Building cottages to rent with Airbnb

[Susan634]

I just started hosting last August at my family's old cottage that I inherited a few years ago.   So far all has been good and I am very happy.  Recently I found out that a much larger piece of land (66,000 sq. ft.) about 500' down the road is for sale.  They are both on a large lake.  I am thinking about buying it and building 3 or 4 cottages to rent out as well.  My question is about what others might have experienced doing something similar.  According to the local planning department I am allowed to build up to 10 which I think is way too many.  I love the land because it is a slow slope from the road down to the lake, while my lot has a hill so you cannot drive to the water but you can walk.  The lot does have an approved septic system already installed.  I want to build the cottages as rustic and simple so they will not be high end so I cannot charge a high rate but this will cost me at least $250,000 to do.  I am afraid that the cottages will not be respected because of that and will be like a party campground.  I live a 4 hours drive away and will have to depend on an employee to watch over it.  I don't want the neighbours calling the police about noise.  Or, should I build only 2 cottages with high end finishes and charge more to get a better cliental, and run the risk of not being fully booked?  Did anyone out there do the same or similar thing?  What would you do differently and what were you happy about?    Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice.

Susan 

P.S. I plan to retire to my cottage in about 5 years and I thought it would be a good retirement income for me.

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Susan634 That is a fantastic idea! You can create something from scratch that will live for generations. 

I saw little cabins like this are $10k each in the US unfinished. 

Start with five and add a cabin every other year or something? 

Make sure you can do a “gang septic” next to a lake nowadays. I think they make you put in an an anaerobic one now. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

Tuff shed cabin

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@Susan634 Yes, you also make the rates to a point where the “party crews” don’t want to rent your places. 

Good luck, it’s an amazing opportunity and don’t limit yourself to just one booking platform. 

Each booking service is like having separate salespeople out selling your product. 

One salesperson working for you is great but how good would three salespeople work? 

[Claudiu-Nicolae0]

@Susan634, I think you can be fully booked, if along with AirBnB you will also use other booking platforms. Nowdays there are many options for channel manager software, that allow you to work with different channels at the same time, and avoid overbooking.