Creating a Shared Community House

[Ellen-and-Todd0]

Hi all,

We are looking at buying a 6 bedroom home. Each room has it's own private bathroom. It is currently a proper Bed & Breakfast.  We will not be local all the time and are not planning to keep up with the breakfast part.

Our thought it to create a common community house (not sure what to call it yet). Guests would rent a room and have their own private space there. Then they would share common large living room, kitchen, and outdoor space. There they can mingle (post covid) and connect with others if they like. A bit like a youth hostal, but for adults. It would be in a very busy tourist town so it will attract vacationers of all ages.

Has anyone done something like that? Any thoughts, tips, ideas?

Thank you!

[Emilia42]

@Ellen-and-Todd0 It's called a "Rooming/Boarding House." Many municipalities have regulations/laws surrounding these types of dwellings. Make sure you review the ordinances wherever you plan on buying. You are going to want a trusted property manager close by to handle any issues that arise and someone to keep common areas cleaned regularly. 

[Kelly149]

@Ellen-and-Todd0 our guesthouse is in our backyard and even with us on-site I've been surprised by some of the things that guests have done.... I don't know that I'd trust that things would regularly go well with 6 separate groups of travelers. @Emilia42 is right, I can imagine your neighbors & city having some opinions about that and I think it sounds like a very fulltime job to keep a property like that up and running

[Sarah977]

"A bit like a youth hostal, but for adults."

What you are describing isn't "like" a hostel, it is a hostel. Hostels these days aren't just youth hostels, lots of adults stay in them. Nothing wrong with that, there are other Airbnb listings that follow the same model. And I would advertise it as such. There are also online hostelling sites that you could advertise on, so you'd be attracting the type of guests who enjoy that. 

Emilia has pointed out the things you need to be aware of when undertaking a set-up like this. I would add that you might consider that rather than renting 6 rooms, you look for a live-in manager who would be responsible for making sure it all flows smoothly and keeping the common areas clean, who would occupy the 6th room. It would be good to have someone in residence who is a good "people person" who could smooth things over if there are guests who aren't getting along with each other. A friend of mine runs a small hostel in my town and does this and it works out quite well. 

@Ellen-and-Todd0

[Ellen-and-Todd0]

Thank you ladies! Very insightful and helpful tips. 

[Helen3]

There are definitely a lot more risks with this sort of model @Ellen-and-Todd0  particularly as you want to do this remotely.

Guests staying in this sort of accommodation (as you've probably found out through your market research) most commonly complain about noise from their fellow guests and dirty/messy shared spaces. 

How are you planning to manage these sort of issues while hosting remotely/?