Birmingham, Alabama

Ashton3
Level 1
Birmingham, AL

Birmingham, Alabama

Are there any hosts out there in Birmingham, Alabama that might be interested in starting a monthly meet-up? Or maybe quarterly? I would love to engage with hosts, support one another, and get to know the beauty that is right around us in this community of hosts. I believe that we can truly be better together and that when one of us shines bright we all shine bright! 

 

Looking forward to connecting, 

Ashton ***

Birmingham Host

39 Replies 39
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Ashton3,

 

A warm welcome to the Community Center, it is great to meet you.

 

It is fantastic to hear you would like to meet other local hosts. I haven't noticed many hosts here from Alabama, however you never know, more hosts are coming here every day. In addition to this, I would recommend taking a look at the Airbnb Meetup page. 🙂

 

 

Are there any hosts who are nearby?


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Cody39
Level 2
Alabama, United States

So glad to have my first property in Birmingham!

Dominic46
Level 2
Birmingham, AL

Hello @Ashton3 and @Cody39, my partner and I have a couple lofts we run as Airbnb's in downtown and would love to be a part of a Birmginham host community. It would be nice to share experiences, tips and insight. We have been hosting Airbnb for almost a year and have learned mostly with trial and error, if anyone can avoid some of our pitfalls, we would be happy to share. Most importantly, with some of the laws that have been implemented in surrounding areas that prohibit Airbnb, it would be beneficial if us hosts to be organized and proactively engage with the city council so they understand the benefit Airbnb has for the city and the community. 

 

Let us know if you might be interested and maybe want to meet.

 

 

 

- Dom and Josh 

Ashton3
Level 1
Birmingham, AL

I would love for us to all meetup! Should we try and plan something for February? Could be awesome to just swap stories and to hear some best practices from one another. So value being able to gather with people in our city. I completely agree with talking about the city council and I have a girl from Chicago that stayed with me and she would be so valuable to talk with us about that. She has just moved back to Bham and is hoping to become a host in the future and works with the realtor's association in Birmingham. 

Thank you all for reaching out! Looking forward to meeting you all!

 

All the very best, 

Ashton 

Was a meet up ever planned? Me and my fiancé have been hosting for a year and would love to be a part of that! 

Hi @Ashton0 start a meetup i'm interested.

Hi. I am in the Eastlake area and provide 2 bedrooms in Birmingham, Alabama. Would like notification by phone or email if you schedule a meetup, as I am a forgetful senior citizen and don't always check in with the community. I recently realized that smart pricing just keeps my minuimum amount showing and does not ever go up because someone else in the area keeps their pricing down to 20 bucks a night or lower. Frankly, I provide a lot of food for long term guests and have all the staples handy for them to buy groceries and cook for themselves if on a special diet (oils, spices, flours, sugars, canned goods and fruits dried and fresh). Mostly students on 3 or 4 months stay, as otherwise they live on junk food or ramen noodles. One room is short term most of time and one is long term. But the lower price allows for no profit and I often find myself running to the store to get things I am out of but haven't used. The younger crowd gives great reviews on the food here, when really they are only consuming whatever I had leftover and planned to eat the next day. Here lately, I figure a percentage of my grocery bill should be added to the nightly price, say 5 or 6 dollars a day to cover guest consumption. They do tend to bring their own food when there are dietary requirements or alllergies. But we tend to share a lot of dinners here and it is pleasant for me to have the company and conversation.  Everytime I try to raise a couple dollars, I get a recommendation to lower even more than before. Also I discovered that I get no booking inquiries when i raise price, only when I lower it. So why is that as it is still way under nightly prices for the cheapest motels in the area?  Also, my increase in price for weekends has not EVER been charged to anyone to my knowledge. So I just turned off the function that is supposed to raise the price to area averages, as it just does not seem to work when events are going on and it does not help me at all.  My landlord allows me to rent rooms this way so I can save to buy my house, but I cannot profit enough to save at these lower prices. Any advise here?

Ignore the rates AirBnB suggests.  Each host has to decide what makes sense.  You provide food which most places don’t.  I wouldn’t provide food myself except packaged food because of the potential liability and I’m not so sure about the laws involved with providing meals.  I leave drinks, crackers, cereal. Coffee, etc. and microwaveable things like soup and popcorn.  I  don’t interact much with my guests as they have their own private space and entrance.  Check the listings of your nearest competitors and see if your spacecwarrents a higher price.  Good luck.

Ashton, post here for when and where  the meet up is scheduled or look me up on facebook and let me know thru messenger. I can host a meet up if not too large a crowd, prefer that as i do not travel well at my age. LOL

I own a home and currently working full time. We would like to run airbnb in one of the rooms. Can I open the airbnb account in my wife's name who is not legally authorized to work in USA?

Also, is running airbnb considered a job? Need a legal advice!

airbnb hosting is self employment. save all receipts relevant and save about 30% of your income to file income taxes. Not sure about the wife not legally authorized to work in USA...ask Airbnb legal team or a good immigration lawyer?  If legally married, she should be able to work here if living with you??? Why not open account in both names, show both as hosts and allow here to handle it?

I am not a lawyer, but was personal assistant to one for 12 years, so my legal knowledge is general. You have to be specific why she is not authorized with an attorney who may answer that question with a phone call and no charge. Call one and see.Good luck.

We are in Tuscaloosa, and started our AirBnB business recently. We would also be interested in a meet up group. It has been so helpful reading the forums and You Tube videos regarding short term rentals. I am also a Realtor with the Tuscaloosa Association. Each city seems to have it's own guidelines and rule, so I would like to find out more about Birmingham for sure! Let us know if you will be meeting.

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Michelle-And-Jerrod0 Are the northport rules for str more lax than in Tuscaloosa? And has the recent crackdown seemed to bring you more guests across the river??

Yes the rules are more lax in Northport. The Tuscaloosa rules, especially for condos and historic district homes,  are problematic for people looking to buy and create a short term rental business. Time will tell as to how the short term rental dynamic will affect everyone involved.