Brand new hosts - enquiry for long term stay - help?

[Kelly-and-Andy0]

Hi - we went live with our listing 3 days ago and have an enquiry for a 6 week stay - the traveller has one review (a good one) and is asking for a price - we are surprised at the long term request as the others we have gotten are for a night or two so far. 

She is asking for the best price - we already automatically discount for a long-term stay.  What should we be considering - how often does cleaning happen and what is expected normally of the host?  

Thanks in advance - we are drinking wine and freaking out LOL

[Fred13]

What you should be considering foremost is - risk. Think of all the things that can go wrong with this one long booking and multiply it by 6 looong weeks.

[Lana47]

I have received a similar request but for a period of 3 months. Hope somebody could give us some answers. My concerns are multiple - usually short-term stay will involve a contract, refences, bond, etc.  With this one - you cannot check references and there is no security as a host, since how do you evict them if they are not what they said they were?

[Sharyn10]

Hi Lana!  We have just moved from Brisbane to Christchurch and have recently turned a house of ours into AirBNB.  Just got a request for 3 months.  I have checked reviews and am comfortable with the 3 month stay.  Can you tell me what you did about your long term request?  Did you get a bond and sign a lease through the RTA, or did you get a security deposit through AirBNB?  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Jann3]

So, @Kelly-and-Andy0, several things:

1. Your BEST RATE should be the 30 day or more rate that you publish in the listing. Don't offer less. It keeps going...they keep asking for more and more.
2. Make SURE that a stay over 30 days does NOT give them "tenant's rights" in your city/state/country. In California they must be evicted in court if you let them stay 30 or more days and they don't want to leave

My suggestion? Don't do this one. Wade in to AirBnB at the beginning w/short term rentals and disallow extended stays ... mine are set minimum 1 day, maximum 29 days. Do this until you are comfortable with the kind of people your listing is attracting.

Just my 2 cents...Good luck!

Jann

[Kelly-and-Andy0]

Ahhh ok thanks so much Jann - that helped a ton - so did the wine ;o)

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Kelly-and-Andy0@Lana47

The best advice I can give is listen to @Jann3 and @Fred13.

Personally, I host a lot of long-term guests and the only reason I do this is because my long-term guests international exchange students in Seoul with a student visa for 4 months (1 semester). Many of my house rules are specifically targeted for this guest group, and I usually have time to exchange messages and get a pretty good feel for the type of person to expect. We would not accept any guest long or short if we were not comfortable with letting that person sleep in our home for several months.

Our first 2 guests were both long-term (4 months and 1 month respectively) and one guest was a 1st time Airbnb user. We were lucky that our guests were understanding that we were new, unexperienced hosts and helped us find a good balance in terms of what to provide and and how to handle housekeeping. A bit of hands on experience and a lot of reading up on the CC and learning from the experience of other hosts really helped me.

Hosting needs and considerations are significantly different between long term and short term guests so unless you are really ready to handle long-term guests, I think it's better to take it easy and stick with short term guests while you get your feet wet 🙂

[Marzena4]

Hello @Kelly-and-Andy0. Beside all that the hosts above have said, sometimes the host and the guest just don't get on well. For that reason I do not allow now stays longer than 1 week. At least in the system settings.

[Moira21]

@Kelly-and-Andy0 Have read some good advise from other hosts. I echo this, better to offer short term accommodation only until you're more comfortable with hosting. Don't let the money rule your head!

[Moira21]

@Kelly-and-Andy0 But if you decide to allow a longer term stay and the guest has only one review, you could contact the previous host for more info before approving the booking.

[Cecilia155]

@Kelly-and-Andy0

I may have come in late on this one, but thought I would give my thoughts on it anyway.

I recently had a long term request and had them stay 3 months.....biggest mistake I ever made.  It gets uncomfortable after a while, when you are advising them to clean up (common areas) after they use them.  When they start to disrepect your home and you for that matter.

If they ask for a discount, I NEVER give a discount.  The only reason is, that usually depending on their occupation, the company pays for their living expenses and rental.  Which is what I found out later.  Not that they ever asked for it, however when they do and they tell me their occupation, I pretty much know, they want to pocket a percentage of that money.

I was new as well, when I accepted this guest, thinking this is going to be fantastic.....a guest for three months.

Always remember, if it's going to cost you your peace of mind, it's too expensive.

Best of luck

[Yin7]

Hi hosts:

   I recently hosted a long term accomodation of 6 weeks. they are ppl from Canada, coming brisbane for medical treatment. 

We had agreement of cleaning and changing linens every 2 weeks and provide all essential for the time been. it's a great experience. I think you should consider it. just making sure any requirements between you and the guests and good luck for this.

Yin

[Diane53]

I personally wouldn't accept the booking. 6 weeks is a long time if you and your guests don't get on or if there is a problem.

[Graeme14]

Hi Kelly & Andy,

I've been hosting for the last few months and happy to share my experience!

Had several 2 and 3 night stays - all 5* reviews, I then received a request for a 4 week stay (same deal asking for best price) - as you have experienced excitement ensued!! Perhaps niavely I quick smart offered a great price and the guest booked - I also offered to change the linen and towels weekly.

On reflection the learnings are that overall several short term bookings would have been better, my ascent to superhost would have been faster - the cost of weekly cleans decreased profitability. It seems interaction with a long term guest is greatly increased - for now I've decided to stick to shorter term bookings!

Hope this helps.

Happy hosting

Graeme

[Leady0]

Hello all, we have been renting in Airbnb for about 9 months and have had only short stays. We just got a request for a person wanting to stay for 3 months, he said he would be in the area for work. 
we have never hosted over 7 days so I am weary.

What should we look for and what c a we legally ask for?