Is your Airbnb accommodation also your holiday home?

[Sybe]

Hey everyone,

We pay special attention to the amenities we offer and the design of our listings for many different reasons, and we sometimes base this on what we would like to be offered when searching for our own holiday retreat. Your listing is essentially a product that you offer to clients (guests), and the goal as Host is to provide the most comfortable stay to our guests. 

One strategy to assess the quality of your product is to place yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Besides, a nice little retreat is very deserved after all the hard work that is hosting! So my question to you is:

Is your Airbnb accommodation also your own holiday home? 

Do you perhaps let family members stay? And is it just a personal retreat or are there any other reasons why you would or wouldn’t stay at your Airbnb accommodation?

Let us know!

Sybe

[Laura2592]

@Sybe we are about to sell our Airbnb which we also used on weekends about once a month. Interestingly we purchased another holiday location that we have NOT planned to put on Airbnb and that is really affecting some of our decision to sell and leave the platform altogether. Its night and day.

1. Holidays/vacations are about relaxing. Hard to relax if you know you need to leave the place spotless for the next guest and are concerned about reviews
2. Using an Airbnb as your own getaway cuts into your bottom line for profits. The more you take it off the market, the less money you make. Conversely you may find you really want a quick getaway and the place books at the last minute. 
3. Things you find charming and quirky (or even comfort preferences) may be things guests turn their noses up at. There is always a balance between what is your place and what is open for the general public. Likewise if you want to do a renovation for your own pleasure or use, you always need to take into consideration the downtime during the work/disruption and guest habits.
4. Leaving your own supplies at your space can cause guest issues, so it can be a pain to rid the space totally of your items and carry those back in/set up each and every time.

I have found after several years of hosting in my own getaway that I MUCH prefer having a space I do not open to others. There is a big difference between a vacation home and an investment property. We had a hybrid and it was neither as relaxing nor as profitable as if we just decided to do one or the other. If we ever return to the platform it will be investment only.

[Sybe]

@Laura2592 Thanks for sharing, these are some interesting arguments why not to use your own accommodation. It sounds like yours is (or was) more a holiday home first and Airbnb second, or am I too far off with that?

[Laura2592]

@Sybe we purchased it for us, but with the intent of opening to others via some kind of short term rental. We knew that would always be the model and were doing it to offset the cost of owning it. Now we are selling to someone who will use our cottage as their primary residence.  I think if I had it to do over, I would not have purchased a property that had so much landscaping to maintain and difficult seasonal features to deal with (long gravel drive that gets icy in snow for example.)

In our New Orleans place, we purchased a small but charming condo only for our use, with no intention of opening it to other people (though we do let friends and family stay on occasion.) We don't charge anyone there except to engage and pay the cleaners after they check out. There are no reviews. There are no customer service calls. We know exactly who is in our space and trust them. When we go there, its to relax and enjoy.  Its quite a different feeling.

[Lorna170]

@Sybe  When I look for a vacation rental, I no longer look for the home that has personal decor.  I do not want to worry about whether or not I have moved, used, broken (gasp) or otherwise disturbed a host's valuable possessions.  I am not troubled by austerity as long as there is functionality.

We built one of our properties with the sole intention of using it as our vacation/retirement home.  The amenities, decor, kitchen equipment, linens etc. were all to my taste and requirements.  When the bottom dropped out of the market, we had to offset the mortgage by renting this property.  It became obvious almost immediately that renters had little regard for the quality items that we had installed.  They even managed to break the Kohler toilet in the powder room!  So we stripped it down, stored almost everything that had made the property "ours" and enjoyed the resulting income with reduced damages.  

With the exception of family members and long-term friends of 30+ years, I would NEVER rent or lend out my second home.   All of our properties that are offered for rent have been purchased and set up as investment properties with renters in mind.  We strive for some personality in each property, but none of them are my ideal vacation home ... emphasis on home.

[Sybe]

@Lorna170 that's a very interesting point, as you mention 

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@Lorna170 wrote:

@Sybe  When I look for a vacation rental, I no longer look for the home that has personal decor.

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and in the end the "emphasis on home". Would you say that to some extent the properties that are solely for renting out are set up based on what you'd look for in a vacation rental (not vacation home), since you're not looking for that "personal decor" aspect anymore?

I think it is generally is easy to see the value in items when you've purchased them yourself, and easier to disregard that value if you haven't. This of course is no excuse! 😉

[Lorna170]

@Sybe  When AirBnB was first operating, the premise was to invite people into your space offering a temporary accommodation for their visit to your area. It was a robust couch surfing, spare bedroom market which was very personal.  You rented a part of your home to people not unlike yourself who wanted a warm cozy property to enjoy instead of a sterile hotel room.  

