AirBNB Long-Term Stays

[Laura2217]

I wanted to start a thread to address some of the issues with long-term reservations, so AirBNB is aware of the issues.  Please add to the list, by sending a reply:

-There should be a penalty for guests who try to shorten their stay after check-in, to discourage them from doing this.  A minimum 30 day notice, which is taken care of by the last month’s rent.  This should be automatic, so hosts aren’t taken advantage of.

There should be a penalty to guests who change long-term reservations before check-in.  Maybe a percentage of the total reservation.  This is to discourage guests from blocking the calendar when they don’t know exactly when they plan to visit.

-There should be two deposits, one for long-term and one for shot-term.

-There should be the option to bill for regular cleaning and add that to the cleaning fee.

-AirBNB should charge for first and last months rent.

-AirBNB should confirm with hosts receipt of payment within a certain amount of time after booking.  I had one guest who’s payment did not go through and they had checked in. 

Please add to this list, and hopefully AirBNB will take notice!

[Seth157]

What is very annoying is having a long term guest who then cancels and airbnb refund everything based on the extra discounted rate, even though the guest didn't stay for that time period. It is an easy way for a guest to save money. All they have to do is book for 30 days, stay for 6 and then complain, airbnb will roll over and then the guest has cashed in! Another annoying 1 is nurses who book and then the hospital cancels their contract - not the nurses fault but then they want 100% refunds.

[Gary839]

TBH, I am not sure if Airbnb is the best place to rent long-term. The whole point of Airbnb is (or was) to rent out your home on a short-term basis. Airbnb is meant for travel. Outside of Airbnb specific issues you identified, it really does a poor job of addressing the legal and compliance issues that come with renting long-term.

For example in the UK you would need to give tenants who rent long term and copy of the EPC, the gas safety report (if your property has gas), EICR report, a government How to Rent guide and secure their deposit within 30 days.

Also whether you like it or not, renting long-term means a guest establishes tenancy rights (you wouldn't be able to justify renting this using a license or holiday let anymore, as it would become their primary residence for a set duration). This poses a major risk as you're probably not running all the usual compliance checks (like Right to Rent, which again is UK specific check to see if a tenant has the legal right to reside, and it has hefty fines if you don't comply and could pose you at a risk). Quite frankly, I am sure there are better alternatives to rent your property long-term wherever you are who specialise in that sort of thing. For example in the UK we have:

- Rentoo (long-term but more like Airbnb plus) 

- OpenRent (long-term budget)

- Upad (online agent)

- And of course your local lettings agents

In the US there is:

- OneRent 

- Cozy

- I am sure plenty of others I don't know about

Of course don't take this as legal advice and consult a lawyer who specialised in this sort of thing. But my guess is that renting long-term via Airbnb or any other platform, won't escape any of the regulations that come with tenancy rights (i.e. it is no longer a holiday rental and can't be classed as one). Thread carefully!

[Monica1286]

Agreed, changes definitely need to be made for how payments are processed with long term stays.

We have only had one long-term guest, and for every monthly payment I would receive an auto-generated message from Airbnb that they were not able to process the payment from the guest and the guest had 72hrs to complete the payment or the reservation would be canceled (at the 72hr mark they would be expected to leave!).

This is so stressful! And i NEVER received any automated update when the payment was made. The last payment they did not make and i did not get a cancellation email until 2 days after the guest was expected to check-out. Mind you, airbnb had also decided to give the guest 5 days to make the payment this time, which was giving them 2 free nights that had not been paid for in the previous month's payment.

I agree with getting first & last payment up front, so they would forfeit the last payment in the case that they are not able to make a payment and the reservation is canceled.

I would also like to see the payment being required 2 weeks prior to the "cancelation" date - similar to the initial payment which must be completed 2 weeks prior to the stay. This would allow greater time & communication between host and guest to ensure that if a stay is canceled, we can communicate check-out date/time with the guest, and the calendar can be freed up with ample time for a subsequent guest to book.

[Laura2217]

I stopped accepting long-term reservations and when guests ask. I say I will consider, but offer no discount and I required last month’s rent up front.  I also state in my house rules that my guests can’t consider my AirBNB a permanent residence and do not allow mail to be delivered.  This has pretty much weeded out any guest who wants to take advantage, but fully booked with short stays.