Entire apartment vs 2 room (not the usual question)

[Fabrizio284]

Hello guys, I will quickly explain my doubt!

I have an apartment with 2 rooms and 2 private bathroom.

I want to rent the whole apartment, but I’m scared that sometimes only a couple will book and not two couple and In that case I would loose money.

On the other hand if I do two private listing, each with a private room, some couple could not like that cos maybe they are looking for a flat with no other person on it. And an other negative thing is that if two couple are looking for “entire flat for 4 people” (that’s is my perfect target), the apartment will be not displayed, since I’ve two different room of 2 person each and these do not match the filter “whole apartment for 4 people”.

So I thought about a third option, do 3 listing, that is a mix of the two above, it means 3 listing, one for the whole apartment and two for each rooms. But In this case means that I’ve to work on the calendar a lot (and that’s fine) but blocking so many days on the calendar will lead to worst ranking for my listing.

I hope I was clear enough explaining my self.

What do you think about that?

[Helen3]

This issue has been discussed on here many times before @Fabrizio284 so do have a look at previous threads.

You will need to do your research and see what type of option is more popular in your area. 

Personally I wouldn’t want the extra work involved in cleaning and prepping individual  rooms and you are more likely to get less positive reviews in shared spaces.

why not just have a single price for the flat? 

[Fabrizio284]

Thank you Helen, I did some research but the topic I found was not exactly the same or at list didn’t provide the solution I did. If I searched wrong, I apologize!

So far I think I will go with the only entire flat listing but I think I will keep wondering if maybe I would do more money if I just put two shared room.

Doing the researches, which research outcome will lead you to a solution rather than an other one? I mean how has the market to be for u to choice one solution more than the other one?

[Emilia42]

@Fabrizio284 

I have a two bed room and I LOVE it when one 2 people (one couple) book it. I charge an additional $15 per person over 2, so yes, I am losing out on $30 extra per night BUT there is always less stress with a couple, less clean up, and less amenities used.

Why not just make your apartment one price, regardless of how many people book it. If 4 people book, fine. But if only 2 people book, because they can afford it, then great! More money for usually less work. 

[Fabrizio284]

Because if I’m putting my apartment  on Airbnb is to maximize the revenue, so more room booked, more money I get.

Also because, talking about cleaning cost, it will cost me just a bit more to clean the second room once the cleaning team is already coming to clean the other room and the living room.

Does it make sense?

[Emilia42]

@Fabrizio284 

People will pay more money for a private space than they will for a shared room. There are also a lot of variables that will be hard for you to control when you have two seperate groups of guests staying.

Maximize your revenue by listing at a higher rate which will only appeal to a larger group of 4 when they break it down by per person cost. Don't think "by room" .... think "by apartment" regardless of the number of people.

[Fabrizio284]

Yes this make sense actually !

And you will suggest to choice the price of the apartment for 2 people and then add a different price for every additional person , right?

[Emilia42]

@Fabrizio284 

You could do that. But then you are going to feel like a group of two is taking away the apartment from a group of 4 (and you would make more money off the group of 4.) I thought that was what inspired your post.

So if I were you I would price your apartment based on 4 people. Say 200 per night (I just made up a #.) That would be 50 per person. If two people book it is still 200 per night so you will be making the same amount of money for less work. This way you will grow to love those two person bookings. Of course this will depend on your competition and what they others in your area are charging. 

[Fabrizio284]

But if I price the apartment based on the price right for 4 people (let’s say 200€ as an example), it will result too expansive for group of 2 people.

But if like this I’m gonna have enough occupancy it’s alright.

If not I can try the other way around, price the apartment for 2 people and ask more money for 4 people and see if I do more money.

Yes you’re right, actually the best strategy depends on the demand -> there are enough 4 people traveling together?

I think there is only a way to figured it out.. try!

Thank you so much for your help!

[Alice595]

@Fabrizio284  I have a three bedroom house. I list each individual rooms separately and an entire house listing which links to the three individual listings. It actually works pretty well for me. 

The entire house is usually booked for the weekends while each individual rooms are booked during weekdays. The entire house booking nightly rate is a little more than the sum of individual rooms. In Weekdays, the guests are mostly people who have jobs nearby. At weekend, the guests are mostly family or friends come to spend vacations in San Francisco or Napa Valley.

The other interesting thing is that weekends could be booked a few weeks earlier while weekdays are usually booked a few days earlier. Vacations are normally planned ahead. Work schedules could be changed anytime and therefore guests coming for work don't book until their job schedules are finalized.

As for the search ranking, the blocked dates don't play much in downgrading the rankings. 

[Fabrizio284]

Thank you for your detailed answer 🙂

When u say that the blocked dates don’t play much in downgrade u say that cos you try?

Because from my experience every time i start receiving reservations from booking.com for example and so I block the corrispondent dates on Airbnb, then I can really see and measure a downgrade.

When I stop doing that, I can see an upgrade as well.

Also, have u ever tried the other strategy? Like have just the entire flat?

Your answer if really usueful by the way cos my city is more a city where u go in holiday more than for business so this will lead me to the entire house solution more..

[Alice595]

@Fabrizio284  I have not tried manually block dates. The dates are blocked with Airbnb linked calendar feature.

I do have the entire house listing along with three individual rooms. I did see both my entire house listing and one of the rooms listing appeared on the first page when calendar dates were open for both. But Airbnb seems to only allow one single room listing appear on the first page for the same address. 

[Yadira22]

@Alice595  we do the same as London has a restriction of maximum 90 days per calendar year whereby a whole apartment can be rented out. So we would need to respect this law and overall it works great for us. We have saved enough dates for the Christmas season as to cover these whole place bookings. 

With regards to the single rooms, this take up more time due to cleaning etc and also needs to be made very obvious in your listing @Fabrizio284 - so only offer this if it interests you. 

One thing you could have is look at making the whole flat only instant book so Airbnb automatically favours this listing over the others- see if it works for you. 

Either way good luck to you! 

Yadira 🙂

[Alice595]

@Yadira22 Oh. If there is a 90 days restrictions, definitely you want to rent the entire house more days because the entire house can make you more than individual rooms. I assume that the dates of each room also count toward to the 90 days. 

[Yadira22]

Hi @Alice595 

“Entire place” Can be rented for 90 days max per calendar year in London, UK. Individual room rentals do not count towards this total within restrictions. 

But you are correct- “entire place” bookings generally make more money due to the added independence and privacy. Hope this clears everything up! 

thank you, 

Yadira 🙂