The fact that whole house rentals, time shares and other commercial accommodations that no longer have an owner in situ are offered through AirBnB is a testament to the change in AirBnB's platform and the vacation rental market.  The guest dynamic has also changed drastically.  While there are still wonderful guests out there, you now run a serious risk of getting a bad actor who thinks nothing of treating your property with contempt or who tries to get a free vacation by slanderous complaints.  

I cannot bear the thought of having such guests in a property that has personal meaning to me.  That is why I will look for those properties that are investment offerings -- the host will not have put grandma's antique lamp in the living room, and should I break something, I know that it can be remedied by a call to the host and a trip to the local home store.

[Laurelle3]

@Sybe our Airbnb is too close to home to holiday in. It is a shared property and we are onsite hosts. I don't think I would take the chance of owning a property at a distance as I have read many a negative experiences and you need to have good back up services. 

[Sybe]

@Laurelle3 that'd be almost like staying over at the neighbours' for your holiday! 😄

[Debra300]

@Sybe,

Our Airbnbs are connected to or are part of our primary homes, and we live in each location part of the year.  They are furnished and equipped with all of the amenities that I would like to have whenever I stay in a vacation rental.  However, I don't consider either place to be my vacation destination, and we usually go somewhere else for our holidays.

[Robin4]

@Sybe 

Sybe, maybe it's not the answer you were looking for but, we do feel like we are on a holiday all the time in our present home. 

Throughout our married life we have had our fair share of ups and downs. The 'ups' are we have got to travel the world, and have raised a lovely caring pair of girls.

The 'downs' are my wife got MS which placed enormous strains on the family relationship. Try to put yourself in the situation where you have to clean your partner when they go to the toilet because she has temporarily lost her sight. The loss of personal dignity is almost too much to bare. Trying to start up a business meant that there were times when she did not know where next weeks housekeeping was going to come from. There were times in our life when we did it tough!

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All that is in the past, we now get to sit out in our garden, more often than not with guests, we soak up the tranquility the garden has to offer. On occasions we even get to share it with a local Koala......

Sometimes, time just stands still and we don't get around to thinking about an evening meal until 10.00-10.30 pm.

As most gardeners here on the CC will agree, a garden just relaxes and unwinds you, it oozes tranquility. 

Sybe, we still travel but, when ever we are away we are all the time conscious.....we can't wait to get home!

Cheers.......Rob

[Laurelle3]

@Robin4 great to hear from you again, you have been missing in action for a while. The garden courtyard looks good and the koala in the garden at night would be a treat for your guests. What we do without our gardens to spend extra time in to lose ourself with and sometimes a bit of hard labour. 

I always a good feeling when the guests say your garden is a delight to stay here and enjoy the different birds that they can see or hear.

Take care Robin, thinking of you both.

[Antony104]

We made the decision to purchase our 2nd property primarily as a holiday home for us and close family and secondary was to rent it out via Airbnb.

It's a small property so we are careful about what's in it and theres no space for clutter. We've tried to furnish it to our tastes so we have a relaxing and enjoyable time being there but also to accommodate the needs of our guests, it's a tricky balance, but I think it's very feasible.

I agree its a slight negative knowing that when you stay there's always some maintenance jobs to do, but if you stay on top of these then it doesnt impact too much and, in our experience so far (6 months in) it can work and you CAN have a relaxing and enjoyable time when you stay and it gives you a great insight into what your guests might want/need.

[Sandra4813]

Hi my Airbnb used to be my own home. We moved to be closer to our grandchildren. We decided after letting the house to tenants to try Airbnb & haven’t looked back we love it & the great guests we meet from around the world. I like to make our guests feel and home with comfy beds, well equipped kitchen & cosy lounge. That’s my Airbnb story!

[Lee4208]

We have a vacation house that is also our Airbnb. In the town where it’s located, the village has a maximum limit of 90 days for short term rentals. We bought the house with the intent of spending 3-4 months a year there, and because we like to avoid crowds, we skip the main peak months. So for us it works great to Airbnb up to 90 days, and vacation there too. There’s plenty of space to store/lock up our personal belongings. And because we’re there for months at a time, we’re not cleaning and packing up our stuff on a frequent basis. If it wasn’t for Airbnb, we would not have been able to afford the vacation house or the extensive renovation we did. For us, it’s been an awesome experience.