Attracting Long Term Guests

[Huma0]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had tips for attracting long-term guests, including ideas for additional marketing that would draw them to my listing. By long-term, I mean between one and six months.

I currently have two rooms listed in my home that get pretty much booked back to back by short-term guests and another room where I currently have a long-term lodger. His lease is up later this Summer and, while I'm reluctant to have a third bedroom with short-term guests (too much for me to handle, plus I like the security of having at least one long-term person here), I'm also reluctant to get another lodger because they pay much less than Airbnb guests but usually make more mess/ignore house rules, and this effects my business as a host.

So, I thought a long-term guest would be the ideal solution. When I first listed a room, I had a few of these (between one month and four months) and everytime it worked out brilliantly. These were people coming to London for work, study or internships. I don't get them anymore because the rooms are booked up months in advance by short-termers.

My problem is that the room that I want for long-term guests only barely gets any views at all because the calendar has been blocked since last Summer. I have opened up some dates now, but the room only has a handful of reviews (100% positive) from the brief period I hosted guests in it while I was inbetween housemates. Any ideas on how I can get the listing noticed/attract the long-termers without having to use Instant Book? I have thought about approaching universities, but other than that, I have no idea...

[Huma0]

@Jessica-and-Henry0

That's a lot of food for thought. I had been thinking that I would keep the listing with a minimum 30 day stay for now and then if I get a couple of long-term bookings with a short gap inbetween, then allow it to be booked for short-term stays. It's a bit of a risky strategy though compared to yours as what I really don't want is a third room with back to back two-night stays. I tried that briefly last Summer and made a good income, but it nearly killed me!

Good advice also re the pricing, but I am not sure the average student will be able to afford my place and I don't think I can compete with dorms or Halls of Residence, which is the equivalent here. The 'student' who stayed here had given up a well paid career to retrain and his course costs £8,000 for one semester. He was not the type to stay in a dorm and although it wasn't cheap for him to book my room for 3.5 months, he wasn't paying that much more than a long term rental in the area, once you factor in bills and cleaning. The intern was being paid enough to cover the costs and then had some help from family for his other expenses.

It's definitely not easy to find short-term rentals here. The minimum is usually six months, there are large deposits to pay and often a lot of agency fees, so I guess that's why my listing is still attractive to those coming for shorter periods. Letting agencies here charge a fortune for short-term rentals.

[Don173]

Hi-I'm a newbe to ABNB as of April 2018 and have had a very successful summer with short term rentals.  My location is Point Pleasant NJ which is basically seasonal.  I want to start promoting it as a long term rental (6 months) from 10/1/18-3/31/19 with ABNB and start-up again as short term in april 2019.  I'm curious how helpful ABNB has been in promoting long-term rentals and what if any changes they recommended you make to your listing.  Do they separate long term from short term for easier searching?  I'm asking about your experience in these areas. (I hope this link works).  Thanks, Don

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/24537315?s=51

[Huma0]

@Robert-And-Nancy0 

Since posting this topic, I have been almost only hosting long term guests and I have found all the travelling medical professionals, which have included student nurses and doctors, as well as fully qualified ones, both from the UK and Europe, to be fantastic guests. As you said, they have fixed term rotations and primary residences elsewhere, so there's been no issues with overstaying (actually haven't experienced that with any long term guests). 

So far, I've not needed to do any additional marketing for this. They find me on Airbnb and actually the two nurses who stayed recently wanted to book here again for their next rotations but unfortunately not all the dates were available, otherwise I would have very happily welcomed them back.

I definitely think that this demographic makes for very good long term guests. I may well become more proactive about trying to attract them.

[Kelly149]

@Huma0 you know I'm a big fan of lots of words, so I would re-write the listing to say exactly what you're looking for. Spell out what you're offering & what kind of tenant you want to attract. Go ahead and say why the listing doesn't have many reviews but they can look at your other listings to get an idea of you and your hosting style. Mention that there will be other guest coming and going, etc. Then be very careful with how you set up the rules, cancellation policy & discount so that you aren't surprised by bringing in less than what you wanted.

Keep us posted, hope it turns out great!

btw, my abb guests tend to be last minute types and my homeaway guests book earlier, but I don't do long stays so maybe that would make it different

[Huma0]

@Kelly-And-Dan0

Can't seem to tag you (think that glitch in the system is ongoing), but thank you. Yes, I need to re-write the listing as it was originally written for short-term guests and I haven't really changed any of that.

I also need to get the figures sorted. I am prepared to take considerably less than I would with back to back short-term guests, which is what I have in my other two rooms because managing that in three rooms is too much for me to juggle with my day job. Also, I like the idea of at least one longer-term person here. However, I would hope to get a bit more than with a regular lodger. My experience so far with long-term Airbnb guests is that they are more respectful partly because they are not paying rock bottom prices! 

