Two rooms - one listing or two listings?

[Max246]

Hi everyone,

I've found a couple of previous threads about this but they didn't quite go into the details and I'd appreciate some advice.

I have two spare bedrooms in my house (a double, a single, and I live in the attic bedroom conversion) that I have been letting out to AirBnB guests for a few months, and so far it's been under two different listings. I've had a few minor problems with this so I'm not sure whether I should list the house as one listing or keep it at two listings. I've recently opened up the kitchen and the living room to guests as well rather than keeping them cooped up in their rooms (this should be reflected in the new pricing). 

I'm not fully booked yet, so making changes isn't a big problem right now. I occasionally have both listings overlap, so one of my concerns about turning it into one listing is losing out on bookings, both because of the increase in price overall and losing a single room listing. Some people just want a bed for a night or two and aren't bothered about getting to use a TV and kitchen, and others expect much more, so it's tricky to find a balance. 

Rooms are currently around £25-30/night plus a small cleaning fee, not sure how much I can charge if I'm prepping kitchen, two bathrooms and a living room for guests, and if it would be worth keeping the second listing for the single room. Having everything in one sounds like it has its perks, but has anyone found out they weren't making as much money this way?

Thanks!

[Helen427]

Hi

Have a look at Greenlane, Auckland, New Zealand, Private Room listings - Hosts Howard & Jean - they have 2 rooms listed & are great role models in Airbnb community & Superhosts - it works well for them

[Max246]

I'm not sure how to find them exactly; I've had a browse but no luck so far. What do they do? Do they have two listings or more for the same house? Or one single that can be expanded?

[Dennis243]

My name is Dennis.  I have the exact same problem as Max in Carlisle.  I have two listings in my house. One room has been constantly booked with the calender almost full till December 2018.  The other room (also same size) has had no booking at all.  The calender has been blank since August 2018.  I have contacted AirBnB and their response has been unhelpful.

I wonder if anyone knows what could be the problem and how to resolve this so that both rooms get bookings.  Having a fully furnished empty room is depressing me.

Would't it be greate if AirBnB would assist in finding our why one of my listed rooms has no booking whatsoever.

Thanks

[Victoria567]

Hi @Dennis0

your room is probably empty because there may be new air bnb hosts now operating in your area as this platform of air bnb has mushroomed exponentially this year.

You have a choice of either lowering your price and inviting all sorts into your home, especially the entitled guest who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!

We should all in the U.K. take a leaf out of the Island of Skye’s business rule book,

For example look at listings for next July and August 2019 on Skye, where air bnb has mushroomed.....but any cheap rooms under the price of £65 per night........are remarkably few.

Yet visitors world wide, are flocking like lemmings to Skye, so much so, the locals are complaining about the influx.

My daughter visited last year, her experience of her host was poor, charging £70 per night, in what appeared to be no better than a hostel, being charged £5 a night for a towel!......Yes you read that correctly! No breakfast etc......yet this accommodation scored 5 stars across the board!

[Victoria567]

Hi @Max246

Each bedroom has to be done as separate listings to prevent a guest ( as happened to me) wanting the 2 bedrooms price to be the vastly reduced 1 bedroom price.

For the avoidance of hosting such entitled chancers, I suggest you call the London air bnb number and talk to an advisor who will talk and guide you through the process of listing your bedrooms individually.

I also had requests for 4 people staying so have a third listing where the 2 bedrooms are available to host a party of a MAXIMUM of 4 guests and get advice on how to synchronise the booking dates on your calendar to link between all your listings so you don’t double book.

You need to be really clear about what you provide particularly as this year I have seen the march of the entitled guest, usually an entitled chancer, make swift progress on the air bnb platform.

There is some business you can do without!......trust me, I’ve been at the receiving end!

[Victoria567]

Hello again @Max0

Regards the cleaning fee.

This cleaning fee is not applied each day, but for the entire length of the guest stay.

eg Cleaning fee is £20 , guest stays 1 night so cleaning fee of £20 is added to one nights accommodation.

Guest stays 4 nights so a single one off cleaning fee of £20 and not a cleaning fee of £80 is added to four nights accommodation.

You need to be really clear about what you provide particularly as this year I have seen the march of the entitled guest, usually an entitled chancer, make swift progress on the air bnb platform.

[Beate13]

I have listed a second apartment at the SAME address. ENDLESS PROBLEMS WITH THE BOOKING PROCESS. IF 1 APARTMENT IS BOOKED I DISSAPPEAR OF THE AIRBNB MAP

MONTHS OF EXPLAINING THIS TO AIRBNB HAS BEEN TO NO AVAIL . THEIR BACKOFFICE SOFTWARE CAN NOT  DISTINGUISH  between the  2 apartments AT THE SAME ADDRESS

VERY FRUSTRATING 

[Letti0]

@Beate13 Did you list the unit numbers as part of the listing address? I had to do this with my entire homes at the same address Unit 1,  Unit 2 and Unit 3 to give them distinct names. 

[Melissa728]

Thatnks for this Letti! I am about to list our second room and this is extremely helpful!