Hi everyone, I have a dilemma that's becoming more frequent. I rent out a small part of my home (about 500 sq ft, private from the rest of the house, and with a separate entrance). I'm also a keen gardener. Recently, I've noticed more and more people renting my Airbnb for interior/exterior photography (fashion and wedding shoots mostly) and not disclosing their intentions. I specifically ban this use of the space after allowing it a few times as a new host, because it's an awful lot of wear and tear--they tend to drag furniture across hardwood floors, move everything around, have extra guests etc. I also used to work as a photographer and know how much it costs to rent a space for photography. It's a lot more than I charge for lodging.
The last guests I had this week were the worst yet--caused a ton of (small and easily fixable, but annoying) damage, repeatedly either blocked me in or out of my driveway while moving their car around so it wouldn't be visible in photos, trespassed on my neighbor's property to get a photo, pulled out all the contents of the supply closet in the Airbnb to use for 'props' (I specifically ask guests not to use), etc.
At this point, I'm ready to give up on actually banning this practice--it seems to have no effect--and have been thinking about just charging people appropriately for this use so that I can justify the extra work/cleanup I have to do. I would like to list it on a shoot rental website, but I'm uncertain how to direct people that way if that's what they want. Will Airbnb allow outside links for a non-competing activity? Requests to the 'superhost support' have been the opposite of helpful.
