Cautious First Time Entire Place Host - Pls Help!

[Jonathan338]

Hey guys!

so I’ve finally pulled the trigger and am beginning to rent my entire personal apartment once downtown LA out; I have my first guest arriving tomorrow and am probably overthinking and over analyzing everything haha and could use some help being brought back down to reality. My questions are:
-what kind of precautions should I take to protect my valuables? Should I remove everything I really care about?
-what do I do with my bathroom? Do I remove all of my personal toiletries? Even from under the sink & cabenits?
-If the entire place is rented, how much is too often when coming back to my apartment? I have a cat that will remain behind who needs to be fed daily and have his litter box cleaned- plus as a newbie I’m sure I’ll need to pop in to grab personal items

any other advice that you think could be useful would be amazing! Thank you everyone in advance!

-Jon

[Marzena4]

Hello @Jonathan338

If I were to rent the whole place (currently I am listing mine for weekends, but so far nobody has booked it to my relief), I would answer "no" to all the three questions.

I had to remove my personal stuff both from one room rented on a permanent basis, bathroom and kitchen, even if I rent just a room - I had evidence of guests taking my things, which I hate.

I would not leave my dear cat at the mercy of guests - he loves rambling around too, so he lives somewhere else (at my delisted place).

Up to you, but honestly, try to communicate with the guests as much as possible to figure out what kind of people they are. Read this forum here about damages done by guests - in most cases those incidents took place in entire house listings.

[Matthew285]

@Jonathan338, it is no wonder you are getting a lot of crazy thoughts about this upcoming guest arrival; your situation is a bit unusual for a "Entire Place" booking.

Usually when a Host puts their "Entire Place" up for AirBnB bookings, the Host tries to make sure they have no reason to go back into the property until the booking is entirely over. The guests also expect that the Host will not be entering the property at all after the initial check-in.

In your situation you have a poor cat left behind who must be fed and cared for daily. Plus, you expect to "pop in" from time to time?

Very unusual.

I... don't know what to say. Your expectation to re-enter your property is more like giving them a Private Room, but the listing is "Entire Place".

I would probably go a little crazy myself in this situation.

Oh.. and either lock up or remove any of your personal property that you don't want to go missing or get damaged.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jonathan338 I agree totaly with @Matthew285 and @Marzena4

If you plan to come and feed the cat then you should list a room, not entire apartment. In that case you can also stay in the apartment the whole time or just come once a day. In any case lock alll your personal stuff, valuables, documenst and your cat in one room.

If your personal things are in the bathroom and fridge then you should empty at least one shelf for them. But , some guests may use your stuff as Marzena said... 

[Marzena4]

Yes, @Branka-and-Silvia0 and @Jonathan338, SOME guests will even try to use your things when you are at the premises... Even your bedlinen... I'll leave no comment, it's a pity that it was true for me.

[Fred13]

I also would repeat everything suggested thus far by others, and go one step further; the likelihood of getting good reviews or having any fun hosting, will probably not happen with this arrangement. It is hard to 'mix' the two concepts, and ultimately you must decide whether your offering is 'in part' or as a 'whole', as you will see judging by the reaction of the coming guests. The cat, that guests have to take care of, is also another tricky issue.

Good luck.

[John1179]

I am new to hosting, my little shack is a bit different from a lot of properties as it is a shack on 5 acres , I work in another part of the state so rent my entire property out. I have removed all personal/valuable items I don,t want peopple messing with. My big risk is that I also have a open 3sided shed with a lot of tools and equipment, the best security I come up with was to lock all the expensive items in an outdoor toilet. I know I am taking a risk but have decided that it is a risk I need to take or not rent my place at all. I also have free ranging chooks, but I only need to feed them every couple of days and invite the guests to feed them if they want and to collect (and eat) the eggs.

At this stage I believe in the honesty of my guests

Cheers

John