place, maybe not yours. London is expensive. We have a cousin there, stayed with her in 1998 when we went to the World Cup Soccer -- France won, so we left France and stayed with her the last 2 weeks. Wonderful! Would love to return some day.

Not sure about the site you mention, we have had some requests to come and see our place before renting, which we declined. They could cancel after they see it pretty easy.

Our traveling nurse works for an agency, maybe if you contact the agency your nurses work for, you could get more nurses.

Chris

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

Thanks for the suggestion. @Debra300 also suggested contacting agencies for travelling nurses. I hadn't thought about that before because I'm not so clued up about that. The nurses and doctors etc. that stayed with me before made the booking themselves and never mentioned being hired by an agency, but it makes sense. I've hosted a few doctors but only one visiting professor. Not sure what his budget was, but he never complained about anything and left me good ratings, including for value.

Yes, London is very expensive and my listings are not the basic, bargain end of the market (especially with Airbnb guest fees, but I guess more affordable for direct bookings via other methods). Still, I feel they are reasonably priced for what they are, otherwise I would not have been fully booked before this Summer Release. Any similar listings I have seen are priced much higher, unless they are a lot further from the centre, whereas I am located one stop from Zone 1 with excellent transport links (that in itself saves guests a bit of money as public transport is pretty expensive).

Perhaps your place is not right for doctors, who knows? But nurses and foreign students (not sure if you get those in your area) perhaps. I wish I knew enough about your location to offer you some advice as you have done for me, but all I know is that it sounds like a pretty cool place to visit!

[Ted307]

@Huma0 

I liked the students we used to have in Seattle, but I was not their host. He had 4 boys, more than I can imagine ever dealing with! Those students would have to be put in bunkbeds, to fit 4 in our little place would be way too much wear & tear.  Adult college students would still have to double up to afford to stay here. I have considered it, we do have nursing students at our local 2-year college.

I like the idea of travel nurses because they can afford it, our little place is quiet for a day sleeper, and is is a very safe neighborhood. The nurse we have had twice works 4 days, then leaves. But, a nurse that is working for a 12 week contract might be more difficult to host. More like a regular long term tenant, which we have had experience with and do not want. We are enjoying having it vacant these past 2 weeks, actually. We cooked pizza out there and used the BnB patio for dinner without heating up the house. It was a high of 89 yesterday! (A lot cooler than the high in Phoenix, where most of our guests are from).

Really, I just wish that AirBnB could get it's search problem solved, I was not unhappy with the way it was before the latest "Update". I could take people's credit cards through Pay Pal, but it would cost about the same as the charge we pay to AirBnB.

[Huma0]

@Ted307 

The student nurses were ideal because they were doing their rotations five days a week and the hours could be quite long, plus one of them also had a part time job and would spend what little time she had outside of that to visit her boyfriend. 

They get funding for their accommodation while doing their rotations and they seemed well able to afford my listings with that (they live with their parents the rest of the time and have part-time jobs to help with other expenses). In fact, when I asked two who were friends and wanted to stay at the same place if they would consider sharing a room, they said no, they needed a room each. So, they were not that broke! 

The other (always foreign) students I host don't usually have part-time jobs (they are usually allowed to work a certain number of hours a week) so I guess their parents have enough funds to cover the accommodation. I certainly never thought when I started hosting my rooms that students would be able to afford them.

Yes, it is nice to have a bit of a break and a bit of space but things were also going well for me with Airbnb (back to pre-pandemic booking levels) even though I had put my prices up and turned off IB. Now there is nothing... Just tumbleweed.

[Ted307]

I agree, @Huma0 , it is a ghost town here at the Bunkhouse in AZ! We did finally get a booking for the 4th of July, from VRBO, yesterday. When we get a nice window replacement for next to the AC, I will post new photos and re-launch it on Air to see if we get any interest from the new AI.

Our Chinese students - this was in the late '90's - were all from affluent families. It is expensive to send them to Seattle. London even more so! There were very few girls, the families sent mostly the boys. The girls were only children. My girls enjoyed talking to them and they spent time at our house. Our local 2-year college targeted them, they pay full tuition and room & board.

Chris