Long term stays!

[Casey122]

Hi all!

I am curious the best way to go about attracting and solidifying long-term (2-week minimum, 28-day max) stays during the months ranging from April - August?? Ideally the ladder, obviously, but I don't know how to deter regular user booking ahead of time now that only want 2 days or whatever, that would interfere with those looking for long term. I am booked pretty solid up until March but I'd still like to fill a few gaps here and there, but don't want to open the door for those long-term months to be affected. How can I find/let long-term seekers know I exist and keep the calendar clear so there are no conflictions with their requests?? I turned off Instant Book and raised the prices very high for all those months in hopes no one will throw a monkey wrench in before I discover the best answers to my dilemma here. I don't want to raises the "Min/Max" days just yet because I still have some spaces that could be filled till the end of February. Hope this works, never used this community page before. I'm a Superhost btw, if that somehow helps me.

~Thank you 😉

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Use the Custom Rules calendar function or Rule Sets to create the stay legnths you want for the months you want, @Casey122.  

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2061/how-do-rule-sets-work

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/880/how-do-i-set-the-minimum-and-maximum-number-of-nights-a-gues...

[Casey122]

Thank you, I will look into it.

[Casey122]

Any thoughts on finding those that are indefinitely looking for long term??

[Erick87]

Hi, I am new in airbnb. I have a question about long term stay. Someone booked my place for 1 month. My question is, do we have to do regular cleaning for them or the guest is the one who should clean the unit?

[Casey122]

You're only obligated to clean after they finish their stay. They only pay for one cleaning.  If they request cleanings throughout their stay, that can be negotiated.

[Sarah977]

@Erick87 I have a 2 week maximum, but a lot of hosts on this forum who do longer term bookings advise letting the guest know beforehand that you'll be coming in to change out bedding and towels, vacuum, or something  once a week. (of course you have to arrange a mutually agreed upon time to do this) This gives you an opportunity to make sure the guest isn't living like a pig in there, with food and garbage all over attracting rodents or cockroaches, or that things aren't being damaged, or the heat turned up to 90 degrees with the windows left open. Also can encourage cleanliness and tidyness since they know you'll be seeing the place once a week. 

There has been many a host who's been appalled at how the guest left their place that they hadn't entered to check on for a month.

[Erick87]

Hi Sarah, Thank you very much for the reply. It is a big help to us who are new in Airbnb.

[Yulianna0]

@Casey122, I have noticed just today that they have added new features to organize the calendar. Seems to be that you can choose length of stay for dates, check in and out on certain days etc. Don’t know if it appeared everywhere. If no, just wait a bit. You can open your calendar for short time for a while 

[Andrea975]

Sounds interesting!

[Patricia1624]

I'm ONLY interested in Long Term... One to three months ideally.   In Austin, short term rentals are strictly regulated and taxed.  I only want 28 days or more to fit into the more stable and regular rental market. but I do want my place open for a month or so a year for my own use. 

There doesn't seem to be an elegant way to state this in my listing.... and I know people will breeze right over the text and try to book anyway.  I've adjusted the settings to reflect my minimum stay, but I do think I need to collect a deposit and there doesn't seem to be a place to do this. 

Anybody?  Did I miss a page?

[Mai13]

I would put something in the ad header about discounts for long term stays, then make sure you offer a discount for month long stays or longer. If 3 months is the cap, only allow bookings up to 3 months out maybe, but I try to leave my calendar open. You'd be surprised at how early some people on the ball book. My monthly discount is 30%. Check the going rate in your area with other hosts, by searching as a traveler. I was booked up about 320 days last year, with only 1 or 2 bookings for less than a 1 month period.