@Kelly3, @Clare0 I got used to a nomadic lifestyle, living in different apartments and visiting family, renting the other place(s) if possible. Doing that allowed to pay for several small apartments in different towns instead of one bigger one.
We always had a business approach to it, clear offer, clear terms, a correct contract and friendly relations.
Airbnb is a recent way of doing that age old business. It brings more guests, makes it easier in a way, but it brings more pressure to conclude business very fast, so to skip some of the normal procedures. Before, we would exchange addresses, send a contract, the guest would read it and pay, we would be able to verify phone numbers and addresses and speak to the guest. Much less surprises that way, even if nobody had reviews.
The onsite hosting was new for me as an adult, even though I grew up in a house full of guests. I started it in an emergency situation, it turned out a pleasant experience. With an overload of stress the last weeks and dwindling bookings, I accepted a longer full apartment rental and will respire a bit in the South. Maybe that is a good way for me after all: switching between shared room when I want to profit from Paris and full apartment to rent here and full apartment for me there, when I have had enough.
After a lifelong experience with guests in private homes, I have to say, that the last year or two, Airbnb increased the stress level. The star system creates stress, the messages we get about falling stars are extremely intrusive and worst of all is seeing the stars every guest left. I did not know that there are so many crazy people around. Or amend that: my first studies were psychology and I read a lot of the experiments and studies, what people do, when they have the power to anonymously judge and evaluate and what more they do, when they are incited to correct some errors of someone else. It's no secret, they do a lot ...
But it is absolutely destructive for a host's mental health to have a few in a row that read the evaluation descriptions like an incitement to proove how wrong the host was. "Think hard about it, you'll find a thing he should have improved!"
One consequence of that, I block my second home now for most of the year, rent it only in the Summer. I found out, I can't lay myself open to getting intrusive comments in both places.
One other strategy: I invest a big part of the revenues back into the homes, so even a terrible guest pays to make the place nicer.
