Potential long term stay

Nikki237
Level 2
Langford, Canada

Potential long term stay

Hello fellow hosts! Moderately experienced host here (45 reviews). We typically don’t accept reservations longer than 2 weeks but a 5 week stay just came up. Both guests in the party are identity verified, and they’ve joined in June 2020. Red flag: no reviews, and this is their initial message “Is there any parking in your driveway.We will be driving a rental & would like to park near the entrance to the apt. ”. My response, “Hello (guest), thanks for your inquiry. Parking on the driveway can be arranged! I see you both are from Ontario. What is the purpose of your trip to BC?”

The answer, “We will be visiting our son & grandkids in
White Rock & then over to the island for 5 weeks. We typically head to Florida but feel safer in Canada this year.” - sounds like a fair response and doesn’t scream “squatter” vibes to me. 

 

So my question is, based on the above response, are you inclined to host this guest for 5 weeks with no reviews? Do you include weekly cleaning for an additional fee? What are your rules for long term stays?

8 Replies 8
Normen0
Level 10
Canada

Tho it sounds like a decent booking to me, I would follow up with asking how many people are actually staying ~especially with grandkids. Important to know if you’re expecting children there on a regular basis. Would that have an impact on other units?  

I don’t change more for cleaning typically for a long term stay - I have a five week one right now. In my mind, the constant income with little work for the next five weeks off-set additional cleaning required. I would also expect seniors would be not too dirty. That has been my experience but of course there is no guarantee. 


With any long term stay, I make a strong effort to meet face to face on arrival or shortly there after. 
I find it’s better to get a sense of the folks and also they get a sense of you and you can reiterate that they need to contact you if they have any issues.  

Best of luck. I hope it’s a great booking for you.  

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Nikki237  Sounds like a fairly non-risky booking to me. As Normen pointed out, I would be very clear about not having anyone else over, or they might think that it's fine to have their son and family come over for a few days and stay with them.

 

Their initial message shows a lack of understanding of how to communicate with a host- you don't just start with questions, you show a little common courtesy, like "Hi XX, we are searching for places to stay in Victoria and yours looks nice. Would there be space to park....".

 

But your response was perfect and ellicited a more informative message back. I've had the same experience with newbie guests, who turned out to be fine guests.

 

Newbie seniors might need a bit of explanation as to what renting an Aiirbnb means, as many seniors have only stayed in hotels or traditional B&Bs before and might have unreasonable expectations, like you providing breakfast, or getting clean towels every day. So just make sure they "get" it- that it is neither like a hotel, a B&B, nor a long term rental where you can just invite family and friends over. 

 

That said, you can play things by ear. A friend who hosts in Canada has a repeat senior couple who book a few days every few months- they come to see their daughter and grandkids, but prefer to have their own quiet place to go back to. There is another senior couple in town they are friends with and like to have over sometimes for a couple hours for drinks and a game of cards. My friend, the host, has no issue with this and doesn't try to charge extra or anything.

 

If these guests follow through and book with you, I could see them also becoming repeat guests if all goes well.

Katrina79
Level 10
Saskatchewan, Canada

@Nikki237 @I just finished hosting a 7 month local stay with zero reviews…best guest ever! Trust your gut, you have some experience as a host. You know that you can’t predict how a stay will go no matter what, but you sure can get a good feel for the guest. I would jump in hosting these guests, knowing I’m prepared and comfortable dealing with anything that may come up! 

Wow 7 months! I'm so glad this guest was great for you. I have had a few inquiries for a 5-7 month stay but declined their requests due to them trying to work out a deal outside of Airbnb. Out of curiosity, did you live in the same house/building as your rental? 

@Nikki237 @No I don’t reside there. She did want everything to go through Airbnb for payments and was happy with the cost, I think I offer 15% off for a discount on a long term stay. It turned out really well and originally it was only going to be a few months. I would suggest with a long term guest you may want to only book them in for a month and block your calendar. That way both you and they guest can decide if it will work out once you are a few weeks into the stay. 
For me it was really a nice break to not have to clean for turnovers all the time. After 7 months you are going to do a full deep clean upon move out, and to be honest it’s probably the same after 1 month. 

Nikki237
Level 2
Langford, Canada

@Normen0 @Sarah977 @Katrina79 
Thank you all for your responses! To follow through, I approved their booking. 
My response, "Sounds like a fun trip! We’re looking forward to hosting you. Due to your stay being over 28 nights, we have a few more house rules.
1. Weekly cleaning can be arranged for an additional fee of $49 per clean (only if you prefer)
2. Garbage, compost and recycling will be collected weekly (you can leave it outside your front door).
3. Parking on the driveway will be subject to the size of the rental vehicle.
4. Due to this being a long term stay over 30 nights, we will send you an additional tenancy rental agreement if you decide to proceed.

Sorry for all these rules, but we feel it necessary for the safety and comfort of all parties.

If you agree with these terms we would be happy to approve your booking!"

Here in BC it is hard  to evict a tenant without a tenancy agreement if they decide to overstay their welcome; therefore, I felt it necessary to send one to them. To summarize, it's a document that clearly states the start and end date of their stay.

 

Addendum to agreement: 
1. No additional overnight guests. To clarify, only the persons approved in the booking can stay overnight.
2. No subleasing
3. No pets
4. Any transfer of money in regards to this rental will be through Airbnb only (ie. damage deposit and total cost of booking)

I hope this doesn't scare them off but after sending this to them I hope it also gives them confidence in their booking! 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I would make it mandatory that a guest pays for regular cleans at their cost.

 

This way you can monitor your place and make sure you don't end up with a massive clean at the end of their stay. @Nikki237 

Nikki237
Level 2
Langford, Canada

Hi everyone! Update. In case anyone is in a similar situation.. they turned out to be our favourite guests ever! They were the sweetest couple, and even wrote us a card and left us a gift basket at the end of their stay. The wife even texted me upon their arrival back home. Glad it was reciprocal, because they gave us 5 stars. It was a pleasure to host them and I’m happy that it worked out so well! Thanks everyone for your insight and advice.