I still need to do the exact maths though...

[Kelly149]

@Huma0 one other thought... if it's the prep & turnover that makes you hesitant to do the 3 rooms as true STR, what if you hired a maid? If you knew that you could reasonably expect to be turning over at least one room/day and maybe more, could it be economical to have someone come in every day or every other day?

Also, with the new rules settings you could make it so that certain rooms could only checkin/out on certain days thus not creating overlap... Those rules have gotten much more customizable so it might work

[Huma0]

@Kelly149

Yes, that could be a possiblilty but it's quite expensive in London to get someone to come in and help with this kind of stuff, so I'd have to do the maths to make sure it's economical (I am not charging a fortune for my rooms as they are in a shared house with shared bathrooms). I already pay someone to come in once a week to do a few hours of cleaning, but he doesn't turn over the bedrooms and i still have a lot of other cleaning to do on top.

The other thing is that I like the security of having at least one long-term person here. I do have to travel for work sometimes and I have three cats, so it's usually been helpful to have at least one housemate to feed the cats and just for my peace of mind. While I woldn't expect a long-term guest to do this kind of stuff, so far they have been more than willing!

However, last time a friend came and cat sit and that worked really well (one of the rooms would need to be vacant for her to stay in) and I've signed up to a cat sitting service too, so that could be another option...

[Helen3]

Why don't you put it on Spare Room or similar sure it will get snapped up in no time - such a lovely space.

[Huma0]

Thanks @Helen3.

Actually Spare Room is the platform I have always used to find lodgers and I do tend to get inundated with responses. However, what I've found is that the people who respond on there looking for short lets want to pay the same price per month as a long let and that makes no sense for me. In those circumstances, I have suggested they book the room via Airbnb (at the Airbnb rates) and they balk at that. They don't understand why they can't get the same price as someone on a minimum one year lease...

[Ange2]

Also take a look at listings project

[Huma0]

@Ange2

Thanks for the tip. I checked this out but there are a couple of issues. One is that they don't let you list if you are listed elsewhere, so I could only use it if I stopped using Airbnb, which I don't really want to do. Also, they don't charge commission, but a weekly fee (between $30 and $180) to list, regardless of whether you get a booking or not. It could be worthwhile if you find the right person straight away, but that seems a bit expensive and I'm not sure how many users they have looking in London as it's a US based site.

[Ange2]

@Huma0  What a shame. I had no idea it had become so hardcore, I haven't used it for years. When I used it, it was free to list with no limitations like the ones you mention, shame what it has become, it was a great resource.

[Huma0]

@Ange2

Yes, it does seem a shame, but maybe they found it unsustainable the way they were doing it before. The prices do seem a bit steep though!

Incidentally, I was contacted today by one of my former (very lovely) long term guests. He's coming to visit me this Summer, which I'm really looking forward to. Of course, he will not stay as an Airbnb guest, not because we are trying to avoid the fees, but because he won't be paying to stay here. 

This is what I mean about the kind of long term guests I've hosted so far and hope to host in the future. They have become friends who I would never think to charge for staying with me for a few days when they come back to visit.

[Rebecca160]

@Huma0I love this room!

I do not wish to have long term  guests, as I do not want to deal with leases and tenant 's rights , which comes into play in the USA after 30 days of renting. Of those wishing to rent long term at my home, they have all been professionals: medical residents, Aurevedic students, professors on sabbaticals,  post-docs working on research at the national laboratories and a few on location for temporary work assignments. Sadly, a lot of them do not have reviews, having never stayed in Airbnbs before, so keep that in mind, if you want to target this post-college population.

@Kelly149s suggestion to do a rewrite on the space catering to the long term renter is a great idea!

You might alos place ads, with a link to your listing, at the nearby hospitals, medical clinics, universities, teaching hospitals and research institutes.

[Huma0]

Thanks @Rebecca160

Yes, I'm definitely going to rewrite the listing with my target audience in mind. I will also check out how I might advertise at hospitals etc. I know where my previous long-term guests were studying/interning/working so I will maybe contact those organisations as well.

I'm happy to deal with leases etc. and am quite knowledgable about tenants rights in the UK as I've been renting to lodgers for so many years. Actually, in the UK, if you live in the property (as your primary home), rather than rent it out as a separate unit, the law is very much in favour of the landlord rather than the tenant, so I'm confident that I'm well protected in that regard. I also make sure the legalities are very clearly spelt out in the lease so that the lodger is aware that they can't pull a fast one in this situation!

I once had a lodger who, when I gave him his notice, retorted, "I will leave when I want to. You can't tell me to because you have no legal right." I then recited the law back to him and he very quickly packed his bags 🙂