New to hosting? We’ve got you covered!

Answered!
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

New to hosting? We’ve got you covered!

 

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Hiya everyone,

 

We’re very pleased to announce a brand new board on the Community Center: the New to Hosting board!

 

This is a dedicated space where new hosts can share their beginner questions and stories, and we encourage all of you lovely experienced hosts to share the wisdom of your journeys and support of new members.

 

We’ve moved some amazing threads over to the board already so there’s some great tips to get new hosts started: a big thanks to all of you who contributed on them over the past few months and years.

 

What’s the best tip you’ve received on the Community Center?

 

It’ll be great to see how the CC has helped all manner of hosts in different ways and share your appreciation for your fellow community members.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

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1 Best Answer
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

This content is in our Archive board.

 

You can still access it if you have the link but it won't appear when you search the Community Center.

 

To ask a new question in the Community Center, please click:

 

Stephanie_0-1677151830470.png

 

Thanks

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74 Replies 74
Laura4829
Level 1
West Hollywood, CA

I'm having. trouble working out how many nights I've hosted to comply with the 120 nights allowed. I have applied for extended home sharing but have not heard back. Do I cancel my upcoming reservations if I've gone over the limit? 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Allyson36 

The amount of nights you have hosted is mentioned in under menu "performance", section "earnings", just scroll down to see statistics for the current year (or click on another year just underneath the graphic for previous statistics)

120 nights allowed... is that a USA thing or an AirBnB thing? 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Laura4829  Why are you having trouble figuring out how many nights you've hosted? Can't you look back over your completed bookings and add them up? 

 

If you cancel reservations, you will receive penalties and lose your Superhost status.

Allyson36
Level 2
Lake Worth, TX

I'm not necessarily new, i've been hosting since Sept. of 2018, but I am in Texas and it is 100 degrees and my a/c is out and I have guests...thankfully they are out at the moment, but there is a good chance I may not be able to get it fixed before they come in tonight....Has anyone had experience with this or have any ideas on what to do?

@Allyson36  Can you buy a portable air conditioner and provide fans? 

 

It sounds crazy, but I read a hack I haven't tried yet, that supposedly works great. You freeze some plastic bottles of water (leaving space for ice expansion) hang them from the front or back of the fan so the air gets sucked or blown past them, and it almost works like an air conditioner.

the portable a/c is too costly and we would have to have 2-3 of them at at least $300 + each.....and we are in Texas and I doubt the hack would do much...plus being able to get that many bottles of water frozen....it is not doable for our facility.

 

I've called my guest and explained the situation to him and suggested that he might have better luck with getting a response from Airbnb since he is the customer.....I have not heard back from him yet.

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Allyson36  He might have better luck getting a response from Airbnb about what? You are the host and have a non-working amenity. That is between you and the guest to work out. If the lack of AC is a deal breaker for him, he can cancel the rest of the reservation, and you should approve a full refund. Or if he wants to tough it out, you should offer a refund for the days they have to be there before you can get the AC fixed.

 

There's no reason to involve Airbnb at this point.

 

Also, it's best to keep communication, particularly about anything that could prove contentious on the Airbnb messaging, so there is a record of the communications.

John5465
Level 1
Panama City, FL

I’m not really new to Airbnb but am returning after a 2.5 year hiatus due to damage from Hurricane Michael.  I am currently hosting a guest who intentionally didn’t arrive with her “guests”, I.e. - booked a stay for someone else.  Not acceptable?

@John5465  Third party bookings are against the Airbnb Terms of Service.

If you have had a hiatus, you should spend some time reading posts on this forum. The demographic of guests has change. Lots of newbie guests who don't understand how Airbnb works, lots of guests sneaking in extra guests and pets, making bogus complaints in order to demand a refund after they have stayed, etc. etc. 

 

Hosts are having to be super vigilant in vetting guests before accepting, or communicating a lot if using Instant Book.

 

And customer service has fallen off a cliff. Outsourced know-nothing reps who give out incorrect information and know less about Airbnb policy than hosts do. 

Carla1205
Level 2
Calgary, Canada

Hi everyone.  New to hosting since June 14th. I received an inquiry for a long term stay (8 months while they complete their masters degree) but they will find out if it is online in Sept next week. Today is Wednesday.  I received a request for 5 days in September and so have to accept/decline in 24 hrs. What should I do? I feel like I am seeing dollar signs for the long term rental - it is a self contained suite in our house, but not our original intent of the rental…thank you in advance. 

@Carla1205  You do not want to rent for 8 months through Airbnb. There is no real security deposit, Airbnb does not do any background checks on guests, only the first month's payment is guaranteed, and if the guest then reneges on the rent, they have been in residence long enough to fall under landlord/tenant law and you can have a terrible time evicting them.

 

It doesn't sound like you listed in order to be a landlord, rather than a host. Take the short booking, if the guest seems like someone you'd want.

 

And be aware of the difference between an Inquiry and a Request. An Inquiry only requires a message back to the sender within 24 hours.  Don't decline. 

 

A Request requires that you either accept or decline within 24 hrs.

 

 

 

@Sarah977 If I just respond with a message and don’t accept or decline does this affect my response rating? 

or do I actually have to select accept or decline. 

Thank your for the advice!

C