Common areas

[Jake175]

Hello !

So I am currently in the planning stages for 2 houses I’m building in an area that is starting to have tourism boom. 

I would ideally like to air bnb both houses.

But in the future I would like to potentially rent the houses out. So will build traditional style houses

My question is, if I build a traditional 3-4 bedroom house could I air bnb each room seperatly and have the rest of the house ( kitchen, bath rooms, living area ) as a common area for the guests ?.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated ! 

[Gillian19]

@Jake175  You can do whatever you like. however you do need to consider any likely restrictions that will be imposed by your local councils. In NSW tighter restrictions are coming in and who knows what else they will come up with.

I also think that managing rooms with shared amenities is a significant challenge and maintaining good reviews could be hard. There is a high likliehood that people would leave mess as no-one willknow it was there's - if that makes sense? Personally I think it would be a lot of work. Only you know if the local market will make it worthwhile.

[Wendy117]

Also a challenge as individual guests may not be compatible which could be reflected in your reviews.

 I have a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom listing that has an adjoining door so i have a choice of letting 2x 2brm apartments or one large one.  I do that by linking the listings in airbnb so there are no double bookings.  Adjoining wall and door need to be solid to reduce noise, in my case double brick wall, solid core door and i put up an extra thick curtain made of a quilt on one side when i am letting them seperately.  This works really well as there is  little competition for 4 bedrooms, but there are not always big groups looking for accommodation. Just something else you could consider.

[Wendy117]

@Jake175  forgot to link you into my comment

[Sarah977]

@Jake175  Would you be prepared to do daily cleaning of the common areas? One dirty guest can turn the bathroom or kitchen, or even the living room into a disgusting mess in short order, which wouldn't be fair to guests who like and expect a clean place. And how would you know which guest was a pig if there were 4 unrelated people in the house, so you could leave honest reviews?

[Paul154]

@Jake175 

You can have your  cake and eat it too.

Airbnb'ing individual rooms will bring in more income. 

Although it does come with more expense - daily cleaning of common areas.

But you can mitigate the problems by making the house semi-unpleasant to hang out at and by providing less service. 

Do not put in a TV  in common area- let guests watch tv/computer in their room.

Do not put in a stove/oven, dishwasher and big refrigerator. While you can build the space for these products, just don't put in until you rent long-term or sell. Put small reefers in the private room.

Two bathrooms minimum, but put in showers - not time consuming bathtubs.  

Good luck

[Jake175]

Thanks mate, that’s some really good advice. If there is multiple bookings then daily cleaning will be essential. I feel like being upfront in the listing saying that multiple rooms are listed and that there will be common areas with in the house is also important. Do you agree ?

[Paul154]

@Jake0,

You may choose to disclose no-host house shared with other Airbnb guests. Your choice.

I choose not to disclose, cuz I don't want guests who think the house will be unsupervised.

But depends on you, your style and price.

Another thing to realize. Without a private bathroom, it is very difficult to be a superhost.

No loss really, cuz you'll make up for it with more revenue. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jake175 

A shared bathroom is not what guests want I am afraid 😞 but maybe you could build smaller apartments with the possibility to be booked separately or together.

Just for the idea, you can look at our floorplan, we have one 85 m2 apartment divided to studio + 2 bedroom apartment which can be booked separately or together. It works perfectly.

Our 2 bdr ap. is more booked then the studio, probably because there are more studios available in our city.  During the high season, they are also often booked together as 3 bdr apartment with 1,5 bathrooms (both apartments share the same entry hall)

The whole place can be rented long term as well, to 1 or 2 groups of tenants.

Although our bigger apartment can accommodate up to 6 guests and studio can accommodate 2 guests, often just 3 or 4 guests will book both apartments because they want more privacy, or each wants his own room or they want 2 bathrooms.

[Gordon0]

@Paul154 makes some good sugestions, @Jake175. A 'must do' for me would be en-suites to each bedroom, a mini fridge and, ideally tea/coffee making facilities. Likewise, make sure any common spaces are easily cleaned and set up for heavy traffic. 

[Jake175]

@Gordon0  Thanks for the info. 

Im thinking that’s the approach I’ll take. If I decide on a 4 bedroom I’ll hopefully have 3 rooms with en-suites. And the mini fridge idea is a great one