Rentrepreneur - A new type of investing

Ta... the Business Travel ready section sounds like it could be useful if/when its launched here. Re: pricing, it sounds like it makes sense but for now I will keep managing that myself. I don't know if the pricing algorithm takes into account factors such as I only want to take stays of 5 nights and longer so I still want to keep control of that.

When it is something that I can trust that will perform better than what I see I will apply it but for now I'd rather err on the side of being conservative and manual until I am confident it wont screw something up.

For entry I have a combination lock on my mailbox and I do it that way as a hands free checkin... works well, and it doesnt cost the earth.

 

Guess what? Well, after nearly a year of doing this, I now have a sort of bad experience. This was via instant book.... The guests were booked in by a local friend. The friend wrote down 2 guests.. not 3. First error. I let that slide anyway. Then they were supposed to checkout at 12pm midday today. I go there about 3pm. No keys in the mailbox. Ok. I go to my parents place to collect my spare keys. I go in 4.20pm... the guests hadnt checked out and their stuff is still everywhere. I called the guest... no answer. Then I called Airbnb. Now they told me to lodge a dispute with the guests.
Dispute lodged just after 5pm today. So I've done that... now its up to the guest to respond...
Its not so much anything absolutely terrible but they probably havent read my documentation... i'm guessing the friend probably hasnt told them my checkout time... its annoying as I can't clean tonight if they leave because of my volleyball... therefore I will be managing the changeover tomorrow.... not ideal. I just wasted my Sunday afternoon and I won't be able to take a last minute guest if one happens to want to book in...

 

What time do they think the check out time was? What would you do if you had another booking starting today?

 

I just managed to get in touch.... apparently they thought they booked tonight as well, and the person booking gave an older phone number to Airbnb so the phone calls I was making to her wasnt being received. Anyway, she agreed to pay an extra night.
It would potentially have been a disaster though if I did have another party checking in today, but I would have done the changeover in a more timely manner too. I might have offered them to stay at my own private home for 1 night... but its not as clean or presentable!

 

Thankyou to the guest... but I think she also brought my star rating down from 5 to 4.5..... so... never accept a booking for someone not staying there... not worth the hassle!

 

@Gockie say you put the rules as 11am check out 1:30pm checkin. don't you normally rock up at 11 to meet the person to take the keys etc? Yeah i have booked in positano (italy), Barcelona, rome, and they never had an instant book i think the host wants to scan the guests. i presume you not staying close etc?

Appreciate you sharing your experiences as it helps thinking of all possible things that go wrong along the way. This is a new way of innovative way of renting which i want to try too to get better returns.

 

You can only do on the hour checkin and checkout or "flexible", but if you are doing it a bit more professionally I would not allow "flexible", too hard to manage. (You get people wanting to check in really early and checkout really late... often times collides with the next guest, therefore it's better to set a checkin and checkout time with heaps of allowance for cleaning).

I have easy key handovers, I dont need to be there in person. Plus they usually dont come in at the time exactly as they say anyway.

I do ask my guests to notify me (via text or via Airbnb conversation) once they are in and just before they check out though. Some do, some don't. If they don't, I try to contact guests their first day to ensure all is well.

 

@Gockie do you provide internet and if so, what precautions do you use to prevent people from downloading torrents etc?

 

Yes to internet and I can monitor daily usage. 100GB allowance goes a long way each month and I haven't hit any limits as yet. I dont check for use of torrents specifically though. Funny that when Telstra provides the connection its more expensive than Optus... it's just the way it is. So some buildings cost more than others for internet service.

 

@Gockie usage wasn't the issue but more on renters just downloading torrents as the account is under your name that maybe subject possibly litigation further down the track depending on your provider. Telstra is more expensive but the safest.

 

Thanks. I would have to see what other Airbnb hosts have to say on this...

 

@Gockie - depedning on your router (you can block the torrent traffic type) hence limiting any potential headaches.

 

I would think issues around torrent would be minimal, although still possible. When I am on holiday, downloading torrents would be the last thing on my mind. I guess if you are really concerned, there is always a way to put a firewall or something

 

Can download 100gb in a day no problems - I don't think its worth limiting them to prevent that, but I think it is worth saying torrents are off limits as they can rack i up the fastest. Let us know what router you have and I'm sure someone can help you with his.

Excess usage charges add up big time, quickly.

 

@imbi most people actually download when on holidays like leaving the laptop on at night while it downloads and then finishes in the morning. Yes There are built in hardware firewalls that restrict torrent traffic. If u saw the recent cases with iiNet where Hollywood studios where targeting certain ISPs. Luckily the court rejected the letter otherwise many ppl would be burned. Other countries like Singapore etc have already got people prosecuted with fines ranging from 50-100k

 

after reading all this... I conclude that its worth doing this as business as long as you allocate time to it and treat it as business.

As long as you are :
1. central location
2. near attractions
3. close to transport
4. offer something "unique"
5. keep the place clean and presentable
6. have good communication skills
7. good management skills.
8. manage risk (council, neighbors, insurance)

You should have no problem reaching high occupancy, which is basically what you are after. By my calculations for 1 bedroom in Sydney CBD, you could be making around 18k-22k per year profit based on 85% occupancy. If you have 5 properties, it is a tidy lil sum

This would be ideal for people who own a building with 5 units, That way they can control everything as all units would be on airBnB.

Can someone who runs AirBnB confirm that is how much they make after paying for mortgage (assuming you pay 100% of the value of the property to bank) and utilities and any other misc costs. By rule of thumb you would approximately make twice as much as your costs?

 

just my latest review....

 

Kicking ass!!

I'm seriously considering doing it. Just worried about strata. Might do what Scott was talking about and doing longer leases. Gockie - what is your occupancy rate?

Edit: How are you doing during winter months?

 

There's lots of people making good money on these airbnb in melbourne. i mean wouldn't want extra 1.5-3K a month

 

It is good now, but in a year or so the market will get saturated with these offerings that it will be harder to make money. This is why its good to start now and build up a good rapport with guests (to take bigger market share).